We’ll never be able to keep drugs out of neighborhoods. Better to focus on helping people be their best selves.

Some localities are addressing street homelessness with a new approach, which experts say can clear encampments while protecting the health of people who are forced to move.

Collaboration, conversation, and community — exactly what makes #AMERSA2025 so special.

Our new article showing the immense problem of staff burnout and shortages among US SSPs. 58% and 43% of US SSPs reported staff burnout and shortages, respectively. Law enforcement harassment associated with burnout and shortages. @alexkral.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

What with all this newfound efficiency through technology, increasing unemployment, and more money in pockets of corporations’ leadership, seems like a SHORTER WORKWEEK and more PTO are in order!

Our new article led by @hopesmileymcd.bsky.social in IJDP on using crime data to evaluate drug policies like partial drug decriminalization in Oregon @barrotlambdin.bsky.social Pam Lattimore Ian Silver Mark Pope Sean Wire www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Governments at all levels make decisions based on medical examiner/coroner (MEC) data. A national study showed that these offices had an annual median budget of $68K. A thread - 1/4 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Planning is well underway for another exciting AMERSA conference this year! Join us on Thursday, 11/13 for the opening session on Oregon's Measure 110 featuring insights from experts across disciplines. Conference registration opens in June. amersa.org/annual-confe... @alexkral.bsky.social

The bill’s introduction comes on the heels of the revelation that the Nevada Department of Corrections has a $53 million budget deficit.

Checkout this new manuscript at PLOS: dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour... by Erin Gould, Siddhi Ganesh, Anthony DiMario, Jimi Huh, Rachel Carmen Ceasar and @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social Shows how #fentanyl disrupts efforts among people who use drugs to support each other.

Man Spends Afternoon Volunteering Opinions About The Homeless theonion.com/man-spe...

NEW for @sfchronicle.com: A study dropped today showing that in San Francisco, overdoses increase in areas where police have seized drugs. We're seeing this in real time: As law enforcement efforts have ramped up in recent months, fatal overdoses have risen. That's not a coincidence. (gift link)

At the National AIDS Memorial Grove this evening in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024. That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved. Show me a better investment than that. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

In fiscal year 2024, the report found, NIH awarded more than $36.9 billion to researchers, supporting more than 408,000 jobs and generating over $94.5 billion in new economic activity nationwide. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

“We found a large gap in housing assistance for people who use drugs in Oregon” @estherchung.bsky.social @morgangodvin.bsky.social @barrotlambdin.bsky.social in BMC Pub Health pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39988688/

If the drug war was succeeding, then drug seizures would be getting smaller and smaller until they disappeared entirely. Instead the size and value of drug seizures always continues to grow. This is an obvious sign of complete failure.

Providing safer smoking supplies is about engaging more people in needed health services

Our new study found 44% of syringe services programs (SSPs) distributed safer smoking supplies in 2022. SSPs distributing supplies had more participant encounters and naloxone distribution. Safer smoking supplies are a key tool to connect people who use drugs to life-saving services.

As wildfires blaze in California, we're reminded of the incarcerated people who are deployed to fight them – an extremely dangerous job that pays just dollars per day.

Emilia Perez is by far the best movie ever made about the drug war. And so much more.

Harm reduction doesn't encourage or enable drug use; banning syringes & naloxone & using jail to try to push treatment simply spreads infectious disease & death. how many times do we need to run this experiment to get it?

Fantastic news out of Rhode Island. Opening their #OVERDOSE PREVENTION SITE! Another tool in the toolbox, especially for those who are extremely marginalized or stigmatized. @reginalabelle.bsky.social thepublicsradio.org/health/rhode...

Great article by Maia Szalavitz and contributions from Ricky Bluthenthal and others about why overdose deaths are slowing but not for black and Indigenous people. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/02/o...

A recently published study on Int J on Drug Policy from Sweden is a case-study of the faults of drug criminalisation. This is particularly damning for a country that has one of the highest rates of drug-related deaths. Let's dig in 🔎 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Excellent piece by #NIDA Director Nora Volkow laying out the evidence for syringe services including overdose prevention sites. nida.nih.gov/about-nida/n...

I am grateful for #Bluesky

Highly recommend Jacob Soboroff and Errol Morris movie #Separated. Shows how journalism can change the minds and hearts. And that federal bureaucrats have a super important role.

Excited about our research panel on drug decriminalization in Oregon at the American Society for Criminology conference Thursday morning #ASC24

Looking forward to our panel on drug courts tomorrow at UCB law school. www.law.berkeley.edu/event/panel-...

"While some would argue the [methadone] regulatory restrictions in California are well-intentioned, there is no evidence to show that they improve care or real-world outcomes, and each additional restriction creates a barrier..." Leslie Suen in San Francisco Chronicle t.co/4REcYbN5uF

Can people please stop calling it “diverted bupe!!!” Perhaps “community-acquired” is better term.

Looking forward to connecting with folks at #Reform2023

37 people have now died in custody of the LA Sheriff's Dept this year: