{"id":20632,"date":"2026-02-02T11:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T10:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20632"},"modified":"2026-02-02T11:35:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T10:35:41","slug":"history-of-harm-reduction-provenance-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/02\/history-of-harm-reduction-provenance-and-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Harm Reduction &#8211; Provenance and Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT BY NDPA:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>This paper was originally published in 2007\/2008 in the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice, which was established by Drug Free America Foundation (based in St Petersburg, Florida). Late in 2025, OVOM Sweden expressed interest in re-publishing this paper in their own website, and this prompted several associates of NDPA in other countries to express interest in re-visiting the paper &#8211; almost 20 entities have applied so far, and been sent &#8216;merged&#8217; copies. (NDPA pointed out that because of the size of the paper &#8211; approaching 25,000 words &#8211; the original paper, as published, had been split into three parts and published in three consecutive volumes of the Journal. To facilitate study of the paper, NDPA undertook to merge the three parts back into one paper, as now presented in this current, merged\u00a0 re-publishing).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Some of the &#8216;encouragements&#8217; while undertaking this sizeable task included the following:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;Peter, thank you very much, we will find a good place for it&#8217;. Renee Besseling &#8211; OVOM &#8211; (NDL)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;Peter, Excellent paper &#8211; I read it through and through&#8217;. John Coleman &#8211; President, DWI (USA)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;Thanks &#8211; appreciate your always-fine work&#8217;. Shane Varcoe &#8211; Director, Dalgarno Institute (Au)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;Great idea &#8211; Peter&#8217;s articles are a great contribution&#8217;. Gary Christian, tpg (Au)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;This sounds like a great and much-needed initiative, Peter&#8217;. Jo Baxter, Exec Director, DFA (Au)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;Wonderful. Thank you!&#8217;. Amy Ronshausen, Exec Director, DFAF, (USA)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;Thank you very much!&#8217;. Beatriz Velasco Munoz Ledo (Mexico)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em>&#8216;Thank you so much, Peter&#8217;. Stuart Reece (Au)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>PREFACE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Introduction to this re-print \u2013 January 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This paper was written in the light of the author\u2019s enormous respect for the many organisations he had collaborated with to that point in time &#8211; 2007 &#8211;\u00a0 (and with many of whom he continues to collaborate, at this present time in 2026). It also tries to charitably respect those who advocate a Harm Reduction oriented approach to drug strategy and policy (whilst not conclusively respecting their standpoint!). Courtesies aside, a more important point is that this paper dates from 2007, and a lot of water has flowed under the Harm Reduction and the Drug Policy bridges since then!<\/p>\n<p>Whilst it is informative to re-visit this literature, and understand the provenance and the politics of Harm Reduction, it could be very useful if someone were to develop and report on what has passed between 2007 and 2026. (\u201cBut don\u2019t look at me!\u201d says Mr Stoker).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>FOREWORD<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Stoker is Director of the National Drug Prevention Alliance (NDPA), which he helped form. He has completed more than 40 years in this field and has helped three other charities to form, all running well. His first 7 years in the field were as a drugs\/alcohol counsellor in a London drug agency; he also created and delivered a wide range of trainings and was a Government \u2018Drug Education Advisor\u2019 to some 100 primary and secondary schools. In 1987 he completed a one month study tour throughout America, under the auspices of the US State Department. He has delivered workshops at more than 10 PRIDE conferences, and in 2004 he received the PRIDE Youth Programs International Award for services to prevention. He has completed technology transfer trainings in Poland, Germany, Portugal and Bulgaria. In 2001 he was awarded a First Prize in the Stockholm Challenge contest for websites with a health promotion value. Mr. Stoker is often to be seen or heard on TV, radio or in national\/regional newspapers and has authored many articles and papers. For 30 years prior to this career he worked as a Professional (Chartered) Civil Engineer, running projects which would have totalled approaching \u00a310 Billion at present day values.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 92%; height: 289px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 289px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 471.6px; height: 289px; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/02\/history-of-harm-reduction-provenance-and-politics\/peter-mugshot\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20634\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-20634\" src=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Peter-mugshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peter Stoker<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 471.6px; height: 289px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/02\/history-of-harm-reduction-provenance-and-politics\/ndpa-logo_inkscaped\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20635\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-20635\" src=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ndpa-logo_inkscaped.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"390\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ndpa-logo_inkscaped.png 900w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ndpa-logo_inkscaped-640x455.png 640w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ndpa-logo_inkscaped-768x546.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>ABSTRACT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The history of \u2018so&#8211;called Harm Reduction\u2019 &#8212; starting with its conception in and dissemination from the Liverpool area of Britain in the 1980s &#8212; is described in comparison with American liberalisers\u2019, \u2018Responsible Use\u2019 stratagem in the 1970s and with subsequent so&#8211;called Harm Reduction initiatives in the USA, Canada, Australia, Britain and mainland Europe. As the scope of a historical review of Harm Reduction &#8212; over several decades and across several countries &#8212; is necessarily large, this paper is presented in 3 parts. Part 1 examines the developments in the USA; whilst Part 2 looks at Britain, Canada, and Australia. Part 3 considers mainland Europe, and then goes on to explore reasons why the package called \u2018Harm Reduction\u2019 has fared better than \u2018Responsible Use\u2019 as well as some possible reasons why the present, Harm&#8211;Reduction&#8211;biased situation has come about. The text takes extracts from or synopses of papers presented by various writers on both sides of the argument. Reasons as to why the packaging of \u2018Harm Reduction\u2019 has fared better than \u2018Responsible Use\u2019 are explored as are some possible reasons why the present, Harm&#8211;Reduction&#8211;biased situation has come about. The paper concludes by suggesting possible ways forward for those advocating a prevention&#8211;focused approach \u2013\u2013 learning from history.<\/p>\n<p><strong>To access the full document:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Click on the \u2018Source\u2019 link below.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>An image of the front page of the full document will appear.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Click on the image to open the full document.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/02\/history-of-harm-reduction-provenance-and-politics\/history-of-hr-pp-_-peter-stoker\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20633\">History of HR &#8211; P&amp;P _ Peter Stoker<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT BY NDPA: This paper was originally published in 2007\/2008 in the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice, which was established by Drug Free America Foundation (based in St Petersburg, Florida). Late in 2025, OVOM Sweden expressed interest in re-publishing this paper in their own website, and this prompted several associates of NDPA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,142,128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harm-reduction","category-latest-news","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20632"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20642,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20632\/revisions\/20642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}