Pubdate: Tue, 03 Dec 2002 Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2002 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.newscoast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398 SF RESEARCHER SAYS NO TO WAR ON DRUGS A San Francisco Researcher Says The War On Drugs Is Causing More Harm Than The Drugs Themselves More than a thousand public health workers and researchers are in Seattle this week for the National Harm Reduction conference. These people work with drug addicts and favor "harm reduction" strategies. That means needle-exchange programs to stop Hepatitis C and AIDS, drug substitution and compassionate counseling for addicts. They disagree with the "just say no" approach. Patt Denning is director of clinical services and research with the Harm Reduction Therapy Center in San Francisco. In her words -- "Drug prohibition is what causes the greatest harm, not drugs." Denning dismisses the idea that users must hit rock-bottom before they can be helped. And she criticizes methods of drug therapy that use punishment to get addicts to kick their habits. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth