How To Save Someone Who Overdoses

STATS’ addiction and recovery expert Maia Szalavitz has some practical, no-nonsense advice on the Huffington Post about how to deal with drug overdoses.
If someone is just out of rehab, be aware that they can’t handle the same high doses they were once taking - and that they may not realize their bodies have a much [...]

Why We Shouldn’t Rush to Blame Heath Ledger’s Death on Doctors

Over on the Huffington Post, STATS’ Maia Szalavitz takes on some of the responses to the medical examiner’s report on actor Heath Ledger’s death, particularly the suggestion that one or more doctors may be “responsible” for his death rather than it being a consequence of drug abuse.
The problem, she argues, is that there is often [...]

Did Rolling Stone Really Publish the Smartest Drug Story of the Year?

Trevor Butterworth
Slate’s Jack Shafer has described Ben Wallace-Well’s 15,000-word story for Rolling Stone - “How America Lost the War on Drugs” - as the “smartest drug story of the year:”
“If I were maximum dictator, I would force every newspaper editor, every magazine editor, and every television producer in the land to read Ben Wallace-Wells… [he] [...]

Oprah’s School and Tough Love

Maia Szalavitz, Huffington Post
In the idea that the kids are all liars and any complaints should be dismissed as “manipulation” and you have a predator’s dream… more
Originally published November 7, 2007

Did Diet Politics Corrupt World Cancer Research Fund Recommendations?

Trevor Butterworth, Huffington Post
One of the World Cancer Research Fund’s key recommendations on how to avoid cancer may be flawed because of what was not included in the survey …more
Originally published October 31, 2007

Don’t Eat Your iPhone: Greenpeace’s Warning — Publicity Stunt or Genuine Risk?

Trevor Butterworth, Huffington Post
Don’t eat plastic - or electronic consumer items. That’s the real message behind Greenpeace’s latest study on the supposed safety of the iPhone if you look at the evidence logically… more
Originally published October 16, 2007

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 [...]

One Joint Impacts Lungs Like Five Cigarettes?

Maia Szalavitz, Huffington Post
Another study hooks the media with predictable consequences… more
Originally published August 1, 2007

So What Did We Learn From Avandia? (Hint: The Media Are a Hazard to Public Health)

Trevor Butterworth, Huffington Post
Take several critics of the way the FDA ensures the safety of drugs, rush a flawed study into print, characterize the results as catastrophic, rope in drug regulation warriors on Capitol Hill, rant about the evils of Big Pharma, talk to a credulous, statistically-illiterate media, and voila - you have Vioxx II, [...]

Are Vogue Editors Sniffing Too Much Nail Polish?

Trevor Butterworth, Huffington Post
Um, boys don’t produce semen until they reach puberty - and even the most precocious male is not going to reach puberty before leaving the womb… more
Originally published July 26, 2007