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Startling Statistics About Substance Misuse and Overdose Deaths The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releases monthly provisional counts for drug overdose deaths each month. For the 12-month period ending in March 2023, there were 105,224 drug overdose deaths reported in the United States.1 Unfortunately, overdoses have become the leading injury-related cause of death […]

What is a Drug or Alcohol Relapse—and How is It Different from a Lapse? A relapse—which is often called a “recurrence” or a “return to substance use”—is simply an instance of substance use that occurs following a significant period of abstinence.1 When someone experiences a relapse, they may return to the same level of use […]

No. If you’re struggling with alcohol use disorder or substance use disorder and want to walk along the road to recovery, the path is available with the help of a supportive team. Although sobriety is a continual process, and often a choice that the individual usually makes on their own, treatment can save their life. […]

Bullying isn’t an isolated event that one can just “get over” as they grow up. Instead, bullying tends to have both a short and long-term impact on the lives of so many. This includes the individual getting bullied, the bully, those witnessing the event, and those individuals who are both the bully and who get […]

Success tends to be inaccurately equated with perfection. The truth is it comes only after walking a path riddled with countless obstacles and failures by a flawed individual known as the human being. And it doesn’t matter which endeavor one chooses to pursue—engineering, medicine, or professional sports—we all travel along a path and none of […]

Dogs really are man’s best friend. Full of unconditional love, loyalty, and depending on their health, age, breed, and personality, full of playfulness. Dogs have served as both service and emotional support animals for the longest. And when it comes to our canine friends working with those in recovery from an alcohol or substance use […]

Judging, shaming, and stigmatizing individuals are proven to be ineffective approaches for healthy, productive, and lasting change. Instead, they serve as proverbial weapons that tear at the core of an already-fragile human condition—a condition that strives to be valued, to matter, and to be loved. Pregnant women are no exception. A woman battling substance misuse […]

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the entire world for the last two years. Economically, politically, socially, and the obvious attack, on our physical health itself. Who would’ve guessed that a virus could cause the level of destruction in the way that it has? Although, for some, the pandemic has served as a time of […]

Why is it that some teens and young adults can try alcohol or experiment with drugs, and it somehow does not evolve into a substance addiction? Whereas, with others, they try it once or twice, find themselves not being able to control their compulsion to use more, and spend years struggling with addiction? Perhaps it’s […]

Television, film, celebrities, and even social media influencers by their very name, can influence the public’s buying habits, create and guide the narrative of conversations, and over time, even shift paradigms. Likewise, contingent on the viewer’s perspective, the media can seemingly glorify substance use, shame those struggling with a substance use disorder, or create an […]