Interesting findings about the relationship between early substance use and troubled kids. It tries to answer whether substance use creates troubled kids or troubled kids engage in early substance use.First, the prior consensus in child psychology and psychiatry has been that adolescents who go on to develop substance dependence are not normal adolescents who are … Continue reading Early Exposure to Drugs and Alcohol

My recent post on methadone prompted several comments, some making really great points. I decided to post all of them so that they would not be missed. The last 4 comments are great, you can guess what I think of the first 2. armme said...Your still working on the idea that addiction is some spiritual … Continue reading More on Methadone

It appears that opium harvests greatly exceed demand for heroin and no one seems to know where the excess heroin is.

I mentioned drug courts in a recent post. Well, the NY Times is reporting on drug courts. Highlights:Clearly, the courts do not help everyone. One of the most successful programs is in New York State, where about 1,600 offenders are in adult drug courts. Studies found that while 40 percent dropped out of the program … Continue reading More sentencing sense

One Colorado community is taking the bull by the horns and adopting a 0.25% sales tax to establish a community detox and treatment services.By the numbersLarimer County Issue 1A on the November ballot would levy a 0.25 percent sales tax - or 25 cents on a $100 purchase - to build a facility that would … Continue reading What’s possible

The post of Drug Czar has become the very model of a modern major waste of time--a pointless, ineffective, reactionary bureaucratic construction.Maybe it will become a verb, as in, "I've been Drug Czarred!"

From Scientific American:Scientists know that addictive drugs can mess with the brain’s circuitry and hijack its reward systems, but a July 31 rat study in the journal Neuron shows that psychological factors may be more instrumental in causing these changes than a drug’s chemical effects are. Cocaine use triggers long-lasting cellular memories in the brain, … Continue reading Rats, cocaine, memory and volition

I've had a gnawing fear that the brain scan research of the last two decades that has been used to support the disease model will be discredited by some new innovation in technology, or the realization that everything lights up the brain like the scans we're frequently shown. (I don't believe this, but I worry … Continue reading Brain scan skepticism

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Sentencing Commission is considering recommending some common sense on drug crime sentencing.Astonishingly, the article fails to put the import of this in its proper perspective.Given the state of American drug policy debates, drug courts seem to be the most pragmatic path to ending this insanity. There may come … Continue reading Sentencing sense