The following describes the divergent approaches of Dr. J. Edward Turner and Dr. Albert Day, both one-time leaders of the New York State Inebriate Asylum that operated from 1864 to 1879. The fundamental point at issue between Turner and Day was whether the inebriate was at his core Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. Although both … Continue reading Jekyll or Hyde? What’s the nature of the person with addiction?

In a recent post, I highlighted a schism in advocacy efforts related to addiction. On one end we see advocacy focused on non-interference in drug use, and various levels of facilitation of less risky drug use. These efforts largely emphasize negative liberty, or "freedom from" interference in living one's life as one chooses. On the … Continue reading In search of synthesis for positive and negative liberty and addiction

An article published online 11/20/2023 caught my attention.  The paper is titled “Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of cannabis use disorder yields insight into disease biology and public health implications”.  You can find the full text here. The article's a rather technical read, given it describes research methods within population-level genetics.  By contrast, a highly readable … Continue reading Research Article Review:  A paper examining the genome of 1,054,365 people from four ancestral groups vs. cannabis

What do you gain for our field as you consider this quote about Miles Davis as a bandleader? Here it is. See what you think....  The main ingredient there, if there was any special ingredient, was Miles, and the way he led the way…Basically there was an agreement amongst those musicians, not spoken but something … Continue reading Lessons from Outside the Field:  Chick Corea on Miles Davis as a Bandleader 

Recently, the founder of Recovery Review Jason Schwartz penned an important piece on the polarization of current drug policy, Protecting autonomy by denying it? Undermining autonomy by asserting it? He notes that at one pole, multiple states are proposing and passing legislation to allow involuntary treatment. At the other pole, normalization advocates framing drug use … Continue reading Every Stick Has Two Ends – A Discourse on the Consequences of Drug Use Normalization

Yesterday, Austin shared a post about inequities in compensation for peer recovery specialists. He closed with this thought. If we agree that, at least in this sphere of recovery, such inherent exploitation is contradictory to the overarching aim of recovery systems, then each of us must make a specific and deliberate stand to prevent the … Continue reading More on differing compensation and expectations in the peer recovery workforce.

Qualitative studies are essential to understanding the field of addiction and recovery precisely because whether one is talking about the misery of addiction, the liberation of recovery, or the dynamics and experience of those working in the field - at the heart of the field is the question of experiential knowledge and personal accounts of … Continue reading The Age Old Story – Differing Compensations, Differing Expectation in Peer Recovery Workforces – A Review of Alavi et al., 2023

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2023). Results from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: A companion infographic (SAMHSA Publication No. PEP23-07-01-007). Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/report/2022-nsduh-infographic The 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health was recently released and … Continue reading Substance use disorder is too inclusive to be useful

I started working as an addiction counselor in 1994 and I cannot recall any time since then that has been characterized by such polarization in the responses being proposed and implemented. At one pole, multiple states are proposing and passing legislation to allow for involuntary treatment. We've long had mandated treatment in criminal courts, but … Continue reading Protecting autonomy by denying it? Undermining autonomy by asserting it?

“Let us use whatever power and influence we have, working with whatever resources are already available, mobilizing the people who are with us to work for what they care about.” – Margaret Wheatley We are losing community and connection with each other across our nation. It is a key driver of drug use. People cope … Continue reading Restoring American Community – Recovery Community as a Catalyst