Presenting the words of one of our most respected recovery thought leaders at this historic gathering One morning in mid-February, William White called me. We have had a number of such conversations in recent years. They are always deeply meaningful to me. He noted over the course of the dialogue that he has fully stepped … Continue reading William White’s Opening Keynote to the Inaugural National Conference on Addiction Recovery Science: 

Repost from May 2022. Two years later, where are we in respect to the critical tipping point? Our substance use care system workforce has long faced very high turnover rates. One of the studies from years ago that always stuck with me as framing out the challenges and value of working in our field, was … Continue reading Loss of Institutional Knowledge – a Critical Tipping Point in the SUD Workforce Crisis

“I know of no class of people who have been so victimized by the quack as the inebriate” – Quote from Slaying the Dragon, William White William White over the course of decades has documented some of our most noble efforts to expand recovery across America and our lowest lows in how people with substance … Continue reading Addiction & Recovery Capitalist – Hustlers Hawking Drugs, Hucksters Selling Recovery

"I think once I made up my mind that I was allergic to alcohol, and that’s what I learned, it made sense to me. And I think it was kind of pointed out that you know if you were allergic to strawberries, you wouldn’t eat strawberries. And that made sense to me.” — Betty Ford … Continue reading Recovery Representation – The First Lady of Recovery Advocacy Stamp Reveal, April 5th, 2024

“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. The quote above has been attributed to historical figures including Oliver Wendell Holmes and Abraham Lincoln. While its origins are uncertain, it has links to prohibition. While in a contemporary lens, prohibition is viewed as an infringement … Continue reading Drug Use, Human Freedom, and the Question of Harm to Society

Figure: Age-adjusted rates of alcohol-induced deaths, by sex: United States, 2000–2020 (CDC 2022) In 2020, William White wrote Alcohol use as a hidden epidemic on discrepancies between public concern and problematic use of illegal drugs in the 70s. In the era, alcohol related problems increased, while “panic over (then) recent drug surges (e.g., methamphetamines and … Continue reading Alcohol – Our Normalized Drug of Destruction 

“Language is a virus from outer space” ― William S. Burroughs I was taken to task a few weeks ago by a reader, who took exception to my use of the word addiction in one of my writings. It got me to thinking about our shifting language over time. The historic use of terms around … Continue reading From Fordrunken to SUD – A Reflection on Shifting Labels and Stigma

The entire US Labor force was devastated by the COVID Pandemic, which created new workforce challenges and exacerbated long standing concerns. Because of the nature of the pandemic, the healthcare sector faced some of the most profound challenges. It is important to understand the impact that these strains have had on the healthcare workforce. Negative … Continue reading Parallels on Burnout & Buffering Across the Healthcare & SUD Care Systems

History is not linear. Our movement, the New Recovery Advocacy Movement, like many social movements in the course of history develop and are then subject to decay. This history is important. The past is the pathway that has led to every door available to us in our current era. We can learn from history to … Continue reading Coopted and Colonized – Lessons from the Washingtonian Movement