To be fair, as most people who struggle with addiction recover from it (many settling into moderation instead of abstinence), there are a million stories as to how that recovery occurred, and sometimes it’s precisely because a person came along at the right time in the right way. And lots of times those people embrace…

(Deleted my response, because I saw your gracious follow-up below.)

That’s a fine accomplishment and I hope it continues, unabated.

What the media calls “overdose” is usually fentanyl contamination. When a product is illegal & unregulated, it’s harder to know what one is getting. Most drug deaths are caused by prohibition.

The Sacklers and addiction suck, but prohibition and the policy overreactions to some cases of overprescribing is the primary cause of drug deaths.

I tend to agree. The vast majority of drug deaths are due to prohibition policies that have been predictably failing and creating a toxic supply for a century.

Addiction is definitely rough. Complicating matters even more is that he might very well have overcome his addiction, and could have been using the way most drug users do, without the destructive compulsivity that defines addiction.

One thing that isn’t examined enough (imo) is the fact that for lots of kids, school is not only a place of boredom and/or misery, but a reminder that they have little to no say over how they spend their time. Humans have a natural understanding that our time belongs to us and we have a natural frustration when we…

This is less “news” than it is a reminder that schools have always been authoritarian, often racist, sexist, classist institutions, designed by 19th century factory standards. There should be a reimagining of what they do and how they do it, but maintaining their traumatizing dysfunction is a bipartisan affair, with…

Lots of people vape precisely because they want to stop wheezing.

Feeling like shit is no good. You shouldn’t worry that vaping isn’t safe. In fact, it’s recommended by many tobacco harm reduction scientists. And some brains just do better with nicotine, just like some do better with caffeine, which are very similar drugs.

...even more dangerous than the original nicotine delivery devices, which weren’t super great for you in the first place.

There aren’t 1000 other comedic actors just as talented, and there definitely aren’t 100 stand-up comedians just as talented. I agree that Hollywood isn’t exactly a meritocracy, but her parentage almost certainly had nothing to do with her getting cast in that part. There are lots of examples of people getting jobs in…

This doesn’t really make sense, because she wasn’t famous before her success as an entertainer. She’s famous, now, due to her talent. Before she was cast in the show that made her famous, she was, in my opinion, a brilliant stand-up comedian. I hope she continues in between acting gigs.

I mean, I understand that it’s about power, maybe even primarily about power, but it’s obviously also about sex, to varying degrees. Different people, different circumstances, different desires all make for a variety of reasons why rape happens. The only consistent aspects are lack of consent, and sex.

Campion. Also, it’s probably worth mentioning that Jonny Greenwood is unusually more than an Oscar-nominated composer. Finally, “...a lot sexy?” I know you need a few sentences to start, but that’s a strange angle for an obviously ominous trailer centered on the helplessness of a woman and her child.

Not always. There are different types and degrees of alcohol use disorder. Most people who experience it recover over time, without any treatment. That’s not to say that treatment isn’t good or effective for lots of folks, just that the popular conception of addiction tends to focus on those with the biggest problems,…

I can imagine how hard and frustrating that must be. Harm reduction is improving in some parts of the U.S., declining in others. Be as honest as you can possibly be with any addiction professional who’s asking you to do something that doesn’t make sense to you. I think everyone has their own, unique experience and…

As an addiction counselor and someone who’s studied this topic for years, I feel that it’s not about if it’s “more lucrative,” so much as “who is it lucrative for?” Drugs will always and forever be lucrative because people enjoy drugs for a variety of reasons (and the vast majority of drug users never develop an…

Like bartenders and liquor store owners!