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Since the First International Conference on the Reduction of Drug-Related Harm, held in 1990, the term 'harm reduction' has gained wide currency in the areas of public health and drug policy. Previously the field was characterized by heated struggle between prohibition and legalization of addictive substances, and this debate tended to obscure practical, collective approaches. Harm reduction, an approach which encompasses various policy directives and program initiatives was inspired by the positive outcomes of such public measures as needle-exchange programs for reduction of HIV risk, methadone maintenance programs, education on the risks of tobacco use, and programs designed to limit alcohol consumption.The essays in this book illustrate the scope and vigour of the emerging harm reduction model. The essays, drawn from seven international conferences on harm reduction, cover a wide variety of topics, including public policy, women and reproductive issues, the experiences of special populations, human rights; defining and measuring harm, and intervention.Researchers and practitioners will benefit from the varied papers in the volume, which combine insights into policy-making and front-line outreach efforts with comprehensive conceptual and empirical approaches. Harm Reduction represents an important initiative in making academic work accessible and useful to a larger community, and provides guidance for the development of effective policies and programs

Not this Time: Canadians, Public Policy and the Marijuana Question, 1961–1975, Marcel Martel, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006, pp. x, 277.It is said of the 1960s, "If you can remember them, you weren't really there." For those who need a refresher course, this book is an alternative to time travel. For the younger, post-1970s generation who literally were not there, this book tells them all they ever need to know about the history of Canada's marijuana laws and why they have been so resistant to change. Considering that nearly three quarters of this current crop of young adults has tried marijuana, according to the Canadian Addiction Survey of 2004, perhaps they should be asking why the drug of choice for so many is still illegal. Martel's detailed snapshot of this crucial 15-year period sets out the actors, forces and political pressures that are still very much a part of the ongoing and unresolved debate on drug policy reform in Canada.

Illegal drugs carry the potential for harm, and as such must be subject to some form of societal regulation. Although the high costs and dubious benefits of prohibitionist policies are well documented, it would not be useful to abandon present legal controls simply from frustration or a sense of defeat. Positive alternatives must be provided. A major objective of social policy is to find means by which to minimize health and safety risks at the lowest level of social costs. A challenge of the 1990s is to implement and test a comprehensive public health model for effective control of demand for illicit drugs.