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Keep your head up – no shame in addiction
A client come in today for an addiction treatment evaluation. She had so much shame about her drug use that even the relative who brought her in didn’t know what drug she’d been using every day for the last year or so. I told her the same thing I tell all those who ask me…
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Criminal drug possession – Felony versus misdemeanor
In all but 13 States in the U.S., drug possession for personal use is still considered a felony punishable by years in prison and hefty fines. This despite the fact that a significant portion of those arrested meet criteria for dependence (addiction) on the drugs they are caught with, and the fact that our own…
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Prescription addiction – still growing
A recent story in the Associated Press discusses the association between the great increase in prescription painkiller sales in the United States and the increasing rates of prescription addiction and opiate addiction in particular. Increased overdose deaths (more than 15,000 a year by now and the leading cause of accidental deaths in many states) and…
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Forgetting astrocytes – marijuana, memory, and the brain
My favorite thing about science are those discoveries that remind us we simply don’t know everything. A recent article by a group of researchers from Canada, China, and France (see original research article in the journal Cell here and a nice summary here) summarizes findings that reveal some surprises about the ways marijuana use affects…
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Addiction research – Who are we studying?
I teach a class on the psychology of addiction (Psych 477 at California State University in Long Beach) and as I have been preparing the lectures something has become very clear to me – textbooks patently gloss over important details about the addiction research they cite. One of the most obvious gaps I’ve noticed this…
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Treating alcohol withdrawal with benzodiazepines – Safe if mindful
Contributing co-author: Andrew Chen Alcohol withdrawal can be extremely unpleasant (see here for an overview). Symptoms vary from person to person, but most people will experience some negative symptoms of alcohol withdrawal if they try to stop drinking after long term use. Mild to moderate symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, rapid heart rate, abnormal…
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A3 Verified – Matrix Institute on Addictions
A3 is doing its RehabFinder work this month and we have a brand new and exciting addition to our Verification roster – The West Los Angeles clinic of the Matrix Institute on Addictions (they can be reached at 310-935-1322). We’ve already featured one of the amazing founders of Matrix, Ms. Jeanne Obert, but during these…
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Before we jump to Whitney Houston conclusions
I’ve had numerous calls from media outlets who want to talk about Whitney Houston and her celebrity drug problem since this past Saturday. It seems as if everyone wants to jump to conclusions that I’m simply not ready to make yet. Given Ms. Houston’s drug abuse history and her involvement with Bobby Brown, it seems…
