Salon recently posted a history of cocaine. Has PHARMA changed at all? For serious cocaine consumers, other products were also available in the late nineteenth century. Large drug companies such as Parke-Davis in Detroit also got into the cocaine game. They developed processes for the mass production of easily crystallizable and soluble salts like hydrochloride, which … Continue reading Some things never really change
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.
40 Years of Recovery
40 years of community It was 1973. My friend Gary Archie had an idea. Sober since 1966, Gary had met some folks from Quebec who had started a small therapeutic community outside of Montreal —and Gary wanted to do the same. Gary picked up Jack Scholtus and me (pictured above— 40 years later—at the 2013 … Continue reading 40 Years of Recovery
What it’s all about
I'll head into the holiday with a story from Dawn Farm's holiday mailing. After all, recovery is what it's all about. singing about freedom Keri grew up in a close, creative family. From an early age, music was there. “I think I started performing when I was in preschool,” she remembers. She had real talent—everyone … Continue reading What it’s all about
Learning Non-Reaction in Recovery
Anna David shares her 10th step work with us. One of my favorite things in recovery is that way many people with solid recovery share their 10th step stuff with us in a way that provokes laughter with them. This laughter, which in other contexts could be cutting or toxic, somehow fosters insight, fellowship and growth. … Continue reading Learning Non-Reaction in Recovery
Tribes of the Recovering Community
Celebrate Recovery appears to be the most popular faith-based recovery group in the U.S. It's Christian and evangelical and it's not limited to people with drug and alcohol problems. Some members use it as a sole source of recovery support, others use it as an adjunct to 12 step recovery. Celebrate Recovery is a biblical … Continue reading Tribes of the Recovering Community
The Masks of Addiction and Recovery
I'm a fan of pretty much anything Bill White writes, but this is the kind of thing I most enjoy: To be addicted is to be an imposter -to wear so many masks for so long that any semblance of a true self exists only as a faint memory. The masks become thickly layered and … Continue reading The Masks of Addiction and Recovery
The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder
The NY Times on The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder: After more than 50 years leading the fight to legitimize attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Keith Conners could be celebrating. Severely hyperactive and impulsive children, once shunned as bad seeds, are now recognized as having a real neurological problem. Doctors and parents have largely accepted drugs … Continue reading The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder
The 9 Most Important Things You Learn In Recovery
A 19 year old woman posted a list of the 9 most important things you learn in recovery. Number one is my favorite. Accept other people’s help. The “it’s my problem, so I’ll fix it myself” mentality won’t get you anywhere except crushed under the weight of a burden too heavy for any one person’s shoulders, … Continue reading The 9 Most Important Things You Learn In Recovery
Experiencing Recovery
Bill White, on Experiencing Recovery. Video of his entire lecture is available here.
Buprenorphine Overseas
“The history of the treatment of narcotic withdrawal is a long and dishonorable one. The trail is strewn with cures enthusiastically received and then quietly discarded when they turned out to be relatively ineffective or even worse, productive of greater morbidity and mortality… Any claim for a new method should be put forward modestly and … Continue reading Buprenorphine Overseas
Recovery Review 