HRI has taken the decision to postpone HR21. As for many organisations looking to run live events at the moment, this has been another agonising decision.

Our tracking of the vaccine rollout across the world shows us that even if international travel is possible in December 2021, the conference will not be accessible for a huge swathe of the world where rollout has been hampered by a lack of access to the vaccine and by infrastructure issues. The Harm Reduction International Conference exists to bring together people from around the world to learn from each other. If a large proportion of the world’s population can’t meet, our decision is to not yet gather in person.

We have investigated the option of a hybrid conference or an online conference, but we feel that the in-person factor is too important to this conference. We are committed to a live event and the rich experience it gives our delegates. As a convenor of people, if we can’t promise this, alongside the basic safety of everyone involved in our conference, we will continue to postpone until a time when we can.

We are all desperate to gather, to network, to learn and to keep pushing for change, but circumstances mean that our time is not now.

HR23 will take place in Melbourne from 16 to 19 April 2023. We promise that it will be worth the wait!