The Data Behind Miraculous Rapid Detox Cures

Trevor Butterworth
STATS’ Senior Fellow Maia Szalavitz has a blog posting on Scientific American about a recent 60 Minutes story on
“… a new therapy that is said to break the grip of drug addiction in a simple treatment. Addicts who have tried everything and remained hopelessly hooked say their drug cravings ended almost overnight.
The therapy [...]

Should Addicts Be Forced Into 12-Step Rehab Programs?

Trevor Butterworth
In a recent article, Oregon’s Register Guard asks whether government can order people to participate in Alcoholics Anonymous and similar rehab programs that have religious themes without offering a non-religious choice. A recent decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would seem to say no.
The decision is, perhaps, more significant in terms [...]

Don’t Listen to Quacks, Lindsay — And That Includes Many People who Claim to be Experts on Addiction

Maia Szalavitz, Huffington Post
Right now, anyone can say anything about the effectiveness of their treatments for medical and psychiatric disorders so long as they aren’t using medications. Right now, any behavioral treatment — whether it be standing on your head or being whipped, chained or starved — can claim “80 percent success rates” and get [...]

So, What Made Me an Addict?

Maia Szalavitz
“Many people think they know what addiction is,” writes STATS’ Maia Szalavitz in the Washington Post, “but despite non-experts’ willingness to opine on its treatment and whether Britney or Lindsay’s rehab was tough enough, the term is still a battleground. Is addiction a disease? A moral weakness? A disorder caused by drug or alcohol [...]