Beyond Addiction from Creators Syndicate

Stealth Bomber for 02/11/2012

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Sometimes it is the immediacy of the moment's emotions that demands this space, and that's what spills forth right now. The best I can do is just lay it out; if I think too hard, I'll bury it in a neat and tidy column, and you won't know what I'm feeling.

Tonight a friend of mine is in the Union Gospel Mission. As homeless shelters go, it is a fine place. It's still a place, though, for ...

Updated: Sat Feb 11, 2012

Vigilance: A Mouthful for 02/04/2012

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Suddenly, I'm enamored with going to the dentist. I even welcome his prying at my teeth and poking into my gums, which need repair. Bring it on, I say. Except when he's got his tools in my mouth propped wide-open. Then I utter nothing.

My new affinity with my dentist of 20 years is all about the medication he's prescribed after my past few visits. Hydrocodone, the conqueror of pain, the ...

Updated: Sat Feb 04, 2012

My Hero Mel, Twice for 01/28/2012

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It's not often any of us can claim one hero twice in our lives, and for different reasons.

In my life, that's Mel Schulstad. He died this month. He was 93. This past week, I had the honor of offering a eulogy at his memorial service in Everett, Wash. Here is part of what I shared:

Col. Lewis Melvin Schulstad is my genuine war hero. A combat veteran of the air battles over Europe i ...

Updated: Sat Jan 28, 2012

Back at Me for 01/21/2012

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

My most memorable moment with a boomerang as a kid was tossing it in defiance of the large plate-glass window across the street from where I was standing. Mine clearly was not designed for sport; those, if thrown properly, return to the thrower, at least in theory. No, mine flew as the boomerang was originally intended — straight and true to kill small animals for food in the Australian o ...

Updated: Sat Jan 21, 2012

An 'Insider's' Appeal for 01/07/2012

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Now it's your turn.

Usually, in this space I offer solicited guidance to readers who are struggling with problems related to alcohol or other drugs. Sometimes I just pontificate on what is relevant to my own experiences in sobriety, whether you ask for it or not.

Today I'm the one asking for your help.

I am writing a book. It is an "insider's" guide to addiction a ...

Updated: Sat Jan 07, 2012

New Days to New Years for 12/31/2011

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Virgin promise abounds right now. Whatever we vow to change about our lives, hopeful commitment drives us into 2012 like a snowplow charging down an impassable road after a paralyzing blizzard. The path ahead is fresh, clean and clear. We're on the move again in the right direction.

The holidays are always a reminder that we've done too much of something that isn't good for us. The first ...

Updated: Sat Dec 31, 2011

Holiday Ornaments for 12/24/2011

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Pearls of perspective from an unlikely source shine like holiday ornaments in this season.

Three women knit on overstuffed couches in the warm solitude of a room festooned with homemade decorations and a fake Christmas tree shimmering in the pale sun over a frozen lake outside the picture window. They appear right at home. Except that home is where they left behind families turned upside ...

Updated: Sat Dec 24, 2011

Firm Steps, Gently for 12/17/2011

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

In 1989, I experienced my first Christmas in sobriety. Granted a five-day leave of absence from the halfway house Fellowship Club — my home away from home for four months after residential treatment — I met up with my family in Vermont for what we hoped would be a joyous reunion. Instead, I recall the awkwardness of it all. To me, at least, it seemed as if everyone walked on eggshel ...

Updated: Sat Dec 17, 2011

The Solution to the Problem: Me for 12/10/2011

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

People struggling with addiction are usually their own worst enemy. A new book suggests they heal by being their own best friend.

I never have met Tom Gagliano, but I know him well from our conversations these past few years as he struggled to turn his keen ideas into a book. "Write a page a day," I told him, "and in a year, you'll have your book." He did.

&quo ...

Updated: Sat Dec 10, 2011

A Doctor in the (Big) House for 12/03/2011

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The sad story of another superstar's drug-propelled streak into oblivion concluded Nov. 29, when Dr. Conrad Murray was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the death of Michael Jackson.

Of course, nothing will bring back Jackson, who died of a drug overdose administered by Murray in 2009. But instead of turning the criminal tragedy of a life lost into a teachable lesson in t ...

Updated: Sat Dec 03, 2011

An Attitude of Gratitude, Tempered for 11/26/2011

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

In a few hours, my son Henry comes home from college for Thanksgiving. The timing is lousy, if only because this column is due before he arrives. A later deadline and I'm positive I'd have had plenty of material to fill this space once he was here and we had time to talk about all that father-son stuff that makes "home for the holidays" an expectant reunion for families everywhere. It ...

Updated: Sat Nov 26, 2011

4 Steps to Sanity for 11/19/2011

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Sometimes the wisdom of another traveler's perspective demands this space and requires no further explanation from me. I do need to set this up, though.

The other day, I had lunch with a man whose success in business has made him a lot of money. He is on corporate boards of several Fortune 500 companies, rubs elbows with presidential candidates, dined with the Prince of Wales and sometim ...

Updated: Sat Nov 19, 2011

A Season of Anticipation for 11/12/2011

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

On one point, the alcohol industry and treatment centers agree: The next six weeks is key on the calendar.

The holidays are here. From Thanksgiving family feasts to company office parties to counting down the old year and ringing in the new, people celebrate by drinking cheap beer, expensive fine wine and cheerfully packaged distilled spirits. A friend of mine who runs a liquor store cal ...

Updated: Sat Nov 12, 2011

A Successful Punt for 11/05/2011

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Fifty times a year, I get 600 words to posture, pontificate or, when I'm stuck, punt.

Today I'm punting, because last month I bobbled the ball trying to explain why the moral dynamic of addiction makes it unique among chronic illnesses.

Mine was a response to a question from a reader in Texas who asked, "Why ... is there so much emphasis on the moral dynamic, so much emphasis ...

Updated: Sat Nov 05, 2011

No Wins but Plenty of Victories for 10/29/2011

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The final record lies.

0-9.

No wins. Nine losses.

A season's worth of games of my son's high-school football team. The score of last night's final game: 60-12, in favor of the other team. As a senior who played varsity the past four years, it was his last game, too. His team hasn't won a game since he was a sophomore.

But as Thomas and I walked off the field, he said ...

Updated: Sat Oct 29, 2011

Separate, Equal and One for 10/22/2011

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Science is making tremendous strides in unlocking the genetic and biological mysteries of addiction, especially why substances hijack some brains but not most.

What doctors and researchers and geneticists cannot explain with scientific study is the soul sickness that afflicts addicted people.

Dear Mr. Moyers: I am having a hard time coming to grips with the totality of my ...

Updated: Sat Oct 22, 2011

Time Bomb for 10/15/2011

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Once the fuse is lit, how long do you have?

A story of addiction almost always starts with a graphic description of the moment the user got high for the first time.

"In high school, I blew out my knee in gymnastics, and the doctor gave me codeine," a woman new in sobriety told me the other day. "My mother put me to bed with a glass of cold milk, warm peanut butter c ...

Updated: Sat Oct 15, 2011

No Quick Fix, Yet for 10/08/2011

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

When people ask me to help them overcome addiction, most parents and spouses expect a quick fix. I've heard it a hundred times: "Give me back the boy I love," begs an anguished father. "Just don't give him back to me before he's rid of his problem."

Jaws drop when I tell people that there isn't a cure for addiction. Treatment is a catalyst for recovery, which means ad ...

Updated: Sat Oct 08, 2011

Get Clean, Come Clean for 10/01/2011

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

After addicted people get clean, a big dilemma for them is to explain to others what happened.

People in recovery ask me all the time how and when they should disclose their problem to others. Usually, this happens after the person has returned from a leave of absence at work or starts showing up again around the neighborhood or no longer has a couple of cold ones with the guys at a foot ...

Updated: Sat Oct 01, 2011

A Pot-Stirring Debate for 09/24/2011

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

College campuses are buzzing again as students return to class. But the buzz of "higher" education isn't all about academics.

My eldest son, a freshman at Lewis & Clark College, sent me an email with a link to the website of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a national organization that argues for the legalization of marijuana as an antidote to the futile war on drugs. The ...

Updated: Sat Sep 24, 2011