Dan Bigg didn't worry about social norms or even the law when lives were at stake.
In the early 1990s, when he was a Chicago activist trying to stem the spread of HIV by distributing clean hypodermic needles, that activity was in a legal gray zone. He did it anyway.
A decade later, as heroin-related deaths began to surge, he pioneered the idea of putting the overdose-reversing medication naloxone into the hands of drug users and their loved ones. At the time, it was available only with a prescription, and some said making it readily accessible would encourage risky behavior. He did it anyway.
As a result of Bigg's efforts, friends and colleagues said, thousands of people who would have died from infections or overdoses are still alive -- a flesh and blood legacy of the "harm reduction" philosophy Bigg helped to popularize.
Bigg, a co-founder of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, died at his home Tuesday. He was 59. The Cook County medical examiner?s office said the cause of death remains undetermined pending further tests.
