A range of public health policies that emphasize education and prevention rather than pathologizing, criminalizing, and/or punishing potentially unsafe activities, both legal and illicit. The harm reduction model allows an individual to determine whether they want to stop or change a behavior and may be applied to various scenarios, including (but not limited to) recreational drug use, self-injury, and sexual activity. In the latter example, a harm reduction approach may consist of sex education (as opposed to abstinence-only education), pre- and post-HIV exposure prophylaxis, and/or condom distribution to at-risk populations.
