Though being fifteen years into rock-solid recovery from opioid addiction, I have intimately experienced a wide variety of treatment modalities, many mandated at the time by the medical board and the courts. Through the treatment I've provided as a doctor to thousands of patients suffering from addiction – from the super-rich, to other doctors to the homeless, for all sorts of addictions — I feel certain that there needs to be a Copernican revolution around how we view recovery.
Two of the main components of a healthy and successful recovery program are medications that can greatly assist treatment (e.g., methadone, Suboxone, and, increasingly, psychedelics and cannabis) and peer support. Arguably, these are the two magic ingredients. Unfortunately, due to the ideological vise grip that the at-times cult-like Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) has had on the recovery world since it burst onto the scene in 1937, these two critical components are on a collision course with each other.
