news
Welcome to c/news! We aim to foster a book-club type environment for discussion and critical analysis of the news. Our policy objectives are:
-
To learn about and discuss meaningful news, analysis and perspectives from around the world, with a focus on news outside the Anglosphere and beyond what is normally seen in corporate media (e.g. anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist, Marxist, Indigenous, LGBTQ, people of colour).
-
To encourage community members to contribute commentary and for others to thoughtfully engage with this material.
-
To support healthy and good faith discussion as comrades, sharpening our analytical skills and helping one another better understand geopolitics.
We ask community members to appreciate the uncertainty inherent in critical analysis of current events, the need to constantly learn, and take part in the community with humility. None of us are the One True Leftist, not even you, the reader.
Newcomm and Newsmega Rules:
The Hexbear Code of Conduct and Terms of Service apply here.
-
Link titles: Please use informative link titles. Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed.
-
Content warnings: Posts on the newscomm and top-level replies on the newsmega should use content warnings appropriately. Please be thoughtful about wording and triggers when describing awful things in post titles.
-
Fake news: No fake news posts ever, including April 1st. Deliberate fake news posting is a bannable offense. If you mistakenly post fake news the mod team may ask you to delete/modify the post or we may delete it ourselves.
-
Link sources: All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. If you are citing a Twitter post as news, please include the Xcancel.com (or another Nitter instance) or at least strip out identifier information from the twitter link. There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance, such as Libredirect or archive them as you would any other reactionary source.
-
Archive sites: We highly encourage use of non-paywalled archive sites (i.e. archive.is, web.archive.org, ghostarchive.org) so that links are widely accessible to the community and so that reactionary sources don’t derive data/ad revenue from Hexbear users. If you see a link without an archive link, please archive it yourself and add it to the thread, ask the OP to fix it, or report to mods. Including text of articles in threads is welcome.
-
Low effort material: Avoid memes/jokes/shitposts in newscomm posts and top-level replies to the newsmega. This kind of content is OK in post replies and in newsmega sub-threads. We encourage the community to balance their contribution of low effort material with effort posts, links to real news/analysis, and meaningful engagement with material posted in the community.
-
American politics: Discussion and effort posts on the (potential) material impacts of American electoral politics is welcome, but the never-ending circus of American Politics© Brought to You by Mountain Dew™ is not welcome. This refers to polling, pundit reactions, electoral horse races, rumors of who might run, etc.
-
Electoralism: Please try to avoid struggle sessions about the value of voting/taking part in the electoral system in the West. c/electoralism is right over there.
-
AI Slop: Don't post AI generated content. Posts about AI race/chip wars/data centers are fine.
view the rest of the comments
i know vastly more people that use kratom occasionally and responsibly then don't. not everyone has that spark inside that lights up when mu receptors are tripped. just because we have it doesn't apply to everyone.
much of the recent media blitz against kratom is due to the kratom lobby's deal with RFK jr to ban 7-OH in exchange for saving leaf kratom. not sure if this is going to work.
increase in addiction to "kratom" is mostly due to ease of access to 7-OH and highly potent liquid concentrates at gas stations. in high doses, kratom's natural antagonists are overwhelmed by the partial opioid agonists (or in the case of 7-OH, full agonists). thus, it behaves more like a classical opioid. and since the average person's first exposure to kratom these days is potent concentrate shots, they can more easily become physically addicted.
occasional use of leaf (or full spectrum concentrates) has low risk of physical addiction. leaf at less then 1-2 g a day could take months to develop physical addiction.
i used kratom to get off stronger opioids, and to prevent cravings or a relapse. for .50 a day it was a fine bargin to make. all my plugs disappeared, i fell away from the scene entirely, and can now taper slowly at my leisure.
but it is vastly more difficult to become instantly addicted off kratom because it's short acting, partial agonism, and delta action. too much and it's like you've taken Salvia, right down to the "flushing" effect, dizziness, and disassociation. it's like a built in braking system. also nearly impossible to OD.
not sure how this is ruining lives. there will always be exceptions. compared to every other opioid out there, it is the safest and best tolerated and that's an absolute scientific fact
I definitely think it should be legal and accessible because it's a valuable tool for people on opioids. I don't think we have a kratom epidemic. But in a conversation about alcohol alternatives with people who aren't as informed about drug experimentation, I'd voice that kratom as a lot more potential consequences from say kava, cannabis, etc.
i don't disagree with you there. look i mod the drugs com, and our #1 priority is harm reduction. and i know we aren't on it right now
i added disclaimers, i can add more for kratom. but it is undeniably used as an alternative to alcohol for many people (i often read the AKA testimonials and i was surprised myself), i can't conceal that fact.