While the popular website takes a break, IRETA reflects on how it has expanded the conversation about substance use and addiction
Editor’s note 8/28/13: When we posted this piece last week, we’d received a tweet about The Fix’s return in 2-3 months. Unfortunately, we learned today that future of The Fix is still uncertain—the Twitter rumors are unsubstantiated. Still, fingers crossed that the site is sold and resurrected. Accept the post below as our Ode to The Fix and our top five pieces to read in the meantime still hold true.
The Fix, a popular website about addiction and recovery, is currently on hold.
The site is not completely down, but it’s not publishing any new content. Articles and features from its birth in March 2011 until the hiatus that began this July remain available for readers to peruse.
The Fix’s absence has caused some dismay.
And understandably so! The site, cheekily tag-lined “addiction and recovery, straight up,” had found its voice during the past year, lending honesty, discernment, and humor to a range of topics related to addiction and recovery. The Fix hasn’t been afraid to be political. It isn’t schmaltzy. It’s often practical.
One of the things we at IRETA appreciate is that the hodgepodge of articles at thefix.com demonstrates the breadth of issues related to addiction and substance use: stigma and anonymity, civil rights, the international drug trade, the DSM-V, methadone maintenance, pop culture, families, trauma, food, sex, romance, technology.
To name a few.
And while certainly not dry or academic (featuring, for example, Ask The Expert videochats with Courtney Love), The Fix has brought accurate information about treatment approaches and effectiveness into the hands of many. We say that’s a good thing.
What’s more, check out the Reader Forums. The Fix has engaged a younger, broader demographic in conversations about substance use and addiction. That’s a good thing, too.
Here’s hoping this is just an intermission.
Top Picks
While you’re waiting for new articles at The Fix, we recommend these to tide you over:
The Practice of Mindfulness in Addiction Therapy – Witness your internal experience in the moment rather than instantly reacting to it
M is for Marijuana. A is for Addict – Mommies aren’t supposed to be stoned
Will U.S. Penal Reform Tip the Balance for Addicts? – California’s realignment, together with sentencing reform, have the potential to show the US a new way to treat drug offenders
Too Many Doctors Still Get Addiction Wrong – I went in for sleep apnea and he asked me, ‘Why do you have liquor on your breath?’
Junkies in the Hurricane – Most of the dealers had abandoned New Orleans, but unguarded pharmacies remained (this story is absolutely riveting)
Read More
A New Site Intended to Serve People in Recovery 3/27/11 in the New York Times: The Fix’s founders discuss their vision for the new website, calling people in recovery “the largest market you’ve never heard of.”
