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
Tag: Recovery
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
“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”
Revisiting William White: Can Recovering People Drink? – A Historical Footnote with Current World Relevance – William Stauffer
"So what does one take from this interesting historical footnote? History promises us important lessons if we sit at her feet and listen carefully to her stories.” – William White, Can Recovering People Drink? I recently ran across a 2007 Paper by William White, Can Recovering People Drink? A Historical Footnote. He documents facets of … Continue reading Revisiting William White: Can Recovering People Drink? – A Historical Footnote with Current World Relevance – William Stauffer
On the Loss of a Great American and Formidable Recovery Advocate
This morning, I woke up to learn of the loss of a great American who I never met but who had a significant influence over the course of my life and the lives of millions of other Americans. We lost Bill Moyers yesterday. I would encourage readers to read what Jeremiah Gardner wrote last evening … Continue reading On the Loss of a Great American and Formidable Recovery Advocate
The Tragic & Predictable Known Unknown Challenges of Medetomidine and Xylazine – William Stauffer
Medetomidine and Xylazine have been in our drug supply for years, but their use is becoming increasingly prevalent on streets across America. They are typically being mixed with short acting opioids, primarily Fentanyl in order to enhance the synergistic effects. For readers, this is two plus two equals eight as anyone who ever had a … Continue reading The Tragic & Predictable Known Unknown Challenges of Medetomidine and Xylazine – William Stauffer
The AI Mirror: “take that small hit, and you’ll be fine”
A few weeks ago, an article in Futurism described a troubling exchange between an AI chatbot and a user identifying as Pedro, a person identified as having methamphetamine addiction seeking advice about how to make it through his work shifts when he's feeling exhausted and has abstained from methamphetamine for 3 days. The chatbot encourages … Continue reading The AI Mirror: “take that small hit, and you’ll be fine”
C-CHIME: Seeing the connected forest through the individual trees – A cascade model of building recovery capital through community and connections – Dr David Best, Bill Stauffer June 2025
We can think about the people in recovery like individual trees in a forest. A forest is not just a group of individual trees; they are interconnected in what has been termed the “wood wide web.” All the trees, plants and microbial organisms in a forest are in reality connected to each other. The wood … Continue reading C-CHIME: Seeing the connected forest through the individual trees – A cascade model of building recovery capital through community and connections – Dr David Best, Bill Stauffer June 2025
Recovery Review 