Laura G

UCSF doctors warn: Abstinence-only approach to drug use can kill As San Francisco politicians increasingly embrace abstinence-first approaches to substance abuse, four UCSF doctors issued a note of caution.

Abstinence-based programs can kill 🩵

Trump administration says it wants to fight fentanyl, but it’s slashing budget to fight opioid overdoses If SAMHSA’s footprint shrinks, will the agency and the country be prepared to respond to a new behavioral health crisis altogether?

Trump administration says it wants to fight fentanyl, but it’s slashing budget to fight opioid overdoses
www.statnews.com/2025/03/27/s...

Medetomidine is replacing xylazine in Philly street fentanyl − creating new hurdles for health care providers and drug users An emergency physician and nurse scientist explain what medetomidine is and how to respond if someone is overdosing on it.

What prohibition does 🩵

In Thailand, arresting those that use nicotine vapes. Weirdoes.

Thailand Cracks Down Harder on Vape Possession. Is There Hope? As law enforcement raids sweep a country which has had total prohibition for over a decade, harm reduction advocates haven't given up.

More police raids and arrests in Thailand have targeted both sales and personal possession of nicotine vapes.

Harm reduction advocate Asa Saligupta is on a committee presenting legalization recommendations to lawmakers today.

@kiransidhu41.bsky.social reports:

Mayor Daniel Lurie is going after a new target in S.F.’s drug crisis: Free pipes and foil Mayor Daniel Lurie is going after a new target in S.F.’s drug crisis: Free pipes and foil

Restricting the supply of safer smoking supplies will force more drug users to share supplies, leading to the spread of diseases, and cause people to smoke less and inject more. Some studies suggest that injecting fentanyl results in a higher risk of overdose than smoking. 🩵

Inside Rhode Island’s Pioneering Overdose Prevention Center Filter sits down for an extensive interview with the co-director of the nation's first state-sanctioned OPC, which just began operations.

None of this would have been possible without our strong peer as a lot of people who are running recovery centers, a lot of people who are in recovery, but also a lot of harm reductionists. A lot of people have shifted their very recovery-focused work to look at harm reduction. ❤

Absurdity knows no bounds. Our communities are painfully aware that police can be found guilty of gross and routine misconduct, abuse, and violence against the communities tasked to protect and serve and still have the audacity to request and be granted more resources to continue harmful behavior 💜

Mexico's Lawsuit Against US Gunmakers Reaches Supreme Court Arguments begin March 4. The case pertains to drug trafficking-related violence in Mexico, with big implications for US-Mexico relations.

Do gun manufacturers in the United States bear responsibility for thousands of murders by drug trafficking organizations in Mexico? The Mexican government is suing companies for $10 billion in damages. The outcome could have dramatic implications for US-Mexico relations and the drug war. 💜

Grow a Spine: Democrats Have a Lot to Learn From the German Left The German elections show we don’t need to moderate fascism, we need to oppose it.

The centrist Social Democratic Party earned record low results, with 16 percent, and Green Party centrists lost a significant number of votes. U.S. Democrats must learn from their mistakes, and take notes from Germany’s left-wing party, the only party to dramatically exceed expectations on Sunday. 💜

Surviving an overdose can be excruciating. New research suggests it doesn’t have to be Naloxone is a fantastic tool in reducing opioid deaths, but gentler versions would be helpful for fighting overdose

Thank you, @clairezagorski.bsky.social ❣️

A poster for the economic blackout on February 28. It is a big red Jack rabbit on an aqua blue back ground. It says economic blackout in hand done black type. There are two black speech bubbles. One says “don’t buy stuff Friday February 28th. The other says we have power. Below it says No Amazon, Walmart, target, gas food, gas. Below that it says OK small business, use cash. Designed by Martha Rich.

I made this the other night while procrastinating, mainly because I thought all the posts about the blackout were boring. It feels like there is momentum bringing people together!

B.C. researchers studied opioid agonist therapy during incarceration and non-fatal overdose after release
OAT medications like methadone or buprenorphine help to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms
Those who received OAT had a 45% lower risk of non-fatal overdose in the month after release ♥️

That is exactly what happens. 🔥

A group fighting the fentanyl crisis says Trump's tariffs could make the problem worse Trump's tariffs on Mexico and Canada, aimed at curbing fentanyl flow, may worsen the crisis by spiking overdoses, a harm reduction advocate warns.

Except that I did not say 'while slowing the rate of fentanyl entering the country is a good idea' 💙

The Worcester City Council voted to approve the new resolution amid the barrage of attacks Trump has launched against trans people and prompted by allegations from Worcester’s first openly nonbinary city councillor, of bigotry from fellow council members. 💜

100%. SF has its own Trump lite.

The CFPB was established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, a sweeping piece of legislation that imposed significant regulatory reform in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Its remit is to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive financial practices.

Trudeau Promises Canada "Fentanyl Czar" to Avoid Trump Tariffs Filter spoke with Nicholas Boyce of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition to better understand impact of Trudeau's unexpected announcement.

Every dollar that we are spending on so-called border security and police and law enforcement is a dollar we are not spending on addressing the housing crisis, mental health or employment programs. 🩵

Trans rights are human rights.

As immigrant communities, families, allies, and activists think about what can be done to shift policy and protect people, one thing is certain: similar to filming the police as they operate, you have the right to film ICE, as long as you are not obstructing official duties. 🩵

ICE Wants to Know If You’re Posting Negative Things About It Online ICE wants to hire contractors to monitor social media for threats. Those who criticize the agency could be pulled into the dragnet.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to monitor and locate “negative” social media discussion about the agency and its top officials, according to contract documents reviewed by The Intercept. 🩵

Switzerland had a drug overdose crisis. Then it made methadone easy to get Switzerland has an overdose death rate that is roughly one-twentieth the rate in the United States. It got there by opening up treatment.

The opioid death rate here is roughly one-twentieth the rate in the United States. The country has become a model for a highly effective, evidence-based policy response to a drug epidemic 🩵

Members of Congress have signaled they will try to limit immigrants’ eligibility for federal programs that improve their families’ access to health, food, and shelter and eligibility for the Affordable Care Act and Child Tax Credits. Immigrants are already excluded from most of these programs 🩵

Second dat! 💛

They should then also stop placing immigrants they will arrest for using drugs onto cages or into busses on their journey to the next ICE bust.

Experts said that the finding that cats might have passed the virus to people was not entirely unexpected. But they were alarmed that the finding had not yet been released to the public. 🩵 Keep your cats indoors if possible 🩵

This is the essence of tobacco harm reduction: a public health strategy that prioritizes transitioning people away from products that kill, rather than worrying excessively about products that don’t. 🩵

This kind of reporting is exactly what journalists should be doing: holding government officials accountable to the people who elected - and did not elected - them.