"Medetomidine can be thought of as the direct successor to xylazine. It's not associated with soft-tissue infections, but has distinct side effects of its own, including a withdrawal process that can require intensive hospital care."
Also weird to frame this as a "failure of progressivism" and not a feature of, oh I don't know, our systemic housing crisis or healthcare crisis.
Any SF harm reductionists want to weigh in on this *interesting* claim?: "Treatment and recovery became secondary goals, if they were goals at all... Harm reduction providers did not want to push users into treatment, worried [it] could [scare clients] away. The approach was all carrot, no stick."
And I made a typo because I found this so jarring, I guess!
Disclaimer on CDC "psychosocial pathways" page reads: "Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website to its version as of 12:00 AM on January 29, 2025. Information on this page may be modified and/or removed in the future subject to the terms of the court’s order and implemented consistent with applicable law. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from truth. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology due to the harms and divisiveness it causes. This page does not reflect reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it."
I don't sped much time on the CDC website, so maybe I'm late on this, but this disclaimer is psychotic.
Recall how much "how will you pay for that" hand wringing came from conservatives, centrists, and media folks when it involved student debt relief.
www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1...
Few of the things I work on at Science are purely fun, but the Dance your Ph.D contest is an exception. I'm always impressed by the creativity and enthusiasm of the entries. Graceful electrons and pole dancing analysis of pee? See this year's winners! www.science.org/content/arti...
Every time I have to go through the single IRB process as the relying (nonprimary) site it doesn’t really feel much shorter than having to go through a full IRB review. I thought the whole point of the single IRB model was to avoid multiple unnecessary IRB reviews?
NEW: For @theguardian.com, I spoke to people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s whose parents were deported under the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations about the long-term impacts of family separation:
My kid has autism and a speech delay so I'm supposed to correct these things and other mispronunciations according to our SLP, but I also LOVE them: "Poppy that's strange-us" (monkey that's dangerous), "Panino peppers" (jalapeno peppers), "spalad spinner" (salad spinner)
Screenshot of paper title and authors for our new paper in Social Science & Medicine. Citation: Fleming, Taylor; Boyd, Jade; Kerr, Thomas; McNeil, Ryan. (2026) Haunted houses: Using photovoice to understand emotional geographies in single room occupancy housing. Social Science & Medicine, 396: 119106.
Our new photovoice paper draws on theories of haunted houses and emotional geographies to explore how settler colonialism, endemic gendered & racialized violence, and systemic neglect shape affective realities of living in single room occupancy housing.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mg0e-CmV9...
Not surprised academics are in the files. Not only because I've seen vile behavior from colleagues but also because successful academics often have the ability to persevere & maintain ego even while failing, being criticized. This is a scary trait when the criticism is "don't be sexist/abusive/etc."
Freakin yikes
UGHHHHH.
(paywalled, but happy to share a pdf with anyone who requests)
"Addiction vaccines" have been studied since the 1970s and attracted millions in federal government research dollars. Me and a fellow medical sociologist, Kristin Barker, take a deep dive on the promise and failures of this intervention. Read our 🌶️spicy take in SSM: doi.org/10.1016/j.so...
The Board of Governors decided, unilaterally, that no published textbook in the field of sociology could be used in compliance with the law for an Intro to Sociology class. None. Victor: There's not a single existing textbook on the market that could be used that would qualify under state law? Zachary: Correct. Victor: I'm sorry, that's kind of funny. Like, the absurdity of not a single sociology textbook getting past the censors. I mean, it makes me kind of proud of our colleagues, but...
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
I am so sick of reading admissions essays written by AI. If you mentor undergrads, advise them when they’re applying to grad school that we can always tell. I am almost grateful for the shoddily written ones now because at least I know a human drafted them.
Excellent interview, I learned a lot.
The U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office.
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies. Read more: https://scim.ag/4boPkq8
Science personnel and funding gutted at astonishing scale in the US:
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
crackdown. We've ir'entified 28 such incidents, including 14 shootings, as of January 7. They include the shootings of three people observing or documenting ICE raids; the shootings of five people driving away from traffic stops or evading an enforcement action; and the September 30 raid on a Chicago apartment building, during which half-asleep tenants and their children were held at gunpoint. At least four people have been killed and five others have been injured.
She was not alone.
Immigration agents have shot at least 14 people over the past year. That includes:
-3 people who were observing ICE.
-5 people who were driving away.
-4 people who’ve been killed.
-5 people injured.
www.thetrace.org/2025/12/immi...
Not only are the findings interesting (more evidence we don't need higher dose naloxone!), the mix of quantitative analysis and the experiential knowledge of on-the-ground harm reductionists is 🤌. Work by @nabarund.bsky.social and the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Research on "millionaire migration" shows that it rarely happens and that states could raise their top tax rates way higher.
www.asanet.org/wp-content/u...
I’m one of them!
“when shown a rendering of the site, [Elizabeth, a homeless woman] was skeptical. “OK, so straight up, this reminds me of a concentration camp,” she said. “Trying to get all the homeless in one area by the airport. I mean — would we be able to leave of our own free will?””
“the effort will include an “accountability center” for those with addictions.” They’re proposing these be involuntary. This is going to be a disaster.
Any fellow substance use-focused people on here watching Real Housewives of Salt Lake City? I am continually impressed with how Mary is handling her son's substance use disorder. She's doing a pretty dang good job being nonjudgmental & supportive, despite being a pretty judgmental person overall.
"In 2023, 557 teens died of opioid overdose, nearly threefold as many as in 2018, while adult opioid deaths only went up by 65% during this time, according to the study. Drug overdoses are now among the leading causes of death for US teenagers."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
