Reviews
"Harm reduction approaches combine common sense, scientific evidence, public health precepts, and respect for human dignity. This is certainly the finest volume on harm reduction to date--a skillfully edited and comprehensive introduction for readers seeking more effective, compassionate approaches to drug use and abuse." --Ethan Nadelmann, JD, PhD, Director, The Lindesmith Center, New York "Harm Reduction is one of the most important publications in the addictions field in the past quarter-century. It presents a compelling public health alternative to the war on drugs. Using logic and data, Marlatt and contributors discuss ways of minimizing the adverse consequences of drug use, including alcohol and tobacco. Added bonuses are that the book contains excellent state-of-the-art reviews of treatment approaches and of the problems and opportunities unique to special populations." --Mark B. Sobell, PhD, ABPP, and Linda C. Sobell, PhD, ABPP, Center for Psychological Studies, NOVA Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida "Harm reduction can address the emergent needs of societies in a rapidly changing 21st century. [This book] is timely, searching for common ground to provide a step-by-step pathway toward practical solutions....The diversity of strategies are placed firmly within the framework of the real world--what any worker in the front lines can do to help empower people, improve their well-being, and reduce their burden on society....Marlatt and colleagues have done an enormous service to humankind by documenting the potential for harm reduction in a straightforward manner." --From the Foreword by David B. Abrams, PhD, Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Brown University, and David C. Lewis, PhD, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, "The volume's subtitle states that the emphasis is pragmatic, strategic, and designed for managing/coping with the broad range of high risk behaviors. It is all that and more! After a strong presentation setting out the basics of the harm-reduction model, Marlatt has selected practical and immediately useful clinical chapters....This should be required reading for all 'frontline' clinicians."--Behavioral Science "...this book is essential reading material for anyone whose life is affected by substance use, the policies we have developed to control it, and its associated consequences. It presents a well-reasoned, well-documented collection of chapters...that systematically question our current national strategy toward persons who use psychoactive substances....It provides concrete examples, many of them with solid research evidence for their efficacy, of how current policy could be modified to achieve effective results within a more humanitarian and pragmatic framework that is driven both by these principles as well as scientific knowledge....Marlatt's book will provide food for thought and a variety of useful ideas for implementation of harm-reduction programs." --Contemporary Psychology "...an interesting text, which may have a significant impact on the U.S. policy directions in due course, but it is also useful for an international audience....Marlatt and his co-authors have...provided a well-written and interesting text...it is worth the modest price to have it in your bookcase." --Addiction "Harm reduction is becoming an increasingly accepted approach to dealing with high-risk behaviors. This book offers a substantial contribution to this new and growing field. Furthermore, the text covers a comprehensive and impressive range of topics....several authors consider HIV / AIDS risk reduction and prevention for adolescents....this book is a very useful addition to the growing field of harm reduction. It covers a broad range of topics and will be of great use to a variety of audiences. While the content specific to youths centered on three topics, all of the general principles of harm reduction can easily be applied to children and adolescents." --Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse "...valuable....a very good introductory guide through the often difficult and controversial terrain of harm reduction....This is a thought-provoking book....The text is comprehensively and currently referenced, has a helpful index and will prove very useful to the broad readership of health professionals to which it is aimed. The final pages bring this very readable text to a close on a personal and illuminating note." --Drug and Alcohol Review "...this is an extremely important and valuable work, for it firmly, but rather modestly, points the way to a needed paradigm shift in how we approach some of our greatest social ills-particularly the AIDS epidemic and illicit drug use....The book is packed with empirical evidence....this work is more than the title suggests. It can be a reference text for a variety of drugs and treatment approaches and their histories. For this reason alone, Harm Reduction belongs on the bookshelf of health and mental health professionals....the real impact of this seminal volume is that it makes the case for harm reduction as a powerful model for both treatment and public-policy innovations....Harm Reduction is a needed eye-opener for clinicians, patient advocates, and policy makers alike." --Psychiatric Services "While acknowledging the controversial nature of many of the strategies offered, the authors support them with well-reasoned arguments and provide extensive reviews of the relevant research. With in-depth chapters on alcohol, nicotine, illegal drugs, HIV/Aids, harm-reduction efforts in other countries, applications of harm reduction to minority commiunites in the United States, and implic
Table of Content
I. Overview of Harm Reduction 1. Highlights of Harm Reduction: A Personal Report from the First National Harm Reduction Conference in the United States, Marlatt 2. Harm Reduction around the World: A Brief History, Marlatt 3. Basic Principles and Strategies of Harm Reduction, Marlatt II. Applications to Addictive Behaviors and High-Risk Sexual Behaviors 4. Harm Reduction for Alcohol Problems: Expanding Access to and Acceptability of Prevention and Treatment Services, Larimer, Marlatt, Baer, Quigley, Blume and Hawkins 5. Harm Reduction, Nicotine, and Smoking, Baer, Brady, and Murch 6. Harm Reduction Strategies for Illicit Substance Use and Abuse, Tapert, Kilmer, Quigley, Larimer, Roberts, and Miller 7. Harm Reduction and HIV/AIDS Prevention, Peterson, Dimeff, Tapert, Stern, and Gorman III. Matching Strategies to Diverse Ethnic Communities 8. Bringing Harm Reduction to the Black Community: "There's a Fire in My House and You're Telling Me to Rearrange My Furniture," Woods 9. Alcohol Use and Harm Reduction within the Native Community, Daisy, Thomas, and Worley IV. Can Harm Reduction Play a Role in U.S. Drug Policy? 10. Harm Reduction and Public Policy, Weingardt and Marlatt