Residential Addiction Treatment: Who, How, Why

🙏This topic was suggested by Miranda DeNovo. Do you have a question or topic to suggest? Use the Contact button above. Addiction treatment is highly segregated by socioeconomic status– perhaps more so than any other type of health care. And one aspect of treatment in which class segregation is particularly

Retention In The Addiction Treatment Workforce

This is the third and (for now) final post in an impromptu series about working in addiction treatment. The first and second posts were on what I love about this job. This week we're looking at retention: why so many front-line workers leave the field, and what

What I Love About This Job, Part II + Fraud in Kentucky

Why work in addiction treatment, with all its systemic problems? Part I of my answer was "Five And A Half Things I Love About This Job", and this is an addendum by request. I will address retention (keeping people in the field) more specifically next time. If you&

Weight Loss Pseudoscience Takes A Page From Addiction Treatment

The weight loss industry, like the addiction treatment industry, is prone to overselling its treatments. But right now the weight loss business is seeing a major shake-up. Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.– we're talking about GLP-1 agonists or semaglutides that were initially developed for Type 2 diabetes but

Five and a Half Things I Love About This Job

Wait– three posts in three weeks? Are we back to curing addiction every Saturday? Let's say mostly, or hopefully. Thanks for rolling with it. I recognize that this newsletter, along with most of my writing and teaching content, has a critical and somtimes angry tone. One attendee of

Body Brokering: Less Outrageous Than It Should Be

🙏This topic was suggested by Laura. Do you have a topic to suggest? Post to the Comments or use the Contact button above. The addiction treatment industry is known for a number of unethical and illegal practices. Today we're looking at "body brokering," also known as

Substance Use and the Dignity of Risk

I've taken a pause on weekly posting to preserve time for revising my book manuscript. Thank you for sticking around in the meantime! When I gave my presentation on navigating substance use services, one of the concepts that provoked the most thought was the dignity of risk. The

Navigating Substance Use Services

I've taken a pause on weekly posting to preserve time for revising my book manuscript and activities related to ICE/CBP response here in Maine. Thank you for sticking around in the meantime! I realized I might as well share a presentation I developed (for the Health Care

Update(s): I'm in Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work!

Welcome briefly back, curers of addiction! I hope you feel alive; I know I do. I have paused my regular Saturday posting schedule to work on the ICE response here in Maine. (As anticipated, abductions and harassment continue despite Susan Collins' assurance that "enhanced operations" are over.

Special Edition: ICE Out of Wabanakiak

It feels like all eyes are on Minnesota right now, and for good reason. But this post is about the ICE surge in Maine– if only to explain why I won't be doing my regular weekly posts until conditions improve on the ground here. ICE launched "Operation

And The Problem Is...Syringe Litter?

So much resentment toward people who use drugs comes down to public space. Even people with generally compassionate views on drug use, including some who have addictions themselves, can become outright angry at signs of substance use in public places. Some of this sentiment is simple disdain for unsightly poverty,

Diagnosis Just Got Even Less Rigorous

Last week's post discussed problems that arise when one particular experience of addiction is universalized to stand for all– a common problem in policy arguments. Public policy deals in population-scale solutions that approach people in categories. But not only do people have widely varying experiences of addiction;