The USA has published their 2012 National Drug Control Strategy. The intro from President Obama includes: Illicit drug use in America contributed to an estimated $193 billion in crime, health, and lost productivity costs in 2007, the year for which the most recent estimate is available. In today’s challenging economic environment, we cannot afford such [...]

Decriminalise drug use, say experts after six-year study A six-year study of Britain’s drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation. The report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), an independent advisory body, says possession of small amounts of controlled drugs should no longer [...]

In 1989 the first recovery high schools in the USA began. The Ecole Novelle (now known as Sobriety High) and Peers Enjoying A Sober Education (PEASE Academy) were both started in started in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, and are still operating today. Today, there are approximately 30 recovery high schools around the USA. Sobriety High [...]

There are many of reasons why people resort to abusing substances such as drugs or alcohol. People from different levels of society and from different age brackets fall into drug or alcohol addiction. Many use it for socialization or enjoyment but others tend to abuse it leading to addiction. Drug and alcohol rehabilitation is so [...]

AA is Faith-Based, Not Evidence-Based Alcoholics Anonymous is the most widely used treatment for alcoholism. It is mandated by the courts, accepted by mainstream medicine, and required by insurance companies. AA is generally assumed to be the most effective treatment for alcoholism, or at least “an” effective treatment. That assumption is wrong. We hear about [...]

University of Wisconsin-Madison based program aims to better drug treatment Green-Milon’s apparent success in overcoming her addictions is all too rare, experts say. Only about a tenth of the 24 million Americans who need drug treatment get it, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and at least half of them relapse. Part of [...]

New combination of treatments is effective for alcohol dependence McLean Hospital researchers, along with colleagues from 11 other study sites nationwide, report that the medication naltrexone and up to 20 sessions of alcohol counseling delivered by a behavioral specialist are equally effective treatments for alcohol dependence when delivered with structured medical management in the Journal [...]

Masekela’s message for ‘addictive’ SA One of the biggest names in world music – trumpeter Hugh Masekela – has said the message behind his latest album Time is to help the fight against drug and alcohol addiction in his native South Africa. Masekela himself is a recovering addict, having gone into rehabilitation six years ago [...]

The Discovering Alcoholic is the blog of a “recovering alcoholic clean and sober without relapse since the fall of 94″

Brett Favre’s addiction to painkillers (1996) After the seizure had ended and he had come to his senses, Favre looked into a sea of concerned medical faces and saw Packers associate team physician John Gray. “You’ve just suffered a seizure, Brett,” Gray told him. “People can die from those.” Favre’s heart sank. Upon hearing from [...]