Dr. Paul Little

“Addiction needs to be recognized as a brain disease and not a moral failing. We need to reduce the stigma of addiction and increase public awareness and, especially, family help.” Dr. Little is the medical director who provides addiction treatment at Laguna Treatment Hospital, an inpatient facility for individuals with substance use disorder. Dr. Little has spent more than half of his 20 years of experience in medicine focused on treating addiction. Dr. Little’s interest in addiction medicine began when he returned to West Virginia after serving as a physician in the U.S. Air Force. During this time, he began work for a consortium of rural health clinics in the hills of Appalachia where he saw a number of loggers and miners abusing opioids to cope with their recurring injuries and chronic pain. Noticing a great need within the community, Dr. Little was among the first in the area to start a Suboxone clinic, a medication-assisted therapy (MAT) program, to help stem the tide of the …epidemic. His groundbreaking work garnered him a community recognition award from the governor of West Virginia in 2009. Today, Dr. Little remains passionate about helping individuals overcome their drug and alcohol addictions. Dr. Little is also an advocate for family involvement in addiction treatment. Witnessing first-hand his own family’s struggles with addiction, he realized the importance of familial support in a person’s long-term recovery, and his treatment philosophy involves including family members in the process whenever possible. In his spare time, Dr. Little enjoys reading novels, mountain biking, hiking and spending quality time with his family.