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Rx for reform: Spend on addiction treatment now, save later.
This was originally posted on takepart.com: The debate about healthcare reform is raging with democrats and republicans seemingly entrenched in their positions on different sides. The overall question is simple: How do we reduce the cost of healthcare in this country without negatively affecting the quality of it? US healthcare can be some of the…
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Addiction causes – Drug addiction as a chronic disease makes sense
The stigma of addiction is alive and well. Whether you believe in the disease model or not, it seems that people’s judgments regarding what it means to be an addict are well entrenched. I’d like to work on that a bit. Why is addiction a disease? In numerous posts on this site I’ve addressed issues…
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Crystal meth and cocaine, Agassi and Gasquet- The reality of drug use in our society.
After Andre Agassi’s recent confessions in a tell-tale book about his use of crystal meth during his playing days, Richard Gasquet, who recently made it to the Wimbledon semifinals has just tested positive for cocaine. He says he was contaminated with the drug when he kissed a woman who was using it. Right. Unless the…
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The misunderstanding of addiction neuroscience
I just read a comment on another blogger’s post about the neuroscience of sex addiction. The commenter just couldn’t understand why an addict’s behavior could be rationalized by neuroscience when so many other people have little problem, even when exposed to sex, drugs, or whatnot. It seems simple to me, but I’ve been doing research…
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Drug use isn’t the problem – Addiction and the question of legalization or decriminalization
I don’t keep it a secret that I used to have a very serious drug problem. If you haven’t read it by now, my drug use started early on along with a whole bunch of high-school friends. They smoked weed, I wanted to fit in, and the rest is history. But guess what? Most of…
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Addiction is a disorder of control, not choice – A response to Heyman’s book
I was working on the first chapter of my book today and the issue of choice plays a prominent part in it. I’m a little pissed at Dr. Heyman, whose name sounds like something a stoner might say, about his book, “Addiction – A disorder of choice”. The thing is that at its most basic,…
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Nicotine addiction and genetics – It’s the little things that matter in smoking addiction
We’ve known for a while that genes play a role in addiction in general and that nicotine is addictive at least in part because it activates receptors for a chemical called Acetylcholine (ACh) that are found all over the brain and body. Nevertheless, finding the specific mechanism for the genetic predisposition has been difficult. Some…
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Ancestry, Addiction, and trauma – Addiction research into genetic differences based on race
We all know that drug use and drug related crimes are a big problem within African American communities. It’s not a secret, but it can be interpreted very differently by different people. Do the differences between African Americans and Americans from European descent mean that Black people are simply meant to have more problems? A…
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Like advancements in medical care and science? Then support animal research
There was a Pro-Test for Science rally on the UCLA Campus today. The goal of the rally was to spread awareness about the utility of animal-research and to help combat extremists and prove to the community and world that the ethical use of animals for biomedical research is absolutely vital to the progress and success…
