Effective Harm Reductions Strategies for People Who Actively Use Opioids and/or Psychostimulants

Goals

• Increase knowledge of harm reduction principles, strategies, and resources.
• Increase knowledge of managed use, abstinence, and safer use to meet people who use drugs where they are at.
• Provide a safe environment (plenaries and breakouts) to discuss licit and illicit drug use as a multi-faceted phenomenon requiring successful interventions and policies.
• Increase knowledge of stigma as it relates to harm reduction principles and practices.

Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes to be Gained

• Participants will be able to identify specific categories of reasons for people’s drug use and the significance of those categories in rural communities.
• Participants will be able to list 5 or more reasons why people do not go to treatment in many rural communities (beyond lack to available treatment) and their relevance to people’s ongoing drug use.
• Participants will gain insight to mixed attitudes and misinformation regarding harm reduction.