ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the political, theoretical and scientific controversies surrounding the public health intervention of Needle Exchange. It traces the development of the concept of Harm Reduction and its use by health professionals and drugs researchers. Rather than see Harm Reduction as a neutral category, which serves a public good, the chapter questions the concept through considering the place of morality and technology in the development and implementation of drug policy. The policy of Harm Reduction in the United Kingdom began at a local level in Liverpool. The chapter aims to reconsider Philippe Bourgois' moral economy of needle and syringe sharing. Whilst Jarrett Zignon considers his analytical approach to the anthropological study of moralities as 'vital' to the study of the Russian Orthodox Church's approach to injecting drug use and HIV, the chapter considers the uses of Zignon's methodology for the evaluation of the Harm Reduction program of Needle Exchange.
