Nitazenes: The Next Wave in America’s Overdose Crisis. And Why Providers Must Act Now

Quitting smoking during addiction treatment isn’t just good for your health—it can dramatically improve your chances of staying in recovery.
A 2024 NIH-funded study found that people who quit smoking had 42% greater odds of maintaining recovery from alcohol or other drug use compared to those who continued smoking. This isn’t an isolated finding—decades of research show that smoking increases relapse risk, worsens mental health, and lowers quality of life for people in treatment.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recently introduced a Monthly Fatal Drug Overdose Snapshot, a new tool designed to provide near real-time information on overdose deaths across Minnesota. The January 2026 snapshot offers a clearer, more immediate look at trends so communities, providers, and policymakers can respond faster to the ongoing overdose crisis.

At Recovering Hope Treatment Center, family-centered care isn’t a tagline—it’s a lived experience. From onsite trauma-informed daycare to coordinated prenatal care and walking trails where moms and children can reconnect, every part of our model is designed to support healing without separation. Because when a mother heals, a family begins to thrive.

Emerging research is challenging the assumption that cannabis supports long-term trauma recovery. A recent 12-week study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that individuals with both PTSD and cannabis use disorder who achieved sustained abstinence experienced significantly greater reductions in PTSD symptoms than those who continued using. While preliminary, the findings suggest that ongoing cannabis use may slow improvement in key areas like avoidance, negative mood, and hyperarousal. In early recovery, sharing data like this isn’t about coercion—it’s about informed consent, clinical transparency, and helping clients make decisions grounded in evidence rather than assumption.

When public tragedy happens, it does not stay outside the therapy room. In this piece, Carmichael Finn explores what clinical supervisors owe their staff during moments of collective grief—offering practical, ethical guidance for leading with steadiness when both clinicians and clients are impacted at the same time.

Emerging research is challenging the assumption that cannabis supports long-term trauma recovery. A recent 12-week study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that individuals with both PTSD and cannabis use disorder who achieved sustained abstinence experienced significantly greater reductions in PTSD symptoms than those who continued using. While preliminary, the findings suggest that ongoing cannabis use may slow improvement in key areas like avoidance, negative mood, and hyperarousal. In early recovery, sharing data like this isn’t about coercion—it’s about informed consent, clinical transparency, and helping clients make decisions grounded in evidence rather than assumption.

Vaping around babies and children isn’t harmless. In this article, Sadie Broekemeier, MA, LADC, LPCC, explains how secondhand and thirdhand vape exposure can affect children’s health, why developing lungs and brains are especially vulnerable, and what caregivers can do to reduce risk and keep kids safe.By Carmichael Finn, MA, LMFT, LADC, AADCR-MN | Recovering Hope Executive Director

Vaping around babies and children isn’t harmless. In this article, Sadie Broekemeier, MA, LADC, LPCC, explains how secondhand and thirdhand vape exposure can affect children’s health, why developing lungs and brains are especially vulnerable, and what caregivers can do to reduce risk and keep kids safe.By Carmichael Finn, MA, LMFT, LADC, AADCR-MN | Recovering Hope Executive Director

Vaping around babies and children isn’t harmless. In this article, Sadie Broekemeier, MA, LADC, LPCC, explains how secondhand and thirdhand vape exposure can affect children’s health, why developing lungs and brains are especially vulnerable, and what caregivers can do to reduce risk and keep kids safe.By Carmichael Finn, MA, LMFT, LADC, AADCR-MN | Recovering Hope Executive Director

Decades of alcohol use don’t just form habits—they reshape the brain systems that regulate reward, impulse control, and stress. This article translates a complex neuroscience study on alcohol use disorder and the endocannabinoid system into practical, clinician-friendly insight, explaining why motivation alone often fails, why relapse risk rises under stress, and why structure matters more than willpower early in recovery.
By Carmichael Finn, MA, LMFT, LADC, AADCR-MN | Recovering Hope Executive Director