COMING OUT SWINGING – August 26, 2021 – “There were about one thousand years worth of jail time the day I defeated ‘Macho’ Camacho. And they all wanted to meet me and I was standing in the middle,” Chavez said, via The Daily Mail. “All of them were talking about how the ‘Macho’ Camacho fight played out until I got upset. All I wanted was coke. “There were about 300 armed b—-rds there, but nobody had coke. So I told them, ‘Since nobody brought coke, you can all go to hell.’” He said the drug kingpins sent colleagues to…
Author: Leonard Buschel
LISTEN – DO LESS HARM – August 26, 2021 – Over 70% of those incarcerated have at least one mental health diagnosis or substance use disorder, and nearly 30% have a serious mental illness, much higher than the rate found in the general public. Another 574,000 are on probation. “Because we don’t have adequate facilities to care for those with serious mental illnesses, the jails and prisons have become the largest repository for them,” Ornstein emphasizes. “We do not treat serious mental illnesses as illness,” says Judge Steve Leifman, Associate Administrative Judge of the Miami-Dade County Court 11th Judicial…
DEFENDING HIS LIFE – AUGUST 27, 2021 – Crosby, who turned 24 on Aug. 22, was a Day 3 draft pick of the Raiders in 2019 out of Eastern Michigan, the No. 106 overall selection in the fourth round. He racked up 10 sacks as a rookie. But it was in that offseason when Crosby decided he needed help. “It was March 11 [2020], the day I got sober,” he said. “I was living in Hollywood. Strolled out there and checked into rehab … And the whole world was put on shut down. I was there for a month…
WATCH – THE TRUTH CAN SET YOU FREE – BUT NOT IF YOU’RE DEAD – August 6, 2021- Hulu’s newest limited series Dopesick, starring Golden Globe-winner Michael Keaton, is a compelling look at the epicenter of America’s struggle with opioid addiction. From executive producers Danny Strong (Empire) and Warren Littlefield (The Handmaid’s Tale), Dopesick is an unsparing yet deeply human portrait of families impacted by the opioid crisis and their intersecting stories. From a distressed Virginia mining community to the hallways of the DEA, this limited series tells a captivating story that taps into a powerful and timely cultural…
FROM DEAD DRUNK TO DEAD SOBER – August 27, 2021 – The novelist Frederick Busch wrote in The New York Times Book Review that “The Drunks” was “a convulsion of ghastly laughs and gorgeous writing.” The New Yorker hailed “Sweet Adversity,” about conjoined twin jazz musicians who are alcoholics, as “probably the most cleareyed and moving — and certainly one of the most honest — books ever written about alcoholics.” (The novel incorporated material from “The Drunks” and a previous novel, “Leo & Theodore,” published in 1972.) Equally praised was “The Drinking Days: Myself and Other Writers,” a 1981…
ADDICTION WITHOUT BORDERS – August 28, 2021 – Hassanein Ahmed, 27, also decided to quit drugs after a decade of addiction. “I decided to seek treatment for myself. I did not want to continue what I was doing,” Ahmed says. “Addiction is not a behaviour that is only related to drugs, but leads there.” He spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly about growing up in the slum area of Gheit Al-Enab which was developed into Bashayar Al-Kheir in Alexandria. His mother went to the clinic, found an advertisement for You Are Stronger Than Drugs and discussed her son’s addiction with the…
DOES THIS MEAN MORE FENTANYL? – August 28, 2021 – Mr. Mujahid at the time didn’t offer details of how the Islamist group intends to enforce the ban. Local farmers in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helman provinces said raw opium prices have tripled, from about $70 to about $200 per kilogram, due to uncertainty about future production. In the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the opium price has doubled, residents there said. Raw opium is processed into heroin. more@WSJ
MONEY TALKS EVERYONE WALKS – August 25, 2021 – He remains the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executive convicted for helping fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. His co-defendants Michael Gurry, Sunrise Lee, Joseph Rowan and Richard Simon were sentenced to terms of one to 2-3/4 years. A lower court judge had set aside some of the jury findings, but the appeals court restored the original verdicts. “This decision is a decisive win that vindicates the jury’s verdict and preserves a just outcome for the defendants and the victims,” Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell in Boston said in a statement. Kapoor’s lawyer declined…
YOU GET YOUR FEELINGS BACK – August 25, 2021 – Chrissy Teigen has opened up about her relationship with alcohol and revealed that she’s dealing with unresolved trauma over losing her baby last year. Chrissy began by reflecting on her time spent in New York in the early phase of her relationship with John, where she’d spend days getting drunk by herself. “I’d sit there with my multiple double vodka sodas and get day drunk by myself (this is not a brag lol I was basically a functioning alcoholic) then buy hats I didn’t like or need at urban…
MUST WATCH – JACK DANIELS TILT-A-WHIRL – August 26, 2021 – There’s no shortage of headlines that highlight exactly what’s happening on Lower Broadway in Nashville. From a security guard being attacked to nearly 200 calls for service in one weekend, the troubling trend of violent crimes has caught the attention of Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake. “I love this city. I’ve be en here all my life, and I don’t want to see places where people enjoy to go become places they’re scared to go,” said Chief Drake. News 2 worked with Metro Police to explore crime…
MEDIA: THE LEAST OF US by SAM QUINONES – August 26, 2021 – The Least of Us deepens the story of our nation’s opioid epidemic, including the spread of mass supplies of synthetic drugs, as well as delving into the neuroscience of addiction. The book contains stories of those who seek to restore community by embracing the forgotten and the ignored — unnoticed stories of those who understand that we are only as strong as the most vulnerable – which turns out also to be the message of the coronavirus pandemic. “After years of interviews, research, and writing, finally,…
HE TOOK THE FIFTH – August 27, 2021 – “I’m a functioning, I probably function more effectively than 90 percent of the population,” Giuliani added. The former mayor was responding to recently published claims by high-ranking aides to former President Trump that Giuliani appeared to be drunk during meetings at the White House. Giuliani claimed he “never” appeared drunk in public although he couched that assertion a bit with a less-than-airtight denial. more@NYDailyNews
LISTEN – MAYBE MAYBE NOT MAYBE MAYBE NOT – August 25, 2021 – “One potential explanation for the extremely high rate of illicit drug use among those with ADHD is the accelerated gateway hypothesis,” co-author Senyo Agbeyaka, a recent University of Toronto MSW graduate and a social worker at University Health Network, said in a news release. “This theory posits that people with ADHD tend to initiate substance use at a younger age, resulting in riskier use and greater problem severity in adulthood.” Some of the other findings include: More than 27% of people with ADHD suffered from depression…
BRING IT TO AMERICA – August 26, 2010 – Those qualities alone would be enough to make Nordkraft operatic. But in this case, Ejersbo’s novel is best put to one side. Nordkraft the opera trades in the psychological pain that seeps out from between the lines of the author’s three parallel stories. It mostly avoids narrative, preferring to look the trio of addict-protagonists directly in the eye. Its approach is well served by Signe Lykke’s deft but wide-ranging score and by a libretto from Nila Parly that treads an adroit path between the literal, the poetic and the hypnotic.…
LET ME CHECK GOOGLE – August 25, 2021 – “Some people who have high social anxiety or depression are more likely to be addicted to their smartphone,” says the study’s lead author, Juhyung Sun, from the University of Oklahoma in Norman “People are really sensitive to their notifications. With each buzz or sound, we consciously or unconsciously look at our phones,” says Sun. And with so many focused on their smartphones, people are quickly adapting to the ways technology can interrupt social interactions, which can mask a deeper problem with serious effects on relationships. Sun says she became interested…
WATCH – LOVE CONQUERS ALL – August 26, 2021- McGraw previously told PEOPLE that whiskey was his drink of choice, but that he had difficulty limiting the amount he drank, and that it got “to the point where I felt it was negatively affecting my relationships and getting in the way of things I wanted to accomplish in life.” With Hill to lean on, McGraw got sober in 2008, and has since embraced a healthier lifestyle. He and the “Breathe” singer, 53, tied the knot in October 1996 after meeting and falling in love on tour that same year.…
ATTRACTION NOT COERCION – August 25, 2021 – The law originally limited the program to people with a previous drug or alcohol conviction. But the 2019 amendment expanded the program to people accused but not convicted of such charges for the first time. Some defense attorneys argue the result is more jail time, including for those with no criminal history, which runs counter to the program’s original goal. Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she supported the amended bill because it balanced public safety with allowing people to work and avoid incarceration — since…
PRAYER FOR THE DYING August 31, 2021 – “He grew up in a good decent home,” said Campos’ grandmother. “He had trouble sleeping.” Her grandson took a pill given to him by a friend to help him sleep, and it was laced with fentanyl. “When we went to wake him up for work, he wouldn’t answer…” more@KOLD
TOO MUCH ISN’T ENOUGH – August 27, 2021 – Approximately 10% of the population will develop a personality that is addictive. This type of individual will develop harmful, self-destructive, compulsive behaviors, which must be treated to avoid a dangerous out-of-control spiral. While substance misuse is the first thing that comes to mind, you can be addicted to a variety of things other than alcohol and drugs. Gambling, sex, the internet, plastic surgery, television, eating, or shopping are all examples of addictions. According to Christopher Dines, a health author and recovering addict, these are the most frequent characteristics of addictive…
“I hate leaving home. I love what I do, but I’d love to go home every night.” —Charlie Watts
MASK UP! – EXCLUSIVE by Christopher Dale for the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin August 24, 2021 – Alcoholics Anonymous is supposed to save lives, not risk them. And that, in ten words, is why if I were a newcomer, I would not choose Alcoholics Anonymous as my program of recovery. That verdict feels terrible – just terrible – coming off my fingertips. But it is no less true than the gratitude I hold for the program and the people in it. Approaching my 10-year sober anniversary, I am living, breathing proof that the Steps and principles of AA can arrest alcoholism, restore former fall-down…
MO MONEY MO MONEY MO MONEY AND SCREW YOU – August 22, 2021 – “We do not post standard cash rates, which typically will not reflect the price of care for uninsured patients.” Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in Los Angeles, has not published its cash prices. The hospital initially posted a 2.5 GB data file composed almost entirely of more than one million lines that contained no data. After The Times inquired about the large file size, the hospital reduced it to a 1.4 MB file. more@NYTimes
WATCH (X-rated) – LIVING THE SOBER LIFE – August 20, 2021 – Filmed and edited by Nathaniel, and direction and styled by Toby Corton, the visual takes place in a somewhat sketchy-looking hotel room as Wilde reassesses last night’s decisions in the cold light of day. Sung with a pained soulfulness while she looks back in regret, the tempo switches up a gear when we plunge back into the intoxicating wildness of the previous night’s debauchery. Speaking on that crystalising moment that led her to sobriety, Wilde explains: “I had a relationship that turned into what felt like Groundhog…
KASHMIR BLUES – August 18, 2021 – That first encounter with charas happened on a day Murad would never forget, and not because of his introduction to charas. It was the day he’d won a local football competition for the first time as team captain. “I kicked the ball straight out of the park,” he recalled, with a perceptible smile in his voice. “Quite literally.” Murad’s love for all things football was for him the only “cocoon of safety” in one of the most brutally contested, militarised regions in the world – the Muslim-majority union territory of Jammu and…
HELPFUL AND USEFUL – August 16, 2021 – Shrestha and Copenhaver, who are both researchers in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, have been studying drug treatment interventions and HIV prevention among people who use drugs for years. While conducting their studies, they realized as many as 60% of participants were suffering from cognitive dysfunction, or deficits in things like attention and short-term memory. This meant many participants did not gain the full benefit of the interventions the researchers were testing, because they could not process information and instructions in the same way as someone without cognitive dysfunction. There…
A RABBI MOURNS – August 17, 2021 – Although our community had grown close to him, I had no idea that Jeff struggled with addiction until it took his life. Who knows what opportunities may have been open to him if Jeff had been more comfortable sharing his struggles with those in our community? Did he know that I would have thought him a hero? Could he have been assured that those around him wouldn’t think of him as a bum who had fallen in with bad buddies? Losing a loved one to an overdose is deep pain that…
HEALING IN THE ROCKIES – August 17, 2021 – Hi Kristabell, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today? I was born and raised in what used to be the small mountain town of Conifer here in Colorado. I moved around the USA a bit and I also lived in Zambia, Africa. The background that has really influenced my life today, was that I became a drug addict in my early teens along with experiencing mental health problems, which led to dropping out of school, homelessness,…
CLOSER? – August 18, 2021 – By the end of 2020, Tan said she was finishing multiple bottles in one night—until one particularly jarring experience forced her to reflect on her habit. “I remember there was a snowstorm in New York City in December right before Christmas,” Tan said. “I went to the liquor store and spent $80 on alcohol to stock up. I ended up drinking through it in three days, and that was a huge wake up call for me.” Tan quit cold-turkey between January and April 2021, and although she has been drinking with friends since…
ANCHORED IN THE PROGRAM – August 17, 2021 – A lot of hard work has gone into maintaining that sobriety for more than three decades, a process that Captain Sandy has been open about on Below Deck Med and social media. For instance, she shared on Twitter earlier this month that she was attending an AA meeting that day. “It is so important to feed your soul and stay strong!” Captain Sandy added in the August 5 tweet. “The fact that I have been able to stay clean one day at a time for 33 years is because I…
BOOK REVIEW – July 8, 2021 – How convincing this book is as a therapeutic primer, I am utterly unqualified to judge. What I can say is that you don’t need to love or even be interested in surfing to feel passages like this one land powerfully between your shoulder blades: “The freedom of surfing is oceanic captivity. The first wave, the one that creates the surfer, is bondage. What characterizes the origin stories of surfers and their first waves is fatalism, the resignation and love of the captive for his captivity.” A wave isn’t water, Ziolkowski writes at…