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 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.

White House Reviews Its Drug Control Strategy, Finds It’s Doing a Good Job

In 2022 the White House Office of National Drug Control Strategy (ONDCP) published its first National Drug Control Strategy, which…

January 2, 2025

DOJ Sues CVS, Alleging “Massive Public Harm” From Opioid Dispensing

The Department of Justice is accusing CVS Pharmacy Inc. of unlawfully filling opioid prescriptions that directly led to overdose deaths,…

December 19, 2024

The “Reemergence” of Carfentanil

Proponents of the Controlled Substances Act like to characterize fentanyl analogs as more potent and thus more deadly than fentanyl—if you…

December 6, 2024

Why Would the Temporary Class-Wide Fentanyl Bans Ever Expire?

Six years after the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a two-year temporary order placing fentanyl-related substances (FRS) under Schedule I of…

November 26, 2024

US Appeals Court Blocks Securus, Pay Tel Bids to Stall Prison Call Rate Caps

The landmark Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations poised to bring down costs of phone and video calls for incarcerated people will…

November 21, 2024

CBP Rolls Out Mildly Surprising Workforce Naloxone Policy

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has implemented its first internal policy covering staff access to naloxone. While it revolves entirely…

November 7, 2024

FDA Reports Largest-Ever Seizure of Unregulated Nicotine Vapes

On October 22, the Food and Drug Administration announced what appears to be the United States government's largest seizure of…

October 24, 2024

Feds Say Vapes, and Not Abstinence, Research Priority for Smoking Harms

In a call for innovation to reduce the public health harms of smoking, the National Institutes of Health and the…

October 16, 2024

SAMHSA-Backed Toolkit Introduces Harm Reduction to Families, Caregivers

The National Family Support Technical Assistance Center (NFSTAC) has curated a “Family & Caregiver Toolkit,” aimed at those whose children…

October 8, 2024

Harris Visits Border, Confirms Plan to Arrest Our Way Out of Overdose Crisis

In her first visit to the United States-Mexico border since 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris met with Customs and Border…

September 30, 2024