Recovery Advocacy News, Issues, Must-Reads & Musings (January 2024)
Curation with occasional commentary by Jeremiah Gardner
NOTE: This was published for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive our advocacy emails, subscribe today.
📕 READ: Big congrats to the 2024 inductees to the Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment and Recovery Hall of Fame: Corrie Vilsaint, Ph.D. , Fred Dyer, Ph.D., LADC, Chyrell Bellamy, Ph.D, MSW, Representative La Shawn Ford, and Dr. Felecia Pullen.
📕 READ: The Center for African American Recovery Development is growing. Check out the latest from CAARD.
📺 WATCH or 🔊 LISTEN: Meet the Press spoke to key figures about the mental health crisis in America, devoting an entire episode to the topic. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman shared his story of receiving residential care for depression. Two governors discussed the negative role of social media and their policy responses. And former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy joined a potent roundtable. Two observations: 1) Fetterman’s description of treatment for depression, and recovery, sounded very similar to residential treatment for, and recovery from, substance use disorder or co-occurring conditions. And 2) If not for Congressman Kennedy, I’m not sure anyone would have mentioned addiction — another sign that, while conversations about mental health are opening wider, addiction remains a more taboo topic. It’s unclear to me whether the public, policymakers or even many experts understand the frequently close relationship of the two. Watch or listen.
📕 READ: A strong and provocative plea for balance and common sense in drug policy and advocacy: Destigmatizing Drug Use Has Been a Profound Mistake.
📕 READ: A New York Times editorial skillfully explores many complex issues embedded in America’s persistent addiction crisis but overemphasizes solutions to opioid use disorder as if they address more than a small minority of the addiction problem. Still, a must-read.
📕 READ: A provocative question from recovery-oriented writer Jason Schwartz touches on several broad, important issues: “If a patient has high severity and high chronicity problems with heroin, alcohol, and methamphetamines, do they have three disorders (Opioid Use Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder, and Amphetamine Use Disorder)? Or, would it be more helpful and appropriate (for the patient and the clinician) to think of them as having one diagnosis — addiction?”
📕 READ: Methadone clinics are sparring with addiction doctors on a federal bill that would dramatically widen access to methadone.
📕 READ: East Wing Magazine, a new online publication focused on U.S. First Ladies, wrote this wonderful story: Betty Ford Shared Her Story and Changed Addiction Treatment Forever.
🔊 LISTEN: When an NPR music critic was working through a 12-step program, he rejected the idea that there could be good music about not drinking. Listen to his favorite tracks across genres about recovery.
📕 READ: In each of the first two weeks of the new PGA Tour season, sober golfers claimed the title. Congrats to fellow traveler Chris Kirk for earning his sixth win on the Tour and second since initiating recovery, and to Grayson Murray who reclaimed his life to win for the second time on Tour.
📺 WATCH: 60 Minutes updated a story from a few years ago about a doctor who conducted NIDA-endorsed experimental brain implant surgeries to try to help a small handful of people in so-called late-stage addiction. Small sample size, but two of the four who received the implant are reportedly drug-free since. In last weekend’s update: Dr. Ali Rezai, a neurosurgeon, says he now aims to treat addiction via less-invasive ultrasound.
My take: It’s encouraging and exciting to see new medical research and trials pushing the envelope on the potential for breakthrough treatments. When it comes to addiction, there’s also a long history of so-called miracle cures and resulting harm in the name of help — borne of a desperate desire to resolve addiction more quickly and reliably. So, with such early-stage experiments, we’re also appropriately skeptical on behalf of those we serve. One thing we’ve learned at Hazelden Betty Ford over 75 years is that addiction is a complex illness with biological, psychological, social and spiritual factors — and the most successful transformations have come from addressing all of those factors — something our organization does through a combination of medicine, psychosocial therapies (to address both addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions) and peer and family support. When people and families get comprehensive care for addiction and are able to engage in long-term recovery support, they tend to get well, and often better than well. At Hazelden Betty Ford, where our focus is on comprehensive care and long-term engagement in recovery community and support, we see dramatic improvements in quality of life and sustained remission and recovery every day. So, we appreciate research into promising medical interventions, are involved in such research ourselves, and also know that comprehensive care and long-term recovery support are what’s needed most.
📕 READ: The FDA approved the first test to help identify elevated risk of developing opioid use disorder. The AvertD test is designed to help people assess, before being prescribed an opioid medication for the first time, whether they have higher-than-normal risk for developing opioid addiction. The idea is that, armed with such info, some patients might refuse opioid medications or use them more carefully, and some providers might prescribe more judiciously than normal. However, some experts are skeptical about its use in clinical practice — and caution that some of its limitations could have unintended consequences.
📕 READ: Whether it’s a lifestyle change, a substance use disorder, or just being turned off by the taste, more young people across the United States and other parts of the world appear to be giving up alcohol.
📕 READ: A new study found that 60% of the physicians who served as panel and task force members for the American Psychiatric Association’s official manual of psychiatric disorders (DSM-5-TR) received payments from industry totaling more than $14 million. And the authors argue the findings raise questions about the editorial independence of the reference book.
📕 READ: The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine assembling a committee to assess the evidence about drinking and health has chosen four new panelists, among them another Harvard professor who also has financial ties to the alcohol industry. The committee’s work will be used to update the federal government’s dietary guidelines.
📕 READ: First things first: If there’s an emergency, call 911. But then, maybe check YouTube for quick advice on how to help, the tech giant says. The company is launching a new feature directing users to short, step-by-step first-aid tutorials on how to deliver potentially life-saving care — such as directions on performing CPR, recognizing a heart attack or administering overdose reversal drug Narcan — before first responders arrive.
📕 READ: Suicides and suicide attempts have increased dramatically among Black children and youth in particular, and it seems that Black clinicians are well positioned to offer desperately needed mental health services. But at a time when they are arguably needed most, Black social workers face stringent barriers to earning full clinical licenses.
📕 READ: Good news: the U.S. House voted 386–37 to pass legislation (H.R. 4531) that would reauthorize key SUPPORT Act programs for patients with substance use disorder and permanently extend required Medicaid coverage for medication-assisted treatments. The Senate HELP Committee also advanced its own SUPPORT Act reauthorization bill (S. 3393). Read more.
📺 WATCH: Jelly Roll, former drug dealer and current Grammy nominee, testified before the Senate Banking Committee to urge action to combat the fentanyl crisis.
📺 WATCH: Our friend Bill Stauffer, a recovery advocate and prolific writer from Pennsylvania, testified before the Senate Committee on Aging about substance use trends among older adults, joined by others including Dr. Keith Humphreys from Stanford. Watch.
📕 READ: 10 Worst States for alcohol-impaired driving.
📕 READ: Minnesota health officials say: watch out for illegal high-dose cannabis products.
📕 READ: Bloomington, MN, police department launches innovative mental health rapid response pilot program.
📕 READ: Researchers in England found binge drinkers are three times more likely to develop alcohol-related cirrhosis than those who have a few drinks a week.
📕 READ: Experts reveal how a sip too many might tip the scales on your heart health.
📕 READ: To better understand addiction, students in this course take a close look at liquor in literature. Love that.
Jeremiah Gardner is director of communications and public affairs for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
