recovery

A Year After I Quit Drugs, the Stigma Still Haunts Me

From the moment I began openly acknowledging my opioid use—often via self-deprecating jokes, at least to friends—people shamed me. This…

December 14, 2022

How Deep Does New Jersey’s Anti-Stigma Messaging Really Run?

Counties across the state of New Jersey trumpet their commitment to ending stigma against people with addiction. In 2018, for…

July 21, 2022

WA Ballot Measure to Decriminalize Drugs Has Early Poll Lead

As a signature drive kicks off in Washington State to qualify a drug decriminalization measure for November’s ballot, newly released…

May 2, 2022

Vulnerable People Are Dying in Unregulated Recovery Houses

Dawn Troutt, of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, lost her 38-year-old son to a fentanyl-involved overdose on July 22, 2019. Her son,…

April 5, 2022

Non-Substance Addictions Are Key to Understanding What Drugs Don’t Do

The parents of a 13-year-old middle school student brought their son to a counselor of my acquaintance. “He spends all…

March 23, 2022

Kratom Helps Me Cope With Life, So What’s the Problem?

A kilo is surprisingly heavy, I thought as I dropped the package onto my mattress with a thud. I never…

March 10, 2022

Court-Ordered Into AA? You Could Use The Satanic Temple Instead.

Two-and-a-half years after a bad relationship left her homeless, and 16 months after Child Protective Services took her children, Stephanie…

December 29, 2021

What I Wish Someone Had Said to Me When I Started Using Drugs

When I began using drugs, I didn’t have anyone I could safely go to for advice or help. Nobody in…

December 14, 2021

How Key Early Ideas Helped Shape Today’s Harm Reduction Movement

[This article is excerpted from UNDOING DRUGS: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, by Maia…

November 23, 2021

Harm Reduction Is for Eating Disorders, Too

There must be all kinds of unexplored applications for harm reduction, but the one I always come back to is…

September 22, 2021