VIDEO – JUST MAKING MONEY – Jan. 16, 2024 – A Nashville pharmacy that created a knockoff version of popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro was forced to shut down after its chief operating officer died by suicide, ACA Pharmacy generated millions of dollars in the first half of last year as it capitalized on the craze surrounding weight loss drugs by making a generic version of appetite suppressants like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy. But the pharmacy’s rapid growth led it to hire dozens of pharmacists and technicians who had little to no experience working in a pharmacy,…
Author: Leonard Buschel
VIDEO – LIFE ON THE STREETS – Jan. 17, 2024 – San Francisco recorded 806 accidental drug overdoses in 2023, according to preliminary city data published Wednesday, blowing past its 2022 count of 649 as well as 2020’s previous record of 726 deaths. The powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, which can be fatal even in incredibly small doses, remains a leading factor in the number of accidental overdoses, which spiked during the start of the pandemic. The data shows that fentanyl was in the systems of 653 of the 806 people who died from overdoses in 2023, often in combination…
VIDEO – CARRYING THE MESSAGE – Jan. 16, 2024 – Beverly Johnson says she got hooked on drugs in the 1970s after living on a diet of cocaine, a bowl of rice and two eggs a week in an attempt to become stick-thin. The supermodel — who is celebrating the 50th anniversary of becoming the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue — told Page Six that she took the appetite-killing drug after fashion industry insiders encouraged her to look “chiseled to the bone” for photo shoots. “We were led to believe that cocaine was not…
VIDEO – WHY??? – Jan. 17, 2024 – Colorectal cancer is the deadliest cancer for men under age 50 — and the second deadliest cancer among women in the same age group, behind breast cancer. Among men and women of all ages, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death. Prostate cancer is second for men, and breast cancer is second for women. Colorectal cancer is third, overall, for both sexes. Even as overall cancer deaths continue to fall in the U.S., the American Cancer Society is reporting for the first time that colon and rectal cancers have become…
“There’s a part of you that always remains a child, no matter how mature you get, how sophisticated or weary.” – Barbra Streisand
VIDEO – THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE – Jan. 11, 2024 – Local author and pastor, Anthony Torres, joined us on our morning show and talked about his new book that breaks the silence of alcoholism. Torres says his new book, “Sober” is more about breaking a generational pattern regarding alcoholism. In his new book, Torres says he talks about healing, forgiveness, and more on how to live a sober life. “It’s about applying. It’s more than just wanting to get sober and clean. It’s actually applying the things to their life so they can get sober,” Torres said.…
VIDEO – WATCH THEM HERE – Jan. 11, 2024 – Even as someone actively working a 12 step program, Frere-Jones says his first instinct was to reject the idea of good songs about not drinking. “Music sort of makes me drunk, and I don’t want to think about sobriety when I listen to music,” he says. “Don’t preach to me. Don’t tell me what to do. I don’t want that in my music.” He associated drinking with certain artists he loved, such as Elliott Smith. “That was my guy,” he says. “I don’t think anyone has ever written about…
NO RESPECT? – Jan. 7, 2024 – America’s rampant child neglect doesn’t stop with its lack of day care. Infants are more likely to die in childbirth in America than in any other rich nation … Among 38 leading Western nations, American kids account for 97% of child gun deaths. Then there are the mass shootings. In the tragedies of Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and Uvalde, Texas, the gunmen were scarcely out of childhood themselves, failed by their society and by family members they also killed or wounded. More than 95% of American schools run active-shooter drills, and companies now sell…
NIC-SICK – Jan. 9, 2024 – According to the American Lung Association vapes and pure liquid nicotine contain higher amounts of nicotine than cigarettes. Those who have nicotine poisoning could be met with a host of grim symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, dizziness, headaches, confusion, diarrhea, shallow breathing and extreme fatigue – and in some cases it can even be fatal. n March last year, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told LADbible: “While vaping is a preferable alternative to smoking for adults, we are concerned about the rise in youth vaping, particularly the increasing use…
READING MATTERS – Jan. 8, 2024 – Michael Clune’s White Out is among the most intense and intellectually thrilling books on opiate addiction. Clune was a promising postdoc in English literature, but just a few years earlier his life had been touch and go, as he juggled the competing demands of grad school and heroin addiction. The publishing history of Michael Clune’s memoir White Out: The Secret Life of Heroin straddles these two eras: It came out in 2013, the year the US government first acknowledged an opioid epidemic, but was largely written in the late 2000s, at the…
JUST SAY NOT NOW – Jan. 11, 2024 – Americans may not say it aloud, but drug addiction has long been considered a moral failing. “Just say no,” as Nancy Reagan famously declared during the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 80s. That thinking has been slow to evolve. Scientists have learned in recent years that quitting something you’re addicted to isn’t a sudden process. If we shift our mindset about what it takes to quit, they say, we’ll see there are intermediate benefits to a gradual approach. People can live healthier lives if they wean themselves off drugs, a new…
OUT OF THE ROUGH – Jan. 8, 2024 – Nine months on from his victory at the Honda Classic, the 38-year-old has had to wait far less time for a win this time around. Last year’s triumph in Florida had marked Kirk’s first PGA Tour success in almost eight years, and his first since committing to sobriety four years prior Candid about his experiences since his return from his six-month absence, Kirk was named the recipient of the PGA Tour’s Courage Award for 2023, presented to an individual who “through courage and perseverance, has overcome extraordinary adversity, such as…
CONFESSIONAL – Jan. 12, 2024 – For McDaniel, the peak moment was confessing to his wife, Katie about the alcohol addiction. “Telling [my wife] really undercut all of her investment into me, and was leaving our family vulnerable,” shared McDaniel, expressing the profound impact of his admission on his family. In the latest episode of HBO”s Hard Knocks, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel bravely shares his personal struggle with alcoholism during his tenure as the Offensive Assistant with the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 to 2016. McDaniel candidly admitted, “After year one, people on the coaching staff identified that I…
DRILL BABY DRILL – Jan. 9, 2024 – ‘I believe every problem is an opportunity’ – this Dry January, Eszter Janusek explains why last year she chose to stop drinking alcohol and how it has transformed her life. To be able to find the right path or to judge situations correctly and act accordingly couldn’t afford to be delusional, delirious, drunk, having a hangover, tired or depressed. Sometimes we need to face reality and endure the consequences of our previous bad decisions due to carelessness or narcissistic behaviour. We all like to believe at some point we are indestructible, nothing…
NO COKE, NO VODKA, NO ACID – Jan. 12, 2024 – Journalist and author Michelle Lhooq described getting “California sober” by quitting every substance except marijuana and psychedelics in a 2019 Vice article. Telling myself I can never have a drink or smoke marijuana is setting myself up for failure because I am such a black-and-white thinker,” Demi Lovato. Some who adhere to the California sober lifestyle claim that it helps them cut back on alcohol. However, replacing booze with marijuana isn’t necessarily a safer choice, according to Anand. “People who replace alcohol with marijuana are more likely to…
ROCK PAPER SCISSORS – Jan. 12, 2024 – Experts say the United States has a near-nationwide struggle when it comes to many vices. But the country’s three greatest addictions are varied, with statistics suggesting America has the biggest problem with illicit drugs and, perhaps surprisingly, video games and work. “We have to acknowledge the US appears to have a deeply rooted cultural affinity for excess, whether alcohol, food, media consumption, or other outlets,” psychologist Daniel Glazer told Newsweek. “Instant gratification and constant stimulation shape societal values and expectations. Coupled with lax regulations around substances and pervasive advertising, Americans face a…
YES, NO, MAYBE – Jan. 11, 2024 – It seems clear that people are hungry for alternatives to traditional treatment for addiction—aka “rehab”—and that many could be well-served by individual psychotherapy. Unfortunately, many therapists are hesitant to work with active substance abusers… To address this, I’ve developed a broad framework that can serve as a foundation for effectively working with substance use issues. The three pillars are motivational assessment and enhancement, recovery skills and action-oriented approaches, and long-term psychotherapy using the conceptual framework of your choice (more on that below). By using these models, you can join me in…
WRITE DOWN YOUR STORY – Jan. 12, 2024 – So what is the attraction? Of course, Richard is “gorgeous.” He has “dark brown hair and brown eyes [that] perfectly matched his medium complexion.” He has “strong arms that I imagined could wrap you up and hold you forever.” They meet through Yvonne’s older sister’s boyfriend. Soon Yvonne’s asking Richard for a favor — to buy liquor for her party because she’s underage. He agrees. Later, while she’s finishing a paper on Eugene O’Neill and his connection to Provincetown, Richard calls and asks her for a date. He cooks her…
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING – Jan. 10, 2024 – When Braxton Clark was in high school, he used marijuana to control his emotions. At 17, he used it every day. When he was 18, he had a psychotic episode after using cannabis and was admitted to a hospital. He spent the next three years sober. Then one day he tried cannabis again. Before long, he was back in the hospital. I had lost my faculties. I wasn’t making sense,” said Clark, now 24. He has been sober a year and is thriving in college with the help of…
THE WEIGHT – Jan. 11, 2024 – Davy Short is afraid he’s going to die, either from the alcohol or the elements, or some combination of both. The St. John’s man, homeless since September, says alcoholism is ruining his life. But while drinking has made it difficult to maintain housing, his lack of housing has made it difficult to get treatment for his drinking. Short is on a wait-list to go to an in-patient rehabilitation program in nearby Harbour Grace but has been told he can’t get in without a permanent address to be released to when it’s…
BET IT CAN – Jan. 11, 2024 – Professor David Nutt oversees an early brain scanning study involving gambling stimuli. The results of this work, which have yet to be published, were positive. “We found what we were looking for, in that the gamblers brains lit up in core reward processing regions in response to gambling-related videos, which was not seen in the healthy control subjects.” The next step is to carry out a limited trial to see if the mechanisms identified are affected when someone takes psilocybin. This work is being supported with a UKRI Impact Acceleration Account…
MUSIC MATTERS – Jan. 12, 2023 – Katie Crutchfield, 35, credits the shift to maturity, sobriety and success – although, she makes clear, they are all linked … Katie is referring to the boundaries she’s developed over the last three years – insulating herself not only against drugs and alcohol, but also the distractions and drains on her energy as an artist and a human being. Tigers Blood is more outward-looking than its predecessor, without an overarching narrative. Saint Cloud had “such a neat little bow on it: ‘This is an album about someone getting sober,’” Crutchfield says, ironically.…
by Dr. Louise Stanger BOUNCING BACK – Jan. 12, 2024 – Life inevitably brings periods of difficulty, stress, and hardship. From personal tragedies to collective crises, adversity can shake us to the core. Yet the capacity to endure, adapt and recover from such hardship-known as resilience-allows us to emerge stronger. READ@FabworldToday
A GOOD START – Jan. 6, 2024 – There is Another Way to Happiness: The Four Step CAST Process that Will Transform Your Life. 1. Consciousness 2. Awareness 3. Surrender 4. Trust … all explained in full. The book guides readers through a 13-week mindfulness journey to help beginners and experienced meditators learn to tame their reptile brains. “I meditate three times a day but they’re not all long meditations,” he said. “But there are at least three times a day in which I sit down and think: ‘What am I thinking? Why am I thinking it? Is it…
VIDEO – MAKING WAVES – Jan. 11, 2024 – He’s also been to jail and to rehab, and won a national title wearing a court mandated ankle bracelet after not surfing for almost two years. Today, Zeke’s still sober and surfing–a lot. “Meet The Surfer Who Went From Prison to Landing The Craziest Airs in Surfing! “When you think of an adrenaline junkie who lives life ‘off the chain,’ Jacob Szekely aka ‘Zeke’ embodies that. From freeway surfing to sending acid drops off the bluff at Steamer Lane to booking spontaneous trips to surf the best waves around the world,…
VIDEO – JUST MAN ENOUGH – Jan. 10, 2024 – He’s completely transformed his personal life by getting sober, putting a bigger focus on parenting, and keeping a strong bond with his father and brother, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. While many areas of his life are on the mend, Sheen faced an alarming attack by a neighbor in his Malibu home shortly before Christmas. Law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital, “Sheen heard knocking on his door, slightly opened it and saw his neighbor Electra Schrock standing there. Schrock pushed her way into Sheen’s home and began grabbing at…
VIDEO – FLORIDA, Where using is safer than rehab? – Jan. 12, 2024 – People seeking treatment for addiction in Florida can find 3,000 programs from the Panhandle to the Keys. The newspaper followed a couple lost in the cycle of failed treatment that has come to be known nationally as “The Florida Shuffle.” On Jan. 9, state Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, introduced a bill covering a range of substance use treatment reforms, including a provision that would require DCF to display license applications, inspections, complaints, investigative reports and findings. The Post investigation provided impetus for the Senate bill, Harrell…
VIDEO – ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH – Jan. 11, 2024 – For Leialoha Arcangel, her Sunday morning shift at Zippy’s Vineyard started out anything but normal. “The words were, someone was dead in the back and they needed help.” “I checked his pulse automatic, I checked if he was breathing, he wasn’t. I noticed a needle next to him so in my head automatically I thought he overdosed,” said Arcangel. With one spray up the nose… “Within seconds, he woke up and like I said it instantly worked and I just rubbed his breastbone a couple times to keep him up and…
VIDEO – PLAYING DEAD – Jan, 11, 2024 – Disturbing bodycam footage shows a man’s final moments suffering from an overdose at a hospital before a doctor handed him off to police and suggested they bring him to a bus stop before he later died. A hospital security guard asked for police at 9:45 p.m. to remove man from the emergency department for “being difficult” and refusing to leave. Police reported seeing him “groaning and drooling” and appearing incapacitated. Footage released by the Milwaukie Police Department shows Descamp slumped in a hotel chair with scabs and sores covering his legs,…
A DOWN FOREVER – Jan. 9, 2024 – Bromazolam is a benzodiazepine – a class of drugs used to treat anxiety – Benzodiazepines, or benzos, are depressants that cause sedation, slowing the body and brain down. However, high potency benzos like Bromazolam can cause loss of coordination, drowsiness, dizziness, respiratory depression, and death. he Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) reported the first positive blood test result for the drug in September 2020. Between then and June 2023, there were a total of 1,791 postmortem blood samples supplied to the organization from coroners and medical examiners that…