And the children shall lead us… – Dec. 3, 2020 – GR: My pop-culture news is actually MIT Tech Review. I read it constantly. I think that’s really where inspiration strikes: hearing about all these amazing people at schools like MIT and Harvard who are doing such amazing work with technology. And I try to connect it back to what I see out there and put it together in a way that no one’s seen before. AJ: When you’re not doing all of these amazing things—because I feel like I’m speaking to a 60-year-old scientist in Geneva—what do you do…
Author: Leonard Buschel
WATCH – A reason to believe – Dec. 29, 2020 – After moving to Los Angeles in 1965, he met actress Susan Yardley Morss (known professionally as Susan Yardley), and moved back to New York with her. He signed to the Verve Forecast label, and produced his first authorized album, Tim Hardin 1 in 1966 which contained “Reason To Believe” and the ballad “Misty Roses”, which received Top 40 radio play. Tim Hardin 2 was released in 1967; it contained “If I Were a Carpenter”. A British tour was cut short after Hardin contracted pleurisy. An album entitled This…
One round at a time… – Dec. 27, 2020 – The incredible thing was he was coming up as an excellent MMA prospect at the same time. From 2011 to 2015, Gordon won the first nine fights of his MMA career before suffering his first career loss to Jeff Lentz. In the Lentz fight, Gordon suffered an eye injury that led him to once again being hooked on pain meds. Not long after suffering the first loss of his professional MMA career, Gordon suffered his third overdose, and that was what made him decided to finally get clean from drugs.…
Someone over the rainbow – Dec. 27, 2020 – Though Garland’s mother and father didn’t have a good relationship, her father was more emotionally supportive of her than her mother. And in 1935, Garland’s father unexpectedly died after contracting meningitis. Without her father around, Garland’s relationship with her mom became even more tense. Though she signed a deal with MGM to further her career, the lack of support led Garland down the path toward drugs. There were reports that Garland’s mother gave her pills when she was only 10, and by the time she was in her late teen…
Idle hands… – Dec. 27, 2020 – As Mendonca spent his days knitting yarn and making his own unique creations, fellow residents at the facility began to take notice. One by one, Mendonca’s solo hobby turned into a little community. Among his group is 31-year-old Michael Prokopchuk, who spent years struggling with his own drug addiction, which led him to a suicide attempt before he joined Phoenix. “After almost four years of addiction, it was time to turn my life around,” Prokopchuk told CNN. “Our knitting group has helped me by keeping my mind busy and giving me a sense…
Stick with the Winners! – December 23, 2020 – Benjamin Oberman is the Founder, President & CEO of Film Festival Flix, a streaming platform connecting quality films, the festivals that champion them, and the audiences who love them through the curated virtual festival experience. WIth more than twenty-five years experience in the Entertainment Industry, he has expert knowledge in digital platforms, streaming technology, film distribution, festival and event production, and marketing. Prior to his work in the film and television industry, Benjamin was on stage in more than a thousand live performances following a career as a world-class competitive…
MEDIA: Book Recommendation – Dec. 18, 2020 – Q: Also, as a first-time novelist what was the biggest writing hurdle you faced? A: Having a day job makes it difficult to tackle creative projects with any kind of scheduled regularity. Something Drastic was largely the product of weekend and late-night binge-writing. It was often a struggle. But there was always a pay off. And I learned what kind of writer I am. I’ll never get it right the first time. I like to let fly, and then return later to chisel it down. Q: Manhood and competing visions of it…
WATCH – Trailer for new doc “Under the Grapefruit Tree” – Dec. 21, 2020 – That painful period, and Sabathia’s road to the big leagues, are featured in the new documentary “Under the Grapefruit Tree,” which premieres on HBO Tuesday. Today, Sabathia says he has a new outlook on life — and life after baseball. 2020 has been such a strange year. You retired one year before the pandemic and everything that has gone on. How are you? Good, good. Thank you. Thanks for asking. My family’s doing well. We’ve blessed during this time, you know, not having anybody…
From the Editors – December 29, 2020 – As the year finally comes to an end and the world transitions into 2021, there is one overarching emotion suffusing our mission. Gratitude. Yes, gratitude for every reader of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin who trusts us to provide a unique interpersonal connection by sharing all the news you can use for that intoxicating cocktail of amusement and information that makes the truth easier to swallow. Gratitude to our advertisers and virtual event sponsors who realize the intrinsic value of maintaining visibility among colleague and clients who would most benefit from their services. 2020 made healthy living a multi-level challenge for recovering individuals and behavioral healthcare facilities, industries…
WATCH – Rituals Heal – Dec. 22, 2020 – It’s a spiritual experience when his skin is submerged in the icy water, but it also helps him raise money for his nonprofit, Chucky’s Fight, which funds drug treatment and other programs for people who can’t afford them. I’d decided that on the first day of winter, I would join Chucky on his daily dip. This time of year — particularly in the pandemic — is especially hard for those struggling with addiction. I know, because I spent two decades addicted to drugs. Dec. 21 is not only the first day…
WATCH – Not skating the issue… – Dec. 20, 2020 – She said: ‘I don’t drink or do drugs … I used to have a frozen yogurt addiction!’; seen recently on Instagram for an appearance on Conan. Heather also spilled her secrets to getting a good night’s sleep, revealing that she can get under her covers and sleep for 12 hours a night. ‘I adore sleeping. I could easily sleep 12-plus hours a night,’ Graham said. Heather, who is now in the fifth decade of her acting career, also revealed what she thinks she would have done as a job…
Start 2021 SOBER – Dec. 23, 2020 – Last year, Garcia launched the Dallas Sober New Year’s Eve party, but COVID-19 forced her to reimagine the concept as an online resource available to anyone seeking help — even on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. “The in-person sober NYE party was inspired by my own depression. I had always been a social butterfly and loved to host events. The problem: My events always included heavy drinking. For the first entire year of my recovery, I felt I was not ready to be in a social setting and be able…
No relapses please – Dec, 25, 2020 – “Patients who were previously well-established in addiction treatment, for example, their clinics may have closed due to COVID, and they’re not able to be seen in person anymore,” she said. “A lot have transitioned to telemedicine, but some have not. And that was a big disruption for a lot of patients who were formerly doing quite well in treatment.” That shift also took a toll on Wood. When her clinic abruptly switched to telemedicine as COVID-19 cases ballooned, Wood had to become better acquainted with delivering care over digital platforms like Zoom.…
WATCH – Don’t disappear – Dec. 22, 2020 – We’re in a very festive season. But we should keep in mind that the holidays can be a difficult time for those in recovery. In fact, the time between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s has been called the “Bermuda Triangle” of addiction. Here to help us know how to navigate these rough waters is Dino Bedinelli from Compass Recovery in Agawam. more@WWLP
Anyone can do it… – Dec. 24, 2020 – Additionally, Sorrentino is getting ready to be a dad in the new year, as his wife, Lauren, is pregnant with their first child together. The lovebirds are expecting a baby boy in May 2021. “Gym Tan We’re having a Baby Boy,” Sorrentino proudly exclaimed in a post shared to Instagram earlier this month, which featured pics from their holiday-themed virtual gender reveal. The reality star also tagged “@itsbabysituation,” the account he and his wife already set up for their little one. The Sorrentinos revealed to ET last November that they were…
The dark ages are ending… – Dec. 25, 2020 – For most of his sentence, Winslow’s chances of getting out were virtually nil. He is guilty of the crime he was convicted of, so there was no path to getting his conviction thrown out. And it was his fourth offense, precluding the possibility of catching the attention of a public sympathetic to the plight of “first-time offenders” — like activists did with Alice Marie Johnson — to appeal to the mercy of executive lawmakers with pardon power. Johnson was granted clemency by President Donald Trump after viral appeals from…
Big Pharma Meet Big Food – Dec. 26, 2020 – “This study found that the food industry is commonly involved in published research from leading nutrition journals,” researchers write. “Where the food industry is involved, research findings are nearly six times more likely to be favourable to their interests than when there is no food industry involvement.” As far as the authors know, this is the first systematic review on the extent and nature of food industry involvement in peer-reviewed research. Similar studies focusing on industry involvement have produced mixed results, but far more research is needed. In recent years,…
“Children are happy because they don’t have a file in their minds called ‘All the Things That Could Go Wrong.’” —Marianne Williamson
Always Low Prices – Dec. 22, 2020 – “As one of the largest pharmacy chains and wholesale drug distributors in the country, Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids,” Jeffrey Bossert Clark, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. “Instead, for years, it did the opposite — filling thousands of invalid prescriptions at its pharmacies and failing to report suspicious orders of opioids and other drugs placed by those pharmacies.” The lawsuit is a significant escalation in the government’s effort to hold major pharmacy chains…
A champ goes down swinging – Dec. 22, 2020 – An important player in the drug and alcohol addiction treatment network for more than 60 years is closing at the end of the month, a victim of a combination of the pandemic and dwindling insurance reimbursements. Beacon House is a nonprofit in-patient alcohol and drug treatment facility in Pacific Grove that was founded in 1959 Dec. 22, 2020 – A spokesperson for Gateway confirmed the closing Tuesday and said it was a one-two punch of COVID-19 and health insurance companies not adequately covering in-patient treatment. Many people who would otherwise…
December 22, 2020 – Dear readers, Welcome to Christmas 2020. Well, this isn’t your traditional Christmas, but the heartfelt gratitude to our subscribers, contributors and sponsors/advertisers is invested with the same sincerity as always. Our readership is rising as more and more people find themselves wanting more and more connection to the world of recovery. Treatment centers – and I mean the real ones of compassion, understanding and true intent – find themselves socially distanced at a time when, more than ever, their means, methods and integrity are of undeniable value… more@AddictionRecoveryeBulletin
Admitted into not ‘Checked’ into – Dec. 21, 2020 – The former Saturday Night Live writer, 38, is seeking treatment after relapsing following a decades-long battle with addiction. Mulaney’s rep did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. The New York Post’s Page Six was the first to report the news. The comedian, who previously said he started drinking at the age of 13 before later abusing drugs, has been open about his struggles with sobriety. “I drank for attention,” he told Esquire in 2019. “I was really outgoing, and then at 12, I wasn’t. I didn’t know how…
Win Win – Dec. 18, 2020 – Even before the COVID-19 pandemic put millions of Americans out of work, lacking the financial means to pay for addiction treatment meant people have long relied on a mixed bag of rehab scholarships, GoFundMe campaigns, and other donation-based services to try and find care. There’s even a phone app that offers scholarships and “sponsored beds” for treatment as well as how-to guides that give people instructions on how to crowdsource and find what are known in the industry as rehab “scholarships.” Because the U.S. lacks a universal health care system like other…
The fix is in? – Dec. 16, 2020 – “We have the opportunity today to provide some well needed funds to organizations that really need it within this community,” said Daniel Warren, director of OCIB and who also is a special agent supervisor with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Orlando Regional Operations Center. OCIB is a multi-agency task force, which investigates vice, narcotics and organized crime. In partnership with the State Attorney’s Office, the bureau consists of agents from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Kissimmee Police Department and the St. Cloud Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement…
The Company You Keep – Dec. 17, 2020 – The researchers analysed the responses of 8,750 adults during a survey conducted in 2015 by the National Alcohol Survey (an alcohol research group) and the National Alcohol’s Harm to Others Survey (a collaborative alcohol research group). Participants answered questions, including questions about problems related to people around them who had been drinking over a one-year period. The problems could be related to a car accident, physical violence, marital problems, damage to the house or financial problems … For men, the results are slightly different: after harassment, the second most common…
Trudging and Trudging – Dec. 17, 2020 – Some of you reading this might have an addict/alcoholic in your family or life who is in recovery, or an addict/alcoholic who hasn’t yet decided to admit it or get help. Getting help was perhaps the hardest decision I ever had to make. Here I was, pretty successful, with a good job. My bills were paid, my kids are healthy and I’m a father actively involved in their lives. Nothing the matter, right? Not so fast. Just to give you the insight into the depth of my drinking; I didn’t just drink…
Not the face of evil – Dec. 18, 2020 – According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl — a synthetic opioid — is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, which is processed to make heroin. In the criminal complaint filed in 2019, then-Oconto County investigator Justen Ragen noted it’s typical for drug dealers to sell fentanyl as heroin, or mix fentanyl with heroin, because both drugs are narcotic analgesics. They provide similar effects to the user, have similar appearances and by mixing the two, dealers can create more quantity of the drug. more@GreenBayPressGazette
WATCH – Praise for AA – Dec. 19, 2020 – Explaining how she still felt shame at being asked to leave a friend’s 40th birthday because she was so drunk, she shared the moment that had prompted her to seek help. Read more: Fears of alcoholism during lockdown She wrote: “My rock bottom came in 2013 while on holiday in Cornwall with my husband. I blacked out and fell, fracturing two small bones in my back. I woke up, in terrible agony, on the pavement and realised I needed help.” Constantine added that she was now quite far along…
What is a bachelorette? – Dec. 18, 2020 – Clark recently shared a story about someone who played a major role on his road to recovery from addiction. He called the woman in question, Rhonda Jackson, his “angel” in an Instagram post this week. In 2011, Jackson was working at a PNC Bank in Camden when Clark walked in and tried to cash a forged check in order to buy drugs. “Rhonda didn’t know me, didn’t care what I looked like and didn’t judge me,” Clark said. “She just knew that I needed help.” Instead of calling police, Jackson called…
WATCH – Cooking with Love – Dec. 18, 2020 – A well-known Chattanooga business owner who has been sober for 19 years has opened a home to help other women struggling with addiction. Restaurant owner Scottie Bowman built The Launch Pad, a sober living house for women, and opened the doors to residents earlier this year. It’s a place where women can navigate the road to sobriety and make a positive transition back into society. Bowman, who owns The Big Chill & Grill and Scottie’s On The River, battled addiction for 25 years. “I actually remember drinking a whole bottle…