For the past decade, researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Washington State University, and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System have conducted studies on harm reduction in Seattle homeless shelters and have successfully helped people reduce their drinking, even when they did not want to stop.

Their second randomized clinical trial on the effectiveness of an approach to reduce alcohol use and alcohol problems among people in Seattle homeless shelters was published March 10 in Lancet Psychiatry. Authors included Susan Collins, PhD, Mark Duncan, MD, Andrew Saxon, MD, Emily Taylor, BSc, Nigel Mayberry, RN, Gail Hoffmann, MA, Seema Clifasefi, PhD, and Richard Ries, MD. The authors argue that traditional alcohol treatment programs that demand abstinence fail to help many people experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder. By some estimates, people who experience chronic homelessness and alcohol use disorder have, on average, undergone alcohol treatment 16 times in their lives.