Safe injection sites (SISs) are a harm reduction strategy that is being explored and have been implemented in some jurisdictions in Canada. 

This report summarizes the literature assessing the impact and effectiveness of SISs as a harm reduction strategy. SISs are successful in engaging high-risk and marginalized individuals who use substances, including regular and long-time users, individuals experiencing homelessness and those who were previously incarcerated.

SISs facilitate access to health and social services, reduce syringe sharing and public syringe disposal, as well as prevent on-site fatal overdoses. Establishing a SIS requires consultation of a wide range of stakeholders (e.g. the public, police, health and social services, and people who use substances) throughout the process. 

This review of studies concentrates on establishing the effectiveness of harm reduction interventions as established in Australia and identifying gaps in knowledge.

Harm reduction interventions reviewed include needle syringe programs, supervised injecting facilities, non-injecting routes of administration, outreach, education and information, brief interventions, overdose prevention interventions, and legal and regulatory frameworks.

Findings suggest that the integration of a number of harm reduction interventions will produce the greatest impact. Harms arise from the illegal status of drugs and drug use. Thus, there are a number of harm reduction interventions that involve legislative or regulatory interventions.

This CDC report is designed to assist a wide range of stakeholders in understanding and navigating effective strategies to prevent opioid overdose in their communities. It provides evidence for specific opioid policies and strategies and discusses existing implementation of these interventions in communities. 

This is a manual created by the Harm Reduction Coalition that is designed to outline the process of developing and managing an Overdose Prevention and Education Program (OPEP), with or without a take-home naloxone component. It offers practical suggestions and considerations rooted in harm reduction - an approach to drug use that promotes and honors the competence of drug users to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their communities and the belief that drug users have a right to respect, health, and access to life-saving tools and information. There are several case studies of existing harm reduction program models. 

The Harm Reduction Coalition is an organization that challenges the persistent stigma faced by people who use drugs and advocates for policy and public health reform. Their website contains many harm reduction-oriented resources. 

This report by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio finds that for the first time since the opioid crisis began, Ohio’s monthly overdose deaths started to decline markedly in the second half of 2017. Ohio’s strong policy focus on overdose reversal has likely contributed to this good news. 

The information provided in this document points to the fact that evidence-based harm reduction is an underutilized tool, and that Ohio can do more to incorporate harm reduction strategies as part of a comprehensive, person-centered response to the addiction crisis.

Prescribe to Prevent was compiled by several naloxone access and overdose prevention advocates. The website provides information and resources on prescribing and dispensing naloxone. 

This is a report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction that provides both practitioners and policymakers with an analysis of the current evidence base on take-home naloxone. Specific programs and initiatives in Europe are highlighted in this document. 

A toolkit from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on opioid overdose prevention. Provides information on opioid use disorder facts, five essential steps for first responders, information for prescribers, safety advice for patients & family members, and recovering from opioid overdose.

This is a website where you can download a report from Shatterproof that reviews data from states that suffered the highest number of fentanyl overdose deaths from 2011 through 2017. Based on reviewing this data, the report identifies a number of promising state initiatives that are already in place and having a positive effect on curbing overdose deaths. It also recommends several new strategies that states should adopt in order to save the most lives.

This issue brief from NASTAD gives an overview of the impact of HIV and Hepatitis C in the context of the opioid crisis. Additionally, recommendations are made to implement a comprehensive response at the intersection of these devastating and deadly epidemics. 

This is an academic paper that provides an overview of harm reduction strategies to address the opioid crisis, including syringe service programs, opioid agonist therapy, supervised injection facilities, and overdose prevention with naloxone.