Kenneth Anderson

Kenneth is the founder and CEO of HAMS (Harm Reduction, Abstinence, and Moderation Support), the world’s only lay-led, free-of-charge support group for harm reduction for alcohol.

He is also the author of How to Change Your Drinking: a Harm Reduction Guide to Alcohol; BETTER IS BETTER!: Stories of Alcohol Harm Reduction; and the book series The Untold History of Addiction Treatment in the United States.

Alcoholism Treatment Rebirth: Volume Four of the Untold History of Addiction Treatment in the United States was published in March 2025.

How Hopeful Should We Be About Ozempic for Alcohol Use Disorder?

The media has recently been filled with stories about how diabetes drugs like Ozempic (generic name semaglutide) might additionally be…

July 28, 2025

A Brief History of LSD Treatment for Alcohol Addiction at the VA

Characteristics of the “psychedelic renaissance” of recent years have included numerous studies indicating benefits of psychedelic drugs for therapeutic use—with…

May 14, 2025

The Rise and Fall of Confrontational Alcohol Addiction “Treatment”

Confrontational counseling, sometimes known as attack therapy, is most commonly associated with so-called "therapeutic communities" for people with addictions. It…

January 18, 2024

A Daughter’s Life and Death, Seen Through a Harm Reduction Lens

The book Addicted and Convicted: Letters from a Lost Daughter, published in August, tells the story of how Elizabeth Elliot…

September 6, 2023

The False Claim That Addiction Is “All About the Dopamine”

It seems today that everyone and their brother knows about the dopamine hypothesis of drug addiction. The popular version, simply…

July 13, 2023

Naltrexone for Alcohol Use Disorder: Weighing Up the Sinclair Method

Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist that’s available most commonly as a 50 mg oral tablet, and also as Vivitrol, a…

June 5, 2023

Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome After You Quit Alcohol: Is It Real?

Post-acute withdrawal syndrome is a hypothetical condition in which a set of symptoms persist long after a person has undergone…

May 4, 2023

Not All Substance Use Disorders Are Rooted in Trauma

Thanks largely to Gabor Maté, it has become popular to say that addictions are overwhelmingly rooted in trauma.  However, the…

April 11, 2023

The Story of Aversion Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder

On June 30, 2022, Schick Shadel Hospital in Burien, Washington, closed its doors for good. It was the last facility…

March 17, 2023

Epigenetics, Trauma and Addiction: What We Do and Don’t Know

Ever since Gabor Maté discussed epigenetics in his book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (2008), it has become a…

December 21, 2022