Although addiction and alcoholism treatment research has advanced tremendously since Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935, many people do not know that equally effective alternatives to 12-step programs exist—nor do they know how to find them.  In popular culture, AA is often portrayed as the only way.

Celebrity magazines all too often feature stories about overdose deaths and rehab admissions, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy is running an advertising campaign about the dangers of prescription drug abuse. But when taken as prescribed, just how risky are drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin?

Studies of people who abuse prescription pain medications find that the vast majority have prior histories of drug abuse and that pain patients do not turn into criminal addicts simply because they receive certain medications.

It should go without saying that people shouldn't use opioids (codeine, heroin, oxycodone, Vicodin, etc.) recreationally -- but if you have a loved one who doesn't follow that sensible advice, here's information that may can keep them alive until they realize exactly why that advice is so good.

The toxicology results are in on Heath Ledger's death -- and sadly, they reveal the most common scenario in overdose fatalities. At least six different drugs were found in his system, including oxycodone and benzodiazepines. If you want to avoid dying, mixing depressants is a very bad idea.

Addiction is a great source of shame to many people-- we don't like it when people we like turn out to be addicts because we associate addicts with bad, scummy, evil, lying manipulators who are "not like us" and who "deserve what they get." But the truth is, many wonderful, talented, humane, kind, sensitive and caring people are also addicts.

Although "just say no" is certainly the safest position to take on recreational drug use, the vast majority of humans ignore this advice... a significant majority of the population is "under the influence" at any given time. Consequently, we owe it to ourselves to understand the risks involved with using these drugs.

Will alcohol binges on New Year’s really destroy your ability to think flexibly? That’s what this peculiar op-ed in last week’s New York Times suggests.

Research just keeps knocking drug war myths down. This week, two different studies took on some of the warriors' sacred cows-- the idea that parents whose kids are using drugs are “in denial” about it and the notion that marijuana use always has negative effects on mental health.

It is clear that most people most of the time prefer to avoid pain. The tension between these facts has led to a curious situation in mental health: Unlike in any other area of medicine, treatments that reduce pain and suffering, rather than being welcomed as miraculous breakthroughs, often are denigrated as "quick fixes."