July 9, 2025
Dear Hossein,
I am delighted to hear that Congress 60 activities have returned to normal with the shawl ceremonies for guides scheduled for this week. I always am inspired by the photos you share of this ceremony each year and by the growing number of guides. My congratulations to all who have embraced this recovery support role.
Thank you for the invitation to participate in this year’s International Congress on Addiction Knowledge. I am no longer doing video or audio presentations but would consider drafting a brief paper that Shani could present on my behalf as she did this past year. Did you feel that her presenting on my behalf worked well last year? If so, I will prepare a short paper that relates to the panel topic and let you decide if you think it is worthy of inclusion on the panel. The theme of the paper I would consider is our need to extend genetic and epigenic studies of addiction beyond addiction risk factors to include the identification of genetic and epigenetic influences on remission and recovery—in short, studying the lived solutions to addiction as well as addiction related vulnerabilities and pathologies. The paper would propose key questions that could be included in such a recovery research agenda. Do you think such a paper would mesh well with other panel presentations? If so, I will begin work on the paper and get a draft to you within the next month.
As for your speeches on the Valleys, I thought the accent on the first AI generated recordings sounded fine, but I would be happy to compare any alternatives and let you know which I think is best for an English-speaking and international audience.
Now for an update on our lates project. I have communicated with Dr. Sarapas and Candace Mouton and they anticipate being able to return to their work on our study now that their other work has been completed. They should confirm this with me this week. They also have the draft of the first paper I completed that you have reviewed excerpts from and they should be getting back to me with any suggested revisions by July 15. After that I will send a final draft for all co-authors to approve before submitting it for publication. (The length of the draft paper is longer than most journals desire but I would like to send the longer version to see if we can get acceptance before cutting out details we have included on the operations of Congress 60. There are some addiction journals that accept longer manuscripts.) Then work can commence on drafting the second paper comparing the Congress 60 and U.S. treatment samples once Dr. Sarapas and Candace have completed their analyses.
Rita and I are well after our recent unexpected health crises and have enjoyed family visiting from their homes in the North during recent weeks. Rita and I have limited travel abilities at this point in our lives so appreciate these family visits to our home.
Please extend my warmest regards to your family and to all members of Congress 60.
Friends and Brothers Forever,