VIDEO – NO PAIN, NO SHAME – Jan. 24, 2023 – The third and final defendant in a federal oxycodone case in Baltimore County was sentenced on Tuesday, almost five years after the investigation began. Dr. Norman Rosen, 84, was sentenced in federal court to four months of home detention as part of 18 months of probation, followed by three years of supervised release, for running a so-called pill mill out of his offices in Towson and Owings Mills. The sentence comes in exchange for pleading guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone in connection with…
Author: Leonard Buschel
HOW MANY DOCTORATES? – Jan. 26, 2023 – Twenty-five defendants, including school directors and diploma recipients, were charged in the scheme and each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Attorneys for defendants were not listed in a federal court database Thursday. The Department of Justice along with the Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General carried out the investigation, dubbed Operation Nightingale. Prosecutors said the scheme put patient safety at risk as required training programs exist to “protect the public from harm by setting minimum qualifications and competencies.” Click@YahooNews
VIDEO – PROTECT THE BODY TEMPLE – Jan. 22, 2023 – These particular guidelines took almost two years to develop. Most of the available literature is basic science or animal science. The clinical data is unfortunately mostly still observation data. As there are more acceptable applications of cannabis, I would expect there to be more research. As we get more data, we may update the guidelines. Personally, I started to gain more interest about five or six years ago as states, including Ohio, began researching allowing medicinal cannabis. I released a textbook on cannabis and pain. The majority of practicing…
HISTORY IS FUN – Jan. 19, 2023 – From then on, for as long as he lived, the memory of that experience would ground the deep sense of empathy that empowered his ministry to alcoholics, drug addicts, spouses in troubled marriages, people with anxiety disorders, the incarcerated and anyone with a problem. More than anything else—even more than the crippling arthritis that would calcify his spine—that memory would enable him to speak with authority about how God awaits us in the depths of our suffering. Click@AmericaMagazine
VIDEO – THE EMPRESS IS WEARING NEW CLOTHES – Jan. 24, 2023 – In the bestselling High Sobriety, Jill Stark famously quit drinking. But, when she took it up again, it was like ‘pouring petrol on a bonfire’ and things went horribly wrong. Jill’s now been sober for three years and says she feels more connected with her authentic self than ever before. What lessons does she have for the sober curious who want to follow her lead? Guest: Jill Stark, journalist and author of Higher Sobriety: My years without booze Click@ABC
IN GOD WE TRUST – Jan 25, 2023 – Declarative memory can be further categorized into episodic memory, which allows the recall of life events and their time and place, and semantic memory, which accounts for the crystallized knowledge of information, rules, and processes without necessarily remembering where or when it was learned. Interestingly, significant memory deficits were found in chronic alcoholics who tended to display disordered memories of recent events. Sergei Korsakoff found one of the dangerous effects of deleterious alcohol use resulted in critical thiamine deficiency, which damages nerve cells, parts of the brain, and the spinal cord.…
VIDEO – SAYING NO TO DRUGS FOR DRUG ADDICTS – Jan. 23, 2023 – Correspondent Douglas Kennedy discusses the debate over MAT and the old fashion way. Click@YahooNews
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN OFF EGGS – Jan. 22, 2023 – Sud was introduced to the impact different diets have on mental health in 2010, when he attended a seven-day immersive retreat hosted by Rip Esselstyn, a New York Times best-selling author who extols the transformative power of a whole food, plant-based diet. Although he didn’t take it seriously then, when he checked into rehab for his opiate and stimulant dependence two years later, Sud built his recovery around the ideas he learned from this event and found that it had a profound impact on the efficacy of his rehabilitation.…
THINK ABOUT IT – Jan. 19, 2023 – According to Pessoa, among the brain’s most astounding properties is its “massive combinatorial connectivity.” Like in any well-connected community where rumors spread nimbly among its members, the brain’s highly structured anatomical entanglement allows signals to travel between neurons in countless combinations, even across parts of the brain that are not directly linked. This “global accessibility” makes our brains highly efficient. A richly connected brain begets a particular way of thinking about it: more in terms of circuits and networks, less in terms of isolated regions; more in terms of a collection of…
THROUGH CAPITALISM – Jan. 23, 2023 – A lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Kara has written on sex trafficking and other forms of so-called modern slavery, part of a new group of abolitionists who claim explicit parallels with the historical fight against the slave trade. Like his previous books, “Cobalt Red” takes the form of a righteous quest to expose injustice through a series of vignettes of exploitation and misery. Kara proposes to take us “down the only road that leads to the truth,” a journey into the Katanga mining region, toward the cobalt hub of Kolwezi, “the new heart…
VIDEO – SO WHY BOTHER? – Jan. 26, 2023 – For more on all of this, I’m joined by Dr. Tim Naimi. He’s an alcohol epidemiologist and the director of the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. Dr. Naimi, great to have you on the “NewsHour.” Before we get to this changing guidance, can you just remind our audience, what do we know about alcohol’s impact on us? Dr. Tim Naimi, University of Victoria: Sure. Well, alcohol is one of the leading behavior-related causes of health problems and deaths, and also some social problems and economic costs,…
“I’ve realized the quirky things that make you different are what make you beautiful” – Lily Collins
HE HAD TO HAVE IT – Jan. 26, 2023 – Given the fashion for public self-flagellation, and indeed for heart-on-sleeve solo comedy, one braces for a show in which Mulaney reckons, lip perhaps a-tremble, with his public fall from grace. But, different vibe notwithstanding, that’s not his style. Yes, he dedicates the whole show to lurid stories of addiction and dysfunctional behaviour. But – as with the one about buying a Rolex watch to trade for drug money, or the one about “equine therapy” for recovering junkies – he makes them fun. There’s no sackcloth and ashes: heart on sleeve…
BRUUUUUUUCE – Jan. 17, 2023 – Asked about the odor, the driver said, “I got to be honest with you, I’ve had a couple of pops.” When the open container was pointed out, the man said it was from earlier. During a field sobriety test, in which he was wearing slippers, the driver had a hard time understanding instructions while also losing his balance. That’s when he said, “I’m well aware of what I’m doing, but you’re also well aware that I’ve been drinking.” Click@Cleveland
THE LIFE MOST WORTH SAVING IS YOUR OWN – Jan. 20, 2023 – “If you’re struggling with or worried about alcohol I PROMISE you that recovery is possible, that you’ve nothing to lose but your shame.” The Limerick native has been open about her journey to sobriety in the past, revealing to Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2017: “As my addiction got worse so did my denial. “Alcohol was the love of my life; it was my best friend.” She also opened up about her battle with depression at the same time, saying it started “suddenly.” “I was…
DON’T ORDER THE GRAPPA – Jan. 17, 2023 – Filling your day when on your travels is important and will help keep away any cravings or temptations. It’s often during the evening when people are most likely to relapse. A good way to combat this is by packing your mornings with commitments and things to do. Not only will this make you feel satisfied with your day, and tired enough to get an early night, you’ll also know that you need a good night’s sleep to get up early for the next day, and thus lessen the chance to…
STOP BEFORE IT STOPS YOUR HEART – Jan. 17, 2023 – With drug deaths hovering at an all-time high and endocarditis cases among drug users up nearly tenfold in the last decade, physicians, researchers, and health officials have begun to confront the problem with more urgency. In particular, doctors are coming to terms with a basic reality: Their hospitals often have few protocols for treating endocarditis patients who use opioids and the withdrawal they’ll likely experience upon admission. “We’re taking steps in the right direction, but we need to do much more,” said Daniel DeSimone, an infectious diseases specialist at…
LIKE ALWAYS – Jan. 12, 2023 – SAMHSA’s new proposals are also geared to help “those who reside far from an OTP or who lack access to reliable transportation to receive treatment … care for loved ones and engage in other required activities of daily living.” That’s good, because 90 percent of clinics are in urban areas. To be sure, the recognition of harmful past practices and that patients should be partners in treatment decisions is positive, but at the same time SAMHSA believes: “Much of what is proposed will not represent a significant burden for OTPs … The…
VIDEO – RESOLUTION? – Jan. 13, 2023 – “It’s really important to me for lots of reasons,” Paul said. “I’ve lost lots of family members to opioid overdoses, right? I’ve lost a nephew, a cousin, my brother, and my son to overdose. So it put a humanity piece to it for me, and it put a human face on it, and so for me, it is my life.” They set up a listening session to hear from people living amid the tragedy. Parkview residents said at the time they wanted action. “Just do a drug sweep, a DEA drug sweep,”…
VIDEO – HE HIT HIS OWN HOME RUN – Jan. 16, 2023 – “Receiving this Key to the City was totally a surprise to me, in all sincerity, walk with god, the maker and giver of all good and perfect gifts, because what I went through, he was preparing his purpose for me,” Jackson said. Jackson works for the Straight and Narrow, the Catholic Diocese of Paterson’s substance abuse program, the same group that helped him recover and get his life back on track. Click@ABC7NY
MUSIC LEGEND – Jan. 19, 2023 – The death came as a surprise to those who followed his very active Twitter account, which he’d kept tweeting on as recently as Wednesday. One of Crosby’s final tweets the day before he died was to make a light-hearted comment about heaven: “I heard the place is overrated … cloudy.” Click@Variety
A NATURAL HIGH – Jan. 21, 2023 – It was about something larger and deeper, a sense of hope that my generation, which came of age in the late 1960s and 70s, had once clung to fiercely but had gradually begun to relinquish as we grew older. It was not just because the disappointments and limits of life had crept up on us, but because something more important seemed to be slipping away: a belief in human connection and progress, in the power of beauty to wash away the petty and cruel impulses of human nature and allow us…
SMOKE GETS IN THEIR EYES – Jan. 9, 2023 – The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom of speech. This freedom includes the ability to speak and the right to not speak at all. The U.S. Supreme Court has also held that speech includes commercial speech, which is advertising. That is because advertising is how manufacturers and retailers “speak” to customers about the products that they sell. A government regulation requiring private companies to print and display anti-smoking graphic health warnings on product packages and in product advertisements has a direct impact on commercial speech and…
VIDEO – MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT – Jan. 21, 2023 – He eventually visited a neurologist the following year who diagnosed him with Parkinson’s disease, and in shock, he responded: “You know who you’re talking to, right? I’m not supposed to get this.” Over the years that followed, he sought solace in alcohol, before quitting altogether. “I drank to dissociate,” he said. “I was definitely an alcoholic. But I’ve gone 30 years without having a drink.” The Back to the Future star kept his diagnosis secret for seven years, taking dopamine pills and holding props in his left hand on…
VIDEO – AMERICAN HISTORY LESSON – Jan. 20, 2023 – In the 1960s especially, the Chelsea Hotel served as a symbol for counterculture, forming the literal background of Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s Chelsea Girls. After a brief romance with Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen wrote his second song about the building, Chelsea Hotel #2, which launched with the immortal line: “I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel.” For her 1992 book Sex, Madonna staged a photo shoot in – where else? – room 822. Conversely, the celebrity hotspot developed a darker reputation: Dylan Thomas died in his bedroom,…
VIDEO ONLY – SOUND ADVICE FOR 2023 – Jan. 20, 2023 – Sobriety Resolution: Have a ‘sober buddy’ video only. Click@YouTube
BRING HOME THE BACON, NOT BRAIN DAMAGE – Jan. 19, 2023 – Like any addiction, workaholism is a real condition. Unfortunately, some consider it an admired trait; it’s not. Scholarly studies show people who are addicted to work are much more likely to burn out and suffer from chronic stress, depression, and anxiety; not to mention have strained relationships with their families. They tie their self-worth to their work achievements, but for most their accomplishments are never enough. Psychologists estimate about 10 percent of the working population is addicted to their work. What do you do if you find…
SHOW ME THE MONEY – Jan. 19, 2023 – The question came out of the blue, or so it seemed to Crossing Healthcare CEO Tanya Andricks: If you had $30 million to design an addiction treatment facility, how would you do it? The interim sheriff of Macon County, Illinois, posed the question in 2018 as he and Andricks discussed the community’s needs. When she responded that she’d have to do some research, she was told not to take too long because the offer wouldn’t be there forever.“I thought: ‘Oh, my God, he’s serious,’” Andricks said. That sheriff was Howard Buffett,…
INTANGIBLES ARE THE MOST VALUABLE – Jan. 19, 2023 – “We simply live in times of heightened responsibility,” Weyns explains. “Modern man has the urge to constantly examine whether he is doing the right thing and taking enough care of himself. Am I exercising enough? Am I eating healthily? And now so too: am I not drinking too much and can I better stop drinking? All these questions go perfectly with the growing interest in our health. “ European countries have the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world. Yet consumption in high-income countries has declined, Claire Davey, a…
VIDEO – GOING TO ANY LENGTHS – Jan. 17, 2023 – For a very long time, Priscila Presley joined the contentious church and even reared her kid there. But in 2013, Lisa Marie Presley left Scientology. As a result of being “surrounded by individuals who were not well-intended,” she quit. It was all too much for the mother-of-three, who went on to add that “it was a huge sinister situation, where there was like, kind of intel and covert ops going on, and a complete attempt to control me that I didn’t know about.” During the divorce procedures between…