Harm Reduction describes drug policies that balance the damage done by the response to drug use with any harm done by the drugs themselves. These policies grow out of the unsuccessful and counterproductive consequences of drug prohibition. For example, medicial cannabis might be prescribed to reduce reliance on opioid drugs for patients sufferign from neuropathy (nerve pain). See Wider Use Of Cannabis Therapy Could Reduce Prescription Pain Drug Deaths January 2, 2012. NORML.