I grew up in an all-Jewish neighborhood (back in the days of racial and religious covenants) in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.  Although I hadn’t considered it until recently, this environment had a great deal to do with my choice of a profession. A few years ago I heard an emotionally powerful keynote talk, given by Jason Hernandez, at the Drug Policy Alliance Reform Conference. Jason spent several years in prison for a non-violent crime he committed as an adolescent and had recently been pardoned by then-President Obama. I was fortunate to have lunch with him that day when he explained, “Based upon everything I saw in my family, my neighborhood, the movies and on TV, the only professional option I thought I had as a young Hispanic male was to join a gang.” I thought about it and realized that based upon everything I saw in my family, my neighborhood, the movies and on TV, the only professional option I thought I had as a young Jewish male was to become a doctor or lawyer. 

Growing up in the 1960s, the idea of “white privilege” was not a recognized phenomenon – at least to most white people. Tens of thousands of individuals were being imprisoned for behaviors that I took part in when I was younger, and most of them did not look like me. Looking back now, I am aware that white privilege, endless opportunities and resources to succeed, and a protective environment allowed me to escape the possible consequences of these behaviors. 

“As an addiction psychiatrist, I am aware that the treatment of individuals battling addiction is similar – whether the individual is addicted to alcohol, cocaine, or heroin - and that it is a terrible injustice to arrest and incarcerate people for their drug use.”

As an addiction psychiatrist, I am aware that the treatment of individuals battling addiction is similar – whether the individual is addicted to alcohol, cocaine, or heroin - and that it is a terrible injustice to arrest and incarcerate people for their drug use. It is clear to me that the consequences of alcohol to an individual’s health and to society are just as bad, if not worse than, the use of many drugs.  As I became more involved in the drug policy reform effort (including attending the first Reform Conference in 2001), I grew increasingly aware of the social injustice inherent in the origins and persistence of the Drug War and I became passionate about ending this injustice.

My decision to become an addiction psychiatrist evolved from my own experience with psychedelics and my interest in exploring the brain mechanisms underlying this experience. Unfortunately, back in 1979 when I first started my research career (I was in the same fellowship program as David Nutt at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism), psychedelic research had been shut down and it was not to begin again until pioneers like Rick Doblin, Roland Griffiths, and David Nutt paved the way. My activities in drug policy reform did not start until years later and were a side interest. These activities were not supported by my employers, the University of Texas Southwestern and the Dallas VA Medical Center, but they didn’t stop me as long as I kept a low profile. I was not able to fully engage in drug policy reform until I retired from full-time academia in 2018; however, that did not stop me from building connections in the drug policy world.

“I was not able to fully engage in drug policy reform until I retired from full-time academia in 2018; however, that did not stop me from building connections in the drug policy world.”

Somehow, shortly after I moved to Dallas in 1995, I connected with the members of the local DPA chapter and met people like Suzy Wills, Bob Ramsay, and John Talmage. Their camaraderie and commitment to the cause was critical in keeping me engaged. Although I only had limited personal interaction with Ethan Nadelmann, watching his keynote talk at the DPA Reform Conference every two years was sufficient to keep me inspired until I saw him again at the next conference. Joy Williams, founder and CEO of Mothers Against Teen Violence, brought me onto their board in 2013 and impressed me with her passion and vision. Similarly, I started communicating with Rick Doblin of MAPS in the late 1990s and I have watched with amazement as he has grown MAPS into a world leader in psychedelic research, social justice, and harm reduction. What a superb example of what you can do when you have a life mission, persistence, passion, intelligence, leadership skills, and charm!

David Nathan, the Founder of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation (DFCR), first approached me in 2015, asking me to sign on as a Founding Member.  I immediately said yes and, upon my retirement from academia, I was able to become more actively engaged as a DFCR board member. David is another excellent example of someone who saw a need – to give physicians in favor of legalizing and regulating cannabis a voice – and made it happen.

In 2018, I was invited by Roland Griffiths to be a Discussant for a symposium on the use of psychedelics for the treatment of addiction. The talk was at the College for Problems in Drug Dependence, the premier research conference for drug addiction in the U.S.  The audience would be my academic peers whom I had known for 30+ years, albeit as a relatively straight academic researcher. I was excited about the opportunity, but hesitant to express my excitement for this relatively new area of research and for my belief in the curative value of a “mystical experience,” but I was to retire from academia two weeks after my talk and I knew that I waited to give this talk for 40 years, so I went all-in. The feedback was uniformly and emphatically positive, confirming that the upcoming switch in my life’s direction to drug policy reform was the right one. 

About Dr. Bryon Adinoff

Dr. Bryon Adinoff has been a board-certified Addiction Psychiatrist for over 30 years. He is presently an Adjoint Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.  Prior to his move to Denver in 2018, he was the Distinguished Professorship of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research in the Department of Psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Director of Research for Mental Health at the VA North Texas Health Care System (1995-2018). He received his medical degree from Michigan State University, obtained residency training in psychiatry at Tulane University, and completed a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Clinical Studies at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health. He was a staff physician in the Dallas Veterans Administration for 30 years, having served as the medical director of substance abuse programs at both the Charleston, South Carolina and Dallas VA Medical Centers. Dr. Adinoff has published over 150 articles and chapters on the biology and treatment of addiction and is Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.