Many of our clients have criminal records, so this is an important barrier to recovery: We ran an audit experiment that sent trained testers to apply for more than 1,000 entry-level jobs throughout New York City. The fake job applicants were dressed similarly, gave similar answers, and provided résumés with identical education and work experience. … Continue reading Locked out?
Month: June 2011
Turning on the lights
Reason, which consistently advocates for decriminalization, posted an op-ed on losing the drug war: Trying to solve the problem of addiction through incarceration is like trying to get rid of a cockroach infestation by turning on the lights. The temporary solution doesn’t address the underlying problem, which requires treatment. Sometimes locking a user up doesn’t … Continue reading Turning on the lights
et tu MI?
Cochrane (The same research group that found AA ineffective [rebuttals here and here], declared stimulants an effective treatment for cocaine addiction and provided oxygen for breathless headlines about the effectiveness of naltrexone for alcohol dependence [rebuttal here].) has done a meta-analysis of motivational interviewing (MI) and found it pretty underwhelming: We included 59 studies with a total of 13,342 participants. Compared … Continue reading et tu MI?
Methadone at The Fix
The Fix has an article arguing that methadone maintenance gets a bad rap and hints that critics should check their motives. (It's noteworthy that the writer has been pretty hard on drug-free treatment providers. Bill White has also voiced support for methadone but also strongly criticizing the poor quality and lack of recovery orientation.) There's … Continue reading Methadone at The Fix
a curious lack of skepticism
The American Scholar has a brutal take-down of the relationship between drug companies and medical journals. Flimsy plastic pens that scream the virtues of Vioxx and articles published in the pages of The New England Journal of Medicine would seem to mark the two poles of medical influence. Scarcely any doctor admits to being influenced by the … Continue reading a curious lack of skepticism
Asking the right questions
Addiction Today recently posted a summary of a 3 year old paper about problems with the focus of existing research on addiction treatment and proposals for new approaches. It makes some very important points. This article lists eight main faults: EXISTING RESEARCH IGNORES ‘outcome equivalence paradox’ EXISTING RESEARCH SACRIFICES RELATIONSHIP TO TECHNIQUE EXISTING RESEARCH IGNORES research … Continue reading Asking the right questions
A basic human right
A letter to The Guardian expresses a sentiment that I believe is unsaid but at the at the root of many drug policy disagreements: the "war" is not only wrong in practice, it is wrong in principle. The right to intoxicate is a fundamental human right, as basic as the rights to worship or to engage in … Continue reading A basic human right
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