Herbal Harm Reduction

Current Students: View Class Content Here!

Herbal Harm Reduction is an approximately 10-hour semi-asynchronous course for people who use drugs, community members, and careworkers covering holistic healthcare for drug users. Because there is already a wealth of safer-use information available as well as guides for more immediate forms of user-oriented care (such as wound and skincare), this course takes a wider view of physical health. It is experience-driven and drawn from Industrial Western Medical, Western Herbal, Traditional Southern Folk, and experiential sources. We'll cover common health needs of drug-using populations; autonomous support and interventions; and higher care indications (that is, signs that a health problem requires official medical treatment to resolve). Specific attention will be paid to nourishment and GI complications; as well as a wide variety of nervous system needs.

Registration for this course is open to the general public. However, it's assumed that students have at least a basic understanding of:

• Western terminology used to describe herbal actions, specific indications, and contraindications
• Very basic anatomy and physiology
• Cultural and medical competency regarding drug use (e.g. familiarity with common substances, their common ROAs, and their basic actions)
• A general familiarity with the concept of harm reduction
• Basic herbal medicine making and dosing

My zine An Anarchist Free Herbal is free, takes about 90 minutes to 3 hours for most people to read, and will get you up to speed on the basic herbal skills assumed for this course.

The suggested donation for this course is $100-$600. No one will be turned away for lack of funds! This offering is the result of some very hard-won lessons on behalf of myself and my community members. Please consider how drug criminalization and use-related healthcare neglect has affected you personally as well as your personal financial status when donating.

You can donate via ko-fi (accepts paypal & bank cards). Cashapp available upon request.

Content will go live on March 1st. There will be a kickoff mixer from 6-7PM EST on Jit.Si to meet other students and discuss the course.

In this course, you will work through 5 modules:

1. Health Blindness and the Safety Curve (groundwork)
2. GI Health & Nourishment
3. The Nervous System
4. Pain Management
5. Other Use-Related Health Concerns

Each module contains a pre-recorded lecture, quick reference notes, and a classwork assignment. Most classwork will be published for other students to see and discuss.

This course offers a materia medica of monographs written specifically for this course as well as a library of other books and resources intended to support students through the class content and beyond.

In addition to the pre-recorded content, there will also be several “office hour” meetings to discuss the content and homework. Meetings will happen over Jit.Si

Because discussion is such an important part of herbal practice, I request that students plan on attending at least two meetings. Office hours occur on rotating days of the week to aid accessibility. They will be from 6-7PM EST on:

• March 18th(weds)
• April 4th(sat)
• April 15th(weds)
• April 26th(sun)
• May 6th(weds)

Sign up for Winter 2026 classes here!