This week I revisit a topic I've discussed repeatedly on this show: the reported success rates of 12-Step programs like AA and NA. I talk about the reason these programs persist as the norm despite an odd lack of data to verify their success, and I walk through the reasons AA and other 12-Step programs are highly religious while almost always claiming (and appearing) not to be.

Read Cochrane's new(er) meta-analysis of 12-step success rates on their website.

Read more about aging out of addiction in Zimburg's work.

14% - 31% of people who walk into a 12-Step meeting keep coming for at least 1 year.
21% - 22% of people who stay in a 12-Step program for more than a year remain sober.
5% - 8% of people who walk in a 12-Step meeting will remain sober for at least 1 year.

Some studies show that those who try a 12-Step program actually have worse success rates than non-treatment groups.

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This week I talk about the medication shortages across the United States. Drugs used to treat ADHD, chronic pain, and other conditions have been in short supply lately for reasons unexplained. Different groups have blamed the shortage on one anther: the manufacturers blame the DEA, while the DEA blames manufacturers. But as usual, the problem comes down to a design issue.

For more about Assent's issues with the DEA, check out the Reason article, "DEA Shuts Down Factory even as Adderall Shortage Persists."

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This week I wrap up a multi-part discussion of Foucault's theories of panoptic power, institutional knowledge, and discourses used to endorse awful ideas and beliefs about drugs and drug users. I also talk about Michel Foucault's car accident while high on opium, the notion of panoptic power, Jeremy Bentham's panoptic prison, discourse, stigma and stereotype.

Foucault audio at intro and outro from Century of the Self lecture series.

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