Judgment Battles: Crack vs. Heroin
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade's photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and prostitution in Hunts Point, Bronx.
Stories by Cassie Rodenberg
Anger, Crack and Duty: The Haze of Street Emotion
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade's photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and prostitution in Hunts Point, Bronx.
How an Addict Becomes Homeless
I spend much of my time writing on homeless addicts in the Bronx. I've gotten encouragement on the work that I do, though for transparency's sake, I have to detail the act of my own intellectual and lived ambiguity: I ignore the existence of a soon-to-be-homeless addict in my own life...
Navigating Heroin Abuse on the Streets
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade's photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and prostitution in Hunts Point, Bronx.
A Street Addict's Cycle in NYC
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade's photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and prostitution in Hunts Point, Bronx.
Why K2 is Pimps' Choice for Controlling Young Sex Workers
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade's photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and prostitution in Hunts Point, Bronx.
Colorado Shooting and `Bath Salts Zombie': Troubles of Public Health Reporting
I have a perpetual burr in my side on aspects of drug and addiction coverage. It's hard to expect altruism in every avenue of journalism (innumerable slideshows about Katie Holmes prove the fallacy of that wish), but I want to outline problems in public health coverage I see now and again, in hopes that we can identify, as a group, when to ask media to rethink what they're doing...
History Says Praise Drugs, Addiction Sufferers Are Just Pretending
Thursday 26th July saw the launch of SciLogs.com, a new English language science blog network. SciLogs.com, the brand-new home for Nature Network bloggers, forms part of the SciLogs international collection of blogs which already exist in German, Spanish and Dutch...
Here's How We See Addiction (Presented by People of Tumblr)
I write what I write to deface societal stigma on addiction. To properly ID and answer just what sort of stigma, I've made a Tumblr blog dedicated to the many facades addiction wears.
Dear Readers, Who Are You? Why Do You Read about Addiction?
Somehow, it's been a year, and throughout it, this blog has gone through something of an evolution. While always intended to focus on addiction and mental illness, I've begun skewing towards the cultural, mainly because there already exist excellent drug bloggers like DrugMonkey and David Kroll who cover hard drug chemistry...
Art Asks, Should We Be More Sympathetic Towards Addicts?
The addict doesn’t get a whole lot of sympathy in this culture. It’s complicated—they’ve done bad stuff. They’ve crashed cars, or abandoned children, or stolen money.
Bath Salts: The Not-So-Bad Wolf (Chat Transcript)
Bath salts have been given ill repute as of late, and SciAm hosted a live chat with me to clear things up. Previously, before the flesh-eating account speculation, I had posted on bath salts and their notoriety: A growing fascination of the media, ‘bath salts’ is a street name for a class of recreational drugs containing the active compound Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (PDF link), or MDPV...
Filming "Oxyana," West Virginia Coal Town's Prescription Drug Abuse
I often write that we sidle away from problems and pain in communities under our noses, preferring instead to let struggles go unremarked. Filmmaker Sean Dunne happened across a West Virginia coal mining community thick with prescription painkiller use, dealing and trade and, now, wants to create a documentary film about it: Oxyana is an unflinchingly close focus on the anguish and horrors of a community that the rest of the country would just as soon forget...
Are Urban Drug Dealers as Supernatural as Vampires and Aliens?
The most studied media empire topics in the last 20 years, and arguably the most popular, lie in the fantastical realm -- aliens, vampires, dual realities...and drug dealers.
Faces of Addiction Recovery in the Bronx (Photos)
The yin and yang of addiction exists in recovery vs. active substance abuse -- the lines between the two blur and intertwine and balance. One rarely exists without the other, and relapse along the lifetime road that is recovery is common...
Letter from a Marijuana Addict
This weekend, I received an email that made me pause, and Jake was kind enough to allow me to share his story. I'll begin lending a greater voice to the issue of marijuana, which I haven't yet done justice, beginning with this powerful personal narrative...
Addiction Through Local Voices
Because I live in New York City I tend to write stories on urban addiction. In contrast, here are stories from localized news effort patch.com, wisdoms on the pervasive and devastating effects of addiction touching communities across the country -- all stories from just this week...
Russell Brand's Insight on Crime and Addiction
One thing I've learned through stories from addicts in the Bronx is just how deeply drugs infiltrate the prison system. Brought in through family members or by correctional officers themselves, addicts routinely tell me the same story: obtaining drugs and maintaining an addiction in prison is simple...
This is Our Society on Drugs: Top 5 Infographics
Infographics are the internet's current darling, which got me thinking if there are any good ones on drugs and addiction. Low and behold, they exist!
"Hangover Cure" Bus is a Moving Binge Drinking Ad
Instant gratification culture has now reached the seemingly endless pain that is the hangover. Hangover Heaven, a bus operated out of Las Vegas, feeds customers a drip IV concoction of a "vitamin mix" meant to fix or drastically lessen the head-wrenching, queasy, post-party problem...
