NEVER PRISON FOR KILLER BILLIONAIRES – by Ryan Hampton Sept. 11, 2021 – During negotiations, I often asked: Why couldn’t we just eliminate the nonbankrupt Sacklers from the process? I believe this would have allowed litigation against them to resume. It also would have allowed victims to be compensated entirely from the new, restructured company — the same funding source from which states were set to receive the majority of their settlement. To this day, my question remains unanswered. In my opinion, this option would have eradicated the releases issue, protected compensation for victims and given states and victims…
Author: Leonard Buschel
OPINION by Maia Szalavitz – Sept. 12, 2021 – But opioids are not cigarettes. And as the opioid settlements finally near completion, it is crucial not to misapply lessons learned from tobacco. Fundamentally, this means accepting that—unlike cigarettes—opioids have genuine uses in both pain and addiction medicine. So far, however, we are doing the opposite. Rather than recognizing that some people with intractable pain benefit from opioids, we continue to reduce access— typically without offering affordable and effective alternatives. ather than acknowledging that closing “pill mills” and identifying “doctor shoppers” more often drives people to dangerous street drugs than…
ONLY IN CANADA (haha) – Sept. 12, 2021 – “Most of us have to pay crazy amounts of money to use the companies owned by the same group of doctors who dictate our return-to-work requirements,” said Victoria nurse Rebecca Humberstone, who has been required to undergo drug testing for years after an evaluation by a doctor who owns one of these companies. Humberstone is the co-founder of Workers for Ethical Substance Use Policy, one of several organizations arguing that doctors who perform independent medical examinations (IMEs) for substance use disorders should not profit from the medical monitoring industry. They…
VULNERABILITY IS BEAUTIFUL – Sept 9, 2021 – “However, at a certain point, I went through some trauma in childhood and I developed a pretty severe eating disorder and manic depression, which runs in my family, so there was definitely some wrestling with chemical imbalance going on,” she continued. “As I got into my early 20s, that hell-hath-no-fury, a woman scorned demon did rise up in me,” she said. “I did tap into that archetype a few times as well.” As for how Megan copes with the present, she said, “A mantra I’ve been repeating is that life is…
COUGH UP A LUNG ON US? – Sept. 1, 2021 – Manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers that create their own cigarette advertisements are required to file a plan with the FDA that includes the schedule for rotating the 11 warnings on cigarette packages or advertisements. Web-based or printed order guides or catalogs for retailers to order cigarettes are not considered advertisements. Winston-Salem, N.C.-based R.J. Reynolds, along with other manufacturers and retailers, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on April 3 to invalidate the FDA’s rule and Congress’s requirement that the FDA mandate…
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP DYING – Sept. 2, 2021 – With respect to psychedelics, the group’s one-page summary said that “municipalities, in the state of Washington and elsewhere, that have an independent ordinance criminalizing psychedelics should repeal them, and those that don’t should direct their law enforcement agencies, local prosecutors and municipal courts to deprioritize enforcement and should publicly communicate this as municipal policy.” State and federal officials, too, “should move to decriminalize these substances and broaden access to psychedelic therapy,” the task force recommended. “This would safeguard psychedelic treatment as a potential treatment avenue.” The OEIR task…
GIVE THEM A DOSE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE – Sept. 11, 2021 – Nurse, we need a prescription pad and a lawyer, STAT. Oh, and refer the patient to the county morgue. According to medical professionals directory VITALS.com, “Lisa C Hofschulz is a doctor primarily located in Naples, FL, with another office in Milwaukee, WI. Her specialties include: Pain Medicine, Nurse Practitioner. She speaks English.” According to a jury of her peers, however, Lisa Hofschulz, along with ex-husband Robert Hofschulz, are now convicted federal felons. She speaks only through an attorney. more@AddictionRecoveryeBulletin
IN THE BRAIN? – Sept. 7, 2021 – A similar vaccine that prevents opioids from reaching the brain also is being developed by Virginia Tech researchers. This vaccine was developed by Marco Pravetoni, a University of Minnesota researcher who has helped conduct preclinical studies on a series of vaccines designed to counteract side effects caused by oxycodone, fentanyl and heroin. Those side effects include depressed breathing and depressed heart rate. The oxycodone vaccine specifically stimulates the immune system’s production of antibodies that prevent the drug from entering the brain and creating the high users crave. Because it only targets…
ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG – Sept. 7, 2021 – The study did not research how cannabis affects heart health, Ladha said, but he noted that previous research showed the drug can affect a user’s heart rate. When someone’s heart rate becomes irregular, it can increase the amount of oxygen the heart needs, Ladha explained. At the same time, cannabis can also limit the amount of oxygen delivered to the heart, he added. “What you end up having is this mismatch of oxygen supply and demand which fundamentally leads to heart attacks,” Ladha said. Cannabis sold on the market…
ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER – Sept. 10, 2021 – Addiction specialist Edwin Chapman has made it his life’s work to fight the drug epidemic in the Black community. He says that drug addiction in these communities has always been treated differently. “Whether it’s racism or cultural incompetence, we need to correct that,” he says. NPR profiled Dr. Chapman’s work in 2018 as the opioid crisis began to surge in urban, Black communities across the country. Chapman knows too well the problems faced by the African American population when it comes to drug addiction and treatment, “beginning with the fact…
WE’RE NUMBER 2! – Sept. 9, 2021 – In Australia, one in six women will suffer from depression in their lifetime. Add that to one in three women who will suffer from anxiety, and per ABS data, more than one in 10 women experience “very high levels” of psychological distress. The statistics are undoubtedly alarming, and perhaps even more so when considering this data came from the 2017-2018 financial year. While there have been movements in the mental health space since then—whether it’s the downward trend in social stigma, or increased support services and initiatives currently being actioned by…
WATCH – START COUNTING BACKWARDS – June 23, 2021 – “I realized that the industry is changing and so was I,” Ludovici, 51, recounted. “It just seemed like everything around me was crumbling and my frustration was growing. Even though I did quite well, I didn’t feel like I did well. Abundance without fulfillment is basically failure.” Ludovici, who lived in New York City, had no idea where to go after she left her job in 2009. But she found her new calling through an unexpected source: a local Manhattan television show. After quitting her job, she had cancelled…
LIVE AND LET LIVE – Sept 6, 2021 – So it just took a long time for me. But I was able to finally make the right choice in my life, that I wish my dad would have made.” Urban tells the publication, “The reason I don’t really talk much about sobriety is it’s a very personal thing and I don’t want anyone thinking that I have a negative opinion of drugs or alcohol. I don’t have any at all, none. I want people to come to my concert and do whatever the hell they want to do.” The…
THEY’RE JUST BEVERAGES – 2021 – Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Whether you’re looking for a night or two off negronis, a month to flush your system after heavy holiday celebrating (or pandemic year coping), or plan to swear off the sauce forever, it’s never been easier—or more trendy—to give dry a try thanks to a quickly growing and improving selection of non-alcoholic spirits, beer, wine, and pre-made mocktails. “Like clockwork, after…
ASTHMA IS A DISEASE – 2018 – Yet the disease concept of addiction may do more harm than good, to addicts, their families, the surrounding community, and the public health system at large. Here’s how. First, if people feel that their addiction results from an underlying pathology, and if that pathology is chronic, then they are less likely to believe they will ever be free of it. They are less likely to hope…and to try. More specifically, they are less likely to believe that willpower, self-reflection, or simple effort will have any impact on their condition. The resultant passivity…
WATCH – SIZE DOESN’T MATTER – Sept. 8, 2021 – When plus-sized supermodel Tess Holliday opened up this spring about her struggle with anorexia, she also spoke about the backlash she received, saying, “I understand that people look at me and I don’t fit what we have seen presented as the diagnosis for anorexia.” I’ve had the same experience every single time where I was just kind of looked at like there’s really nothing wrong with you because you don’t fit the type for having an eating disorder,” said Pryor. “Because I’m not skinny I’m deemed as atypical, and…
AL-ANON ANYONE? – Sept 12, 2021 – At the height of his addiction, Mike was so saturated by alcohol and anxiety he was barely able to think or function normally. He was nervous, wired, aggressive and primed to snap, his mental health so wrecked he had almost no control over his thoughts or actions. He’d often say he needed calm, to stop me spouting all the angry, upset things he couldn’t bear to hear, however justified they were, and just get some damn quiet. He just wanted to STOP the noise screaming in his brain. One evening, five months…
“We do a huge injustice when we point our finger and make judgment about behaviors rather than recognizing the innate goodness of most human beings” —Judy Crane
A STAR GOES DARK – Sept. 6, 2021 – A relative of the Emmy-winning actor talked to him Friday, and Williams was supposed to show up to an event Saturday but never made it, sources said. The relative went to Williams’ home Monday, and someone called cops to the address at 440 Kent Ave. just before 2 p.m., saying there was a man there who was “unresponsive’’ and “feels cold,’’ sources said. Williams — who had talked openly about his past struggles with drugs — was pronounced dead by authorities at 2:12 p.m., sources said, adding that it appeared the TV star…
STILL NO JUSTICE – Sept 2, 2021 – “A bankruptcy settlement should not absolve the Sacklers and their partners in crime from their culpability in the opioid epidemic. While funds to support on-going treatment and prevention efforts are important, the Sacklers should not be able to buy their way out of responsibility for their actions. This decision sets a dangerous precedent and bolsters the reality of two different justice systems: one for the rich and powerful and one for working Americans. I urge the Department of Justice to appeal this ruling to ensure Purdue’s victims and their families can…
TOO DAMN SAD – Sept. 2, 2021 -“Before [my career] was over with, I was consuming over 183 pills a week, not knowing the effects it had on my liver or my kidneys,” McCants said in a 2015 Vice Sports interview. He was never as effective as a pro as he was in college and was considered a bust when the Buccaneers parted ways with him after just three seasons. Between stints with the Houston Oilers and Arizona Cardinals, McCants played three more years in the NFL before the league — as he put it — “discarded” him. Following…
MEDIA: TWO BOOKS ON DRUGS – Sept. 23, 2021 – The doublethink created by this language exasperates Carl Hart, a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University. “In recent years, psychedelic drugs have become chic,” he writes, observing that “the way drugs are categorized is often discretionary” and depends on who is doing the classifying. Drugs considered “psychedelics,” mostly used and enjoyed by “respectable, middle-class white folks,” have escaped the stigma that applies to other controlled substances, particularly those associated with marginalized social groups and nonwhite ethnicities. The dissociative psychedelic ketamine, for example, is now available, to those who can…
WATCH – WHARF RATS ARE REPRODUCING – August 28, 2021 – “It’s truly a remarkable experience to come to a live music festival and have the space to meet with other music fans that are also in recovery to share our experience and hope with one another in an environment that is unique to us and to our interests, she said. “It’s been really wonderful having people come in and out. We have set meeting times but we’ve kind of been doing impromptu meetings as people come in and basically we run it just like a regular AA or…
OH CANADA, OH NO – August 31, 2021 – It’s mind-boggling communities across Canada must still organize for an annual awareness day to draw public and policymakers’ attention to poisoned street drugs and an ongoing health crisis that has killed more than 21,000 people in just five years, advocates say. Events for International Overdose Awareness Day are taking place across Canada on Tuesday to commemorate people killed by toxic street drugs, recognize the grief of family and friends, and advocate for change. Yet as people gather to mourn across the globe, and despite public recognition of the public health crisis,…
PLAAY TO WIN – Aug. 31, 2021 – “I wanted to design a fantasy world based on 12-step culture,” said Travis Henry, 46, co-founder of Twelvefold Works Publishing in New York. “And since the path of recovery first began in Akron, I decided to design a fictional universe where Akron is literally the center of the world.” In June 1935, New York stockbroker Bill Wilson randomly called St. Paul’s Episcopal Church while trying to fight the urge to drink on a business trip to Akron. The Rev. Walter Tunks, rector of the church, put Wilson in contact with Henrietta…
HELPING THE SOBRIETY TEAM – Sept. 1, 2021 – I didn’t just leave the drugs and drinking behind when I left Massachusetts to start over in Florida. I left all of my friends and family. One of my best friends from childhood who also took the same negative path as me was one of the people that I was most sad to leave behind. This caused me to feel a lot of guilt. It was the hardest part of sobriety for me was leaving and not saying goodbye, never looking back. No matter how much it needed to happen,…
GO TO JAIL – Sept. 2, 2021 – Ciampa founded the non-profit Atlantic Recovery Services (ARS), later called Atlantic Health Services, in 1996 and served as its president and CEO until its closure in April 2013 following a suspension in payments. ARS provided substance use disorder treatment services to students at local high schools and middle schools through Medi-Cal and its Drug Medi-Cal program. From March 2009 to April 2013, Ciampa participated in a scheme to defraud Medi-Cal in which ARS billed the Drug Medi-Cal program for services to students who did not medically…
CONFIDENCE IN ABSTINENCE – Sept. 2, 2021 – Since going to rehab to try and help her get a handle on her life, the singer who rose to fame on the ITV talent show Popstars in the early noughties, said that recovery is an ongoing process. “It’s like being reborn, which is great, but I would drink on every emotion. So, I’m having to learn coping mechanisms on everything from fear, hate to calmness and serenity. I have to accept that it’s ok to feel serene because I’ve never known it. I was always in chaos,” she commented. “Whatever…
IT WORKS IF YOU USE IT – Sept. 2, 2021 – “If you or someone you love has struggled with addiction, you know that the stigma around the disease can make recovery all the more daunting,” said Brad Keays, CEO of Soberlink. “The Soberlink team works diligently every day to build products that provide people and their families with cutting-edge technology that aids in their recovery.” Soberlink offers innovative features to deliver the best user experience, including: Real-Time Facial Recognition and Tamper Detection to help rebuild trust and provide peace of mindAdvanced Reporting and Confirmation Tests to reduce any…
NESPRESSO MACHINES FOR EVERYONE – Sept. 1 2021 – Sobriety should be honored and celebrated because, to use the lowest common denominator, it’s just good for business. When people seek treatment for their addiction, absenteeism and illnesses decrease and they become physically and mentally healthier. Productivity increases. Employees are more motivated and focused on their daily and long-term tasks. Behavior improves. The lying and covering up that people do to hide their use ends, and employees are more service-oriented (service is part of recovery). There’s no downside for businesses that support the recovery of their employees. This is a…