Lecture by Dr. James Mills at the Museum of London / 03.18.2013 Professor of Modern History, University of Strathclyde Director of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare Glasgow (CSHHH, Glasgow Caledonian University) There was little awareness of the medicinal and intoxicating properties of cannabis in Britain before the nineteenth-century. Varieties of[…]
Nimbin H.E.M.P. Embassy – Image courtesy Flickr user Nimal Skandhakumar By Kevin Rennie / 12.07.2016 Many Australians agreed with Greens party leader Richard Di Natale recently when he called for an end to the war on drugs. The Greens is a minority party that supports conservation, responsible environmental management such as climate change action, and[…]
If all goes well, after November 8, marijuana could be legal for medical or recreational use in 29 states. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/cc) ‘Marijuana prohibition has been a costly failure—to individuals, communities, and the entire country’ By Nadia Prupis / 11.02.2016 A potential sea change in marijuana legislation is coming, with ballot measures in several states[…]
There were 574,640 arrests for marijuana possession nationwide in 2015—outnumbering arrests for all violent crimes combined. (Photo: Office of Public Affairs/flickr/cc) ‘Locking people up for using drugs causes tremendous harm, while doing nothing to help those who need and want treatment’ By Nadia Prupis / 10.12.2016 Two prominent human and civil rights organizations are calling[…]
By Todd Reubold / 08.04.2016 Somsak Sriphumthong is on a caffeine-fueled mission. After years living and working abroad, the organic farmer and community leader returned to his native Thailand several years ago — during a time when the forests were being cleared for opium fields and rice plantations. Seeking a sustainable alternative, he started growing[…]
It is the largest single-day granting of clemency in U.S. history. (Photo: IIP Photo Archive/flickr/cc) “Today’s action will bring hope to so many worthy individuals” By Nadia Prupis / 08.04.2016 President Barack Obama on Wednesday issued a record-breaking 214 commutations for people serving drug-related sentences in federal prison—the largest single-day granting of clemency in U.S.[…]
Tens of thousands of people every year are sent to jail based on the results of a $2 roadside drug test. Widespread evidence shows that these tests routinely produce false positives. Why are police departments and prosecutors still using them? Graphics by Fathom | Photography by Todd Heisler, The New York Times Story Co-Published with the[…]
A member of the Philippine National Police stands guard after detaining people as part of the “Rid the Streets Of Drinkers and Youth” operation in Las Piñas City, part of the Manila metro area, on June 1, 2016. / Romeo Ranoco, Reuters By Patrick Winn / 06.29.2016 They live among us, plotting crimes and disrupting[…]
Miles McEntee died on June 2, 2015 of a heroin overdose in the apartment he shared with his sister, Taylor, right. Their mother wonders whether Naloxone might have saved his life. By Isabelle Taft / 06.21.2016 Just before his 25th birthday, Miles McEntee died of a heroin overdose last June in the Austin apartment he shared with[…]
It hurts. Back pain image via www.shutterstock.com. By Dr. Robert M. Caudle Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Neuroscience Division, University of Florida A recent study by the National Institutes of Health found that more than one in three people in the United States have experienced pain of some sort in the previous three months.[…]
Using medicines to stay awake? Scott Akerman By Dr. Lina Begdache Research Assistant Professor Binghamton University For more sources and information, see “What is Dopamine and How Does It Affect the Brain“, by Zoe Miller from The Babble Out Nonmedical use of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) drugs on college campuses, such as Adderall, Ritalin,[…]
Through industry and ruination, a human body and a landscape compose a life tenuously holding together. Occulted ways of mattering in a late industrial landscape. By Dr. Jason A. Pine Professor of Anthropology Purchase College Cultural Anthropology 31:2 (May 2016) All photos by Jason Pine The Monarch trailer lies in the dirt off the side[…]
Last month, openDemocracy was in New York to meet the Caravan Activists, a remarkable group of men and women, who have lost loved ones to the ‘war on drugs’. Now they campaign to change the system. By Benjamin Ramm / 05.16.2016 Donna May, “mumsDU”: My daughter Jack was an opiate user. I found her in[…]
No one can deny that overprescribing and resulting addiction is an enormous problem, but let’s not allow eyebrows to raise at patients in legitimate need of pain relief and treatment. They are easy targets in a lost ‘war’. By Matthew A. McIntosh / 05.11.2016 Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Where does it hurt? This question has been asked[…]
Maine Governor Paul LePage (Republican) By Joe Clark / 04.21.2016 Maine’s Governor Paul LePage is a very busy man. When he’s not out looking for drug dealing, white woman impregnating black guys named “D-Money, Shifty, and Smoothie;” the governor’s sharing his wisdom as to why it’s better to allow drug addicts to overdose rather than[…]
Image Source: Neal Jennings, Flickr, Creative Commons By André Gomes President Barack Obama’s commitment to increased investment in drug treatment is welcome, but people will still face barriers to accessing services due to stigma, something decriminalization can help tackle. Late last month the White House committed $116 million of funding to tackle the United States’[…]
The signatories are urging UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to usher in “real drug reform policy.” (Photo: Reuters) Over 1,000 signatories, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, say it’s time for drug reform based in “science, compassion, health, and human rights” By Nadia Prupis More than 1,000 world leaders, celebrities, and other societal figures have[…]
Eddie Sawyer, pictured here with his daughter, overdosed while waiting to get into treatment. (Courtesy of Eileen Shea) For years, Eileen Shea says her former partner Eddie Sawyer struggled with a heroin addiction. But after losing his job and time with his daughter, he was ready to get help. He was on the waiting list[…]
By Aaron Goodman Faculty, Journalism and Communication Studies Kwantlen Polytech University For over a year, I’ve been documenting the lives of three long-term drug users – Marie, Cheryl and Johnny – who are participating in Vancouver’s heroin-assisted clinical study and program. In recent years, heroin use in North America has exploded into an “epidemic.” At[…]
A patient drinks a dose of methadone at the Taipas rehabilitation clinic in Lisbon, Portugal © Rafael Marchante/Reuters From Dan Baum at Harper’s Magazine / 04.2016: In 1994, John Ehrlichman, the Watergate co-conspirator, unlocked for me one of the great mysteries of modern American history: How did the United States entangle itself in a policy[…]