HEALTHY DISCUSSION – Jan. 1, 2022 – Shockingly, ONS statistics report that it was also responsible for almost 9,000 UK deaths in 2020 alone. So why is it still so heavily ingrained in everything we do? From our social lives to university and into our professional careers, alcohol isn’t just something we place on the fun pedestal – it’s woven into our everyday fabric. Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Professor David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, explains why it’s so difficult for us to change our attitudes when it comes to alcohol. ‘Many centuries of use, especially…
Author: Leonard Buschel
YOU KNOW THEY ARE – Jan. 1, 2022 – When china’s government censors books, bars “effeminate men” from television or spoon-feeds Communist Party dogma to schoolchildren, liberals agree that its behaviour is shockingly repressive. But when in August it banned children from playing video games for most of the week, liberals who happened to be parents were in two minds. Yes, restricting the under-18s to an hour of gaming a day, on only three nights a week, was rather drastic. But perhaps it might be good for them? China’s government argues that video games are addictive. This fear is…
WATCH – IS THERE A GREAT PLACE? AA MEETINGS? – Dec. 30, 2021 – The music industry has been under fire lately, and for good reason. In an Instagram Live session from yesterday, rapper Lil Xan not only accused his manager of fueling his drug addiction — he calls out the entire music industry for its complicit and predatory treatment of artists with substance abuse issues. Xan reveals he almost died on that tour due to his drug addiction, and is preparing to sue his former manager for endangering his life. To Xan, Stat supplying him with drugs in…
BUSINESS AS USUAL? – Dec. 30, 2021 – These allegations against CleanSlate were originally made in a case filed in April 2017 under the whistleblower (or qui tam) provision of the False Claims Act by a former employee of CleanSlate. The Act permits private parties to sue for fraud on behalf of the government, and it also permits federal and state governments to intervene in such actions, as Massachusetts has done in this case, which is captioned U.S. et al. ex rel. Wendy Welch v. CleanSlate Centers, Inc., et al.; Civil Action No. 17-CV-30038-MGM (D. Mass.). CleanSlate owns and…
‘That’s making me better’ – Dec 31 2021 – Last month, five-time NBA All-Star Kevin Love told CNBC Make It that he started using mental health struggles as fuel to win basketball games as early as high school. But the longer he fought, the more he realized… “You can’t achieve yourself out of depression,” Love said. The biggest lesson actress and entrepreneur Kristen Bell has learned while trying to manage her anxiety and depression: Don’t let them fester. “I don’t wait for those things to find me,” Bell told CNBC Make It in August. “I have a preoperative list…
ROCKER ROCKING SOBRIETY – Dec. 31, 2021 – The 55-year-old rocker recalled how his now-wife Hannah gave him an ultimatum to stop boozing, but he was initially reluctant to quit completely. Recalling the morning of July 1, 2011, he said: “I just woke up and thought, ‘This has got to stop.’ “And my missus said, ‘I can’t f****** do this, you either stop or I might have to leave.’” He explained he then went to a therapist and said: “If there’s any way you can retrain my brain so I could just, like, not drink and smoke as much.”…
“People say, ‘But Betty, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends.’ Well, at my age, if I want to connect with old friends, I need a Ouija board.” – Betty White (1922-2021)
REAL ANGELS OF CHRISTMAS – Dec. 28, 2021 – Lynne Corry arrived at Samaritan Daytop Village in 1997 with her newborn son and monkey on her back in the form of drug addiction. Located on 119 West 106th Street, the Young Mothers Program is a residential substance abuse treatment initiative that permits mothers with infant children to reside in an environment that allows them to hone their parenting skills while also working to beat their addiction demons. It was here, while suffering from both homelessness and a drug crisis, Bronx native Corry put her fellow residents of the program…
IT IS ONE DAY AT A TIME – Dec, 27, 2021 – Like those 6.5 million folks trying Dry January this year, my own sobriety also began as a challenge. And while I’m grateful for my personal journey, I wish I was more respectful to folks with long-term sobriety when I was in the “let’s try this whole sober thing” phase. Gone are the days when one must attend a 12-step meeting and identify with the A-Word (alcoholic). The only prerequisite to evaluating your relationship with alcohol is the desire to be “sober curious.” Maybe I’d have stopped drinking…
ALLAN RECHTSCHAFFEN Dies at 93 – Dec. 17, 2021 – Allan Rechtschaffen, an indefatigable sleep researcher at the University of Chicago who tested the effects of sleep deprivation, studied dreaming, narcolepsy, napping and insomnia and standardized the measurement of sleep stages, died on Nov. 29 at his home in Chicago. He was 93. His wife, Karen Rechtschaffen, confirmed the death. The University of Chicago was an established center of sleep research when Professor Rechtschaffen arrived on its campus in 1957 as a psychology instructor. Four years earlier, Nathaniel Kleitman, a physiologist, and Eugene Aserinsky, a graduate student, had written…
IT’S NO VACATION – Dec. 19, 2021 – A man in charge of operations at a West Palm Beach addiction treatment center pleaded guilty this week to patient brokering more than 30 people. In a case dating back to late 2018, Mark Sanchez admitted he helped trade fake prescriptions with pharmacies in exchange for money from insurance companies, according to court records. Sanchez, 43, pleaded guilty to patient brokering Wednesday and was sentenced to five years in jail. If no new criminal charges are filed against him by February, a judge will shorten his sentence to 18 months, according…
TOUCHDOWN! – Dec. 21, 2021 – He said that alcoholism runs in his family and that he struggled with drinking and partying throughout high school and college. During his rookie season, his alcohol consumption became too much for him. Crosby said that he always knew he had a problem and got ahead of it by going to rehab. He spent a month in a rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles and then stayed in a sober living facility until training camp began that summer. Now, 22 months later, he is and remains completely sober off of the field. Meanwhile, on…
CAN THIS BE TRUE? – Dec. 20, 2021 – Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the brain responses of cocaine addicts and patients with HIV while participants played a game that involved purposefully withholding responses to target stimuli. “The challenging thing about the game we asked participants to play isn’t exactly playing it, per se,” said Kathryn Mary Wakim, Ph.D., a recent graduate from the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Rochester and the first author of the study. “What’s really hard is not playing the game. What we wanted to measure was how the…
LEGALIZE THEM – Dec. 2021 – Twenty years later, we have just witnessed a historically high annual mortality rate of 100,000 dead from drug overdoses, mostly opioids, and it’s likely an undercount. In what seems to be a sea change, the current Biden administration is now touting harm reduction as one of four key pillars for responding to the opioid crisis. Key harm reduction strategies and lessons learned from around the world typically center on needle exchange programs, naloxone distribution and overdose education, drug testing kits, and supervised consumption facilities where drugs can be consumed more safely. These programs…
ONE DRUG AT A TIME – Dec. 16, 2021 – The investigators found that the major THC metabolites inhibited key CYP enzymes, including several that serve key roles in the liver. And all three cannabis chemicals, but especially CBD, inhibited two of the primary UGT enzymes in the liver. CBD was also found to block three enzymes that account for about 95% of UGT metabolism in the kidney, which helps clear toxins and some drugs from the body. CBD, THC block enzymes that break down other meds “It’s a very, very good reminder that these interactions are real,” Bednarczyk…
IS THERE A RIGHT WAY? – Dec. 21. 2021 – That’s not to say we shouldn’t use antidepressants at all – in many instances, they save lives and work well. But the authors of the new review, which appears in the British Medical Journal’s Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, suggest doctors should prescribe fewer antidepressants for shorter periods of time, and focus on people with severe depression. In other cases, the evidence is unclear on how effective the drugs really are – and whether the benefits outweigh the side effects. “There continues to be considerable uncertainty about the benefits of…
THERAPISTS CAN HELP – Dec. 23, 2021 – The Bottom Line: Flexibility in Treatment Is Key. Each of these individuals came from a different demographic background. Still, if their therapists had been working from an outdated, “one size fits all” framework, they would have been subject to the same fate. They would have to return to a higher level of care after their first recurrence, leaving them with the feeling that their therapists gave up on them after their first mistake. Imagine each time we made a mistake and the people we believed were supportive gave up on us…
MORE THAN NUMBING – Dec. 23, 2021 – Supportive measures can be used if a person is attended to early enough, such as resuscitation, getting them fluids and other sorts of hospital care, Hadland said. “But this is much more difficult to manage out in the community because it’s inevitably going to be an overdose that involves multiple substances including opioids,” he said. While the rate of overdose deaths where xylazine was listed as a cause of death was low at 1.2%, the report states that the animal tranquilizer’s detection may be underestimated. That’s because routine post-death toxicology tests…
WATCH – DRASTIC ACTION – Dec. 24, 2021 – “We know this increase in police presence will disproportionately impact Black and brown unhoused community members who — due to lack of dignified housing options — are forced to live out their private lives in public space,” a statement from COHSF read. “The Tenderloin, in particular, has poor housing stock, such as tiny rooms without living rooms, and many residents spend much of their day outdoors. Police have limited tools to address socioeconomic issues — mainly weapons, enforcement and arrests — and they already have a heavy presence in the…
ONE PILL MAKES YOU SMALLER – Dec. 26, 2021 – In a 68-week study of nearly 2,000 patients, those who received weekly injections of semaglutide lost an average of 15 percent of their body weight, or roughly 34 pounds. More than one-third shed 20 percent or more, comparable to bariatric surgery. Side effects, mostly gastrointestinal, were typically mild and transient. “Weight-loss drugs in the past have really not been very good,” says endocrinologist Clifford Rosen, a senior scientist at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. Stimulants reduce appetite but can trigger insomnia or cardiac events. Drugs that block fat…
EVERY DAY IS HOLY – Dec. 25, 2021 – It was founded in 2019 as a way of helping homeless people in Burnley by providing hot meal services and food distribution and food banks. Since then, Church on the Street has grown into something bigger and now helps home-schooled children, supporting those suffering with bereavement as well as people who may be struggling with unexpected funeral arrangements. On 22 December, the ‘church with a difference’ held an event on the street, inviting people to pray and light a candle for a loved one that may have passed. Caz Pinter,…
KEEP IT SIMPLE – Dec. 25, 2021 – For some sober people, this pandemic has made sobriety an even greater challenge as we face trauma, worry, and isolation. For others, like me, the biggest challenges are from social pressure and interactions when others. When many of us picture the holidays, we picture raising a glass of champagne with our nearest and dearest. When sober people picture the holidays, many of us picture a minefield of temptation and awkwardness. Even if we are just celebrating with our closest family members, we face questions and comments that could jeopardize everything we…
NEVER ENDING QUESTION? – Dec. 24, 2021 – This definition does appear to meet a number of the criteria for addiction. For example, sexual behavior becoming a central focus of an individual’s life indicates salience. Neglecting health, personal care, other interests, and responsibilities indicates conflict. Recurrent unsuccessful attempts to reduce sexual behavior might indicate relapse processes. However, there are key aspects of the addiction definition that are not present in the description of compulsive sexual behavior disorder. For example, there is no suggestion that sexual behavior becomes more frequent, intense, or deviant over time (thus not meeting the tolerance…
WEED? – Dec. 24, 2021- During COVID lockdowns, some surveys indicate this fell even further. Our research suggests this is unlikely to be due simply to government efforts to cut youth drinking. Wider social, cultural, technological and economic changes seem to be key to these declines. Researchers conducting interview-based studies with young people in a range of countries have identified four main reasons for declining youth drinking. These are: uncertainty and worry about the future, concern about health, changes to technology and leisure, and shifting relationships with parents. Uncertain futures What it’s like to be young in developed countries…
LIVING LIFE ON LIFE’S TERMS – Dec. 23, 2021 – Ramsay explained that she’s able to now process her feelings “consciously” rather than mask them with a drink. “Alcohol and antidepressants do not mix well at all. And that is something, unfortunately, I learned the hard way,” she wrote. “I was going out a lot, I was missing class because I’d been out. I was going clubbing way too much. I wasn’t enjoying myself and I was struggling a lot more but didn’t notice because I would just think that it was just a hangover or just a lot…
SHE SURRENDERED TO WIN – Dec. 23, 2021 – Ramsay explained that she’s able to now process her feelings “consciously” rather than mask them with a drink. “Alcohol and antidepressants do not mix well at all. And that is something, unfortunately, I learned the hard way,” she wrote. “I was going out a lot, I was missing class because I’d been out. I was going clubbing way too much. I wasn’t enjoying myself and I was struggling a lot more but didn’t notice because I would just think that it was just a hangover or just a lot of…
LISTEN – EDUCATING AMERICA – Dec. 22, 2021 – Michael Keaton thought he knew the basics of the vast opioid crisis crippling this country — until he signed on to star in the Hulu limited series “Dopesick.” In hindsite, he says, “I didn’t know how it really worked, what really happened or how it was formed. I’m really fortunate I have a job where you have to learn something. I knew about the Sacklers [the family behind OxyContin manufacturer Perdue Pharma]. But I didn’t even know probably an eighth of it.” Now he does. For “Dopesick,” creator Danny Strong…
BOTH ENDS FROM THE MIDDLE? – Dec, 25, 2021 – Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva has announced the launch of the first available generic version of a nasal spray used to treat opioid overdose. Naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray, currently sold under the brand name Narcan, is used in emergencies to block the effects of opioid drugs. The US has in recent years faced a crisis over opioid drug addiction, which has caused more than 500,000 overdose deaths in the country over the past 20 years. more@TimesofIsrael
FACES OF GREED – Dec. 26, 2021 – The name adorns the £2 million courtyard at the V&A in South Kensington, which opened in 2017, and its Sackler Centre for Arts Education. The V&A said that although it fully respected the Sacklers’ decision to stop donating, “we are not considering the removal of signage related to past or present donors”. Nan Goldin, an artist and photographer who became addicted to OxyContin after injuring her wrist, is the founder of the campaign group Pain (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), which has led protests at institutions including the V&A and the Metropolitan…
EVERYONE DANCE AND STAY SOBER – Dec. 20, 2021 – The 24-year-old Floridian was arrested at Rolling Loud Miami in 2019 on firearm charges and sentenced to two to seven years in prison. But as one of Donald Trump’s final acts in the Oval Office, Kodak was granted a commutation and allowed to leave United States Penitentiary, Thomson in Illinois just days later. As part of Kodak’s supervised release conditions, he’s often subjected to random drug tests. But on two separate occasions, he tested positive for both marijuana and ecstacy (MDMA), hence the 90 days in rehab. more@HipHopDX