I need to apologize to those who work in the addiction treatment field, because some of my past posts have contributed to the perception that we have a broken addiction treatment system. While I have never said or even implied that the people working in the field are broken, I know from experience that it doesn’t feel… [Continue Reading]
Improving Effectiveness of DUII Treatment
This past Friday I had the honor of speaking to the Oregon house and senate committees on Judiciary about the effectiveness of Oregon’s DUII reduction approach. My friend and colleague, Heidi Brockman-Astrue, joined me to also share her experience as someone working in the trenches daily treating DUII offenders. One reason for our testimony, is that… [Continue Reading]
Addiction Treatment System 14 Years Later
This past week The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University released a scathing report of our addiction treatment system: Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap between Science and Practice. While the report says nothing new, it does a nice job of summarizing the fact that we have made little progress since the… [Continue Reading]
Beautiful Boy: Answers to David’s Questions
I understand why Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction is a #1 New York Times bestseller. It’s a very moving and insightful account of one father’s journey through his son’s addiction, a journey millions of parents have made. David (the author) does not hold back. His writing is powerful, emotional, lucid, and honest…. [Continue Reading]
Cracked Not Broken Documentary
A comment from a previous post suggested I watch a documentary titled Cracked Not Broken by independent film maker Paul Perrier. It was time well spent. In short, the film is about a woman named Lisa who is addicted to cocaine and works as a prostitute to support her habit. Much of the film is an… [Continue Reading]