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| Library |
| Greatest Hits |
| Controversy |
| Stanton's Blog |
| References Guide |
Controversy
In this section, Stanton actively engages with the issues and personalities making drug and alcohol news in the world today.
Addiction—Choice or Disease
Both views in the “addiction is a choice/disease” point-counterpoint (Psychiatric Times October 2002, p54) leave out critical aspects of addiction, without which it is not possible to make sense of the matter.
Jeffrey A. Schaler, Ph.D.’s, view that addicts choose to use seems glib in the face of those addicts like David (son of Robert) Kennedy and Terry (daughter of George) McGovern who were children of privilege who killed themselves with chronic drug/alcohol use. These are extreme cases where the substance seemingly takes over the individual’s ability to choose.
However, I believe it is wrong to generalize their fates to all drug and alcohol misusers, including even quite compulsive users, for whom internal and environmental cues and options continue to play critical roles.
The Continuing Significance of David Robinson's Plagiarism Career
This controversy piece describes how a British alcohol sociologist named David Robinson plagiarized several times in the UK, which was discovered, and then he moved on to administration at an Australian University. He returned to the UK to open a branch of his new University, Monash, where his former transgressions were revealed. Meanwhile, opponents of his found an even earlier bit of plagiarism Robinson had committed, and he resigned his position at Monash. Although some object to continuing to examine this case, it is critical to reveal and analyze how these gross thefts occurred and were largely tolerated, including the ways Robinson's "apologies" were handled.
Stanton's Comment on Audrey Kishline's Accident and Statement
 Audrey Kishline |
Audrey Kishline, founder of Moderation Management (MM), a self-help group for problem drinkers to control their drinking, has been in a drunken car accident in which a 12-year-old girl and her father were killed. Audrey was highly intoxicated and driving on the wrong side of an interstate highway. After forming MM in 1993 and writing Moderate Drinking in 1994 (for which Stanton wrote the introduction), Audrey announced in January of 2000 that she was returning to AA with a goal of abstinence. The accident occurred in March of this year. In June, facing a trial for the accident, Kishline's lawyer, John Crowley, announced, "The accident and the subsequent intensive alcohol treatment she has undergone have made Kishline realize that moderation management is nothing but alcoholics covering up their problem."
In the Belly of the American Society of Addiction Medicine Beast
A first-person description of how the founder of ASAM, G. Douglas Talbott, regularly violates patient rights and standard medical ethics, while threatening patients and driving many to the brink of despair — and beyond. Meanwhile, the ASAM stands casually by.
ASAM takes no action as founder, past president, and board member held liable for fraud and malpractice
The American Society of Addiction Medicine is the organized medical group that has taken unto itself respnsibility for dealing with American drug and alcohol problems. Recently, the founder and just past president of the organization, G. Douglas Talbott, was found liable for fraud, malpractice, and false imprisonment in a suit by a physician forced into Talbott's nationally renown physician assistance program. The ASAM has seen fit not to mention this event or its implications to its members.
Nathan and Wallace At It Again!
Peter Nathan and John Wallace are at it again! These two worthies in the alcoholism field, who one would have thought had dried up and blown away (Wallace's Edgehill-Newport Hospital closed years ago, while Nathan was defeated for the presidency of the APA, hopefully in part as a result of Stanton's efforts) are back. This time, the two of them (formerly bitter enemies) have collaborated on a directorate to thousands of American Psychological Association clinicians telling them to send alcoholics to AA and that alcoholics cannot meaningfully reduce their drinking.
New General McCaffrey Scientific Fool Award Winner!
The second General McCaffrey Scientific Fool Award goes to a man not afraid to jettison results of his own agency's research in support of bureaucratic face saving and maintaining the status quo: Dr. Anti-Harm Reduction: Enoch Gordis, MD. While justifying NIAAA's Project MATCH in terms of the reduction of drinking by alcohol dependent subjects it produced, he warns in U.S. News and World Report of disastrous results from contemplating nonabstinence treatment. Hats off to the consummate bureaucrat!
Dr. Strangelove is not dead! A Modest Proposal to Save the World from Drugs
This is Stanton's satirical response to an actual editorial by highly decorated retired Army colonel David Hackworth, that appeared in the Austin American Statesman (Austin, TX), September 18, 1997, titled "More action needed in drug war."
R. Brinkley Smithers: The Financier of the Modern Alcoholism Movement
The dominance of the disease view in America is due in good part to one man — R. Brinkley Smithers. Through his personal contributions and those of the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation he commanded, Smithers influenced the course of the major national groups concerned with alcohol problems in the United States.
Stanton sues Rutgers
Stanton has sued Rutgers to turn over documents about the Center of Alcohol Studies' dealings with R. Brinkley Smithers, an IBM heir who paid to spread of the disease theory of alcoholism. The documents Rutgers is withholding describe correspondence between Rutgers and the Smithers Foundation discussing Stanton personally following his 1992 article analyzing Peter Nathan's stint as head of the Center, after which Smithers and Rutgers did not correspond for three years. Did Stanton provoke a falling out between these august bodies, or did Smithers simply withdraw funding because Rutgers had rediscovered controlled drinking therapy after Nathan left the Center?
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Jack Trimpey calls Stanton 'Dr. Beast at Large'
Jack Trimpey responded to Stanton's answer to a question asked by a visitor to this site, "What do you think of AVRT?", with an entire article in his Journal of Rational Recovery, calling Stanton 'Dr. Beast at large'.
Stanton banned from CD list!
Stanton finally goes on line with a blow-by-blow description of the banning of the CD3, in which the dictatorial listowner Jeff Schaler throws Robin Room, Stanton, and other questioning minds off of the Controlled Drinking and Drug Use List. Includes up-to-date description of Stanton's famous limo ride to NY to greet Jeff in a television studio green room.
Moyers on addiction
Why was Stanton not on this five-part PBS series on addiction?
Alan Leshner held a conference on heroin and Stanton wasn't invited, so they got it all wrong
On September 29, 1997, the National Institute on Drug Abuse convened a group of over 500 drug experts to discuss the latest heroin epidemic. Stanton was not invited.
Should Peter Nathan be president of the APA?
Mark Goldman, of the University of Southern Florida, has begun a campaign to nominate and elect Peter Nathan president of the American Psychological Association. Stanton explains why this is a bad idea.
Other Controversies
About Project MATCH
About Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey
- General McCaffrey wins the General McCaffrey Scientific Fool Award
- The Great Zinberg / McCaffrey Debate
- McCaffrey tells us what to do with the evidence
- Don't reward what doesn't work
- Harvard Medical School gives General McCaffrey Zinberg Award
About Controled Drinking and Drug Use Therapy
Other Controversies
- Stanton debates James Milam at 1988 NIAAA conference
- AA: Cult Lite
- Researchers shame themselves in service of drug war repression
- Gazzaniga announces NIDA full of soup, but wants $millions more
- Reactions to Stanton's criticism of shifting from interdiction to treatment
- Stanton kicked off of Addiction Medicine list
- Brain images tell nothing about addiction
- Howard Shaffer, of Harvard, borrows without acknowledgement from Stanton
© Copyright 1996-2008 Stanton Peele. All rights reserved.
The opinions contained on this website are Stanton Peele's and in no way reflect those of the financial supporters of the website. Stanton Peele does not necessarily approve of any of the products or treatment programs advertised at this website. All material provided on the Stanton Peele Addiction Website is provided for informational or educational purposes only. Stanton Peele cannot provide individual clinical or therapy recommendations for persons consulting this site unless they have specifically retained Stanton for this purpose and he addresses them individually. Consult a licensed therapist or physician regarding the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your problems or medical condition.
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