Marc Lewis's Blog, page 13

Relapse as defiance: Just say yes?

Since well before the War on Drugs, we’ve been taught to “just say no.” Today we know the pitfalls of pure prohibition and denial. We know the value of “just saying yes” to sobriety instead. Still, especially during the period of craving that follows quitting, we do have to say No to ourselves. Perhaps many […] (Read the rest.)

Incubation of craving: The fast road to relapse

I recently came across a paper in Addiction Biology called “Recent updates on incubation of drug craving: a mini-review.” The studies summarized here show that drug craving increases progressively for weeks after we stop using. And by “we” I mean rats, mice, and humans, all experimental subjects in this review. Since many of my readers […] (Read the rest.)

A couple of Q&As and a challenging essay on addiction and the brain

Here’s a brief Q&A hosted by a website called 52 Insights. It’s quite a spiffy site, with interesting authors and speakers presenting their views on popular culture, science, politics, and so forth. My piece is about my personal history, my book, habit versus willpower, and a bit about the War on Drugs. Here’s a longer […] (Read the rest.)

Reasons for being a heroin addict

…by Lynn K. Thorsen… Out of the blue I found this poem in my inbox this morning. I contacted the author, Lynn, and she gave me permission to publish it here. You will see why I had to share it with you. ……………….. Top Ten (Reasons I Addicted Myself to Heroin)   Because when I […] (Read the rest.)

Hart to Hart: drug use, race, and addiction

I got back Saturday from a 3-week extravaganza: first the Nobel conference on Addiction, then two weeks as a visiting prof at Gustavus College, and then a week in Toronto, catching up with relatives and friends, hanging out with my daughter, and doing about one talk per day on…you know, addiction not being a disease, […] (Read the rest.)

Beginner’s mind and recovery

…by Matt Robert… “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” Shunryu Suzuki A friend of mine has a son who had to present at Show-and-Tell. He came up to his dad […] (Read the rest.)

A doctor’s view on what doctors CAN’T do for addicts

…by Bill Abbott, M.D…. Bill has been a long-standing member of this blog community and he has contributed his leadership and knowledge to the SMART Recovery movement. Thanks, Bill, for taking the time to share your thoughts here. ………. I’ve recently completed two books. The first is Marc Lewis’s recent one and it is a […] (Read the rest.)

Chasing Johann Hari: Should we legalize drugs?

I had read about a third of Johann Hari’s powerful book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, in quick snatches during my weeks of travel. I’d seen his TED talk and read reviews in the press. He’s the guy who traveled the world uncovering the damage done by […] (Read the rest.)

Home again

It’s good to be back. I took my kids to school this morning. The air was fresh and the bushes were sparkling with dew. The Rhine (which they call the Rijn) was placidly flowing by, the odd boat tootling along. And Isabel and I had a few hours to reconnect last night. Which was especially […] (Read the rest.)

Battle lines being drawn…

Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.  Do you remember that song from the late sixties? By Buffalo Springfield? Anyone else that old? Here, have a listen. I’ve been in Australia for about three days. I say “about” because I truly can’t keep track anymore, though I could look it up. I dreamed that I was in […] (Read the rest.)