Family comes in all shapes & sizes, & #HarmReduction mamas are the heartbeat of communities across the world. This #MothersDay, we're lifting up the time, energy, & care mamas pour into their life-saving work making this world a safer, healthier world for people who use drugs & all people.

After 13 years working on UBI full-time, I've learned: in tech, talking about UBI is easy. Funding it is rare. So I've just launched the AI Pledge for Humanity to separate the talkers from the doers. And to share Elon's role in silencing one of his own engineers who pushed for UBI.

If you're in Chicago, come join me, Nabarun Dasgupta and Mary Pounder a week from Saturday. www.chicagohumanities.org/events/atten...

Just saw a kid run up to a MetroBus as it was pulling away. The bus driver kept driving, but a woman on the bus yelled “STOP, that’s my son!” The driver stopped and let the kid on. The kid was not the woman’s son. Not sure what’s more impressive: the rider solidarity or the quick-thinking lie!

www.linkedin.com/posts/ricky-... I presented along with Sid Ganesh PhD on structural violence, structural disempowerment and clinical care for people who use drugs. Enjoy.

This is straight-up ratfucking of biomedical research by Russell Vought, Jay Bhattacharya, Matthew Memoli and Jon Lorsch. It's despicable dirty tricks.

My latest for @thenation.com. For those of us in healthcare, public health, science resisting is a duty born of our commitment to serve, make the world a better place. But our institutions don't make it easy. But we still have to do it in large and small ways. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

Do you want somebody to blame? Start with Russell Vought at OMB, Jay Bhattacharya, Matthew Memoli, Jon Lorsch at NIH. These are evil, small minded men. I hope one day they’re held accountable for the destruction of biomedical research in the United States.

Superb reporting from @katherineeban.bsky.social for @rollingstone.com on the scandal around the RFK-fueled, unethical HBV vaccine study in Guinea Bissau that horrified CDC staff, scientists and ethicists around the world. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Our amicus in AAP v. Kennedy. Thanks to Wendy Parmet at Northeastern and Dorit Reiss at University of San Francisco for making this happen. You can find our amicus here: litigationtracker.law.georgetown.edu/litigation/a...

Important discussion featuring @uscpphs.bsky.social chair @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social at @yaleadm.bsky.social. More --> medicine.yale.edu/internal-med... #MedSky #AddictionScience

Join us on March 7th to rally to take back science!

When people's basic needs are met before crises erupt, our communities stay peaceful, not because we police more, but because fewer people are pushed into making desperate choices.

Thanks all who joined us, today, for Addiction Med Grand Rounds w/ Sandra Springer! A recording will be available online, soon! Coming up in February, we'll be joined by @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social & Sid Ganesh (@keck.usc.edu). Register @ the link below. 🔗 medicine.yale.edu/internal-med...

16 years ago today, the Supreme Court made its absurd Citizens United decision, opening the floodgates for big money to overwhelm our democracy. This video is from 2020, but it still rings true today: we have to get Big Money out of politics.

Save the Date! | Submissions open Feb 1. AMERSA’s 50th Annual Conference is coming to Washington, DC Nov 12–14, 2026. New Deadlines! Abstracts & workshops due April 1 Scholarship award applications due May 17

New reporting on homeless encampment sweeps. Includes quotes from Josh Barocas and cites our study on sweeps, overdose, and mortality among unhoused people. Homeless Camp Sweeps Can Harm Health. Some Cities Are Trying a New Way. tradeoffs.org/2025/11/20/h...

From @michellegamage.bsky.social: Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum have been found guilty of drug trafficking, after they operated a compassion club in the midst of a deadly overdose crisis. The conviction is suspended as their lawyers start a constitutional challenge. thetyee.ca/News/2025/11...

Breaking: the founders of DULF have been found guilty of three counts of drug trafficking. @michellegamage.bsky.social will have the full story later today thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

Had an interesting and thoughtful conversation about harm reduction and the challenges of substance use disorder with Chad LaComb. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0b-...

A patient losing “my seizure medication” to a sweep was the reason I was consulted recently. Couldn’t get another appointment/meds in a timely way (because we have a neurologist shortage and a broken system) and they keep seizing. Would be kinder (and cheaper) to pay for housing over hospital visits

"PFNA is so hazardous that the EPA struck an agreement with eight companies to phase it out nearly two decades ago." And yet, the report is stuck in limbo, still not released to the public.

Call for papers for Special Issue: Including lived experience in substance use research think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An HIV outbreak in Maine points to a series of poor policy decisions, including ending needle-exchange programs and clearing a homeless encampment. As those policies go national, there is a risk the disease will spread, too: kffhealthnews.org/news/article... @brian-goldstone.bsky.social

We’re hearing about HIV and people who use drugs, stigma, and HIV criminalization reform from Ricky Bluthenthal, Valerie Earnshaw, and Trevor Hoppe in the next hour on 24 Hours to Save AIDS Research. Join us! bit.ly/45Qftts #saveAIDSresearch #HIV #HIVresearch

My friends nephew was found dead in an Oregon jail cell a couple days ago on September11, 2025. Oregon has a horrible death in custody rate, it is much higher than the national average. @tinakotek.bsky.social Oregon liberals do not care enough to act. share.google/ZxeWbUKHpz39...

We can do good things!

This hits right on time… My wife and I had the great privilege of visiting the African-American Museum in DC, and let me just tell you if you have not been…It is a masterpiece—go.

📢 Call for Proposals! AMERSA invites submissions for Position Statements to guide policy & advocacy on substance use education, research, prevention, & treatment. Shape the conversation—deadline August 31! Details & submission here: amersa.org/submit-a-pos... Guidelines: amersa.org/wp-content/u...

massive investment in accessible social housing to guarantee homes for all is the solution to mass homelessness substance use and psychiatric injury are CONSEQUENCES of housing deprivation, not causes people become homeless because the RENT IS TOO HIGH theconversation.com/why-involunt...

The shit part is that we did not learn from history. We didn't learn one single thing from all of that. Repeating the same mistakes over and over shows inability or unwillingness to learn. total sad.

Today is Zero HIV Stigma Day. Ending HIV stigma is essential to ending the HIV epidemic. HealthJustice supports organizations and leads research centering dignity, equity, and the leadership of those most impacted, including by HIV and related stigma.

I’m so proud of our nation’s scientists, who despite retaliation and intimidation, are not sitting back quietly! Head over to standupforscience.net to sign our support statement for these brave NASA resisters ✊🏼❤️ #standupforscience #voyagerdeclaration www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/s...

Many institutions, programs, and individual scientists are stepping back from supporting the efforts to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion. Doing so is a mistake. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

How do authoritarians destroy universities? open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...

Ricky Bluthenthal Has Been Appointed as Chair of the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences - Caryn Lerman @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social @uscnorriscancer.bsky.social oncodaily.com/career/caryn... #OncoDaily #Oncology #Cancer #Health #Medicine #MedEd #MedOnc #MedNews #PPHS

✨New USC study links wildfire smoke exposure and heat stress to adverse birth outcomes. Learn how by reading this recent publication led by our postdoctoral researcher Roxana Khalili, PhD. @keckschoolusc.bsky.social @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social @usc.edu keck.usc.edu/news/new-usc...

Scholars in the US and other countries have now a choice imposed on them: Acquiesce or resist? In this handbook, we outline how scholars can respond during democratic backsliding and encourage reflection on personal values and the consequences of different coping strategies.

Our harm reduction family continues to experience tremendous loss. I am deeply saddened by the loss of Naomi Burke-Shyne and Peter Krykant. Both made a tremendous impact in the short time they were with us. I wish we had more time with both. May we be their continuation.

Meet the 2025–2026 Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine & Health fellows: Students will conduct research and clinical work in a country of their choice, deepening their understanding of global health issues through hands-on experiences. @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social keck.usc.edu/news/meet-th...