April Wilson Smith

April is a journalist, writer, researcher and union organizer. She is a longtime member and former director of organizational development for Harm Reduction, Abstinence, and Moderation Support (HAMS), a 10,000 member worldwide, online group of people who want to change their drinking. She holds a master’s in public health from Thomas Jefferson University, and presented her thesis work at the National Harm Reduction Coalition’s 2016 conference.

Why I Won’t Celebrate National Recovery Month

It’s National Recovery Month. But I won’t be evangelizing about my recovery, taking the first or any other step on…

September 14, 2023

Accelerated Resolution Therapy Was Transformative for My PTSD

No drugs, no pain, very low cost, and it can break treatment-resistant trauma in one-to-five sessions? If such a treatment…

July 10, 2023

Fired for Cannabis Impairment? What Recourse Do You Have?

As cannabis legalization spreads across the United States, it helps protect people from criminalization, but it doesn’t protect you from…

May 16, 2023

Belladonna and Bad Actors: The Telling History of Addiction Treatment

The roots of today’s stigmatization of people who use drugs—and of paternalistic, exploitative, often cruel approaches to what we now…

April 25, 2023

“Cleaning Up After the Drug War”—the Work of an Expungement Attorney

The drug war inflicts further, lingering harms on the communities that it targets with police violence and mass incarceration. Even…

April 10, 2023

Inebriate Asylums to Narcotic Farms: Addiction Treatment’s Cruel Roots

Kenneth Anderson founded HAMS (Harm Reduction, Abstinence and Moderation Support) in 2007 as a free online support group for people…

July 7, 2022

Strychnine and Vomit: The Untold Story of Past US Addiction Treatments

Kenneth Anderson is perhaps best known in the harm reduction movement as the founder and executive director of HAMS (Harm…

September 8, 2021

“We Will Strap You Down”—A Hospital Illegally Forced Me Into a Detox Ward

It will go easier on you if you cooperate with them," said the nursing assistant sitting beside my bed. Clearly,…

September 30, 2020

Coerced Into Rehab? Here’s a 28-Day Survival Guide

January traditionally sees a surge in rehab admission rates. And if you’re going to residential addiction treatment by choice, I…

January 13, 2020

Alcohol Must Be Part of the Harm Reduction Conversation

Alcohol is our favorite recreational drug besides caffeine. According to SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 179 million…

October 1, 2019