Sociology of Harm Reduction

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03901
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Kwansei Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: SATO Akihiko 関西学院大学, 社会学部, 教授 (20295116)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 薬物 / 薬物政策 / ハーム・リダクション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Harm reduction has been one of the most influential measures for drug problems around the world today. This research aimed to describe the process of the earlier days of harm reduction in European countries whereby self-help activities of drug users turned into public health activities, and later into the professional and medical measures to deal with drug problems, based on documents and interviews. The description of such process reveals that discourses and practices of those elements that constitute harm reduction including self-help activities, public health activities, and medical activities have been conjoined and separated each other in accordance with local contexts. The description of the process also reveals how the transformation from “evil” to “harm” of the deviant behaviors such as drug use became possible.

Free Research Field

社会学