Video Intro to My Opioid / Benzo Addiction Story + Update on Methadone Taper

Twenty years of opioid / benzo addiction in the U.S. and abroad during the apex of the failed War on Drugs. Update on my speedrun of methadone detox.

Happy Easter everyone! Will let you all know where to find my YouTube content in the next week or so. Sorry for the shaky voice / stuffy nose - methadone withdrawal (you love to see it!).

Index of Blog Pieces You Might Want to Check Out

Updates on Life Since I've Been Back in the U.S. Post-COVID:

July 2024 Life Updates: A Sick, Sad Summer

Turning 36: Main Character Syndrome Officially Over

Smooth Seas, Seasoned Sailors: Lessons From Relapse

The China Years:

Last of the Laowai Part I: I Was Simon Song

Last of the Laowai Part II: The Final Resort

Last of the Laowai Part III: Holes in the Wall, Holes in the Brain

Early Life / College Years:

First Step Part I: Serenity, 1 Mg Tablet (Benzo Binge)

First Step Part II: A Gut Punch to the Soul

I Was Never "Normal": What It's Like To Be a Drug Addict Who Hasn't Started Using Yet

Endless Tab: The Grand Total of How Much I've Spent on Opioids Over the Past 15 Years

Drug News and Drug Policy:

RIP Gabapentin

Xylazine (Tranq) Fast Facts

Big W: U.S. Methadone Regulations Changed (Finally!)

Amputations Increase as Tranq (Xylazine) Crisis Intensifies in U.S.; Users Denied Detox

Nitazenes (Benzimidazole Opioids): The Next Battle of the War on Drugs?

Science of Addiction and Recovery:

10 Highlights from Johann Hari's "Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong" (TED Talk Review)

The Selfish Genes That Prospered: The Evolution of Addiction

Opioid Receptor Dynamics 101: Full vs. Partial Agonists, Antagonists, and Precipitated Withdrawal

Scientific Frontiers: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as Addiction Treatment

Addiction Treatment, Including Opioid Maintenance:

Nine Factors to Consider When Choosing an Inpatient Rehab (From a Pro!)

Metha-Don't

12-Steppers Are Wrong About the Futility of Geographic Change

At-Home Opioid Withdrawal Protocol: The Detox Essentials

The Second-Step Leap of Faith

AA Etiquette: What To Know Before You Hit Your First 12-Step Meeting

Four Key Questions to Answer Before You Book Your First Appointment With a Therapist

Suboxone and Methadone Maintenance: Double-Edged Sword or Sword of Damocles?

We Need a Fellowship in Detox and Withdrawal Medicine

8 Warning Signs That You're Becoming Addicted to a Prescription Drug

Novel, Rapid Methadone-to-Buprenorphine Switch Protocols

Snapshot: Drug Dependence vs. Drug Addiction - A Convenient Fiction

Tapering Tips: How To Wean Off of Opioids and Other Physically Addictive Drugs

Emma Wants To Live: Choice, Ritual, and Focal Anxiety in Addiction, EDs, and OCD

B for Vendetta: What Body Brokering Looks Like

Butternutters Still at It: Syracuse's Renegade AA Group With a Body Count

Spirituality:

The Tao Te Ching (道德经): Eastern Spirituality and Recovery from Addiction

Carl Jung, the Red Book, and Shadow Work

Media Reviews:

Enough, Cat Marnell (Book Review)

How Far Is Too Far and How Much Is Too Much: The Ethics of Mark Laita's Soft White Underbelly YouTube Channel

Jessica Kent: Victim, Villain, Cautionary Tale (Part 1)

Jessica Kent: Make It Make Sense (Part 2)

90s Nostalgia: 10 Feel-Good, Funny Flicks from the 90s and Early 00s

Matt Cullen of YouTube's Our Queer Life: The Failures of Today's LGBT Leadership

Chemical Blitzkrieg: Four Elements of the Modern War on Drugs That Originated in Nazi Germany

Movie Review: Country Strong, a Film That Makes Convicts Cry

Beautiful Boy: Not Quite It (Movie Review)

Trip Reports:

The Incandescent Now (fictionalized acid trip)

Medical-Grade Xylazine Product Review: Pure Garbage With No Place in the Recreational Pantheon

What Heroin Feels Like: Three Addicts Describe the Feeling That They Were Willing to Die For

Miscellaneous:

What is Hell?

Narco-Karma

Detox Playlist to Soothe the Soul (w/ Links and Lyrics)

What Shape Is Your Soul?

A PSA: Please Stop Using Cluster B Terms: They're Not the Own You Think They Are

Happy Mother's Day: From An Addict to His Long-Suffering Mom

Drug Dealer's Sonnet: People Helping People

Shadow People Captured on Camera: Stimulant Psychosis Screenshots

Are You Dissociating? 18 Specific Descriptions of Dissociative Symptoms

Red, White, and Bummed-Out Blues: Uneasy Independence Day Reflections on American Politics in 2024 and American Decline in General

Snapshot: Does Anything Ever Really Change?

Threats from Drug Dealers: How To Tell Who Will Really Mess You Up

In Memory of Zack B.

Advice for Parents Who Are Afraid That Their Children Will Become Addicts

Made Me Smile

Land of the Free, Home of the Incarcerated

Four Scenes, Five Bathrooms, Twenty Years: Heroin Addiction Revealed

Cotard's Delusion Among Addicts With Near-Death Experiences: Are We Already Dead?

FDA Approved: Dreams Do Come True With Dice (Ladicetrole)

*By no means an exhaustive list of content; just a starting point. Obviously, there's overlap, so don't come for me for not using the effing Dewey Decimal System. Within each category, the newer blogs are toward the end of the list, so if you want to start with more recent content, read from the bottom of the section.