The National Harm Reduction Coalition is a US-based national advocacy and capacity-building organization that promotes the health and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by drug use. HRC advances policies and programs that help people address the adverse effects of drug use including overdose, HIV, hepatitis C, addiction, and incarceration.

La National Harm Reduction Coalition es una organización estadounidense de incidencia política y de apoyo de las capacidades nacionales encargada de promover la salud y la dignidad de los individuos y de las comunidades afectadas por el uso de drogas. El HRC propone políticas y programas de ayuda para que individuos hagan frente a los daños relacionados con las drogas, tales como la sobredosis, el VIH, la hepatitis C, la adicción y el encarcelamiento.

La National Harm Reduction Coalition est une organisation américaine de sensibilisation politique et de renforcement des capacités nationales dont l’objectif est de promouvoir la santé et la dignité des individus et communautés touchés par la consommation de drogues.

National Harm Reduction Coalition

We, the undersigned organisations, are deeply concerned about the drastic intensification of anti- drug operations in Sri Lanka leading to significant human rights violations.

On 17 December 2023 the Acting Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennekoon, with the endorsement of Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, spearheaded an operation titled “Yukthiya”, with the stated aim of controlling “the drug menace”. The operation is ongoing as of 10 January 2024, with at least one thousand persons arrested daily.

This operation is unfolding in a context of already severe repression against persons who use or are suspected of using drugs, who suffer discrimination and stigma within the Sri Lankan criminal justice system and society.

Alongside the Sri Lankan police, members of the armed forces have been supporting this operation, during which several human rights violations have been reported. These violations include alleged arbitrary arrests, primarily against individuals from marginalised socio-economic communities; searches conducted without warrants or reasonable suspicion; and degrading treatment including strip searches in public as well as cavity searches. The searches and arrests have been televised, in violation not only of the right to privacy (and of basic human dignity) but also of a person’s right to be presumed innocent. According to lawyers, persons are being arrested even when no drugs are found in their possession, simply for having been arrested for drug offences or having been sent to compulsory rehabilitation in the past. The arrests of main livelihood earners and mothers have adversely impacted the ability of families to meet their basic needs during a time of economic crisis in Sri Lanka, and the wellbeing of children.

Persons are being arrested primarily under Section 54A of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, an offence which is non-bailable. As a result, those arrested are bound to spend time (sometimes months) in pretrial detention, thereby exacerbating already poor conditions of imprisonment in an overburdened prison system. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has previously stated that the existing prison conditions and treatment of incarcerated persons are “inhumane and degrading.”At present, as per statistics issued by the Department of Prisons, the level of overcrowding of the prison system is at nearly 200% - with punitive drug policies playing a significant role: as of 2022, 63% of convicted persons were sentenced for drug-related offences.

The total reported number of arrests pursuant to operation Yukthiya has exceeded 29,000 as of 9 January 2024, while nearly 1,500 people are in administrative detention in police custody for further investigation.  At least 1,600 more persons have been sent for compulsory drug rehabilitation, in violation of several fundamental rights; including the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to consent to and withdraw from medical treatment. “Drug treatment” in these centres is abstinence-based, essential harm reduction services are not available, and persons undergo severe withdrawal symptoms without any medical assistance while in detention. The use of violence to discipline and punish has been reported in at least two compulsory drug rehabilitation centres which are within the purview of the Bureau of the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation and are operated by the military, which is in itself a violation of international standards.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its statement at the conclusion of its visit to Sri Lanka in 2017 expressed concern regarding the involvement of military personnel in drug treatment and rehabilitation, the fact that strenuous physical exercise was the core component of compulsory drug treatment, and at the lack of trained professionals to monitor the health of people in detention. Furthermore, the statement highlighted the irregularities in the judicial process by which persons were sent to drug rehabilitation centres without a medical assessment.

More broadly, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has highlighted that by denying persons access to substitution therapies, states are subjecting “a large group of people to severe physical pain, suffering and humiliation, effectively punishing them for using drugs and trying to coerce them into abstinence.” The Special Rapporteur has further stated “forcible testing of people who use drugs without respecting their autonomy and their right to informed consent may constitute degrading treatment, especially in detention settings. States are obliged to respect the enjoyment of the right to health, including by refraining from using coercive medical treatment. The requirement of informed consent, including the right to refuse treatment, should be observed in administering any treatment for drug dependence.”

Since the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs, there is international consensus on pursuing a holistic and health and human rights-based approach to drugs, which encompasses supply and demand reduction as well as harm reduction. The 2019 Ministerial Declaration on drugs – the current global drug policy document - as well as multiple resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and the UN Human Rights Council reiterate and recommend a similar approach.

A punitive and militarised approach to drug control contravenes recognised international human rights standards and guidelines, is ineffective to protect individual and public health, and ultimately fails to make communities safer.

Africa Network of People Who Use Drugs (AfricaNPUD) (Africa)

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) (Asia)

Association for Humane Drug Policy (Norway)

Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation (CDPE) (Canada)

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) (Argentina)

Corporación Acción Técnica Social (Colombia)

Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network (Europe)

Drug Harm Reduction Advocacy Network Nigeria (Nigeria)

Foreningen Tryggere Ruspolitikk /Safer Drug Policies (Norway)

GREA - Groupement Romand d'Etudes des Addictions (Switzerland)

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) (Global)

International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) (Global)

Skoun, Lebanese Addictions Centre (Lebanon)

Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (Zimbabwe)

Sri Lanka: Stop abusive anti-drug operation and release those arbitrarily detained

The Re-Queering Harm Reduction (ROHR) Project's report and recommendations, Our Lives, Our Care, is an appraisal of the state of care for queer and transgender people who use drugs and/or do sex work (QT-PWUD/SW).

The necessity of ROHR emerged from the awareness that our needs as QT-PWUD/SW are largely not being met by the harm reduction and addiction treatment industries. ROHR proceeds from the premise that industry organizations allow profit-driven insurance companies. cost-cutting public insurers. and elite foundations to arbitrarily determine what care can and can not be provided. In contrast. ROHR is rooted in the principle that the actual recipients of services-here. QT -PWUD/SW-must wield the decisive power to collectively determine their infrastructures of care. Here lives the purpose of ROHR: to incite a movement that redesigns our infrastructures of care by expanding upon. deepening. refining. and empowering the means and methods of care already devised by QT-PWUD/SW. 

Therefore, ROHR brought together QT-PWUD/SW based in New York City to reflect upon and imagine the possibilities of two questions, respectively: "How do QT-PWUD/SW take care of themselves?" and "How can New York City harm reduction and addiction treatment organizations empower, expand, and deepen the embedded care practices of QT-PWUD/SW?"

Across the board, all 13 ROHR Participants described experiences that reveal two relations between care and drug use: care as drug use, and care for drug use. 

Let's call them the prosthetic relation and the remedial relation, respectively. In practice, the prosthetic relation is the use of drugs as tools, as narco-prosthetics, for the purpose of caring for oneself, while the remedial relation is the practice of harm reduction. The two relations are adaptations, the prosthetic in response to antagonistic structural conditions, the remedial to the unintended harmful effects of the prosthetic itself. 

When asked how harm reduction organizations can better meet their needs, ROHR Participants imagined infrastructures of care that empower, enhance, and expand their capacities to adapt to psychosomatic, economic, and social conditions-everything from stimulant agonist therapy and Supported Comedown Spaces, to Sex Worker Waypoints and good jobs for all drug users and sex workers, and to making harm reduction fun again.

Our lives, our care: The report and recommendations of the Re-Queering Harm Reduction project

The 2022 National Harm Reduction Conference comes at a time when harm reduction, health care, and drug policy reform have entered a dynamic and critical phase. The prescription opioid and heroin overdose epidemic has captured national attention, with renewed focus on transmission of HIV and viral hepatitis among people who use drugs. These trends are reshaping the policy and public health landscapes, making harm reduction more urgent and relevant than ever before.

The biennial event is the only conference of its kind in the United States. For four days, some of the most creative minds from the U.S. and abroad come together to address a myriad of complex issues facing the harm reduction movement. A diverse community of people who use drugs, social justice activists, service providers, healthcare workers, researchers, policymakers, public health officials, and law enforcement— all coming together to put an end to the harms and injustices caused by the War on Drugs.

Providing safe spaces for the exchange of ideas and cutting-edge practices that reduce harms associated with drug use

Creating networking opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds committed to dismantling the racialized policies that underwrite and perpetuate oppression

Challenging stigmatizing narratives about people who use drugs by supporting their leadership development and exposing social inequities driven by structural violence and discrimination

In addition to workshops, roundtable discussions, plenaries, poster presentations, and an exhibit hall, other conference highlights include:

The Imani P. Woods Award for Excellence in Harm Reduction Activism

Wellness Space (yoga, mindfulness, meditation, affinity group meetings, and more)

The National Harm Reduction Conference registration will start at 9:00am, Thursday October 13th with the Opening Session starting promptly at 10:00am. The Closing Session will begin at 11:00am on Sunday, October 16th and end at 1:00pm.

All event times use Puerto Rico local time (GMT-4).

13th US National Harm Reduction Conference

 This is a zine about death, overdose, grief, and drugs.

The Harm Reduction community observes International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31 each year. This year, The DOPE Project worked with artist Gaia Wxyz to create a single-page zine as an act of care for a community that experiences too much preventable loss. You can read the zine below, print, and fold your own at home on 8.5″ by 11″ paper and distribute them to friends, family, program participants, and direct service workers in your community.

Learn how to use naloxone: https://bit.ly/UseNaloxone

Find naloxone near you: https://bit.ly/NaloxoneFinder

 you experience related to a painful loss, like the death of a loved one, and it is normal. Grief is a reflection of love.

When you lose someone you care about, your love for them remains. This love is precious, and so is your grieving process.

When you lose a loved one to overdose, your grief can feel both ambiguous and disenfranchised, which can feel isolating and like your grief doesn’t matter.

Ambiguous grief: Loss that occurs without closure or understanding

Disenfranchised grief: Loss that isn’t acknowledged or validated because of societal norms

Acknowledge your grief and your loved one in ways that feel good to you. Take care of yourself. Let yourself be taken care of. You are not alone.

Grief and death can teach us to celebrate a person’s life while they are still alive, and to be present for each moment we have with people we love.

Remember the person you are grieving lives on in many ways.

It’s okay to continue to hold space for them.

Common feelings in response to overdose loss:

Sadness over not having the chance to say “goodbye”

Helpless that you could not protect your loved one

Anger at your loved one, yourself or others who played a part in their addiction

Guilt, “should haves,” “could haves,” and “if onlys”

Disappointment in yourself for not having a sixth sense or picking up clues

Struggling with unanswered questions and a need to understand

Impatience waiting for toxicology or police reports, if initiated

Difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, fear you are “going crazy”

Frustration over the lack of support and understanding from others about addiction

Need to have your loved one remembered for their lives and not their deaths

Difficulty sleeping, having intense dreams, intrusive thoughts or flashbacks about the deceased or circumstances at time of death

Feeling isolated from supports and possibly lacking places to talk about your grief

Fear of this happening to others you care about

Relief that you are no longer waiting for bad news

This zine was created for Overdose Awareness Day 2021 for The DOPE Project, San Francisco. Art and design by Gaia Wxyz

 Gaia WXYZ @gaiaw.xyz (pronounced “wize”) is a multimedia creator who specializes in visual art, specifically comics. Last year they earned an MFA in Comics from California College of the Arts, and appeared in the award-winning documentary 

No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics. 

They write & draw autobiographical comics about being Black and gender non-conforming. Art has been the major motivating force in their life, concocting characters and storylines in sketchbooks from an early age. Though they have skills in a variety of media, including printmaking, painting, design, sculpture, photography, installation and performance art, Gaia has focused their talent to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a published comic artist.

Grieving overdose zine: Your grief matters and so do you

Over 200 drug policy, harm reduction, health care, and community based organizations from across the country today sent a letter to Rahul Gupta, Team Lead for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on President-Elect Biden’s Transition Team. The letter urges the Biden administration to implement proven, bold solutions to curb the overdose crisis and begin dismantling the drug war. Led by People’s Action, VOCAL-NY, the Drug Policy Alliance, and National Harm Reduction Coalition, the letter also makes clear the disproportionate consequences the drug war and overdose crisis have on Black, Brown, and low-income communities, which have contributed to the U.S. leading the world in mass incarceration and preventable overdose deaths.

“Like the President-elect, we too have watched the nation stigmatize our loved ones for substance use, and, instead of judging, we unconditionally love and support them. And, like the President-elect, we too have experienced the insurmountable grief brought on by the loss of family members,” the groups wrote. “It is our strong hope and belief that ending the drug war that has inflicted incredible harm in communities across this nation, and centering evidence-based solutions to address the overdose crisis, could be a great catalyst for a national transformation.”

In the letter, the groups outline immediate and longer-term policy recommendations based on to combat the overdose crisis and begin dismantling the drug war.

Over 200 drug policy, harm reduction, health care, and community groups call on Biden administration to prioritize public health solutions to curb overdose crisis and dismantle drug war

The New York NGO Committee on Drugs (NYNGOC) is a global committee that aims to support civil society organizations in engaging with the UN system on international drug policy and practice, facilitating the exchange of information between civil society organizations and UN agencies, member states, and other relevant UN bodies.

Since its formation in 1984, the NYNGOC has grown to represent over 100 civil society organizations across the world.

 to reflect on the past and congratulate its new Chair and Executive Committee members. The event will be held via Zoom on Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 3-4:30 PM ET.

NYNGOC social

By the National Harm Reduction Coalition and the Academy of Perinatal Harm Reduction

This information is intended for use by pregnant and parenting people who use drugs, their loved ones, and their service providers. Our goal is to promote the overall health and well-being of pregnant people who use substances and their families. For many people, upon finding out they are pregnant, they may wonder about reducing or stopping their use. It is important to know that there are many steps that can be taken, related to substance use or not, to have a healthy pregnancy. Pregnant people and their families can use this information to understand their rights, access services, and find high-quality, evidence-based care. This toolkit was developed in New York State, so some of the resources linked are specific to New York State. These materials can be shared with family members and service providers in order to start important conversations about your plans, hopes, goals, and dreams.

Pregnancy and substance use - A harm reduction toolkit

When police respond to 911 calls about people experiencing homelessness or mental health crises, the results can be lethal. As protests against police brutality continue to grip the nation, cities are beginning to acknowledge that law enforcement isn’t well equipped to handle these cases.

Instead, there’s growing momentum not just for defunding police, but for investing in harm reduction practices — ones that don’t criminalize people experiencing homelessness or substance misuse, but approach these issues as public health matters that are best handled with communal resources.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced earlier this month that police will no longer be the first to respond to calls involving the homeless, mental health crises and conflicts among neighbors. Members of the Los Angeles City Council are pushing to do the same. House Democrats unveiled legislation aimed at not just curbing police brutality, but establishing a grant program “to help communities to re-imagine and develop concrete, just and equitable public safety approaches.” Implementing these policies would contribute to the work that harm reductionists have been doing with little support for over 30 years.

Investing in harm reduction must be included in the movement to defund police

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global challenge whose ramifications are serious and difficult to accurately predict. Communities targeted by the "war on drugs", living in situations of vulnerability, experiencing exclusion, stigmatisation and criminalisation, will bear a differentiated and disproportionate burden of the negative consequences associated with the pandemic. Below, you will find a thematic list of information and guidance resources that we will continue to update in the coming weeks as a means to promote resilience and solidarity.

Versions of this page are also available in Spanish and French.

Rolling updates and guidance on coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
World Health Organisation

How to self isolate / How to self monitor symptoms
Public Health Ontario

COVID-19 Stories of Substance archive
IDPC

COVID-19 harm reduction for people who use drugs
International Network of People who Use Drugs, in collaboration with TalkingDrugs | The Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs has shared this poster-infographic by COVID-for-PWUD with the recommendations.

COVID 19: Advice for People who Use Drugs leaflet
European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD) | Available in many languages

Safer drug use during the COVID-19 outbreak
Harm Reduction Coalition

Statement by the UN expert on the right to health* on the protection of people who use drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic
UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mentalhealth

COVID-19 - HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for people who use drugs and people in prison
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The implications of COVID-19 for people who use drugs (PWUD) and drug service providers
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

Coronavirus harm reduction advice
Metzineres

Contingency planning for people who use drugs and COVID-19
Scottish Drugs Forum

Party and drugs in times of coronavirus
Energy Control

COVID-19 disease - A message for Young People Who Use Drugs
Youth RISE

Message from the President of the INCB on the COVID-19 pandemic
INCB

In the time of COVID-19: Civil Society Statement on COVID-19 and People who use Drugs
INPUD

COVID-19 and people who use drugs
Pompidou Group

COVID-19 Guidance for people who use drugs and harm reduction programs
Harm Reduction Coalition

How harm reducers cope with COVID-19
Rights Reporter Foundation

Harm reduction must go on: Position of European harm reduction networks on COVID-19
Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and Rights Reporter Foundation.

Harm reduction responses to COVID-19 in Europe
Rights Reporter Foundation

Syringe services and harm reduction provider operations during COVID-19
Harm Reduction Coalition

Coronavirus and drug harm reduction
Transform

Guidance on Managing Heroin Dependence during COVID-19 & Lockdowns
TBHIV Care

Practicing harm reduction in the COVID-19 outbreak
Vital Strategies

COVID-19 and human rights
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights | The piece highlights important statements made by UN Special Procedures with regard to a range of issues, including racism and xenophobia, housing and disabilities.

Rights in the time of COVID-19: Lessons from HIV for an effective, community-led response
UNAIDS

Practical guide to inclusive rights-focused responses to COVID-19 in the Americas
Organization of American States (OAS)

Human rights dimensions of COVID-19 response
Human Rights Watch

COVID-19: Governments must promote and protect access to and free flow of information during pandemic – International experts
Statement by UN human rights monitors, the IACHR and the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the OSCE

COVID-19: States should not abuse emergency measures to suppress human rights – UN experts
Statement by UN human rights experts

No exceptions with COVID-19: “Everyone has the right to life-saving interventions” – UN experts say
Statement by UN human rights experts

Press Statement: UNAIDS condemns misuse and abuse of emergency powers to target marginalized and vulnerable populations
UNAIDS

Prison settings and people deprived of liberty

Coronavirus: Healthcare and human rights of people in prisons
Penal Reform International

Position Paper: COVID-19 preparedness and responses in prisons
UNODC

Interim Guidance - COVID-19: Focus on Persons Deprived of Their Liberty
Inter-Agency Standing Committee, OHCHR & WHO

UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS, OHCHR joint statement on COVID-19 in prisons and other closed settings
UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS, OHCHR

COVID-19: Prisons and detention in Southeast Asia
International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

AFEW International asks international organisations to take immediate action
AFEW International

Urgent action needed to prevent COVID-19 “rampaging through places of detention” – Bachelet
OHCHR

IACHR urges States to guarantee the health and integrity of persons deprived of liberty and their families in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

COVID-19 and persons deprived of liberty information hub
Association for Prevention of Torture

Prevention of arbitrary deprivation of liberty in the context of public health emergencies
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

COVID-19, Prisons and Drug Policy: Global Scan March-June 2020
Harm Reduction International

Guidance for hostel or daycare providers of services for people experiencing rough sleeping
Public Health England

Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for substance misuse and homelessness services
Welsh Government

COVID-19 & the Health Care for the Homeless Community: Needed Policy Responses for a High-Risk Group
National Health Care for the Homeless Council

Protecting people experiencing homelessness from the coronavirus
St Mungo’s

What people living with HIV need to know about HIV and COVID-19
UNAIDS

Coronavirus information for people with blood-borne viruses
Penington Institute

Surveys and other data-collection instruments

Survey on COVID-19 - In English, Spanish and French

Global Drug Survey special edition on COVID-19
Global Drug Survey

Impact of Coronavirus on Drug Purchases Survey
Release

Black LGBTQ Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact Survey
Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC)

COVID-19 Impact Survey
Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP)

COVID-19: Survey for networks of people living with HIV, women living with HIV, & young people living with HIV
GNP+, ICY and Y+

A Global Survey on Public Sector Capabilities and Responses to the Pandemic
Transnational Institute

#TELODICOIO consumi e cambiamento covid 19 (in Italian)
ItaNPUD, Itardd, HRI

Impact of COVID-19 on patterns of drug use, harms and drug services in the European Union
European Web Survey on Drugs (EWSD)

Measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trans health & trans health care
Trans Care

Community-led responses in the time of COVID – UNAIDS global survey
UNAIDS

EMCDDA: Impact of COVID-19 on people who use drugs and drug services in the European Prisons
EMCDDA

Resource hubs by IDPC members, allies and public authorities

Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (Canada)
Penington Institute (Australia)
Vital Strategies (USA)
Correlation Network (Europe)
Scottish Drugs Forum (Europe)

National Harm Reduction Coalition

Region

Translations

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