High Truths on Drugs and Addiction

Drug hijack your dopamine. Dopamine is a neurochemical we need to live. We need it like oxygen and water. Without it, people feel they are dying.

Anna Lembke, MD is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she is the author of more than a hundred peer-reviewed publications, has testified before the United States House of Representatives and Senate, has served as an expert witness in federal and state opioid litigation, and is an internationally recognized leader in addiction medicine treatment and education.

In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). 

Dr. Lembke appeared in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. 

Her latest book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021) was an instant New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and has been translated into 35 languages. It combines the neuroscience of addiction with the wisdom of recovery to explore the problem of compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.

Dawn, a prevention specialist noticed brightly colored packing of mushroom products in a smoke shop near a school. She wanted to know what they were selling children. Dawn found Josh Swider who agreed to testing of several products. The results were shocking - the products included a range of chemicals from THC to bath salts. Consumer protections are important for food and all types of drugs, especially when sold legally.

Josh began his career in chemistry at Eastern Washington University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and degrees in physics and biology. His quest for a deeper understanding of science led him to graduate school, where he attended the joint doctoral program at the University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University. Josh saw the problems in the analytical cannabis industry with the lack of analytical research and public understanding associated with it. He wanted to change this, and with his knowledge and passion for the industry, Josh founded the lab with fellow chemist Dave Marelius in 2016. Together they’ve made it InfiniteCAL’s mission to ensure only safe; quality products are allowed to be sold to consumers

Connor Sheets' investigative stories have resulted in public health alerts, federal investigations, and international ramifications. His investigations included finding that Mexican pharmacies were selling counterfeit pain pills that contain fentanyl and smoke shops were selling chocolate magic mushrooms that contain THC or bath salts.

Connor Sheets is an investigative and enterprise reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He was part of the team that was a 2024 Pulitzer finalist for its coverage of the mass shooting in Monterey Park. Before joining The Times in 2021, he worked for six years as an investigative reporter in Alabama, reported from four continents as a New York-based enterprise reporter and covered local news for a weekly newspaper chain in Queens. A father of two, Sheets grew up in Maryland, where he delivered newspapers as a teenager and landed his first reporting job after graduating from the University of Maryland.

Social media handle: https://x.com/ConnorASheets

56% of drivers involved in serious injury and fatal crashes tested positive for a least one drug.  I talked to Ari Briskman to get boots on the ground law enforcement perspective of drugged driving.

Sergeant Ari Briskman has served as a law enforcement officer since 2007. Ari is presently assigned full-time as the Commander of the Marine Unit for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Ari also serves the Sheriff’s Office as the Technical Crash Investigation Team Commander, the Auxiliary Deputy Unit Commander, and as a Public Information Officer.

Ari has dedicated much of his career to impaired driving enforcement and traffic safety. He is a certified Drug Recognition Expert, certified Drug Recognition Expert – Instructor, Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor, Seated Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor, and certified Crash Reconstruction Specialist. Ari has been recognized by courts in several counties in northern Illinois as an expert in the fields of alcohol and drug impairment. 

Ari has personally apprehended over 600 impaired vehicle and boat operators throughout his career, for which he has been recognized several times by Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He has consulted with and assisted in the prosecution of hundreds of additional impaired driving cases throughout Illinois.

Ari has been contracted with various Illinois training units as an instructor to teach all the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration impaired driving enforcement courses, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators boating under the influence courses, and his own original material. Ari serves as an adjunct instructor for the Homeland Security Training Institute at the College of DuPage teaching course material on drug impairment in the workplace. Ari is also a senior consultant for Dynamic Impairment, LLC, for whom he provides consultancy services to private businesses and court litigants on drug policies and impairment recognition. 

In addition to his law enforcement duties, Ari advocates for stronger impaired driving laws and protections for crash victims as a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists. Ari also serves as a board member for the State of Illinois Impaired Driving Task Force and on the speaker’s bureau for the National Marijuana Initiative.

Ari holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement and Justice Administration and a Master of Arts degree in Public Safety Administration, both from Western Illinois University.

Drug and Alcohol Policy dates to Talmudic times. Ancient Rabbis established rules, or policy for their village. They told their people to avoid crossing to the neighboring village on the Sabbath because those neighbors had a reputation for excessing drinking.

Today drug policy can be extremely liberal - allowing free drug trade with no consequences, or very harsh - the death penalty for drug dealing. Smart drug policy strikes the right balance.

Paul J. Larkin is the John, Barbara, and Victoria Rumpel Senior Legal Research Fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Larkin works on criminal justice policy, drug policy, and regulatory policy.

Fentanyl is the public health crisis of our times with 300 deaths a day from drugs, 60% driven by fentanyl. It is a humanitarian crisis. Fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction. Quick fentanyl detection is important, and nanotechnology is playing a big role.

Dr. Shalini Prasad’s research focuses on designing miniature cellular and molecular platforms, with the goal of creating faster and more affordable clinical diagnostics.

She is currently a Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor in Systems Biology and a professor in the Department of Bioengineering. She also holds an adjunct appointment as professor in the Department of Physics at Portland State University.

Prasad is the director of the Biomedical Microdevices and Nanotechnology Lab, which has supported 22 graduate researchers and 30 undergraduate researchers over the last eight years. Her multi-disciplinary work includes the engineering of multi-functional nanomaterials for designing portable devices and platforms for cellular and molecular diagnostics. Her research improves devices for faster, more affordable and accurate diagnosis of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and cardiovascular diseases.

Prasad earned her doctoral degree in electrical engineering in 2004 from the University of California, Riverside. Her multidisciplinary research work won her the graduate student research award in 2004. From 2005 to 2008, she worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Portland State University and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Oregon Health Sciences University.

From 2008 to 2010, she worked as a research assistant professor and a content expert in the area of organic/inorganic interfaces for the Arizona State University node of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network and ASU’s Center for Solid State Electronics Research. From 2010 to 2011, she was an associate professor at Wichita State University in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Bomhoff Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering.

Prasad’s research work has been supported by a number of federal and state agencies as well as corporate entities. She has more than 30 peer-reviewed journal publications and is the recipient of a number of awards in the area of nano-biotechnology.

College is a special time in a young person's life. It is a time of personal growth and learning. It is often the first time to live alone away from home. Freedom. Yet colleges pride themselves as being a top party school, like a badge of honor. Responsibility. While on spring break, 22 year old Riley Strain died because of such partying. His alcohol level was 0.228% and his THC level was over 50mg/ml, higher than the machines even test for. May his memory be a blessing for his family. May no other college students have such party experiences.

Rich Lucey has more than three decades of experience at the state and federal government levels working to prevent alcohol and drug use and misuse among youth and young adults, especially college students. He currently serves as a senior prevention program manager in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Community Outreach and Prevention Support Section. Rich plans and executes educational and public information programs, evaluates program goals and outcomes, and serves as an advisor to the Section Chief and other DEA officials on drug misuse prevention and education programs. Rich formerly served as special assistant to the director for the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, and worked as an education program specialist in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.

Erin Ficker is an expert in substance misuse prevention, an accomplished training and technical assistance (T/TA) provider and a certified senior prevention specialist. She brings extensive expertise in supporting, designing, and delivering engaging professional learning, and providing comprehensive T/TA for states and community level prevention professionals. For over 18 years, she has built the capacity of clients to perform prevention work effectively using the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF). She has in-depth knowledge and training experience in the SPF process, including specific work in evaluation, sustainability, assessment, and working with diverse populations.

Erin currently serves as a regional director in SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Technical Assistance Center (SPTAC) working to provide training and technical assistance to SAMHSA state and community grantees across HHS Regions 5 and 8. She also serves as a prevention manager for the Great Lakes Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC) providing services to a wide range of prevention and behavioral health specialists. 

www.DEA.GOV/onepill

CampusDrugPrevention.gov

https://www.campusdrugprevention.gov

They devil is in the details, or lack of details when in comes to Amendment 3, Florida's ballot initiative on legalizing marijuana. When California and other states legalized weed without including regulations and consumer protections, babies were poisoned, people were exposed to pesticides and contaminants, high potency products proliferated, emergency visits for cannabis poisoning skyrocketed, and people experience second hand smoke on a regular basis. We hope Florida learns from the mistakes of California.

Dr. Jessica Spencer set the foundation for her work in the field of substance abuse prevention by earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology from the University of Tampa and working with at risk juvenile and adult populations in the Tampa area.  Spurred on by a desire to contribute more to her field, she subsequently rounded out her education with a master’s degree in substance abuse counseling and education and a doctorate of education in organizational leadership with a focus on substance abuse prevention and treatment. Her dissertation topic was examining strength-based treatment planning with adolescents.

She is a certified prevention and addictions professional with over 24 years in the prevention and treatment field. Dr. Spencer has developed the ability to quickly identify and resolve issues through conventional and unconventional means bringing meaningful growth to agencies, community groups, and coalitions. Over the years, Jessica has served on many mental health and substance abuse prevention community boards.

She served as the face of the Vote No on two campaigns to defeat the proposed constitutional amendments to legalize marijuana for medical purposes during the 2014 and 2016 campaign cycles. She signed on to the No on 3 campaign team this year as director of advocacy to help defeat the amendment because it is a bad plan for Florida.

In a study of 11,363 individuals with no psychotic disorder, cannabis use increased the risk of psychosis by 11 fold for ages 12 – 19.  I spoke with master behind the research.

André McDonald, PhD, MPH, is an epidemiologist and postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University’s Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research and Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research. Dr. McDonald’s research focuses on the intersection between mental health and addictions among youth. Currently, his primary interest is in understanding the link between youth cannabis use and risk of mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. Dr. McDonald is supported by a Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Dr. McDonald completed his PhD in epidemiology and MPH in social and behavioural health sciences at the University of Toronto while working at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Prior to his graduate studies, he worked in Nunavut (Canada’s northernmost territory) on mental health and addictions issues among Inuit. Overall, he has over 10 years of experience working in the field of public health in both research and policy roles.