Drug Policy Reform Readings, resource guide:
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Based on references to experts, books and resources during my recent appearance on Steven Cambian’s Truth Seekers podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMlZ0xGvS1I&t=4s
I’m a contributing editor of The Washington Monthly, and author of the well-received book, Mental Health, Inc.: How Corruption, Lax Oversight and Failed Reforms Endanger Our Most Vulnerable Citizens [https://amzn.to/3zg7c01].
I’m a past contributor to Newsweek on a range of topics [https://bit.ly/3z7oXP4], including one cover story on VA corruption and its role in the opioid crisis [https://bit.ly/3eE7lCq].An excerpt of my book was featured as cited above as the cover story [https://bit.ly/3eE7lCq] with the headline: “How the VA Fueled the National Opioid Crisis and Is Killing Thousands of Veterans.”
In addition here’s my LinkedIn overview of my articles, book and broadcast appearances: https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-levine-096b295/. Some of my articles, interviews and book information are also highlighted in this pinned tweet: bit.ly/3DkGcP2
I’ve also written on overdrugging of youth [bit.ly/3AdOVAA]; draconian prescribing crackdowns [bit.ly/3lj3bUw] on pain patients driving up suicides [bit.ly/3ake2Ha] and worsening their disabilities [bit.ly/3uMC3Al];and, indirectly related, law enforcement cover-ups of rape and assaults at a school for learning disabled youth [bit.ly/3BprTrO] who are too often over-medicated. They’ve been featured in Salon, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, Tarbell and Miami New Times, among other outlets.
https://www.newsweek.com/va-opiod-crisis-killing-veterans-mental-illness-683434 Up to 90% of drug treatment and mental health treatment programs ineffective for dual-diagnosis treatment — emblematic of broader failures
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Best writer on #harmreduction is Maia Szalavitz, a must-follow on twitter, her articles and her latest book, Undoing Drugs:
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Best single book on finding good treatment and avoiding terrible care is Anne Fletcher’s Inside Rehab. Every family should have a copy:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EKMAC4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Harm-reduction resources for needle exchanges, getting naloxone for OD revivial, and access to Suboxone, etc, from harm reduction coalition:
https://harmreduction.org/issues/medication-for-opioid-use-disorder/
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The best recent talk tying all the trends in bad policies — from corporate greed-driven over-drugging with opioids in the late 1990s and the early 2000s all the way now to the draconian crackdown on appropriate prescribing for chronic pain patients that is driving up suicides — is contained in the must-follow Dr. Stefan Kertesz’s new presentation at the University of Florida:
https://twitter.com/StefanKertesz/status/1451285287024353280
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Leading champion for patients with chronic pain is disability rights lawyer and advocate Kate Nicholson, who founded the National Pain Advocacy Center:
A must-follow on twitter:
https://twitter.com/speakingabtpain?lang=en
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https://www.changingthenarrative.news/ Northeastern University Law School challenges myths about drugs and opioids, and biases in news coverage.
Champions for harm reduction there and allies include Leo Beletsky, Zachary Siegel , Philadelphia-based Brooke Feldman, leader of the Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Network:
https://twitter.com/LeoBeletsky; https://twitter.com/ZachWritesStuff; https://twitter.com/BrookeM_Feldman
