Use + Harm Reduction

Not All Substance Use Disorders Are Rooted in Trauma

Thanks largely to Gabor Maté, it has become popular to say that addictions are overwhelmingly rooted in trauma.  However, the…

April 11, 2023

Meth Harm Reduction and the Adderall Shortage

For most of my 20s, running out of Adderall was the problem that put everything else on hold. If my…

April 10, 2023

The Lonely Work of HIV Harm Reduction in Prison

Many people living with HIV who pass through Washington Corrections Center (WCC) tell me their status, because I'm known as…

April 4, 2023

Harm Reduction for the Syringes We Make in Prison

Harm reduction supplies are hard to come by in prison. In some facilities, people who inject drugs might use needles…

March 27, 2023

Spread Across Cities, Could Fire Stations Host Safe Consumption Sites?

There are 41 fire stations spread across Calgary, Alberta. To a group of University of Calgary medical students, they represent…

March 7, 2023

Why Are My Classmates Switching From Vaping to Smoking?

When I first arrived in Rome to attend university last summer, I was surprised by both the widespread cigarette smoking…

March 6, 2023

Queensland, Australia, to Provide Free Drug-Checking Services

The state of Queensland, Australia, has announced that it will begin providing free drug-checking services. People will be able to…

February 28, 2023

How I Quit Cigarettes in Prison, After Smoking for 40 Years

I’m coming up on the three-year anniversary of the day I stopped smoking cigarettes. It’s strange to think that I…

February 23, 2023

“Regressive Thinking” Ends Syringe, Pipe Distribution at Edmonton Transit Stations

Until recently, Boyle Street Community Services staff had been handing out various harm reduction tools to people who wanted and…

February 21, 2023

The Spravato Diaries: My Ketamine-ish Depression Treatment

In the fall of 2020, COVID lockdown-induced depression triggered my incarceration-related PTSD and related suicidal ideation. So I looked into…

February 17, 2023