The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

Seeing Addiction as a Learning Disorder Changes Everything

Editor’s note: The following op-ed was written by Maia Szalavitz as part of our Special Series on Pathways to Addiction. Ms. Szalavitz is the author of Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction and Undoing Drugs: How Harm Reduction is Changing the Future of Drugs and Addiction. She is also a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. Read more →

Regulating Addictive Substances: It’s Time to Protect Our Teens

Editor’s note: The following op-ed was written by Sharon Levy, MD, MPH, Director of the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. This op-ed is part of our Special Series on Pathways to Addiction. Read more →

Introduction to the Special Series on Pathways to Addiction

This month, The BASIS is highlighting pathways to addiction. Throughout March, we will review recent research on the risk factors for and pathways to addiction, and also share editorials from experts in the field of addiction science. John Slabczynski, Research Coordinator at the Division on Addiction, introduces our Special Series. Read more →

The BASIS Year-In-Review: 2022

At the Division on Addiction, a central part of our mission is to bring addiction science to a broad community of readers. For nearly thirty years, we’ve used The BASIS to further this mission. We’re proud of all that we achieved with The BASIS over this past year. Tens of thousands of people visited our site to learn about addiction science, and just over half were from the U.S. Other visitors were from the U.K., Canada, Australia, and many other countries. Just as we’re always trying to diversify our audience, we also try to diversify the group of scholars whose... Read more →

Considering layering medication and psychosocial treatment for people with co-occurring opioid use and mental health disorders: What improves outcomes?

Editor's note: This op-ed was written by Abigail Helm, PhD, Research Program Manager at the Division of Health Systems Science, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Dr. Helm describes her team's research on integrating medication for opioid use disorder treatment with a psychosocial behavioral intervention and its effectiveness in improving substance use and mental health outcomes. Read more →

xaʔtu̓s (First Face) for Mental Health: The next step in our journey towards Tribal healing and liberation

Editor's note: This op-ed was written by Martina Whelshula, PhD, a member of the Arrow Lakes Nation of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State with expertise in counseling psychology and Tribal Traditional Knowledge. Dr. Whelshula discusses efforts to build Tribal communities' collective knowledge about mental health and addiction challenges. This work is part of a broader endeavor to help these communities heal from intergenerational colonial trauma. Read more →

The BASIS Year-In-Review: 2021

As we approach the end of 2021, we look back with gratitude on all that we’ve been able to accomplish with The BASIS, not just during this past year but for all 26 years since we first launched this resource. We’re grateful for readers like you who visit The BASIS to learn more about addiction science, and we’re grateful for the researchers whose work we summarize and the writers whose opinions we share via op-eds. And we’re especially grateful to organizations whose funding helps support The BASIS, including this year’s Special Series sponsor, the Greater Boston Council on Alcoholism. (Learn... Read more →

Young Adults and Gambling during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ontario

Editor’s note: The following op-ed was prepared by Sasha Stark, PhD, Senior Researcher, Centre for the Advancement of Best Practices, Responsible Gambling Council. This op-ed is part of our Special Series on Managing Addiction during COVID-19.  Read more →

How the Pandemic Affected Me

Editor’s note: This op-ed was written by Christopher Johnson as part of our Special Series on Managing Addiction during COVID-19. Read more →

Sobriety as an Act of Resistance for Black Womxn

Editor’s note: This op-ed was prepared by Khadi A. Oluwatoyin, founder of Sober Black Girls Club, as part of our Special Series on Managing Addiction during COVID-19. Read more →