Starting harm reduction club at college

[harmhunter]

First off, if this is not in the correct section, I apologize in advance and feel free to move my thread to the correct section.
That being said, I am a user of Bluelight (passive user sadly) and I seek the advice and critique from any and all of you who are willing to help.

No college I personally know of has a harm reduction club and I find this unacceptable. I am attempting charter a brand new club at my college: The harm reduction organization. The purpose of this club is to inform the community of the harm reduction model, provide opportunities for people to discuss and ask questions in a tolerant environment, offer advice for any who need it, and eventually have free syringe programs. I find Erowid and Bluelight valuable informational resources and I am wondering if I am able to cite these source? Any suggestions to further expand the harm reduction principles in this club will be appreciated.

While this club will initially serve a health purpose, we plan to make a political and social movement.We plan on spreading the principles of harm reduction by utilizing the political strategies of direct and indirect mobilization by handing out flyers, giving speeches during open mic, and directly contacting students. We also plan to build a network through social utility networks, other school clubs, and friends of friends. We would like to maximize the chances of being seen and heard as well as getting a strong network of people willing to volunteer their time to established organizations to further the cause. We hope to get strong enough to protest and spread the principles of harm reduction at the very least.

I've been thinking and planning this far too long. Is my plan okay or should I modify this further? Have you or anyone you know successfully launched a harm reduction club? Any advice or suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Renz Envy]

Well it's a promising idea, I can just see the issue here being the self-incrimination that goes along being in said club.
Fortunately college is a fairly liberal environment, so perhaps things would work.

 

[harmhunter]

Hmm true, but harm reduction of course isn't just limited to drugs, but includes and not limited to sex, driving, and other risky activities although majority of the members would probably be drug users.

 

[Renz Envy]

I don't know where you would go with informing people of safe sex. It is, after all, a pretty well-discussed precaution like drunk driving.

I can see where you can shed light to a lot of the ignorance behind recreational drug use and save a lot of college kids' from being dragged into addiction or an untimely death. You would actually probably get a pretty big audience. It would definitely be a charitable thing.

But the problem is that harm reduction is a pretty broad spectrum like you said. Some people may not like needle discussions or where to find them. Of course, that would be where you would explain the consequences of sharing or reusing needles.

 

[harmhunter]

It is, but I guess I just don't want the club to be synonymous as a "druggie club" or something like that. Drugs get a bad rep as it is and I'm really trying to be careful in how we approach this, especially since this will be the first harm reduction club that I aware of.

Indeed, also that drugs aren't just limited to the type prohibited, but alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine are as much drugs as the banned substances. More people die from alcohol than all recreational drug users and many don't even consider alcohol a drug ( remember the false dichotomy in the drug education classes that educate against "Drugs and Alcohol"). The focus is not the substance, but rather the user and educating others along with reinforcing responsible drug use is the primary goal. Drugs and drug users have a bad rep and ignorance is a major part of it.

It is, we might divide the club in to specific sectors with specializations. Of course, the goal is also to get drug users to unite rather than be prejudiced at each others choice of drug. For that specific situation, yes along with recommendations of quitting, and advice and counseling would be suggested and peer support will certainly be provided if the user should desire.