I lost a decade to addiction and incarceration. I have 3 felonies. It took me 15 years from my first college credit to my last to get a Bachelors.

I was accepted into Yale, Harvard, Columbia and more. I rejected them and am instead doing a PhD at UCSD/SDSU.

How things change.

Come join me and Leo Beletsky at UC San Diego School of Medicine for a coffee and conversation about developing harm reduction workforce! Thank you to Eli Solomon and team for organizing. Reg here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

The investigation of the Lincoln assassination. 1st 2 episodes of our 7 hour limited series have dropped!

Overdose or Poisoning? A New Debate Over What to Call a Drug Death: Grieving families want official records to move away from reflexive use of “overdose'
Sandra Bagwell TEXAS AGAINST FENTANYL • TXAF Rep. Mike Garcia Leo Beletsky America's Poison Centers Shatterproof
nytimes.com/2024/03/11/hea…

Our Faculty Director Leo Beletsky will be headlining a panel on drug policy and public safety at UC Berkeley Law's Justice Unveiled conference on Friday, March 8. The event is free to attend.

Register and learn more here: law.berkeley.edu/research/publi…

Detox centers in Portland turn away half the people who come to them due to lack of capacity. Overall, Oregon has only a 50% treatment capacity to meet the need. Simply put, Measure 110 is not what is hindering Oregonians from getting treatment. #ORLeg
prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/02/1…

This chart from the study shows the distribution of corrective or misinformed language in media articles. 76% of 348 articles analyzed had misinformed narratives.

🚨New research on “Popular media misinformation on neonatal abstinence syndrome, 2015–2021” was published by the Action Lab’s Katie McCreedy, Aanchalika Chauhan, Gabriel Holder, Sunyou Kang, Eric Reinhart, and Leo Beletsky.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Public health experts and doctors agree that Prop F is not the way to go: sfchronicle.com/sf/article/sf-…

'People will keep dying': Fentanyl crisis grips Mexico's border cities

Prevencasa is a harm reduction centre in the city which provides a needle exchange and medical services

⁦PrevenCasa⁩ bbc.co.uk/news/world-lat…

Read our latest - and the well-settled history and clear analysis that debunks the aim by some to erode prosecutorial independence & disrespect the rights of voters to guide the vision of justice their community wants and deserves. American Criminal Law Review with Rebecca Blair

Such an excellent listen regarding current treatment options for OUD and how Buprenorphine is still a safe and effective option, though fear of precipitated withdrawal is valid and real amongst patients! open.spotify.com/episode/73MsnQ…
Ashish Thakrar, MD, MS Gail D'Onofrio Leo Beletsky

Authors call on modelers to explore health and economic impacts of criminal-legal reforms.
#PWUD #HarmReduction #DrugPolicyReform #simulationmodeling #UCSD @NMartinUCSD Leo Beletsky Benjamin P. Linas Ahmed Bayoumi Harold Pollack Sarah Larney
bit.ly/3H3PbIn

After a nearly two year saga, that paper that claimed to find an association between drug-induced homicide laws and fatal overdose has been retracted. Thanks to all the folks who worked to make it happen! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11… Jennifer J. Carroll, not that kind of doctor Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta Taleed El-Sabawi, JD, PhD Leo Beletsky

First population-level evaluation of prescribing pharmaceutical alternatives to illicit drugs (“safer supply”) finds opioid users prescribed 1 day’s supply 61% less likely to die following week from any cause, 4 days 91%

“The strongest evidence thus far”
theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…

Catching up on my hiatus, here's my piece in JAMA Health Forum showing growing racial and ethnic disparities in fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses (i.e., FOs and NFOs, respectively) among formerly incarcerated people. Distressing yet unsurprising trend.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-…

Thanks to everyone who made it to Leo Beletsky's talk '(Almost) everything you know about the American 'opioid epidemic' is wrong' yesterday! Great turn out in person and online and some awesome discussion. You can view a recording online here: youtube.com/watch?v=RiokVa…

This will be great!
BTW Leo Beletsky has been on Crackdown podcast talking about the Iron Law of Prohibition. crackdownpod.blubrry.net/2022/07/19/epi…

Prosecution is not a solution to a public health crisis. Safe supply is. Overdose prevention centers are. Voluntary treatment is. Fighting stigma is.

These families have experienced great loss, but public policy should not compound those losses with more trauma. cc: Leo Beletsky

Free public talk: '(Almost) Everything You’ve Heard About the American ‘Opioid Epidemic’ Is Wrong', w/ Leo Beletsky.
3PM PT Wed Nov 29, in #yyj at Kwench (2301 Store St), or via Zoom.
Register: bit.ly/beletskyuvic