Fieldwork+Day+-+Sept+17+-+SSDP

SSDP journeyed to the Chicago Recovery Alliance to learn about the philosophy of "harm reduction" as it applies to the drug war. In brief, harm reduction takes its inspiration from the first words of the Hippocratic Oath -- "First, do no harm." Instead of setting our sites on a perfect (and perhaps unattainable) drug-free utopia, what strategies can communities employ to reduce the harms associated with substance abuse, whether they be in the realm of public health, criminal justice, effective schooling, and so on? Dan Bigg, executive director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, runs an organization that supplies clean needles and other services to intravenous drug users around the city. Students in SSDP were challenged to think about whether such an organization is enabling drug users or mitigating a public health crisis, or somewhere in between.