A RAND analyst lays out seven important questions regarding the establishment of legal marijuana: 1. Production. Where will legal pot be grown -- outdoors on commercial farms, inside in confined growing spaces, or somewhere in between? RAND research has found that legalizing marijuana could make it dramatically cheaper to produce -- first because producers will no … Continue reading What would legalized pot look like?
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 Game
Cabinet Magazine has an article on the bizarre history of Synanon from beginning to end: Soon the number of people wanting to join Dederich’s after-hours sessions grew too big for his living quarters. This was largely due to an influx of drug addicts who had heard of Dederich’s ability to keep people straight. For the … Continue reading The Game
Addiction Inbox
I've been too busy to post very much, but wanted to put out a quick note about Dirk Hanson's new printed collection of his blog posts from his blog of the same name, Addiction Inbox. For some reason, I find that his writing lends itself to the printed format. There's so much bad information out … Continue reading Addiction Inbox
In the doctor’s office
Anna David shares her personal experience with an all-too-common problem. Doctors who don't understand addiction and do more harm than good: I continued to see my pinkie-ring psychiatrist for the next year or so, because he told me I had to if he was to keep prescribing me Paxil and Ambien—drugs I was convinced I … Continue reading In the doctor’s office
24 month outcomes
Another study supports the effects of twelve step participation over 24 months. (I know the abstract says "self help", but the pay-walled article makes it clear that they were looking at twelve step participation.) Abstract The goal was to identify factors that predicted sustained cocaine abstinence and transitions from cocaine use to abstinence over … Continue reading 24 month outcomes
Sentences to Ponder
“The expectation that we can be immersed in suffering and loss daily and not be touched by it is as unrealistic as expecting to be able to walk through water without getting wet. This sort of denial is no small matter. The way we deal with loss shapes our capacity to be present to life … Continue reading Sentences to Ponder
Seeking Safety + 12 Step Facilitation = good outcomes
The Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment looks at Seeking Safety plus twelve step facilitation. Good news: Objective The Recovery Management paradigm provides a conceptual framework for the examination of joint impact of a focal treatment and post-treatment service utilization on substance abuse treatment outcomes. We test this framework by examining the interactive effects of a treatment for … Continue reading Seeking Safety + 12 Step Facilitation = good outcomes
RIP Roger E.
Roger Ebert is dead. I always loved that he was a film lover first and a film critic second. More recently I admired courage and spirit and in the face of cancer as it stole pieces of him and his life. I kept his blog feed in the philosopher's folder of my reader. For me, he embodied … Continue reading RIP Roger E.
Venture capital and methadone
There must be a lot of money available if private equity firms are willing to expose themselves to this much risk: At least five state legislatures are considering bills to tighten oversight of methadone clinics after allegations that take-home doses of the drug are contributing to illegal street sales, misuse and deaths. Measures in West … Continue reading Venture capital and methadone
The placebo “problem”
It seems that PHARMA's difficulty in developing drugs with stronger effects than placebo has prompted a creative response to the researching drugs. Kas Thomas at assertTrue(), directs us to a scholarly journal article tackling the "problem": But then Fava and his coauthors make the baffling statement: "Thus far, there has been no attempt to develop … Continue reading The placebo “problem”
Recovery Review 