In state legislative sessions across the country, we are seeing a historic uptick in harmful bills, such as Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” and weaponized opinions, such as Governor Abbott’s anti-trans opinion in Texas. While these harmful policies and views have already impacted what we expect to see in the next few years of sessions, we have also seen an increase in legislation aimed at harm reduction. 

In one sense, harm reduction “refers to policies, programs, and practices that aim to minimize negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies and drug laws.” In a more straightforward sense, it aims to decriminalize drug use. Instead of viewing addiction as an individual crime, it centers on the view that addiction is a communal need to address that requires robust investment in social services. 

IL HB4556 is a perfect example of a harm reduction bill that makes harm reduction more accessible. It would amend their Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Act to increase access to testing supplies and provide a layer of confidentiality to prevent people who receive these supplies from being reported to law enforcement. 

Harm reduction also connects to HIV decriminalization. Avert, an internationally-focused organization using digital communications to build health literacy on HIV and sexual health, says, “The concept of harm reduction was reinvented in the early 1980s at the beginning of the HIV epidemic when healthcare workers started to provide clean syringes to people who inject drugs (sometimes referred to as PWID) rather than solely trying to achieve abstinence.” IL HB5549 is another bill to make HIV decriminalization a thing of the future. This bill aims to create and maintain at least one Black-led Center of Excellence HIV Biomedical Resource Hub for every $3,000,000 of available funding to improve Black health and eliminate Black HIV-related health disparities. To connect more on Illinois state policy efforts, see Equality Illinois’ 2022 Legislative Agenda, which includes IL HB5549 and more.

This country has a long history of criminalization that disproportionately hurts Black and Indigenous people, disabled, chronically ill, and poor people. Now more than ever, especially as we enter year two of the Biden administration, we need better laws that make it more accessible for people to be supported by community services rather than incarcerating marginalized people at high rates. Our laws that reduce criminalization and impacts help us get closer to accessibility and stability for everyone.