addiction

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

ACLU Sues Bureau of Prisons for Denying a Federal Prisoner Buprenorphine

In a key moment for the rights of incarcerated people with substance use disorders, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)…

September 11, 2019

“I Am Not an Addict”⁠—What Should “Recovery” Mean in 2019?

My name is Adi, and despite my years of struggling with meth addiction, I am not an “addict.” I’m a…

September 4, 2019

The Optimism Gap: Class-Tailored Addiction Messaging Fuels Inequality

When people speak of inequality in America, they miss one of its powerful drivers: addiction treatment. The concepts that dominate…

August 15, 2019

Drew Barrymore and the Case Against Labeling Children as “Addicts”

Drew Barrymore appeared on the cover of People in 1989 under the banner “America's Youngest Addict.” She had been consuming…

August 8, 2019

Voices of Poverty, Pain, Addiction Must Be Heard in Cannabis Debate

The New Zealand government’s announcement of a non-binding 2020 referendum on full cannabis legalization for people over 20 has reignited…

August 6, 2019

Why Those of Us Who Choose Sobriety Should Back Safe Consumption Sites

In many areas of public health and medicine, best practices are routinely adopted without much resistance. Sure, there is always…

July 25, 2019

To Taper a Pain Patient? It’s Never One-Size-Fits-All

Many years ago, I broke my ankle⁠—tibia and fibula⁠—in a fall from a horse. It was compound and comminuted, meaning…

July 22, 2019

Social Factors Are an Essential—And Changeable—Element of Addiction

Resisting efforts to exaggerate the dangers of drugs does not mean we should ignore them. People suffer, and sometimes lose…

July 8, 2019

Presidential Candidate Kirsten Gillibrand Praised Anti-Drug Scientology Group

Four years before her bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York state praised the…

July 2, 2019