stigma

Stigmatizing Drug Use Is Killing Us, But Why Is It So Hard to Stop?

Despite significant strides in drug policy in recent decades, and changing attitudes about some substances, stigmatization of people who use…

September 8, 2022

How Deep Does New Jersey’s Anti-Stigma Messaging Really Run?

Counties across the state of New Jersey trumpet their commitment to ending stigma against people with addiction. In 2018, for…

July 21, 2022

When Putin Labels Zelensky a “Drug Addict,” It Implicates the Wider World

After two months, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has directly caused unknown tens of thousands of deaths, with widespread evidence of…

May 2, 2022

San Francisco Hospital Program Offers Harm Reduction to Patients

In some hospitals in the United States, doctors will send people home with prescriptions for opioid use disorder medications like…

February 24, 2022

What I Wish Someone Had Said to Me When I Started Using Drugs

When I began using drugs, I didn’t have anyone I could safely go to for advice or help. Nobody in…

December 14, 2021

The Ways We “Monsterize” Drug Use, Pain and People

[This article is an adapted excerpt from On Opium: Pain, Pleasure, and Other Matters of Substance, which was published in…

November 30, 2021

Survey Aims to Quantify Societal Stigma Against People Who Use Drugs

Despite recent policy strides like decriminalization in Oregon and authorization of a safe consumption site pilot in Rhode Island, a…

September 10, 2021

How Can We Improve COVID Vaccine Access for People Who Use Drugs?

Millions of Americans are happy to finally be venturing out of their quarantine cocoons, emboldened by newly minted COVID-19 vaccine…

July 15, 2021

Can the Pandemic Usher in a New Age of Harm Reduction Awareness?

While still suffering the toll of a deadly global virus, we begin the delicate process of rebuilding our communities under…

July 13, 2021

Drug Use Is Perfectly Compatible With Good Parenting

Many of us are parenting while using drugs. Sometimes with a single drink at dinner; sometimes with criminalized substances; sometimes…

June 2, 2021