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.

Are Methadone Clinics Really “Evolving” Toward Harm Reduction?

“The Evolving Field of Opioid Treatment” was the theme of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD)…

November 24, 2025

Blowing the Lid Off the Scandal of US Rehab

Trigger warning! Shoshana Walter’s new book, Rehab: An American Scandal, is going to make you cry and scream. Cry for…

October 16, 2025

Poppy Growing Shifts to Pakistan After Taliban’s Crackdown in Afghanistan

Afghanistan used to have the distinction of producing the opium for 95 per cent of the heroin on the European…

September 30, 2025

Remembering Louise Vincent, a Fighter for Drug-User Rights

The dictionary definition of “force of nature” should consist of two words: Louise Vincent. With an extraordinary, almost uncontrollable energy,…

September 17, 2025

What New York’s Cigarette Litter Says About Tobacco Control

Welcome to New York City, the cigarette tax evasion capital of the East Coast. A new study of littered cigarette…

September 9, 2025

“Mother of Methadone”—Trailblazing and Stigma in Addiction Medicine

With Dr. Melody Glenn’s new book—Mother of Methadone: A Doctor’s Quest, A Forgotten History, And A Modern-Day Crisis—Dr. Marie Nyswander…

August 26, 2025

Indian Doctors Join Call to End the Country’s Vape Ban

India’s vape ban has been enforced for six long years, in a country where smoking kills over 1 million people…

August 18, 2025

Despite FDA Authorization, the Damage of the Juul Frenzy Lingers

Well, well, well. On July 17, after five long years trying to prove what had already been proven—vapes are vastly…

August 4, 2025

Why Dr. Mark Tyndall Is Taking a Stand for Tobacco Harm Reduction

The tobacco harm reduction movement has long needed doctors to unapologetically make the case that it’s a matter of life…

July 24, 2025

“Love Rules”—Essential Exhibition Centers Harm Reduction History

The history of harm reduction in the United States, led by people who use drugs, needs to be remembered, celebrated…

June 3, 2025