LEGALIZE IT! OH, IT IS – Sept. 24, 2021 – As we observe National Recovery Month throughout September, it’s important to recognize the scope of America’s alcohol dependence and help those with alcohol use disorder. Our nation’s wellbeing is at stake. It’s no wonder people want to drown their sorrows. The pandemic has devastated so many families. It created enormous stress and economic uncertainty. It caused widespread fear, anguish and needless political battles. When we thought we were getting a handle on COVID-19, along came the delta variant. A nationwide survey commissioned by the American Psychological Association in February…
Author: Leonard Buschel
BUT IT’S STILL A CRIME? – Sept. 23, 2021 – She admitted that while serving as prosecutor, then as a judge, she believed that in sentencing people with a substance use addiction (SUD) to jail, she was doing society a favor. Davis’ hard views on people with SUDs changed when her 17-year-old daughter, a high school student and athlete, sustained a knee injury that required surgery. Prescribed opioid painkillers, they led to her subsequent addiction to heroin. One night, Davis heard the words that causes every parent’s heart to seemingly stop: “Mom, I’m a heroin addict. I need help.”…
PRISON IS NOT THE ANSWER – Sept. 24, 2021 – If you have been reading The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for a while, this story may sound familiar. Boccia wrote an editorial about the crisis of heroin addiction and the impact on her family back in 2013. A reporter wrote about her family’s journey in 2014. In 2015, Boccia shared her criticism of the criminal justice system with readers. Her son’s addiction and incarceration would launch her into a lifetime of activism, which she has pledged to carry on in his name, but that’s a story for another day. This one…
WATCH – BALANCE AND GRACE – Sept. 23, 2021 – At first, he didn’t think anyone would show up, but before long people came from everywhere. A chapter of Skate Straight recently opened in England and he hopes to start more chapters throughout the United States. The group originally meant for skateboarders now includes chefs, business owners, and all sorts of people on the road to recovery. “It’s basically what I would say is the misfits lunch table of recovery,” Eichelberger said. Eric Wilson joined the group shortly after Eichelberger started it. Wilson said he couldn’t go a day…
GOTTA LOVE THIS WOMAN – Sept. 24, 2021 – Miss Jones, who at 27 was the youngest ever magistrate in England and Wales, said: ‘I think that we need a review of the way that sentencing in this country is done… ‘Often for shoplifting, even if you are a prolific offender with 200 shoplifting offences, the chances are you might get six months and, therefore, you might do 12 weeks. ‘Then you’re out and actually is that really going break your addiction, or you’re more likely to take drugs when you’re in prison anyway, and then come out and…
YOU’RE IN IRELAND? – Sept. 25, 2021 – When he finally fell right off the wagon and descended into an alcoholic vortex of total life-obliteration, lasting nearly a year, I found myself in a situation for which I was utterly unprepared and uninformed. I felt overwhelmingly alone, heart-broken, and frightened. I was left caring for our baby daughter on my own, dodging lies and accusations, my head spinning from gaslighting and psychological manipulation, exhausted by fear and confusion, working to pay all of our bills, and still, despite it all, missing the man I loved and who I knew…
NOT HARD NEWS! REAL FUN FICTION ON TV – Sept. 24, 2021 – In Season 2, Cassie is sent on an overnight assignment where she inadvertently witnesses a murder, entangling her in another case filled with international intrigue. Production on the second season has begun and it will be shot in Los Angeles, Berlin, and Reykjavik, for a 2022 release. more@Collider
ON A PINK CLOUD (SORT OF) – Sept. 23, 2021 – And I was so humiliated in front of my sons, and their friends,” she continued. “And God knows that that’s all it takes for me — for that kind of sense of their mom looking drunk in front of them. “But also, I thought, ‘I feel fine. What is happening in my brain? What is the alcohol doing to my brain where the synapses are misfiring to the point where I can’t say this word? And I’m trying to say it and I can’t say it.’ It’s almost…
AND BUSINESS HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER – Sept. 18, 2021 – Drug production moved to Asia for the same reasons that other American manufacturing did: labor was cheap, environmental regulations were weak and the continent was full of new potential customers. But drug companies had an additional incentive: Over there, F.D.A. inspectors didn’t drop in on factories unannounced. In 2012, Heather Bresch, Mylan’s then-C.E.O. and the daughter of Senator Joe Manchin, complained at a congressional hearing that U.S.-based plants like hers got inspected every two years, but the same was not required of foreign factories. Congress responded by setting…
BETTER SORRY THAN SAFE – Sept. 22, 2021 – I couldn’t stand it anymore. I felt like I was living someone else’s life. It was a life filled with people pleasing, playing it safe. And it felt like I lost me and never really had a chance to explore my abilities and potential. You see, normal = conformity. And my story is a common one. There are many people walking around this planet living a life of conformity. And I understand why… There is pressure EVERYWHERE to be “normal” and lead a life of conformity From parentsFrom familiesFrom relationshipsFrom…
WATCH – STRETCHING MIND AND BODY – Sept. 22, 2021 – With little left to give, Daffner channeled his hopelessness into a willingness to try just about anything, and that’s when he discovered the Scottsdale Recovery Center. They provide a number of resources for other recovering addicts, but it was the yoga program that eventually grabbed Daffner’s attention. “I’d never, never tried that before. I kind of thought it was, like, hippie crap, and I gave it a shot,” said Daffner. “At first, I definitely didn’t enjoy it. I was, like, this is weird, and I don’t know what…
RECOVERY HAS MUSCLES AND FLEXIBILITY – Sept. 21, 2021- His story: 10 years ago, Plummer attended his first CrossFit class. It was something he and his sister – a nurse Morning Chalk Up met in 2020 when she was working to prove that fitness is an effective tool for sobriety – tried to get him out of the addiction rut. But, Plummer said, he was an active addict at the time. CrossFit “didn’t take.” Six months into his sobriety, Plummer made his way back to the sport. He found a home at CrossFit Dimensions in Florida, where he says…
DYING TO GET HIGH – Sept. 23, 2021 – Deaths from methamphetamine overdoses in the United States nearly tripled between 2015 and 2019, health officials report in a new study. From that time period, the investigators found the number of overdose deaths involving drugs other than cocaine, mostly methamphetamine, rose from more than 5,500 to nearly 15,500, a 180% increase. The number of people who reported using methamphetamine, however, increased by 43%. Also, people who said they often used methamphetamine rose 66% between 2015 and 2019, and the number of people who used methamphetamine and cocaine together increased 60%.…
“ZERO F*#CKS GIVEN” – Sept. 20, 2021 – In a previous life, Hampton worked as a campaign staffer for Bill Clinton. After a hiking injury, in 2003, he was prescribed opioids and fell into an addiction, in which he abused prescription painkillers, including OxyContin, and eventually heroin. He couldn’t hold a steady job and lost his apartment. He finally got sober, in 2015—an experience that he recounted in a previous memoir, “American Fix”—and has since worked as a speaker and advocate on addiction issues. Prior to assuming his role on the U.C.C., Hampton had an openly antagonistic view toward…
MURDER WEAPON! JACK DANIEL’S WHISKEY – Sept. 25, 2021 – Mr. Oakes, 19, was found dead the next morning by Richmond police officers, the authorities said. Courtney White, Mr. Oakes’s cousin, said on Saturday that while the family was feeling “a little bit of relief” because the case was moving forward, it was still painful to know that nothing, including the charges, was “going to bring him back.” “A lot of people are saying that these boys are just boys,” Ms. White said. “But the fact is that Adam was just a boy, too, and they took full advantage…
ROSES AND RED FLAGS – Sept. 23, 2021 – “Nobody gets out of love alive,” said Dr. Fisher. “People live for love, pine for love, kill for love and they’ll die for a loved one. It’s one of the most powerful brain systems we’ve evolved.”” Whether or not you believe love addiction is real, thinking of a toxic relationship as an addiction can be useful to someone dealing with the repercussions of an unhealthy partnership. “The bottom line is this: an unhealthy relationship tends to involve a search for a dopamine rush” and involves power and control, said Steven…
WATCH – MIND MATTERS – Sept. 2`, 2021 – “Even just having a conversation with you, looking you in the eyes, is something that I never would have been able to do six years ago,” said Julia Soloman. Looking at the 30-year-old, one would never know Soloman spent more than a decade struggling with addiction. “I guess my first drink was actually at 14,” she said. “Toward the end, it was a lot of stimulants, so cocaine and Adderall.” Soloman also told ABC13 anchor Chauncy Glover she lived the typical “goody two shoes” life growing up. However, at 17…
WATCH – HEALING FROM THE TRIBE – Sept. 23, 2021 – “Many native families are suffering from generational abuse, eroding traditional values and destabilizing families” across the country, according to the National Congress of American Indians’ website. “Inflated rates of substance abuse plague tribal communities.” In June, Jazz became the cultural specialist at the treatment center in Bismarck, about a two-hour drive southeast of the reservation. He brought knowledge of his culture, coupled with his experience going through 12-step addiction treatment. “When we do the right thing, our spirit will come back to us,” he said. “You get your…
WATCH – IT’S AN INSIDE JOB – Sept. 23, 2021 – “What my program is really trying to do is deliver some of those same interventions but in a self-help format, so that the loved ones don’t have to participate in an active way,” explained Dr. Green. “It’s really kind of unilateral family therapy where the readers of the book can learn to apply these strategies to the particular relationships in their life to see improvements even if there’s some resistance towards ‘quote’ working on the relationship from the people they’re trying to repair with.” In Texas, 1.4 million…
NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER IS FOR NON-ALCOHOLICS – Sept. 20, 2021 – It felt good to be conducting an interview in a bar again. As a reporter, I had relied on interviews over drinks as a way of loosening a subject’s tongue. But alcohol only works as a disinhibitory lubricant if all parties are drinking. Abstinence turns out to mean a lot more than giving up alcohol. It means forgoing a whole range of social and professional activities that you associate with drinking, because the place, or the people, or the occasion—after-work drinks at six, say—can trigger a craving for alcohol,…
“I am never happier than when I don’t know what I’m doing. Still I have moments of panic.” —Philip Glass
MEDICINE IS VERY VALUABLE ON THE STREET – Sept. 17, 2021 – The family called the police. How often do older Americans fall victim to drug diversion, in which someone steals or tampers with prescription medications, particularly opioids, for personal use or for sale? Researchers and advocates trying to protect seniors from abuse and exploitation wish they knew. The data are sparse and scattered but hint at a significant problem. During the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis, which saw 500,000 overdose deaths over two decades, manufacturers and too many willing doctors flooded parts of the country with prescription drugs, particularly…
TO EXPLOIT AND OVERSERVE – Sept 14, 2021 – A federal grand jury in New Orleans, Louisiana, returned an indictment on August 26, 2021 charging a Louisiana physician for his role in distributing over 1,200,000 doses of Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone and morphine, outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose, and for maintaining his clinic for the purpose of illegally distributing controlled substances. Today’s indictment also charges the physician with defrauding health care benefit programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, of more than $5,100,000, given…
REJOICING IS ACCEPTABLE – Sept. 14, 2021 – Poznanovich is in long-term recovery. He was fortunate to get help through treatment and the support of others, and has implemented lifestyle changes to sustain recovery. “I was willing to put my face on recovery to show this is what somebody who had a substance abuse problem looks like,” Poznanovich said. “And since I wasn’t so worried about putting my face on addiction when I was using, I felt that I could use this opportunity to help share my story so that maybe I could help others.” Along with another interventionalist,…
MUSIC AND FELLOWSHIP – Sept. 15, 2021 – “We typically look for people who would want to stay at least 90 days because that’s enough time for people to establish themselves,” said Biss. “But people can stay as long as they want.” The organization came together in 2017 and started accepting residents in January and now has five residents at the recovery home. The house is located in James City, two miles from New Bern, and houses up to 12 people who want to work on themselves. “One of the benefits of coming to Realize U is that it’s…
MEDIA: BOOK REVIEW – August 24, 2021 – Just two weeks earlier, I had moved to Mexico to work as a foreign correspondent for this newspaper; my principal assignment: covering the upcoming North American Free Trade Agreement and reporting on Mexico’s acceptance into the club of developed nations. The brazen attack lasted only minutes, but it abruptly ended the glowing bonhomie that Mexico had enjoyed until then. Besides introducing “El Chapo” Guzmán to the world, the killing made all of us aware of the terrifying power of the cartels. The initial investigation into the cardinal’s murder was deeply flawed,…
MEDICATION MEDICINE DRUG – Sept. 13, 2021 – The introductory-level course, which expands on SAMHSA’s recently released Buprenorphine Quick Start Guide, is available on demand. The program offers practical considerations for buprenorphine initiation, dosing and ongoing patient management. Upon completion, participants will be able to: Examine the principles of OUD through the chronic disease framework of addictionExplore safe buprenorphine prescribing recommendations, guidance and implementation strategiesIdentify best practices and clinical considerations for initiation, stabilization, dosing, treatment and discontinuationExamine recommendations for ongoing patient management, monitoring, engagement and care more@HMPGlobalLearningNetwork
WATCH – MOBS AND METH DON’T MIX – Sept. 16, 2021 – He text-messaged her later saying no-one could have her but him. Collins said it was “bully boy” behaviour, devoid of any mana, and he sentenced Tipu to seven months home detention and 100 hours community work, with special conditions for 12 months after home detention is served. The sentence would be judicially-monitored. Tipu had a long list of previous convictions for violence and drug dealing and had been jailed several times.The state of this region’s waterways, the condition of the Napier-Taupō Road, the danger of gang-related crime…
ONLY IF IT’S ON INSTAGRAM – Sept. 16, 2021 – How can online therapy help? Online therapy can be an extremely effective way to address and treat any form of mental illness or work through processing of negative emotions. Because growing up alongside a parent with alcoholism can be traumatic or lead to negative feelings or mental illness, online therapy is a great option for relief and a sense of control over one’s emotions. Therapy will differ for each individual, but will often consist of a series of questions from your therapist and some suggestions of techniques or practices…
NOT IMPRISON IT – Sept. 15, 2021 – There is a saying in the addiction recovery world; you keep doing the work and keep coming back until the miracle occurs. Over the past 25 years, I have witnessed this occurrence among many people. I often share that recovery is a gift. Striving to live a recovery lifestyle is nothing short of a miracle. During late April, on a Thursday evening in the dining room at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, my wife and I, along with about 50 others from the Golden Triangle area of Mississippi, witnessed…