Yesterday, I shared a couple of highlights from this Brookings event. Here's another interesting portion. Portugal's Lessons for the US https://youtu.be/mb1ftlQiJEI?t=2348 Keith Humphreys on Portugal's lessons for the US. I'm based in California and many people who are in west coast cities often call me about their their concerns about drugs. Sometimes they're elected officials, … Continue reading More Highlights from The Biden Administrations Drug Policy Strategy and Lessons from Portugal

“The public was unconcerned while addiction seemed confined to Chinese, prostitutes, tramps, or intellectuals and artists, all easily quarantined from society.” H. Wayne Morgan (1974) Yesterday’s Addicts: American Society and Drug Abuse, 1865 - 1920

Portugal's drug policy gets a lot of attention as a model policy, but details get considerably less attention. I watched this Brookings seminar a few weeks ago. It was a great opportunity to hear about it straight from the source. I decided to pull together some highlights for all of you. The role of harm … Continue reading Highlights from The Biden Administrations Drug Policy Strategy and Lessons from Portugal

“Every generation assumes that it discovers or endures problems for the first time.” H. Wayne Morgan (1974) Yesterday’s Addicts: American Society and Drug Abuse, 1865 - 1920

Earlier today Jason Schwartz posted about the active ingredients and basic framework of a multi-year clinical and recovery support model.  The information he shared included elements from Robert DuPont, MD and William White, MA.  Jason included a statement Dr. DuPont made about the short length of even our longest treatments (such as outpatient methadone or … Continue reading What should be the gold standard for addiction treatment: A little more.

This was originally published in a 2019 National Association of Social Workers’ Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drug specialty section newsletter. The most striking thing about substance abuse treatment is the mismatch between the duration of treatment and the duration of the illness. —Robert DuPont, MD (2018) The opioid crisis has shined a spotlight on the U.S. addiction … Continue reading What should be the gold standard for addiction treatment?

I recently came across a couple of items responding to reactions to research findings that were considered objectionable. "We reserve the right to eject objectionable persons" by City of Vancouver Archives is licensed under CC BY 2.0 First, Noah Smith responds to calls to suppress findings that parental incarceration is correlated with the following benefits to their children, "reducing … Continue reading What should we do with objectionable findings?

This week I ran across a wonderful STAT News article by Dr David Eddie and Dr John Kelly “People recover from addiction. They also go on to do good things,” it was published a few days ago.  One of the motivators for me writing  this blog article is to draw attention to it in hopes … Continue reading Will We Ever Steer Towards A Favorable Sea Change and Strengthen Recovery Efforts?