Maiz Szalavitz is the author of Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, and the New York Times bestseller Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction.
Below are current articles by Maia Szalavitz.
Photo by Bettina Hansen of The Seattle Times
I Was Labeled Bipolar, Depressed, O.C.D. Here’s Why. The New York Times, 10/5/2026
Social Media Hacked Our Attention. A.I. Scares Me More, The New York Times, 7/19/2026
Overdose Deaths Are Dropping. Maybe Not for Long, The New York Times, 5/14/2026
Do We Really Need a Reminder of What the AIDS Crisis Was Like?, The New York Times, 3/17/2026
Gen Z Guys Want to Quit Watching Porn. These Companies Are Ready to Help, Men’s Health, 2/3/2026
The Case for Compassion Over Tough Love, The New York Times, 1/23/2026
What Is Kennedy’s Problem With Medication?, The New York Times, 11/10/2025
The Drug That Took Away More Than Her Appetite, The New York Times, 10/14/2025
What the Government Autism Announcement Got So Wrong, The New York Times, 9/23/2025
I’m in Addiction Recovery and I Still Drink Wine, The New York Times, 8/14/2025
Massive Study Flips Our Story of Addiction and the Brain, Scientific American, 7/7/2025
What If We Could Treat Psychopathy in Childhood?, Scientific American, 6/18/2025
The Siren Song of Chatbots, The New York Times, 6/3/2025
Behind the curve: A Historic Decline in Overdose Deaths Reveals Where — And Who — is Still at Risk, Deseret News, 4/15/2025
Is Vaping Really as Bad as Smoking?, The New York Times, 2/14/2025
Like Kennedy, I Recovered From Heroin Addiction. I Don’t Agree With His Approach, The New York Times, 12/22/2024
Not Everyone Is Benefiting From Drops in Overdose Deaths, The New York Times, 12/2/2024
The Breakthrough Drug to Conquer Addiction: Ozempic?, The New York Times, 10/18/2024
How Fentanyl Drove a Tsunami of Death in America, The New York Times, 9/27/2024
A ‘Dopamine Fast’ Will Not Save You From Addiction, The New York Times, 9/13/2024
These Teenagers Needed Help, and What They Got Was a Nightmare, The New York Times, 7/15/2024
Why Miami’s Approach to Addiction Is Working, The New York Times, 6/6/2024
Mayor’s Supposed ‘Tough-love’ Policy is not the Cure for Our Addiction Epidemic, The San Francisco Standard, 6/2/2024
How to Roll Out the Green Carpet for Legalized Marijuana, The New York Times, 5/20/2024
Say Hello to Your Addiction Risk Score — Courtesy of the Tech Industry, The New York Times, 4/20/2024
Moral Hazard Has No Place in Addiction Treatment, The New York Times, 3/1/2024
How Oregon Became a Linchpin for the Country’s Drug Policies, The New York Times, 2/5/2024
When Pain Tests the Limits of Recovery From Drug Addiction, The New York Times, 1/22/2024
We’re Thinking About Pain All Wrong, The New York Times, 12/24/2023
Do Safe Injection Sites Increase Crime? There’s Finally an Answer, The New York Times, 11/16/2023
The Troubled Teen Industry Offers Trauma, Not Therapy, The New York Times, 10/19/2023
The A.D.H.D. Drug Shortage Is Causing Real Pain, The New York Times, 10/09/2023
The Surprising Ways Cannabis can be Part of Drug Addiction Treatment, New Scientist, 10/5/2023
Vivitrol, Used to Fight Opioid Misuse, Has a Major Overdose Problem, Scientific American, 9/13/2023
Portugal Has Succeeded Where We’ve Failed With Addiction, The New York Times, 8/29/2023
We Know What Happens When We Prosecute Drug Dealers as Murderers, The New York Times, 7/28/2023
This Drug Holds Promise for Cult Survivors, The New York Times, 7/09/2023
What Ozempic Reveals About Desire, The New York Times, 6/04/2023
This Is What Neuroscientists and Philosophers Understand About Addiction, The New York Times, 4/24/2023
People Can’t Get Their A.D.H.D. Medicine, and That’s a Sign of a Larger Problem, The New York Times, 3/25/2023
Seeing Addiction as a Learning Disorder Changes Everything, The Basis: The Brief Addiction Science Information Source, 3/17/2023
People Have a Right to Nonreligious Rehab, The New York Times, 3/11/2023
We Can Reduce Homelessness If We Follow The Science On What Works, New Scientist, 1/26/2023
I Don’t Mind if You Say You Have ‘a Little OCD’, The New York Times, 1/22/2023
‘Entire Body Is Shaking’: Why Americans With Chronic Pain Are Dying, The New York Times, 1/3/2023
It’s Not Just About Pot. Our Entire Drug Policy Needs an Overhaul, The New York Times, 12/11/2022
How to Talk to Kids About Drugs in the Age of Fentanyl, The New York Times, 11/08/2022
The Most Important Question About Addiction, The New York Times, 9/29/2022
Something Better Than a Tent for the Homeless, The New York Times, 8/24/2022
The Story You’ve Heard About Cities, Drugs, and Mental Illness Is Wrong, Wired, 6/21/2022
Why Forced Addiction Treatment Fails, The New York Times, 4/30/2022
How the Drug War Died, The Nation, 4/11/2022
What the Opioid Crisis Took From People in Pain, The New York Times, 3/7/2022
Doctors Prescribing Opioids in Good Faith Should Not Be Prosecuted, Scientific American, 2/25/2022
Opinion: We’re Waging the Wrong Battle Against Opioids, Undark, 2/4/2022
Treating Addiction as a Crime Doesn’t Work. What Oregon Is Doing Just Might, The New York Times, 1/26/2022
Opioids Feel Like Love. That’s Why They’re Deadly in Tough Times, The New York Times, 12/6/2021
How Key Early Ideas Helped Shape Today’s Harm Reduction Movement, Filter, an excerpt from Undoing Drugs, 11/23/2021
Rethinking What it Means to Recover from Addiction, Time, 9/29/2021
Book talk on Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, Drug Policy Alliance Department of Research and Academic Engagement, 9/22/2021
The FDA Shouldn’t Support a Ban on Kratom, Scientific American, 8/12/2021
The Pain Was Unbearable. So Why Did Doctors Turn Her Away?, Wired, 8/11/2021
How Drug Users Developed a Key Approach to Fighting Covid, The New York Times, 7/23/2021
Harm Reduction Is the Best Approach for COVID and Drug Addiction, Scientific American, 7/7/2021
We’re Overlooking a Major Culprit in the Opioid Crisis, Scientific American, 5/28/2021
What the Incredible Achievements of ACT UP Can Teach Activists Today, Filter, 5/19/2021
Pain and Isolation Are Driving America’s Lockdown Overdose Surge, Vice, 2/18/2021
Maia’s writing from 2018-2020 is here.
Last updated 10/7/2026