VIDEO – GRIEF CAN SAVE OTHERS – Aug. 27, 2026 – Chris Stepp’s daughter, Jessica, was found dead in a motel room in Columbia on April 12, 2020 — Easter Sunday. She died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. Stepp said Jessica struggled with substance use for much of her life and experienced significant trauma. Someone was with her when she died, he said. “My only wish is that the person would have had naloxone to save her life,” Stepp said. Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose. At that first walk, Stepp met…
Author: Leonard Buschel
CHOOSE WISELY – Sept. 1, 2026 – California claimed six of the 10 best US cities for sober living, while Texas filled all five of the bottom spots, Top 10 cities for sober living: Read More
VIDEO – SONG OF THE WEEK – ETERNAL : Get Happy: Composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Ted Koehler.”Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again”, medley performado por Barbra Streisand e Judy Garland no “The Judy Garland Show”, em 1963, depois incluída nos álbuns “Just for the Record” (1991) and “Duets” (2002), ambos de Barbra Streisand. WATCH
STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – Sept. 8, 2026 – Joe Schrank is a social worker, journalist, and recovery advocate who co-founded TheFix.com back when nobody was quite sure the internet needed opinions about addiction — turns out it did. He’s been sober for decades, which he does not consider a virtue but a necessity. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date? A. Alcohol. I think I’m an anachronism. I should have been in a different era. At USC, there was all kinds of drug use but I was mostly interested…
TIME WILL TELL – Sept. 1, 2026 – The rapper and singer took to TikTok to share a series of videos as she opened up about her past issues with drugs and alcohol. She revealed she was fearful about speaking on the topic but was taught “to do something every day if I’m on a journey to healing.” Read More
SHE WAS VERY WRONG – Aug. 28, 2026 – “You know you can’t drink your own alcohol on board,” he said. “It’s technically a federal offence.”… I didn’t know I had ADHD yet, I also didn’t realise how much trauma and growing up with alcohol abuse in my family was deeply affecting me. I just knew my brain rarely shut up, and I had spent most of my life finding ways to change how I felt inside it. Over the following year, the drinking escalated while my life continued to look functional. Work became increasingly stressful, my sleep deteriorated, and…
IT AIN’T – Sept. 1, 2026 – Cannabis is more popular than ever, with more than 21 percent of Americans 12 and older saying they used it in the past year. Older adults are the fastest-growing group of cannabis users in the country, and there are now more daily or near-daily users of cannabis than alcohol, according to a 2024 study. Many people who use cannabis say they enjoy the buzz or feelings of relaxation; others may use it to help with sleep and treat pain. But despite perceptions of cannabis’s safety, there are still many unknowns about how long-term…
IT AIN’T GOOD – Aug. 29, 2026 – What most people don’t think about is what happens once that alcoholic drink actually gets into the bloodstream, or whether it even matters if it came from a proper factory or a backstreet brewer. We asked Dr. Wahome Joseph, a toxicologist, to explain what alcohol really does … inside the body, and why some of it doesn’t leave without doing damage on the way out. First, the liver takes it on. But before it gets broken down any further, alcohol reaches the central nervous system, and that’s where things start, with a…
EVERY DOLLAR HELPS – Aug. 31, 2026 – Today, Senator Webb delivered $150,000 to the Addiction Center of Broome County (ACBC) to support the construction of their new building. This presentation coincides with International Overdose Awareness Day, recognized annually on August 31. ACBC is honored and so grateful to receive this funding from Senator Webb, which will be used to relocate our main office from 30 West State Street to 15 Charles Street,” said Carmela Pirich, Executive Director of the Addiction Center of Broome County. “The relocation will assist with adding new offices for therapeutic activities and a specialized treatment…
TRAGIC – Aug. 29, 2026 – The gruesome incident came to light at Juang Sahi in Indipur under Sadar police limits after the woman’s four children alerted neighbours to a fight between their parents. During a subsequent search, neighbours reportedly spotted her hand protruding from a septic tank in the backyard and alerted the police. “He started beating her because he was drunk and also wanted the Subhadra money. At night, he killed her and buried her in the pit. They had both gone to collect the money. He dragged her from the shop to their home,” he alleged. Read…
VIDEO – WATCH THIS – Aug. 28, 2026 – Impact. 100 Wichita Falls members gathered Thursday night for the organization’s annual Big Give, the culmination of months of meeting with and learning about local nonprofits. Co-President Jackie May said the process of meeting the grant nominees helped build excitement leading up to the final vote. “When we met the nominees, that started the process of getting really excited about their projects and what they’re doing and what we’re voting on tonight, and tonight’s the culmination of all of that hard work together,” said May. Co-President Shelly Moser said members spent…
WHAT A COMEBACK – Aug. 28, 2026 – Nobody could overlook the off-the-field community work — bankrolling a college scholarship endowment, a Thanksgiving food drive, a Christmastime gift giveaway — that cast Thomas Davis of the Carolina Panthers as one of the true good guys around Charlotte and across the NFL. Read More
AUTHOR OPENS UP – Aug. 29, 2026 – After your memoir comes out, if you are lucky, someone will interview you, in a bookshop or up on stage at a writers festival. They will have gone to the trouble – again, if you’re lucky – of reading your book and writing a thoughtful introduction. There’ll be a line in it about your alcoholism, or the horrible sex you’ve had, or the intergenerational trauma that runs though your family story like a bright vein through a chunk of igneous rock. How dare you, you’ll think, reflexively, sitting there smiling in front…
IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE – Aug. 25, 2026 – I first met Anne Lamott when I was thirteen, beside the fireplace of my family home. She was a close friend of my dad’s, and we were having a simple dinner of salad and soup. I was so shy that I could barely speak, but I remember the way she looked at me with warmth, genuine curiosity, and humor. This carries through to her writing. It’s part of why I’ve always felt drawn to her, why I felt an easy heart-connection despite our limited time face-to-face. That’s the atmosphere she invites.…
HEAVY RANSOM – Sept.2, 2026 – People with alcohol use disorder experience automatic emotional reactions to alcohol-related images that disrupt their basic decision-making processes. Research published suggests that the brain attempts to offset these cognitive disruptions by increasing activity in regions associated with deliberate thought. According to biological models of addiction, chronic substance use creates a disconnect between the brain’s reward centers and its executive control hubs. Over time, the brain assigns a disproportionate motivational weight to the addictive substance. This means that environmental cues, such as the sight of a bottle or a familiar bar, become highly stimulating and…
“I think it’s always good to remember that you really don’t need anything except a way to be inside yourself and be expansive.” – Laurie Anderson
NOT NORMAL – July 14, 2026 – One week after stopping daily cannabis use, a recovering physician looked at me with obvious frustration, saying, “I thought I’d feel better by now.” He was no longer intoxicated, but he wasn’t sleeping well. Food wasn’t appealing to him. Sex wasn’t enjoyable. His motivation was low,.. his attention wandered, and very few things in his life seemed rewarding. Even though he was a physician, like many patients, he wondered whether he had permanently damaged his brain. Many patients feel worse during the first weeks of abstinence than they expected. They often assume that…
NOBODY’S PERFECT – Aug. 22, 2026 – An Arkansas State Police corporal was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated on drugs after he crashed his state police vehicle near Monticello while on duty on Saturday evening, the state police said in a news release. Cpl. John M. Parker, 45, of Camden also faces a charge of careless and prohibited driving after field sobriety tests following the wreck indicated he was impaired, state police said. Read More
AND IT’S NOT POT – Aug. 22, 2026 – A young Bermudian who faced substance abuse challenges has turned his life around and is planning to become a pilot. Jacob Costa, 25, said a reality check when he watched the door of a jail cell close behind him ignited his drive to pursue new goals. He looked within himself and wondered what chance he had of changing. Two months ago — after weeks of self-doubt and years hooked on drugs — he checked into Dignity House, a rehabilitation facility in Pembroke that helps people with substance abuse and mental health…
AUDIO – FRONT LINE WARRIORS – Aug. 21, 2026 – They must be observed taking their daily medicine, at least in the beginning. The clinician often wears a white lab coat and works behind protective glass. She’ll pour a dose into a small plastic cup – it’s often reddish and clear, like cold medicine – then pass it through a low opening. The patient, who may be fidgety or testy .or dangerously late for work, may throw it back with a resentful snap, as if it were a shot of cheap whisky. It is appallingly bitter, often masked with an…
COMPASSION IS – Aug. 25, 2026 – There is a Catholic dimension to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Bill Wilson, co-founder of AA had a lifelong friend and spiritual advisor, Father Eddie Dowling. Father Dowling recognized AA’s principles of honesty, examination of conscience and surrender to a Higher Power as compatible with Ignatian principles of spirituality. He helped spread AA in its early days and invited thousands in need to join. After 35 years of counseling people with addiction, I discovered that the stories most likely to frighten us aren’t necessarily the stories most likely to change us. Recovery accounts can give…
HOW BAGGY WERE THEY? – Aug. 21, 2026 – The Transportation Security Administration said officers discovered 170 Xanax pills and what was later identified as two ounces of heroin concealed on a passenger after an advanced imaging technology scanner sounded an alarm around his groin and knee areas … Lead TSA Officer Cesar Barajas was operating the advanced imaging technology scanner when it flagged the passenger. Barajas said he had already noticed something unusual before the man entered the machine. Read More
NOT A CARTOON – Aug. 22, 2026 – As I was lazily scrolling through my news feed over coffee last Saturday morning, I came across an article that caught my interest immediately because the topic seemed so … unusual. I don’t know if you were aware of this or not, because I certainly wasn’t, but evidently, there are alcoholic mice. Which would of course account for all of those mysterious stumbling noises and muttered, squeaky invectives that I hear every time I go into the attic. According to the article, addiction researchers found that hard-drinking mice, should they undergo a…
VIDEO – WHEN WILL IT END? – Aug. 21, 2026 – “A lot of people, if they’re not dealing with drug addiction, they don’t even really think about it until it happens to their family.” It happened to Salo and her family in 2017. Her son, Zachary Young, was just 22 years old when he died from a fentanyl overdose. “He passed at home. He was incarcerated for theft, which a lot of them do to support their habit. He was supposed to go from Oakland County to rehab. They never set it up,” Salo said. WATCH
NO ONE IS IMMUNE – Aug. 22, 2026 – Atlantic County Sheriff Joe O’Donoghue attended the annual Overdose Awareness event at Angels in Motion Community Wellness Center in Pleasantville, New Jersey. O’Donoghue returns to this event every year for a very personal reason. His own daughter, Akiko San O’Donoghue died from the power of addiction. Sheriff O’Donoghue attends not only as the Sheriff of Atlantic County, but as a father who knows the devastating pain of losing a child to addiction. He continues to honor the memory of his beloved daughter, whose life was tragically taken by this horrifying disease,…
SWEET DANGERS – Aug. 26, 2026 – Researchers in Germany examined data from over 17,000 people. Those who consumed the highest amounts of xylitol—a sugar alcohol—had significantly higher rates of major adverse cardiovascular events, including heart attack … than people on the lowest amounts, they found. Though not conclusive, the results do suggest more study is needed to figure out whether xylitol can be dangerous to our heart health, the researchers say. Read More
VIDEO – SONG OF THE WEEK – 1,990,857 views, Feb. 2021 – My Tennessee Mountain Home” by Dolly Parton. In my Tennessee mountain home – Life is as peaceful as a baby’s sigh – In my Tennessee mountain home – The crickets sing in the fields nearby. WATCH
STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – Sept. 1, 2026 – Randy Grimes is a former NFL player, author, keynote speaker, and nationally recognized recovery advocate. After a 10-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and overcoming addiction, Randy turned his experience into purpose. Today, he helps individuals and families find hope, healing, and a pathway to lasting recovery. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date? A. Opiates.9/22/09Q. Is there anything special in your sobriety toolkit that helps keep you sober?A. Gratitude, Brokenness, Humility, and Surrender.Q. Do you think addiction is an…
NOT THE ONLY ONE – Aug. 20, 2026 – “It was only in the last, like, year, I think, that I really started to notice and appreciate if and when people recognize me, they would usually smile,” the Spa Weekend star, 49, told Chelsea Handler during an episode of the Dear Chelsea podcast released on Thursday, Aug. 20. “Do you think that has to do with not drinking?” Handler, 51, asked, adding, “I know you stopped drinking.” “Yeah, I do. One of the many gifts,” Faris said. “It turns out there’s a correlation between drinking and depression, for me, for…
UNDER INVESTIGATION – Aug. 31, 2026 – A controversial policing tactic that permitted staggering amounts of deadly fentanyl to reach the streets as federal authorities sought to build bigger drug cases is now under investigation by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, sent a letter Monday to Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting records related to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial strategy of monitoring — yet not seizing — major fentanyl shipments. Read More