Public Policy

As far as funds for prevention and treatment, we can look to our experience with problem gambling. Most states where gaming is legal have turned out to be pretty stingy.

Somebody who shows up six months later, sick, asking for another admission to the hospital, is in their eyes a failure.

The system here isn’t designed to help a sick addict get off (and stay off) alcohol and drugs. It’s designed to process people in accordance with the expectations of society.

Naltrexone maintenance is a lot cheaper than prison. But it’s a lot more expensive than methadone maintenance, which dulls some of its luster.

If I walked into a physician’s office convinced I had had high blood pressure and he prescribed medication based solely on my belief without bothering with an assessment, that’d be malpractice.

When a clinician uses an EBP, she’s reassuring herself that it’s likely to be more helpful than if she sat on her hands and did nothing.

The debate over marijuana is so polarized that any opposition to a candidate’s stand on the issue is likely to carry over to his or her future campaigns.

$85 million, or 64%, of the new money would go some place other than addiction treatment.

You know what would help put an end to the debate? A protocol and procedures for a successful transition off maintenance for those patients who would prefer not to remain dependent.

“If you can’t measure something, you can’t do science with it, and in addictions, we just can’t measure things as well as we need to.”