Fifty Years in the Service of Addiction Treatment: An Evolution in Paradigm and Policy

By David E. Smith

We live in a time where treatment of addiction is transitioning from being criminalized to being medicalized. We begin a new era where it will be addressed like other chronic, incurable, and potentially fatal medical conditions. The 2012 US Supreme Court decision on healthcare reform providing parity for addiction and mental health treatment is an important part of this process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Central Recovery Press
• Release date: Nov 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781937612368

Book preview

Introduction

by Jack Freckman, LCSW, LAP-C, National Chair

of the Labor Assistance Professionals

If they cut down the resume of our keynote speaker tonight, it would still take me an hour to cover all of his experience and accomplishments. This is a well-known man in our field. He talks from the heart. He talks so you can understand him. Sometimes professionals in this field, all kinds of psychologists and psychiatrists, talk to you and when they are finished, you think What the hell did they say? This man not only knows the subject matter of what he is talking about inside and out, but also has the ability to talk about it in a way that you understand him.

This is Dr. Dave Smith. Dave is a Diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. In 1967 he founded the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics of San Francisco, which merged with Walden House in mid-2011. The Haight Ashbury Free Clinics-Walden House provides over one million client visits per year at multiple sites. If you are in this business more than three weeks, you know what it is to have your hand on somebody who is finally ready to go into treatment and find out that he or she has no coverage and no place to go. People like Dr. Smith opened the door for many, many people and their kids. When they have nowhere else to go, he is there.

Dr. Smith is currently the Chairman for Adolescent Addiction Treatment at the Newport Academy; Medical Director, Center Point in San Rafael; Chief of Addiction Medicine, Alta Mira Recovery in Sausalito; and former Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Francisco. He is also a founder of Plaza House in Oakland, California and the former Medical Director of California Collaborative Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research. Dr. Smith is the former Medical Director of California State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and is a past President of both the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM). He is the founder and executive editor of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, as well as an editorial board member of the Journal of Addiction Medicine. Dr. Smith is recognized as a national leader in the areas of the treatment of addictive disease, the psychopharmacology of drugs, new research strategies in the management of drug abuse problems, and appropriate prescribing practices for physicians.

Needless to say, this man has dedicated himself to stand on the front lines of addiction. This is not the most rewarding deal in the world. You are dealing with a disease where the initial symptom is denial. You have to understand it gets frustrating, and he has spent his life there. He really deserves a round of applause because he has helped a lot of people.

Dr. Smith

Thank you very much for the kind introduction. I’m very happy to be here. We have a long association with the unions, particularly with my dear friend, Steve Levine. Steve chairs the Communication Workers of America’s Northern California Member Assistance Program and directs Plaza House, a sober living facility in Oakland, California, as well as serving in several other capacities for LAP and CWA. He and I are very close friends, and he’ll also serve as a local reference for those of you who are interested in any of the follow-up literature.

I’ve had a really interesting time this