Media + Culture

Cannabis Stigma Still Alive and Kicking, My Practice Shows

Brenda* was in her late 40s, and living with severe rheumatoid arthritis. She sought treatment with me because she was…

August 2, 2023

Watch: Denmark’s “Vaping Evangelist” Tells His Story

When I interviewed Kim Dabelstein Petersen in the back of an empty midtown-Manhattan coffee shop, he had just attended a…

July 31, 2023

Stigma and Misinformation Maintain the Devastating Toll of Lung Cancer

August 1 is World Lung Cancer Day. Although this is the 12th iteration of an annual bid to spread awareness,…

July 31, 2023

Social Media Depicts Kensington as “Zombieland”—and It’s Deadly

A 15-second YouTube video begins with a white car passing across the frame. The camera reveals two young white people,…

July 27, 2023

SF Chronicle’s “Honduran Drug Dealers” Series Fuels Xenophobia

In the past month, the San Francisco Chronicle has published a series of articles ostensibly aimed at getting to the…

July 21, 2023

Nicotine Prohibition Is the Goal of Truth Initiative’s “Gamechanger”

Truth Initiative, a leading anti-smoking nonprofit, has released a report laying out its “strategy to move toward the end of…

July 20, 2023

The False Claim That Addiction Is “All About the Dopamine”

It seems today that everyone and their brother knows about the dopamine hypothesis of drug addiction. The popular version, simply…

July 13, 2023

Huge Gathering Seeks to Shape the “Psychedelic 20s”

One of many powerful impressions from the Psychedelic Science conference was of a constant need to make difficult choices. Should…

June 27, 2023

Watch: A Documentary About Schizophrenia and Vaping

Does anyone care that people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders have devastatingly high rates of smoking? Research has found the prevalence…

June 21, 2023

We’ve Now Lost Two of Our Children. How Can This End?

It’s a Saturday evening, the day before Mother’s Day. My husband and I are having dinner and watching a movie…

June 21, 2023