Opinion: Harm-reduction programs acknowledge the difference between ‘do no harm’ and ‘protect from harm’
Brian, a patient at my clinic in Scott County, Ind., is one of many who helped me learn the difference between “do no harm” and “protect from harm.”
I met him years after he had given up trying to rise above his family’s poverty, toxic stress, and substance use. Having succumbed to despair, his substance use brought only fleeting relief. “This ain’t living, man,” he once told me. “Every day is like dying and going to hell.”
