In July, Reveal, the broadcast channel of the Center for Investigative Reporting, released its eight-part series American Rehab, which...

A few months ago, I was packing for my fifth move since 2008. I emptied every closet, box, and drawer. With every move, I’d shed...

Alcohol and drugs historians have long lamented the archival limitations of studying past substance users. Substance users typically...

EDITOR’S NOTE: Need a last-minute gift for your favorite alcohol and drugs historian? Or something to do on your winter break? Have no...

Twelve-step sponsorship is so twentieth century—or so The New York Times would have us believe. In an article published last month in the...

What is inspiring the relaxation of social mores regarding marijuana use? Today, theories abound. Perhaps anti-marijuana laws are too...

Last week, I attended a panel discussion co-hosted by Texas Monthly and the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. The...

The annual conference for the American Association for the History of Medicine kicks off this Thursday, and there are several great...

When I taught high school a little less than a decade ago, we teachers generally regarded Wikipedia as a kind of academic quackery. The...

In Alcoholics Anonymous lore, twelve-steppers are taught to beware the “geographical cure.” The AA program imparts a common-sense lesson:...

If, like me, you’ve spent the past several years studying the history of addiction treatment, then you might know why I can’t look at...

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s attempted ban on the sale of sodas larger than 16 ounces suffered a defeat in court a few weeks ago....

Wine, chocolate, cigarettes: psychoactive substances have long been trappings of romance. As far back as high school English, I was...

As 2012 comes to a close, there are a few drug- and alcohol-related stories I’d like to forget. But forgetting isn’t always the best way...

Last month, I attended the American Public Health Association conference in San Francisco. While there were many interest groups and...

Several semesters ago, I taught an interdisciplinary course called Addiction in History, Science, and Culture. I had a wonderful group of...

In the 1990s, membership in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other mutual-aid, disease-specific support groups may have peaked. Yet...

President Barack Obama’s signature on the SCOTUS-upheld Affordable Care Act The Supreme Court’s affirmation of the Affordable Care Act...

When people tell me the 1960s aren’t history, I try to convince them otherwise by describing the process of transcribing decades-old...