Author: Leonard Buschel

WHERE TWO OR MORE AREN’T GATHERED – May 24, 2023 – The odds of engaging in telehealth treatment for addiction, however, increased from 7.4 percent in 2019 to 45.9 percent after the start of the pandemic. In addition to the general increase, the researchers found that those aged 18 to 34 had the sharpest increases in telehealth use. Further, there was no evidence that disparities in addiction treatment were exacerbated, leading researchers to conclude that telehealth could be effective in this type of care. “It was comforting to know that there was increased utilization even with the pandemic shift to…

VIDEO – BULLSHIT? – May 23, 2023 – Many have turned to diabetes drug Ozempic to lose weight, but some are reporting it has helped them curb their addictions as well. Neurologist Dr. Thomas Pitts explains that this might be because of how the drug affects the brain. Ozempic works on specific receptors in the brain to create a feeling of satisfaction. “So, they make you feel full when you haven’t eaten. They make you feel like you’ve smoked a cigarette when you didn’t smoke one,” Pitts said. “So, you get the satisfaction, essentially, from being full without eating. And…

TIME TO GO DEEPER – May 25, 2023 – When told correctly, these stories uplift and illuminate the often-misunderstood realities of addiction, breaking through the barriers of stigma to spark better understanding and stronger support for the empathetic treatment of substance use disorders. But, when told incorrectly, the same stories have the power to further stigmatize, stereotype and disempower those affected. Despite best efforts to share lived experience and the phenomenology of addiction, the delicate waters of representation and authenticity are often, and often unknowingly, ripe with tokenism. Tokenism is the practice of making only a symbolic effort to…

VIDEO – ONE WAVE AT A TIME –  May 24, 2023 – I had a spiritual awakening. I started making the YouTube videos to help me stay sober. Surfing was reintroduced to my life. I had a lot of time on my hands. I wasn’t partying. I was just living my life. I surfed every day. I became the novelty guy. I think I popularized it. I was surfing the bay, when the waves got big enough to wrap around the island. My big breakthrough performance was when I surfed the Cape May ferry. It puts out a little wake…

SOBRIETY TV IS ADDICTIVE – May 25, 2023 – Like Mulaney’s, my early sober life was a hall of fun-house mirrors, each one waiting to reveal a new, terrible reflection. During a tearful conversation with my wife on our couch in 2015, I quit drinking—and in that instant split into two warring factions of myself. There was the sober me who chose to seek help, and the drunken me who had clanged around in my life months, weeks, hours before. It didn’t make sense. Quitting was subtraction, I thought. But days felt longer without hangovers for me to sleep through,…

VIDEO – SOBER SONGS – May 11, 2023 – Debby Friday talks to Damhnait Doyle about how writing her latest album was a way to process a tumultuous period… Watch@CBC

“No mater how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you’re keeping the man-child alive.” – John Cassavetes, 1929, New York, NY–1989, Los Angeles, CA

VIDEO – GOOD STASH –  May 12, 2023 – Four years in, I was taking two pills to get to sleep and a whole one in the middle of the night. The sixth year, which was 2008, I was taking 10 pills — nine at night and then breaking a single one up during the day because the withdrawal would be too bad if I didn’t have something in my system. To have a steady supply, I went to different doctors for the same prescription. I had almost all my doctors prescribing me Ambien — my OB-GYN, regular doctor, orthopedic…

MAYBE – May 12, 2023 – The word “addiction” is probably over-used in our culture. Clinically, it means compulsive use of drugs; colloquially, we stretch its use to refer to addiction to things that probably don’t fit the clinical definition, like when we speak of addiction to screens or kombucha. Now, as the opioid crisis has precipitated a huge investment in a public health apparatus devoted to treating addiction, public health experts have coined a new term: pre-addiction. The idea behind the label is that it could be a useful concept for ascertaining one’s risk of developing a drug addiction.…

VIDEO – NEVER ENDING – May 15, 2023 – “The days of needing to go in some dark alley to get drugs, now you can just … Young people especially are going online,” Forget said. “Knowing who your children hang out with in real life, if you will, is not enough. You need to know, parents need to know what their kids are doing online.” Of course, that’s not always possible to do. So, Forget recommended that parents talk to their kids about the topic as much as they can, it’s an expression people around me are very familiar with.”…

BIG PHARMA STRIKES AGAIN – May 11, 2023 – “This is a global public health concern,” said Tamar Pincus, lead author on the study and a professor at the University of Southampton. “Chronic pain is a problem for millions who are prescribed antidepressants without sufficient scientific proof they help, nor an understanding of the long-term impact on health.” Investigators from several universities across the United Kingdom conducted a network meta-analysis to determine if antidepressants were effective for managing chronic pain and if there were any unwanted effects associated with their use. In total, 176 trials consisting of 28,644 people with…

AND TAKES A SWIM – May 15, 2023 – Fans immediately headed to his comment section to not only applaud his major accomplishment, but also to compliment his radiant skin and seemingly “ageless” complexion, as one wrote. “You’re aging in reverse!” another commented added as someone else replied, “No wonder you look so good and young.” Lowe’s famous friends also shared some sweet words, with Gwyneth Paltrow commenting, “We are so proud of you. We love you so much.” Kristin Chenoweth left two red heart emojis of approval, and Katherine Schwartzenegger wrote, “Bravo” with a gold hands raised emoji. The…

VIDEO – BACK TO THE PRESENT – May 12, 2023 – Fox can still recall telling his wife the diagnosis he would keep from the world for nine years. “I remember the exact moment, exactly where we were,” says Fox, gesturing to the bedroom hallway just off-camera where he heard Pollan respond with the powerful words, “In sickness and in health.” Michael J. Fox has been many things in his remarkable life: a “Family Ties” Young Republican, a “Back to the Future” time traveler and a “Spin City” political adviser. But he was never a pumpkin until Parkinson’s disease. “Can…

CANDY KILLS – May 18, 2023 – At the time, Baayarsaikhan — who said he’s struggled with his weight his entire life — was the heaviest he’s ever been: 500 lbs. The married father of two said that the doctor’s appointment was a much-needed wake-up call. “I have two kids. I was still young. I was 29 at the time. And my doctor told me that my life expectancy was like mid-forties,” he said, of the January 2021 medical visit, which was originally prompted by severe, persistent exhaustion. “I thought, I don’t want to die in my forties. I want…

3 MONTHS AND COUNTING – May 17, 2023 – As a star thrust into the spotlight at an early age, Liam Payne turned to drinking to help him cope with the pressures and stressors of fame. “It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage and underneath the Disney costume I was pissed quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on,” he said. “I mean, it was fun. We had an absolute blast, but there were certain parts of it where it…

SOBER PEOPLE CAN ROCK – May 15, 2023 – After receiving several messages and comments about people’s struggles with sobriety due to their jobs, Jon decided to start a project called Sober People. He interviews individuals whom are living sober lives while also working jobs in which sobriety may be especially difficult to maintain. Jon first found bartenders on Mass Ave who are currently bartending while sober. After the success of his first interviews, Jon continued the search of other lines of work that may make it hard on people’s sobriety. This lead him to musicians including Apes of the…

AND THE HEALING HAS BEGUN – May 12, 2023 – “It’s made a really huge difference,” George says. “I get to bed at 9pm every night, I wake up at 6am, I listen to music, I play music, I go to the gym, I spend quality time with a small number of people – I’ve developed really, really strong boundaries about how I spend my time and who I spend it with.” It’s an “investment” in himself, he says, but it isn’t always easy. “When you’ve got a bank holiday weekend and a lot people are sat in a beer…

VIDEO – MUST WATCH – May 16, 2023 – 1. Addiction is such a cunning enemy of everyone, starting from the addict who is totally destroyed to become servant of this malicious desease … 2. My first husband died of alcohol addiction he was 45 nasty i was scared every day,  now my second husband has been in rehab about 6 times he’s not nasty  ,he’s started drinking again. 3. Seems like a good documentary I am gonna have to tune in. He’s a proper sort.  WATCH@YouTube

LITERARY ROCK STAR – May 20, 2023 – Witty, provocative, linguistically daring – and, in his heyday, a celebrity. Martin Amis was often described as the Mick Jagger of the literary world (and Carrie Bradshaw was seen reading his novels in Sex in the City).He was one of the key names on that era-defining first list of best British novelists under 40, famously chosen by Granta in 1983, and every decade since. Amis was by then already established as the enfant terrible of English literature. His semi-autobiographical first novel The Rachel Papers had propelled him onto the literary scene in 1973. It…

A WHALE OF A STORY – May 20, 2023 – A trio of orcas worked together to sink a yacht off the coast of Spain, the latest in a string of similar incidents involving the marine mammals and European boats. Since 2020, there have been “continuous” reports of orcas having these kinds of “interactions” In 2022, orcas sank two sailboats off the coast of Portugal.  READ@HUFFPOST

HOPE NOT DOPE – May 17, 2023 – An estimated 109,680 overdose deaths occurred last year, according to numbers posted Wednesday by the CDC. That’s about 2% more than the 107,622 U.S. overdose deaths in 2021, but nothing like the 30% increase seen in 2020, and 15% increase in 2021. While the overall national number was relatively static between 2021 and 2022, there were dramatic changes in a number of states: 23 reported fewer overdose deaths, one — Iowa — saw no change, and the rest continued to increase. Eight states — Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and…

I WONDER – May 19, 2023 – Chakravarthy, whose hospital is in northern Orange county, has in recent years, like many other medical providers across the country, seen an increase in fentanyl use, which is as much as 50 times more potent than heroin. He saw one man in his early 40s who was hospitalized dozens of times because of overdoses, withdrawal, skin infections and ulcers from injecting heroin. Chakravarthy estimates he was revived by naloxone, which can be administered quickly into an overdose victim’s nostrils, at least four times. He once came to the hospital with blood squirting from…

A REAL NEWCOMER – May 16, 2023 – He again asked me to consider meetings, such as those Alcoholics Anonymous hold, and I asked him why he was pushing it so much. He explained that addictions are isolating, and abstinence is harder to maintain without the support of like-minded people. I am wondering if I should perhaps try AA again. It might be a different experience when I’ve had several months’ sobriety. We’ll see. When I was admitted to rehab, I felt distinctly uncomfortable – an out-of-body experience. I was there, but yet, I wasn’t. It was very much unknown…

VIDEO – FILMS ARE GOOD –  May 11, 2023 – Jared Callahan is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated director / producer. He founded and runs People People Media, a production company based on a 95-acre farm in the San Francisco East Bay that specializes in personal and unique stories that help amplify voices and increase empathy. His work has been released through The New York Times, PBS, GQ Magazine, The Atlantic, ALTER, NoBudge, Short of the Week & Vimeo Staff Picks. He’s had projects premiere at the best film festivals in the world, including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Austin, Nashville, Palm Springs, Aspen,…

AUDIO – NOT IMPOSSIBLE – May 14, 2023 – Pegg attributes his road to recovery to the birth of his daughter in 2009. While speaking with Laverne, Pegg also shared some details about his relationship with “Mission: Impossible” star Tom Cruise, who he has appeared alongside for four “MI” entries, with the fifth, “Dead Reckoning Part One” releasing this summer. “My relationship with him is just very simple and amiable,” said Pegg. “It’s always been a very easy relationship. I think you realize, when you meet the person rather than the thicket of mythology that’s built up around them, it’s…

FROM ALL TO NOTHING – May 14, 2023 – The former WWE Superstar has endured a lot of difficulties in her life already and despite all the adversities, Saraya has managed to preserve and come out a better person because of them. In the past few years, Saraya has gone through numerous trials and tribulations, especially due to her substance abuse issues and depression. Naturally, she overcame all those obstacles. Saraya took to her Instagram and uploaded a post, where she reflected on her recovery from alcohol and addiction issues via before and after photos of herself, which served as…

NO SO FAST THERE – May 17, 2023 – The Buena Park City Council voted 4-0 at its May 9 meeting to impose stricter regulations on group homes. This proposal came after resident complaints of construction during early-morning and late-evening hours, secondhand smoke, noise, loitering, trash, traffic and other aspects of the homes that residents say are not compatible with single-family neighborhoods. Councilmember Susan Sonne first brought the item forward at the council’s March 14 meeting after discussing the issue with residents from Blue Bell Drive — a street that includes a group home with over a dozen residents. “I…

IT IS BLACK & WHITE – May 11, 2023 – Whiteout is written by three uniquely qualified individuals whose research and writing overlap. As a result, the book includes an astonishing amount of material backing up their assertion that Whiteness is foundational. You’ll find sentences that need underlining on every page. Their recent webinar, moderated by historian Robin D.G. Kelley and sponsored by Haymarket Booksand the Drug Policy Alliance, is also recommended viewing. Jules Netherland is a sociologist and policy advocate. Her experience ranges from working in a soup kitchen with Franciscan monks to buprenorphine researcher to policy advocate. Her…

HOW MUCH DID THEY PROFIT? – May 17, 2023 – Walgreens has agreed to pay San Francisco nearly $230 million to settle a lawsuit over its role in the city’s opioid crisis, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said Wednesday. The pharmacy giant will pay $229.6 million to the city over the next 14 years, Chiu said in a press release, with the majority of this payment coming in the first eight years. The funds will be used to assist with the city’s drug addiction problems. Chiu noted that cities like San Francisco “have shouldered much of the burden of…

TIME TO LEGALIZE HEROIN? – May 18, 2023 – Xylazine has taken a stronghold in Philadelphia, a city at the forefront of addiction crisis and care. A 2021 study conducted by the city’s public health department found traces of it in more than 90% of samples of dope—a mix of different illicit drugs. It’s unclear exactly how many people in Philadelphia are using xylazine, but in 2021, at least 434 fatal overdoses there involved xylazine. How lethal and dangerous xylazine is remains a mystery, and as puzzled health care providers struggle, fear grows that the crisis will escalate in other…