By Matthew Chun
A scientist’s high-tech approach to assisted suicide is already available for use in Switzerland and is actively being campaigned for in the United Kingdom. . . Could the United States be next?
Tag: suicide
Organizing and Activism of Adopted and Displaced People
By Lina Vanegas
I am a transracial and transnational displaced person. I was separated from my country, language, and culture and taken to Michigan, which has no connection to me or my ancestors. I was taken there to create a family for strangers who had the privilege and resources to buy me. I had family in Colombia and I was far from being a true orphan. I was bought in Bogota, Colombia and sold to a white couple living in the Midwest in 1976.
I use the word “displaced” intentionally, because the word “adopted” does not define my lived experience in an accurate way. The word “adopted” is language that was created by the child welfare-industrial complex, also known as the adoption industry. I do not subscribe to any of the constraints or barriers that they attempt to put onto my life with their language choices. Using the word “displaced” defines the intentional separation from my family by the child welfare-industrial complex.
My lived experience has informed who I am and has inspired and motivated the work that I do online and in the world. It is very rare that adopted and displaced people’s lived experiences are seen, heard, validated, centered, and believed, so my mission is to do that online, on my podcast, Rescripting The Narrative, and in the work that I do as a social worker and with the organization Adoptees for Choice.
Washington Psilocybin Bill Would Legalize Supported Adult Use
By Mason Marks
On Tuesday, Washington State legislators filed SB 5660, a bill that would legalize the supported adult use of psilocybin by people 21 years of age and older.
Sponsored by Senators Jesse Salomon and Liz Lovelett, the bill, known as the Washington Psilocybin Wellness and Opportunity Act, includes many innovative features including a Social Opportunity Program to help address harms caused by the war on drugs, a provision to support small businesses, and accommodations for people with certain medical conditions to receive the psychedelic substance at home.
I had the privilege of helping to draft the Washington Psilocybin Services Wellness and Opportunity Act with input from the Psychedelic Medicine Alliance of Washington and my colleague John Rapp of the law firm Harris Bricken. We had previously collaborated on the psychedelic decriminalization resolution adopted unanimously by the Seattle City Council.
The Future of Acute and Critical Care Nursing
By Sarah A. Delgado
We need to change the future for nurses. Even before the pandemic, nurses suffered high rates of burnout and a disproportionate risk of suicide. But the pandemic could be a tipping point that leads many nurses to change careers, leave their jobs, or retire early.
Moral distress, the consequence of feeling constrained from taking ethical action, was well-documented before the pandemic, particularly among critical care nurses providing end-of-life care. Additional research conducted before 2020 demonstrates that nurses were experiencing post-traumatic stress due to the suffering they witnessed and the demands of their work.
During the pandemic, surges in critically ill patients have led to untenable workloads. The distress of end-of-life care is heightened by restrictions on visitation and increased mortality rates. In addition, shortages of basic personal protective equipment contribute to fear and a sense of betrayal.
While the pre-pandemic state of the nursing profession was concerning, the pandemic creates imminent peril.
The Fourth Wave of COVID-19: The Effects of Trauma on Health Care Workers
This post is the introduction to our newest digital symposium, In Their Own Words: COVID-19 and the Future of the Health Care Workforce. All contributions to the symposium will be available here.
By Stephen Wood
On this day one year ago, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom declared COVID-19 a pandemic, sounding the alarm about the international threat posed by the virus.
Today, one year later, I fear the end is not in sight. In fact, I believe that we are on the precipice of a fourth wave.
The fourth wave will strike the people on the frontlines of this pandemic — health care workers. It will be the effects of the trauma that health care workers entrenched in this pandemic have faced. And it is likely to have significant and lasting effects on our health care system.
Research Reveals Potential Concerns About Genetic Testing for Suicide Risk
By Brent Kious, Anna Docherty, Leslie Francis, Teneille Brown, Jeffrey Botkin, Douglas Gray, Brooks Keeshin, Louisa Stark, Brieanne Witte, and Hilary Coon
Companies that offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) will soon be able to provide scores that estimate suicide risk.
Our recent study, appearing in Genetics in Medicine, the official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) raises ethical questions about how these risk scores will be understood.
The causes of suicide are complex. Many risk factors intersect: psychiatric symptoms like depression, different life stressors, family history, access to lethal firearms, and substance abuse, among many others.
Psychedelics Helped Me Reclaim My Life and Push to Change Drug Laws
By Melissa Lavasani
In December 2019, I proposed a ballot measure, now known as Initiative 81, which would effectively decriminalize natural psychedelics – including psilocybin and ayahuasca, which had helped me overcome postpartum depression – in the District of Columbia.
This would help ensure that other D.C. residents benefiting from natural psychedelics are not targeted by law enforcement. After tumultuous months of hard work including collecting more than 25,400 signatures from voters, Initiative 81 is on the November ballot.
I am not the usual protagonist you’d imagine as an advocate for psychedelics: I am a married mother of two with two graduate degrees and an established career working for the District of Columbia government. But I had a psychedelic experience that changed my life. In 2018, I had taken psychedelics – first psilocybin mushrooms, and then ayahuasca and San Pedro cacti – because I was desperate to overcome severe postpartum depression that came to dominate my life.
Psychedelics and America: A Digital Symposium
By Mason Marks
In 2020, the psychedelics research and policy reform renaissance is in full swing. Prohibited by federal law since the 1970s, psychedelic substances can alter how people see themselves, the world, and those around them. Clinical trials suggest they may help people overcome ingrained thought patterns associated with depression, anxiety, and addiction.
Acknowledging their spiritual and therapeutic potential, universities have established new psychedelics research programs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed them breakthrough therapies for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. This designation means they could be significant improvements over traditional treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Accordingly, the FDA has put some psychedelics on an accelerated course toward approval. Eventually, they could help millions who have not benefitted from existing therapies.
However, despite their breakthrough status, psychedelics will not become FDA approved for several years. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic is making the country’s mental health crisis worse. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidal thoughts have risen in the past nine months.
As Cities Decriminalize Psychedelics, Law Enforcement Should Step Back
By Mason Marks
Amid rising rates of depression, suicide, and substance use disorders, drug makers have scaled back investment in mental health research. Psychedelics may fill the growing need for innovative psychiatric drugs, but federal prohibition prevents people from accessing their benefits. Nevertheless, some cities, dissatisfied with the U.S. war on drugs, are decriminalizing psychedelics.
In 2019, Denver became the first U.S. city to decriminalize mushrooms containing psilocybin, a psychedelic the FDA considers a breakthrough therapy for major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression.
In a historic vote, Denver residents approved Ordinance 301, which made prosecuting adults who possess psilocybin-containing mushrooms for personal use the city’s “lowest law enforcement priority.” Since then, in Oakland and Santa Cruz, California, voters approved their own decriminalization measures.
As a Schedule I controlled substance, psilocybin remains illegal under federal law, and despite ongoing clinical trials, it is unlikely to become FDA approved for several years. Social distancing requirements due to COVID-19 are disrupting medical research causing further delays. But as the November election approaches, other U.S. cities prepare to vote on psychedelics.
Author Q&A: “Association between State Minimum Wages and Suicide Rates in the U.S.”
As the suicide rate increases across the United States, researchers at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health approached the issue by considering the financial anxiety caused by low wages. Alex Gertner, Jason Rotter, and Paul Shafer used the LawAtlas minimum wage dataset to explore the associations between state minimum wages and suicide rates in the United States.
Their study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine on March 21, 2019.
Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research spoke with Mr. Gertner about their study.
You must be logged in to post a comment.