Tag: SUD

  • I’m Not Responsible for My Addiction — Or AM I?

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    GuidaBrown
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    Addiction is a disease just like heart disease is a disease. Both these diseases are preventable. Addiction is preventable through education and lack of use. Heart disease is preventable through following a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and not smoking. And both these diseases still occur – a lot – despite their both being preventable. So…

  • Defining Recovery

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    GuidaBrown
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    I am not a person in long-term recovery, but I have not had an alcoholic beverage since August 16, 2015. The last time I was intoxicated was in 2008, I believe. It was while on a wine tour in Italy, and the grappa did me in. Not a good last day in Florence, and I…

  • How Do YOU Define “Party”?

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    GuidaBrown
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    For the last fourteen years or so, I’ve been doing assessments to determine whether or not people have substance use disorders (SUDs). We all know that the younger a person starts using substances, the more likely that a SUD will develop, so my assessments always include a version of the following questions: “How old were…

  • Alcohol Testing for the Masses Or Bias Against Teetotalers?

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    GuidaBrown
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    In 2021, as part of the Biden administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure package, automakers were mandated to install new technology in vehicles to prevent motorists from driving intoxicated. And in December 2022 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began officially recommending that all new vehicles for personal use be equipped with alcohol detection devices – which makes sense…

  • Worst Outcomes for Babies

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    GuidaBrown
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    Two noteworthy articles bleeped onto my radar on the same day recently. The first was a post about “Alcohol Use, Screening, and Brief Intervention Among Pregnant Persons — 24 U.S. Jurisdictions, 2017 and 2019” and the other was “2023’s Best & Worst States to Have a Baby” from WalletHub. I fully realize that WalletHub is…

  • Stigma Reduction or Style Over Substance?

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    GuidaBrown
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    The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which, just for the record, is now considered stigmatizing language due to the use of the word “abuse,” says that “stigma may stem from antiquated and inaccurate beliefs that addiction is a moral failing.” (NIDA nidamed) In 2020, the National Institute of Health reported in “The stigma of mental…

  • Legal ≠ Harmless

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    GuidaBrown
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    Somehow along the way, we’ve made a distinction between “hard” drugs and, well, other drugs, as though only “hard” drugs cause problems. We’ve forgotten that those other, less “hard” drugs are also dangerous. We’ve also stopped thinking of alcohol as a drug at all, despite it being one of the most abused and dangerous drugs…

  • The “Addictive Personality” Misnomer

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    GuidaBrown
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    I’m often asked if there’s an addictive personality…as though people with substance use disorders (SUDs) can be identified through that one trait, but there’s not. There are, however, common personality traits that those with SUDs tend to have.   See if you recognize anyone in these traits: impulsivity, disinhibition, manipulative tendencies, a lack of accountability, a…

  • Testing for Truth

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    GuidaBrown
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    A recent edition of the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse reports that of the 1,300+ children, aged 9 to 13, surveyed, 9% more tested positive using hair testing for substance use than the 10% who self-reported use. Wait, now…  The report indicates that 5% of 8th graders — children aged 13-14 — are reporting cannabis use…

  • Our Next New Drug Crisis

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    GuidaBrown
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    Ketamine has a long and storied history. Developed in the early 1960s as an anesthesia, it was deemed too dangerous for people due to its “intense, prolonged emergence delirium that ultimately made it undesirable for human use.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5126726/ More studies; more testing; and the end result — well, maybe not the END result, but the…