The NY Times publishes a defense of anti-depressants: IN terms of perception, these are hard times for antidepressants. A number of articles have suggested that the drugs are no more effective than placebos. Last month brought an especially high-profile debunking. In an essay in The New York Review of Books, Marcia Angell, former editor in chief … Continue reading Anti-depressant confusion
Category: Controversies
Calling out the outliers
From The Fix: Does abstinence from booze, coke, heroin and other substances include medications for common mental health problems like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, even schizophrenia? Many people in recovery—particularly those in 12-step programs—seem to think so. And some, often out of an excess of conviction, attempt to persuade fellow members that "clean and sober" … Continue reading Calling out the outliers
Naltrexone doesn’t work but Vivitrol gaining momentum
Bad news for naltrexone: Compared to placebo, or to no medication or alternative medications, prescribing oral naltrexone led to no statistically significant differences in the primary retention/abstinence outcomes. The main problem associated with oral naltrexone was high treatment drop-out – across the 13 included studies, 72% of patients did not complete treatment. Newer implant and … Continue reading Naltrexone doesn’t work but Vivitrol gaining momentum
The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?
CNN.com summarizes a NYT Book Review review of three recent books that challenge conventional wisdom about mental illness. All of the authors of the new books agree on two thought-provoking viewpoints: 1. Our understanding of categories of mental illness and their treatments has been influenced by drug companies, through both legal and illegal marketing. 2. … Continue reading The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?
Tab Dump
Parents of drug addicts need our help - A plea for drug policy depates to consider the needs of parents of addicts. For families carrying the burden of drug dependency, the public and political debate often centres on the rhetoric of how to send the right message to young people. It's an empty argument for those … Continue reading Tab Dump
Turning on the lights
Reason, which consistently advocates for decriminalization, posted an op-ed on losing the drug war: Trying to solve the problem of addiction through incarceration is like trying to get rid of a cockroach infestation by turning on the lights. The temporary solution doesn’t address the underlying problem, which requires treatment. Sometimes locking a user up doesn’t … Continue reading Turning on the lights
Methadone at The Fix
The Fix has an article arguing that methadone maintenance gets a bad rap and hints that critics should check their motives. (It's noteworthy that the writer has been pretty hard on drug-free treatment providers. Bill White has also voiced support for methadone but also strongly criticizing the poor quality and lack of recovery orientation.) There's … Continue reading Methadone at The Fix
a curious lack of skepticism
The American Scholar has a brutal take-down of the relationship between drug companies and medical journals. Flimsy plastic pens that scream the virtues of Vioxx and articles published in the pages of The New England Journal of Medicine would seem to mark the two poles of medical influence. Scarcely any doctor admits to being influenced by the … Continue reading a curious lack of skepticism
A basic human right
A letter to The Guardian expresses a sentiment that I believe is unsaid but at the at the root of many drug policy disagreements: the "war" is not only wrong in practice, it is wrong in principle. The right to intoxicate is a fundamental human right, as basic as the rights to worship or to engage in … Continue reading A basic human right
In the news
The Times Colonist has a series on addiction that grapples with the questions of what services to provide (Namely, harm reduction vs. treatment.) in the context of scarce resources.
Recovery Review 