Editor’s Note: This week we’re posting a special mid-week conference announcement. We hope that those who can make it will be in Richmond next month for what’s sure to be a really excellent series of talks. Thanks to David Courtwright for bringing this to our attention!
And remember, this conference requires advance registration. You can sign up for that here.
Douglas Southall Freeman Conference October 22-23, 2015 University of Richmond
The variety of addictive behaviors has apparently increased in the last half-century. With varying degrees of sophistication, researchers have applied the concept of addiction to activities like eating and Internet gaming and viewing pornography, as well as to traditional practices like smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol and taking psychoactive drugs.
This conference brings together experts from different disciplines to describe the development of “new” addictions as well as new developments with respect to “old” addictions, e.g., nicotine vaping, liberalized prescription laws, and digitized gambling machines. To what extent have technological and policy innovations increased the variety, amount, and severity of addictive behaviors? Do these addictive behaviors (old and new) share common social and biological features? Is there an essential unity to the nature and study of addiction, or are we confronted with disparate behaviors that happen to have some common elements, such as craving and relapse?
This two-day conference is free and open to the public. However, the keynote address on October 22 requires advance registration.
Keynote Address: What is Addiction and What do Addictions have in Common?
Thurs., Oct 22 7:30 p.m. Tyler Haynes Commons, Alice Haynes Room
Welcome: Jacquelyn Fetrow, Ph.D., provost, professor of chemistry, University of Richmond
Speaker: Charles O’Brien, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
This event is free but you must register in advance.
Sessions and Presentations: Fri., Oct. 23
All sessions will take place in Jepson Hall, Room 118. The Friday presentations do not require advance registration; however, we recommend that you arrive early to assure optimal seating.
Food, Drink, and Addiction
9–10:40 a.m.
Speakers: David Courtwright, Ph.D., Presidential Professor, University of North Florida; Douglas Southall Freeman Professor, University of Richmond Food as a Drug: How Good is the Analogy?
Virginia Berridge, Ph.D., director, Centre for History in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Whatever Happened to Alcoholism?
Session Chair: Sydney Watts, Ph.D., associate professor of history, University of Richmond
Coffee Break 10:40–11 a.m. Jepson Faculty Lounge
Prescription Medication, Opioids, and the Heroin Revival
11 a.m.–12:40 p.m.
Speakers: David Herzberg, Ph.D., associate professor of history, University of Buffalo Uppers and Downers: Past and Present Abuse of Stimulants and Sedatives
Andrew Kolodny, M.D., chief medical officer, Phoenix House The Prescription Opioid Epidemic and the Heroin Revival
Session Chair: Sara Black, Mellon Dissertation Fellow, Rutgers University
Lunch 12:40–1:40 p.m.
Lunch can be purchased at several locations around campus. Two options near Jepson Hall are the Passport Café in the Carole Weinstein International Center, and Lou’s in the Robins School of Business.
Digital Technologies and Behavioral Addictions
1:45–3:25 p.m.
Speakers: Natasha Dow Schüll, Ph.D., associate professor of science, technology, and society, MIT Addiction by Design: From Slot Machines to Candy Crush
Robert Weiss, M.S.W., founding director, The Sexual Recovery Institute Hyperstimulation and Digital Media: Sex and Tech Addictions
Session Chair: Manuella Meyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of history, University of Richmond
Break 3:25–3:35 p.m.
New Nicotine Products and New Marijuana Laws
3:35 –5:15 p.m.
Speakers: Robert Balster, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology, VCU Medical Center Old Drug in a New Container? Nicotine Addiction, Harm Reduction, and E-Cigarettes
Mark A.R. Kleiman, Ph.D., professor of public policy, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University Cannabis Use Disorder is Not a Brain Disease, and It Does Not Matter Anyway—Science and Policy in the Legalization Debate
Session Chair: Jess Flanigan, Ph.D., assistant professor of leadership studies and politics, philosophy, economics, and law, University of Richmond
Break 5:15–5:25 p.m.
Roundtable Discussion
5:30 – 6 p.m.
Moderator: David Leary, Ph.D., University Professor, University of Richmond
For further information about the event, contact Deborah Govoruhk, administrative coordinator, Department of History.