American Society of Addiction Medicine History Book

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) hired HRA to assist in writing a history of the organization. HRA historians completed detailed archival and online research, conducted and transcribed thirty oral histories, and wrote a multichapter book that included photographs, numerous sidebars, and other relevant callouts throughout. The final book, entitled Treat Addiction. Save Lives, was designed by Bryan Potter Design and finalized by ASAM for public release in late 2021. The history spanned close to seven decades of critical medical and psychiatric research and service provisions for people with substance use disorders, from its earliest days under the guidance of Ruth Fox to schisms over the meaning of addiction medicine to concerns around tobacco to the society’s most contemporary campaigns, such as advocacy around the opioid crisis in the United States and combating longstanding disparities in care that have been based in gender, race, and social biases and norms. HRA worked closely with ASAM’s History Committee to create both the most accurate and a highly readable history that will serve as the basis for ASAM’s next hundred years.

Project Members