harm reduction

Louisville jail installed a naloxone vending machine. Why it matters.

BY: - September 19, 2023

LOUISVILLE — In the two weeks after leaving jail, a person’s risk of overdosing from opioids is much higher.  That’s because of “abstinence during the period of incarceration (and) the decrease in tolerance associated with that abstinence,” according to Ben Goldman, the community health administrator for Louisville’s public health department.  So, the Metro Department of […]

More than half of Kentucky’s counties now have harm reduction programs for IV drug users

BY: - July 6, 2023

Kentucky has added two new syringe-service programs for intravenous drug users this year, bringing the total to 84 SSPs, in 65 of the state’s 120 counties. Hart County opened its program in January and Estill County reopened its program in April. SSPs are part of what health departments call “harm reduction”  — programs that offer […]