"I can hear the Weed Eater churning up dirt and grass at my neighbor’s house. The boy’s father is edging his yard and is drenched in a combination of sweat and tears. "He takes off his safety goggles and flips the switch on the Weed Eater. He leans on the machine for support. And then, my neighbor begins shaking his head back and forth, back and forth so slowly. "His lips are moving and while I can’t hear him, I can actually see what he’s saying. He’s saying over and over … [Read more...]

One day at a time. That’s all we have really. Tops. And we should make the most of it. Almost 40 years ago, my first sponsor in Boulder, Colorado told me, among other things, to try to relax and take life a day at a time. At first, I didn’t appreciate the wisdom contained in the short phrase, "one day at a time," and wrote it off as meaningless. To my regret as it turned out.  After my first 90 days in AA, I had a “slip” and lost a week of my life in a blackout after downing a quart of … [Read more...]

The time had come, and the faithful had arrived. They filled the cavernous worship center at California’s Saddleback Church, and, murmuring with anticipation, they waited. Then, with hands held high, the percussionist, barely visible on the stage behind his drum kit, clicks his sticks, and the “World’s Most Dangerous Recovery Band,” through condo-sized speakers, fills the air with sound. Three thousand wildly cheering believers, most of them recovering addicts, many of them tattooed and … [Read more...]

 "On an unforgettable storm-filled October night in 1999, we were on approach into Little Rock National Airport, and it was bad." And so the story begins, as told to us by Ron T.,  a recovering alcoholic and commercial airline captain who has since retired and moved from Little Rock to Colorado. “Go around max thrust flaps nine, positive rate gear up,” I commanded as the ground proximity warning blared “too low terrain.” My copilot froze while I struggled to overcome the inertia of fifty … [Read more...]

Almost a decade ago the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) opened its new Center for Addiction Research and installed Dr. Warren Bickel as its director. Dr. Bickel, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, had experience in examining the behavioral processes that underlie drug dependence and had conducted research examining novel cost effective ways to deliver treatment. Alison Oliveto, a colleague of Bickel’s and a professor and vice chairman of research in … [Read more...]