Worth noting that the guy was almost Surgeon General of the U.S. He's changed his mind on marijuana. He says he overestimated the harm and looks forward to more research on medical marijuana. I didn't read many conclusions in his piece, but I agree with the questions he's asking. As far as … Continue reading Sanjay Gupta – I was wrong about pot
Author: Jason Schwartz
I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I currently serve as the Director of Social Work and Spiritual Care for a healthcare system. I've also served as the Director of Behavioral Health at another hospital. I'm also a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work.
Views expressed here are my own.
Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.
The internal combustion engine of AA
Service to others. Bill White posted earlier this week about the evidence base for the benefits of alcoholics helping other alcoholics. Now, National Geographic has posted an article about research into AA that covers some of the same territory: Lee Ann Kaskutas, a scientist with the Alcohol Research Group, has faced skepticism … Continue reading The internal combustion engine of AA
“It works!”, Ctd
A new study of buprenorphine implants find that implants work as well as oral dosing and outperform placebo. What does that mean? If I'm reading it correctly, it means that the average subject receiving the implant tested positive for opioids 68.8% of the time compared to 86.6% for the placebo subjects. (If I'm misreading it, … Continue reading “It works!”, Ctd
“manifestly unsuitable for (psychiatric) treatment”
Will Self reviews a recently published book on psychiatry and has some interesting observations on the relationships between addicts, mutual aid groups and psychiatry: Interestingly there is one large sector of the "mentally ill" that Burns believes are manifestly unsuitable for treatment – drug addicts and alcoholics. He points to the ineffectiveness of almost all … Continue reading “manifestly unsuitable for (psychiatric) treatment”
Non-Violent State Inmates Declining for 20 Years
From Keith Humphreys: Prison is the subject of many myths in the public policy world. For example, many people believe that the size of the prison population has continued to rise under President Obama, when in fact it has fallen. Other observers maintain that prison populations drop during economic downturns, when in fact the reverse has generally … Continue reading Non-Violent State Inmates Declining for 20 Years
A culture of communion
Jim Contopulos writes about the beauty in brokenness he witnessed when his (now deceased) son took him to an NA meeting. Years before we lost Nick to the diseases of addiction and mental illness, he invited me into a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. I had never attended one, but of course, I said “yes” to his invitation. I … Continue reading A culture of communion
Recovery for life?
Our friend Bill White has been blogging. This is great news! To my mind, he's been the most important voice in addiction treatment, recovery and research of both. His writing is very accessible and he bridges experiential knowledge and empirical knowledge. He's also been amazingly prolific. The downside of this is that his body of work … Continue reading Recovery for life?
Am I enabling?
Loved ones often struggle with the question of whether they are enabling. Drugfree.org offers a good post on the subject. By way of quick review, “enabling” actually means doing positive things that will end up supporting continued negative behavior, such as providing your child with money so they won’t “go hungry” during the day, knowing they use it to … Continue reading Am I enabling?
What happened to the “crack babies”?
Dirk Hansen reports the good news about "crack babies": In a paper authored by Hurt, Laura M Betancourt, and others, the investigators write: “It is now well established that gestational cocaine exposure has not produced the profound deficits anticipated in the 1980s and 1990s, with children described variably as joyless, microcephalic, or unmanageable.” The authors do … Continue reading What happened to the “crack babies”?
Cash, sexual favors and drugs
Cash, sexual favors and drugs. We're not talking about a dope house. Some people (and companies) never learn: ...last week, UK pharma firm GlaxoSmithKline admitted that Chinese doctors were bribed by its execs with cash and sexual favours in return for prescribing the company's drugs. That coincided with rival AstraZeneca having its Shanghai office raided … Continue reading Cash, sexual favors and drugs
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