The Peer Recovery Workforce and Illicit Drug Use: Reductio Ad Absurdum

Abstract

In recent years, our field has undergone significant challenges to accommodate drug use within the framework of addiction recovery. It has occurred in our private sector and within government. Perhaps the clearest example being in Government. In its 2022-2026 strategic plan, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) defined recovery as “different things to different people. Broadly speaking, it is a process of change through which people improve their health and well-being while abstaining from or lessening their substance use or by switching to less risky drug use. For some, this may mean complete abstinence; for others, recovery could be ceasing problematic drug use, developing effective coping strategies, improving physical and mental health, or experiencing some combination of those or other outcomes.”