A new Senate report looks at financial relationships between opioid manufacturers and pain advocacy groups: Sen. Claire McCaskill released a report Monday alleging that from 2012 to 2017, leading manufacturers of opioids gave $9 million to pain treatment advocacy groups, an arrangement the report says “may have played a significant role in creating the necessary … Continue reading “played a significant role in creating the necessary conditions for the U.S. opioid epidemic”
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.
“Drug addicts to be given heroin in bid to tackle crime”
Take note of the headline and then ask yourself, whose needs does this serve? what beliefs underlie the plan? what values/priorities underlie the plan?
It’s a complicated issue with a lot of factors at play
Very few articles about addiction have the seriousness and integrity to look past easy answers and simple narratives. Nieman Reports recently published an article by Susan Stellin that is the best I've read in as long as I can remember. The article addresses issues of evidence-based practices, research, journalistic bias toward the drama of addiction … Continue reading It’s a complicated issue with a lot of factors at play
The opioid crisis as a disease of despair?
The narrative that the opioid and overdose crisis is a product of despair has become very popular. The logic is that people in bad economic conditions are more likely to turn to opioids to cope with their circumstances, and that their hopeless environmental conditions make them more likely to die of an overdose. This model … Continue reading The opioid crisis as a disease of despair?
Love and Addiction Counseling (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
[Cross-posted at williamwhitepapers.com] Addiction counseling has become an increasingly professional and pristine affair, and service relationships reflect a more detached process than in years gone by. And yet one worries about the loss of something precious in our current fixation on the technical mastery of evidence-based counseling practices. We would suggest that this endangered precious … Continue reading Love and Addiction Counseling (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
NY state takes on hustlers
New York state is warning people seeking treatment to beware of treatment fraud. More here.
Another treatment hustle?
A new story suggests that Dr. Phil may be in on the hustle: A STAT/Boston Globe investigation shows how some carefully placed promotions are also a financial opportunity for a new business venture involving the show’s host, Phillip McGraw, and his son, Jay. An addiction recovery program the McGraws launched this year comes with an … Continue reading Another treatment hustle?
Another treatment hustle
What if some big restaurant group (that owns a bunch of chains) surreptitiously bought Yelp and used Yelp to steer diners to their restaurant? That would be a shady hustle, right? Well, it happens all the time in the world of addiction treatment: As the opioid epidemic continues to spiral, more and more people have reason … Continue reading Another treatment hustle
An addiction treatment model that works
A while back, the Huffington Post had a nice piece on a treatment model that delivers outcomes everyone should have access to: The day Dr. Arthur Green (not his real name) checked into his rustic cabin here at Bradford Health Services, he said he doubted he could beat his decadeslong struggle with alcohol and find … Continue reading An addiction treatment model that works
Continuity of Recovery Support Vs. Replication of Abandonment (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
[Cross-posted at williamwhitepapers.com] Many people enter addiction treatment in the United States with abuse, abandonment, and loss as central thematic threads within their lives. Such experiences distort one’s self-perceptions (e.g., “I am not worthy of love and respect”), diminish one’s capacity to trust (e.g., “Everyone I love will either abuse or abandon me”) and impede … Continue reading Continuity of Recovery Support Vs. Replication of Abandonment (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
Recovery Review 