The Opioid Defense: What Alex Murdaugh's Case Reveals About Addiction and Accountability

The Lindsay Clancy Trial: Why Treatment Wasn't Enough

Nearly half of people who die by suicide saw a healthcare provider in the month before their death. Many were already receiving treatment. That statistic challenges one of our most common assumptions about mental illness: that psychiatric tragedies happen because people never ask for help. The upcoming Lindsay Clancy trial raises an even more difficult question. What happens when someone is already receiving extensive psychiatric care—and a catastrophic psychiatric emergency still isn’t recognized? In this episode, Dr. Suzette Glasner—licensed clinical psychologist and scientist at UCLA—examines the Lindsay Clancy case through the lens of clinical psychology rather than true crime. Instead of asking whether Lindsay Clancy is guilty or innocent, she explores what this case may reveal about the limits of current psychiatric risk assessment. The episode examines the parallels between missed suicide risk and missed postpartum psychiatric emergencies, the critical differences between postpartum OCD and postpartum psychosis, why clinicians routinely screen for suicide but may not be trained to assess risk of harm to children, and the warning signs that families and healthcare professionals should recognize when a psychiatric emergency is unfolding. Watch the full episode here: Chapters 0:00 Intro — A Statistic That Should Change How We Think About Psychiatric Tragedy 1:12 Lindsay Clancy’s Mental Health Treatment Timeline 3:27 Why Being in Treatment Doesn’t Always Mean Someone Is Safe 6:00 The Blind Spot: Why Clinicians May Not Assess Risk to Children 7:54 Understanding Filicide Risk in Postpartum Psychiatric Illness 8:40 Postpartum OCD vs. Postpartum Psychosis: Why the Difference Matters 10:54 What Families Should Watch For—and When to Seek Emergency Help 13:28 The Lindsay Clancy Trial: The Insanity Defense Explained 15:27 Why This Case Matters Beyond One Family 📩 Questions or topic requests: AskDrGlasner@gmail.com [AskDrGlasner@gmail.com] 🧩 More from Dr. Glasner: https://drglasner.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit drglasner.substack.com [https://drglasner.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

The DEA Just Moved to Schedule 7-OH — Here's What That Actually Means

The DEA recently did something it tried and failed to do ten years ago: it moved to put a kratom-derived compound into Schedule I — the same category as heroin. In 2016, the DEA tried to ban kratom outright and had to walk the action back within six weeks after a massive public backlash. This time is different, and the details matter — they reveal something real about how we regulate substances that live in a gray zone between supplement, medicine, and drug of abuse. In this episode, Dr. Suzette Glasner — clinical psychologist and addiction scientist — breaks down what just happened with 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), why regulators are treating it as an opioid, and what a decade of regulatory back-and-forth reveals about the limits of catching dangerous drugs before they cause harm. Watch the full episode here: Chapters: 0:00 Intro — Why This DEA Action Matters 1:19 Kratom vs. 7-OH — What’s Actually in These Products 3:59 The Pharmacology — Why 7-OH Acts Like a Potent Opioid 6:22 The 2016 DEA Failure and a Decade of Patchwork State Laws 10:27 How Drug Scheduling Actually Works (Schedule I Explained) 13:01 What the DEA’s New Notices of Intent Actually Do 14:24 Why the Kratom Industry Is Supporting This Action 14:51 The Caveat — Natural Leaf Kratom Isn’t Risk-Free Either 17:53 Recap and What to Watch For 📩 Questions or topic requests: AskDrGlasner@gmail.com 🧩 More from Dr. Glasner: https://drglasner.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit drglasner.substack.com [https://drglasner.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Ep. 61: Joe Rogan on Ozempic: Getting the Facts Straight

Joe Rogan spent twenty minutes on Ozempic and GLP-1s recently. He said the drugs kill desire, that people fall out of love, that they treat addiction, that discipline alone would do the same job as the medication. Millions of listeners heard it as settled fact. Some of it holds up. Some of it doesn’t — and the gap between the two reveals a lot about how addiction, appetite, and reward actually work in the brain. In this episode, Dr. Suzette Glasner — clinical psychologist and addiction scientist — goes through Rogan’s biggest claims and checks them against the research. GLP-1s sit at the exact intersection of what she studies: appetite, reward, and behavior change. Watch the full episode here: In this episode:0:00 Intro — Why Look at Joe Rogan's Ozempic Claims1:20 Claim 1: "It Kills Your Desire" — GLP-1s, Mood, and Anhedonia6:21 Claim 2: Can GLP-1s Curb Addiction? (Alcohol, Smoking, Gambling)10:22 Claim 3: "Just Use Discipline" — Is Obesity a Willpower Problem?13:11 Claim 4: Why Weight Comes Back After Stopping GLP-1s14:48 Recap: What the Science Actually Shows GLP-1s are reshaping addiction treatment and the way we think about weight, willpower, and what it means to struggle with your body. This episode is about what the research actually shows. 📩 Questions or topic requests: AskDrGlasner@gmail.com 🧩 More about Dr. Glasner: https://drglasner.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit drglasner.substack.com [https://drglasner.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Ep. 60: Daveigh Chase - Lost to Fentanyl at 35

In 2002, a twelve-year-old girl voiced one of the most beloved Disney characters of a generation. That same year, she terrified audiences in The Ring. Her name was Daveigh Chase, and for a moment, she was everywhere. Last month, she died in a Los Angeles hospital at 35 years old. The cause of death was sepsis — a bacterial infection that overwhelmed her body. She had been living near Skid Row, malnourished and without access to healthcare, after years of opioid dependence that began with a prescription after a back injury and eventually progressed to heroin and fentanyl. According to her family, she had been missing for nearly a decade. She was not a cautionary tale. She was a person with a treatable disease who didn’t receive adequate treatment. In Episode 60 of The Dr. Suzette Glasner Podcast, addiction scientist and clinical psychologist Dr. Suzette Glasner examines the forces that shaped Daveigh Chase’s story — and why it keeps repeating. From the specific psychological vulnerabilities that make child performers uniquely susceptible to addiction, to the way opioid dependence progresses from prescription use to fentanyl, to the homelessness-addiction spiral that claimed her life long before the infection did — Dr. Glasner walks through what the science actually tells us about how this happens and what it would take to intervene earlier. You can watch the full episode here: Daveigh Chase’s death wasn’t an overdose in the traditional sense. It was a body weakened by years of fentanyl use, malnutrition, and disconnection from care, exposed to an infection it couldn’t survive. That’s what dying from addiction often actually looks like — not a single moment, but a slow accumulation of harm that the healthcare system never found a way to interrupt. Dr. Glasner also addresses what families can do when someone they love seems unreachable — drawing on evidence-based approaches including CRAFT, harm reduction, and Housing First that don’t require waiting for rock bottom. Tylor Chase. Tyler Christopher. Daveigh Chase. The names change. The structure doesn’t. This episode is about why — and what we can do better. Resources mentioned in this episode: * CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training): smartrecovery.org * SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 — free, confidential, 24/7 * Al-Anon: al-anon.org * Naloxone locator: nextdistro.org If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe to The Dr. Suzette Glasner Podcast so you never miss a new episode — and consider leaving a review. It makes a real difference in helping others find the show. Have a question, a topic you’d like Dr. Glasner to cover, or a story you think deserves attention? Reach out at AskDrGlasner@gmail.com — she reads every message. 🎧 Listen and subscribe: The Dr. Suzette Glasner Podcast / Dr. Suzette Glasner [https://substack.com/profile/197081893-dr-suzette-glasner] 🧩 Learn more: drglasner.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit drglasner.substack.com [https://drglasner.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Cannabis, Anxiety & Depression: The Science Will Surprise You

Is Cannabis Good for Depression and Anxiety? What the Science Actually Says. Millions of Americans use cannabis to manage anxiety and depression. Perceived risk is at an all-time low. And yet — the clinical evidence tells a very different story than the cultural narrative. In this episode, clinical psychologist and addiction scientist Dr. Suzette Glasner breaks down three recent studies that every person using cannabis for mental health, every parent, and every clinician should know about. You can watch the full episode here: A 2026 study followed nearly half a million adolescents and found that individuals who used cannabis had more than double the risk of developing psychosis and bipolar disorder — with cannabis use preceding the diagnosis by almost two years. A Lancet Psychiatry review published the same year found no convincing evidence that cannabis effectively treats anxiety, depression, or PTSD — the conditions Americans most commonly say they use it for. And the potency problem: the cannabis on dispensary shelves today — flower at 15-20%+ THC, concentrates up to 90%. This matters because it directly impacts the risk of psychiatric and medical complications. Dr. Glasner also covers the conditions cannabis is FDA-approved to treat and why the answer surprises most people. In this episode: * Why perceived risk of cannabis has hit historic lows — and why that matters * What cannabis is actually FDA-approved to treat vs. what people use it for * The JAMA adolescent study: 463,000 teens followed over time * The Lancet review: examining evidence for cannabis as mental health treatment * Why potency matters 🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes on addiction science and mental health.📩 Questions or topic requests: AskDrGlasner@gmail.com [AskDrGlasner@gmail.com]🧩 drglasner.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit drglasner.substack.com [https://drglasner.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]