Harm Reduction - Blog
In the true spirit of Social Clubs, your chosen joint practices some good old Harm Reduction.
Not only are those pesky legal and social harms reduced by having a safe, private space to have and use dagga, knowing what comes from where helps to further prevent health harms.
Good Social Clubs always support their Members in reducing legal, health, and social harms. Whether you need to get your head out of the clouds, change things up, or if anyone gives you guff for what you puff, your Social Club will have your back!
What Is Harm Reduction?
Of course, we do need to slow down a little bit and understand what we mean when we talk about Harm Reduction. It is a term many toss about but few truly understand. So, let’s break it down to understand what it is, why it matters, and how we can practice it through our Social Clubs - many of us do it already, we just don’t know it yet.
Harm Reduction is very much about reducing, or avoiding, the harms that come with certain behaviours. The basic philosophy of Harm Reduction is based in reducing the legal, health, and social harms associated with a behaviour. In this case, the behaviour we are talking about is using cannabis.
If we think about Harm Reduction in terms of bungee jumping, we know we can reduce the very real harm of being splattered to gooey bits by using a rope, wearing a harness and helmet, and listening very closely to whatever our instructor tells us to do before we jump. Of course, the rope needs to be tied securely to something to make sure it doesn’t come down with us!
Using cannabis is not exactly bungee jumping. Although, a bit too much too fast on any empty tummy after a long day can drop us faster than jumping off a bridge!
If bungee jumping doesn’t work for you, think about how a safety belt helps prevent injuries in crashes or how having a designated driver gets everyone home safe at the end of a good night out.
Overcoming the legal, health, and social harms associated with cannabis is more easily done with a Social Club. In fact, Social Clubs are basically Harm Reduction centres or sites where adults can safely enjoy cannabis without worrying about possible legal, health, or social harms. Essentially, a Social Club is what anchors the rope, but it also provides the harness, helmet, and instructions for fun, safe leap.
Reducing Legal Harms
The legal harms of cannabis come directly from its prohibition. Making something illegal always attracts a bit of crime, and a whole lot of fear of the law. Ask any seasoned stoner, and they will tell you that they still fear being arrested over their cannabis use, even though we have held the Constitutional Right to have and use in private for over 8 years now.
The privilege of being able to have and use dagga in private is not something everyone enjoys, and that is where your favourite Social Club really helps to reduce possible legal harms. Nobody likes being caught, let alone arrested, for enjoying a toke in a place where they can attract the wrong kind of attention. Being able to pop in at a Social Club to have and use in private with likeminded people keeps us safe from someone calling the cops on us, police harassment, or even arrest.
Remember, if you have any trouble with law enforcement in any way because of your relationship with dagga, you can call your Social Club for assistance. Be sure to save your Social Club’s contact details when you sign up! This is NOT a get-out-of-jail-free card – how you behave matters.
Legal harms are also reduced when we can share with each other through our Social Clubs. When Members grow on behalf of other Members and share with them, we reduce the risk of arrest while scoring from dodgy sources.
Reducing Health Harms
Dodgy sources are likely the biggest health harms we can face. If we can’t track and trace what we are puffing or nibbling, we run a real risk of having a bad time. That’s not to say everything out there is dodgy, but not knowing where our cannabis comes from can have us overthinking things and having a bad time.
Having trusted Members growing plants and making goodies along with good quality control and testing is central to reducing health harms. By tracking and tracing everything, your Social Club can see where things may have gone wrong if people start having the wrong kind of experiences and deal with any problems before they can become a real issue for others.
Health harms can also happen when we don’t get the right information about what we consume, or if we use too much, forget to eat and stay hydrated, or give in to peer pressure. A good Social Club always answers your questions, helps you control your dose, supports you if you have a bad time, and cancels peer pressure before it can happen.
As a recreational space, your Social Club does not offer health advice and definitely does not make any health claims. If you want to use the herb for medicinal or therapeutic reasons, your Social Club can guide you toward someone.
If you have mental health issues, it is always good to check in with yourself whether you use cannabis or not. Your Social Club can always support you, but your mental health is your responsibility.
Reducing Social Harms
Social harms are bound in stigma. Many of us know all too well what it means to be the Green Sheep of the family, to be called “daggakop” and “lazy stoner”. Many of us also face social discrimination in our communities, and even workplaces.
As judgement free spaces, our Social Clubs make it easier to break free from the social harms we face in our daily lives. We can hang out with a community of proud daggakoppe and very not lazy stoners at our Social Clubs. Without judgement. All walks of life are welcome. There is no peer pressure to share in the bounty; simply come as you are.
Social Clubs are also great at helping the wider public get used to people consuming the plant. Through growing presence, Social Clubs are seen more and more as alternatives to bars while really helping people accept cannabis as an alternative to booze.
With no peer pressure to consume, Social Clubs are truly judgement-free safe spaces for people of all walks of life to come together, hang out, and enjoy their Constitutional Right to have and use dagga in private, without worrying about legal, health, or social harms.
So, let’s go bungee jumping! Or, you know, hang at the Social Club.