Addiction medicine perspective on the medicalization of marijuana.

Many medical, ethical, legal and political issues have been raised by legislation in California removing criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana. The California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) has taken an addiction medicine perspective on the use of marijuana as medicine in an effort to create a neutral framework for dealing with these issues. As part of this perspective, CSAM has called for marijuana to be rescheduled beneath its current Schedule I status. Guidelines for safely integrating cannabis into accepted medical practices are suggested.

Al-Anon and recovery.

The history of Al-Anon and its current demographics are reviewed. In order to understand 12-step recovery and psychotherapy for family members of alcoholics, the concept of codependence is defined with a set of diagnostic criteria consistent with the DSM-III-R definition of personality traits and disorders. At the core of codependence are denial and an unrealistic relationship to willpower. The therapeutic implications of considering codependence as a personality disorder are explored, as are the characteristics that make codependence unique among personality disorders: the central role of denial and the existence of a self-help organization to facilitate recovery. The dynamics of working the 12 steps on codependent characteristics are outlined. A synergistic relationship between psychotherapy and the 12 steps is described. Special attention is given the emergence of Al-Anon adult children of alcoholic meetings, and the future of codependence is discussed.

Therapeutic considerations with adult children of alcoholics.

Children from alcoholic homes frequently develop defenses similar to those found in children who have been physically abused. During adulthood these defenses lead to over-control of one's emotions and interpersonal interactions. Therapeutic implications involve management of grief reactions as illusions of the "good" parent are relinquished.