From MLive: The last time John Worthy attended a graduation ceremony with his daughter in 2007, he was in a much different place than he'll be when the two reunite as he receives his master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan. Mired in a world revolved around drugs and alcohol and dealing … Continue reading A great guy with a great story

Here's a rundown of a few recent positive articles about 12 step recovery. First, Meghan O'Gieblyn interrogates Gabrielle Glaser's widely circulated takedown of AA: Last April, the Atlantic published a feature-length takedown of America’s longest-standing mutual-aid fellowship. “The False Gospel of Alcoholics Anonymous” was the work of Gabrielle Glaser, who delivered the bad news in dry … Continue reading 3 recent articles about AA

If you spend much time following news about addiction treatment, you'll start to notice a pattern. There's a lot of skepticism about addiction as a disease and abstinence-based treatment. Somehow, addiction treatment has become a front in the culture wars and articles that attack 12 step recovery (this particular article earned he writer an award) or promote maintenance … Continue reading I really hope they are willing to listen to the evidence

From Rachel Naomi Remen [emphasis mine]: Over the past 55 years many physicians have failed to cure me, but many have helped me to heal. Healing is a potential in all relationships and at all times. Our power to heal is far less limited than our power to cure. Healing is not a relationship between … Continue reading Sentences to Ponder

A newly published study makes a case for residential treatment for opioid addicts: Opioid users were much more likely to benefit from residential treatment compared to alcohol users. In contrast, the opposite was true for those with marijuana as a primary substance of abuse—the degree of benefit offered by residential treatment was less than that … Continue reading Residential treatment is still an important piece of the continuum

There's been a big change in the way professionals and advocates talk and think about drug and alcohol problems over the last several years. On one end, we have professionals changing the classifications and mental models for substance use problems. On the other end, we have recovery advocates changing the definition of recovery. Before we … Continue reading Substance Use Disorders as a category

A recent article in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy takes a look at the role of maintenance treatments in Canada. A recent report in the Lancet (2012) concluded that “research into the treatment for [PO] addiction has been chronically neglected. As a result, the evidence base that informs best practice is thin […] The ‘standard treatment’ … Continue reading Should maintenance be the first-line treatment?

Dirk Hanson recently shared an important post summarizing NEJM article offering counterarguments to common criticisms of the disease model. Dirk graciously allowed me to repost his post here. Please follow him at Addiction Inbox. =========================================== Volkow, Koob, and McLellan on the neurobiology of addiction. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a review article, “Neurobiologic Advances … Continue reading Addressing Criticisms of the Disease Model

The NY Times has a new post on "Medicines to Keep Addiction Away". The writer makes some pretty strong statements. Here she is on  methadone and buprenorphine: These work. (See here, here and here, just some of many studies). They reduce illicit drug use and keep people in treatment, compared with recovery programs that don’t … Continue reading NY Times on Medicines to Keep Addiction Away . . . “these work”