A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on.

In his 1969 novel The Wild Boys, William S. Burroughs writes "Under pretext of drug control suppressive police states have been set up throughout the Western world". The police states maintain a democratic faà §ade from behind which they denounce as criminals, perverts and drug addicts anyone who opposes the control machine."

15 years earlier Dr. Ruth Fox formed the New York City Medical Society on Alcoholism. This organization subsequently became the American Medical Society on Alcoholism and eventually the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). The organizational goal of this group has always been to convince the medical establishment of the chronic relapsing brain disease model of alcoholism (and subsequently all addictions) and that 12-step spiritual recovery as defined by Bill Wilson and the Big Book as not only valid medical treatment, but the one and only treatment.

Unable to successfully convince doctors of their ideology by swaying them intellectually due to an absence of any solid scientific methodology or genuine evidence-base, they decided on a more effective tactic. By gaining political power, promoting themselves with propaganda, spreading misinformation, and suppressing truths that don't fit in their world view, they created a faux "medical specialty" requiring not knowledge or competence just authoritative dogma and allegiance.

They have convinced medical societies, medical boards, regulatory agencies, parole boards and others to not only accept them as experts, but to write legislation in states to declare them "the" experts in addiction medicine. They did this with a torrent of strategic lobbying efforts on behalf of the 12-step addiction treatment industry towards the AMA (and indirectly through the FSPHP towards the AMA), ABMS, APA, FSMB, ABIM, JCAO, CSAT, consumer groups, presidential candidates, state medical societies, congress, corrections agencies, social service agencies, faith-based community centers, the media and many other targets.

By proclaiming themselves "experts" and bestowing phony "Board Certification" not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties, (ABMS) they have created the myth of expertise at the expense of real experts. And in doing so they have effectively lobotomized evidence-based thought and critical thinking. See here.

This group has essentially created a despotism in addiction medicine treatment. A no choice, one-size-fits-all, take-it-or-leave-it, pretend panacea of what's good for the goose is good for the gander. They have additionally created a tyranny in regulatory medicine. Unsupervised and opaque, they have gained stranglehold control over individual doctors and gained sway over the culture and practice of organized medicine.

They have influenced the DSM-V, are trying to gain control of MRO education and regulation, and pose a great danger to us all. This front-group for AA and the 12-step drug testing industry is fulfilling Burrough's prediction of a police state. As medical Robber Barons by imposition of force in numbers and money they have assumed unqualified authoritarian control and influence that is posed to create irremediable harm to both society and individual freedoms and liberty.

Alarmist calls to arms about the dangers of drugs and hidden addicts protected by others and posing danger to create untrue hype is propaganda and misinformation to further the ASAM drug-testing 12-step inpatient rehab agenda and gain control.

Drug war sloganeering designed to get everyone aboard. Logical fallacy, deceptive facts, pseudoscience, and misinformation is obvious if anyone cares to look a little deeper. The conflicts-of-interest are immense. The ASAM is a front group for AA that uses ends-justifies-the-means coercion and deception to get public recognition of the righteousness of the twelve steps of recovery.

Neither doctors nor US citizens should be subject to the whims of a religion based political group composed of unqualified, inexperienced, paternalistic and biased individuals who are truncheons of dogmatic ideology and refuse to accept evidence-based treatment, transparency, and accountability as important. These are self-proclaimed specialists--great pretenders. Fake it til u make it.

The problem is that regulatory agencies, politicians, medical boards, law enforcement and others have either bought into the lie or live in willful ignorance. Blinkered, ambivalent or unconcerned, most people, including those in health-care, take them at face value resulting in the misperception that they are the experts.

Indeed, they are well on the way to becoming the only experts. Within the next couple of years this will become a reality. The ASAM will eventually gain ABMS specialty certification and when this comes to fruition they will undeniably be the only recognized experts in the field of Addiction Medicine.

The Addiction Psychiatry subspecialty (the only specialty currently recognized by the ABMS) has already been pushed into a corner and will most likely have to join in rather than fade away--similar to what happened to proctology as gastroenterology evolved as a specialty. That analogy doesn't quite work however as gastroenterology swallowing proctology represents an advancement in science based on valid methodology and evidence base. It represents evolution in medicine not monopolization in sales.

This situation is more like anti-vacciners proclaiming themselves immunologists and gaining enough support to run the real ones out-- pseudoscience, groupthink, deception, and coercion. A framework not built on the scientific method, evidence based decision making, autonomy and benevolence; but based upon unproven ideological dogma, righteous inflexible worldview, rigid rules, obedience, and control.

Drug testing of physicians and others will be done by ASAM, FSPHP physicians. They will demand prohibition, testing and treatment at their facilities. Complete control. Absolute power. . Even with 100% specificity and sensitivity there are valid arguments against this. But if you throw in the corruption and other issues that are obvious if one peers inside this Potemkin ASAM village, both medicine and society as we know it is going to be emasculated by dabblers and clowns. It will come in a whimper not a bang, and by then it will be too late.

They have already taken over Physician Health Programs (PHPs) by removing competent and virtuous doctors who did not conform to A.A. groupthink and held them under threats of litigation with "gag orders" not to speak of the abuse and crimes they witnessed. Claiming success with these programs they now want to move outward and onward as "Professionals Health Programs." Any one with any sort of license will be at risk.