May 23, 2025
Dear Hossein,
Thank you for your latest letter. It lifts my heart each time I see the arrival of a new message from you, and I am delighted to hear of your continued collaborations with universities to host educational conferences on addiction. You are bringing light and hope into a historically dark corner of our world.
Your consistent application of the Congress 60 philosophy and methods across diverse areas of Iran suggests its potential for wide international replication. How that might unfold is a good topic for our future conversations.
This is the first time you have mentioned the use of artificial intelligence within the Congress 60 educational program. Could you elaborate on how that is being used? I find that quite interesting and am curious about its potential within addiction treatment settings.
I was pleased to hear that services for women and their families have expanded within Congress 60 and the rationale for separation of services for men and women. Is such separation of services (e.g., in groups and facilities) typical in other addiction treatment programs in Iran such as in the methadone programs? In the latest articles we are preparing, we will want to offer an explanation for this separation and why we are reporting data only for men. Are data for women in Congress 60 collected and reported in the same manner as those we are reporting for men? With the stigma attached to addiction and women in Iran, I m not sure if the data is collected and reported differently. Can you clarify? Also, can you confirm and comment that families may participate in Congress 60 activities even if there addicted family member is not yet a traveler?
The information you provided on the treatment of adolescents and young adults is helpful to what I am including in the latest article. I would like to add some further information on services for family members. Could you list the range of activities that families participate in during their time in Congress 60?
I also want to convey a sense of how much time (number of hours) an average Congress 60 member spends on Congress 60 related activities each week. Could you provide an estimate of this? I am assuming this spanning such activities as medication management, large group gatherings and educational meetings, legion meetings, individual counseling, sports activities, service activities, and other activities.
I am delighted to hear that smoking is gradually disappearing in Congress 60. This will add years to the life expectancy and quality of life of Congress 60 members. That shift will mark a historical milestone in the history of Congress 60 but also mark a milestone in the international history of addiction treatment. The import of that change has yet to be recognized within many addiction treatment programs, and I do not know of another program in any country who has incorporated smoking cessation so successfully. The article we wrote describing your efforts continued to be widely downloaded and frequently cited within addiction medicine journals.
I look forward to the information you will send on the guide exam results and the number of guides and co-guides for 2025.
Please extend my warmest regards to your family and to all members of Congress 60.
Friends and Brothers Forever,