Kastalia Medrano

Kastalia is Filter‘s deputy editor. She previously worked at a number of other media outlets and wouldn’t recommend the drug coverage at any of them. She also works with drug users in NYC and drug checkers in North Carolina to track hyperlocal supply changes, and is part of a xylazine wound care team operated by the Urban Survivors Union. She uses meth daily and other drugs sometimes.

FDA Approves First Over-the-Counter Naloxone Product

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first over-the-counter (OTC) naloxone product, waiving the prescription requirement and with it…

March 29, 2023

FDA Inches Closer to OTC Narcan—at the Expense of Generic Naloxone

Advisors to the Food and Drug Administration have voted unanimously in support of making a naloxone product available without requiring…

February 15, 2023

SOTU: Biden Promises Fentanyl Crackdowns, OUD Meds in Prisons

On February 7, President Joe Biden delivered the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. It…

February 8, 2023

A Harm Reduction Guide to Better Booty-Bumping Kits

Every drug user I talk to regularly has heard my case for putting drugs up your butt. It's a conversation…

January 13, 2023

DOJ Delays Safehouse Response to 2023, an Unexpected Blow

The Department of Justice was expected to filed its long-awaited response to the ongoing Safehouse Philly lawsuit on December 5—widely…

December 5, 2022

Four States Close Prison Slavery Loopholes; Louisiana Votes Against

Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont have closed loopholes in their state constitutions that had allowed prisoners to be subjected to…

November 9, 2022

FDA Exempts Harm Reduction From Biggest Naloxone Access Restrictions

On September 22, the Food and Drug Administration announced that harm reduction naloxone suppliers are exempt from wholesale pharmaceutical distribution…

September 26, 2022

“Rainbow Fentanyl” Is Probably a Good Thing, at This Point

When Toronto’s Moss Park Overdose Prevention Site opened as an unsanctioned service in August 2017, drug-checking data contributed by staff…

September 23, 2022

The Pfizer Naloxone Shortage Ends, Leaving Us With Just the Regular One

[Read Filter's August 1 story introducing Remedy Alliance's naloxone distribution here.]   In the same way that the United States…

August 8, 2022

Exclusive: For the First Time, Harm Reduction Gets a Naloxone of Its Own

In late April 2021, a manufacturing disruption brought Pfizer’s naloxone production to a standstill, leaving more than half the country’s…

August 1, 2022