In case you missed it, on 07/17/2025 the FDA announced it has "authorized" the marketing of five JUUL e-cigarette products. These are the JUUL device, Virginia Tobacco flavor JUULpods (3% and 5% nicotine concentration) and Menthol flavor JUULpods (3% and 5% nicotine concentration). Give these quotes from the FDA announcement a read. Then I'll add … Continue reading JUUL E-Cigarette Products & the FDA

Did you know that a synthetic analog of nicotine has been developed and is on the market? It’s called 6-methyl nicotine (6-MN). Before we get into some of the more recent findings about 6-MN, it’s important to understand one specific term related to the research.  The term is “reactive oxygen species”, or ROS. Here’s the … Continue reading 6-methyl nicotine is here

A few days ago I posted a list of research-based findings concerning nicotine. The post was simply titled "Nicotine". One main point of that post was to ask, "On a scale from 0 to 10 how important is it to treat tobacco use in a patient with a substance use disorder? And why?" That post … Continue reading Pouch

My recent post titled “Nicotine” produced responses showing an interest in similar information about “vape”.  Below is a series of bottom-line findings from various papers on “vape” published from 2020 to current. The papers examine topics such as: the cellular effects of various vape ingredients, the impacts of second and third-hand vape exposures in the … Continue reading Vape

On a scale from 0 to 10 how important is it to treat tobacco use in a patient with a substance use disorder? And why? Smokers have a 30% - 40% higher risk of diabetes than non-smokers. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2014).  The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of … Continue reading Nicotine

In this post I'm highlighting a most incredible document recently published at the Preserving the Message website. The document is titled, "Chronology of Narcotics Anonymous Literature (Public Version) – Volume 1 (1953-1993)". It was published on 06/07/2025 and is simply amazing. For starters, I strongly encourage everyone to click the page that houses that document … Continue reading From the “Preserving the Message” website: “Chronology of Narcotics Anonymous Literature, Vol 1”

In the mid 1990’s someone on my caseload said something I’ve never forgotten.  And every time I try to tell this story I find it hard to tell without starting to cry. This happened in our 9-12 month women’s residential program.  In addition to our adult female patients, we had space for 14 children from … Continue reading “I’m not mad at the birds anymore.”

Here’s a recent study examining rates of emergency department encounters and hospitalizations in Colorado among youth following cannabis legalization.  Overall, I find several portions of this work rather interesting.  Below, I provide some quotations from the Abstract, Discussion, and Conclusion sections. The information below brings to mind for me the positive movement forward that has … Continue reading Psychosis-related emergency department and hospitalization rates in Colorado after cannabis legalization

Here, the 5 year model monograph is reduced to a one-pager. The notion of reducing the monograph to a one-pager was given to me by Katlyn Nordstrom, and I greatly appreciate that suggestion. What follows is the content of the one-pager. I'm guessing I might continue to adapt the material in the monograph into tools … Continue reading Five-Year System for Severe SUDs:  The Model, Functions, and Focus Areas