Author: Leonard Buschel

MAKE HIM TAKE A HANDFUL – Sept. 4, 2026 – Christopher Herndon, 41, was arrested . During the search, the SWAT team seized a significant quantity of controlled substances, including 849.2 grams of fentanyl, 1.33 kilograms of methamphetamine, 1.25 kilograms of powder cocaine, and 57.3 grams of crack cocaine. Additionally, authorities recovered nearly $12,000 in cash, three vehicles, and a notebook containing the written phrase, “No police will come to me.” Read More

LIMITED SOBRIETY PROGRAM – Sept. 10, 2026 – (Jerry Delgado, husband Sam and their son, Ryder,) Delgado quit drinking as soon as he learned his health was at risk, and more than a year after his transplant, he has remained sober and is now a full-time parent to a 15-month-old. The liver transplant, he said, saved his life in more ways than one. “But I’ve learned that I am worth it, and I’m worth the beautiful life I have now.” Read More

YOUR PLACE – Sept. 8, 2026 – Hayden said she started drinking and taking pills like ecstasy and other party drugs as a teenager, but didn’t see it as a problem at the time. Opened last year, the social enterprise hires graduates of New Roads Therapeutic Recovery Community, a long-term recovery program for men and women with moderate to severe substance use who are motivated to change their lives. Read More

JUST IN TIME – Sept. 6, 2026 – “I started using really young,” Glanzman said. “ It’s weird because I grew up in the upper-middle class. I had whatever I wanted, definitely all I ever needed. It wasn’t something that anybody thought would happen.” That changed when Glanzman got injured playing sports in high school. “I started to kind of experiment with pain pills,” Glanzman said. “Getting prescriptions were really easy to come by. Vicodin, hydrocodone. They were just like, ‘here you go, here’s some drugs.’ I took them, not really knowing about the severity of it all.” Read More

EARLY AWARENESS – Sept. 10, 2026 – Continued drinking can progress to alcohol associated hepatitis, a severe inflammatory condition that may cause jaundice, fever, liver failure, and even death. Persistent injury eventually activates hepatic stellate cells, which deposit excessive collagen and scar tissue, leading to fibrosis and finally cirrhosis, where healthy liver tissue is permanently replaced by scar tissue. Women tend to move through this disease pathway more quickly than men. Read More

OVERDOSE CRISIS – Sept. 10, 2026 – A man appeared to be overdosing in a parking lot near the KFC at Louisiana and Central. He had an injury to his head, and firefighters quickly checked his pupils and did a body scan. A woman nearby, who appeared dazed and possibly under the influence herself, walked away as first responders tended to the man. Read More

EFFECTIVE PHARMACOTHERAPY – Sept. 10, 2026 – Using medicine (such as methadone) to help treat opioid addiction is called pharmacotherapy. Effective pharmacotherapy services can significantly reduce the health, social and economic harms of opioid addiction. Around 15,000 Victorians rely on pharmacotherapy daily. Opioid addiction disproportionately affects people experiencing disadvantage. Read More

MEN 55 AND OLDER – Sept. 9, 2026 – The number of cancer deaths estimated to be attributable to alcohol in the United States doubled from 1990 to 2023, particularly among men and people aged 55 years and older, according to a University of Miami study published this month, adding to the body of recent research underscoring the health risks of alcohol consumption… Read More

AUDIO – AA LIVE ON STAGE – Sept. 9, 2026 – “The White Chip,” a one-act play might easily have slipped into being an “alcohol-is-evil” sermon if not for the skills of playwright and director. They don’t allow more than a few seconds to pass without a funny one-liner or a funny physical gag. Elements of addiction and recovery, the fast-paced show’s main motifs, are quasi-autobiographical for both. LISTEN

VIDEO – SONG OF THE WEEK – 1,500,000 views – “Aldous Harding has spent a decade confounding audiences, unsettling critics, and producing some of the most genuinely original music of the twenty-first century. WATCH

STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – Sept. 15, 2026 – Brown graduate John Lavitt studied with poet Robert Lax on the Greek island of Patmos. He wrote 500-plus addiction-and-recovery articles for The Fix and now writes reviews for The Hollywood Times. A five-time Los Angeles Press Club honoree, he won first place in 2026 for Best Theatre/Performing Arts Critic, All Media. Read More

BY PATRICK KENNEDY – Sept. 10, 2026 –  Guest colum­nist Patrick J. Kennedy is a former con­gress­man for Rhode Island’s 1st Con­gres­sional Dis­trict. “Iron­ic­ally, the very same year I joined the state legis­lature, the nation marked its first-ever National Recov­ery Month not only to shine a light on the men­tal health and sub­stance use dis­orders roil­ing our nation but also to cel­eb­rate indi­vidu­als in recov­ery. “I’m grate­ful to be 15 years sober and to be among the 22 mil­lion of my fel­low Amer­ic­ans in recov­ery.” Read More

LESSONS LEARNED – Sept. 8, 2026 – One year after opening the doors to Soft Bar, his non-alcoholic bar and café in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the Summer House star celebrated the venue’s first anniversary on Sept. 3 — and admitted to PEOPLE that seeing his dream survive its first year still doesn’t quite feel real. Read More

FAILURE RATE – Sept. 8, 2026 – “The findings challenge a common assumption that antidepressants are an effective treatment for anxiety and depression in people with substance-use disorders,” Menkes says. “What this review shows is that the evidence for that assumption is much weaker than many clinicians realize.” Read More

CROSSING THE LINE – Sept.6, 2026 – It was 7am one day when the car Anna* was driving veered off the road and almost crashed into a tree. “I had taken a sleeping tablet, but forgotten,” she recalls. “I fell asleep at the wheel and literally almost killed myself.” Anna was on the way to buy cocaine at the time. “When I came to, all I was fixated on was still getting cocaine. That’s all I could think about. Nothing else mattered,” she says. As soon as she got out of the car, she called her drug dealer. “He picked…

AUDIO – BREWING PROFITS – Sept. 6, 2026 – Heineken USA CEO, joins Businessweek Daily live from the grounds of the US Open to discuss the company’s longstanding partnership with the USTA. At this years’ tournament, Heineken announced Serena Williams as the drink makers first ever Heineken 0.0 Global Ambassador. LISTEN

NEW RESERCH – Sept. 9, 2026 – “And then the big one was alcoholism. So it helps alcoholics and she showed data of a 50% decrease in alcoholics in the trial.“ Now, can you imagine the societal benefit of that for people who suffer because of this? Not just them, but their loved ones. Your whole life would change. Read More

SURVEY SAYS – Sept. 8, 2026 – Today, Inova Health released new data revealing fear and stigma remain top barriers preventing those in need from seeking treatment for substance use disorder. Three in four respondents to the Act on Addiction 2026 survey cited fear of exposure as a reason someone experiencing substance use may not seek care. Read More

KNOW THE SIGNS? – Sept. 9, 2026 – Social media; we love it, we need it and we’re certainly not getting rid of it anytime soon. However, research is sadly finding that we have a greater dissatisfaction with ourselves as a result of our increased reliance on online interactions. How many times have you looked at a picture of yourself and hated the way that you looked?  Read More

BEYOND TIME LIMITS – Sept. 6, 2026 – Meta recently reached a $17 billion settlement with states over claims that it fueled teen social media addiction, harming their mental health. The agreement, while seemingly huge, is less than 10% of Meta’s 2025 revenue alone. But the dangers to young people go far beyond media addiction. Read More

RECOVERY MONTH – Sept. 7, 2026 – Recovery Month is held every September and seeks to raise awareness about substance misuse and addiction as well as behavioural and mental health disorders and develop a stronger understanding around these, while also celebrating those that have overcome addiction issues. “Recovery when it’s seen and visible, is contagious . . . so, the way I see numbers increasing in services means that more people who know that they have a substance problem are accessing services.” Read More

30,000 STEPS A DAY – Sept. 10, 2026 – Despite covering more than 30,000 steps a day on average, he said he would “continue to start each day with a walk”. The 42-year-old said he that whenever he felt tired, he “reflected back on what pain really felt like”. He added that rotating between hiking boots, trail shoes and walking sandals seemed to have helped him avoid blisters during the month-long challenge. Read More

“No one can know the joy I experience in just thinking.” – Rudolf Steiner, 1861-1925

ART = HEALTH – August 2026 – When Tara Baggendorf first entered the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (ADAC) rehabilitation facility in Whitmore Square, Adelaide just under two years ago, she had very little understanding of how addiction could appear in its various forms. As someone who was experiencing alcohol addiction and who had grown up with a mother who faced alcoholism, she hadn’t seen much of the impact of drug addiction. “That’s very different,” she said. “It’s also a part of life I didn’t really have much of an understanding [about], and I think the withdrawal is very different.…

FACE IT – Aug. 24, 2026 – A woman has shown off how different her face looks after going without alcohol for 17 months. Heather Corrine Land, 33, ‘used to cry’ over the thought of never being able to drink again but has now been completely sober for over 21 months. Land, from Arizona in the US, suffers from chronic illness and autoimmune deficiencies and even had to take a significant chunk of time off work to help recover during the nadir of her health. Alongside her struggles, Land says she abused alcohol for seven years, even describing herself as…

DYING CHANCE – Aug. 25, 2026 – If you are carrying naloxone for a family member, friend, client, student or someone in your community, seeing two different strengths can raise a reasonable question: If one nasal spray contains 4 mg of naloxone and another contains 8 mg, is the higher dose better? The answer is not as simple as “more is better.” A real-world study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared 4 mg and 8 mg intranasal naloxone used by New York State Police during suspected opioid overdoses. Researchers found no statistically significant difference in survival…

AUDIO ONLY – ALL IN THE FAMILY – Sept. 2026 – It is estimated that one in five children are affected by their parents drinking. LISTEN

VIDEO – PEOPLE WILL DIE – Aug. 28, 2026 – “Without Medicaid being involved, I wouldn’t have been able to come here in the first place, which would have put me at a higher risk of either staying in my addiction, death, or in prison,” said Flieder, who is now a resident and house coordinator in a sober home… However, she’s one of many members who will be impacted by the Recovery Center no longer being part of the Colorado Community Health Alliance Network. “Financially, it’s pretty nerve-wracking just because the costs of classes and therapy and everything else I…

AUDIO – LISTEN UP – Aug. 28, 2026 – Luisa D’Amato’s recent column makes an emo­tional case for man­dat­ory drug rehab­il­it­a­tion, but emo­tion can­not replace evid­ence. The people quoted in sup­port of forced rehab all over­came addic­tion through vol­un­tary treat­ment. None of them were ever com­pelled into rehab, yet their stor­ies are being used to jus­tify coer­cive pro­grams that research shows do not work. The best avail­able evid­ence is clear: man­dat­ory rehab con­sist­ently under­per­forms vol­un­tary treat­ment. A global review of 42 stud­ies found neg­at­ive out­comes in most invol­un­tary pro­grams and no sus­tained reduc­tion in drug use. In Mas­sachu­setts, people forced…

TIK TOCK – Sept. 1, 2026 – The 28-year-old New York resident just released his memoir, “I Think My Therapist Hates Me” (Simon Element, 305 pp.). The titular therapist does not hate him, but readers are in for a surprise if they’ve skipped over any of Olsen’s candid videos about his addiction or relationship woes. “Therapist” covers his mother’s alcoholism and descent into his own; his boarding school situationships; his coming out as gay; his parents’ divorce; his rehab during college; and his ascent into social media stardom peppered with heartbreak. At 19, he didn’t consider his intervention, and subsequent…