Zach Baker Director of Harm Reduction Project Host The Been There Done That Show Sat 1-25 6pm MST

SALT LAKE CITY - Jan. 23, 2014 - PRLog -- Zach Baker is President of the Salt Lake chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), and Executive Director of the Utah-based Harm Reduction Project. As a person in recovery himself, his aims include helping to lessen the unnecessary adverse outcomes experienced by drug users in society in ways that help the users and also accrue to the net benefit of society in general.
Via the Harm Reduction Project, he is working on developing and presenting public education and awareness programs about many of the problems with current approaches in dealing with drugs in society and, equally importantly, in increasing medical and social services for users.

Zach is also coordinating and consulting with related organizations, citizen groups and legislators. His goal is to contribute to a legislative agenda designed to optimize society's approaches to these social problems in the 21st Century. Zach’s input is based on his knowledge of the growing body of research in these areas and on studying the experience of successful programs already initiated in other states.

He understands that these initiatives are intertwined, that is, that increased public awareness will rally support for legislative reform and funding for services, and that the provision of the services will lessen the negative “footprint” of drug problems on both users and society.

The Harm Reduction Project (HRP) works to promote the health and dignity of individuals and communities who are impacted by drug use for the benefit of all. HRP is a non-profit service and educational organization based in Salt Lake City with a number of specific programs and goals.

The last 70 notably unsuccessful years of trying to "stamp out" the problems of drugs – problems which have existed in various forms for thousands of years without ever "going away" – has demonstrated the need for new thinking and new approaches.  The basic and time-tested notion of Harm Reduction applies to many areas of society and can be summed up as "if we can't eliminate a social or medical problem, we can at least alleviate the harm it causes by measures that reduce the suffering and consequences of the problem."

In the case of drugs, overdose deaths, to cite one example, have been increasing at an alarming rate for years, both for illegal and prescription drug users.  And for another, dirty needles are a major vector for the spread of dangerous diseases like HIV and hepatitis, and therefore a menace to all citizens when floating around on community streets.

Meanwhile, lack of adequate social, psychological, medical and pharmaceutical services leads to havoc not only in users' lives but also lowers the quality of a community's livability. So as one direct measure, HRP is opening Utah’s first legal syringe distribution program.

In the area of coordination of society's overall approaches to Harm Reduction, HRP has gathered input and feedback from concerned groups and other sources, and has been providing research support on a bill being introduced by several co-sponsors in the upcoming session of the Utah State Legislature.

This measure, known as the 911 Good Samaritan Act, will, among other provisions, make the reporting of and response to an overdose a medical rather than a legal matter for both the reporter and the party who has overdosed.  The bill also intends to address the regulation and distribution of proven agents like Naloxone whose administration can immediately reverse the life-threatening effect of opiate overdoses if delivered in time.

Join us on at the Been There Done That Show on Saturday 1-25-14 at our web site www.beentheredonethatshow.com Marsha, Talks with Zach Baker Ex. Director of the Harm Reduction Project which works to promote the health/dignity of individuals & communities who are impacted by drug use for the benefit of all Join us from 6pm-7pm click on the listen now button and join our show online you do not want to miss this show call in at (646) 200-0112 with questions or comments for our host. Also join us on skype marshasabc

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