Abolition as Harm Reduction

• In Event: Abolitionism and Carcerality: Reflections, Perspectives, and Approaches

Abstract

Although harm reduction is rooted in public health and social justice frameworks, many approaches, such as medication for opioid use disorder, have moved away from this perspective to embrace a more retributive model in service to punishment rather than treatment. Despite concerns related to the inability of these strategies to consider the breadth of human experience, drug-related harm reduction practices, in an American context, have generated considerable political and social support. A small yet growing body of work considers how abolitionism, and a critical analysis of drug policy and harm reduction strategies, can help harm reduction meet people where they are and destabilize institutional harms which tend to follow people as they transition from carceral settings to the community. Examining the intersection of abolition and harm reduction, we argue that the integration of abolitionism into harm reduction exposes the retributive nature of contemporary drug-related harm reduction policies and practices. In particular, we suggest that by actively and routinely addressing the upstream realities related to addiction, incorporating an abolitionist perspective into harm reduction can be an important step towards eliminating the need for carceral interventions.

Authors

• Roger Schaefer, Central Washington University

• Alessandra Early, John Jay College