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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · 1d

The HUGEST congratulations to my friend, colleague, hero @nabarund.bsky.social for being awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his incredible harm reduction work and research. #MacFellow www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...

Nabarun Dasgupta

Combining scientific studies with community engagement to reduce deaths and other harms from drug use.

www.macfound.org

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · 1d

Hey Detroit! I will be doing a book talk on Tuesday, October 14th, alongside Kassandra Frederique and Valerie Kelley-Bonner. The event is 3-6 pm, and it is FREE. Simply register using the QR code on the flyer. Help spread the word!

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Sep 2

SAVE THE DATE: Sept 25th 4:30-6pm EST

Join us for our September Drug Researchers' Roundtable with Drs. Cerda and Allen where they will discuss research on NYC's Overdose Prevention Centers and their impact on neighborhood conditions.

Register: bit.ly/Sep2025Roundtable

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Filter | harm reduction journalism @filtermag.bsky.social · Sep 8

“They say they want to protect Americans from drugs, but their policies don’t match these words,” says Hanna Sharif-Kazemi as the administration talks up more drug-war strikes.

A new tracker helps quantify the damage to people who use drugs of domestic cuts, reports @tganeva.bsky.social:

Trump’s Deadly Drug War Is Also Waged Through Funding Cuts

While waging war in the Caribbean to "protect Americans," the administration is slashing lifesaving care for PWUD, as a new tracker details.

filtermag.org

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · Sep 2

"Our existing system subjects hundreds of thousands of legally innocent people per year to the horrors of incarceration"

@bailproject.org on the importance (and effectiveness!) of ending cash bail for @nytopinion.nytimes.com👇

Opinion | One Concrete Way to Make the Justice System Fairer

www.nytimes.com

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Sep 2

SAVE THE DATE: Sept 25th 4:30-6pm EST

Join us for our September Drug Researchers' Roundtable with Drs. Cerda and Allen where they will discuss research on NYC's Overdose Prevention Centers and their impact on neighborhood conditions.

Register: bit.ly/Sep2025Roundtable

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Narcotica Podcast @narcocast.bsky.social · Aug 29

New episode with @myharmreduction.bsky.social all about the victims of bad drug policy we don't hear about and how to face the attacks on harm reduction. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc.

open.spotify.com/episode/2Lzx...

Spotify – Web Player

open.spotify.com

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · Aug 13

🚨🗞️ JOURNALISTS: As the criminalization of homelessness runs rampant in DC & across the country, it's more important than ever to rely on data to get the story right.

Here are some useful resources that can help you to fight through misinformation 🧵

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Aug 11

DC will be the testing ground. Next up could be your city. Where do they go? No one knows. The point is to disappear people without addressing the root causes- most notably, our housing affordability crisis.

Brittany Page @brittanyepage.bsky.social · Aug 11

Donald Trump calls for “getting rid of people” experiencing homelessness in DC. With more Americans struggling to pay rent and remain housed, and homelessness surging, this disgusting person is only concerned with removing visible poverty from the streets and abusing those who need our help.

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · Aug 4

Hey fam, my new book, Read This When Things Fall Apart, comes out in three months. That means now is the critical window for preorders, which help get books on shelves, in libraries, and into the hands of the people who need them most. www.pilsencommunitybooks.com/item/vCQt68D...

The book cover for Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis, Edited by Kelly Hayes. The book cover features an artistic rendering of a person with long hair wading into a body of water at night in a wilderness.

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Jul 31

What an insult to our harm reduction movement and elders who fought so hard for naloxone and fentanyl test strip access.

Check out the atrocious language in the latest letter from SAMHSA claiming these tools are "not harm reduction."

www.samhsa.gov/sites/defaul...

In recent years, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications (OORMs), naloxone and nalmefene, have been lumped into an ideological concept of harm reduction which has been used to advocate for policies that are incompatible with federal laws and inconsistent with this Administration's priorities.

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Logan Hullinger @loganhullinger.com · Jul 25

The wonderful @myharmreduction.bsky.social will be at Red Emma's next month to talk about her book, "The Harm Reduction Gap." It's an excellent read, and I highly recommend attending the event.

Details:

withfriends.co/event/264441...

8/27 - Sheila Vakharia presents "The Harm Reduction Gap" w/ the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy by Red Emma's

Get tickets and support Red Emma's by becoming a member

withfriends.co

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Jul 22

SAVE THE DATE: August 27th at 7pm Baltimore

I'll be doing an in-person book talk and signing at Red Emma's. Register and bring a friend! I would love to see you there.

redemmas.org/events/sheil...

Sheila Vakharia presents "The Harm Reduction Gap" w/ the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy

This long-awaited book teaches how harm reduction can be a safety net for people with substance use disorders that our current addiction treatment rejects, abandons, and leaves behind.

redemmas.org

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Jul 17

This administration has prioritized punishment, penalties, tariffs, and border enforcement in the name of our loved ones who died of overdose.

All while gutting the very programs & strategies that are saving lives, and cutting the research for solutions.
www.npr.org/2025/07/16/n...

Exclusive: Trump team withholds $140 million budgeted for fentanyl fight

Threats to $140 million in funds for public health departments battling fentanyl overdoses comes as some experts see the addiction safety net unraveling.

www.npr.org

Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Filter | harm reduction journalism @filtermag.bsky.social · Jul 17

"An increasingly hostile political and legal environment appears to be directly translating into greater police interference with health services," write Liam Michaud & co-authors of their new study, for which Ontario service users and providers were interviewed:

Police in Ontario Increasingly Obstruct Harm Reduction Service Delivery

Police surveillance and interference block life-saving care as the province becomes more hostile to harm reduction, our study shows.

filtermag.org

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Jul 16

Wow I'm so so sorry!

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Jul 16

Appreciate this NYT coverage about Contingency Management, one of the most studied approaches to treating addiction- and one of our strongest tools to help people with stimulant use disorders.

Rewards, not punishment! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/h...

Upended by Meth, Some Communities Are Paying Users to Quit

www.nytimes.com

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Jul 15

People always ask me, "Sheila, but what about the kids?"

Now I can refer them to this great textbook.

Preorder your copy today!

It's by Amanda Reiman and Barry Lessin - "Harm Reduction Approaches with Adolescents who use Substances." www.amazon.com/Harm-Reducti...

Harm Reduction Approaches with Adolescents Who Use Substances

Amazon.com: Harm Reduction Approaches with Adolescents Who Use Substances: 9781032940847: Reiman, Amanda, Lessin, Barry: Books

www.amazon.com

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · Jun 30

Seeing some posts referring to Kilmar Abrego Garcia as being "kept safe" in jail. No one is safe in jail, fam. Incarceration strips years off people's lives and manufactures premature death. It's very important to understand this, especially now.

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Filter | harm reduction journalism @filtermag.bsky.social · Jun 24

"False positives for synthetic cannabinoids can be used to sanction prisoners and to fuel clicky headlines; accuracy doesn't matter unless the results would need to hold up in court. Which may explain why synthetic cannabinoids have awkwardly disappeared from federal sentencing data."

Feds Share Prison Contraband Data They May Not Have Thought Through

A new USSC report awkwardly doesn't include synthetic cannabinoids, despite the so-called epidemic of these substances pouring into prisons.

filtermag.org

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Filter | harm reduction journalism @filtermag.bsky.social · Jun 23

"Courts might give prison mail a three-day grace period, but they won't believe it took a month for your mail to make it to the post office."

Prisons Need Their Own Post Offices, Not That We'll Ever Get Them

Courts might give prison mail a three-day grace period, but they won't believe it took a month for your mail to make it to the post office.

filtermag.org

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jun 22

My heart is with my Iranian friends and their families. May everyone live.

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · Jun 22

One of the cruelest, most unproductive disciplinary punishments prisons often turn to is taking away visitation

Here's the truth: Visitation has positive impacts for everyone – better health, reduced recidivism, and improvement in school. It should be a right, not a "privilege"

Graph titled: Disciplinary write-ups are common and usually involve "minor" violations, but they almost always lead to harsh punishments

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Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW @myharmreduction.bsky.social · Jun 22

I was anti-war in 2003 when I was 21 and had no social media. Even then, I knew there were no WMDs. This time is no different.

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Reposted by Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW

Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · Jun 21

More than 1 in 3 people in state prisons were first arrested before their 16th birthday. The criminalization of youth has life-altering consequences.

Shouldn't the US be investing in youth instead of locking them up?

Graph showing that more than 1 in 3 people in state prison were first arrested before their 16th birthday

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