For the last 18 years I have photographed Julie Baird’s complex story of multiple homes, AIDS, drug abuse,abusive relationships, poverty, births, deaths, loss and reunion. Following Julie from the backstreets of San Francisco to the backwoods of Alaska. [via]

There is a lot here, and the enormity of the factors at work in this story is really overwhelming. Trauma, abuse, drugs, social services, CPS, HIV care. Not to be too much like everything-reminds-me-of-philippe-bourgois or anything, but the exposure of the photos and the depiction of suffering reminds me of the photos in Righteous Dopefield.

Doctoral student in anthropology, Anna Wilking discusses the struggles of fieldwork, especially when (and honestly, when don’t you) you find yourself in the subject:

I’m testing the waters with this confession as discussing one’s own personal battles in the field is still taboo in anthropology. Anthropologists never share their behavior during fieldwork—we are supposed to be neutral observers who “do everything right,” when in fact everyone knows plenty of anthropologists have sex with their informants in the field, for example. But still, no one ever includes such “horrors” in their final academic products—it would be frowned upon in the academy. We are supposed to be “perfect” beings, perhaps a touch “superior” then our informants.

Seriously, read it. [via]

I have really grown to love what the NIH/National Library of Medicine are doing here at MedlinePlus: Drugs, Herbs and Supplement sections.

When I am not using it to check trade names/generic names I really like to search various drugs that come up in our study and check out the side effects. e.g: “foamy urine” (this would be totally terrifying even before i contemplated what it was communicating to me about my kidneys). Or, you know, check to see whether or not my symptoms that come with taking over the recommending dosage of various OTC allergy/cold meds are worth paying any attention to.

In this post I will outline some societal forces that have led to AA’s popularity. I will also argue that the social sciences are integral for crafting new and effective addiction treatments. The ideas and data presented here come in large part from my comparative research on alcohol use and abuse among homeless men, college students, and veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

I liked this, as well as the Wired article to which it refers. I have never been to/participated in a 12 step meeting but have a tendency to have a positive opinion of them (mostly, I think, due to my particular history and cultural context that has led me to probably overvalue the idea of sponsorship/accountability as used in this model) and a tendency towards the AA model of addiction (even though I really don’t think that there is just one thing that is ‘addiction’ or that there is a unified addiction experience or relationship with psychoactive substances). Idk, things to think about.

Obv I generally agree with anyone that is like YOU KNOW WHO COULD REALLY PROVIDE SOME INSIGHT INTO *insert anything here*? ANTHROPOLOGISTS!

Established in 1997, Project Prevention has so far worked with 3,371 addicts in the U.S. Of those, 1,253 have opted for tubal ligations or vasectomies. After getting in touch with the organization by calling its toll free hotline (888-30-CRACK), prospective participants must mail in arrest records or official letters from social workers to confirm they have drug problems. Those opting for IUDs or surgical implants receive $100 when the device is inserted and $100 more six months and a year later if the device is still in use. Harris depends on donations to keep the operation going, and word-of-mouth among addicts to find clients. But she also advertises her program by driving around the U.S. in a 30-foot motor home plastered with photos of a dead infant, a razor blade, a line of crack and a pacifier, along with the message: “Some things just don’t belong together.”

I remember reading about this same organization (back when it was C.R.A.C.K.) in the lack 1990s (in “Active Transformation,” the detroit-lansing anarchist newspaper that radicalized me, natch) and I am only semi-surprised to hear that they are still around and kicking 10+ years later. Oh, except, you know apparently one of Ryan’s friends is excited about its work on facebook now.

I am probably taking for granted that it is obvious whats wrong with this organization. In my opinion, if they really want to help women with drug addiction and children (and presumably no supportive partner/family?) they should put this money into funding non-state childcare so that these women can go to recovery and not have to spend months in court getting their kids back after. And if they want long-term contraception, it would probably be beneficial to work at getting that paid for at already-established women’s clinics.

Or, you know, address the serious drug and class warfare problem that this country has.

More than 30 activists from Fresno, the Bay Area and Stanislaus County converged outside the downtown Modesto courthouse Monday to protest criminal charges against two people accused of handing out clean syringes and collecting dirty ones from drug addicts in a Modesto park.

Kristy Tribuzio, 36, and Brian Robinson, 37, face up to a year in jail for breaking a law they consider to be immoral.

People held signs reading “Public Health Over Politics” and chanted in favor of dropping the charges. They excoriated local elected officials, pointing to a decision by the county Board of Supervisors in September 2008 to nix legalizing needle exchange over the recommendations of health officials.

“It should be a health issue, not a political issue,” said Dallas Blanchard, 45, whose needle exchange program in Fresno was approved just over a year ago.

“By treating it as a political issue, we’re just allowing people to die,” he added. [via]