Monthly Archives: April 2011

Teaching Drugs and Alcohol through the Filter of Student Life

Posted on April 29, 2011 by

In his second week as a Points Guest Blogger, Eoin Cannon reflects on the difficulties of talking intelligently about addiction with a roomful of undergraduates who may still be hungover from the night before. Last fall, I taught a course … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Addiction is a Brain Disease (But Not Always?)

Posted on April 28, 2011 by

Closing out her stint as a Guest Blogger, Helen Keane notes the gap between the way pain management experts and neuroscientists think about addiction. The currently dominant scientific paradigm of addiction is that of a ‘chronic, relapsing, brain disease’ which … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Meth and Moral Panics, Part One

Posted on April 27, 2011 by

Today, I’m posting the first in a short series on the concept of “moral panic” and its utility for those of us who write and think about the history of drugs and alcohol. I’ve been promising this series to co-managing … Continue reading →

Posted in Joe Spillane | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Addiction and Pseudoaddiction

Posted on April 27, 2011 by

Guest Blogging at Points for a third day, Helen Keane addresses the need for some refinements in the concept of “drug dependence.” In my previous post I talked about the need to distinguish pain patients from addicts in the pain … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Opiate Users: Deserving and Undeserving?

Posted on April 26, 2011 by

In her second day as a Guest Blogger, Helen Keane of Australian National University examines how “niceness” and the lack thereof shape our understandings of heavy drug use. In the previous post I discussed the distinction between dependence and addiction. … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Non-Addicted Drug Dependence

Posted on April 25, 2011 by

Guest blogging at Points continues this week with a series of pieces by Helen Keane, who teaches gender studies and sociology at the Australian National University in Canberra. Keane is the author of What’s Wrong with Addiction?  (NYUP 2002), and … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Ask Your Doctor!

Posted on April 24, 2011 by

So a college student walks into a doctor’s office and they start talking meds.  The student had been deeply troubled in the past, had been acting out, drinking too much, failing classes, etc., but he had seen his life turn … Continue reading →

Posted in David Herzberg | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Battle of the Social Movements

Posted on April 22, 2011 by

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports today that the University of Wisconsin’s Pain and Policy Studies Group will no longer accept research funding from Purdue Pharma, manufacturers of Oxycontin. The research group has been under pressure since the Journal’s revelations about … Continue reading →

Posted in Trysh Travis | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Pub, the Street, & the Medicine Cabinet: Be There or Be Square

Posted on April 21, 2011 by

Points is pleased to announce that the complete program for the 6th Annual International Conference on the History of Alcohol and Drugs is now available.  Hosted by SUNY Buffalo under the able stewardship of David Herzberg, the conference runs from … Continue reading →

Posted in David Herzberg, Joe Spillane, Trysh Travis | Tagged , | 3 Comments

MADD as Hell: From Carrie Nation to Drunk Driving

Posted on April 20, 2011 by

As I was preparing this post and already thinking about Carrie Nation, I learned from a student in a University of Michigan class I am teaching on addiction that the temperance advocate had come to Ann Arbor in 1902, where … Continue reading →

Posted in Michelle McClellan | Tagged , , | 1 Comment