I was first introduced to addiction and recovery being framed as cultures by the William White book Pathways: from the culture of addiction to the culture of recovery: a travel guide for addiction professions (1996). It put words to things I had difficulty articulating prior to reading it. Nothing I have read or been exposed … Continue reading Expanding the Culture of Recovery
JUUL E-Cigarette Products & the FDA
In case you missed it, on 07/17/2025 the FDA announced it has "authorized" the marketing of five JUUL e-cigarette products. These are the JUUL device, Virginia Tobacco flavor JUULpods (3% and 5% nicotine concentration) and Menthol flavor JUULpods (3% and 5% nicotine concentration). Give these quotes from the FDA announcement a read. Then I'll add … Continue reading JUUL E-Cigarette Products & the FDA
The AI Mirror: “take that small hit, and you’ll be fine”
I published the post below last month, which resulted in an invitation to speak with DeAnn and Craig Knighton on their podcast, Recovery Discovery. It was a fun conversation and I thought I'd share that with you here. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5YYECT2NeBogNVSehvQm6w?si=auerM5dAQfenEQ6Xn_zN5w I also want to share a couple of things that have come up since the interview. … Continue reading The AI Mirror: “take that small hit, and you’ll be fine”
Private Pain and Public Performance
The Fall of Icarus by Jacob Peeter Gowy I recently read a moving and, sadly, familiar story. It's about a person with addiction who finds recovery and pours himself into advocacy. He seeks an audience and influence, finds an opportunity in harm reduction, distance grows between him and the foundations of his recovery, he relapses, … Continue reading Private Pain and Public Performance
On Mattering & Belonging in Addiction Recovery, Older Adults and Beyond
Mattering definition: being of importance; having significance in our own lives and the lives of others. Belonging definition: a feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group and having a good relationship with the other members of the group because they welcome you and accept you. Mattering, belonging and connection have … Continue reading On Mattering & Belonging in Addiction Recovery, Older Adults and Beyond
Why won’t the acute care paradigm die?
Recently, I posted about a study finding significant declines in the duration of treatment for MOUD patients in Ontario, Canada. The post focused on the persistence of the acute care paradigm, now appearing in MOUD. The post prompted some discussion on LinkedIn, during which I was struck by how this is really just a cycle … Continue reading Why won’t the acute care paradigm die?
“further research is needed to improve treatment retention”
Kleinman RA, Kurdyak P. Duration of Methadone and Buprenorphine-Naloxone Treatment. JAMA Network Open. 2025;8(7):e2518389. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.18389 An eye-popping article was just published in JAMA about trends in the duration of methadone and buprenorphine treatment in Ontario, Canada, including more than 72,000 new recipients of opioid agonist treatments. The median duration of buprenorphine treatment declined by 25%, … Continue reading “further research is needed to improve treatment retention”
What to make of nicotine addiction?
Brian has recently posted about nicotine, vaping, nicotine pouches, and 6-methyl nicotine. A LinkedIn exchange brought me back to this post on the topic from several years ago. It looks at the role of nicotine in addiction and recovery, and the weirdness of the drug. It seemed relevant. Enjoy! Background David McCartney wrote a great … Continue reading What to make of nicotine addiction?
6-methyl nicotine is here
Did you know that a synthetic analog of nicotine has been developed and is on the market? It’s called 6-methyl nicotine (6-MN). Before we get into some of the more recent findings about 6-MN, it’s important to understand one specific term related to the research. The term is “reactive oxygen species”, or ROS. Here’s the … Continue reading 6-methyl nicotine is here
Pouch
A few days ago I posted a list of research-based findings concerning nicotine. The post was simply titled "Nicotine". One main point of that post was to ask, "On a scale from 0 to 10 how important is it to treat tobacco use in a patient with a substance use disorder? And why?" That post … Continue reading Pouch
Recovery Review 