Conference # Harm Reduction: Shifting from a War on Drugs to a War on Drug-Related Deaths Date and Time March 21, 2019 8:15 AM - 3:15 PM EDT Location Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute Share This Event ##### Featuring [![Trevor Burrus](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Trevor%20Burrus.jpg?itok=onKmjXsL)](/people/trevor-burrus) [Trevor Burrus](/people/trevor-burrus) Former Research Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute [ ](https://twitter.com/TCBurrus) [![Clark Neily](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Clark%20Neily.jpg?itok=kOJs7hwY)](/people/clark-neily) [Clark Neily](/people/clark-neily) Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute [ ](https://x.com/conlawwarrior) [ ](mailto:cneily@cato.org) [![jeff-singer-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-05/jeff-singer-cropped.jpg?itok=G_0nEnx7)](/people/jeffrey-singer) [Jeffrey A. Singer](/people/jeffrey-singer) Senior Fellow, Cato Institute [ ](https://x.com/dr4liberty) [ ](mailto:jsinger@cato.org) [![j-mironcropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-04/j-mironcropped.jpg?itok=dkHQXJBB)](/people/jeffrey-miron) [Jeffrey Miron](/people/jeffrey-miron) Director, Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, Department of Economics at Harvard University [ ](https://x.com/jeffreyamiron) [ ](mailto:jmiron@cato.org) [![Michael F. Cannon](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Michael%20Cannon.jpg?itok=0UROn8Dc)](/people/michael-f-cannon) [Michael F. Cannon](/people/michael-f-cannon) Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute [ ](https://x.com/mfcannon) [ ](mailto:mcannon@cato.org) ![Darwin Fisher headshot](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-02/darwin-fisher-headshot-new-Cropped.jpg?itok=_CVW47qW) Darwin Fisher Senior Program Manager, PHS Community Services Society; and Manager, Insite Overdose Prevention Center, Vancouver, BC, Canada Edward G. Rendell ![Maia Szalavitz - circle portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-01/maia-szalavitz-circle-cropped.jpg?itok=Ft8S-dgP) Maia Szalavitz Award-Winning Neuroscience Journalist and Contributing Opinion Writer, *New York Times* [ ](https://x.com/maiasz) Donald S. Burke Daniel Ciccarone Beau Kilmer The U.S. government’s current strategy of trying to restrict the supply of opioids for nonmedical uses is not working. While government efforts to reduce the supply has reduced both the amount of legally manufactured prescription opioids and the number of opioid prescriptions, deaths from opioid-related overdoses are nevertheless accelerating. Research shows that the increase is due, in large part, to substitution of illegal heroin and fentanyl for the now harder-to-get prescription opioids. Attempting to reduce overdose deaths by doubling down on this approach will not produce better results. Policymakers can reduce overdose deaths and other harms stemming from nonmedical use of opioids and other dangerous drugs by switching to a policy of harm-reduction. Harm reduction has a success record that prohibition cannot match and involves a range of public health options. Unlike prohibition, harm-reduction strategies begin with the realistic and nonjudgmental premise that there has never been, and will never be, a drug-free society. Akin to the credo of the medical profession — “First, do no harm” — harm reduction seeks to avoid measures that exacerbate the harm that prohibition already inflicts on nonmedical users and seeks to focus on the goal of reducing deaths and the spread of disease from drug use. This conference, featuring clinical and research experts in epidemiology, public health, addiction treatment, and harm reduction, will examine the record of various harm-reduction modalities in the developed world and will consider their potential for ameliorating the problems caused by drug prohibition. **Schedule** | 7:45 — 8:15AM | **[REGISTRATION](https://securessl.cato.org/event/00001261)** | |---|:--| | 8:15 — 8:25AM | **WELCOMING REMARKS** [**Jeffrey A. Singer, MD**](https://www.cato.org/people/jeffrey-singer), Senior Fellow, Cato Institute | | 8:25 — 9:30AM | **PANEL I: SAFE SYRINGE PROGRAMS/SAFE CONSUMPTION FACILITIES** **Darwin Fisher**, Program Manager/​Clinic Coordinator, Insite, supervised injection facility, Vancouver, British Columbia [**Clark Neily**](https://www.cato.org/people/clark-neilly), Vice President for Criminal Justice, Cato Institute **Edward G. Rendell,** Former Governor of Pennsylvania [Download the video of the Welcoming Remarks and Panel 1](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-21-19-01.mp4) [Download the podcast of the Welcoming Remarks and Panel 1](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-21-19-01.mp3) | | 9:30 — 10:30AM | **PANEL II: DEATH, DISEASE, AND PROHIBITION** [**Jeffrey Miron**](https://www.cato.org/people/jeffrey-miron), Director of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, Harvard University; Director of Economic Studies, Cato Institute **Maia Szalavitz**, Award-winning author, neuroscience journalist; Soros Justice Fellow; Author of *Unbroken Brain* [Download the video of Panel 2](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-21-19-02.mp4) [Download the podcast of Panel 2](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-21-19-02.mp3) | | 10:30 — 10:45AM | **BREAK** | | 10:45 — 11:45AM | **PANEL III: EXPANDED ROLES FOR NALOXONE AND CANNABIS?** [**Trevor Burrus**](https://www.cato.org/people/trevor-burrus), Research Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute **Corey S. Davis**, Deputy Director, Staff Attorney, Network for Public Health Law **Adrianne Wilson-Poe**, Moron-Concepcion Laboratory, Washington University School of Medicine [Download the video of Panel 3](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-21-19-03.mp4) [Download the podcast of Panel 3](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-21-19-03.mp3) | | 11:45AM — 12:30PM | **LUNCHEON** | | 12:30 — 1:30PM | **KEYNOTE ADDRESS: CHANGING DYNAMICS OF THE DRUG OVERDOSE EPIDEMIC IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1979 THROUGH 2016** **Donald S. Burke**, Dean, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Moderated by [**Michael F. Cannon**](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-cannon), Director, Health Policy Studies, Cato institute [Download the video of the Keynote Address](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-21-19-04.mp4) [Download the podcast of the Keynote Address](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-21-19-04.mp3) | | 1:30 — 1:45PM | **BREAK** | | 1:45 — 3:10PM | **PANEL IV: MEDICATION ASSISTED TREATMENT, INCLUDING HEROIN ASSISTED TREATMENT** **Daniel Ciccarone**, Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco Medical Center; Principal Investigator of “Heroin in Transition Study” (NIH/NIDA) **Beau Kilmer**, Senior Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation; Codirector, RAND Drug Policy Research Center **D. Scott MacDonald**, Physician Lead, Providence Crosstown Clinic, Vancouver, British Columbia, Heroin Assisted Treatment Program [Download the video of Panel 4](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cc-03-21-19-05.mp4) [Download the podcast of Panel 4](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2019/cca-03-21-19-05.mp3) | | 3:10 — 3:15PM | **CLOSING REMARKS** [**Jeffrey A. Singer, MD**](https://www.cato.org/people/jeffrey-singer), Senior Fellow, Cato Institute | [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).