stigma

“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

Public Injection Isn’t the Problem—It’s Stigma and Prohibition

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for police to double down on the war on drug users while speaking to…

October 7, 2020

The Drug War’s “Science-Based” Training on “Dopers and Parasites”

A federally funded training program for law enforcement and other students offers a course titled Science-Based Drug Education (SBDE). Leaked…

July 21, 2020

The Real Harms of Abusive, Stigmatizing Language in Addiction Treatment

Ironically, the conversation that spurred a peer-support specialist at a buprenorphine program to yell me out of the room was…

March 11, 2020

Screen Depictions of Parents Who Use Drugs Still Fuel Stigma and Punishment

Let’s play a game. I’m going to describe a scene, and you guess which movie it’s from. A thin, Black…

November 14, 2019

How Psychedelic Exceptionalism Harms Drug Users

Do you feel that some drugs are inherently worse for the user than others?” A man had approached the stage…

October 16, 2019