Kastalia Medrano

    Kastalia is Filter‘s deputy editor. She previously worked at half a dozen mainstream digital media outlets and does 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.

    DEA Permanently Bans Five Benzos, the First to Be Placed in Schedule I

    On March 2, the Drug Enforcement Administration published a final rule permanently scheduling five ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    Oklahoma Weighs “Repeat Offender” Law for Drug Use During Pregnancy

    Oklahoma is considering a bill that would increase the state’s authority to intervene when ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    Pressured by Fentanyl Deaths, County Coroner Laws Evolve in Weird Ways

    Legislators in Indiana have unanimously advanced a bill that proposes an unusual solution to ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    Illinois HOPE Act Would “Codify Harm Reduction” and Housing-First

    Illinois is considering a wide-ranging harm reduction bill that advocates believe may have traction ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    FDA Drops Drug-Approval Standard From Two Controlled Trials to One

    The Food and Drug Administration will no longer expect pharmaceutical manufacturers to submit two ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    Audit: Widespread Failures in Federal Prisons’ Use of Halfway House System

    The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is not only continuing to incarcerate people past ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    New OPC Bill in Connecticut, Where Gov. Lamont Wanted to “Wait and See”

    Connecticut senators have introduced a bill to authorize an overdose prevention center (OPC) pilot ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    NM, Facing Rising Deaths, Calls for Overdose Prevention Center Study

    On February 9, New Mexico state senators will discuss a proposal to study the ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    TrumpRx Launches, Offering Drug Discounts as Long as You Pay Cash

    On February 5 President Donald Trump launched TrumpRx.gov, a direct-to-consumer website listing pharmaceutical medications ...

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    Kastalia Medrano

    Feds Seek Public Comment on Meth Sentencing, Untouched for Decades

    The United States Sentencing Commission is seeking public comment on proposed amendments to the ...

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    Kastalia Medrano