Helen Redmond

Helen is Filter‘s senior editor and a multimedia journalist. She is on the methadone, vaping and nicotine train. Helen 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.

A Methadone Pioneer Who Freed People From the Cruel Clinic System

Dr. Edwin Salsitz is a methadone OG. He was one of a coterie of New York City doctors who pioneered…

April 23, 2025

A Day at the DEA Museum

Why would anyone visit the DEA Museum? My excuse was to see all the lies and misinformation in one place.…

February 13, 2025

How “Trojan Horse Technology” Turned Health Care Into Policing

Policing Patients: Treatment and Surveillance on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis is a Swiss Army knife of a book.…

December 12, 2024

“Never Seen Anything Work Like This”—Pioneer on NZ’s Vaping Story

Dr. Marewa Glover has dedicated her life to helping people stop smoking in New Zealand. Her hard work has paid…

October 31, 2024

“Essential in Our World”—NYC Harm Reductionist on Vaping

“Harm reduction for tobacco is essential in our world,” says Jerry Otero. “So many of the people that I work…

October 8, 2024

“The Forgotten Substance”—Harm Reduction Vaping Groups in Portugal

When more people in harm reduction are considering how to integrate tobacco harm reduction into their work with people who…

September 6, 2024

“You’ll Get That Bounce!” NY Harm Reduction Org Hosts Vaping Group

St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction (SACHR) is a pioneering organization. When it started handing out sterile syringes to New…

July 18, 2024

“Horrible”—Harm Reduction Legend Discusses the Methadone System

I first heard Edith Springer speak at the 2004 Harm Reduction Coalition conference in New Orleans. She was explaining how…

June 4, 2024

No Drug Education: The Rise and Fall of DARE

Praised by politicians, parents and presidents, police officers taught DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) to fifth and sixth-grade students in…

May 1, 2024

Can Methadone Vans Deliver the Goods?

A long white van, stocked with clear plastic cups and a machine that dispenses liquid methadone, was launched in New…

April 1, 2024