Are lap dances an effective therapy for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or drug addiction? It doesn't seem like a question that should require a serious answer -- but a state investigation of Oregon's Mount Bachelor Academy (MBA) has substantiated allegations made by students and staff that such "therapy" was part of...

In today's Time Magazine online, I have an article about a school -- Mount Bachelor Academy -- which is part of a Supreme Court case to be argued on April 28. The Court will answer the question of whether parents can sue to get reimbursement for private residential schools...

I have been following drug policy for -- eek -- more than twenty years. While there have always been a few brave, high-profile journalists and pundits who dared to question the drug war, for the most part, the American press has been as gung-ho in cheering it on as our...

Though this is outside my usual obsessions, I agreed to blog for Ada Lovelace Day today, celebrating women in technology.

Ada Lovelace was probably the world's first programmer: although her program never ran because the machine it was designed for was never built, she wrote it for Charles Babbage's...

Because I write about drug policy, I encounter daily massive ignorance, complete stupidity and utter idiocy. But this piece by Ashleigh Banfield on the Daily Beast blows most of it out of the water on the dumb-o-meter.

Banfield wants harsh legal penalties applied "with zeal" to teenagers who send...

When people talk in the abstract about what we lose when we lose newspapers, it's often hard to drum up much concern. Yeah, people are losing their jobs--that's what happened to the buggy makers when the car took over. Yeah, news is important--but hey, we've got the web now. And...

Let's try a thought experiment. Imagine that there was a substance that on one given day caused the faces of anyone who had ever smoked marijuana to turn blue for a few hours. At least 40% of Americans over 12 would have a blue face that day (that's the proportion...

There is a silver lining to this bleak economy: Abusive and ineffective "tough love" programs for teens are failing right and left.

In just the last few weeks, the notorious Tranquility Bay program in Jamaica, Spring Creek Lodge in Montana, and Pathway Family Center in Detroit and Ohio...

As someone who cares about humane drug policy, I expect politicians to disappoint me. Obama created a rare glimmer of light here with his honesty about his own experience -- but his choice of drug warriors like Joe Biden and Rahm Emmanuel for high level posts has made me wary.

Imagine if Wall Street were to honor Bernie Madoff for his skills as an investor ten years from now. The equivalent just happened in Florida, where Betty Sembler--co-founder of the abusive Straight, Inc. rehab chain--has been named by Governor Charlie Crist to its "Women's Hall of Fame" for her...

When Minnesota Teen Challenge (MNTC) responded to my recent blog entry about their anti-drug program, they cited a "study" to back their claims of being an effective treatment for addiction.

What this paper actually shows is how easy it is produce good...

Our coverage of the possible nomination of Rep. Jim Ramstad as "drug czar" has kicked up quite a fuss, spurring many comments here and a sign-on letter by addiction professionals that was cited by John Tierney in this week's New York Times.

Nearly 300...

If his opposition to needle exchange and maintenance treatment for addictions isn't enough to convince you that Jim Ramstad isn't qualified to serve in Obama's cabinet as "drug czar," how about an earmark funding a Christian addiction "program" that uses outdated and abusive tactics and tries to "complete" Jews?...

I have long argued, sometimes jokingly, that the solution to many drug policy problems is better drugs. If a drug was developed that did not produce physical dependence, did not create an escalating desire for more that interfered with work or love, reliably produced a high and was not physically...

Due to the incredible response to my last post on this issue-- thank you everyone who responded and who forwarded it and who took action-- I was asked to write more about the possible nomination of Jim Ramstad as drug czar for Mother Jones and why it is a bad...

On paper, Jim Ramstad -- who is rumored to be Obama's choice for drug czar -- looks like the ideal man for the job . He's a recovering alcoholic himself and a Congressman who championed legislation recently passed to provide equal insurance coverage for addictions and other mental illnesses....

A presidential candidate dumps his wife of 15 years to marry a younger woman. His new wife -- whose multimillion dollar fortune comes from booze -- steals painkillers from a charity, forges prescriptions and causes a doctor to lose his license because of her lies and manipulation to feed her...

Are the evil internets trying to hook your children on aural drugs? Either USA Today and ABC News don't read the opinion columns they post on their websites, or the mainstream media is so far gone that it's beyond help.

From the column in question, by a radio...

The House Wednesday overwhelming passed HR 6358 (formerly HR 5876) by a vote of 318-103, with provisions to ban degrading and humiliating treatment, set national standards, create a national hotline that must be accessible to teens in program to report maltreatment and $15 million in funding for enforcement and regulation.

As readers of this blog know, I have long been fighting to expose and hopefully eliminate the abuses in the "troubled teen" industry -- a billion dollar business that enrolls anywhere from 20,000- 100,000 teens in residential programs varying from wilderness sites to "therapeutic" boarding schools.

(My book...