Blog

More and more Americans are reporting near-constant cannabis use, as legalization forges ahead. The proliferation of retail boutiques in California did not really bother him, Evan told me, but the billboards did. Advertisements for delivery, advertisements promoting the substance for relaxation, for fun, for health. “Shop. It’s legal.” “Hello marijuana, goodbye hangover.” “It’s not a…

The fractured person soothes or stimulate himself to feel “whole” Addiction provides temporary relief — emotional regulation that was otherwise unavailable. It can make the addicted person feel temporarily “regular”. The first “regulator” in any person’s life is their caretaker(s), who contains or modifies the baby’s anxiety or distress by providing emotional safety as well…

Meetings have always been a path to sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. But instead of hunting for a gathering in a church basement, these days, most seekers have to find the right Zoom password. Virtual meetings are taking place around-the-clock; anyone can join a gathering on the other side of the world in the middle of the night.…

Alcoholism. Drug overdoses. Suicide. These “deaths of despair” could reach 150,000 in the U.S. if more isn’t done to provide access to mental health care, increase emotional well-being, mitigate social isolation and blunt the impact of an economic downturn that has wiped away at least 40 million jobs, researchers warn. “More Americans could lose their…

A mother who lost her only child to an accidental drug overdose is speaking out in hopes of saving lives as overdose deaths raise national concerns during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Chandler Cook was clean for over a year before his sudden death on April 21. The 28-year-old had grown fond of his job as…

A key senator in the fight against opioids says the U.S. cannot afford to take its eye off the addiction crisis as it combats the coronavirus pandemic that is separating drug users from support groups and poses a deadly risk inside recovery houses. Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio Republican, pointed to troubling reports of 13 fatal…

Ward Greenberg, an American lawyer working in Germany, said he was going to give up drinking temporarily for Lent, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, he decided it would be sufficient to stay dry just on weeknights. But he soon decided five nights without a drink was too many. “Now it’s no drinking midweek — so Wednesdays…

It’s no surprise that people are feeling anxious right now. Workers are worrying about how they’ll pay the rent as hours are cut back. Young parents are trying to do their jobs remotely while watching their children who are home from school. Older people are weighing the health risks of making a quick run to…

CHICAGO — In the basement of the Mustard Seed, a red brick building in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood that hosts dozens of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings each week, a handful of people gathered on a recent night to discuss a different addiction. They were members of Marijuana Anonymous, a rapidly expanding 12-step organization that serves those…

The rate at which Americans are drinking themselves to death has risen sharply in recent years, particularly among women, according to a study published this month in JAMA Network Open. Using death certificate data from the National Center for Health Statistics, the study’s authors identified 425,045 alcohol-induced deaths in the United States between 2000 and…