Engelsk titel: Harm reduction - ideals and paradoxes
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Författare:
Andersen D
;
Järvinen M
Email: ditte.andersen@sociology.ku.dk
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 31
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 07083985
Sammanfattning
Aim: The aim of the article is to critically
reflect on the harm reduction approach
used in Danish substance abuse
treatment.
Data: The article is based on qualitative
interviews with staff at treatment
institutions in Copenhagen.
Themes and conclusions
Three themes are addressed. First,
our data indicate that low-threshold
methadone treatment is difficult
to combine with a long-term goal
of abstinence. In fact, many harm
reduction proponents among staff are
directly opposed to treatment models
in which abstinence is a goal. Second,
we illustrate how the development of
harm reduction measures is embedded
in a socio-political trend focusing
on a combined "autonomization/
responsibilization" of social clients.
This focus on clients as autonomous
and responsible subjects clashes with
another central conception among staff:
the idea that heroin addicts are slaves to
their substance use and hence cannot
be treated as fully rational human
beings. Third, the article analyses the
relationship between harm reduction
and social integration.
Although social integration of
substance abusers is part of the
rationale behind harm reduction measures, this goal is
difficult to reach with
a group of clients as
marginalized as the ones in
focus.