stigma

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

“Mind Control Menace”—The FDA’s Comic Attempt to Terrify Teen Vapers

A terrible menace has descended on a small town. It appears to be a plague, an ever-spreading green vapor that…

April 7, 2021

In Nigeria, a Young Generation Finds Its Way Past Myths About Drug Use

In the late 2000s, Nigeria witnessed a surge in various kinds of drug use. Tramadol, a pharmaceutical opioid, became increasingly…

March 4, 2021

What It’s Like to Be “Out” as a Person Who Uses Heroin

In May 2019 Louise Vincent, executive director of the Urban Survivors Union, urged privileged drug users to “come out” in…

December 28, 2020

“I Can’t Be Friends With You Anymore”—How Stigma Isolates Young Drug Users

One of the last memories I have of hanging out with my friend Jana (not her real name) was Halloween.…

October 13, 2020