Learning Archives - The Clean Slate Addiction Site

Essential Reading List for the Truth about Addiction, Alcohol, and other Drugs

The hysteria and myths about alcohol, other drugs, and addiction runs deep in American culture – and I believe it is causing us to have more problems with alcohol and other drugs. The more people learn the truth, the more we can create a cultural shift that decreases these problems. The following is my study… Continue reading Essential Reading List for the Truth about Addiction, Alcohol, and other Drugs

Neuroscientist’s Comments Cut Down The Brain Disease Model of Addiction

Neuroscientist Marc Lewis makes comments that help to debunk the brain disease model of addiction.

Still Genius – Fingarette on the Disease Myth and Learning

23 years later, Herbert Fingarette’s critique of the disease concept still rings true. In this excerpt, he points out that the ruling explanations of addiction are simply describing learning, and for all the fancy medical language, treatment is simply about teaching.

Critique of Drugs, Brains, and Behavior or, How The NIDA Is Wasting Our Time And Money to Spread Harmful Lies

A reader who disagrees with my views recently posted a link and told me it was “required reading”. The link goes to a page titled “Drugs and the Brain” from the NIDA pamphlet (National Institute on Drug Abuse & Addiction) titled “Drugs, Brains, and Behavior – The Science of Addiction”. What follows is my critique… Continue reading Critique of Drugs, Brains, and Behavior or, How The NIDA Is Wasting Our Time And Money to Spread Harmful Lies

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Addiction Is Not A Brain Disease. Logic, neuroscience, epidemiology, and social psychology all demonstrate this.

This site is dedicated to presenting a different view of addiction: That it is all about choice, and that you can permanently change your substance use habits without fear of relapse or a lifetime spent in meetings and treatment.

Some of you might be wondering whether I know about all the scientific proof that addiction is a brain disease. I'm well aware of the scientific facts and their misinterpretation. Here's my critical analysis of the brain disease model of addiction.

This site is not presenting a model of "recovery" because addiction is not a disease from which one can recover. It is freely chosen behavior, which anyone can freely choose to abandon at any point. This is not recovery from a disease, it is a change like any other change in day to day living that people make in their lives.

I am dedicated to presenting information about addiction from a non-disease perspective, so that people can learn how to feel free and in control of their substance use, and be empowered to change it to whatever degree will make them happiest in their lives. "Addiction is a choice" - that is, you can choose whether to hold or dismiss every thought and belief that motivates you to use substances heavily - and thus you can choose whether to continue any pattern of substance use or not - at will.

Reading any particular article on this website will not force you to change. Hopefully though, you will find some information that helps you to believe that change is possible for you - that it is within reach. This is one key ingredient in changing the mindset that fuels "addiction."