IT’S COMPLICATED – Feb. 4, 2022 – Mothers Against Drug Deaths will protest outside the center at 8 a.m. Saturday to demand that city officials shut down an area of the center where supervised drug use is taking place. “It’s like having an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in an open bar,” said mother Michelle Leopold. Leopold lost her 18-year-old son, Trevor, to fentanyl in 2019 after he struggled with addiction for several years. Allowing open air drug abuse in the same place where addicts are trying to get clean and sober is “totally inappropriate and must stop immediately,” the group wrote. …
Author: Leonard Buschel
MUSICAL INTERLUDE – Francis Dunnery is an English musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and record label owner. Dunnery was the lead singer and guitarist for British prog-pop band, It Bites. He has pursued a solo career, and has owned and run his own record label, Aquarian Nation. more@YouTube
CANADA NOT DRY – Jan. 26, 2022 – At this moment, the province is sitting on a regulated supply of smokable diacetylmorphine—pharmaceutical heroin, commonly known as DAM—from a source that could fill prescriptions for at least several hundred people on an ongoing basis; potentially several thousand. International treaties prevent Canada from cultivating commercial opium domestically, and importing DAM is such a highly regulated and expensive process that there’s no way to make it scalable. Rather than buying a finished product, nonprofit pharmaceutical company Fair Price Pharma (FPP) used a federally licensed supplier to import the active pharmaceutical ingredients, which…
NEW TRAIL OF TEARS – Feb, 1, 2022 – Together with a deal struck last fall between the distributors and the Cherokee Nation for $75 million, the tribes will be paid a total of $665 million. Purdue Pharma has already committed at least tens of millions more to the tribes in a settlement that is in mediation. “We are not solving the opioid crisis with this settlement, but we are getting critical resources to tribal communities to help address the crisis,” said Steven Skikos, a top lawyer for the tribes. Native Americans have endured disproportionately high opioid-related overdose deaths, by…
AUDIO – COLOR BLIND? – Jan. 29, 2022 – Jonathan Bastian talks with Martin about her thoughts and experiences with sobriety and recovery. Martin says that within AA, strict rules prevent a full discussion of “outside issues” like politics or religion. Martin explains that when an “outside” issue impacts her and other people of color’s ability to stay sober, it’s no longer an “outside” issue. “Why do I have to edit myself and pretend like things are fine?” she says. “That’s extremely dangerous for me, because that’s how I drank.” more@KCRW
CHUMP CHANGE – Jan. 31, 2022 – The judge found the reorganization plan improperly shielded Sackler family members, who had not filed for Chapter 11 themselves, from opioid litigation. The mediator, former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, said any additional contribution from the Sacklers would be solely for opioid abatement. She asked that talks be extended to Feb. 7, a request that could be considered at a bankruptcy-court hearing on Tuesday. he report described marathon negotiating sessions held on Jan. 25-26 in New York that ran more than 12 hours each day and involved two unidentified state attorneys general…
HOW MANY MORE PLOTS? – 2/2/2022 – As long as the status quo stands, “We will continue to have these kinds of addiction outbreaks in our healthcare system,” said Keith Humphreys, chair of the commission and a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, which financed the commission’s research. The commission emphasized that while specific vulnerabilities in American regulations accelerated the current problem, there was also evidence the opioid crisis had “got a good chance of spreading globally,” Humphreys added. “As we show in [the report], Australia has a 15-fold increase in opioid prescribing. England has doubled. Finland has gone up…
BOOK REVIEW – Jan. 19, 2022 – (The book is based in part on a 2018 article Hughes wrote for The New York Times Magazine.) Its sole branded product was Subsys, a fentanyl-based liquid that patients sprayed under their tongues. Insys executives went to extraordinary — and at times criminal — lengths to get their addictive and dangerous drug into as many mouths as possible. The company was founded in Arizona by “an Indian-born visionary,” John Kapoor. He was a serial drug company entrepreneur who, despite repeated scrapes with regulators, investors and business partners, managed to emerge, over and over,…
AND HE’S A CRIMINAL – Jan. 28, 2022 – The $31.3 million operation he ran out of a rundown condominium complex in West Palm Beach and the lab he established to process urine tests from those who lived there was supposed to be just a warm up, he said. Eventually, he planned to own sober homes throughout the state and open a second lab that would be able to process hundreds of urine tests a day — tests that were literally liquid gold because of the money he could recoup from insurance companies. When Agresti’s defense attorney asked him if…
AUDIO – AND THEY TASTE GOOD TOO – Jan. 30, 2022 – In 2015, he took the leap. Because psilocybin is an illegal drug, he had to be discreet. He secured the psychedelic fungus from black market sources, then found people he trusted to stay with him and guide him through the experience. He lay down, put on a blindfold and headphones playing music, and embarked on an inward journey. “There’s no words to explain it,” said the 43-year-old man, whose first name is Patrick. The newspaper agreed to not use his full name or identify him because the drug is…
VIDEO – CAPITALISM REIGNS SUPREME – Jan. 26, 2022 – Certainly, people have their ways of getting their drug fixes or what people think they’re getting. The DEA said that in some cases, it’s literally as easy as being on social media. “They’re using these emojis on social media. These short form social media videos on social media platforms to advertise these drugs. The buyer is using the code, and then the seller is also using emoji codes to let them know these drugs are available,” said McNeal. Denise Terryah is a recovery coach at the Flint Odyssey House and…
QUESTIONS – Feb. 2, 2022 – My daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia just a couple of years ago. I remember vividly sitting in the hospital room as the doctor came in, sat us down, and begin talking through the diagnoses and treatment options with us. We were shocked. Just a few weeks before, our daughter had been a happy, healthy child, and now she was dealing with cancer that was in her blood stream. The Doctor talked through the various options for treatment. One of the options that were offered was to do nothing. This was not promoted as a…
VIDEO – CELEBRITY? SOBRIETY – Jan. 30, 2022 – “My first year of sobriety was about not drinking — it was about taking it one day at a time, finding my people, and settling in,” she says. “It was learning how to deal with what I never thought I could. The second year was where the real work began.” “I am so grateful to have such an amazing support system, especially my children, Sean, and my mother, and all of the amazing people in the sober community who reach out every day,” Windham-Burke continues. “As my second year of…
“Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” —Colin Kaepernick
VIDEO – THE FOUNTAIN OF TRUTH – Jan. 25, 2022 – I first took a drink of alcohol when I was 14 years old. I stole it from my parents’ liquor cabinet, which was above the refrigerator. I had one shot and I wondered what two would feel like. And then I had two and I wondered what four would feel like. I took 12 shots of vodka by myself. I probably weighed 130 pounds. I ended up on a bus downtown, then in a McDonald’s, where I threw up in a trash can and had to run from the…
HERE’S LOOKING AT ME KID – Jan. 28, 2022 – Although there are many types of narcissistic personality disorders, they broadly fall into two groups: vulnerable narcissism and grandiose narcissism. People with vulnerable narcissism tend to show avoidant, defensive, or hypersensitive behaviors, and they often experience feelings of rage at a perceived lack of esteem or respect. People with grandiose narcissism tend to have very high self-esteem, behave in a dominant way, and overestimate their own capabilities. It is important to note, however, that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) does not distinguish between types…
THE BEAT GOES ON… – Jan. 25, 2022 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say about 12 million people in the US have AF, and that AF contributes to about 158,000 deaths in the US per year. Based on breathalyzer data for 36,158 deidentified individuals, researchers identified 8 holidays or recurrent national events during which users consumed more alcohol than normal. The researchers then reviewed records of emergency department visits coded to a diagnosis of AF between January 1, 2005, and December 30, 2015, according to California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The researchers…
NO ONE DUCKS ADDICTION – Jan. 28, 2022 – In the first of three posts marking the milestone moment, Weiss shared a photo of socks printed with writing that read, “Sober AF Two Years.” He thanked his followers for their love and support amid his years-long journey. He went on to share a message of support for others battling addiction, writing in the caption, “if you or someone you know is in need of treatment- 866.480.2496.” In follow-up posts, Weiss shared side-by-side photos of himself, the first showing him looking gaunt and nearly unrecognizable in the midst of his…
ALIVE AND WELL – Jan. 24, 2022 – A woman who battled alcoholism as a teen has revealed her addiction put her in hospital 15 times before she gave it up for good. Audra Hanson, now 25, was just 16 when she first took a drink – and before long she found herself in a binge drinking spiral. Describing herself as “an alcoholic from day one” Audra described the horrors she was driven to through her addiction to booze. “It was the answer to all of my problems, I had no more anxiety, I felt happy and I felt…
ALONG WITH EDUCATION? – Jan. 25, 2022 – What they’re saying: “[National Association of School Nurses] supports safe and effective management of opioid-related overdoses in schools through incorporating emergency rescue medication into school emergency preparedness and response plans,” the association said in a statement Monday. The association said it doesn’t have data on the number of schools and school districts who currently have adopted naloxone use and training in schools. NASN has advocated for naloxone use in school settings since at least 2015. By the numbers: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in December that drug overdoses among…
DA KINE, CHRONIC, SKUNK ON PRIME – Jan. 27, 2022 – Amazon told Rep. Nancy Mace that it is not interested in selling marijuana on its website, according to the Congresswoman. “That is not their goal, not their intention,” Mace said of the prospect of Amazon pushing pot. “They said that right off the bat.” In June, Amazon stopped testing many job applicants for marijuana and said that it would support efforts to legalize the drug. more@NYPost
AU NATURAL – While Dr. Mann’s research found that traditional comfort foods don’t have a meaningful effect on mood, a growing body of research shows that improving the quality of a person’s diet can have a significant effect on mental health. An analysis of 16 studies found that dietary interventions significantly reduced depression symptoms. The first intervention to test dietary changes as a treatment for depression included 67 patients, all of whom had poor diets consisting of a lot of processed and sugary foods, with very little fruits, vegetables or fiber. About half the patients were given nutrition counseling…
MONEY IS THE ROOT ALL PROGRESS? – Jan. 5, 2022 – Although hard work has always been an indispensable moral virtue, providing integrity and self-satisfaction, overwork is a noxious concept. “Workaholic” is a buzzword — created in 1971 by American psychologist Wayne Oates — who described workaholism as “the compulsion or the uncontrollable need to work incessantly.” Being a workaholic involves working excessively beyond what’s expected in the role and thinking persistently about work outside office hours. It also can be defined as an addiction to work (Ng, Sorensen & Feldman, 2007; Porter, 2006; Robinson, 2000). Baby Boomers were the…
SCHROOM SCROLLING – Jan. 27, 2022 – While Dr. K was able to make a change in his own life, he also knows it isn’t something easy to do. He’s spoken about video game addiction and his own ideas about the main causes behind it plenty of times on Twitch, where he helps others overcome the same addiction. Dr. K has talked about his take on video game addiction and why the term is problematic and dangerous many times. In 2021, when China instilled new rules for gaming that only allowed children under 18 to play games for 90 minutes…
THE COLD TRUTH – Jan. 28, 2022 – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country remains in the midst of the “third wave” of the opioid epidemic, exacerbated by the presence of fentanyl and, over the past few years, factors brought on by the pandemic. “It’s gotten so much worse. We’ve surpassed the tipping point,” said Colleen Ronnei, the executive director of Minnesota non-profit Change the Outcome. “The CDC reported the most number of overdoses in a 12-month period ever, in the history of our country.” Ronnei lost her 20-year-old son, Luke, to an…
VIDEO – DON’T LET IT RIDE – Jan. 26, 2022 – She was stealing from everybody she knew, was fired from her job, and lost so much money it could make your head spin. She reflected on the most she’s ever lost in one night. “It was probably $8000 to $10,000. You want to know what’s sad? I probably walked in there with $4000 to $5000 that wasn’t my money. It was some I took from my husband or some I stole from my boss,” said Suchy. At that moment she knew she needed help. more@WAFB
CHILDLIKE NOT CHILDISH – Jan. 27, 2022 – You can feel and experience your emotions without getting overwhelmed to the point of wanting to suppress them through compulsive means. Being sober also means being relationally present with others. Instead of isolation, secrecy, and hiding, you are more relationally present by being more connected to others through your vulnerability and sharing yourself. You do this as a means to exorcise your past fears of abandonment, judgement, or shame. Others may sense this shift and comment on your newfound abilities to empathize, reflect and validate them. more@PsychologyToday
STEP 9 ANYONE? – 2022 – “To forgive is to assume a larger identity than the person who was first hurt,” poet and philosopher David Whyte observed as he dove for the deeper meanings of our commonest concepts. But, as James Baldwin and Margaret Mead demonstrated in their historic conversation about forgiveness and the crucial difference between guilt and responsibility, Western culture has a confused understanding of what forgiveness really requires of us and what it really gives us — a confusion tangled in the conflicting legacies of Ancient Greek culture, that primordial womb of drama and democracy, with…
MUSICAL INTERLUDE w/ BJORK – 2022 – Tabula Rasa. The visual transformation of Björk into faun-like flowers and mountainous landscapes embodies the utopian concept of a harmonious coexistence between nature and human based on empathy. more@YouTube
THE KIDS IN BRISTOL ARE SHARP AS A PISTOL – Jan. 27, 2022 – Musical biopics, a subgenre of the biopic, cover the lives of some of the greatest musicians. Whether it is the story of a Beach Boy who struggled under the control of an abusive therapist or a country music legend and the woman who helped him battle his addiction or the tragic tale of a rock star taken too soon, these films shine an entertaining light on lives we can only imagine, and often have. To celebrate these remarkable stories, Stacker took a look at all…