Speed limits: Harm reduction for people who use stimulants

By Rafaela Rigoni, Joost Breeksema & Sara Woods

This study builds and collects existing evidence on harm reduction interventions for non-injection stimulant users. Considering social, cultural, political, legislative and religious differences, it seems unlikely that one single intervention will address the many issues experienced by people who use stimulant drugs across the world. Hence, this study looks at specific drugs, routes of administration, groups of users, types of interventions and contextual variations.

The present study:

• Provides a global literature review of harm reduction activities for PWUS;
• Documents, describes and analyses seven examples of good practices of harm reduction for PWUS in different world regions;
• Contributes to guidance in supporting harm reduction for PWUS.
• Stimulates a harm reduction narrative that moves beyond HIV and focuses on human rights and quality of life for PWUS.

In chapter 2 we describe our methodology. Chapter 3 gives more information on the context. This includes information on stimulants, risks and harms of stimulant use, and the risk environment in which stimulant use takes place. Chapter 3 describes the findings of our literature review, presenting twelve different forms of harm reduction interventions for PWUS. Lastly, in chapter 4, we describe seven of these interventions through in-depth case studies in different world regions.