Stories by Maia Szalavitz
Maia Szalavitz is a senior fellow at the media watchdog group STATS.
Over the GW takes us inside "tough love" teen programs which pose as rehabilitation clinics, but offer their patients steady physical abuse and humiliation.
Posted on Jul 7, 2007
Jailing Richard Paey for taking pain pills serves no one -- not taxpayers, not pain patients, and certainly not the image of America as a decent, humane country.
Posted on Mar 14, 2007
Being labeled a 'meth baby' by the media can do more harm to children than the methamphetamine itself.
Posted on Sep 1, 2005
What did the Partnership for a Drug Free America study really say about teens and prescription drug use?
Posted on Apr 26, 2005
There's a lot to debate about teen drinking -- but you'd never know it from the way the issue is covered by news organizations like '60 Minutes.'
Posted on Apr 19, 2005
Looking for misstatements, myths and outright errors about drug addiction and recovery? Watch CNN's 'House Call.'
Posted on Mar 15, 2005
There's no evidence to support the Today show's claims that an increasing number of suburban moms are using methamphetamine.
Posted on Mar 8, 2005
Despite
The New York Times' bleak picture of addiction recovery, methamphetamine addicts have relapse rates no worse – and no better – than for those of any other drug.
Posted on Feb 15, 2005
Why is the media still hyping an unproven and possibly deadly treatment for addiction?
Posted on Jan 5, 2005
Pregnancy rates, STDs and abortions among young people are at record lows – so why does the media continue to insist that the teen 'hook up' is a new and alarming trend?
Posted on Oct 6, 2004
Why are millions of Americans being undertreated for pain? Because prescription painkillers have become the new frontline in the 'drug war.'
Posted on Sep 7, 2004
Partnerships between government agencies and the media could have the unintended result of teaching kids a lot more than the feds want them to know about drugs.
Posted on Apr 8, 2002
By focusing on addiction treatment and prevention, Bush is doing exactly what Clinton did: talking treatment and funding law enforcement.
Posted on Feb 19, 2002
When boomers did it, promiscuity was "free love," breaking the law was "questioning authority" and getting high was "mind expansion." But if their children dare experiment, it's off to boot camp or worse.
Posted on Oct 18, 2001
Rapidly expanded maintenance prescribing could dramatically affect drug markets. But in order to work, such prescribing must be done right -- and in the right places.
Posted on Oct 12, 2001
The drug reform movement is celebrating a few states' transition from incarceration to treatment for non-violent drug offenders, but the new programs may not help those who want it most.
Posted on Sep 4, 2001
Net filtering software censors much more than sex and violence. It also blocks alternative political perspectives from reaching one-third of American households.
Posted on Aug 27, 2001
Heroin use, and heroin overdoses, are on the rise. But the drug naloxone could save the life of an overdose victim with one harmless injection. Too bad users can't get access to it.
Posted on Aug 21, 2001
A generation of crack users are beating their addictions by switching to marijuana, but cops still attack pot operations, driving up prices and steering users towards harder drugs.
Posted on Aug 14, 2001
Boot-camp style drug treatment programs profess to help kids with addiction. Some describe their methods as torture.
Posted on Jul 25, 2001
Over the last 10 years, more than two dozen teenagers have died in so-called "tough love" programs. It's a result of the kind of deregulation Bush would have in all social services.
Posted on Jul 17, 2001
