Substance Use: Harm Reduction
Improving outcomes for people who use drugs in Wisconsin
Harm reduction is an approach that engages directly with people who use drugs to prevent overdoses and the spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C. It focuses on empowering people who use drugs to make safer choices to help prevent negative health outcomes.
People who use drugs face unique circumstances and challenges that greatly affect their mental and physical health. Harm reduction programs are committed to addressing discrimination, stigma, and ensuring that people who use drugs have access to essential health services. A set of key principles guide harm reduction approaches:
- Be non-judgmental and treat people with dignity and respect
- Offer holistic and person-centered services
- Allow people with lived experience to be leaders
- Promote feasible and evidence-based interventions
People who practice harm reduction accept people who use drugs “as they are” and “where they are” in their lives without judgement.
There is an overdose emergency in the United States. More than 100,000 lives are lost to overdose each year. Most overdose deaths involve opioids, but deaths involving other types of substances are increasing. Overdose does not distinguish among age, sex, or county lines. However, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities are being disproportionately affected due to the criminalization of drug use and the lack of harm reduction resources among communities of color.
Every overdose death is preventable , and communities do not need to experience the traumas associated with it. A harm reduction approach reduces deaths from overdose. Harm reduction interventions that address barriers to health include:
- Supporting rather than criminalizing and punishing people who use drugs
- Ensuring access to lifesaving medications
- Engaging with marginalized communities and people who use drugs
The risk of drug use in the unstable and inconsistent drug supply. Drugs can be mixed with other substances, like fentanyl or xylazine, P-03490 (PDF), to enhance their effects or increase street value. This can be life threatening and dangerous for people who use drugs.
To prevent harm, it is important for people who use drugs to have access to drug checking equipment to help them make informed choices.
Harm reduction programs for people who use drugs aim to make drug use less risky, prevent poor outcomes, promote better health, and connect people to essential resources. They provide supplies, education, and tools to help reduce the risk of disease, infection, injury, and death. Harm reduction and drug user health programs include a range of services and approaches, including:
- Overdose education and naloxone distribution
- Fentanyl test strips and drug checking
- Syringe service programs
- Harm reduction mobile units
Harm reduction programs that provide services and supplies, such as naloxone, safe injection supplies, and drug checking tools save lives and connect people with addiction treatment services and medical care.
These programs create positive change by working directly with people who use drugs without judgement, coercion, or discrimination while recognizing people do not need to stop using drugs to receive support and care.
There are critical gaps in access to harm reduction resources in Wisconsin. To reduce the rate of overdoses and the spread of infectious diseases associated with injection drug use, it is critical to expand harm reduction services throughout the state.
The HRRT seeks to enhance and expand harm reduction services in Wisconsin to reduce injection-related infections and opioid-related deaths.
Services offered by the HRRT
Mobile services
The mobile services the HRRT offers include linkage to community-based resources in high-risk communities, point-of-care testing and supplies at no cost such as:
- Sterile injection equipment
- Nasal NARCAN
- IM naloxone
- Fentanyl and xylazine test strips
- Safer sex supplies
- Hygiene and comfort items
- Rapid HIV and hepatitis C testing
Technical assistance
The HRRT also provides technical support and can refer clients to organizations offering mail order harm reduction services. For harm reduction programming support or training, contact Heidi Olson-Streed at Heidi.Olsonstreed@dhs.wisconsin.gov.
Distribution locations
The HRRT is currently offering services in a red dodge caravan in the parking lots of the following locations:
| County | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Dane | Community Medical Services: 4802 E Broadway, Madison | First and third Tuesday from 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. |
| Rock | Roman's Gas Station: 108 Center Ave, Janesville | First and third Thursday from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. |
| Fond du Lac | Community Medical Services, 23 W Scott St, Fond du Lac | Second and fourth Wednesday from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. |
| Sauk | Pierce's Express Market, 935 8 St, Baraboo | Second and fourth Tuesday from 1 - 3 p.m. |
| Waukesha | Waukesha Comprehensive Treatment Center, 2422 N Grandview Blvd | First and third Wednesday from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. |
| Jefferson | Riverwalk Inn & Suites, 225 S Water St, E Fort Atkinson | First and third Wednesday from 1-3 p.m. |
| Lake Delton | BWP Liquor Stores, 21 WI Dells Pkwy S, Wisconsin Dells | First and third Tuesday from 1-3 p.m. |
| Columbia | Lodi First Presbyterian Church, 258 Lodi St, Lodi, WI 53555 | Second and fourth Tuesday from 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. |
| Monroe | Monroe County Health Department, 315 W Oak St, Sparta, WI 54656 | Second and fourth Thursday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. |
The HRRT is prioritizing establishing additional distribution locations in the following counties:
- Juneau
- Adams
- Dodge
- Washington
- Walworth
Email dhsdphharmreduction@dhs.wisconsin.gov if you are interested in the HRRT distributing supplies in your area!
Technical assistance
Drug User Health Coordinator
Heidi Olson-Streed
Heidi.Olsonstreed@dhs.wisconsin.gov
Trainings
Safety First - Comprehensive, Harm-Reduction Based, Drug Intervention Curriculum for high school students