Harm reduction: Australia as a case study.

This paper explicates the term, "harm reduction"; demonstrates that harm reduction has a long tradition; and uses one country, Australia, as a case study. Harm reduction can be understood as "policies and programs which are designed to reduce the adverse consequences of mood altering substances without necessarily reducing their consumption"; it is consistent with the best traditions of both medicine and public health. Although it is difficult to interpret trends in mortality from alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs to determine whether harm reduction in Australia "worked", the effectiveness of harm-reduction policies and programs in controlling HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) seems extremely strong and suggests that benefits of harm-reduction programs for other drugs will become apparent in time.