LISTEN UP – HE KNOWS WHERE ALL THE BODIES ARE BURIED – Oct. 29, 2021 – When you finished “Dreamland,” did you think you would write another drug book? No, because I was still thinking old school, and I thought what could possibly be worse [than heroin]? I also didn’t think anyone would read [“Dreamland”]. I had a terrible, terrible time finding people … who wanted to talk about it. And so I just thought to myself, nobody’s really interested in it. Then what happened was the book really helped ignite a lot of awareness. More and more people…
Author: Leonard Buschel
WATCH – HELP TWO BIRDS WITH ONE PILL – Oct. 28, 2021 – “Fluvoxamine may reduce the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokines, that can be triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Reiersen said in a statement. The drug may also reduce blood platelets, which may affect the clotting effects of coronavirus infection. Reierson and colleagues gave 741 volunteers with Covid-19 100 mg of fluvoxamine twice a day for 10 days while 756 volunteers got a placebo. Among the patients who got fluvoxamine, 79 — or about 11% — needed treatment in an ER or hospital room compared to nearly 16% of those given…
“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.“ —Simone de Beauvoir
HAND IN THE TILL – Sept 27, 2021 – Testifying under a grant of immunity from prosecution, Way said that for seven years, he had been paid $55,000 annually as a consultant for Southwest Nu-Stop, a Kingsessing-based treatment center that state prosecutors say profited by trapping hundreds of people struggling with addictions in dangerous living conditions and substandard treatment. All the while, Way acknowledged, his nonprofit was also giving thousands of taxpayer dollars to Southwest each year — money from the city to help improve recovery residences across Philadelphia. Southwest was the only organization that received PARR grants during…
ON YOUR MARK, GET SET… LISTEN – Oct. 16, 2021 – “Any degree to which you can see the truth that our time is limited, that we can’t do everything, that you can imagine far more goals than you could ever achieve but be OK with it, that is another degree you know you have taken ownership of your life and started to build a meaningful one,” says Burkeman. Because the more actively we can accept and embrace our limited time on Earth, posits Burkeman, the easier it becomes to spend our time on what matters most to us.…
GERMAN’S PROTEST – Oct. 20, 2021 – If having a few beers after a long day of work is a regular habit for you, you may be putting your pancreas in harm’s way. A 2012 study published in Diabetes Medicine found that, among a group of 5,128 men and women between 35 and 56 years old, high beer consumption was associated with a higher risk of pre-diabetes among male study subjects. Men are already at a higher risk of pre-diabetes than women, with 37.4 percent of American adult men being diagnosed with pre-diabetes while that number is just 29.2…
IT’LL KILL YOU EVENTUALLY – Oct. 16, 2021 – Mozaffarian and colleagues created what they call the Food Compass by applying the latest science on nutrition to examine both the healthy and harmful aspects of more than 8,000 foods and drinks — from raw veggies and natural juices to highly processed cereals, fast-food burgers, and even some popular mixed meals — and ranked each one from one (terrible) to 100 (best). The full study is published today in the journal Nature Food. One catch: Without a subscription to the journal, for now, you’ll have to rely on my overview…
SCIENCE MAY ONE DAY DO SO!!! – Oct. 22, 2021 – You may have heard of the stamp test, an old-timey way that people with penises could test if they had erectile dysfunction by wrapping a roll of stamps around their willy before bed and count how many stamps were broken by their nighttime erections the next morning. If you experienced 3 to 5 nighttimes erections, identified by the same number in broken stamps, you were considered “normal.” Now UK-based men’s health company Adam Health is making a modern version of this test, which could be conveniently called a…
THE WAY TO MAN’S ART IS THROUGH HIS HEART – Oct. 2021 – During a recent workshop, seven students were in a music class led by Wil Snyder, a pianist who plays 13 other instruments. “When I teach people music, I’m teaching them music. But when I teach these classes, I’m teaching people to get in touch with themselves, and to push through their fears, and to learn how music and the practice of music can help you heal in different ways,” Snyder said. “Sobriety sometimes just isn’t enough,” he said. “It wasn’t for me. I needed something else,…
WATCH – EVEN DELICIOUS ALCOHOL-FREE WINES? – Oct. 21, 2021 – Wayne prefers mocktails over cocktails after battling alcohol dependency. Wayne says her path to sobriety was a long time in the making with multiple wake up calls that she didn’t answer. “I had a heart attack December 15, 2016. I experienced cardiac arrest four times. That could have been a wake up call to live a healthy lifestyle but it wasn’t. It was instead a ‘you only live once,’” she said. Wayne says a part of that “YOLO” lifestyle was more excessive drinking. In 2019, she…
THE CUSTOMER IS NEVER RIGHT – Oct. 23, 2021 – Republican Rep. Mark Gillen of Berks County said, “It is inexcusable that that data is not available on a center-by-center basis.” Until recently, DDAP had a data tool with specific center-by-center violation numbers on its website. But the department removed the “performance profiles” after a Morning Call story revealed widespread mistakes in them. Dugan said a new online tool is in development. When it becomes available in mid-2022, she said, it will be a “great asset to monitor the quality and effectiveness of treatment providers.” For the time being,…
THE CUSTOMER IS NEVER RIGHT AGAIN? – Oct. 22, 2021 – Complaints were filed internally and with DCF against the South Florida-based St. John’s Recovery Place, which operates a location on Silver Palm Avenue in Melbourne, have been filed both internally with the company and with the Florida Department of Children and Families. Attorney Jessica J. Travis with DefendBrevard.com, issued a statement on her client’s dismissal from the treatment center. “My client was kicked out from St. John’s Recovery Place — a treatment and therapy provider — after she complained about being sexually harassed. This is unlawful retaliation,” Travis…
IT’S AN INSIDE JOB – 2021 – Few people in the two centuries since Emerson issued his exhortation to “trust thyself” have countered this culturally condoned blunting of individuality more courageously and consistently than E.E. Cummings (October 14, 1894–September 3, 1962) — an artist who never cowered from being his unconventional self because, in the words of his most incisive and competent biographer, he “despised fear, and his life was lived in defiance of all who ruled by it.” A fortnight after the poet’s fifty-ninth birthday, a small Michigan newspaper published a short, enormous piece by Cummings under the…
WATCH – MISS HILTON GOES TO WASHINGTON – Oct. 21, 2021 – A group of congressional Democrats said Wednesday that they plan to work with Paris Hilton to create new regulations to prevent the abuse of children in facilities for troubled teens. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he is drafting legislation that would give children in youth facilities the right to call their parents, be free from restraints, and have access to clean drinking water and nutritional meals — none of which is currently ensured for thousands of children in these facilities nationwide. Hilton revealed her experience as an…
DANCING THE TWELVE STEPS? – Oct. 22, 2021 – And it wasn’t long until she joined in herself, sharing raw and honest videos about her own journey on the platform. The videos quickly resonated with viewers. Since her first post about her sobriety in March 2021, Abi has amassed thousands of followers and millions of views, building a growing community of others interested in sobriety in the process. Her most viewed video at present discusses the experience of being unable to regulate the amount and speed at which she used to drink. Craig Graham, a 24-year-old from Glasgow, is…
WATCH – WRITES THE WRONGS – Oct. 20, 2021 – “The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx” (Hachette, 224 pp., out now) lists both Sixx and Frank Feranna – the musician’s real name – as its authors. It’s a fitting duality for the superstar Mötley Crüe bassist, who centers his memoir on the formative years of his life. Unlike “The Dirt,” the 2001 Mötley Crüe bestseller and subsequent Netflix filmthat chronicled the sordid shenanigans of one of hard rock’s most cherished bunch of hell-raisers, “The First 21” is a deeply personal plunge into Sixx’s dysfunctional upbringing. An absentee…
THE LAW THAT KILLS EVERY DAY – Oct. 23, 2021 – “The vast majority of those deaths would have been entirely preventable,” he said, adding: “In 21 years of police service I have slowly, perhaps too slowly, come to the conclusion that framing this crisis as a criminal justice problem has not simply been unhelpful, but counterproductive. He said major investment in drug support services was needed, as well as a national roll-out of the heroin-assisted treatment programme which has been piloted in Middlesbrough. The scheme provides supervised injections to high-risk addicts in a bid to stop them committing…
EXCEPT TO THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX – July 21, 2021 – Yet the loser is clear: Black and Latino Americans, their families and their communities. A key weapon was the imposition of mandatory minimums in prison sentencing. Decades later those harsh federal and state penalties led to an increase in the prison industrial complex that saw millions of people, primarily of color, locked up and shut out of the American dream. An Associated Press review of federal and state incarceration data shows that, between 1975 and 2019, the US prison population jumped from 240,593 to 1.43 million Americans. Among…
FREEDOM SONG – Oct. 18, 2021 – Seeing the artwork of incarcerated people exhibited in the opera house lobby exceeded Thomason-Redus’s hopes. “It’s so thoughtful and powerful and creative and expressive,” he exclaimed. “Some notion was discussed about putting barbed wire on the opera wall. That’s not necessary — look at any of these images, and you immediately get what this is about.” A group of around 250 people attending an upcoming performance will include participants in programs that serve imprisoned people and their families as well as arts programs for students. Artists from the Prison Arts Project who…
SURE THAT’S ENOUGH? – Oct. 21, 2021 – More than 20,000 people have gotten treatment via Workit and the company has contracts with over 230 health plans, which helps solve one of the biggest hindrances to people seeking care: affordability. Even though health insurers are supposed to cover mental health services the same way as physical care, the high price tag of inpatient rehab means patients and providers confront obstacles and red tape when it comes to reimbursement, prior authorization and length of stay. The company says the average yearly cost for a Workit patient is around $4,200 and…
FROM LOW BOTTOM TO HIGH END – 10/21/2021 – Seawright began with handbags, but he’s made everything from gun holsters and cases to a lawyer’s briefcase. The type of leather he uses is based on what leather is available and what kind of bag he’s making. He made customer Marion Sarchet a handbag and put shoe leather inside. “The quality of his purses is phenomenal,” Sarchet said. “You can tell John what you want, and he just makes it.” Before his venture into leather goods, Seawright bounced between jobs from construction to engineering before becoming a police officer in…
WATCH – ‘A VERY TRYING TIME’ – Oct. 20, 2021 – There’s growing burnout among social workers and front-line outreach workers in the region as the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic continue to take a toll. “It’s a very trying time for many people,” said Ruth Cameron, executive director of the AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area (ACCKWA). Over the past year and a half, the number of overdoses and overdose-related deaths has skyrocketed. “When you have to try to reverse an overdose, who is not just a client to you, is not just a number,…
EVERY DAY IS A HIGH HOLIDAY – Oct. 21, 2021 – PICTURE YOURSELF NOT in a boat on a river but instead on a sectional sofa in a sunken living room in a majestic $9-million-dollar Point Dume mansion overlooking the Pacific. Here, the tangerine trees are actually whispering eucalypti, and the marmalade skies are a deep and comforting blue. Still, it’s pretty trippy. This is the home of Brandee and Damien Sabella—the unofficial first couple of Southern California psychedelia—a sprawling compound that feels like a five-star commune. Two sentinel-like guard dogs patrol the property as a couple of the…
LISTEN – DO ANY LIVES MATTER – Oct. 22, 2021 – In recent years, Cook said, about 70% of defendants charged with fentanyl-related crimes have been people of color. She said the new Biden plan will worsen those racial disparities in the system. Kara Gotsch, deputy director of the Sentencing Project, a group that aims to reduce long prison sentences, is also fighting against the new Biden plan. “It’s not drug kingpins, it’s not traffickers, it’s people on the street who honestly once they’re taken off the street are replaced the next day,” Gotsch said. In a statement, the…
Goop Sober – Oct. 21, 2021 – Once in the bed – she aims for 8.30pm – Gwyneth relies on some nighttime assistance from husband Brad Falchuk, 50, revealing the pair – who sleep naked – rely on plenty of ‘skin-to-skin’ contact. She explained: ‘Brad and I are big cuddlers. Lots of skin-to-skin. Our cuddle position changes, you know. We don’t have one.’ Asked if orgasms help with sleeping, she mused: ‘Yes, I really believe that… ‘With an orgasm, you relax. Get in the body. You can’t be thinking about anything else when you’re having an orgasm. You’re a…
“Seek not the paths of the ancients; seek that which the ancients sought.” —Matsuo Basho
A Pioneer in the Field of Neuro-Engineering – October 10, 2021 – Sonnee Weedn, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist with offices in Novato and Newport Beach, CA, provides neuro-engineering in her local offices and throughout the United States, or actually, anywhere in the world where the internet is available. This methodology for healing alcoholism/addiction, depression, anxiety, PTSD, learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, concussion and other psychiatric and psychological issues, was developed by Curtis Cripe, Ph.D. a former JPL and NASA engineer. Dr. Weedn has studied with Dr. Cripe for over seven years and is licensed to use his brain-mapping evaluation process, called…
WATCH – ONE TOOTH AT A TIME – Oct. 10, 2021 – Dr. David Frank, owner of Walden Dental in Austin, has worked with addiction recovery organization Recovery Unplugged as patients from the center began attending his clinic. Amid ongoing conversations surrounding the homelessness crisis in Austin, he wanted to take a ground level approach to helping people re-enter society and acclimate to stable housing or sober living. e and Jason Cabello of Recovery Unplugged began collaborating on providing dental work to people recovering from homelessness, drug addiction and mental health struggles, using Cabello’s recovery network to find people…
WATCH – AMERICAN TRAGEDY – Oct. 13, 2021 – Reported drug overdose deaths in the United States hit a new high of more than 96,000 in the 12-month period ending March 2021, according to data released Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. In that 12 months — a period when Covid-19 pandemic took hold in the United States and shut down normal daily routines — the US saw 96,779 reported drug overdose deaths, an increase of 29.6% from March 2020 to March 2021. The numbers released Wednesday are provisional data,…
ONE SIZE DOESN’T HAVE TO FIT ALL – Oct. 13, 2021 – Fast-forward to the age of 11. I’m in a bathroom stall with my lunch tray, hovering my knees above the toilet to perfectly balance my meal of 2% milk, carrots and chicken nuggets. My heart is pounding as I keep my ears open to make sure no one walks in. I’m frantic as I put each of the five pieces of chicken into my mouth as quickly as possible. If they don’t see me eating the “unhealthy food,” it doesn’t really count. From a young age, I…