This article got me thinking about the bigotry of low expectations and the importance of continuing to assert that every addict should be offered treatment services that provide a path to full recovery, not just symptom or harm reduction. If it's not suicide or drug overdoses doing the killing in psychiatric patients after all, how … Continue reading “looking past these behaviors”
Category: Controversies
What kind of corporate citizen is Reckitt Benckiser?
While the story has nothing directly to do with addiction, Marketplace provides a little background on the kind of corporation that Reckitt Benckiser (manufacturer of Suboxone) is: Here's the background: Many rodenticides act as anticoagulants, killing pests by making them bleed internally. They're great at killing rats, but they're also killing animals that eat rats. Stella … Continue reading What kind of corporate citizen is Reckitt Benckiser?
Spiritual awakening predicts improved recovery outcomes
An interesting study from a friend of ours: Abstract PURPOSE: This study examined concurrent and longitudinal associations between two dimensions of affiliation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)-attendance and spiritual awakening-and drinking outcomes among adult patients who were in treatment for alcohol dependence in Warsaw, Poland. In a study conducted at four addiction treatment centers, male and female … Continue reading Spiritual awakening predicts improved recovery outcomes
My Dad Will Never Stop Smoking Pot
The Atlantic published an personal essay about the impact of her father's marijuana addiction on herself and her siblings. Then there's my sister, the baby, the one who struggled harder than any of us. She tried so desperately to finish high school, a rare feat in my family. Then she tried community college. As we … Continue reading My Dad Will Never Stop Smoking Pot
Krokodil Crock: How Rumors Of A ‘Flesh-Eating Zombie Drug’ Swept The Nation
This is why you don't see sensational horror stories about new drugs on this blog: By now you probably have heard that krokodil, a nasty homemade version of the narcotic painkiller desomorphine, is starting to catch on in the United States. Having eaten its way through the flesh of myriad Russian opiate addicts, the caustic … Continue reading Krokodil Crock: How Rumors Of A ‘Flesh-Eating Zombie Drug’ Swept The Nation
On knowing and piety toward science
I've pushed back before on the limits of research, "rational" policy, evidence-based policies, and the assumption that research is objective, etc. On Being recently discussed science and the unknown. Here are a few choice bits. On the limitations of science: Dr. Gleiser: . . . one of the grand goals of modern physics is to build a Theory … Continue reading On knowing and piety toward science
Jail methadone = 40 days longer out of jail
Is it possible to lower our expectations any further? County jail inmates who received methadone, an opiate substitute, took longer to return to jail than opiate addicts who were forced to quit cold turkey, a delay in re-incarceration that slows the revolving door of criminal justice, according to a study conducted by the University of … Continue reading Jail methadone = 40 days longer out of jail
Feds raid Reckitt Benckiser offices; criminal probe underway
Hmmm. All is not well with the manufacturer of Suboxone. Reckitt Benckiser’s offices in Richmond, Va., were raided by a team of IRS and Office of Inspector General (OIG) agents on December 3rd. No one is saying what the feds are investigating, but here is some legal analysis. The search warrant, which company officials say … Continue reading Feds raid Reckitt Benckiser offices; criminal probe underway
Stephanie Brown Interview on Addictions and Psychotherapy
Stephanie Brown on object attachment in addiction and recovery: RW: Is this what people refer to as hitting bottom, or surrendering somehow? SB: That's the first experience - to hit bottom, to surrender, and to reach outside the self. So people seek help, they go to 12-steps. They then shift their object attachment from alcohol … Continue reading Stephanie Brown Interview on Addictions and Psychotherapy
debate dominated by two bad options
Amidst a flurry of cannabis op-eds, Kleiman offers more common sense: David Brooks and Ruth Marcus both have anti-cannabis legalization essays up. Brooks doesn’t mention 650,000 arrests a year, 40,000 people behind bars at any one time, or $35 billion in annual illicit income. Brooks does mention the issue of personal liberty, but immediately bats it away: apparently … Continue reading debate dominated by two bad options
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