‘Harm Reduction’ Archives
Metaphor For Crack
BY Cliff Seaward I was taught the toilet flush metaphor for dopamine depletion, but have always struggled with it as it doesn't cover dopamine re-uptake suppression. After spending a couple of months reading up on current theories of crack/cocaine brain chemistry I have come up with a new metaphor for what happens in the brain when we use crack [...]
Anthrax Is In Heroin: The Facts
Heroin users in the UK are facing a potentially deadly risk from an outbreak of anthrax. The outbreak among heroin users, first identified in Glasgow in December 2009, has spread to several other areas in Scotland and there are now anthrax cases in England. A case was also reported in Germany in December. A substantial number of those heroin users [...]
Users Voice in Afganistan
HUNDREDS of thoughts, memories and insights are flooding my consciousness about my week in Afghanistan, mainly Kabul. While the few bacteria settle down in my gut and bloodstream, let me try and articulate some of this to you all around the world. First of all, I want to address the gender-sex-’equality’ issue, as it is the one that I [...]
Campaign targets Malaysia to end death penalty for drug offences
From March 8 to 12, 2010 during the yearly meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, governments from all over the world will once again declare their support to the global fight against drugs, i.e. the substances that were prohibited worldwide by a UN Convention in 1961. In Malaysia, as in 21 other countries in the [...]
Heroin Anthrax Infection Spikes London
Feb 8 2010: The first case of anthrax in England has been confirmed in a heroin user in London. This follows the ongoing cluster of confirmed cases of anthrax among heroin users in Scotland. A number of these people have died from anthrax thought to be from contaminated heroin. Anthrax is a rare and very serious bacterial infection that is [...]
Why we need an international network of drug user activists.
We are people from around the world who use drugs. We are people who have been marginalized and discriminated against; we have been killed, harmed unnecessarily, put in jail, depicted as evil, and stereotyped as dangerous and disposable. It is now time to raise our voices as citizens, establish our rights and reclaim the right to be our own [...]
Profile: Joycelyn Woods of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates
Users' Voice decided to begin profiling some of our long-term activists, and since few are women, we began with one of our greatest! “I came to advocacy for the reason that I believe many methadone advocates do. Methadone patients are never given the opportunity to feel good about themselves,” says Joycelyn Woods, “generally what they read [...]
