Below are selections from Maia’s pre-2016 writing.

  • Maia’s writing from the current year is here.
  • Maia’s writing from 2016-2017 is here.

Attract Patients to Addiction Treatment, Don’t Force Them Into ItNew York Times, 11/11/15

Can Addicts Finally Force the War on Drugs to End?  Vice, 9/28/15

Every Drug Court Should Allow Methadone TreatmentNew York Times, 7/20/15

Former Addict: What Indiana Can Learn From New York About Needle Exchanges, Time, 4/5/15

Most of Us Still Don’t Get It: Addiction is a Learning Disorder, Pacific Standard, 8/5/14

What I’ve Finally Concluded About 12-Step Programs After 25 Years Writing About Drugs and Addiction, Pacific Magazine, 9/24/14

Columnist, The Fix, 2011-2014

The Battle for Needle Exchange, As AIDS Raged, The Fix, 3/11/13

What You Really Don’t Know About Recovery, The Fix, 6/4/12

DSM-5 Could Categorize 40% of College Students as Alcoholics, Time, 5/14/12

Treating Addiction: A Top Doc Explains Why Kind Love Beats Tough Love, Time, 4/16/12

Lies, Damn Lies and Drug Statistics, Treatment Version, Huffington Post, 9/17/11

Q&A: How the New Science of Adult Attachment Can Improve Your Love Life, Time, 2/13/11

Top Ten Legal Drugs Linked to Violence, Time, 1/7/11

Maia Szalavitz on Empathy, Our Blook, 5/24/10

Under the Radar: The Child Abuse Bill Swap, Mother Jones / News, 6/19/08

When Is “Tough Love” Torture?Mother Jones / News, 5/4/08
A new talk or behavioral therapy, even for children, can be introduced and sold by anyone without being vetted by any government agency.

The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry, Mother Jones, September/October 2007

Beyond 12 Steps, MSN News, reprinted by Practical Recovery, 2008

Romney, Torture, and TeensReason Online News, 6/27/07
The former governor’s connections to abusive “tough love” camps

The Trouble with Troubled Teen ProgramsReason Online News, 1/07
How the “boot camp” industry tortures and kills kids. Nominated for an L.A. Press Club Award!

Tough Love and Free SpeechReason Online News, 8/24/07
How a ‘child advocate’ gamed the media

Getting Tough on Private Prisons for TeensReason Online, 10/16/07
Residential programs for troubled teenagers tell parents they’ll cure kids’ behavior problems. But Congress may be cracking down after allegations of abuse and a GAO report that at least 10 teens have died in these facilities.

So, What Made Me an Addict? The Washington Post, 8/23/07

Damned if you do drugs, damned!, Century of Lies, 3/19/07

The Myth of Tough Love, interview, The Sun, 1/07

Shocks From the SystemNew York Times Op-Ed, 1/7/07

The Trouble with Troubled Teen ProgramsReason Online – January 2007 Print Edition
How the “boot camp” industry tortures and kills kids

The Doctor Wasn’t Cruel EnoughReason Online , 6/2/06
How one physician escaped the panic over prescription drugs

Recovery Options: The Complete GuideHow You And Your Loved Ones Can Understand And Treat Alcohol And Other Drug Problems

The Trouble With Tough LoveWashington Post, 1/29/06

The Shot That Saves, The New York Times, 8/21/05
Because overdosing kills by slowly stopping a person’s breathing, there is a short time in which a person can be injected with an antidote called naloxone, quickly reversing an opioid overdose.

Let a Thousand Licensed Poppies Bloom, New York Times, 7/13/05

Read Washington Post Chat Session from Monday, Jan 30th

Dr. Feelscared
Drug warriors put the fear of prosecution in physicians who dare to treat pain.

Huffington Post Blog
Timely, topical commentary by the most interesting authors, brought to you by Arianna Huffington (the smart sister)

AlterNet
Maia has been a prolific contributor to AlterNet since the Summer of 2001

Why Jesus is Not a Regulator
Commentary on President George W. Bush’s (then) new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for The American Prospect

Sick treatment: when drug counselors attack. (Intelligence the Big Idea)
This digital document is an article from City Limits, published by City Limits Community Information Service, Inc. on February 1, 2003

Love is the drug, NewScientist, 11/23/02
If you want to understand addiction, perhaps you need to explore some of the brain’s more intimate secrets.

Breaking Out of the 12-Step Lockstep, Washington Post, 6/09/02

CAMP FEAR, Redbook Magazine, March 2002
Here’s a .pdf of the original print version.

12 steps back, Talk Back, December 2000/January 2001
Here’s a .pdf of the original print version.

The Rapid Detox Dilemma, Newsday, 2/17/98
Here’s a .pdf of the original print version.

Clean Needles Saved My Life, The New York Times, 6/8/96
Here’s a .pdf of the original print version.

Get Real: The Problem Is in the Users, Not the Drugs, Washington Post, 5/19/96
Here’s a .pdf of the original print version.

Addicted to Anonymity, Washington Post, 1993

Why IV Drug Users Deserve Clean Needles, Village Voice, 3/28/90.
Here’s a .pdf of the original print version.

The Wharf Rats: Sobriety Support for Deadheads, Newsday, 9/23/90
Here’s a .pdf of the original print version.

Back to Other Writing