From: Virginia Tech News
Virginia Tech announces national addiction registry
Virginia Tech News:
ROANOKE, Va., Oct. 6, 2011 – C.W. started getting high when he was only 13. “I started off sniffing gasoline out of a lawnmower, then moved on to beer, wine, and marijuana,” he said. Soon he was snorting cocaine, taking speed, and basing major life decisions — dropping out of high school, leaving the military, quitting a stable job, even abandoning his family — on his need to get high. He eventually found himself dodging drug dealers who were threatening to kill him over his mounting debt.
It was a near-fatal accident that ended up saving C.W.’s life. He had been celebrating payday in customary fashion — with alcohol and drugs — when he borrowed a friend’s car, veered off the road, slammed headfirst into a tree, and broke his neck. “And that,” he said, “was the beginning of my new life.”
C.W. checked himself into the psychiatric ward of a local Veterans Affairs hospital, then entered rehab. He has not touched drugs or alcohol for the past 15 months.
How did C.W. beat his addiction, and how has he been able to sustain his recovery? Those are the central questions driving the National Quit & Recovery Registry, launched last week by the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.
The National Quit & Recovery Registry collects the experiences of those in recovery through web-based sharing — also known as crowdsourcing — to enhance scientists’ understanding of addiction, whether to tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or harmful behaviors, such as overeating, excessive sexual activity, and gambling. Led by Warren Bickel, director of the Advanced Recovery Research Center of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, the registry taps the insights and experiences of people who quit a tobacco habit at least a year ago or have been in recovery from an addiction for one year or longer.
Read the whole story: Virginia Tech News
More of our Members in the Media >
Comments
I personally and professionally do not think that someone who has been in recovery for 15 months has beat the disease of addiction. I am a recovering drug addict with 29 years clean and the program director of a recovery program. I suggest you start with people who have been in recovery for a minimum of 6 years. I would also screen for changing an addiction to drugs to another addiction such as compulsive eating, spending, debting, sex, relationships, etc., etc., etc. Switching addictions is common in my personal and professional opinion and experience.
APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Effective February 2021, you must be a logged-in APS member to post comments. By posting a comment, you agree to our Community Guidelines and the display of your profile information, including your name and affiliation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations present in article comments are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of APS or the article’s author. For more information, please see our Community Guidelines.
Please login with your APS account to comment.