The Addicts Doc with Dr. Nicole LaborThe Addicts Doc with Dr. Nicole Labor
Addict II Athlete Podcast
Coach Blu Robinson talks with Dr Nicole Labor about addiction medicine, medication-assisted treatment, cannabis, ketamine and why recovery needs both medical and therapeutic work. Dr Labor shares her own recovery journey, her staged model of rebuilding life, and her no‑nonsense perspective on so‑called miracle cures.
44:48•12 Oct 2026
The Addicts Doc: Straight-Talking Science, MAT, and Making Recovery Your Own
Episode Overview
- Medication-assisted treatment can reduce overdose risk and cravings, but real growth still requires therapy, behaviour change and ongoing work.
- There is no single correct path in addiction treatment; medical and therapeutic models both matter and need to be combined rather than pitted against each other.
- High-potency cannabis is linked to psychosis and cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, particularly in young people, and is far stronger than past generations realise.
- Tools like ketamine, psychedelics and ibogaine may provide a ‘reset’ for some, but without continued learning and habit change, old patterns are likely to return.
- Dr Labor’s framework of survive, strive, arrive and thrive encourages people in recovery to move beyond just not using and towards building a fuller, more ambitious life.
“Addiction has nothing to do with drugs. It has everything to do with learning and it has everything to do with habit and routine.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This conversation between Coach Blu Robinson and Dr Nicole Labor (aka “the addicts doc”) pulls back the curtain on addiction medicine with a mix of brutal honesty, humour, and hard science. Dr Labor, a board‑certified addiction medicine physician with over two decades in recovery herself, talks through how she went from using heroin in medical school to running multiple treatment facilities in Ohio.
Her style is far from soft and fluffy; she jokes she can be a “helpful dick,” and many patients appreciate being spoken to directly rather than coddled. A big chunk of the chat looks at medication‑assisted treatment (MAT) and why so many people still misunderstand it. She explains why taking buprenorphine once a day isn’t the same as chasing a high and argues that, “If you just want to lessen the cravings… medicine’s all you need.
But if you want to grow as a person… then you need to do some actual work.” The pair push for a genuine partnership between the medical and therapeutic models instead of a turf war. You’ll hear clear warnings about today’s ultra‑potent cannabis, rising cases of psychosis, and conditions like cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.
Dr Labor also weighs up ketamine, psychedelics and ibogaine as tools that might ‘reset’ someone, but only if they’re followed by ongoing work, not used as a magic reset button. Towards the end, she shares her books, including *The Addictaholic Reconstructing*, where she breaks recovery into stages: survive, strive, arrive and thrive. Her message is that sobriety is just the starting line; life can be rebuilt and then upgraded.
For anyone in or around recovery who wants straight talk about MAT, weed, “miracle cures” and what long‑term change really demands, this one offers plenty to chew on. What stage are you in—just surviving, or ready to thrive?
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