Filter launched in New York City in September 2018. Our mission is to advocate through journalism for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy and human rights.
Filter is owned and operated by The Influence Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. You can read about The Influence Foundation’s structure and funding here. You can follow Filter on Facebook, on X and on Bluesky—and sign up for our email newsletters here.
Will Godfrey – Editor-in-chief
Will is the founding editor-in-chief of Filter, and executive director of The Influence Foundation, the nonprofit behind Filter. He has worked as an editor and journalist in the drugs and human rights spaces for two decades. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of The Influence, covering drug policy and related areas, and also founded and ran Substance, another harm reduction-oriented news site. His previous roles include co-founding and editing an award-winning print publication written by and for incarcerated people in London.
Kastalia Medrano – Deputy Editor
Kastalia previously worked at a number of other media outlets and would not recommend the drug coverage at any of them. For a while she was also a syringe program peer worker in NYC, where she did outreach hep C testing and navigated participants through treatment.
Helen Redmond – Senior Editor
Helen is a multimedia journalist on the methadone, vaping and nicotine train. She is also a filmmaker. Her two documentaries about methadone are Liquid Handcuffs and Swallow THIS. As an LCSW, she has worked with people who use drugs for over two decades. Helen is an adjunct assistant professor and teaches a course about the War on Drugs at NYU. She lives in Harlem.
Alexander Lekhtman – Staff Writer
Alexander writes about the movement to end the War on Drugs. He grew up in New Jersey and swears it’s actually alright. He’s also a musician hoping to change the world through the power of ledger lines and legislation. Alexander was previously Filter‘s editorial fellow.
Kiran Sidhu – Tobacco Harm Reduction Fellow
Kiran is a London-based writer and journalist, who has has written for publications including the Guardian, the Telegraph and I Paper.
Kiran’s fellowship was previously supported by an independently administered tobacco harm reduction scholarship from Knowledge-Action-Change—an organization that has separately provided restricted grants and donations to Filter.
Jonathan Kirkpatrick – Tobacco Harm Reduction Fellow
Jonathan covers harm reduction and re-entry from Washington Corrections Center, where he’s currently incarcerated. He trains peer educators in HIV and hepatitis C harm reduction, and is a Teacher’s Assistant for re-entry workshops. His writing has been published by the Appeal, Truthout, Jewish Currents and the Seattle Journal of Social Justice.
Jonathan’s fellowship is supported by an independently administered tobacco harm reduction scholarship from Knowledge-Action-Change—an organization that has separately provided restricted grants and donations to Filter.
Filter was an official media partner of the 2019 Reform conference in St. Louis. Filter has also been an official partner of the Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw, Poland, for several years.
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Please send all email correspondence to: Editor [at] filtermag.org.
We welcome pitches for feature-length articles around our subject areas, including investigative reports, op-eds, essays and interviews. Please send proposals (rather than drafts) and a sample of your previous work. Due to volume of pitches, we regret we cannot reply to them all; we will get back to you within a week if your idea is one we can use.
We take our responsibilities seriously and are committed to correcting any factual errors. Please read our Corrections Policy to learn how to report an issue and what you can expect from us.
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