Viewpoints of Policy-Makers about Community Participation in Harm Reduction Programs for Drug Addiction

Drug addiction is one of the most important social, economic and health problems of the country. Due to special geographic location of IRAN, every year millions of dollars are spent to combat this problem. In this article, we tried to gather the comments of related policy makers about the harm reduction approach (in drug misuse) and community participation. This was a qualitative research. Interview questions focus on addiction and the concept of harm reduction and the perspective of participants regarding community participation in this program. Interviewees identified the role of interest and power of their centers in this process along with barriers for implementation of harm reduction programs. Interviews were done with representatives of governmental organizations, public and private institutions. About the causes of addiction, most of the interviewees believed that many factors are responsible for drug addiction. This attitude among policy makers is very precious because for years, there were limited methods for reduction of addiction in Iran. About participation of people, although there was general agreement, but a strong emphasis on its limitations some declared that it must be completely defined. This study determined that despite an initial resistance to harm reduction programs among staff, now there is a sense of cooperation and coordination among them. This study revealed that there is a lack of legal and administrative infrastructure in macro-level which results in reduction of cooperation between organizations. This interaction is the basis for community participation.