Hugs Not Drugs – Jan. 1, 2021 – As complications of the opioid crisis spread in US communities, nurseries across the country also felt the impact of the crisis. Over the last 2 decades, the number of infants diagnosed with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS), also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, grew nearly eightfold, reaching 1 infant diagnosed every 15 minutes in the United States in 2016. However, just as overdose deaths represent only a fraction of adults affected by the opioid crisis, diagnoses of NOWS represent a fraction of all opioid-exposed infants. Currently, there are no gold standard diagnostic…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Extended families matter – Jan. 1, 2021 – If he hadn’t already started drinking hours before with patrons while on the clock, he’d start soon after finishing work late at night. Pocketing the cash he’d earned in gratuities that evening, Smith would go out to party into the early morning hours with the other servers, cooks and bartenders. The next day, he’d wake up and do it all again. “You make 400 bucks on a Tuesday, you go out with 400 bucks in your pocket, and you make it back Wednesday,” Smith said. In an industry where alcohol is…
WATCH – A disgraceful one cent – Dec. 31, 2020 – Revenue from a bill passed back in 2019 is now being used to prevent opioid overdose deaths in Delaware. It’s also being used to provide addiction treatment services. Opioid manufacturers must pay one cent for any brand name opioid sold in Delaware, and one quarter of a cent for any generic opioid sold. Now the Delaware Department of Health and Human Services is planning to spend the first $700,000 raised by the fee in the coming months. State Senator Stephanie Hansen spearheaded the bill. She says not only will…
WATCH – Sharing from the heart – Dec. 31, 2020 – (ABC 6 NEWS) – Dusty Rose, who is in recovery at Recovery is Happening, went in-depth on her journey and how she is recovering through the pandemic. more@KAALTV
WATCH – Prayer, meditation and reading – Jan. 1, 2021 – For thousands like Milczarski, however, those recovery keystones were upended when the coronavirus pandemic came to Pennsylvania almost 10 months ago. Isolation and instability persists as coronavirus cases continue to climb daily by record-breaking leaps almost daily across the commonwealth. Pandemic or not, Milczarski said a relapse can come on slowly, like a snake squeezing its prey slowly before it realizes the danger. more@CourierTimes
WATCH – And just getting started – Jan. 1, 2021 – “I probably should have gone to detention, but my dad fought to get me treatment,” Allen recalls. Allen didn’t join YSS quietly. “I fought it tooth and nail for six weeks. I couldn’t stand authority; I couldn’t stand being told what to do,” he said. Then Allen had a breakthrough. After stealing a cigarette and smoking it, he felt the guilt of what he had done set in. “Over the course of about 30 minutes, it was in my chest and I had a hard time breathing; it…
All Books Matter – Dec. 30, 2020 – One example: Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers — and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on…
It’s True – Jan. 1, 2021 – “This year has brought up so many challenges but I know that because I choose to rise to the challenge each and every time I am loving myself and showing myself that I am capable of getting through anything,” the former “Empire” star shared. Willis, who took home the Mirror Ball trophy on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2015, concluded her inspiring note with a message to anyone else thinking about pursuing sobriety, noting it’s a personal journey that is different for everyone. “For anyone and everyone who is struggling or has…
Talk is cheap – Jan. 2, 2021 – Shepard celebrated a major milestone in his sobriety journey in September 2016. “12 years ago today I came out of my last toxic, life threatening stupor. I now have a wife & babies & some self-esteem #gratitude #promises,” he tweeted at the time. “There’s a couple of common fallacies about sobriety. One being that people hit a bottom and then that’s that. Most addicts have many bottoms,” Shepard explained during a 2019 conversation on Off Camera With Sam Jones, reflecting on one moment that made him “take stock” of his life.…
The chosen ones – Dec. 28, 2020 – Residents and staffers will be vaccinated at both the state-run and privately operated rehab centers, as well as at facilities run or licensed by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and the Office of Mental Health, according to the state Department of Health. Emergency medical services personnel, medical examiners and coroners and some funeral workers will also get shots, a DOH spokeswoman said. Luke Nasta, a director of the New York Association of Substance Abuse Providers, said the non-profit group had lobbied for rehab patients to receive vaccinations. Nasta, CEO of…
LISTEN – Academia not bulimia – Dec. 29, 2020 – Chris studied marketing at MSU and has established himself as a business leader, public speaker, coach, mentor, and lifelong student striving to be of service to others. With over 25 years of experience in technology, he currently serves as the vice-president of US Consumer Goods at Salesforce Marketing Cloud, where he grew from account executive to vice president. Chris recently opened up about his 15-year journey with sobriety and established the soberexec.com to help others navigate recovery and sobriety. Our Collegiate Recovery Community here at MSU has been on…
The Horror – Dec. 29, 2020 – Boyle told Theroux he was drinking vodka as a child and “was definitely up for drinking on my own from my teens”. When asked whether he was still functional and managing to hold down jobs, Boyle said: “Just. I was just getting to the stage where I wasn’t. I was in comedy when I stopped. To an extent you can do it drunk. You can certainly do 20 minutes drunk.” … He said: “I thought, ‘This isn’t good. This is getting to the stage where you either have to give up or…
WATCH – Yes, he gets pinned – Dec. 30, 2020 – “I connect with friends who I’ve known for over 30 years in the programme, and that’s great.” Meghan and Harry – who resigned from the British Royal Family in January this year – launched their new podcast with a holiday special, looking back at 2020 and the importance of keeping connected during the pandemic.They signed off by getting 19-month-old son Archie to help them wish listeners a “Happy New Year”. more@Yahoo
No easy answers – December 30, 2020 – Aerial eradication, or the large-scale spraying of herbicide on crops from a plane, has been discontinued in Colombia in recent years. Ruiz’s predecessor began phasing out the aerial spraying of glyphosate in 2015, after the World Health Organization deemed the Monsanto-manufactured herbicide “probably carcinogenic.” Such campaigns have long been a fixture of the United States’ global drug war—including, for example, US support of fumigating Mexican cannabis crops with poisonous herbicide in the 1970s. Spraying efforts in Colombia began in 1998 under the country’s Plan Colombia and the US Andean Counterdrug Initiative. Efforts…
Zoom Zoom on my desk, who’s the fairest? – December 30, 2020 – This year, we’ve spent an unholy amount of time staring at our own reflections on Zoom calls, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts and FaceTime. We should be listening to our friends, family or colleagues on these calls, but instead, we’ve become mesmerised by our own faces. If you can’t relate, you’re either an angel or you’re in denial. “People are inherently interested in themselves and can’t help but look,” says psychotherapist Dr Aaron Balick. “Until recently, who had the opportunity to see their own reflections back to…
WATCH – Crimes of Despair – Dec. 28, 2020 – The defendants are accused of committing identity theft from more than 240 victims – mainly through mail theft – and of stealing more than $550,000 in vehicles. They are also accused of stealing and selling weapons, bicycles, sports memorabilia, jewelry, electronics, money and other items, between April 2019 and October 2020. The 12 defendants are variously charged with violating Colorado’s Organized Crime Control Act, identity theft, second degree kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated motor vehicle theft, extortion, theft, menacing, assault and other charges. Eight of the 12 defendants were on probation,…
Stay close to those you love – Dec. 28, 2020 – Earlier during the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home orders were put into place to prevent unnecessary illness, death and collapse of the U.S. health care system. With a recent third surge of infections breaking daily records for new hospitalizations and deaths linked to the virus, several states have kept a patchwork of those public health precautions in place as the U.S. has failed to contain COVID-19. But in doing so, transportation to clinics became complicated. Many people feared going to a doctor’s office could spread the virus further. In-person talk therapy…
Hands up, to hands held, Amen – Dec. 18, 2020 – “There was no sun, it was a dull dark day, I knew his routine, everything about him,” he says. “He was another drug dealer, just like me.” Mick was a well-established underworld fixer in the North West of England. He was the man others would ring to clear drug debts, and by the time he got the call it meant someone was heavily in debt to equally dangerous people. They were about to get hurt, and badly. “My gun was in a plastic carrier bag, on the passenger…
WATCH – We’ve all been there – Dec. 31, 2020 – “I was done with making an a– of myself in front of people (I’m still embarrassed), tired of day drinking and feeling like s–t by 6, not being able to sleep,” Teigen continued, adding, “I have been sober ever since.” Regardless of whether her followers elect the same lifestyle she’s since accepted, Teigen pressed, “Even if you can’t see yourself doing it or just plain don’t want to” the book is still “an incredible read.” eigen and Legend experienced a pregnancy loss in September, losing son Jack in the…
“Only do what your heart tells you.” —Princess Diana
The Doctor’s Opinion August 31, 2020 – In October 1966 Stine Labs, a division of Du Pont pharmaceuticals, developed and released the drug Symmetrel (Amantadine). It had proven to be effective prevention against Influenza A. Shortly thereafter, in 1968/9 the Hong Kong flu reached pandemic proportions and doctor’s testing this drug found that not only did it prevent the potent flu virus, it worked for treatment too. In the late sixties and early seventies, more and more evidence was mounting that we had an effective antiviral to prevent and treat flu. Ten years later, in October 1976, the FDA gave Du Pont permission to…
Carefully – Dec. 28, 2020 – With the pandemic monopolizing government time, energy and resources, treatment programs with limited support are left to feel around in the dark. “We need more real-time data like they do for COVID patients,” says Sherry Daley, communications director for CCAPP. “We don’t know how many people need help with addiction and died from addiction. There just isn’t a plan right now to expand services or see where the need for services is growing or not growing … why isn’t the same level of attention focused on these deaths that we know are coming?”…
VIDEO – The Knight of Sobriety – Dec. 29, 2020 – Noting that 2020 has been a tough year “full of grief and sadness,” “The Two Popes” star revealed that 45 years ago he received a “wake up call.” “I was headed for a disaster,” he explained. “I was drinking myself to death. I’m not preachy but I got a message, a little though that said, ‘Do you want to live or die?’ And I said, ‘I want to live’ and suddenly the relief came.” The Welsh-born thespian urged his followers to “hang in there.” “You young people, don’t give…
WATCH – Friendly little robots – Dec 24, 2020 – Online learning and being stuck at home can create more opportunities for technology addiction to set in for children. What are the warning signs, and what can parents do about it? Joshua Andrus, an addiction specialist, says that there are a few methods to helping with a child’s addiction to screens. He says that kids need a “pattern interruption.” The best example of this is by reading a book. It breaks the child’s screen time, while also promoting human interaction and lessons outside of technology. Andrus says that there…
It’s complicated… – Dec. 23, 2020 – Second, there’s been a noticeably larger percentage of individuals that come to us requiring intensive mental healthcare compared to previous years. On average, approximately 10 to 15 percent of our incoming clients are immediately redirected to a higher level of care. These individuals are carefully guided towards a program or facility that’s more appropriate for their (usually critical) clinical needs. This year, that rate has nearly tripled. Folks are coming to us extremely distressed after months of neglecting their mental health, and thus a more rigorous, closely monitored program is often required. Recent…
WATCH – Each one, teach one – Dec. 24, 2020 – Harper was one of the first mothers to move in and she is a success story. She eventually moved out with her son and now has a place of own and was recently hired by Crosspoint to work with the women going through the same thing she went through. “Not only did she get what she got out of the program, but now, Tiffany, in her new role working at our Women’s Wellness Center, can help other women who also have experienced trauma, mental health and substance use…
Where there’s smoke, there’s money – Dec. 23, 2020 – Feinstein’s bill amends the Jenkins Act of 1949, which requires that vendors who sell cigarettes to customers in other states register with the tax administrators in those states and notify them of all such sales so they can collect the taxes that the buyers are officially obligated to pay. In 2002, the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) found that online cigarette sellers routinely flouted the Jenkins Act and that the federal government had done virtually nothing to enforce it. Nine years later, Congress amended the law, beefing…
The most horrible time… – Dec. 23, 2020 – “Many people who are using substances, they may be hanging by a thread as is,” said Dr. Tom Jeanne, deputy health officer with the Oregon Health Authority. “Throw in a pandemic and all the disruptions, access to housing, access to health care and mental health services, stress from losing jobs and social isolation, all of those things just compound the already significant stressors that many of these people are facing. “The COVID crisis also interrupted ways people with substance use disorder can get help, such as mental health services, 12-step…
LISTEN – There is a way out… – Dec. 24, 2020 – As the sun rose in the sky, the gathered mob once again settled into respective groups. Barefoot kids peppered the paddock playing backyard cricket. The bar table was filled with dads talking about the drought and calling over to the other Dads nearby flipping sausages, clutching beers and laughing heartily across the gap. Mums, grandmothers, expecting mums and all the little kids sat huddled and clumped under the shade of the trees. It suddenly imprinted on my soul that everyone looked entirely comfortable and at home in their…
WATCH – Not to mention DUI’s – Dec. 25, 2020 – Perhaps one of the most known effects of drinking in excess is damage to the liver. The liver is responsible for breaking down and removing harmful substances and toxins from your body. However, regularly drinking alcohol (and a lot of it) can disrupt this all-important process, and it can also increase your risk of chronic liver inflammation and liver disease. Liver disease can lead to toxins and waste building up in your body, which can be life-threatening. Bottom line, you can drink alcohol if you want, just do…