Ricky N. Bluthenthal

New Documents Reveal a Controversial Vaccine Study's Unusual Path to CDC Approval A new investigation has found irregularities in the ethics review of a grant to study effects of a birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine in Guinea-Bissau.

Superb reporting from @katherineeban.bsky.social for @rollingstone.com on the scandal around the RFK-fueled, unethical HBV vaccine study in Guinea Bissau that horrified CDC staff, scientists and ethicists around the world. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Our amicus in AAP v. Kennedy. Thanks to Wendy Parmet at Northeastern and Dorit Reiss at University of San Francisco for making this happen. You can find our amicus here: litigationtracker.law.georgetown.edu/litigation/a...

Important discussion featuring @uscpphs.bsky.social chair @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social at @yaleadm.bsky.social.

More --> medicine.yale.edu/internal-med... #MedSky #AddictionScience

Top of the photo has the "STAND UP FOR SCIENCE" logo. Below that in bold white text reads: "NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION". Below that in white text reads: "Take back our science, health, and democracy!". Below that in white text reads: "MARCH 7TH, 2026 WASHINGTON, DC AND NATIONWIDE!" Below that in black text reads: "NEW YORK - LOS ANGELES - BOSTON - CHICAGO - HOUSTON - BUFFALO - DURHAM - SAN FRANCISCO - DENVER - SEATTLE - RICHMOND - MADISON - PITTSBURG - FLAGSTAFF - SAN DIEGO - PHILADELPHIA - & MORE!". To the left of that is a graphic of the statue of liberty in red. Below that in the bottom left hand corner is the red "STAND UP FOR SCIENCE" logo. To the right of that is a link in white text reading: "standupforscience.net/march7"

Join us on March 7th to rally to take back science!

The security we don’t see: A call for solidarity, not sympathy When people's basic needs are met before crises erupt, our communities stay peaceful, not because we police more, but because fewer people are pushed into making desperate choices.

When people's basic needs are met before crises erupt, our communities stay peaceful, not because we police more, but because fewer people are pushed into making desperate choices.

Thanks all who joined us, today, for Addiction Med Grand Rounds w/ Sandra Springer! A recording will be available online, soon! Coming up in February, we'll be joined by @rnbluthenthal.bsky.social & Sid Ganesh (@keck.usc.edu). Register @ the link below.

🔗 medicine.yale.edu/internal-med...

Robert Reich explains what people can do to beat Trump, stop our move towards oligarchy and kickstart a new era of peopl How Citizens United Got Us Trump | Robert Reich

16 years ago today, the Supreme Court made its absurd Citizens United decision, opening the floodgates for big money to overwhelm our democracy.

This video is from 2020, but it still rings true today: we have to get Big Money out of politics.

Save the Date! | Submissions open Feb 1.
AMERSA’s 50th Annual Conference is coming to Washington, DC
Nov 12–14, 2026.

New Deadlines!
Abstracts & workshops due April 1
Scholarship award applications due May 17

Homeless Camp Sweeps Can Harm Health. Some Cities Are Trying a New Way. Several cities and counties are addressing street homelessness with a new approach, which experts say can clear encampments while protecting the health of people who are forced to move.

New reporting on homeless encampment sweeps. Includes quotes from Josh Barocas and cites our study on sweeps, overdose, and mortality among unhoused people.

Homeless Camp Sweeps Can Harm Health. Some Cities Are Trying a New Way. tradeoffs.org/2025/11/20/h...

DULF Founders Guilty of Drug Trafficking | The Tyee Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum didn’t have permission to sell tested drugs despite good intentions, court finds.

From @michellegamage.bsky.social: Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum have been found guilty of drug trafficking, after they operated a compassion club in the midst of a deadly overdose crisis.

The conviction is suspended as their lawyers start a constitutional challenge. thetyee.ca/News/2025/11...

Safe Drugs on Trial: DULF’s Trafficking Case Begins | The Tyee The founders are charged with trafficking. Their lawyers argue they had a legal exemption from drug laws.

Breaking: the founders of DULF have been found guilty of three counts of drug trafficking. @michellegamage.bsky.social will have the full story later today thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

YouTube video by Falling to Freedom Podcast Episode 21- Harm Reduction Policies: Are they helping or hurting?

Had an interesting and thoughtful conversation about harm reduction and the challenges of substance use disorder with Chad LaComb. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0b-...

A patient losing “my seizure medication” to a sweep was the reason I was consulted recently. Couldn’t get another appointment/meds in a timely way (because we have a neurologist shortage and a broken system) and they keep seizing. Would be kinder (and cheaper) to pay for housing over hospital visits

"PFNA is so hazardous that the EPA struck an agreement with eight companies to phase it out nearly two decades ago."

And yet, the report is stuck in limbo, still not released to the public.

Call for papers for Special Issue: Including lived experience in substance use research think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

With all due respect, please read this, then read it again. Then teach it to your children and grandchildren. History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from it. And if it offends you, even better. Because then you are less likely to repeat it. It's not yours to erase or destroy.

What if NIH had been 40% smaller? Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An HIV Outbreak in Maine Shows the Risk of Trump’s Crackdown on Homelessness and Drug Use - KFF Health News Public health experts and advocates say the outbreak has been fueled by a confluence of local factors, including the sweeping of a homeless encampment and shuttering of a sterile-syringe program. But ...

An HIV outbreak in Maine points to a series of poor policy decisions, including ending needle-exchange programs and clearing a homeless encampment. As those policies go national, there is a risk the disease will spread, too: kffhealthnews.org/news/article... @brian-goldstone.bsky.social

24 Hours to Save AIDS Research (Hour 8) | Ricky Bluthenthal So grateful for the opportunity to share results from our studies on displacement and HIV risk as part of the 24 hours of HIV research event last week. You can see my talk (in the 8th hour) here: http...

www.linkedin.com/posts/ricky-...

We’re hearing about HIV and people who use drugs, stigma, and HIV criminalization reform from Ricky Bluthenthal, Valerie Earnshaw, and Trevor Hoppe in the next hour on 24 Hours to Save AIDS Research. Join us! bit.ly/45Qftts #saveAIDSresearch #HIV #HIVresearch

Death at Jefferson County Jail under investigation by Deschutes County Sheriff's Office (Update: Adding video) MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- An inmate's death at the Jefferson County Jail is currently under investigation by the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office.KTVZ News has learned through a m...

My friends nephew was found dead in an Oregon jail cell a couple days ago on September11, 2025.
Oregon has a horrible death in custody rate, it is much higher than the national average.
@tinakotek.bsky.social

Oregon liberals do not care enough to act.

share.google/ZxeWbUKHpz39...

We can do good things!

This hits right on time…

My wife and I had the great privilege of visiting the African-American Museum in DC, and let me just tell you if you have not been…It is a masterpiece—go.

📢 Call for Proposals! AMERSA invites submissions for Position Statements to guide policy & advocacy on substance use education, research, prevention, & treatment. Shape the conversation—deadline August 31!
Details & submission here: amersa.org/submit-a-pos...
Guidelines: amersa.org/wp-content/u...

Why involuntary medical admission and treatment won’t solve homelessness The arguments made by advocates for involuntary medical admissions and treatment aren’t supported by science.

massive investment in accessible social housing to guarantee homes for all is the solution to mass homelessness

substance use and psychiatric injury are CONSEQUENCES of housing deprivation, not causes

people become homeless because the RENT IS TOO HIGH

theconversation.com/why-involunt...

The shit part is that we did not learn from history. We didn't learn one single thing from all of that. Repeating the same mistakes over and over shows inability or unwillingness to learn.
total sad.