Kastalia Medrano

Kastalia is Filter‘s deputy editor. She previously worked at half a dozen mainstream digital media outlets and would not recommend the drug war coverage at any of them. For a while she was a syringe program peer worker in NYC, where she did outreach hep C testing and navigated participants through treatment. She also writes with Jon Kirkpatrick.

Now the FDA Wants Nalmefene to Be a Fentanyl-Exposure “Prophylactic”

The Food and Drug Administration is reportedly providing guidance and “positive feedback” for a proposed nalmefene product that will last…

November 14, 2025

Are We Sure We’re Using Fentanyl Test Strips the Right Way?

Every couple of weeks a local media outlet does some coverage of fentanyl test strips (FTS) that tells basically the…

November 12, 2025

Piece by Piece, FCC Dismantles Its Prison and Jail Phone Call Price Caps

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released the finalized version of its order regulating the costs of incarcerated people’s communication…

November 10, 2025

Feds Take Small Steps Away From Life Sentences for Street-Level Drug Selling

New amendments to federal sentencing guidelines will put less of an emphasis on the quantity of drugs someone was charged…

November 6, 2025

Michigan Will Again Try to Legalize Its Rising Number of Syringe Programs

Michigan, where syringe service programs (SSP) have been rapidly expanding yet operate in a legal gray area, is considering legislation…

November 3, 2025

Some States Try to Ban 7-OH, Others to Regulate Kratom. Some Try Both.

On October 27, New Jersey Senator Shirley K. Turner (D) introduced a bill that would criminalize 7-hydroxymitragynine as a Schedule…

October 30, 2025

FCC Raises Prison and Jail Phone Call Pricing—Higher Than It Said It Would

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved its proposal to nearly double the prices that people in prisons and jails…

October 29, 2025

MA Overdose Bills Signal Push Toward Nalmefene, Civil Commitment

Massachusetts is considering multiple proposals that, taken together, would make the landscape of overdose response increasingly hostile toward people who…

October 28, 2025

Indivior Isn’t Done With Opvee, the Overdose Antidote That’s Not Narcan

Less than two months after an investigation into deceptive marketing prompted Indivior Inc. to stop promoting its overdose antidote Opvee,…

October 24, 2025

SNAP Benefits Stop Amid Shutdown—and New Rules Restricting Eligibility

The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not issue November benefits to the 42 million people who rely on…

October 22, 2025