ABSTRACT
Let us start by looking at a type of ‘harm reduction’ which has very little to do with addiction treatment but which provides some interesting and useful analogies: birth control. Women (and men) seek advice on family planning because they wish to avoid a specific type of harm, namely unwelcome pregnancy. Although the whole area is a moral minefield and was at one time subject to ferocious legal penalties, there has been, for many years, a remarkable degree of consensus on the range of services offered and how the services should be run.
