addiction

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

Drug Courts Don’t Just Force People Into Treatment. They Deny Us, Too.

Standing in the courtroom as I awaited sentencing, the light tapping of the stenographer gave me déjà vu. The watchful…

July 6, 2023

Teenagers Pathologized by Traditional Addiction Treatment

When Alice* was 12 years old, her mother discovered some diary entries she had written about experimenting with drugs, and…

May 18, 2023

Will Colorado Open the Nation’s First Ibogaine Clinic?

A bill approved by lawmakers might see Colorado become the first state in the nation to open an ibogaine clinic,…

May 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

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

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

Managed Alcohol Programs Offer Harm Reduction to Unhoused People

It’s a bitterly cold day in Montreal. The snow is falling in thick, cartoonish flakes, relentless winds have dropped the…

December 6, 2022