I do not consider myself a drug warrior. (Though, few people do these days. It can be a little like racism. People attribute it to others, but never themselves.) I oppose incarcerating people for possession of quantities consistent with personal use. I favor policies that target demand rather than supply. I'm also skeptical of hype … Continue reading K2, Spice and legalization
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.
Revenge and the reward system
I've often wondered about all of AA's emphasis on resentment and whether research will end up provide an evidence-base for all the attention it receives in the steps, literature and discussion. I found this, from a recent episode of On Being, very interesting: Mr. McCullough: And if you look at the brain of somebody who has just … Continue reading Revenge and the reward system
Road traffic crashes and prescribed methadone and buprenorphine
Last year, a study questioned whether buprenorphine patients should be allowed to drive because 60% tested positive for other drugs. Now, another study reaches similar findings: Background Opioids have been shown to impair psychomotor and cognitive functioning in healthy volunteers with no history of opioid abuse. Few or no significant effects have been found in opioid-dependant … Continue reading Road traffic crashes and prescribed methadone and buprenorphine
Life long?
Yesterday morning I re-posted from an article on the positive finding publication bias in psychology journals and how these findings live on in spite of the fact that they are never replicated and rely on shakey analysis. [audio: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/436.mp3%5D Then, I'm driving to work and listen to last week's episode of This American Life discussing psychopaths. It … Continue reading Life long?
Hard to kill
Nature has a new article on the troubling shelf life of bad psychology research: Positive results in psychology can behave like rumours: easy to release but hard to dispel. They dominate most journals, which strive to present new, exciting research. Meanwhile, attempts to replicate those studies, especially when the findings are negative, go unpublished, languishing in … Continue reading Hard to kill
Help!
I just listened to a Radiolab episode focusing on people's attempts to control their future selves—to prevent themselves from doing something that they don't want to do. Here's a video that, focusing on procrastination, illuminates the concept of your present self trying to control your future self. (It's from a book called, You Are Not … Continue reading Help!
n=8
Published in a prestigious journal with an 'n' of 8. Unbelievable. Participants Eight cocaine-using adults. Measurements Subjects completed nine experimental sessions in which they were pre-treated with 0, 100 or 200 mg oral immediate release bupropion. Ninety minutes later they sampled an intranasal cocaine dose [4 (placebo), 15 or 45 mg] and made six choices between that dose and … Continue reading n=8
Addiction diagnoses to rise
I've posted before about problems with the proposed approach to addiction in the DSM-5. These changes were intended to clear up language problems, specifically the conflation of dependence and addiction leading to "false positives" for addiction. Looks like the DSM-5 is causing its own language problems before it's even adopted. [emphasis mine] Many scholars believe … Continue reading Addiction diagnoses to rise
Science for spirituality
Whatever one thinks of AA's spirituality, research suggests that thinking about God enhances self-control: “The world is full of people who are fastidious about Biblical rules but can’t say no to fast food,” says Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. “There’s something about rules from God that make them easier to follow.” According to … Continue reading Science for spirituality
“as addictive as cocaine”
Ha! If I read the phrase “as addictive as cocaine” one more time I’m going to hit the bottle. Anything that is either overused, pleasurable or has become vaguely associated with the dopamine system is compared to cocaine. In fact, here is a list of things claimed to be as addictive as the illegal nose … Continue reading “as addictive as cocaine”
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