It's looking like the MBTA, which has refused advertisements from groups that educate patients about medical marijuana, may start allowing makers of a highly addictive drug to advertise their wares on the T. From WBUR: As the MBTA looks to … [Read more...]
Governor’s Councilor Jubinville wants to decriminalize heroin — and that’s a great idea
Yesterday, Governor's Councilor Robert Jubinville sent a letter to state leadership recommending we decriminalize heroin and establish state-run methadone clinics to combat the opiate overdose crisis. From the Taunton Daily … [Read more...]
Massachusetts Senators Should Champion Federal Medical Marijuana Bill
Last Tuesday, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States (CARERS) Act, the first time in history a comprehensive bill to legalize … [Read more...]
Prescription Drug Addiction: A Medical Condition, Not A Moral Failure
Close to Home Prescription drug abuse and addiction is prevalent in America yet it lurks in the shadows. We don't like to talk about it because of the stigma associated with it. But if you are still reading this, you probably know … [Read more...]
Ford Hall Forum: “AIDS, Social Justice and the Politics of Transformation” (9/30/10)
This event is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House, a museum and National Historic Landmark dedicated to the free exchange of ideas, as part of the Partners in Dialogue series. … [Read more...]
Crunch time for sentencing reform
Homeward bound. There are well over 2,000 men and women serving mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses in Massachusetts. Certainly some of them deserve to be in prison, and for lengthy sentences. But many others received … [Read more...]
Hooked on prison: the case for drug sentencing reform
In December the non-partisan Crime and Justice Institute noted that over the past 10 years, the budgets for the state's prisons and jails have grown at a faster rate than the budgets for most other state services. Indeed, the budgets … [Read more...]
Making another Boston Miracle
Now at the head of the Coalition, he aims to duplicate and expand on the successful violence reduction of 17 years ago. As a long-term mediator between rival gangs, he knows that such immediate and critical action is key to the work. … [Read more...]
PhRMA and the public good
Money for comparative effectiveness research for drugs was salvaged in the federal stimulus, despite the intense lobbying of the drug industry. This is a good thing. PhRMA has criticized the bill, arguing (risibly) that somehow more … [Read more...]
Drug makers love ignorance
via Krugman, we see that PhRMA would like to keep us as their pet mushrooms: Kept in the dark, and fed nothing but @#$%. WASHINGTON -- The drug and medical-device industries are mobilizing to gut a provision in the stimulus bill that … [Read more...]