Readers will be able to gain a deeper understanding of how different approaches to harm reduction can create a stronger foundation for more effective policies and legislation. Scholars from law and social sciences collaborate with frontline organizations as well as with individuals with lived experience to reflect diverse perspectives, and transform how society addresses substance-related challenges.
Each chapter provides unique findings, drawing from examples of harm reduction strategies implemented for opioids, cannabis, and tobacco in Canada and beyond. While harm reduction has been a central aspect of the legal and policy responses to all three substances, its application has varied significantly.
First, Do Less Harm explores how the ongoing opioid crisis emphasizes the pressing need for safe consumption sites and life-saving tools like naloxone. Case studies on Canada’s legalization of cannabis highlight both the benefits and challenges of providing legal and regulated access to a drug. The volume further examines the evolving landscape of tobacco regulations where recent innovations such as vaping offer less harmful alternatives, yet raise significant concerns about youth uptake and public health.
Designed for policymakers, health professionals, academics, and anyone interested in creating safer communities, this collection not only presents thought-provoking ideas but also provides inspiration to take action.
PART I: “Illicit Drugs”
Chapter 1: Decriminalizing simple possession of all drugs: developing harm reduction strategies
Line Beauchesne
Chapter 2: Decriminalizing Drug Possession for Personal Use: Harm Reduction as a Constitutional Imperative
Martha Jackman
Chapter 3: “PNEP”
Sandra Ka Hon Chu & Richard Elliott
Chapter 4: Ontario’s Consumption Treatment Services Model: Problematizing Conservative Safe Consumption Site Policy
Stephanie Arlt
PART II: Challenges and Opportunities for Harm Reduction and Cannabis
Chapter 5: Governance of Recreational Cannabis in Canada: Jurisdictional Shifts, Punitive Decriminalization and Challenges for Harm Reduction
Joao Velloso, Veronique Fortin and Marie-Eve Sylvestre
Chapter 6 : Criminality and Inequity under Canada’s Legalization of Cannabis: A study of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Stephanie Lake and Margot Young
Chapter 7: Does the dose make the poison? A review of dosing and product testing of cannabis products
Ryan Pusiak
PART III: Reducing Harm in Tobacco Use
Chapter 8 : Preventing perverse effects of public health policy is also harm reduction. Potential risk in some tobacco control interventions for Indigenous peoples
Marewa Glover & Kyro Selkt
Chapter 9: Regulating Harm Reduction Claims under the Canadian Tobacco and Vaping Products Act and the US Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
Sam F Halabi
Chapter 10: From First Puffs to Policy: A Non-Apology for 32 Years of Substance Use
Height:229
Width:152
Spine:15
Weight:377.00