XPost: alt.drugs.psychedelics, alt.drugs.pot, alt.hemp.politics

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1149 -- 1/20/22
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1149

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. NEW YORK CITY'S PLANS TO INSTALL NALOXONE VENDING MACHINES [FEATURE]
New York City opened safe injection sites in December, and now it is
moving to have naloxone vending machines operating across the city by
February. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/19/new_york_citys_plans_install

2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Mississippi lawmakers are moving to pass a medical marijuana bill more
than a year after voters at the polls said they wanted it, a bipartisan
pair of Florida lawmakers are seeking to tighten regulations around
Delta-8, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/19/medical_marijuana_update

3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
An NYPD sergeant made a bad choice of a boyfriend, a Houston constable
made a bad choice to escort what he thought was a load of dope, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/19/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

4. GLOBAL COALITION TO INTERNATIONALLY RESCHEDULE PSILOCYBIN,
MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL, MORE... (1/12/22)
A Florida bill seeks to make it easier to prosecute drug overdoses as
murders, an Austin initiative to decriminalize marijuana possession has
enough signatures to qualify for the May ballot, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/12/global_coalition_internationally

5. MS SENATE APPROVES MEDMJ BILL, ITALY MARIJUANA AND PSILOCYBIN
REFERENDUM HAS NEEDED SIGNATURES, MORE... (1/13/22)
Florida Democratic lawmakers urge the Republican legislature to pass a marijuana legalization bill, an Oklahoma Republica lawmaker wants to
tighten up the state's medical marijuana law, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/13/ms_senate_approves_medmj_bill

6. MEXICO CARTEL DRONE BOMBS RIVALS, VERMONT DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION
BILL, MORE... (1/14/22)
Ohio marijuana legalization campaigners take a second stab at coming up
with enough signatures for their initiated statute, Virginia lawmakers
file bills to defelonize peyote and psilocybin mushrooms, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/14/mexico_cartel_drone_bombs_rivals

7. NJ GOVERNOR SIGNS SYRINGE ACCESS EXPANSION BILLS, THAILAND TO
DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA, MORE... (1/18/22)
It's January, and the marijuana bills are coming fast and furious, a
Utah bill would create a psychedelic therapy task force, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/18/nj_governor_signs_syringe_access

8. OVERDOSE SURGE HITS BLACK MEN THE HARDEST, AUSTIN NO-KNOCK RAID BAN
AND DECRIM INITS, MORE... (1/19/22)
The prospects for home marijuana gardens in the Garden State grow dim,
black men are bearing the brunt of the fatal overdose crisis, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/19/overdose_surge_hits_black_men

(Not subscribed? Visit https://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up today!)

================

1. NEW YORK CITY'S PLANS TO INSTALL NALOXONE VENDING MACHINES [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2022/jan/19/new_york_citys_plans_install

The city of New York is about to embark on a new program aimed at
reducing the toll of drug overdoses in the city: naloxone vending
machines. Naloxone is an opioid overdose reversal drug that has saved
tens of thousands
(https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6423a2.htm) of lives, and
the city wants it to be conveniently and easily available.

In December 2020, the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and
the Fund for Public Health published a request for proposals (RFP) to
install ten vending machines dispensing naloxone, as well as other
wellness goods, such as safe sex items and toiletries, for its Public
Health Vending Machine Initiative (https://fphnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/76/2021/12/Public-Health-Vending-Machine-Initiative-in-NYC-RFP-FINAL.pdf).

"The purpose of this RFP is to support low-barrier access to overdose prevention and harm reduction supplies," the department said.

Bids are due later this week, with a contract start-up date of February
7. The program will run through June at a cost of $730,000. The machines
will be installed in all five boroughs of the city in neighborhoods most impacted by drug overdoses.

The priority neighborhoods mentioned in the RFP are scattered throughout
the city's five boroughs and include East New York, Crotona-Tremont, Highbridge-Morrisania, Hunts Point-Mott Haven, Fordham- Bronx Park, Pelham-Throgs Neck, Central Harlem, East Harlem Union Square, Rockaway, Stapleton-St. George, and South Beach-Tottenville.

"Overdose deaths in New York City are not equally distributed citywide,
with some groups and neighborhoods disproportionately experiencing
increases in the rate of overdose death," the department explained in
the RFP. "During the previous three years, overdose rates among White
New Yorkers decreased; however, rates increased among Black New Yorkers
during the past year and rates among Latinx New Yorkers have increased
for five consecutive years. Structural racism in drug policy and
enforcement has been linked to decreased access to services, poorer
health outcomes, and increased overdose risk."

The department reported that opioid overdose deaths had reached
"epidemic levels" by 2019, with 1,463 unintentional overdose deaths in
the city. More than four out five of those overdose deaths involved
opioids, with the fast-acting synthetic opioid fentanyl involved in more
than two thirds of them.

The city's move is earning kudos from the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA),
which says it supports the plan.

"This approach is consistent with harm reduction strategies that seek to
meet people who use drugs where they're at and ensure that people have
access to safe resources to prevent blood-borne illness and distributing naloxone to people who are the most likely to encounter an overdose and
be able to save lives," said DPA director for civil systems reform
Melissa Moore in an email with the Chronicle. "The free vending machines
mean that people will be able to access these supplies on their schedule
and on their timeline, and without the stigma or shame."

Moore noted that the city made the groundbreaking move of opening the
nation's first officially sanctioned safe injection sites (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/nyregion/supervised-injection-sites-nyc.html)
in December, but said there was still more to be done, especially around creating a safe drug supply.

"At this time there is a huge issue around poisoning and contamination
in the drug supply (and significant disruption of the supply chain), so
there is a need for more robust drug checking, especially for the amount
of fentanyl in a substance, to save lives," she said. "This would
include making sure that people who use drugs have access to this
equipment at harm reduction programs. There can and should also be
movement on safe supply options, as a way to further deal with the contamination and poisoning."

But's that is not all, she said.

"Additionally, if we want to save lives, reduce criminalization, and
curb racial disparities, we need comprehensive, innovative, and forward-thinking approaches like decriminalizing personal possession of
drugs. This would build on Measure 110, which was passed by two-thirds
of voters in Oregon and codify proven public health approaches over criminalization and other failed enforcement tactics of the past."

New York City's naloxone vending machine program is a widely noted harm reduction innovation, but it is not the first in the country. That
distinction may go to Las Vegas (https://www.abcactionnews.com/conquering-addiction/narcan-now-available-in-some-vending-machines-in-las-vegas),
which had naloxone vending machines in 2019. And last year, the city of Cincinnati (https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/03/08/vending-machine-safer-sex-drug-use-supplies-overdose-hiv-prevention-ohio/4592675001/)
rolled them out in March and the state of Indiana (https://www.wthr.com/article/news/health/indiana-gets-first-naloxone-vending-machine-narcan-opioid-overdose-treatment-recovery-help-indiana/531-15745481-e652-4cf0-9e5a-711876d39aa7)
deployed 19 of them in December.

The overdose crisis requires innovation, and getting the opioid overdose reversal drug into the hands of people who could use it is a good
example of that. It won't solve the problem -- that will require much
more radical shifts in public policy -- but it will reduce the harm.

================ ...
___________________

It's time to correct the mistake:
Truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
<http://www.leap.cc>
Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

bliss -- Cacao Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)