markamericana
@markamericana.bsky.social
Reader in Substance Use at LJMU, leading IMS DARD surveillance system for north west/midlands in England. Americana UK Editor in my other life. Who knew drugs and rock & roll went together? 🇵🇸
More common sense from Zack Polanski, don't think there are any credible arguments left against moving to a public health approach www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Green leader Zack Polanski backs legalisation of all drugs
Zack Polanski speaks to BBC South East on the party's new approach ahead of the party's conference.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 6, 2025 at 12:07 PM
More common sense from Zack Polanski, don't think there are any credible arguments left against moving to a public health approach www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Audrey has been a fixture at the Liverpool Sunday demos. A hero and shameful she's been treated in this way. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Woman, 74, tells of pain and fear after arrest at Liverpool pro-Palestine rally
Exclusive: Video shows veteran campaigner being dragged and handcuffed and she says bail conditions effectively confine her to her house
www.theguardian.com
July 21, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Audrey has been a fixture at the Liverpool Sunday demos. A hero and shameful she's been treated in this way. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Bus stop in Liverpool today #PalestineAction
July 5, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Bus stop in Liverpool today #PalestineAction
Reposted by markamericana
For anyone still doubting the gravity of the Labour Government's move to proscribe Palestine Action, here's the statement of concern from the UN. This is what Starmer's Government has become.
#PalestineAction
#Starmer
#UN
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
#PalestineAction
#Starmer
#UN
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
UN experts urge United Kingdom not to misuse terrorism laws against protest group Palestine Action
GENEVA – UN experts* today urged the United Kingdom not to ban the “direct action” group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.“We are concerned at the unjustified ...
www.ohchr.org
July 2, 2025 at 6:37 PM
For anyone still doubting the gravity of the Labour Government's move to proscribe Palestine Action, here's the statement of concern from the UN. This is what Starmer's Government has become.
#PalestineAction
#Starmer
#UN
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
#PalestineAction
#Starmer
#UN
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
Happy to share this, the more people do the more it highlights the madness of this ban.
Today, the UK government intends to ban the non-violent protesters Palestine Action as a "terrorist" group, exposing anyone supporting them to terrorism charges. In 2 days, 380,000 people have watched this video on YT alone.
You're going to need a bigger prison.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECkV...
You're going to need a bigger prison.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECkV...
Sharing This Video Could Get You 14 Years in Prison
YouTube video by Double Down News
www.youtube.com
July 1, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Happy to share this, the more people do the more it highlights the madness of this ban.
Exactly this. A nuclear armed state, with no inspections ever because they don’t declare them, bombs a country without them and constant inspections.
The Iraq playbook is back & the media won’t question it.
Iran has no nuclear weapons. Israel — on trial for genocide — does. Iran signed the NPT & allows IAEA inspections. Israel hasn’t — & its leaders face ICC arrest warrants.
Beware of politicians beating the drums of war.
Iran has no nuclear weapons. Israel — on trial for genocide — does. Iran signed the NPT & allows IAEA inspections. Israel hasn’t — & its leaders face ICC arrest warrants.
Beware of politicians beating the drums of war.
June 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Exactly this. A nuclear armed state, with no inspections ever because they don’t declare them, bombs a country without them and constant inspections.
Reposted by markamericana
Remember, everything Netanyahu does is to keep himself out of prison. For the sake of one crook's liberty, tens of thousands of people have been murdered, and now a possible full-scale war has been provoked. Israel must rise up and unseat him.
June 13, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Remember, everything Netanyahu does is to keep himself out of prison. For the sake of one crook's liberty, tens of thousands of people have been murdered, and now a possible full-scale war has been provoked. Israel must rise up and unseat him.
Speaking today at #ISSDP2025 on the LJMU model of reviewing drug related deaths and the socioeconomic learnings from our panels
June 12, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Speaking today at #ISSDP2025 on the LJMU model of reviewing drug related deaths and the socioeconomic learnings from our panels
Reposted by markamericana
Trump wants the rich to be richer, unions to be weaker, and everyone else to be easier to exploit.
He's not ushering in a New Golden Age. He's taking us back to the Gilded Age.
He's not ushering in a New Golden Age. He's taking us back to the Gilded Age.
May 21, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Trump wants the rich to be richer, unions to be weaker, and everyone else to be easier to exploit.
He's not ushering in a New Golden Age. He's taking us back to the Gilded Age.
He's not ushering in a New Golden Age. He's taking us back to the Gilded Age.
Exactly this.
On 19/4/1943, the world had one duty: to defend the Jews who were being pulverised by the Nazi war machine crushing the Warsaw ghetto. Today the world has one duty: to defend the Palestinians who are being pulverised by the Israeli army in the Gaza ghetto
www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...
www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...
Israeli attacks target generators ‘to put Gaza’s hospitals out of service’
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israel deliberately targeted power generators to put Gaza’s hospitals out of operation.
www.aljazeera.com
May 21, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Exactly this.
Can't help thinking the Gary Lineker thing was always going to end this way. If you're a public figure and speak up on Palestine they will probe and dig until they find something. Your only defence is if the organisation you work for isn't supine, which sadly his is 🙁
May 19, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Can't help thinking the Gary Lineker thing was always going to end this way. If you're a public figure and speak up on Palestine they will probe and dig until they find something. Your only defence is if the organisation you work for isn't supine, which sadly his is 🙁
It's a great term "hostage politics" because it describes Labour at the moment exactly, although being literally held hostage by Starmer would be comical more than anything
This week’s column is on what increasingly defines western democracy, being held hostage by centrist governments with threats of a worse alternative
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Welcome to the era of ‘hostage politics’, where Labour is apparently your only hope | Nesrine Malik
First it was the Conservatives and now Reform. The only thing the government has to offer is that it’s the least worst option, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
May 12, 2025 at 1:13 PM
It's a great term "hostage politics" because it describes Labour at the moment exactly, although being literally held hostage by Starmer would be comical more than anything
A fantastic piece well worth reading. Bizarre state of affairs when you have to turn to Wetherspoons to find an ally.
April 29, 2025 at 4:24 PM
A fantastic piece well worth reading. Bizarre state of affairs when you have to turn to Wetherspoons to find an ally.
Reposted by markamericana
We’re at #HR25 Bogotá, come and see us in the Exhibition Zone 🙌
And view our work in the Posters Space or here: ims.ljmu.ac.uk/posters
And view our work in the Posters Space or here: ims.ljmu.ac.uk/posters
April 28, 2025 at 2:58 PM
We’re at #HR25 Bogotá, come and see us in the Exhibition Zone 🙌
And view our work in the Posters Space or here: ims.ljmu.ac.uk/posters
And view our work in the Posters Space or here: ims.ljmu.ac.uk/posters
Which other leader with a global audience said this so clearly?
Just months after he became the head of the Catholic Church in 2013, Pope Francis condemned the “new tyranny” of unfettered capitalism and the “idolatry of money.”
The Pope Who Decried the Savage Inequalities of Billionaire-Class Capitalism
Pope Francis, who has died at 88, fought for economic justice with a consistency that distinguished him from the elites of his time.
www.thenation.com
April 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Which other leader with a global audience said this so clearly?
Exactly this. I always admired Francis for being one of the lone voices with an international platform who spoke out against war and capitalism more broadly. Compassion is such an underrated trait in leaders these days as we are seeing to our cost. What a loss.
Pope Francis dedicated his life to the marginalised, displaced and dispossessed.
A rare voice for humanity, he spent his final days on this earth calling for peace.
Let his enduring legacy — of empathy, courage and kindness — inspire us to build a more humane world for all.
A rare voice for humanity, he spent his final days on this earth calling for peace.
Let his enduring legacy — of empathy, courage and kindness — inspire us to build a more humane world for all.
April 21, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Exactly this. I always admired Francis for being one of the lone voices with an international platform who spoke out against war and capitalism more broadly. Compassion is such an underrated trait in leaders these days as we are seeing to our cost. What a loss.
The war on drugs - a war on women and any group which already experiences oppression as a useful tool to beat them with. It all connects.
“The War on Drugs is a war on women: Louisiana's Abortion Law” by Maryanne Alderson Diaz & Dina Perrone (2025) via @ijdrugpolicy.bsky.social…how can they schedule these abortion pills? It should be criminal!
Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
April 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
The war on drugs - a war on women and any group which already experiences oppression as a useful tool to beat them with. It all connects.
Another magnificent volume, made me laugh a lot but well up in parts too Thanks Chris! @chrismullinexmp.bsky.social
April 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Another magnificent volume, made me laugh a lot but well up in parts too Thanks Chris! @chrismullinexmp.bsky.social
Mine too. I remember when I worked in Liverpool’s DDU in early 2000s and was trying to get tickets to see him speak at the Phil. He didn’t know me but still phoned me in work to let me know there were none left. The person on reception was like “I have Tony Benn on the phone for you!” A lovely man.
April 3, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Mine too. I remember when I worked in Liverpool’s DDU in early 2000s and was trying to get tickets to see him speak at the Phil. He didn’t know me but still phoned me in work to let me know there were none left. The person on reception was like “I have Tony Benn on the phone for you!” A lovely man.
Some very sad details to this story and some lessons for the UK in how not to do things (despite some brilliant examples of community-led harm reduction work) www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Oregon abandoned its radical drug law. Then came the mass arrests
Last year, the state ended a trailblazing law decriminalizing possession. Drug users in some counties are now in and out of jail, without lawyers, struggling to get treatment
www.theguardian.com
April 1, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Some very sad details to this story and some lessons for the UK in how not to do things (despite some brilliant examples of community-led harm reduction work) www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Imagine the outrage if this was literally any other country in the world.
Every day that this barbarism is committed, and let to pass, further destroys our collective humanity.
April 1, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Imagine the outrage if this was literally any other country in the world.
Not hugely helpful reporting from the Liverpool Echo today. “As easy to access as crisps” apparently.
March 31, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Not hugely helpful reporting from the Liverpool Echo today. “As easy to access as crisps” apparently.
We heard more about the fantastic work The Thistle do at our drug related deaths conference on Friday, people are alive now who probably wouldn’t be had it not existed.
March 31, 2025 at 6:55 AM
We heard more about the fantastic work The Thistle do at our drug related deaths conference on Friday, people are alive now who probably wouldn’t be had it not existed.
Predictable but awful stuff today from Rachel Reeves 🙁
March 26, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Predictable but awful stuff today from Rachel Reeves 🙁
Another terrifying story from the US for
academics who Trump wants to deport for their opposition to US-Israel policy
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
academics who Trump wants to deport for their opposition to US-Israel policy
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Judge bars Trump administration from deporting Indian academic over political views
Badar Khan Suri, who teaches at Georgetown University, being held incommunicado in Louisiana ‘staging center’
www.theguardian.com
March 21, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Another terrifying story from the US for
academics who Trump wants to deport for their opposition to US-Israel policy
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
academics who Trump wants to deport for their opposition to US-Israel policy
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...