Responsible drug use is a harm reduction strategy based on a belief that illegal drug use can be responsible in terms of reduced or eliminated risk of negative impact on the lives of both the user and others.
Some critics believe that all illegal recreational use is inherently irresponsible, due to the unpredictable, unregulated nature of the drugs and the risks of addiction, infection, and other side effects. Nevertheless, harm reduction advocates claim that the user can be responsible by employing the same general principles applicable to the use of alcohol: avoiding hazardous situations, excessive doses, and hazardous combinations of drugs; avoiding injection; and not using drugs at the same time as activities that may be unsafe without a sober state. Critics also point out that the unregulated nature of illegal drugs is due to lack of government regulation, and that if certain drugs were regulated by governments it would be easier to use them responsibly.
Read more about Responsible Drug Use: Suggested Rules, Harm Reduction, Safe Injection Sites (SiS)
Famous quotes containing the words responsible and/or drug:
“With two sons born eighteen months apart, I operated mainly on automatic pilot through the ceaseless activity of their early childhood. I remember opening the refrigerator late one night and finding a roll of aluminum foil next to a pair of small red tennies. Certain that I was responsible for the refrigerated shoes, I quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to make sure I had put the babies in their cribs instead of the linen closet.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“While man can still his body keep
Wine or love drug him to sleep,
Waking he thanks the Lord that he
Has body and its stupidity....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)