Substance misuse and addiction is perhaps our most significant domestic challenge. In 2022, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found that the opioid epidemic alone cost the United States nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020, or 7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), an increase of about one-third since the cost was last measured in … Continue reading AI, Substance Misuse, Addiction, and the Tragedy of the Commons

A colleague in the field (a professional addiction counselor of 30+ years) sent me an email and suggested I respond here on Recovery Review. It's a great topic with good questions. I'll place the questions in quotation marks as they were written and reply to each. The field of Substance Use Disorders and becoming a … Continue reading Question from the field: What makes an addiction counselor a “Master Craftsman”?

I assume the reader has heard the term “Recovery Oriented Systems of Care” and of the related clinical practices organized around what is called “Recovery Management.” Regardless, by way of review:  ROSC was a specific macro-system inter-agency networking concept.  RM was a micro-focused set of concepts and practices for services seated within and beneath ROSC.  … Continue reading “Recovery Oriented Systems of Care” and “Recovery Management” are slowly becoming “Using-Oriented Systems of Care” and “Using Management”

“The opposite of addiction is connection” - Johann Hari “Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain” - Eckhart Tolle “Not why the addiction but why the pain.” - Gabor Maté One more simple concept introduced on September 14, 1986, that oriented the thinking and framework of addiction policy in a different era: “Say … Continue reading Simple Answers to Complex Problems….

Two years ago, I started talking about the likelihood of the pandemic related isolation and turmoil leading to dramatic increases in substance misuse. I termed it an addiction tsunami, others made similar comparisons. The analogy is holding. COVID was the precipitating earthquake. The water is now beginning to rise and envelope a fragile service infrastructure … Continue reading Early Notes From the Post Pandemic Addiction Tsunami

JAMA published new research on buprenorphine initiation and retention and the findings are disappointing. The study looked at a database of retail pharmacy records from 2016 to 2022 that includes 92% of all retail pharmacies. (93, 713, 163 prescriptions) If I understand correctly, this excludes buprenorphine dispensed in emergency settings. Those patients would only be included if … Continue reading Buprenorphine and retention

One of the major accomplishments of the earliest stages of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement was the founding of Faces & Voices of Recovery in 2001. Pat Taylor was its first Campaign Coordinator, heading the organization from 2003-2014. One of my early memories of her is watching her facilitate meetings of the Association of Recovery Community … Continue reading Pat Taylor: A Pioneering Leader in the New Recovery Advocacy Movement

After screening for harmful alcohol use, researchers in a 2022 study1 examined differences based on age - with some interesting results.  The study examined… …data from 17,399 respondents who reported any alcohol consumption in the last year and were aged 18 and over from the 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey…” The authors said the … Continue reading The Impacts of Drinking: Quantity Versus Frequency by Age of Drinker

Very recent original research has found initial evidence that the paternal use of alcohol prior to conception produces physical defects and abnormalities that resemble those caused by maternal drinking during pregnancy.1  What kinds of abnormalities were found to be associated with paternal drinking prior to conception?  The study found alcohol-related fetal abnormalities of the brain … Continue reading The Effects of Paternal Alcohol Use Prior to Conception

["Megaphon" by floeschie is licensed under CC BY 2.0.] "Safe supply" is a promotional term, when what is needed is careful evaluation of the risk of such initiatives to increase addiction, toxicity, and overdose. Roberts, E., Humpreys, K. (2023) “Safe Supply” initiatives: Are they a recipe for harm through reduced healthcare input and supply induced toxicity and overdose? … Continue reading Promotional Practices in Drug Policy Advocacy