Keith Humphreys and Mark Kleiman offer some great commentary on marijuana legalization and what a legal marijuana market might look like. First, Humphreys: About eighty percent of the market is “commercial grade” cannabis, which has a THC content of about 5% and sells for $70 to $230 per ounce, depending on how far a buyer … Continue reading This is your culture on 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 power of a promise
This story has nothing to do with addiction, but it's amazing what happens when people are offered hope, treated with the expectation of success and given access to opportunities to realize goals they never dared to dream.
Gateway Theory Revisited
Keith Humphreys on findings that link marijuana, tobacco and alcohol use with opiate use: The researchers used data from 2006 to 2008 from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual study representative of the U.S. population, to study 18- to 25-year-olds’ drug use behavior. They found that 12 percent … Continue reading Gateway Theory Revisited
Non-medical treatments are essential
Love First linked to this article on the role of non-medical interventions in treating addiction. I'm more and more convinced that the key to managing costs and improving outcomes for all chronic diseases are behavioral or lifestyle strategies. We've got a lot to learn about helping people make important changes in their lives that … Continue reading Non-medical treatments are essential
Recovery on Fresh Air
Heard this on Fresh Air last week. A cool story about a recovering alcoholic who spent much of his life an active alcoholic working in a paper mill: ...I'd been divorced twice, I'd filed bankruptcy. When I got sober I was living in this little, very small apartment above this garage. It was about … Continue reading Recovery on Fresh Air
More on methadone
Points is publishing a series on methadone and offers a case for methadone without resorting to describing it as "the most effective treatment for opiate addiction." It's a pretty fair piece. I had only one quibble with the facts of the story. This is unusual and very welcome. However, the author and I disagree starkly … Continue reading More on methadone
Burnout
Writing about physician burnout and expressing concern about financial incentives to improve care, Richard Gunderman puts his finger on something we try hard to attend to at Dawn Farm: To promote burnout ... it is only necessarily to subvert their professional and personal priorities, so that they spend all their time on little things and suffer … Continue reading Burnout
Two stories on methadone
First, DEATHS among drug users have hit a record high in Scotland, increasing by a fifth in 2011, the latest government figures reveal. Last year 584 people died from drug use, which means that drugs now account for one in every 100 deaths in Scotland. The heroin substitute, methadone, was at the heart of the … Continue reading Two stories on methadone
Methadone’s cognitive effects
Another study on methadone's cognitive effects: In one study, on the day after the last exposure to methadone, there was a significant reduction (around 70 per cent) in the level of a signal molecule which is important in learning and memory, in both the hippocampus and in the frontal area of the brain. This … Continue reading Methadone’s cognitive effects
The adjacent possible and hope
I heard a radio show this morning about where ideas come from. They interviewed a guy who wrote a book and gave a TED talk on the topic. During the interview he discussed the concept of the adjacent possible and it's importance in forming new ideas. During the interview, he described it as the building … Continue reading The adjacent possible and hope
Recovery Review 