The author of a history of Miltown, Valium and Prozac has an interesting take on the antidepressant boom: Happy Pills ends with a look at the emergence of Prozac and other antidepressants in the late 1980s and 1990s, and the accompanying revival of popular belief in wonder drugs.  Why was this resurgence so successful when the … Continue reading Be your best you?

Keith Humphreys deconstructs a new Cato report on Portugal's drug policy. The most important point of context is to understand what Portugal actually did, which was to expand addiction treatment services and to reduce criminal penalties for drug users who possess small quantities of drugs. Such individuals are sent to a “dissuasion committee” which decides … Continue reading Portugal clarified

The White Noise has a very interesting post discussing the parallels between the blogger's experience with narcolepsy and the experience of an addict. Some days I feel like an alcoholic — unable to think of anything else but the craving. Sleep and I have a tumultuous relationship. I’m constantly exhausted and wanting more, more, and will never … Continue reading How addiction feels, the honest truth

Good news for older smokers: “If you’re open to quitting, regardless of how old you are, it’s one of the best things you can do for your health,” she said. Conversely, though all of us are prone to binary thinking about old age — we’re fine or we’re outta here, as if we have on-off switches — … Continue reading Never too late

  Interesting thoughts on self-centeredness, staying in the present, attention and a negative feedback loop generated by addiction: Last year, a Harvard study confirmed that there’s a clear connection between mind wandering and unhappiness. Not only did  the study find that if you’re awake, your mind is wandering almost half the time, it also found that this wandering … Continue reading Selfishness, self-centeredness…