First, Do No Harm
A true story of love, loss, and the impossible choices of loving someone with addiction.
This is the story of Jared Thompson and his partner Dustin's struggle with addiction, Jared's subsequent legal troubles for providing controlled substances, and his journey through grief and advocacy work.
As a former Army combat medic, I understood harm reduction. I understood that addiction is a disease, not a moral failing. But when the person you love is dying, and the systems meant to help them have failed repeatedly, what do you do? Do you stand by and watch? Or do you try to keep them alive, even if it means breaking the law?
First, Do No Harm explores the devastating collision between love and the criminal justice system, the impossible ethics of caring for someone with addiction, and what it means to survive loving someone the world decided wasn't worth saving.
This memoir examines generational addiction patterns, medical ethics around harm reduction, the complex relationship between helping and enabling, and how the war on drugs criminalizes care and punishes families for loving "the wrong way."
Content Warning: This memoir discusses addiction, overdose, death, grief, and the criminal justice system.
