In the first part of my Drug Facts series, we will discuss opioids with Dr. Julio Meza, Program Director of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship and Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Meza will give us an overview of where opioids come from, how they affect the brain and body, and how they rank in terms of potency and addiction potential. He will also explain the difference between dependence and addiction and review current and future strategies for the treatment and...

In this episode, author David Poses breaks down the addict stereotype by talking about his struggle with depression and how his search for a cure was accompanied by feelings of guilt and shame. Although heroin relieved his symptoms, the stigma associated with his addiction only hindered his journey to recovery. As a writer, speaker, expert and activist, David Poses is focused on evidence-based addiction treatment, drug policy, and harm reduction. His writing has been published by Washington...

In this episode, we will talk to Dr. Elisabeth Poorman, an internal medicine doctor and addiction medicine specialist from the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Poorman is an accomplished writer and healthcare advocate. She will talk about what stigma is, how it affects the addiction community, and what healthcare providers and society as a whole can do to reduce stigma. Check out Dr. Poorman’s website at https://www.drpoorman.org/

In this initial episode, we will talk to Dr. Ilan Remler, Program Director of the Addiction Medicine fellowship at Kaiser Permanente for Northern California. Dr. Remler will define addiction, differentiate it from substance use, and explain how addiction changes the brain. He will also give an overview of current treatment strategies for substance use disorders based on this understanding.

Welcome to my podcast! Addiction is a widespread problem, and it is the basis for many of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. ​​The purpose of this series is to debunk common misconceptions about substance use disorders and to understand the science behind them. We will learn which treatments are effective, why reducing stigma is important, and how current policy might be improved to more effectively combat this growing epidemic.