Specialty courts, especially drug courts, are not about making people healthier. They implement virtually the same coercive, involuntary, and baseless tactics found in typical criminal legal system courts and prisons. Carcerality and health are incompatible.

HIV criminalization isn’t about public health—it’s about policing, surveillance, and punishment. Black communities are targeted at every turn. Abolition is not abstract for us. It’s necessary. This report names why. Thanks @williamsinstitute.bsky.social for this research. #Abolition #NBHAAD

There is no doubt this decision will embolden transphobic monsters in their quest to erase trans people from existence. And these groups must live with that reality. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

For #NBHAAD, PJP Partners Group affirms a truth named by Black leaders: the inequitable distribution of public health resources is a matter of life & death. We demand HIV medical, social justice & public health sectors name & disrupt the anti-Blackness & inequality at the heart of our HIV response.

Practicing or curious about transformative justice? There's still time to register for this FREE session Feb 12, 6:30-8PM ET. Unrecorded, w/ASL & live captioning. Attendees will receive Zoom link the day of the event. No prior experience required! Click here: form.jotform.com/260155795389...

This #BlackHistoryMonth, we refuse to let Black history be erased. Trump / MAGA attack Black history, truth-telling institutions, and the legacy of the Civil Rights era to protect racial hierarchy and state violence. This is about power—about whose lives and stories are allowed to matter.

Today the House begins its consideration of the FY26 spending package w funding for domestic & global HIV programs. Join #SaveHIVFunding & urge your reps to 1. Fully fund access to health care and supports for PLHIV and 2. Reject DHS funding. savehivfunding.org/action-alert...

State violence is not new. It’s a part of our history. And it is inflicted by policing forces throughout our country.

We can't let these states allow the isolation and erasure of people with disabilities. healthlaw.org/news/texas-a...

PWN-USA is outraged by the ongoing militarized occupation of Minnesota and other cities across the United States, and the escalation of state violence and murder by immigration enforcement.

“What we should be doing is standing up and fighting back and continuing to provide care and showing we stand with youth and their families.” Lurie scales back gender-affirming care, days after federal official calls for investigation www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/20/l...

Don't miss CHLP's #Team2Dream in Washington, DC next week to attend and present at the National LGBTQ+ Task Force's annual Creating Change conference. More info on our presentations: www.hivlawandpolicy.org/events/natio... #Team2Dream #HIVAdvocates #CreatingChange

🧵Involuntary commitment is ineffective & immoral at best, & often deadly at worst. Our people & communities deserve better, from one state to another. Coverage from @filtermag.bsky.social below outlines a proposal in NJ that would make involuntary commitment mandatory bit.ly/NJInvoluntaryCommitment

Sowing chaos and anxiety, then backing out as an exercise of power. rollcall.com/2026/01/14/h...

Police “welfare checks” are some of the most dangerous events a person can experience. No one is made safer by getting shot in the gut. www.scotusblog.com/2026/01/cour...

More devastating and cruel defunding. www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...

What happens when thousands can't get lifesaving meds/care? It'll be challenging to find competent services for HIV care. Advocates & HIV service providers are fighting to save lives. #ADAP #HIV #AIDS #services #programs #fundingcuts #florida #DepartmentofHealth www.poz.com/article/flor...

I'm looking forward to this next installment of our Abolition for Our People series, which will examine the ongoing struggle against authoritarianism and its connection to data privacy and public health. Liberatory public health is possible!

New Abolition for Our People webinar on Jan 29. Join CHLP to unpack public health, data privacy & state violence, and how we build a public health system rooted in care, not punishment. With @hiporg.bsky.social, @sarageoghegan.bsky.social, @epic.org + more. www.hivlawandpolicy.org/events/aboli...

Children will die with RFK Jr.'s new vaccine recommendations. We're NOT doing the "experts disagree" game. The US vaccine schedule was painstakingly constructed through a deep & thorough process by experts with unquestionable expertise. This is policy by fiat. It is pre-meditated murder. 1/

And to be clear, drug criminalization destroys families, undermines health, and perpetuates white supremacy. www.ajpmonline.org/article/S074...

Today is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Everyone should feel safe at work.

And for formerly incarcerated Black folks, the disparity is even worse, thanks to the prison penalty:

Fentanyl is fentanyl. It’s a molecule. The illicit form, which is the same molecule as the medical form, comes in a different physical state (solid rather than liquid) making it even less of a threat/concern to anyone who isn’t using illicit drugs. It’s one of the most studied compounds in existence

Really powerful testimony by Lashanda Salinas describing the pain and violence caused by HIV criminalization. And let it speak to the power of advocacy in bringing healing for people. @interruptcrim.bsky.social www.interruptingcriminalization.com/resources-al...

When these bureaucrats dismiss the health and well-being of women, they can also question and undermine care that provides for their needs. Misogyny takes many forms. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

And more and more individuals, especially Black and brown people, will be in danger of being criminalized based on their Hep B status. In a country that targets people for punishment based on their health status, failing to protect kids from Hep B is a disgusting and violent choice.

New from me: The DOJ plans to dismantle protections for trans and intersex people in federal, state, and local prisons, jails, and youth detention facilities, according to a government memo obtained by Prism.

@scalawagmagazine.bsky.social scalawagmagazine.org/2025/12/the-...

The convo will hopefully provide a clear framework to move forward during the current attacks on people living with HIV. I'm looking forward to learning from HIV decrim advocates who are applying abolitionist principles and building collective care. www.hivlawandpolicy.org/events/aboli...

By all accounts, the administration does not care about reducing new transmissions or improving the lives of PLHIV. abcnews.go.com/Politics/pre...

The U.S. just received a D+ for maternal healthcare from @marchofdimes.org – again. With this horrific grade, it's no coincidence that the scale of maternal incarceration & its related harms is also monumental across the country.

Join the second installment in our Abolition for Our People series, where we will introduce our new Positive Justice Project Guiding Principles and discuss the ways abolition inspires our HIV decrim practice. www.hivlawandpolicy.org/events/aboli...

The myth of Thanksgiving is as American as it is wrong open.substack.com/pub/gohini/p...

Gilead Sciences is playing games with people's lives. Despite their vast communications resources, people across the world see through their nonsense and are calling for real access to lenacapavir for HIV prevention, not PR stunts. healthjusticeinitiative.org.za/2025/11/20/a...

We can’t let the brain disease model get in the way of delivering justice for all people. Medicalization or pathologization should not be a barrier to addressing systemic barriers to autonomy and dignity for all. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This New Orleans operation is going to closely resemble what we just went through in Chicago.

‘MigraWatch’ trainings to ‘Whistlemania’ events: Chicagoans fight back against ICE raids Residents are organizing in response to raids across the city amid Trump’s wide-ranging ‘operation midway blitz’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

We just released a new donation map and updated two of our existing ones. These changes reflect legislative developments and improved understanding of the threat of HIV criminalization. www.hivlawandpolicy.org/news/chlp-up...

When people defend the criminal legal system as a way to protect us from rapists, remember it existed and permitted the most horrific abuses, protected these men, and allowed them to ascend to the highest positions in our country.

"Prohibition is unfortunately the default response to complex issues.” Denver has decisively voted to uphold its vape flavor ban, despite harm reductionists' warnings, reports @kiransidhu41.bsky.social. Michael Bloomberg contributed $5 million to the ban campaign:

🎥 #Atlanta PCC Advocacy Academy fellow DeKeitra Griffin explains how person-centred care helps deliver more effective treatment and support. Find out more about person-centred care and the #IASPCC programme now: www.iasociety.org/ias-programm...

This feels very likely. They're just circling so much of the southwest side and constant helicopters. They definitely want to make the terror people experience into more videos online.

Attending the 2025 #APHA Annual Meeting in DC and feeling fearful of the heavy presence of local, state, and/or federal law enforcement agencies? You are not alone. Public Health Awakened has created a hotline number to provide accompaniment to APHA attendees — call or text us: 202-630-0803!

The streamlined punishment system that Philly is trying to expand on is a disgusting assault on unhoused people in Kensington. New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness www.kensingtonvoice.com/new-fast-tra...

And we know the racialized harms caused by punitive drug laws geared at pregnant people. There is no public health justification for the criminalization of parents. www.ajpmonline.org/article/S074...