#Overdose Prevention Sites

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A new bill in the capitol would legalize safe spaces to use drugs.

The bill would allow the Department of Human Services to license what the bill calls “Overdose Prevention Sites.” People could go to these locations and use illegal drugs under direct supervision, with no fear of criminal prosecution.

Right now, they are far from common in the United States. Rhode Island is the only state to legalize them, but New York City and several other cities have them. A pair of lawmakers are saying those spaces are the next logical step as the state tries to curb overdose deaths.

Opioid overdoses continue to be a leading cause of accidental deaths in the state for those between the ages of 18 and 49. In 2021, 3,013 people died from overdoses. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), said supervised injection sites are a logical step to help curb those numbers.

“Why would we turn our backs on people struggling with a substance use disorder saying, ‘no, we don’t want to allow space for you,'” Ford said. “‘We would rather see you die on the streets.'”

Taylorville Police Chief Dwayne Wheeler takes his own unique approach to helping people who are suffering from addiction. The Taylorville Safe Passage program has helped hundreds of people get clean before they get in trouble with the law. The increased supervision is a sensible idea for Wheeler, but he is skeptical of the ramifications that come with giving people a safe space to use.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Wheeler said. “But let’s treat the people.”

Ford said in an ideal situation, there would be treatment options available at these facilities.

“I think we should have the debate to make sure that when we have overdose prevention sites, that they’re not places where people just go use drugs,” Ford said. “It’s the place where people go and get the help that they need while struggling with a substance use disorder.”

But the bill does not require those services. At a minimum, the bill would require these facilities to have a clean space to use, have naloxone to help people survive an overdose, staff that can help people who are in the middle of an overdose and equipment like fentanyl testing strips. It also would give legal immunity to people who use in those facilities.

Wheeler’s Safe Passage program gives people the opportunity to come into the police department and say they need help. It’s gained state wide acclaim, and even earned his department a $250,000 grant from the state to expand.

The program prioritizes getting people to treatment centers. It relies on people to take that first step and admit they need help, and once they take that step, the department — and it’s long list of volunteers — will drive that person to whatever rehab center they can find a spot in, no matter where it is in the state.

He said if the state is going to allow supervised injection sites, they need to carefully design the program, and make sure it leaves no questions unanswered on how it would work.

There is data that shows supervised injection sites have positive impacts, but they also come with societal ramifications, including arguments over where the sites will be located.

“Illinois should answer the call, knowing that this is the best harm reduction tool that we have in our toolbox,” Ford said. “When you look at overdose prevention sites, and you look at other harm reduction tools, this is the number one harm reduction tool that has proven to save lives across the world.”

This is not the first time the proposal has made its way around the Capitol, but it hasn’t found any traction in past years. So far, the bill has not been voted on in any committees.

#us politics #news #wcia #2023 #Illinois #Overdose Prevention Sites #Illinois Department of Human Services #Opioid overdoses #opioid crisis #La Shawn Ford #supervised injection sites #Dwayne Wheeler #Taylorville Safe Passage program #substance use disorder #substance abuse #drug addiction #addiction #Illinois legislature

[indizombie]

The lethal use of fentanyl in combination with other drugs has marked the "fourth wave" of the overdose crisis in the US, researchers have said. And experts like Prof Shover have cautioned that treatment options in the US for substance use have not kept up. "Our treatment system for substance use disorder is often focused on one drug at a time," Prof Shover said. "But the reality is, many people who use drugs use more than one kind of drug." Her son had been enrolled in treatment a few times during his battle with substance use disorder. The experience taught Ms Blake that care options vary from state to state, and in many cases, what is available is not enough. "Ideally, I think we would see something where people would get treatment rapidly, whenever they want it, and long-term," she said. Ms Blake also raised the idea of overdose prevention sites, where people could use drugs safely and under supervision. Those sites are widely available in Canada - which has its own fentanyl crisis - but only two sanctioned sites exist in the US. Above all, Ms Blake has called for compassion and understanding for those who are struggling with substance use. "Most people I talk to, their kids did not want to die," she said.

Nadine Yousif, ‘How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US’, BBC

#BBC #Nadine Yousif #Chelsea Shover #Kim Blake #US #fentanyl #overdose prevention sites #Canada

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nick Anderson

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 6, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 7, 2024

Today, three years to the day after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the counting of the electoral ballots that would make Democrat Joe Biden president, officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested three fugitives wanted in connection with that attack. 

Siblings Jonathan and Olivia Pollock, whose family owns Rapture Guns and Knives, described on its Facebook page as a “christian owned Gun and Knife store” in Lakeland, Florida, and Joseph Hutchinson III, who once worked there, are suspected of some of the worst violence of January 6. The FBI had offered a $30,000 reward for “Jonny” Pollock, while the other two had been arrested but removed their ankle bracelets in March 2023 and fled. 

Family members of the fugitives and of other Lakeland residents arrested for their involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol insist their relatives are innocent, framed by a government eager to undermine their way of life. The Pollock family has gone so far as to erect a monument “in honor of the ones who lost their lives on January 6, 2021.” 

But it does not honor the law enforcement officers who were killed or injured. It honors the insurrectionists: Ashli Babbitt, shot by a law enforcement officer as she tried to break into the House Chamber through a smashed window (her family today sued the government for $30 million for wrongful death), and three others, one who died of a stroke; one of a heart attack, and one of an amphetamine overdose. 

The monument in Lakeland, Florida, is a stark contrast to the one President Biden visited yesterday in Pennsylvania. Valley Forge National Park is the site of the six-month winter encampment of the Continental Army in the hard winter of 1777–1778. After the British army captured the city of Philadelphia in September 1777, General George Washington settled 12,000 people of his army about 18 miles to the northwest. 

There the army almost fell apart. Supply chains were broken as the British captured food or it spoiled in transit to the soldiers, and wartime inflation meant the Continental Congress did not appropriate enough money for food and clothing. Hunger and disease stalked the camp, but even worse was the lack of clothing. More than 1,000 soldiers died, and about eight or ten deserted every day. Washington warned the president of the Continental Congress that the men were close to mutiny. 

Even if they didn’t quit, they weren’t very well organized for an army charged with resisting one of the greatest military forces on the globe. The different units had been trained with different field manuals, making it hard to coordinate movements, and a group of army officers were working with congressmen to replace Washington, complaining about how he was prosecuting the war.  

By February 1778, though, things were falling into place. A delegation from the Continental Congress had visited Valley Forge and understood that the lack of supplies made the army, and thus the country, truly vulnerable, and they set out to reform the supply department. Then a newly arrived Prussian officer, Baron Friedrich von Steuben, drilled the soldiers into unity and better morale. And then, in May, the soldiers learned that France had signed a treaty with the American states in February, lending money, matériel, and men to the cause of American independence. When the soldiers broke camp in June, they marched out ready to take on the British at the Battle of Monmouth, where their new training paid off as they held their own against the British soldiers.

The January 6 insurrectionists were fond of claiming they were echoing these American revolutionaries who created the new nation in the 1770s. The right-wing Proud Boys’ strategic plan for taking over buildings in the Capitol complex on January 6 was titled: “1776 Returns,” and even more famously, newly elected representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wrote on January 5, 2021: “Remember these next 48 hours. These are some of the most important days in American history.” On January 6, she wrote: “Today is 1776.”

Trump has repeatedly called those January 6 insurrectionists “patriots.” 

Biden yesterday called Trump out for “trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election.”  

Indeed. The insurrectionists at the Capitol were not patriots. They were trying to overthrow the government in order to take away the right at the center of American democracy: our right to determine our own destiny. Commemorating them as heroes is the 21st century’s version of erecting Confederate statues.

The January 6th insurrectionists were nothing like the community at Valley Forge, made up of people who had offered up their lives to support a government pledged, however imperfectly in that era, to expanding that right. When faced with hunger, disease, and discord, that community—which was made up not just of a remarkably diverse set of soldiers from all 13 colonies, including Black and Indigenous men, but also of their families and the workers, enslaved and free, who came with them—worked together to build a force that could establish a nation based in the idea of freedom.  

The people at the Capitol on January 6 who followed in the footsteps of those who were living in the Valley Forge encampment 246 years ago were not the rioters. They were the people who defended our right to live under a government in which we have a say: those like the staffers who delayed their evacuation of the Capitol to save the endangered electoral ballots, and like U.S. Capitol Police officers Eugene Goodman, Harry Dunn, Caroline Edwards, and Aquilino Gonell and Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, along with the more than 140 officers injured that day. 

Fanone, whom rioters beat and tasered, giving him a traumatic brain injury and a heart attack, yesterday told Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin, and Nick Reisman of Politico: “I think it’s important that every institution in this country, every American, take the responsibility of upholding democracy seriously. And everyone needs to be doing everything that they can to ensure that a.) Donald Trump does not succeed and b.) the MAGA movement is extinguished.”

Unlike the violence of the January 6th insurrectionists, the experience of the people at Valley Forge is etched deep into our national identity as a symbol of the sacrifice and struggle Americans have made to preserve and renew democracy. It is so central to who we are that we have commemorated it in myths and monuments and have projected into the future that its meaning will always remain at the heart of America. According to The Star Trek Encyclopedia, the Federation Excelsior-class starship USS Valley Forge will still be fighting in the 24th century… against the Dominion empire.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Valley Forge #American Revolution #American history #history #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #January 6th Anniversary #sedition #seditious conspiracy #Civil War #The confederacy

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The City of Vancouver says it will not be renewing the lease for an overdose prevention site located in the heart of downtown.

The Thomus Donaghy Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) at 1101 Seymour St. in Yaletown, which opened in 2021, is named after an Overdose Prevention Society volunteer who was killed by a client.

It is operated by Vancouver Coastal Health in conjunction with housing operator Raincity Housing, with the health authority saying that the service saves lives amid a toxic drug crisis that the B.C. Coroners Service says sees six people die every day.

However, the city says that it will not renew the operator's lease, set to end in March 2024, with a city councillor saying that public safety concerns and the congregation of people outside the site made it unsuitable. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #Vancouver #addiction treatment #opioid crisis #British Columbia #overdose prevention #mental healthcare #healthcare access

[dipperdesperado]

harm reduction is solarpunk

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and writing about solarpunk actions and ideas that might not be normally considered solarpunk. One of those ideas that I’ve been really interested in recently is harm reduction.

Harm reduction is a way of thinking about harmful things that people do and their repercussions. As it sounds like, it’s meant to reduce the harm that these things cause. It’s an answer to targeted responses to situations that don’t holistically address the root causes. It also thinks about ways to support people that are stigmatized for the ways they cope with these root causes. Instead of asking people to change their individual responses to systemic issues, there is a focus on how to make those responses as safe as possible.

This aligns with the systems-focus and strategically holistic approach to social change that is paramount to solarpunk. While certain things, like drug abuse, should not be a thing, we can’t respond to that issue without having an understanding of the social factors that lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms, and destigmatize existing in those social situations. This is not to say that we endorse drug abuse, but creating safe spaces for drug use and treatment, while also building toward responding to wider issues can be very powerful. This thinking allows solarpunks to have the empathy and restorative justice orientation important to bringing the futures they want to see to life.

Harm reduction also allows people to build self-sufficiency. In the context of drug use, programs like needle exchanges and overdose prevention sites allow people to engage in safer practices in self-managed ways. Giving people the tools and resources to lower risks and improve their health is super solarpunk. Instead of giving them the care, or just providing access to the care, the community can dynamically organize to do both when necessary.

Solarpunk can be enhanced by the ideas of harm reduction to usher in futures that aren’t just renewable and participatory but are compassionate, empowering, and empathetic at their roots.

#solarpunks #solarpunk #socialism #sociology #social relations #sociopolitical #total liberation #social ecology #social revolution

[solmints-messyocdiary]

"Alice"

There is nothing to say here.

Name: "Alice" Doe

Age: Late 20s. Older than she appears.

Pronouns: She/They/It

Gender: Super cute, amazing, talented bishoujo

Sexuality: Weeb (translation: she doesn't get laid)

Alignment: chaotic neutral

Birthday: February 7

Sign: Aquarius

Birthplace: [ç̸̯̜͕̱̗̾͌̌̇̇̔͗̉̎̚͘e̸̺̖͊͊͆̄̕͝ṅ̴̯̩̪͈̊͂͊̃͂̔͊́́̒́͜s̶̼͕͇̟̯̹̩͈̜̯͗͑͂̍̉̾͘͠ơ̴̡̯̦͎̹̍̈́̽̆̐̓̾̎̕̚͝r̸̝͇̗͔͙̱̲̀͐̉̌̐̈́͐͌̈́͜e̶̢̝̰͖̮̪̿͑̓̊́̍͆̒̈̑͆d̵̢̜͖̺̼̦̟̏̂́͘]

Job: Crime scene cleaner

-

Personality:

Haha... she wants to be liked but left alone at the same time. She finds her personality absolutely unbearable, so she'll try to mold herself in any way you need her to be. She can try and play the part. She tries to act as this wild, lovable, and energetic gal that everyone loves. A manic dream pixie girl to be exact.

However... she is an anxiety-riddled nerd who is hyperactive and can't stay still. "Alice" always tries to crack jokes, sometimes at the most bad timings, to ease down the tension. She hates herself and tends to become extremely depressed when her mood gets bad enough and her social battery is drained. She can also be quite negative, judgemental and cruel in her head.

Being perceived is both terrifying and important for her.

-

Height: 1.64 cm (5'4/5'5" feet)

Weight: It's a se-cret~ 48 kg (106 pounds)

Physical Description: A petite woman with blond-dyed hair and blue tips, her roots can be seen and are a dark brown. Greyish blue eyes with an unnerving stare and nervous smile. She has a pear-shaped body, thick thighs, and a nice butt. Her body is always littered with bandaids or bandages due to her clumsiness or how often she gets into fights. She has a scar on her mouth... she'd rather not say how she got it.

-

Hobbies: surfing the web, watching 4 hours videos on niche/obscure topics, sketching, reading manga, watching anime, playing eroge/horror games, staring into the void

Favorite stories: Bibliomania, Emanon, No Longer Human, Lady K and the Sick Man, Devilman, 1984

Favorite movies: Perfect Blue, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Angel's Egg, Jennifer's Body, Girl Interrupted, American Psycho, Spirited Away, Paprika, Akira

Favorite series: Serial Experiments Lain, Ergo Proxy, Neon Genesis Evangelion, My Dress-up Darling, Gangsta, Zombieland Saga, Magical Girl Site, Sailor Moon, Black Rock Shooter, Ghost in the Shell, Saint Seiya, Elfen Lied

Favorite Videogames: Mario 64, You and Me and Her: A Lovestory (Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi), Huniepop, Silent Hill, THE iDOLMaster, Yume Nikki, Needy Streamer Overdose, Jisatsu no Tame no 101 no Houhou, Slow Damage, Subarashiki Hibi

Music Taste: J-pop, J-rock, electronica, eurobeat, vaporwave

-

Loves: solitude

Likes: junk food, Kuromi, physical media, boba tea, manga, Cogimyun, her waifus and husbandos, Dating Sim games, Super Sonico, bootleg figures, horror, deep-dives, horror indie RPGs, cows

Dislikes: boring people, people making fun of her, feeling sad... feel... ing... am I... A̷̳͗m̴̒ͅ ̸͈̐Ĩ̸̠ ̴͚̾r̶͇̔ȇ̴̘ã̴̪l̸̡̆?̸̗͝ ̷̩̈I̴̫̽ ̶̫̊a̸̰͊m̷̯̿ ̸͈͐s̵̭̈́c̴̱̈́a̴̕͜r̷̡̃e̶̦͌d̶̪̽.̷͇͝ ̷̙̒I̵̟͝t̶͍̋ ̶͎͑k̵͉̾e̷̢̿ȩ̴͑p̶̮̚s̵͉͐ ̶̦̕g̷̞̎e̶͊ͅt̶̝̂t̸̘̓ỉ̶͜n̵͉̿g̶̣͗ ̶̳̀ẃ̸̯o̵̜͋r̶̭̈́ṣ̴̄e̷̲͒.̸̯̑ ̸͈͘P̴̼̆l̶̠̈́e̷̖̒a̴̦̒s̸̭̏e̵̠͠.̸͙̀.̸̹̋.̸͇̆ ̶̝̈́p̵̟͝Ĺ̸̼E̴̼̋A̶͖̋S̷̗̈E̶̲͂ ̴̞̈́H̵̫̚Ẻ̶͈L̶̨̕P̶̪̽ ̶̟̍M̵̟͊E̸̛͔.̶̯́

Hates: solitude, herself ḥ̸̡̹̘̭̣̣̬̤͑͗͑͛̒́͗̈́͘̚ĕ̶̞̭̫̑̽̾͌̃̂̒̕̚r̵̛̲̖̙̭̜͙̳̙͚̿̾͌̓̓̀̅ş̵̛͇̜̩̲͓̪̋̌͊̈̉̄̐ȩ̷̡̠͍̥͔̞̼̣̈́ͅļ̶̛͕̱̃̉̎̈́̎͆́͝f̵̡̭̼̦̺̑̀̂̑͘̚͘̚ ̷͖̮̠͂̂͒͌̀͜͝ḧ̵̡̨̜͚͇̟͎͉͇̳̓̂̓̽̀̒ė̷͈̲͕̈́͌͗̍̎̊̕͝r̸̼͚͈̮̓̆̍̇̿́̅ş̷̫̘̰̼͖͖̄ę̸̠̤̼̪̓̒̆̈́͘̚͝l̸̨̧͖̼̰͈̅͆̀̆̃̔̐ͅf̶̙́͒̂͋̂̇̏ ̷̡̘̘͓̖̉͜h̴͓̹͓̭̤̳͚͛͜͠ͅê̵̤͓̖̘̬̭̫͓̒̓͗̈́̕ͅr̵̪͔̝͍͕͖̹̥̹̳̆̐̋͑͒͝͝s̴̫̗͙̈́ͅê̵̡̨̤̩͜l̴̥̈̽̐̾͒͗f̸̳̾̆̐̃͒

-

Extra

Right-handed

"Professional" tummy ache haver

She suffers from anxiety, making her not go out at all to prevent having to interact with others

She's a social smoker but doesn't like to drink alcohol in public

She likes to burn CDs and give them to people she sees as friends. She's surprisingly good at finding songs you might like.

Women make her nervous because she is constantly comparing herself to them

Dissociates... hard. There are times when she can't determine what is real and what is fake

#character sheet #oc: 'alice' #my oc #my writing #character analysis

[philhoffman]

Remembering Phil on this International Overdose Awareness Day. His death isn’t anywhere near the full story of his life but it is part of it. It’s a ferocious, blinding pain that only hurts so much because we love him so much.

It’s more complicated than many people may realize, even those who know about his struggles with addiction. A lot happened and most of it is too painful to say or not mine to share. There are levels and layers I’ve only recently begun to understand and answers we won’t ever get. I’ve been exploring this active grief for a long time now but it’s just as fresh and more painful than ever.

Phil died of a drug overdose. It’s been a journey to be able to say those words. But there’s power in being able to say that without shame, and I’m not ashamed of him. I think being able to talk about what happened to Phil honestly, responsibly, with love and respect, is one of the few ways I can still protect him and his memory. He died of a drug overdose, like over 100,000 other people every year now—an entirely preventable death, the result of stigma and a failed system that cruelly looks down on people who use drugs.

Phil died but he saved lives. I can’t count how many people I’ve heard from who said his struggle and death inspired them to enter recovery. Addiction doesn’t have to be a death sentence, overdoses don’t have to be fatal. Carry Narcan, fight for evidence-backed drug policies and harm reduction initiatives, never use alone, support overdose prevention sites, be there for your loved ones and your community.

Addiction was a piece of his story, but just one piece. Phil is so much more than that, he was a beautiful person and it brings me more joy than anything to share him and his big laugh and generous gifts with anyone who wants to know him, with the people who already love him. From the sweet, lanky, freckle-faced kid he was to the strong, kind, courageous man he became who fought for his life every day—I am so proud of him and anyone should be so lucky to know him, to love him.

I love you, Phil. Celebrating and missing your beautiful light today and always 💜

#thank you phee I miss you #it’s ​really hitting me hard this year #beautiful boy

[warriorcatsrewriteantinomy]

List of Herbs & Uses ( + Other tools)

DO NOT USE THIS AS FACT. THIS IS FOR FAKE CATS. DO NOT USE THIS IN REAL LIFE. I AM SERIOUS.

CW; FOR MENTION OF SPIDERS, LEECHES, FLEAS AND WOUNDS

Psss shoutout to @bonefall​ ‘s herb guide. Helped me a lot + inaturalist thing. Really helped

Alder (Alnus glutinosa) Bark - Chewed to ease toothaches. Found along rivers, can also grow in swampy areas.

Burdock (Arctium minus) Root - The root is dug up, the soil is washed off, and then it is chewed into a pulp. Soothes and heals rat bites especially if they are infected. Can be used for other wounds, more commonly bite wounds. Helps to prevent infections or fight off infections. Prefers moist soil and full sun. Will tolerate most soils. Very dangerous to dig up, only trained Healers can do this.

Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii) - Used as a treatment for Greencough. It can also improve relaxation, which may reduce anxiety, restlessness, and nervousness. Found in Twolegs gardens. Thrives in areas with dry soil and is very tolerant of dryer conditions.

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) - Used as a anticonvulsant herb for cats with epilepsy. MUST BE STEEPED IN WATER. The herb also has a side effect of drowsiness. IN LARGE DOSES IT CAN BE TOXIC! This is why it’s steeped in water. Grows basically anywhere but prefers sunny areas with free draining soil.

Chervil (Chaerophyllum temulum) - Chewed to extract the juice of the leaves for infected wounds or the root for bellyaches. Grows best in a cool, partly shaded spot.

Chew sticks - A small twig from a young willow or Silver Birth tree. First chew the end off. Once that is finished they ‘brush’ their teeth with the bristles, shifting it in their paws to cover the whole mouth.

Cobweb  -  A cobweb is fluffy and messy. They are made by a cobweb spider and it is used to stop or slow bleeding.

Comfrey ( Symphytum officinale ) -  Roots are chewed into a poultice and leaves are chewed into a pulp. Can help for broken bones, soothes wounds, burns and wrenched claws. Can be used to help with itching or for inflammation on stiff or wrenched joints. Also eases stiffness on wrenched shoulders when lined in a nest. IF USED TOO MUCH IT CAN BE TOXIC!!! Found in damp, grassy places.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) - ...Just check this post out. TLDR; it has way too many uses. It grows in most but grows best in sunny sites with free draining soil. It does not like too much shade, and will struggle if the soil is prone to becoming waterlogged.

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) - When eaten it reduces body temperature for cats with fever or chills. Helps with headaches. It also reduces all inflammation and swelling. Grows anywhere sunny, not too picky about soil types.

Flea Bath - ...Self explanatory 

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) - When eaten it can help with grief. Grows anywhere sunny, not too picky about soil types. Can flourish in part shade.

Honey - Used for bacterial infection, especially eye bacterial infection.

Horehound (Lycopus europaeus) - Given to trans cats as a hormone suppressants. If they suddenly stop or overdose it can cause thyroid enlargement. Horehound can also be used to treat anxiety, heart palpitations, stopping bleeding, and respiratory illness. Grows best in full sun and sandy well-drained soil.

Leech (Hirudo medicinalis) - Used for joint pain. 

Mint (Genus Mentha) - Used to cover a cat on a funeral if the body is particularly bad. Very toxic, don't use often.

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) - Mainly used to treat Yellowcough. TOXIC IN LARGE DOSES. Found in well-lit, disturbed soils.

Salt - Insect repellant!

Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) Pollen - Added to water and food to increase testosterone.

Splint - A strip of rigid material used for supporting and immobilizing a broken bone when it has been set.

Poppy seeds (Papaver somniferum) - Can help a cat sleep, soothe shock or distress, or ease pain. Not recommended for nursing queens. Flourishes in dry, warm climates.

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) - Used as a hormone suppressant for cats going to female to male. Also used as a antifungal and used when cooking. It grows best in a sunny, sheltered spot, in well-drained soil.

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioca) + Root  - First must be processed first. Used to treat burns and inflammation. The root can be taken by a transmasc warrior. 

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) - It is used to aid in anxiety and stress. Makes a cat more active. Used as a anticonvulsant herb. Side effect is it causes cats to perk up. Can be found anywhere with good drainage but it prefers sandy loam.

Web - A web is flat and neat. They are made by most spiders and it is used to stop or slow bleeding.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) - When eaten it can induce vomiting. If more than a small amount is eaten it can cause death. Thrives best in sunny areas but will tolerate some shade. Doesn't tolerate constantly wet soil and prefers well-drained soil. Thrives in hot and dry conditions.

(READ BELOW FOR NOTES)

Notes

Lots of herbs are now gone

Almost all mint is toxic to cats btw

Sorry marigold lovers, but it doesn't grow naturally in the general area I'm basing this off of.

...Most of the herbs don't grow naturally in this general area.

Mostly in towns

Probably going to do a territory thing of Thunder Guild where I list plants, prey and stuff like that

I got rid of most herbs because they A; don't grow here or B; too toxic for kitties

Btw if you want to either dock species (curly dock or board leaved dock) could work but only in small doses

#Warriors #Warrior Cats #erin hunter warriors #wc #wcantinomy #herb guide #medicine guide #warriors herb guide #warriors medicine guide #cw; spiders #cw; leeches #cw; fleas #only mentions though #this took too long #warriors rewrite #warrior cats rewrite #wc rewrite

[brightlotusmoon]

Part of that effort should include “decriminalizing addiction, homelessness, poverty, HIV status, and disabilities, including mental health diagnosis, by legalizing marijuana and overdose prevention sites, declining to criminally prosecute low-level offenses such as loitering and theft of necessity goods, and expunging the records of individuals for all drug-related offenses.”

The resolution, which currently has 16 cosponsors in addition to Pressley, also points out that approximately 30 percent of the federal prisoners are serving drug-related sentences.

[onecornerface]

Safe Supply addresses problems that all other forms of Harm Reduction can't handle

In the US, a lot of mainstream or near-mainstream drug discourse accepts that (in some sense) the drug war has failed, and makes positive statements about some forms of harm reduction—such as fentanyl test-strips, naloxone, needle exchange, and supervised consumption sites. However, this discourse usually fails to mention safe supply at all. This omission is unjustifiable.

For one thing, the other forms of harm reduction are all highly limited in their ability to address what is arguably the biggest problem—the fact that so many people are dying. By contrast, safe supply is a direct response to the mass death crisis.

Fentanyl test-strips are a wildly inefficient stopgap that tend to place unreasonable burdens on individual drug users. First, if a drug user finds that one part of her drugs (say, a pill or powder) doesn’t contain fentanyl, the substance could still be unevenly mixed, so other parts of her drugs may still contain fentanyl. So she often has to painstakingly test every piece of her drugs, or else take risks with untested parts of her drugs. I think there are some ways to account for the “uneven mixture” problem, but these are inconvenient and time-consuming, and many drug users are in a hurry for a variety of reasons.

Second, although it wasn’t always this way, many drug users are now seeking fentanyl, and would prefer to use fentanyl than a drug which contains no fentanyl. (This is at least a common first-order preference now. I don’t know for how many people such a first-order preference conflicts with a second-order preference to not have such a preference.) So, for some people, a drug’s not containing fentanyl would be a reason *not* to use it. In fact, this is a major failing of some extant safe supply pilot programs—that they do not provide fentanyl options, and thus fail to undercut the appeal of street drugs for some of their patients. (Conservatives allege that these failings prove that safe supply can’t work. Actually, it is more likely evidence that safe supply needs to go a lot further. On this, safe supply’s advocates have proposed more plausible mechanisms and arguments than its opponents have.)

Third, in some geographical regions, it is basically a foregone conclusion that all the drugs contain fentanyl, so fentanyl test-strips can become redundant. Similarly, not everyone is in a position to simply throw away their drugs if they contain fentanyl—it’s the fentanyl or nothing, and “not using” is just not in the cards at present for some reason or another.

Fourth, many other potentially undesired drugs won’t show up in a fentanyl test, such as xylazine. Now there is a growing availability of xylazine test-strips, which is good, but there are yet more drugs these don’t catch. Where does it end?

Placing the burden on individual drug users to painstakingly test all their drugs with fentanyl (or xylazine) test-strips is wildly inefficient and unreliable. Likewise, using professional drug-checking services has severe limits in its accessibility at present. And notice this is only a problem because the drug supply is unregulated and unlabeled. If people could look at their drug’s package and see what it contains—whether it contains fentanyl or not, whether it contains one drug or multiple, and in what exact doses—there would be no need to use test-strips or drug-checking of any kind. Safe supply is the only harm reduction measure that addresses this issue head-on.

A few notes on other forms of harm reduction--

Naloxone (aka Narcan) is crucial for preventing opioid overdoses from being fatal. But even nonfatal overdoses are devastating experiences. People who repeatedly have nonfatal overdoses are likely to accumulate health problems such as brain damage. Safe supply reduces how many overdoses happen in the first place, including nonfatal overdoses, by making it easy to know exactly what someone is using and how much.

Needle exchange has among the longest and best-established track record of any form of drug harm reduction. They reduce the spread of HIV and other infections that can be spread by sharing needles, as well as harms of reusing needles. But they do nothing to directly address overdose. If we’re already on board with providing clean needles, it is not clear why providing clean drugs should be off the table.

Supervised consumption sites are very important, for various direct and indirect reasons, but they do not appear capable of scaling up to serve more than a small fraction of drug users. Mobile SCS and other variants address this partially, but still seem highly limited. It seems inevitable that most drug users will continue to use drugs outside of SCS—whether by not attending the SCS, or by additionally using drugs elsewhere. Moreover, if you’re going to provide a clean place to use drugs, why not go ahead and provide clean drugs?

In the US, a lot of harm reduction discourse is stuck on fentanyl test-strips, naloxone, needle exchange, and supervised consumption sites. This is better than nothing—but it is miles behind where we should be. We should be putting safe supply on the table immediately. In almost any context where other forms of harm reduction are discussed, safe supply should probably also be discussed.

#drugs #safe supply #harm reduction #war on drugs #drug policy

[lazaruspiss]

New Gotham: Part Three

Wayne Center For Children: This center was created by my mother through the Martha Wayne Foundation as a way to offer family services to the poorer communities of Gotham City. It provides birthing and parenting classes, includes an in-house pediatric ward and daycare, and is entirely funded and paid for through donations. The upper floors have also been the home of the Gotham Child Services Agency for the past ten years. It's where I officially accepted custody of Dick after his parents' death. The Joker once stole family records from the center in an attempt to kidnap newborns and raise them as criminals. Thankfully, Dick and I managed to stop him before he put his plans in motion. To prevent this from happening again, the Kanes proposed to store all records on their secured servers for free.

Child Services. That's where I would've ended up if Bruce hadn't taken me in. That or jail. - J. T.

Wayne Enterprises: Wayne Tower serves as the corporate headquarters to Wayne Enterprises. It was founded after World War II by my grandfather Patrick Wayne, who oversaw the building's construction. It has had many renovations and upgrades since then, most notably the entrance underneath the building which Lucius had installed so Batman could get in and out without being seen. As the years went on, more floors were added to the building as Wayne Enterprises expanded. Now each floor houses the administrative offices of one of the companies' sub- divisions, like Wayne Pharmaceuticals and Wayne Steel. The CEO of Wayne Enterprises thus oversees all of these assets. The board of directors will be handling the business if something were to happen to me, but all of my stocks will go to Dick, meaning his approval will be needed before any major decision is made. If in doubt, he can always go to Lucius for advice as he's already familiar with the company's inner workings.

Foxteca: Lucius Fox left Wayne Tech over a decade ago to found his own company, Foxteca. It has grown to become one of Gotham City's most renowned and prolific corporations. His objective was to make a tech company that would be both environmentally friendly and state-of-the-art, and he has succeeded. His son Luke also worked at the company for a time as an engineer, though he and Lucius had a disagreement and Luke has since left to pursue other ventures. Much like WayneTech, Foxteca specializes in research and development, cybersecurity, and new technologies. Lucius has a private lab where he can conduct his own personal research, which sometimes happens to be vigilante related. Notes: Ask Lucius about his drone project. Could be useful.

I interned at Foxteca for a few weeks last year, and it was really fun! I've implemented some of the things Mr. Fox showed me into my own research and it's helped a lot. - T. D.

Leslie Thompkins Clinic: Due to Gotham City General Hospital often being at capacity, I was looking for a way to help the people living in the Bowery and Otisburg. That's when my friend Leslie Thompkins contacted me with a proposition to finance her own clinic. Through the Wayne Foundation, I purchased the old Coventry Medical building which she turned into the Leslie Thompkins Clinic. It was a complete success. Eventually, Leslie retired, and her daughter Jada took over. She began championing efforts such as drug rehabilitation and safe-injection sites. Despite clear reductions in overdoses and deaths, the city didn't approve and shut down the clinic. Since then, Jada has been operating out of a van, which she drives around the city as a way to bring care to people across the city. Just like her mother, she didn't let anything stand in her way of helping people.

#gotham knights #Locations (GK) #New Gotham (GK) #whenever smth gets all 'if not for bruce jason wouldve lived a life of crime' i just get flashbacks to this one comic #where bruce and dick never met and dick was a mobster using the last name zucco. like i dont remember that being explained much but wow #gotta try and find it again. #dick has some quote where after being told about batman and robin his reaction is basically 'wdym this isnt a porno plot??' #think he was going by richie or smth in that too

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Dozens of people rallied in front of the Manitoba Legislature on Thursday to advocate for safe injection sites, which they say could prevent rising rates of HIV and deaths from toxic drugs in the province.

Some people at the rally carried signs that read "Safe Supply Saves Lives" and "Let's Get Tested." An RV containing Sunshine House's mobile overdose prevention site was also in front of the legislative building.

Jacob Kaufman, a recovering heroin addict who attended the rally, said he's lost several people in his life in the last two years.

"99 per cent of them have died to toxic drug supply," he said. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

#cdnpoli #Manitoba #addiction treatment #overdose prevention #overdose tw #death tw #public health #health & safety #healthcare

[femmetransman]

At a Harm Reduction fundraiser!

Support Overdose Prevention Sites and decriminalization of drug use!

#harm reduction #trans man #transgender #femme trans man