Beyond Addiction by William C. Moyers

Improving our understanding of alcohol and drug addiction

Archive

Enough Already
Rarely do I go back to back on the same topic. But I'm awash in readers' responses to a daughter's plea about her alcoholic mother, so here we go. May 19, 2012

Into Action
You talk all the time about alcoholics or people who use drugs. But what about the rest of us, the family? May 12, 2012

Lives of Faith
This is a short story about faith and recovery -- recovery not from addiction but from tragedy -- a story involving people I knew of but never had met, even though we had shared a horrific moment, a sudden jolt of electricity that forever fused and changed our lives, 41 years before. May 5, 2012

Guilt Doesn't Equal Shame
When it comes to gauging shame, nobody is a better judge or jury than people awash in their own addiction. April 28, 2012

Midway on the Way
In the midst of this tumult, I knew I had to carry on with life's responsibilities, staying sober and much more. April 21, 2012

Juvie Education
This week, I went to court thinking I knew a lot about drugs and young people. After shadowing the process of juvenile justice for an afternoon, I discovered some things I hadn't realized. April 14, 2012

Double Jolt
Suddenly dispirited, I wondered all the way home how in the world we ever are going to come up with common language when it comes to kids and substances. April 7, 2012

Red Rubber Ball
Back in play, the ball went while we stood in the middle of the crowded pool sharing the intimacy of our personal journeys down addiction road and back up to the moment. March 24, 2012

Much Better Now to the End
All of us die. For addicts and alcoholics, to die happy in recovery is to live recovery to the fullest, to the very end. That's the ultimate definition. March 17, 2012

Up or Down and Always
Good times or bad, here's what the story missed: People who seek addiction treatment don't need a reason to get high any more than they have an excuse not to stop. They always consume a substance for the effect. March 10, 2012

Two Illnesses, One Debate
A popular phrase among people in recovery is that their illness is an "allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind." The allergy causes adverse reactions, including the risk of death, when the substance is near -- just like a horse with an asthma sufferer. March 3, 2012

Bookends
In my darkest days of sobriety -- the second half of last decade -- he called me often. "So how is William doing today?" he'd ask. And he'd listen long enough to make me feel better before signing off with a couple of tips to keep me sane, not just sober. February 25, 2012

Whitney's Legacy
The challenge for boomers in recovery is safeguarding their sobriety while dealing with the inevitable health issues of older age. February 18, 2012

Stealth Bomber
No wonder society struggles to embrace addiction as an illness. In moments such as this, so do I, because I have been there in my own life and know that our stealth willfulness is as dangerous to our health as the substances we put into our bodies. February 11, 2012

Vigilance: A Mouthful
Of course, I love all drugs. I always have had a propensity to take anything that takes me out of myself or blots out the pain of a sore tooth or a sore soul. That's why I am an addict. February 4, 2012

My Hero Mel, Twice
For 20 more years after World War II, alcohol waged war on Col. Schulstad, until one day in 1965, when an incident involving top-secret documents, a blackout and a hangover in a hotel near the Pentagon finally convinced him it was time to stop. January 28, 2012

Back at Me
Two weeks ago in this space, I solicited your input for an "insider's" guide I'm putting together about addiction, treatment and recovery. So far, I've gotten back what I hoped for -- invaluable, unique perspectives that should help. January 21, 2012

An 'Insider's' Appeal
I got a real education in treatment a few times and, for the past 17 years, have gained decent traction in sobriety, often despite my shortcomings. January 7, 2012

New Days to New Years
Today it hit me that in all of my years in recovery, I have met only one person who claims Jan. 1 as the date he successfully stayed stopped from using the substance that had wrecked his life. December 31, 2011

Holiday Ornaments
Treatment is the last place anybody plans to spend a family-focused holiday like Christmas because nobody ever envisions their casual use of illegal or legal substances will bottom-out in a full-blown addiction, either. December 24, 2011

Firm Steps, Gently
How are we supposed to act around a newly sober crack addict and alcoholic whose illness nearly drowned us all just a few months ago? December 17, 2011

The Solution to the Problem: Me
People struggling with addiction are usually their own worst enemy. December 10, 2011

A Doctor in the (Big) House
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. December 3, 2011

An Attitude of Gratitude, Tempered
To people and their families in recovery focusing on what's positive is manna that helps us move beyond the pain of the moment or the wreckage of the past. November 26, 2011

4 Steps to Sanity
The family has been roiled by the child's addiction and hurtful, seemingly insane behaviors followed by repeated serious consequences. November 19, 2011

A Season of Anticipation
That's ironic, too, because it is estimated about 20 percent of the people who drink consume 80 percent of the alcohol that's sold in America, and with the holidays here they'll drink even more and spiral deeper into trouble. November 12, 2011

A Successful 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. November 4, 2011

No Wins but Plenty of Victories
Addiction seems overwhelming until we realize that today's effort is all that counts. October 29, 2011

Separate, Equal and One
Science is making tremendous strides in unlocking the genetic and biological mysteries of addiction, especially why substances hijack some brains but not most. October 22, 2011

Time Bomb
A story of addiction almost always starts with a graphic description of the moment the user got high for the first time. October 15, 2011

No Quick Fix, Yet
I'm reminded, though, that serious scientists and researchers continue their quest to discover how to manipulate the brain and body to get people to quit getting stoned or drunk, mainly by blocking the pleasing effects of the substances. October 8, 2011

Get Clean, Come Clean
After addicted people get clean, a big dilemma for them is to explain to others what happened. October 1, 2011

A Pot-Stirring Debate
SSDP uses the noble argument that the war on drugs is a failure in order to push its misguided, self-serving and ill-informed drive to make it easier for students to obtain and smoke pot, a dangerous substance that, if made more readily available, would only exacerbate America's No. 1 health problem: addiction to alcohol and other drugs. September 24, 2011

A Real Imitation
So far this year, poison control centers have received almost 7,000 calls about designer synthetic substances, 10 times more than they did in the first half of last year. September 17, 2011

Recovery Month Times 12
It is a time to publicly recognize and celebrate that millions of people do overcome addiction to alcohol and other drugs, as well as mental disorders. September 10, 2011

Unlabored Days
It is not just old-timers who have the advantage of the before-and-after perspective when it comes to life after alcohol or other drugs. September 3, 2011

These Moments
We don't get sober for moments such as these. But it is these moments that remind us why we stay sober. August 27, 2011

Further Defining Addiction
They described the human experience of suffering with addiction and the spiritual nature of early recovery. Not one of them mentioned the neurobiology of addiction. August 20, 2011

False Negative
As part of his matriculation, he was required to answer an online questionnaire that is more about awareness of alcohol and other drugs on campus than it is a cursory inventory of his own use of those substances. August 13, 2011

Dog Days
People with mental illness are likelier to seek relief by self-medicating with alcohol or other drugs. August 6, 2011

All in the Family
The shame and stigma kept us from telling the truth. In order to keep the peace, I went along with what the family wanted. I realize now I shouldn't have. July 30, 2011

Upside-Down Priorities
Actually, now that the words start to spill out on the page, I realize the root of what irks me is all about addiction, but not how I typically write about it. July 23, 2011

My Name Is Betty
Her upfront disclosure always had a calming effect on people who walked, stumbled or were wheeled into the Betty Ford Center under the influence or terrified about what was on the other side of life without substances. July 16, 2011

Stop Trying To Save Me
"Stop trying to save me," Dr. Bob yells. And he turns away from his wife, whose love has been worn thin by her husband's drinking and her own inability to stop it. July 9, 2011

Snapshot of Recovery
I informally met Pat at Fellowship Club, Hazelden's halfway house where I was living after my own treatment for addiction in 1989. June 25, 2011

My New Normal
Once sober, many of us still can't help but instinctually assume doom and gloom about what's right around the corner. June 18, 2011

Driving It Home, I Hope
Federal stats show that in the past 12 months, about 30 percent of teenagers have ridden in a car with a driver who has been drinking. June 11, 2011

The Real Debate
This week, yet another blue-ribbon phalanx of experts released a report that regurgitates the conclusion of countless other studies and what many of us have known for a long time. June 4, 2011

One Question, Plus 20
They are as applicable today as they were back then because even though science and research have markedly changed our understanding of addiction as a chronic illness, it is still the same when it comes to gauging the impact of alcohol or other drugs on a person's mind, body and spirit. May 28, 2011

Chronic Debate
These are facilities that provide chronic alcoholics with food and shelter, even while they are allowed to drink themselves to death. May 21, 2011

Inside Out Inspiration
This year, my sobriety date fell on Easter ... appropriate because I rose from the dead! May 14, 2011

Father Mychal Judge
Judge was also an alcoholic who had been sober since 1978. He openly credited his faith in God and Alcoholics Anonymous for his recovery. May 7, 2011

Mayday
My 31-year-old daughter is in jail. Drug-related offenses plus some kind of mental illness. April 30, 2011

Imaginatively Simple
Trying to imagine their lives clean is tantamount to the notion of walking down Main Street naked. It's downright scary. April 23, 2011

Opportunities Lost and Found
Today's students seem measurably more mature and responsible than students were when I was their age. April 16, 2011

Have Faith
This reminds me of the dilemma faced by many people fighting addiction and by their families, who often don't know what to do to help them. April 9, 2011

Make Your Own News
All the time, I encourage people to make news by telling their stories. All it takes is a letter to the editor, a town hall meeting with local elected officials, a church service, a Rotary Club meeting or a meeting with friends at a neighborhood book club. April 2, 2011

Lou's Story
I recently had a chance to hear Gossett tell his story at a Hazelden event in Naples, Fla. For an actor who has been honored with his profession's highest achievements, he barely talked about his life as an actor. March 26, 2011

Another Outcome
When a child is caught drinking or taking drugs, almost every parent I've met fears addiction is the issue. March 12, 2011

More Than Show and Tell
Addiction is a bipartisan issue. So is recovery. Across the country, it will take more than both parties to find a tenable solution. It'll take all of us. March 5, 2011

The Last Frontier
But I've been lousy when it comes to applying these values, setting policies and policing the interface between my kids and the cyberspace that invades all the space in this house, in the car, at school and even at our lakeside cabin in the woods, where everywhere is in the middle of nowhere.  February 26, 2011

Thanks, Charlie
Addicts and alcoholics pursue oblivion usually because they yearn for life to improve. And for a while, it may. It's only the loss of control -- a classic marker of addiction -- that hijacks the goal, and then life always gets worse. February 19, 2011

A Short Drinking Story
She went to her first 12-step recovery meeting about 30 years ago, stayed sober for a while, drank for several more years and then grabbed onto recovery after her doctor refused to treat her for health problems unless she stopped drinking. February 12, 2011

The Freedom of Willingness
I started my tale by asking the 300 or so women to raise their hands if what got them to prison was caused by their drinking or taking drugs. In the sea of hands, it was impossible to count the few that weren't held high. February 5, 2011

Balancing Act
It's hard to stay sober alone or by simply replacing the drink or the drug with something else if that something else fills the void but skews your priorities and knocks you off balance. January 29, 2011

Equal Billing
Gross inequality, they argue, is like poison; it affects the mind, body and spirit, leading to everything from depression to drug use to crime to heart disease and other ailments. January 22, 2011

Earnie Larsen
To the end of his life, Earnie Larsen talked the talk and walked the walk of recovery, even if he had to do it from a wheelchair less than two days before he died last week. January 15, 2011

Start To Stop
Addicts make countless attempts to stop. Never mind New Year's Day; after a binge on cocaine or too many pills or a crushing hangover, we swear to make the next day the start of a new life. January 8, 2011

Opposites Attract
The potency of his message is in the paucity of his words and the generosity of his spirit to share them with me, with $50 to help somebody like his mother and daughter. January 1, 2011

A Christmas Carol
I've been at it for the past 16 years, and when I wake up on Christmas morning this year, I'm not very confident I'll possess his enthusiastically unselfish spirit to give away moneybags to strangers on the street or feed a disadvantaged family with a hot turkey dinner, much less sing and dance and skip my way through the joy of the rest of my life.  December 25, 2010

Dignity and Respect, Wet or Dry
Such a place was featured recently in a front-page story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Ironically, this shelter keeps busy amid a community where thousands of addicts and alcoholics find redemption and live, work, raise families and thrive in recovery. December 18, 2010

Irresponsible Oxymoron
Put it all together and almost 20 percent of drivers weren't straight when they got behind the wheel of a car to navigate interstate highways, busy main streets or isolated farm rounds across the country. December 11, 2010

Home Sick
For many addicts and alcoholics in recovery, this is a tough time. December 4, 2010

Counting Change
But as I've emphasized before, a year of sobriety only comes after 52 weeks of sobriety, which only comes after 365 days of sobriety, one day at a time. November 27, 2010

A Sense of Place
There is a perverse propensity among addicts and alcoholics to pursue oblivion because of either yesterday's regrets or the fear of what rises with tomorrow's sun. November 13, 2010

Election Day
Now he can vote, volunteer or get drafted to fight in a war, marry without my consent, or stop going to school after he graduates next June. November 6, 2010

Words and Pictures
A clear portrait of addiction and a shadowy promise of recovery from it were featured on opposite pages in my hometown newspaper the other day. October 30, 2010

Closing the Gap
I've been speaking at schools and community forums, with the subject "Don't Just Say No: How to Talk to Your Kids and Grandkids About Alcohol and Other Drugs."  October 23, 2010

The Folly Over Wally
He was ticketed and suspended from hawking beer at Twins games during the playoffs -- not much of a loss after the Yanks swept the Twins in three games -- and the city attorney has not decided whether to charge him and the others with the softest of misdemeanors. October 16, 2010

The Consequence of Hate
IEven when I speak in a public place like the Library of Congress, people grab the opportunity to seek my counsel, mostly because I am upfront about my own addiction and recovery. October 9, 2010

Past Tense, Present Process
Addicts and alcoholics, initially confronted with this idea, usually reject that they never will drink or drug again without repeated consequences. October 2, 2010

Under the Influence
Twenty percent of American drivers have gotten behind the wheel within two hours of drinking, and 8 percent have driven when they considered themselves drunk. September 25, 2010

Water on the Rocks
Should a renowned treatment center serve alcohol at a fancy big-city fundraising gala aimed at helping young people and their families overcome addiction?  September 18, 2010

Musings on the Mayor's Mistake
Should the mayor of a small city in Minnesota resign after he was busted for driving while drunk?  September 11, 2010

School Rules
I don't doubt for a moment, though, that unwritten rules forged from a parent's personal experience and honestly and openly communicated to a child might just be more effective than any formal manifesto of do's and don'ts. September 4, 2010

Do You Need Help?
Shame and stigma, I told her, are usually the most formidable obstacles confronting an addict who is trying to stop. August 28, 2010

It Works
Why is there no debate about the effectiveness of 12-step-based treatment programs from addicts and alcoholics who have recovered?  August 21, 2010

Asking for Answers
This week, I go back to the basics with a twist: Help me come up with answers to what these readers want to know. August 7, 2010

America Honors Recovery
People from across the country gathered in the nation's capital one night last week to honor recovery. July 31, 2010

It's Only a Brain Tumor
Interestingly, people are happier that it's a brain tumor and not alcoholism. ... Odd about that stigma.  July 24, 2010

Lohan Again
But I held out hope that her bottom would springboard her to take personal responsibility for her actions and recognize she needed help, the first step toward recovery and healthier living. July 17, 2010

Do Over, Until You Do
Free of alcohol and other drugs for almost 16 years now, I have a pretty good understanding of what it takes to stay that way.  July 10, 2010

Crusader to Critic
From crusader to critic, Patrick Kennedy has turned on the very counselors, doctors, nurses, therapists, administrators and programs dedicated to people like him and the legions of others who, unlike him, lack the stature or resources to easily find hope, help and healing.  July 3, 2010

Recovery From Treatment
Treatment is the safety net to catch many addicts and alcoholics before they hit the ultimate bottom, death. But to their surprise and to the consternation of their desperate families, getting help isn't the be-all and end-all.  June 26, 2010

Touching Silhouettes
For a guy whose attic is cluttered with the distractions of his own thoughts, I'm fortunate for the clarity of the daily reminders of what counts in recovery: giving away what I've been given over the decades.  June 19, 2010

Father's Day Every Day
One father's tragic loss of a son sparked another father's message to his own son that made for the best Father's Day gift I ever have gotten.  June 12, 2010

Nodding in Group Conscience
And then, like a student who in a split second finds an easy answer to an imponderable problem, she sat up in her chair with wonderment on her face. "My life," she said.  June 5, 2010

An Unnatural Human State
Blot out the pain, alter reality, highlight the pleasure -- the book is filled with examples of how our human species has pursued oblivion by getting stoned or drunk or both.  May 29, 2010

Wrong to Right
I was wrong when I told Marjorie L. from Silver Spring, Md., that she should postpone her long-planned trip to Disney World so that her alcoholic husband could get help.  May 22, 2010

False Promise
There is no cure for addiction. Period. End of debate.  May 15, 2010

Fundamental Goodness
For me it was the reset button for my priorities, which are always susceptible to the daily grind and distraction of a peripatetic life.  May 8, 2010

Vacation Relations
Spring is sprung, and summer isn't far behind. So what happens to vacation celebrations when addiction gets in the way?  May 1, 2010

Dirty Drive To Sterilize
At the airport the other day, my eye caught a headline at the bottom of a television screen that made me stop in my tracks: "Drug Addicts to Be Sterilized."  April 24, 2010

Always Hope
But for family members who always bear the brunt of the alcoholic's actions, hope is the lifeline allowing them to stay connected to a person they love with an illness they hate. With hope, giving up is never an option.  April 17, 2010

Pithy Prompts
This time, no opinion from me about public policy from Washington or personal observations from the seat of an airplane outbound from Florida. This week's column recognizes readers with the pithiest questions.  April 3, 2010

A Taxing Issue
Never shy to speak his mind to politicians or the press or his clients in the 'hood, Cain doesn't like how Gil Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama's drug czar, framed the debate about legalizing marijuana in a speech he gave this month to chiefs of police in California.  March 27, 2010

The Best Sunset
So all that really matters -- especially for those of us with histories of regrets and overambitious future aspirations to do better -- is to live in the moment by living in today.  March 20, 2010

Defining Addiction
Alcohol. Sex. Cocaine. BlackBerrys. When does the excessive use of any of these actually become a full-blown addiction?  March 13, 2010

Abstinence vs. Recovery
Maybe it was last week's full moon or the train of winter storms rolling across the country, but an awful lot of readers were provoked in a not-so-gentle way by my recent column on Tiger Woods' sexual addiction.  March 6, 2010

Tiger's Time
What I know in my own life is that for people who have fallen under the potent spell of a substance greater than themselves -- be it alcohol, money or sex -- time is the gift that allows us to prove our actions really do speak louder than our words.  February 27, 2010

Contract for Deeds
When conversation between worried parents and their troubled children is not enough -- or maybe too much -- consider a written contract.  February 20, 2010

Catch-22
For parents who think their children are dabbling with danger -- drugs included -- when is it OK, if ever, to sneak a peek into their e-mail or check the caller ID on their cell phones or find out whom they chat with on social networking sites?  February 13, 2010

Aware and Ignorant
Nothing else I've written this past year has garnered reader response like my column on my unhealthy dependence on a BlackBerry.  February 6, 2010

BlackBerry-aholic
But there's no doubt my BlackBerry gets in the way of my ability to focus on a sunset or relish the sound of a cardinal singing from the top of a tree in the springtime or hear snowflakes falling in the forest or pay attention to the banter of my kids. January 30, 2010

Together It Adds Up
Stringing together hours or days or even a few weeks since that last drink or drug makes sustainable recovery seem insurmountable at first, especially when the craving is as relentless as waves against the beach.  January 23, 2010

Stay or Go
The first month of a new year always comes with a flurry of concerns and questions from people who, like the calendar, have changed.  January 16, 2010

Walking in Circles
Happy or sad, content or frustrated, forgiving or resentful, addiction has an uncanny ability to hook onto human emotions.  January 9, 2010

Resolution With a Backbone
For millions of Americans who wake up with a hangover on Jan. 1 and vow to quit drinking or taking drugs, their resolve this year comes with an unprecedented resource: their own health insurance.  January 2, 2010

Home for the Holidays
Granted a five-day leave of absence from the halfway house Fellowship Club -- my home away from home after residential treatment -- I met up with my family in Vermont for what we all hoped would be a joyous reunion.  December 18, 2009

Good Living
Wisdom from a stranger who doesn't have a home of his own or a decent place to work, if he has work at all, whose meals require him to stand in a long line and eat what's served rather than what his favorite is, who most likely got his clothes from a shelf of hand-me-downs others didn't want.  December 12, 2009

Founding Wisdom
If wisdom is not to be acquired from experience, where is it to be found?  December 5, 2009

Broadway Debut
Clean and sober for 36 years now, he once roamed the streets looking to get high or stay high, before he found help at a county-based treatment program not far from where he started Turning Point three years later, in 1976.  November 21, 2009

Medicine Jar
Even though their use of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs has declined in the past six years, many teens have turned to misusing prescription drugs, according to the government's most recent national survey.  November 14, 2009

Middle of the Goal
The ultimate goal of treatment for addiction, just like cancer or other chronic illnesses, is to keep it from coming back.  November 7, 2009

Token of Gratitude
All I can do is lead by example. I stay sober in front of my kids by sharing with them what it was like for me at their age, what happened and why I must continue to take care of myself all these years later.  October 31, 2009

Blowback
Such is the fallout from my column a few weeks ago about a groundbreaking poll of teenagers and their parents and how they talk to one another about their use of alcohol and other drugs.  October 24, 2009

Counting Hours
In my Twelve Step meeting a few days ago, a woman stood up and announced that she was new to the group and that she had 36 hours of sobriety.  October 17, 2009

Talk to Me
It's a question I'm asked no matter where I speak, from churches and Rotary Club events to public-school assemblies and private luncheons with business leaders: Should parents share their personal histories of drug and alcohol use with their kids?  October 10, 2009

Coming Clean
Many alcoholics and addicts suffer long-term physical consequences as a result of their use, even after they get sober. This includes chronic pain that may require the use of doctor-prescribed narcotics. So how does this affect somebody's recovery?  October 3, 2009

Parents Weekend
Students are back in school. And already, college campuses are hosting the annual pilgrimages of parents eager to check up on their kids who have flown the coop and are living away from home, many for the first time.  September 26, 2009

Googling Recovery
For better or worse, the search engine Google defines what is relevant in today's world.  September 19, 2009

Super Ball Syndrome
It's endemic in people who quickly bounce back from the shadowy depths of their addiction to suddenly discover a heightened sense of optimism that there is life without mood- or mind-altering substances.  September 12, 2009

Holding On by Letting Go
If only I could apply such confidence in the course my life is taking. Sober and relatively sane after all these years, I know how to steer clear of the pitfalls that once taunted me to drink and take drugs.  September 5, 2009

Ties That Bind
From the hopelessness of a daughter's struggle to the tragedy of relapse to the promise of recovery, it is by connecting these dots that a cord runs through the lives of people I meet.  August 29, 2009

Cloud of Witnesses
"I came for the education and ended up staying for the treatment -- my treatment," Jensen said. "I was the alcoholic, too."  August 22, 2009

Student Counsel
Recent studies by the federal government have found that about 30 percent of college students met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and about 7 percent for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence last year.  August 15, 2009

Forging Forgiveness
People are asking: How could a mother do this? Were there any warning signs that she had a problem? Did other adult family members know she was intoxicated? If so, why didn't they stop her from getting behind the wheel or at least make an effort to prevent the kids from going along?  August 8, 2009

Sow Seeds To Reap Recovery
Almost 13,000 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents in 2007. Every 40 minutes, somebody is killed by a drunken driver. About 4 in 10 kids who start drinking before the age of 13 will abuse alcohol or develop alcohol dependence at some point in their lives.  August 1, 2009

Picking Up Pennies
People like me in recovery often struggle to live in the moment, partly because we seem to be on incessant searches for answers that we used to find through alcohol or other drugs.  July 25, 2009

An Allergic Obsession
But in describing alcoholism as an allergy of the body, as many recovering alcoholics or addicts will attest, the true bench mark has more to do with longer-lasting negative consequences, such as drunken driving, broken homes and financial ruin.  July 18, 2009

Hole in His Soul
A quarter-century ago, I met Michael Jackson for five minutes backstage just before one of his concerts at the old Texas Stadium, near Dallas. He was on his "Victory" tour, and I was there covering the story as a young newspaper reporter.  July 11, 2009

6 Questions to an Answer
The cloud of addiction usually obscures the simple truths essential to reaching clarity that result in decisive action to get help for people in trouble.  July 4, 2009

Holiday Sparklers
In the spirit of the holiday week ahead and our collective need to spend time outdoors, away from the computer and in the blossoming summer season, a bang-bang series of rapid-fire responses to recent columns in this space.  June 27, 2009

The Politics of Addiction
Not even Rush Limbaugh dared to criticize Sen. Edward Kennedy about his ongoing battle with brain cancer, a chronic disease.  June 20, 2009

1 Plus 1 Equals Millions
They were two men with not much in common except for their being born in Vermont in the late 1800s and the fact that by the time they met in Akron, Ohio, in 1935, neither could stop drinking until they talked about their problem.  June 13, 2009

A Gift of Clarity
While I have no idea where my life is heading, I know exactly where I am today: sober, 50 years old and the father of three children, who still need me because they'll learn from their father's life about what happens after they win the goldfish.  May 30, 2009

Functionally Delusional
So what about this notion that it is possible to be a "high-functioning" alcoholic?  May 23, 2009

Recovery Trek
For addicts and alcoholics like me, that means no longer running from issues. Instead, we should turn and face into the wind. Like a kite, we can rise up against that gale.  May 16, 2009

Hopelessness or Hope
Out of options. When it happens to people ravaged by addiction, sometimes all I can offer them is my own encouragement.  May 9, 2009

Smiling Without Teeth
No wonder they were happy; they're clean and sober. No wonder their teeth are missing; once, they were addicted to methamphetamine -- a potent stimulant that, among other things, promotes rapid tooth decay in users. "Meth mouth," the experts call it.  May 2, 2009

Old Drug, New Debate
But suddenly, an old drug is back in the news: marijuana. The Minnesota Legislature is debating medical marijuana.  April 25, 2009

Baby Steps -- Flaws and All
Many of you have asked that question since watching her go public -- on "Good Morning America" in February -- with her struggles with alcoholism.
April 18, 2009

The Will to Change
It seems as if people will do just about anything to garner attention, fame or fortune.  April 11, 2009

Hurting at Home
As Jac's story shows, drug problems don't always wait for kids to come of legal age. But teenagers like Jac can grow up pretty fast when they are ready to get help.  April 4, 2009

Law and Disorders
In the throes of a crisis, a family would do anything to halt the destruction caused by a loved one's inability to stop drinking or taking drugs. But what about calling the police?  March 21, 2009

Intimate Strangers
They were total strangers. But their experiences were defined intimately by a common illness, which propelled their lives into the public spotlight this past week. Only the endings of the stories differ.  March 14, 2009

Dressed to Kill
Bill Blass knew a thing or two about clothes. So the legendary fashion designer had an easy answer to an age-old problem: "When in doubt, wear red." March 7, 2009

Out of the Shadow
For decades, she drank alone, in the dark shadow of her own shame from the consequences of blackouts, poor choices and a baffling inability to control her use of alcohol. February 28, 2009

Back to Basics
No politics, no pontification over policy, and no sparring with public officials. This week's column goes back to the fundamentals of helping people get help. February 21, 2009

The Meaning of Recovery
For one brief, shining moment the other day, the e-mail that plopped into my inbox from the big guy in the White House hijacked my common sense and filled me with hope that public policy about addiction finally was about to change.  February 14, 2009

Good News in Bad Decisions
William Shakespeare said, "Though it be honest, it is never good to bring bad news."  February 7, 2009

A Moment of Clarity
Those unanticipated seconds in time when the whirlwind of life ceases and a virgin oasis of awareness suddenly opens the mind to a thought or a vision that resonates beyond that moment, even when the moment goes away.  January 31, 2009

Lesson from Lil Wayne
Take a rap concert featuring a provocative artist held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration, and I easily concocted the perfect storm of assumptions that my kids were venturing into something beyond their experience -- or mine.  January 24, 2009