A conversation with a colleague yesterday brought to mind the recent study that found no statistically significant impact from an NIH-funded project distributing naloxone, increasing access to MOUD, and providing overdose education. These findings seem like they would have been big news. These interventions have been the centerpieces of the national response to the opioid … Continue reading “we just didn’t harm reduction hard enough”
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.
Compassionate, or enabling?
Photo by Tania Swan on Pexels.com I've generally avoided reading commentary on addiction and Hunter Biden because there's so much more to his story than addiction. However, a few lines in a printed Washington Post conversation grabbed my attention because it introduced questions about enabling Hunter. Alexi: In some ways, Hunter’s trial gives President Biden … Continue reading Compassionate, or enabling?
Toward a “Conspiracy of Hope” (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
(Originally posted 2017) So it is not our job to pass judgment on who will and will not recover from mental illness and the spirit breaking effects of poverty, stigma, dehumanization, degradation and learned helplessness. Rather, our job is to participate in a conspiracy of hope. It is our job to form a community of hope which surrounds … Continue reading Toward a “Conspiracy of Hope” (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
Love and Addiction Counseling (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
A version of this post was originally published in January 2018. [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 … Continue reading Love and Addiction Counseling (Bill White and Jason Schwartz)
Nora Volkow on More Realistic And Pragmatic Addiction Treatment
(This post was originally published on 2/6/2022) Source: NIDA There is and can be no ultimate solution for us to discover, but instead a permanent need for balancing contradictory claims, for careful trade-offs between conflicting values, toleration of difference, consideration of the specific factors at play when a choice is needed, not reliance on an … Continue reading Nora Volkow on More Realistic And Pragmatic Addiction Treatment
Unpacking “drug policy”
It seems like more is being said about drug policy than ever before. I've been posting thoughts about drug policy here for years. However, as I read comments from others, I often wonder whether we're talking about the same things. To be honest, I haven't given a lot of thought to the conceptual boundaries of … Continue reading Unpacking “drug policy”
The Politicization of Harm Reduction
(Credit: Fred Murphy) A friend shared this interview with Susan Stellin and Graham MacIndoe with me yesterday. Susan and Graham do a lot of public education about addiction and drug problems, including their traveling exhibition Reframing Recovery. It's rare to hear a lengthy discussion that communicates such sincere respect for both recovery and harm reduction. … Continue reading The Politicization of Harm Reduction
Every response is incomplete
Over the last decade, as faith in the effectiveness of drug policy, addiction treatment, and drug enforcement diminished, interest and hope in harm reduction grew. Harm reduction was once a last resort response to drug problems and in recent years has become the first line response to drug problems. Harm reduction is now receiving the … Continue reading Every response is incomplete
Follow the science . . .
Zeynep Tufecki's analysis of the damage to public trust from misleading public health messaging during the pandemic reminded me of this post. She describes problems of omission, misrepresentation of confidence levels in information, a desire to be a counterforce to misinformation, and hubris leading officials into squandering public trust and, in some cases, becoming a … Continue reading Follow the science . . .
12-Step Facilitation is the eighth most frequently used therapeutic approach in treatment facilities
There are a lot of problems in addiction treatment, but 12-step hegemony is not the problem that advocates and media coverage would lead one to believe. There's a widely held belief that 12-step culture exerts a smothering pro-abstinence stranglehold on public health and policy responses to substance use. It's a strange phenomenon when one considers … Continue reading 12-Step Facilitation is the eighth most frequently used therapeutic approach in treatment facilities
Recovery Review 