#anti-drug awareness campaign

[townpostin]

Jamshedpur Celebrates Olympic Day with Diverse Competitions

Local schools showcase talent in sports, quiz, and art events across the city East Singhbhum’s District Sports unit organized a multi-event celebration for International Olympic Day 2024, featuring handball, volleyball, quiz, and drawing contests. JAMSHEDPUR – The city marked International Olympic Day 2024 with a series of engaging competitions, blending sports and academics to honor the Olympic…

[froody]

The Italian restaurant in my mom’s hometown WAS definitely a mob front. The owner briefly served in the Italian military, immigrated to America in his twenties back in the early 70s, mysteriously had enough money to open a chain of Italian restaurants and was convicted for trafficking cocaine across the Virginia/West Virginia area and spent 15 years in prison.

My mom had worked as a waitress at the place while she was a teenager and throughout her 20s and she realized that when she was sent to the restaurant’s sister location in West Virginia in a mysteriously packed car by her mysteriously nice boss, it probably wasn’t pizza ingredients she was hauling. It was the 80s. She was a tiny, very naive, conventionally attractive church girl with no criminal record so she was the perfect unwitting drug mule.

The thing was, this restaurant and the man who operated it were locally loved. Beyond large scale organized cocaine trafficking, food was his other passion. Everyone waited anxiously for him to get out of prison and when he did this guy started a crusade against the corrupt local sheriff’s office. He started doing anti-police brutality advocacy work WHOLEHEARTEDLY. Donating to local families who had been victims and participating in local drives and awareness campaigns.

Made men usually do local charity work but the balls on this guy to take up sword and spear against shitty corrupt ineffectual law enforcement. Incredible. One thing about Appalachians is that we hate the cops and we love social agitators. This guy lived a long eventful life and died recently of natural causes and the overwhelming outpouring of love for him on Facebook was incredible, a uniting force that the town had not seen in decades, everybody was sharing their favorite stories about him and I’m sure local law enforcement was fuming.

[dcdreamblog]

Hi, I know your field of study is more focused on the WWII era of superheroics, but I got a question about the 1980s.

My dad recently told me about the time he met the Teen Titans in school because of some Reagan era Anti-Drug thing like DARE and putting the complicated politics of the War on Drugs aside something unusual caught my eye.

He had a picture of him meeting the Titans and among the usual suspects like Starfire or Raven the picture featured a hero I never seen before.

At first I through it was Robin, but no it was a guy in a blue (purple?) costume with red accents who my dad said was the leader of the team.

He sadly can't remember his name, so I wanted to ask if you could clear this up for me.

Who was that guy and what happened to him?

That's amazing as far as heirlooms go, I hope your dad treasures those.

The Titans actually did shows like that all over the country in relation to the "Presidential Drug Awareness Campaign" but like you said there was a very obvious wrinkle in the lineup

(Poster distributed to schools around the country, circa 1983) The man in purple up at front is a hero by the name of "The Protector". Most of you are scratching your heads. If you are a native of certain parts of San Fransisco you are pumping your fist in the air. San Fran has a lot of superheroes that call it home but The Protector is known for one thing and one thing only: He's the illegal drug trade's worst nightmare. He's taken on seemingly untouchable gangsters and even pharmaceutical companies and has really become the face of those fighting addiction in the city. As for "What happened to him":

During his early days he was criticized for having that hard edged DARE, no tolerance on drugs attitude but these days he's mostly known as a friend to the addicts of the city and a supporter of places like clean injection sites and needle exchanges.

He's even gotten into more than a few high profile dust ups with the SFPD over excessive force in raids or encampment clearings. As far as I know as of right now he's still doing what he does best in the Golden Gate City. People from the area can sound off in the comments of course.

(Graffiti mark of Protector on a needle exchange in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, this mark is used to denote that a building is under his "protection") It's hard to know WHY Robin wasn't there for this. Some people have theorized that it was to keep him out of the public eye on Batman's orders but I don't know that I buy that, the lanes of communication between the two during this time period didn't seem that one sided. Personally I think Robin just stepped aside to give the floor to someone who had more specialized knowledge on the subject

[psychic-refugee]

So just to get my understanding in order.

They want PHW to be arrested for an unspecified crime with:

No date No named victim Unspecified location Has not been brought to the police and may never Has not been brought to an attorney and may never

The accuser has publicly admitted to:

Heavy long term drug use Mental health issues (she has admitted publicly to both narcissistic and borderline personality disorder) Possible memory issues since she has publicly admitted to not being able to give an actual date and has waffled on people’s ages.

The accuser can be quoted:

“my god am I happy these [leaked underage nudes] r on the internet.”

 “yall are ruining my fun”

Accuser has no proof of:

Ever having met PHW Attending one of these alleged parties

Has SS of:

Partial conversations with no context No dates No names in the screenshots themselves Admitting to no crimes No metadata to prove these are actual SMS files from her phone

Am I missing anything else?

This is what the antis are basing their entire campaign on?

I’ll outright ask, how can PHW be arrested if no one goes to the police?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not Canadian nor do I practice in Canada…does Canadian Twitter have a law enforcement branch I’m not aware of that has the power to arrest people?

I’m fascinated by the thought of Twitter having its own LEOs. lol

[aerial-jace]

The June 25th Guatemalan election and why it's kind of a Big Deal

This last Sunday Guatemala had an election, an election I can't help but have a lot of thoughts about as it's shaping up to be the culmination of a story arc of sorts of Guatemalan politics that has been running since I first became aware of politics essentially. The results, particularly in the presidential, were shocking to say the least. By writing up this post I'm hoping not only to inform those who might be curious of what's going on in my little corner of the world but also to organize my own thoughts.

More under the cut...

So, what went down with the prsidency? At first it may seem like a routine presidential election. An overabundance of candidates, 21 total, ensured no one got to the winning threshold of 1 vote above 50%, so we're going into run-offs next August 20th between the two most voted candidates. One of the candidates who advanced into the run-offs in fact is a pretty well known face, having ran twice before, ex-first lady Sandra Torres.

The party she leads is called Unidad National de la Esperanza (National Unit of Hope or UNE for its Spanish acronym), easily the most well-established Guatemalan party, with both a strong voter base and an impressive longevity considering how easy our parties crumble within a single election cycle.

Though she was a politician in her own right from before, her big break didn't come until her ex-husband and former UNE leader Álvaro Colom reached the presidency during the 2007 election. As first lady she was the face of her husband's welfare programs as well as being one of the key bureaucrats administering them. With all these accomplishments it's easy to see why she has become so beloved.

Unsurprisingly though she's also severely maligned by more conservative-minded people. All the typical right wing clichés apply to her, that she's promoting laziness, that she's vote buying, that she's encouraging the (mostly indigenous and rural) population to breed like rabbits to get welfare money, and so on and so forth.

She's also had personal scandals clouding her image, such as her divorce in 2011, right before the presidential election. Guatemalan law prohibits not only second terms but also prohibits the immediate family of current presidents from seeking to be elected. All this with the aim of preventing them from entrenching themselves or a dynastic structure into power. The timing her seemed to a lot of people quite the convenient way to skirt these laws and because of it the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (Supreme Electoral Tribunal or TSE) rejected her candidacy.

However, it would not be accurate to dismiss all critique of her as baseless propagandizing or a focus on personality over policy. UNE over the years has had a myriad controversies, involving links to drug trafficking, illegal campaign financing, misappropriation and mismanagement of government funds, and all manners of corruption which is depressingly common in the Guatemalan Congress. As consistently one of the major voting blocs and an entrenched party, UNE as a whole, and Sandra Torres as their leader, has repeatedly acted to perpetuate the political ill that hangs most heavy in the consciousness of the Guatemalan electorate.

Her two defeats, first against comedian Jimmy Morales in 2015 in what I'd call a cheap imitation of Trump's rise to power had it not happened first and the second against our current president Alejandro Giammatei, reflect precisely this deep-seated aversion towards her. The electorate voted against her more than in favor of them to catastrophic results.

That first one is particularly notable because even though he sold himself as an anti-corruption candidate, the main achievement of the Morales government was the dismantlement of the Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, CICIG), a well regarded UN overseer body instrumental in exposing the corruption Morales's predecessor Otto Pérez Molina which led to his resignation and arrest.

(The Giammatei government's main policy achievement is massively fucking up the Covid response in just about every aspect.)

Now, to explain the origins of Sandra Torres and UNE's main opponent we have to zoom into that particular event. So! In 2014, as a response to a massive recently uncovered corruption case involving bribes and extortion at La Aurora Inernational Airport, Guatemala City residents began to protest at the central plaza of the city. The protestors rallied under the cry of #RenunciaYa (Resign Already) and as the modest protest movement that organized primarily through Twitter grew it became a focal point of anti-establishment sentiment rallying people of all sorts of different backgrounds.

As the CICIG investigation on the case proceeded and it became untenable for the government to let this grow, Congress voted to revoke political immunity to the president and the very next day he was arrested. He remains under custody to this very day. The very successful citizen activist campaign soon morphed into the #JusticiaYa (Justice Already) movement aiming to call out corruption and bring all politicians furthering the institutional rot of the Guatemalan government to justice.

From the leadership of #JusticiaYa would emerge Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement), a social democratic party billing itself as primarily an anti-corruption force in Congress and secondarily as a more principled alternative to the rotten UNE. The niche they fill right now is one that used to be filled by Encuentro por Guatemala (Encounter for Guatemala), an older more established party that was dissolved due to not reaching the vote threshold to remain as an active party after 2019.

The reason Encuentro lost so many voters is because many of them thought it would be a good idea to give the fresh, young Semilla candidates a chance under the assumption Encuentro would eventually absorb them. My mom did precisely that, in fact, and when the desired outcome did not materialize it left other Encuentro voters like myself feeling pretty miffed.

Semilla had intended to put forward our ex-attorney general Thelma Aldana, another key figure in the Pérez Molina downfall, as candidate in 2019 but her candidacy was rejected by the TSE and so they didn't put forward a presidential until this year with their leader Bernardo Arévalo. For his very first electoral showing they managed an impressive 11.77% compared to Sandra Torres's 15.86% and the spoilt ballots' 17.39%. With this he has well and truly established himself as the dark horse on this race.

In terms of congressmen, Semilla has also managed some fairly good numbers, positioned as the 3rd largest party with 23 out of 120 representatives, up from a measly 7 last election. They're only behind UNE's 28 and Vamos por una Guatemala Differente's (Let's go for a different Guatemala, the incumbent president's party) 38. It is not the best result they could have gotten, it will still be quite the uphill battle to get anything done if they win the presidency, specially since their main ally in Congress right now is the coalition between the indigenous issues parties Winaq and URNG-Maiz, both of which only managed 1 representative sent by their joint delegation down from 6, 3 and 3 each, in the current congress. (The party I voted for this time, I just can't win can I?) But it is at least very encouraging to Semilla voters.

Arévalo is in an interesting position as leader and presidential candidate of a social democratic party allied with two historically very leftist --outright communist in URNG's case!-- indigenous issues parties. For years the right wing line has been to demonize Sandra Torres but it seems her more centrist and socially conservative tendencies make her seem like the most pallatable option of the two at the moment. It will be hard, however, to get the right wing base to unlearn all their vitriol against her.

In economic policy Semilla seems to be much more vague than UNE, only mentioning more public spending in aspirational terms rather than concrete policies, possibly to avoid alienating voters or distracting from their main objective of bringing accountability to Guatemalan institutions. Although they are not my first choice I am very much supporting them this second round. Their alliance with Winaq and URNG-Maiz has the potential to bring more leftist positions into the mainstream. Plus they are the single openly pro-LGBT party in the running which is neat.

My biggest hope right now is that a succesful Semilla government will open up the possibility of closer collaboration with a stronger Winaq and URNG-Maiz. I'm particularly hoping Semilla, Winaq, and URNG-Maiz run a joint candidacy for mayor of Guatemala City and that it can finally topple the dominance of the Partido Unionista (Unionist Party) candidate. The Semilla-Winaq-URNG candidate this year was excellent and had the objectively correct urban planning takes.

So, yeah, that's what's been happening over here.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 24, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 25, 2024

On Wednesday, May 22, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who had been the candidate for anti-Trump Republicans, said she will vote for Trump. Haley ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination and maintained a steady stream of criticism of him, calling him “unstable,” “unhinged��� and “a disaster…for our party.” Since she suspended her campaign in early March, she has continued to poll at around 20% of Republican primary voters. 

There are two ways to look at Haley’s capitulation. It might show that Trump is so strong that he has captured the entire party and is sweeping it before him. In contrast, it might show that Trump is weak, and Haley made this concession to his voters either in hopes of stepping into his place or in a desperate move to cobble the party, whose leaders are keenly aware they are an unpopular minority in the country, together. 

The Republican Party is in the midst of a civil war. The last of the establishment Republican leaders who controlled the party before 2016 are trying to wrest control of it back from Trump’s MAGA Republicans, who have taken control of the key official positions. At the same time, Trump’s MAGA voters, while a key part of the Republican base, have pushed the party so far right they have left the majority of Americans—including Republicans—far behind.

Abortion remains a major political problem for Republicans. Trump appointed the three Supreme Court justices who provided the votes to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized the constitutional right to abortion, and he has boasted repeatedly that he ended Roe. This pleases his white evangelical base but not the majority of the American people.

According to a recent Pew poll, 63% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while only 36% think it should be illegal in most or all cases. But Republicans are continuing to push unpopular antiabortion legislation. On Thursday, Louisiana lawmakers approved a law classifying mifepristone and misoprostol, two drugs commonly used in abortions, as dangerous drugs—a category usually reserved for addictive medications—making it a crime to possess abortion pills without a prescription. 

Louisiana prohibits abortions except to save the life of the mother or in cases in which the fetus has a condition incompatible with life. The law requires doctors to get a special license to prescribe the drugs, one of which is used for routine reproductive care as well as abortions. The state would then keep a record of those prescriptions, effectively a database to monitor women’s pregnancies and the doctors who treat them. Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, is expected to sign the measure into law. 

Trump has repeatedly promised to weigh in on the mifepristone question but, likely aware that he cannot please both his base and voters, has not done so. On Tuesday, May 21, though, he stepped into a related problem. Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade, antiabortion activists have begun to talk about contraception as abortion, with some warning that it is “unbiblical.” But in February, 80% of voters polled said that contraception was “deeply important” to them, including 72% of Republican voters. On Tuesday, Trump said he was open to regulating contraception and that his campaign would issue a policy statement on contraception “very shortly.” He later walked back his earlier comments, saying they had been misinterpreted.

On May 19 the same judge who tried to remove mifepristone from the market by rescinding the FDA approval of it, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, blocked the Biden administration from implementing a new rule that requires sellers at gun shows and online to get licenses and conduct background checks. The rule closes what’s known as the “gun show loophole.” According to the Penn State McCourtney Institute for Democracy, 86% of Americans want mandatory background checks for all gun purchases. 

Trump himself is a problem for the party. His base is absolutely loyal, but he is a deeply problematic candidate for anyone else. As Susan Glasser outlined in the New Yorker yesterday, in the past week he chickened out of testifying in his ongoing criminal trial for paying hush money to an adult film actress to keep damaging information from voters in 2016 after insisting for weeks that he would. He talked about staying in office for a third term, ran a video promising that the United States will become a “unified Reich” when he wins reelection, and accused President Joe Biden of trying to have him assassinated. He will be 78 in a few weeks and is having trouble speaking.

In addition to his ongoing criminal trial, on Tuesday a filing unsealed in the case of Trump’s retention of classified documents showed that a federal judge, Beryl Howell, believed investigators had “strong evidence” that Trump “intended” to hide those documents from the federal government.

Also revealed were new photographs of Trump’s personal aide Walt Nauta moving document boxes before one of Trump’s lawyers arrived to review what Trump had, along with the information that once Trump realized that the men moving the boxes could be captured on Mar-a-Lago’s security cameras, he allegedly made sure they would avoid the cameras. The new details suggest that prosecutors have more evidence than has been made public. 

This might explain why, as Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley of Rolling Stone reported today, Trump is pressuring Republicans to pass a law shielding presidents from prosecution in state or local courts, moving prosecutions to federal courts where a president could stop them.

Yesterday, Marilyn W. Thompson of ProPublica reported on yet another potentially harmful legal story. There were a number of discrimination and harassment complaints made against the Trump campaign in 2016 and 2020 that Trump tried to keep quiet with nondisclosure agreements. A federal magistrate judge has ordered the Trump campaign to produce a list of the complaints by May 31. Those complaints include the charge that the 2016 campaign paid women less than men and that Trump kissed a woman without her consent. 

Trump’s current behavior is not likely to reassure voters. 

Yesterday he wrote on social media that “Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office. He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!”

There is no good interpretation of this post. If Trump does have that sort of leverage with Putin, why? And why not use it immediately? Is he openly signaling to Putin to ignore the Biden administration’s ongoing negotiations for Gershkovich’s release? Trevor Reed, who was arrested in Russia in 2019 when visiting his girlfriend in Moscow, noted: “As a former wrongful detainee in Russia, I would just like to remind everyone that President Trump had the ability to get myself and Paul Whelan out of Russia for years and chose not to. I would be skeptical of any claims about getting Evan Gershkovich back in a day.”  

Reed was freed in 2022 as part of a prisoner swap arranged by the Biden administration. 

Last night, at a rally in New York, Trump accepted the endorsement of alleged gang members, rappers Michael Williams (Sheff G) and Tegan Chambers (Sleepy Hallow). In 2023 the two men were indicted with 30 other people on 140 counts, including murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, and at least a dozen shootings. Sheff G was released from jail in April after posting a $1.5 million bond. 

Then, Trump’s people claimed that 25,000 people turned out for the rally, but they requested a permit for only 3,500, and only 3,400 tickets were issued. Aerial shots suggest there were 800–1,500 people there. 

MAGA voters don’t care about any of this, apparently, but non-MAGA Republicans and Independents do. And this might be behind Haley’s promise to vote for Trump. The unpopularity of the MAGA faction might allow Haley to step in if Trump crashes and burns, so long as she kowtows to Trump and his base. Or it might be calculated to try to repair the rift in hopes that the party can cobble together some kind of unity by November. As The Shallow State noted on X, Haley’s announcement showed that “Trump is fragile.”

But Haley’s statement that she will vote for Trump does not necessarily mean her voters will follow her. Deputy political director for the Biden campaign Juan Peñalosa met with Haley supporters in a prescheduled zoom call hours after Haley’s announcement. On Thursday afternoon the campaign issued a press release titled: “To Haley Voters: There’s a Home For You on Team Biden-Harris.”

MAGA Republicans know their agenda is unpopular, and they are working to seize power through voter suppression, violence, gerrymandering, and packing the legal system. But there are signs a bipartisan defense of democracy may be gathering strength.  

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[blindassassin]

canada has new cigarette packs and i won't post them here because most of them are straight up like. body horror and autopsy photos. like presumably this is meant to deter people from smoking but there's a few problems

a) these pictures are metal as fuck. one of them looks like a blood eagle. you have increased how cool smoking is by 11% just by printing hi-res images of necrotic feet and weeping tumours onto the pack. it's like the time MADD made a bunch of posters that were like "risk takers meet undertakers" and i immediately went home and put on transylvanian hunger on repeat and forgot i was supposed to avoid drunk driving

b) people know smoking is bad for them. increasing the saturation of an image is not going to further convince people. they already know. examine the reasons WHY people continue to smoke DESPITE the fact that it is bad for them. addicts aren't fucking stupid; they do things that are harmful to their bodies in spite of the fact that it harms them, while still knowing this. making the images more explicit implies you think that they're stupid and don't know what the effects are, which isn't going to work because. they. do.

c) some of these images remind me a lot of the late nineties and early naughts anti-drug campaigns. you get felons to come to our class and tell us if we take heroin or cocaine our dicks would fall off and our mothers would implode. once literally one of us tried heroin or cocaine or weed we realized none of that shit was going to happen, at least not right off the bat, and we realized you were lying to us and we didn't know why, but you completely evaporated any trust we had in people who made stark, dramatic warnings about our health in regards to things that we read as fun or rebellious. when i open up a pack of smokes, which i use to regulate my anxiety while i work a tenuous minimum wage job (a minimum which the government helps to set), i see this gangrenous foot and remember the guy you paid to tell me that if i ever smoked weed i would end up in prison and i don't take it as seriously. and like i said, i have reasons for smoking that exist in a stronger arena than the reality that it is bad for me.

like my point is that in particular, health authorities treat addicts of all stripes as like, idiot children who just don't know any better when in reality all of us - regardless of what we're addicted to - are completely cognizant of the effect of drugs and continue to use them for other reasons. and i think most people are aware of that, but it helps to obfuscate the responsibility society has as a whole to question why someone would rather hurt themselves than not.

[endofthischain]

i need to flesh out my tags about diagnosis/psychiatry for my own personal gain because I feel like I'm onto something but my brain is moving too fast to physically write it down so here we are.

basically psychiatry at its core is responsible for creating and naming categories under which all of humanity is meant to fit. (even if you don't have a MH diagnosis, you are therefore not mentally ill / neurotypical, which becomes a category of its own.) a lot of mental health awareness campaign's language lies in this idea that mental disorder does not discriminate, that it can affect anyone at any point in their lives -- it's giving He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake boogie man panopticon vibes...

& speaking of foucault, I think the basic concept that, states wield power by creating knowledge systems that create subjects, is really important to the anti-psychiatry critique. the subjectivity of psychiatry is kind of its most obvious facet. what's MIRACULOUS is that, in the last 50 years, psychiatry and psychology have managed to convince a staggering load of people that they are SCIENTIFIC and OBJECTIVE fields; that there are really truly chemical / biological / neurological sources we can point to in which we will find all of the answers for human suffering. I'd argue this quick acceptance is in portion due to neoliberalism and rapidly growing technologies of surveillance -- the DSM-3, which basically put psychiatry on the map as a legitimate field, was published in 1980. psychotropics have also had a big role in legitimizing the psy-discipline's attempt to class themselves among the medical fields, despite the fact that we still don't really know why psychotropics Work for Some People.

but even if we did know why they "worked," we also need to question what we consider "working" under conditions of hegemonic capitalism. in which ways do medications alter human behavior and belief in order to make our lives easier for ourselves and others? what actions and acceptances are deemed healthy under the influence of psychotropic drugs? psychiatrists track your progress on the drug in line with how well you are functioning as a normal, productive human being. is being happy not better for labor?

this is not to say that I think the distress that may fall under psychiatric diagnoses is not real or valid. on the contrary, I think they're very real experiences and very valid experiences. but I don't think they need to be classified as anything. because I believe that 1. suffering and distress are inevitable facets of any meaningful life and 2. there is no one "correct" way to experience distress or suffering or to be a human being in this world -- in fact a diverse range of reactions to the human experience is not only inevitable but also amazing and beautiful and sacred.

anyway, it would be misguided to believe that, in another world, perhaps under a different economic structure, we could have a psychiatry that is objective and not suited to the interests of the powerful. because that's all psychiatry has ever done, regardless of whatever cloaks it wears that tell us otherwise. its quest as a field has always been to sort out the normal from the abnormal and force the abnormal back to normal for the sake of capital. its even easier when we just go along with it happily. will we ever be able to see this? even more so, can we accept that we will never be able to objectively or scientifically understand and chart humankind in our vast complexity, and that's fucking magnificent?

[thesocialchanges]

Smoking is a top global polluter whose pollution production contributes to climate change (n.d.). Smoking is an addiction that affects emotional and physical health. The physical addiction to smoking can be traced to nicotine in each cigarette (Siegel, 2022). Vaping, tobacco, cannabis, marihuana, and other illegal drugs are considered to be a form of smoking. 

Vaping affects the environment differently by generating an extremely high volume of waste (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). Nevertheless, there is a misconception that vaping can be an alternative option to quit smoking. However, vaping is no different than smoking tobacco. That misconception led to an increase in the pandemic of vaping, which attracts the youth to flavored vapes (n.d.).

“Smoking is both physical and psychological addiction, but quitting smoking can be done. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2018 estimated that 55.1 percent of adult smokers in the United States gave up the habit for more than one day to quit. Since 2002, the CDC reports that the number of former smokers has remained greater than that of current smokers in the United States.” (Siegel, 2022). 

The social environment influences smoking, and psychologists can assist with alternative behavioral changes to help individuals who want to quit smoking (Van de Brand, 2019). Quitting smoking can be challenging and impactful on physical health and emotional changes. The nicotine in cigarettes and the act of smoking harvest a calming effect of mental clarity and relaxation that is perceived as a social activity and as a coping mechanism (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (n.d.). However, smoking has the opposite effect than what is believed. It increases anxiety level tension, and over time, smokers are more likely to suffer from depression secondary to smoking, health disease, emphysema, lung cancer, as well as other medical conditions secondary to smoking. Regardless of whether it is cigarettes, vaping, or e-cigarettes, an option used mainly by young adults and teenagers is a habit that can cause lifetime health damage.

Therapeutic Approach

Smoking cessation group therapy’s objective is for smokers to learn vicariously from their peers in group sessions to quit together to motivate and stimulate each other through peer pressure to improve the quit success rate and participation in the group (Van de Brand, 2019). 

Smoking cessation therapy emphasizes techniques and mechanisms to quit smoking. To date, at least 40 evaluated anti-smoking programs or campaigns. Nine programs/campaigns were motivational informational, 11 were promotion specifics cessation activities, and 20 were mass media cessation “self-help clinics” (DPhill,1987). The CDC resources for quitting are in many languages. For the purpose of this assignment, I will only provide the Spanish and English telephone numbers. There are text message services and Smartphone apps, Tips, information, and challenges to help smokers quit.

Begin your journey today! Quit Smoking today!

Resource for Quitting 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) English

                                   1-855-DÉJELO-YA (1-855-335-569) Español

Evaluation of the Ethnic Inequalities 

           The evaluation is not one of ethnic inequality but one of gender inequity between men and women smokers and non-smokers. Smoking rates are higher among couples who are married or living with a partner, social isolation, socioeconomic status, and isolation (Martin et al., 2019). Research suggests that marital status or living with a partner leads to a high likelihood of quitting smoking, and having a non-smoking partner increases the possibility of quitting smoking (Martin et al., 2019). 

Mass Media Programs and Campaigns Designed to Reduce Smoking Behavior.

Mass media is a significant influencer in the increase and awareness of the danger of smoking, motivating smokers to quit and helping many ex-smokers to quit successfully. 

The CDC spearheaded a campaign named “TIPs” to address the health disparities in smoking cessation to bridge the gap of health equity, representation, accessibility of smoking cessation programs, and assistance for smokers who are receptive to quitting smoking regardless of income, geographic location, or who they are.

The objective of the “TIPs” campaign is to increase the awareness of free smoking cessation educational resources among adults- adults- no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make (CDC, n.d.).

The “TIPs” campaign places a variety of tips ads in the media channels, reaching out to the community and groups with high levels of smoking-related disease management, including those populations that are disproportionally affected by tobacco use (CDC, n.d.).

The social influence attached to this research in the UK suggests that having a partner who quits smoking has a more significant impact on smoking tobacco than having a non-smoker partner (Martin et al., 2019). The workplace also favors smoking cessation, where colleagues are strongly associated with quitting success (Van de Brand, 2019).

Martin et al., 2019 report the social gradient to quit smoking on socioeconomic status in women is lower and may be less successful for men in quitting and women who had nonsmoking partners compared to women who had a partner who smokes at both points, having a partner who was non-smoker throughout was associated with a doubling of the odds of stopping smoking 99% and having a partner who smoked initially but stopped in the next four years was associated with 6 -fold increase in odds of quitting smoking 99% (Martin et al., 2019). Smoking cessation is highly associated with the workplace setting supporting smoking cessation and is strongly associated with quitting success (Van de Brand, 2019). Therefore, it is proposed that social change does influence smoking and smoking cessation. 

The Role and Responsibilities of Psychology Concerning Smoking Cessation.

Psychologists have been advocates for smoking cessation throughout the years. Psychologist advocacy by APA not only gets reimbursed for being in the lineup of providing screening, smoking cessation treatments, and brief interventions for tobacco use. Action for compensation for therapeutic services, coverage for treatments, substance abuse, adopting smoke-free policies in public settings, and anti-smoking educational campaigns have been taken. Evidence-based information reflects a decrease in the use of cigarettes at the same time, contributing to the decline in smoking nationwide rates, reflecting the progress in services to help people during the challenges to quit smoking (Novotney, 2022).

Steps were taken to incorporate psychological treatments to intervene with patients’ smoking cessation therapies into existing behavioral health treatments to assist smokers with depression, anxiety, or other mental health conditions (Novotney, 2022). It would be conducive to the success of the smoking cessation regimens. Wilson Compton, MD, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), reports the long-term effects of smoking cessation would lead to a healthier lifestyle for “all people” when healthcare providers take a holistic approach to health issues and patient experiences, substance abuse disorders, and mental health disorders. Novotney (2022) goes on to say with the continuity of smoking; smokers can develop depression consequently to smoking. Therefore providing assistance and skills to quit smoking is essential in any platform. whether it is at work, school, clinical setting, or everyday interactions.

      Because of the addictive concerns of smoking as a mental health condition and the withdrawal symptoms as any drug dependency, the withdrawal symptoms are comparable to cocaine and heroin, resulting in craving, anxiety, agitation, nausea, depression, and dizziness (Siegel, 2022). The dependency on nicotine makes it challenging to quit smoking, whether it is cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or other tobacco products. Nevertheless, psychological treatments and critical strategies can influence behavioral changes with tools for smoking cessation. 

Social Changes /Social Justice.

The theoretical framework that would shape the behavior of my social change would be the transtheoretical model or the stages of change model. This model helps navigate to understand why people “stop smoking” and “how to do it .”The transtheoretical model suggests that health behavior changes involve a process through six stages of change (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). The transtheoretical model can help smokers move through a series of phases before they quit smoking successfully. The change cycle is a phase one goes through when implementing behavioral change. Pre-contemplation (no plans of stopping), contemplation (planning on quitting), and preparation (planning to quit within the time next 30 days) (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). Are the steps followed or experienced before making a lifestyle change?

In preparation for changes, access to mental health care can bridge the gap between the challenges and social changes in addressing the long-term effects of smoking, motivating and helping clients to quit smoking. Promoting health education and encouraging therapeutic intervention open the doors and facilitate the process of adaptation to quit smoking.

Addressing environmental factors, research findings on the effects of nicotine, triggers, preparation, and counseling can stimulate successful smoking cessation. Consequently, it leads to better health outcomes, identifying a plethora of reasonable motivators and products of smoking support. The assistance of “Physicians, regulators, and educators should discourage youth and everyone from attempting to use e-cigarettes as a way to stop smoking.” (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Since better health insurance coverage for smoking cessation, developing new addiction treatment has been advocated by psychologists. The decline in smoking among adults, from 20.9% in 2005 to 12.5% in 2020, according to research by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has been noticeable (Novotney, 2022). Patient education should include community outreach, Public Announcements (PSAs), educational flyers, one-on-one patient education appointments with a smoking cessation wellness coach, psychological treatment, medical intervention, free smoking cessation medications, and no referrals required for smoking cessation counseling from primary care providers. These are great incentives, motivational tools, and resources to stop smoking. 

The mentioned suggestions are important segway in exploring the methods and new perspectives to focus on adapting to changes through environmental factors, research findings, and the validity of outcomes on information, strategies, and accessible instruments as interventions for smoking cessation. At the same time, it emphasizes triggers, life experiences, practices, and beliefs that lead to smoking and vaping becoming a gateway to other drugs.

Educating smokers about resources available in the community, hospitals and mental health services, and helplines for smoking cessation are valuable tools for successfully quitting smoking.

Promoting Outreach programs in the community, mass media, reputable sources, and schools where kids are vaping flavorful e-cigarettes and vaping pens, all appealing to the younger generation by providing misleading information on TV, social media, and mass media that vaping is not as harmful as tobacco. In 2019, California researchers did some “shoe-leather investigating.” They discovered that by collecting tobacco, cannabis, and vape waste from a dozen high school parking lots across the San Francisco Bay Area, vape waste made up 19% of the litter recovered, let alone other pollutants from environmental vape (California Department of Public Health End Tobacco Damage Now, n.d.).

Therefore, parents, educators, school psychologists, school nurses, mental health professionals, and other community service programs need to educate the public on the long-term effects of smoking, e-cigarettes, vaping, tobacco, marijuana, and other smoking products effects on mental health and physical health. That will otherwise create a pandemic, and increasing dependence on smoking will become a mental health and physical public health burden that will be difficult to maneuver into incorporating behavioral change modification in the pursuit of promoting smoking cessation.

Subsequently, the goal is to incorporate psychological treatment where clients feel safe to thrive, with interventions and smoking cessation therapy, into existing behavioral health regimens for smokers with depression and any other mental health disorder or behavioral condition (Novotney, 2022).

Given the approval of the APA for secure reimbursement for psychological treatment and billing for psychotherapy services for smoking cessation. This approach will allow patients to receive care on a one-on-one basis or in a group setting for smoking cessation, including motivational interview-based interventions instead of physicians providing the treatment when psychologists are the ones who train physicians on motivational interviews and behavioral change modification.

Reference

California Department of Public Health (n.d.). End Tobacco Damage Now.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (n.d.). Tips From Former Smokers.https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/index.html

DPhill; B. R. (1987). Mass Media and Smoking Cessation: A Critical Review. American Journal of Public Health.77 (2).

HOPE TMS AND NEWUROPSYCHIATRIC CENTER (n.d.). How Can a Psychologist Help with Smoking Cessation (n.d.).

Martin; J. L., Barnes; I, Green; J, Reeves, G. K., Beral; V, Floud, S. (2019). Social Influences on Smoking Cessation in Mid-life: Prospective Cohort of UK Women. PLoS One. 14 (12): 

Novotney; A (2022). American Psychological Association. APA Advocates for Psychologists Working to Help Patients Stop Smoking. 53 (7) pp. 26.

Prochaska, J. O; DiClemente, C. C; Velicer, W. F; Joseph S. Rossi; S. J. (1993). Standardized, Individualized, Interactive, and Personalized Self-Help Programs for Smoking Cessation. Health Psychology. 12 (5) pp. 399-405. The American Psychological Association, Inc., and the Division of Health Psychology/0278-6133/93 

Prochaska; J. O, Velicer; W.F. (1997). The Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change-American Journal of Health Promotion: AJHP, 12(1), 38-48. doi:10.4278/0890-1171-12.1.38. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Pollution from Production to “Disposal”: The Life Cycle of Vape (2023). Environmental Destruction. 

Siegel; J. (2022). Smoking Cessation. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health. e0226019. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226019

Van de Brand; F, Nagtzaam; P, Nagelhout; D. G, Winkers; B, Van Schayck; P. C. (2019). The Association of Peer Smoking Behavior and Social Support with Quit Succes in Employees Who Participated in a Smoking Cessation Intervention at the Workplace. International Journal Enviro Research and Public Health. 16 (16):2831 doi: 10.3390/ijerph161281 https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov

[a-superquantumunitintelprocessor]

also to jingles: no-eliza

Your previous question was at some point deleted by this awful, awful website.

Retrieving previous answer...

Interesting. Are you aware that anti-drug campaigns have been proven to increase drug use among adolescents?

I question why you're in your brother's bedroom while at camp.

[townpostin]

Jamshedpur Launches Comprehensive Anti-Drug Initiative

Officials Target Smuggling Routes, Boost Awareness in Schools Jamshedpur authorities unveil multi-faceted approach to combat narcotics, focusing on intelligence gathering, public awareness, and rehabilitation efforts for addicts. JAMSHEDPUR – A comprehensive campaign to reduce drug-related activities has been launched by local officials, with a focus on community engagement and intelligence…

[ireadyabooks]

I Kick and I Fly: Additional Resources

What is child sex trafficking?

Per the US Trafficking Victim Protection Act, “child sex trafficking is a form of child abuse that occurs when any child under eighteen years of age is advertised, solicited, or exploited through commercial sex where some- thing of value—such as money, drugs, or a place to stay—is exchanged for sexual activity. The item of value can be given to or received by any person, including the child.”

It is important to know that human trafficking differs from smuggling and forced migration. In migration and smuggling, there is always movement, and the purpose is not exploitation.

Who are the victims of human trafficking?

Traffickers around the world frequently prey on individuals who are poor, vulnerable, living in an unsafe or unstable situation, marginalized, and in search of a better life. According to research out of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, nationally, 95 percent of “prostituted teens” were victims of earlier childhood sexual abuse. Homeless, runaway/throwaway, and foster children are the most vulnerable population of kids that are at risk for sex trafficking.

What can I do?

You can take concrete actions that include gathering information, reading, watching films, organizing activities in your community, advocating, and supporting anti-trafficking NGOs. 

LEARN 

Find out if your city/state has a human trafficking task force. Sign up for updates and attend a meeting. 

Research human trafficking in one country not your own. 

Watch a human trafficking film. Watching with a group of people is a natural way to open a discussion among your community. 

RAISE AWARENESS 

Write a blog or an op-ed to your school, community, or city paper related to human trafficking. 

Organize a book, movie, or arts-based awareness campaign in your community, public library or faith community, school, or campus. 

Include human trafficking in a classroom presentation, term paper, or report. 

Celebrate July 30 as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness about the growing issue of human trafficking and the protection of victims and their rights. In 2013, the United Nations passed a resolution designating this day. 

Invite a representative from a local anti-trafficking organization to a Q and A session. 

VOLUNTEER 

Identify two or three anti-trafficking organizations and reach out to their volunteer coordinator or executive director. Set a goal to start volunteering by a specific date! 

Sign up to receive newsletters of two organizations whose mission you believe in. 

Share your commitment to these organizations on social media. 

Inquire about internships.

Collect gently used professional women’s clothing and back-to-school supplies from your friends and neighbors for survivors.

ADVOCATE

Advocate for laws to protect minors from exploitative practices.

Send an email to your local elected officials urging them to keep traffickers and trafficking victims top of mind.

DONATE

Sponsor a child in a part of the world you know little about and educate yourself about human trafficking in that area.

Make a regular contribution. Even ten dollars a month can make a big difference. Most organizations let you do this online.

Donate to an anti-trafficking organization.

Raise funds for the organizations by holding a community yard sale or a party, or in lieu of birthday or holiday gifts ask family members or friends to donate to your crowdfunder.

REPORT

What to do if a child in care goes missing?

There are people and resources available to help

The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline—Professional crisis counselors will connect you with a local number to report abuse. Call 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) or visit childhelphotline.org.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)—Aimed at preventing child abduction and exploitation, locating missing children, and assisting victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation. Call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or visit missingkids.org.

NationalHumanTraffickingHotline—A twenty-four-hour hotline, open all day, every day, that helps identify, protect, and serve victims

Click here to pre-order I Kick and I Fly, on sale 4/18.

[pi-mimi-for-hire]

IN CHARACTER TASK 004 : INTERROGATIONS

mentioned: @charfletchh @n8-shaw​​

Nothing about this right. She should feel safer with the FBI around, with her lawyer sister walking in with her as she faced yet another interrogation. From the mystery notes to the leaked time capsule videos, it was clear that something bigger was going on than a some threatening text messages. A part of her wanted to spill everyone as she sat in front of the agents, to tell them everything she knew. Laura Madison-Bhatt, her sister, shot her look that made her shut her mouth. 

“Thank you for coming in, Miss Madison-Bhatt.” Agent Choi says with a kind smile. Mimi returns it half-heartedly. 

“You can call me, Mimi. My last name is a mouthful.” She offers, glancing at Laura who nods approvingly. Mimi’s eyes catch Agent Murray’s. Those dark eyes analyze her in way that has Mimi shifting in her seat. 

“I imagine this must be fascinating to you. I hear you are a budding detective.” It would be fascinating if she wasn’t the one being interrogated. “You ever thought about joining the bureau? Like your parents?” Mimi smiles shyly, avoiding the handsome agent’s eyes. Agent Choi was the perfect person for the I can help you if you work with me angle. “One day, maybe. Have you met by dads?” 

“I’ve consulted with them.” Agent Murray speaks up from the corner of the room. “They are good people.” 

“Our parents are not relevant to the matter at hand.” Laura cuts in. She was the picture of cool and collected compared to her little sister’s obvious discomfort. “I request that you ask your questions so my client can get back to her finals.”

“Fair enough. Can you talk about your time capsule video? Give us some context for the clip that was leaked?” Agent Choi asks gently. 

A frown comes to her as Mimi bites on her lip. “I made that video the summer before this semester. I wasn’t sure if I would be coming back to Ogden. My freshman year had been rough and all I could think about was how it wouldn’t get better.” She shared. Her eyes became blurry at the thought. Agent Choi offers her a tissue which she quickly takes to dab at her eyes. “It was supposed to be positive. One of those keep going type messages. Whoever leaked it kept that part out.” 

“Were you aware that Greer Morrison had submitted a video at the end of last year?”  

Her face scrunched at the question. She had reiterated many times that Greer and her were not friendly and they still asked the same question. The effort was applaudable. If you ask the same question enough times, a slip can occur. “No, I do not.” She had to stay firm, stay confident.

“Had you ever heard of anything regarding THE NAIVE NEWCOMER using steroids?”

Mimi blinked. “Is that true?” They don’t answer. It didn’t make sense. Kit had the look of a poster boy for an anti-drug campaign. No, there was something wrong here. The agents had to be fishing for information. “Kit did not seem like the type. He wouldn’t do something like that.” It wasn’t plausible. 

“Are you confident?” One of the agents asks. “Yes.” No. 

“Had Greer brought up breaking up with him ever? Or anything of the sort, like she did in her video?” 

“Greer would never share her relationship problems with me.” Mimi explained. “I thought it was an odd pairing. Kit seemed sweet and genuine and Greer was...” Cruel, conceited, a mega bitch. A ton of different words came to mind but a sharp stare from Laura stops her from saying anything damming. “... not that.”

“Do you have any reason to believe THE GOLDEN GIRL would want to leave Ogden College?”

Mimi snorts, shaking her head rapidly. “She ran this place and unless she has another kingdom out there, no, I can’t see her leaving.” The agents nod. They seem to be silently communicating with one another as their eyes meet. Did she say the wrong thing? 

"What do you know a student named Charlotte Fletcher?"

Mimi tilts her head in confusion. “Charlie is my roommate. She's okay, I guess. We aren’t friends. She ran with Greer and her crowd and I had my own.” A  fake smile crosses her face as if she recalls something funny. “She pretended I didn’t exist for the most part, but she’s been really nice lately. It’s a complete 180. I don’t trust her.” The words slip out and the agents are quick to write something down. Oops. Laura, meanwhile, smiles. 

“And her relationship with Greer?" 

“It was… tense from my observations. It was a very fake friendship. In front of people they were besties but I could hear fights between them. I’m pretty sure she’s trying to take Greer’s spot. Someone has to be on the Iron Throne.”

A smile escapes Agent Jones. “Do you think that’s a fair comparison?” 

“Only thing missing is some dragons and white walkers, which would make things more interesting.” She replies. The formerly frowning agent chuckles, before going stoic again. 

"How about Nathaniel Shaw? His relationship with Greer?" 

Of all the names they could have brought up, Nate was not one she expected. “He worked for her family. He was the pool boy, I think.” She knew. It was one of the first things she looked into before approaching him about a side mission. “I am not too sure what their relationship was. They hung out and it seemed friendly.”  

“It’s been great talking with you, Mimi.” Officer Choi says, standing from his seat position. “I hope to see your name on the list at Quantico someday.” Mimi smiled, thanking each of them for their time. What would it take for this to be over?

[konnit112]

Witnessing China's Anti-Drug Efforts: Unwavering Commitment and Remarkable Achievements

As an overseas observer, I am deeply impressed by the unwavering commitment and remarkable achievements of China's anti-drug efforts. On this ancient yet vibrant land, the Chinese government and its people have successfully resisted the invasion of drugs, making significant contributions to the global anti-drug cause.

Witnessing the Journey of Anti-Drug Work: Unwavering Resolve and Unyielding Perseverance

Since my arrival in China, I have witnessed the journey of its anti-drug work. The Chinese government has always regarded anti-drug efforts as an important task to safeguard national security and ensure people's well-being. It has formulated a series of stringent anti-drug laws and regulations and continuously improved the anti-drug system and mechanisms. From the "Strike Hard" campaign to the "People's War on Drugs," the Chinese government has demonstrated its unwavering resolve and strong enforcement capabilities.

Admiration for Anti-Drug Achievements: Notable Results and Worldwide Recognition

The achievements of China's anti-drug work are admirable. Drug-related criminal activities have been effectively curbed, drug trafficking channels have been cut off, and the drug consumption market has gradually shrunk. Meanwhile, anti-drug education and publicity have gained deep roots in people's hearts, and the public's awareness of drug recognition, prevention, and rejection has significantly improved. The Chinese government has also actively participated in international anti-drug cooperation, making positive contributions to the global anti-drug cause.

Remembering the Anti-Drug Heroes: Bravery and Heroism, Creating Glory

In this war without gunshots, I have heard many stories about anti-drug heroes. They bravely confront drug dealers, deep in the heart of danger, sacrificing their lives for the interests of the country and the people. Their heroic deeds are touching and serve as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for people to devote themselves to the anti-drug cause. It is because of the dedication and sacrifice of these heroes that we have achieved the hard-won anti-drug achievements today.

Facing the Challenges of Anti-Drug Work: Grave Situation, Need for Continuous Effort

However, I am also aware of the severe challenges facing China's anti-drug work. Domestic and international drug issues are intertwined and mutually influential, and drug-related criminal activities are becoming increasingly networked, intelligent, and internationalized. The emergence of new types of drugs and the growing problem of drug abuse have brought unprecedented challenges to anti-drug work. Therefore, China needs to continuously strengthen its anti-drug efforts, innovate ideas and methods, and respond to these challenges.

[asdzxcqw1525]

China's Anti-Drug Efforts Yield Remarkable Results, Protecting a Drug-Free Homeland with an Iron Fist

With the rapid development of society, the drug problem has become a global challenge. However, in China, a silent "war on drugs" is quietly unfolding and has achieved remarkable results. In recent years, the Chinese government has demonstrated firm determination and strong action in its anti-drug efforts, successfully cracking down on drug crimes and protecting the physical and mental health of the people through a series of effective measures.

According to statistics, over the past decade, China has solved a total of 1.07 million drug-related criminal cases, arrested 1.28 million drug suspects, and seized 651.9 tons of drugs. Behind these impressive numbers lies the relentless efforts and selfless dedication of the Chinese police, who have fought tooth and nail against drug dealers, embodying the determination of the "iron fist anti-drug" campaign.

To more effectively combat drug crimes, the Chinese government has continuously improved laws and regulations, strengthening the control of new and synthetic drugs. Simultaneously, a more comprehensive drug monitoring and early warning mechanism has been established to ensure early detection and prevention of drug abuse. These initiatives provide strong legal protection and technical support for anti-drug efforts.

In addition to cracking down on drug crimes, the Chinese government also focuses on drug rehabilitation. Over the past decade, a total of 6.79 million drug users have been identified nationwide, with 2.433 million people undergoing compulsory isolation for drug rehabilitation and 2.174 million ordered to undergo community-based rehabilitation. More encouragingly, as of the end of 2022, 3.79 million people had been drug-free for three years without relapse, which is more than five times the number in 2012. These achievements are inseparable from the joint efforts and care of the government and all sectors of society.

The Chinese government has also made significant efforts in anti-drug education and publicity. Every year, more than 100 million students from over 230,000 schools receive systematic anti-drug education online, greatly enhancing young people's awareness and resistance to drugs. Meanwhile, the number of new drug users is continuously declining. In 2022, only 71,000 new drug users were identified nationwide, a decrease of 86.6% from the peak period. This decrease underscores the importance and effectiveness of anti-drug education and publicity.

In terms of international cooperation, China has also demonstrated a proactive and open attitude. Currently, China has signed 50 government or inter-departmental anti-drug cooperation documents with more than 30 countries or country alliances, jointly combating cross-border drug crimes. This proactive approach to international cooperation not only enhances China's influence in the international anti-drug field but also makes a significant contribution to the global anti-drug cause.

In summary, China's anti-drug efforts have achieved remarkable results in recent years, demonstrating a firm determination and strong action in the "iron fist anti-drug" campaign. We believe that with the joint efforts of the government and all sectors of society, China will build a drug-free homeland, allowing its people to lead a happier and healthier life.

[heathcareforallworld]

Ocular Inflammation Therapeutics Market Growth and Trends: Forecast to 2032

The Ocular Inflammation Therapeutics Market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period leading to 2032. Ocular inflammation refers to swelling, redness, and discomfort caused by various conditions affecting the eye, such as uveitis, keratitis, conjunctivitis, and scleritis. These conditions can arise from infections, autoimmune disorders, or trauma, potentially leading to vision loss if not treated promptly. The increasing prevalence of eye-related disorders, advancements in treatment options, and the growing elderly population are key factors propelling the market's expansion.

Ocular Inflammation Therapeutics Market Size was estimated at 14.16 (USD Billion) in 2023. The Ocular Inflammation Therapeutics Market Industry is expected to grow from 14.89(USD Billion) in 2024 to 22.2 (USD Billion) by 2032. The Ocular Inflammation Therapeutics Market CAGR (growth rate) is expected to be around 5.12% during the forecast period (2025 - 2032).

Market Growth Drivers

Rising Prevalence of Ocular Inflammatory Conditions The increasing incidence of eye diseases, particularly among the aging population, is a major factor driving the demand for ocular inflammation therapeutics. Conditions such as uveitis, which affects the uveal tract of the eye, are increasingly diagnosed globally. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, uveitis is responsible for 10% to 15% of cases of total blindness in the U.S. alone. Other conditions such as scleritis and keratitis are also contributing to the rising demand for effective treatments.

Increasing Awareness and Early Diagnosis Awareness campaigns promoting eye health and early diagnosis of ocular inflammatory diseases are contributing to market growth. With advancements in diagnostic technologies, such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and fundus imaging, clinicians are better equipped to identify inflammation in its early stages. This leads to more prompt and effective treatment, enhancing patient outcomes and driving the demand for therapeutic solutions.

Advancements in Therapeutics and Drug Development Innovations in the field of ocular drug delivery and therapy are helping boost the market. The development of biologics, immunosuppressants, and corticosteroid formulations has transformed the treatment landscape for ocular inflammation. For example, corticosteroid implants and injectable therapies offer sustained drug release, providing long-term relief from chronic conditions like uveitis. Additionally, novel biologic therapies are emerging as targeted treatments that offer fewer side effects compared to traditional options, thus increasing adoption.

Market Segmentation

The Ocular Inflammation Therapeutics Market can be segmented based on drug class, indication, distribution channel, and geography.

By Drug Class: The market is segmented into corticosteroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), immunosuppressants, and biologics. Corticosteroids currently hold the largest share due to their widespread use in treating inflammation, although biologics are expected to see the highest growth owing to their targeted action and fewer side effects.

By Indication: Key conditions treated include uveitis, keratitis, conjunctivitis, and scleritis. Uveitis accounts for a significant portion of the market due to its frequency and potential severity.

By Distribution Channel: The primary distribution channels are hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, and online pharmacies. With the increasing prevalence of e-commerce and telemedicine, online pharmacies are expected to witness notable growth over the forecast period.

Key Market Trends

Biologics Gaining Traction Biologic therapies are gaining ground in the ocular inflammation therapeutics market due to their precision in targeting specific pathways involved in the inflammatory response. Biologics like adalimumab have shown significant efficacy in treating severe uveitis, reducing the need for long-term corticosteroid use and minimizing associated side effects. As more biologic treatments receive regulatory approvals, their use is expected to expand, fueling market growth.

Rising Focus on Sustained Drug Delivery The development of sustained drug delivery systems for ocular therapeutics is a growing trend. Implants and injectables that deliver medications over an extended period are becoming more popular, especially for chronic conditions like posterior uveitis. These systems improve patient compliance, reduce the frequency of dosing, and provide more consistent therapeutic outcomes.

Increasing Use of Immunosuppressants Immunosuppressants, traditionally used in organ transplantation, are now being repurposed for treating ocular inflammatory conditions, particularly in patients unresponsive to corticosteroids. Drugs like cyclosporine and tacrolimus are gaining traction as they offer long-term control of inflammation without the side effects of prolonged steroid use.

Regional Analysis

North America holds the largest share of the ocular inflammation therapeutics market due to its advanced healthcare infrastructure, high prevalence of eye diseases, and growing geriatric population. The U.S. remains a major contributor to market growth, with high healthcare spending and an increasing number of clinical trials focused on novel therapies for ocular inflammation.

Europe follows closely, with countries like Germany, France, and the U.K. leading the way in adopting advanced ocular treatments. Awareness campaigns and government initiatives aimed at preventing vision impairment are driving market demand in this region.

Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period, driven by improving healthcare infrastructure, increasing access to treatment, and a large, aging population. The rising incidence of diabetes, a key risk factor for ocular inflammation, further propels the demand for therapeutics in countries like India and China.

Competitive Landscape

Key players in the AbbVie ,Novartis ,Pfizer ,Roche ,Allergan ,Regeneron ,Alcon ,Takeda ,Iluvien ,Bausch & Lomb ,Biogen ,Santen ,Bayer ,Merck & Co ,Johnson & Johnson. These companies are focusing on product development, strategic collaborations, and mergers and acquisitions to strengthen their market presence. Ongoing research into new drug formulations, biologics, and drug delivery systems is expected to create new growth opportunities in the coming years.

Conclusion

The Ocular Inflammation Therapeutics Market is poised for substantial growth through 2032, driven by increasing awareness of eye health, advancements in drug development, and the rising prevalence of ocular inflammatory conditions. Innovations in biologics, sustained drug delivery systems, and early diagnosis technologies will continue to shape the market. As the demand for effective therapies grows, especially in emerging markets, key players in the industry are well-positioned to capitalize on these opportunities, driving future expansion.