The maker on The Anonymous People recently wrote: “Is addiction a disorder, a matter of human frailty or something else?” This debate about whether addiction is a disease or a matter of choice continues to garner headlines and direct our collective discussion away from the only thing that really matters: “How do people enter recovery … Continue reading Does it matter whether it’s viewed as a disease?

A few recent posts have put Bill White's paper on Addiction Counseling as Community Organization on my mind. First, was a post where I wondered if we were at risk for recovery capital becoming a proxy for class. I worried that this could lower expectations for people with lower socioeconomic status and be used as a justification … Continue reading Addiction Counseling as Community Organization

A new study on the relationship between access to transportation and exiting poverty caught my attention: But a new study co-led by myself; Evelyn Blumenberg from the University of California, Los Angeles; and Casey Dawkins from the University of Maryland suggests there is at least one group that may need help to drive more, not less: low-income … Continue reading Driving out of poverty

Abstinence-oriented treatment has taken a beating in the media recently. There have been lots of assertions that medication maintenance approaches are THE evidence-based approaches and that abstinence-based approaches lack evidence and kill addictions. We know this isn't true and have posted repeatedly on the subject. Right on time, Drug and Alcohol Findings reviews a recently … Continue reading Not evidence-based for recovery