10 Harm Reduction tips to help you moderate your drug and alcohol use

If you are struggling with drugs or alcohol, you might need support to help you regulate or cut down your use. Take a look at these ten harm reduction tips to help you meet your drug and alcohol goals.

1 - Don't keep drugs or alcohol in your home

This is a simple one. If you don’t have drugs or alcohol in your home, you cannot use them. Creating barriers between you and alcohol or your drug of choice is a great way to reduce your use. Think about it this way; if you are trying not to drink and the only thing you have to do to break that promise to yourself is to open your fridge, you may easily end up drinking in a split second of bad decision making. However, if you have to get into your car, drive to the liquor store, buy the beer, drive home, and then drink it, there are so many more steps where you can stop and think about whether this is really what you want to do.

2 - Buy lower concentrated or less powerful substances

For example, if you are using hash oil extracts, try switching to smoking cannabis flower with a lower THC content, or switching to a CBD heavy strain. Or, if you are drinking hard liquor, try drinking a low alcohol beer instead. This allows you to still engage with the substance you are using, still “scratch the itch” if you need to, but it reduces the negative effects of the substance including any side effects, withdrawal symptoms and physical addiction symptoms.

3 - Switch to less powerful routes of administration

Routes of administration (ROA) refers to how you ingest drugs. Injecting drugs is generally the most powerful route, while smoking, ingesting (eating), or snorting can be more or less powerful depending on the drug you are using. If you are injecting your drug of choice, consider smoking or snorting it instead. If you are eating cannabis, consider smoking it or vaporizing it. This allows you to still engage with the drug you are accustomed to using, but cuts down on potential harm like the risk of overdose, withdrawal symptoms, or negative side effects of the drug.

4 - Before you use drugs or drink, give yourself a 10 minute timeout or meditation

In addiction, and in drug use in general, you might find yourself so stuck in your routine that you don’t stop to notice how you are feeling as you are going through the process of using or abusing drugs. One of the ways to combat the automatic nature of addiction is to set aside intentional time before you use to get really clear on what you are feeling and why you are using the drug.

Before you use your drug of choice, try setting a 10 minute timer and notice what’s going on in your body, in your thoughts, and what sort of feelings are present for you. If you like you can use this time to journal what you find as a way of keeping track of your internal state when you are using drugs. You might find that you are using drugs in order to escape specific uncomfortable feelings, and getting clear on this is extremely helpful in your recovery process.

5 - After you use drugs or drink, give yourself a set amount of time before you allow yourself to use again

Setting boundaries and barriers to your drug and alcohol use behavior is extremely helpful in regulating your use.  For example, try setting a 1 hour timer after you finish a drink and don't make yourself another until the timer goes off. This can keep you from engaging in binge drinking, blacking out, and many other negative effects that come from drinking too much or using too many drugs.

6 - Get an accountability partner

One of the most important factors in successfully cutting down or quitting drugs and alcohol is a supportive community. If you have a friend or someone you know who is open to holding you accountable as you work on your drug and alcohol use, you can call or text them daily to check in about how you are doing. This consistent check in with a supportive friend can help you stay on track with your goals and not get lost in overusing.

7 - Schedule obligations throughout your week

One of the hardest things about this past year with Covid-19 is how most of us have long stretches of unstructured time. If you can schedule activities or obligations throughout your week, such as calling your family or doing a zoom game night, these scheduled activities can help you structure your time and can be a motivation to stay sober or at least to moderate your use.

8 - Keep track of your use in a note on your phone

If you are using drugs and alcohol and you feel like you might be using too much, it can be extremely helpful to track your use so you know exactly how much of a particular substance you are taking. Mark down daily what you use so you have an objective look at what your intake is. You might be surprised that your drug or alcohol use could be a lot higher than you realize. Having an objective and clear way to track how many drinks or how many times you used a particular drug throughout the week can be very helpful to keep you honest and motivated.

9 - Set up specific times you are allowed to drink or use drugs throughout the week

Many people use the “after 5pm” rule for alcohol use. This can be a helpful way to remind yourself when is an appropriate or acceptable time to be drinking or using drugs. This also helps you to limit the amount of time you are using drugs or alcohol which will cut down on the overall amount you use in a week. I recommend thinking about which days and which hours feel like a ok time to be using drugs or drinking. This simple rule you set with yourself might help you regulate or cut down, rather than allowing drugs and alcohol to take over your whole day or week.

10 - Make use of online resources to support you

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been extremely hard for some people to reach out for support. However, there are many resources available online even if you can’t leave your home. Online recovery resources such as www.moderation.org, www.smartrecovery.org, www.aaphonemeetings.org, www.nabyphone.com, www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking, and more, can be ways to get support in your recovery during this socially isolated time.

If you are needing additional support, you can reach out to me for drug and alcohol counseling to help you meet your drinking and drug use goals. I offer free 20 minute consultations to answer any questions you have and so we can see if I’m a good fit to support you.