STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – Jan. 27, 2026 – Award-winning writer, director and actor Lydia Cornell is best known for her starring role on the hit ABC series Too Close for Comfort as Emmy legend Ted Knight’s daughter ‘Sara’. More recently seen on HBO’s Curb, Variety’s Power of Comedy, and several indie films, she has over 250 films and TV episodes to her credit. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?A. Alcohol, cocaine. My sobriety date is September 11, 1994.Q. Is there anything special in your sobriety toolkit that…
Author: Leonard Buschel
HOW SWEET – Jan. 13, 2026 – Joseline is marking a personal milestone that stands in sharp contrast to the chaotic reputation she built over more than a decade in reality television. The outspoken star revealed this week that she has been cocaine-free for three years, sharing the news directly with fans on social media. Hernandez first rose to fame in 2012 on Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, quickly becoming one of the franchise’s most talked-about personalities. Her unfiltered behavior, explosive arguments, and unpredictable energy helped cement her status as reality TV must-watch, later fueling spinoff ventures in music, acting,…
STAY AWAKE – Jan. 13, 2026 – If you’re supporting someone in their journey to recovery, help them stay sober by recognizing triggers, risks and signs they may return to use. “It’s common for people to return to use at least once during their recovery,” says Kimberly Kabernagel, DO. If their friends and family understand what can cause them to return to use, it helps them stay sober.” When someone in recovery returns to using a drug or consuming alcohol — that’s considered a relapse. The preferred term is “return to use.” A person in recovery might return to use…
EVERYONE NEEDS A FRIENDLY HOME – Jan. 13, 2026 – After a push by an Albuquerque city councilor to get more housing for people recovering from drug addiction, the city is considering starting up a more-than $1 million pilot program. It’s something that City Councilor Renée Grout said she hopes can help get people back on their feet, faster. “My goal is to see that this kind of support can help people be more successful in being able to sustain being on their own and taking care of themselves and their families,” Councilor Grout said. Albuquerque City Councilor Renée Grout…
STONED NO MORE – Jan. 14, 2026 – Becoming sober has changed Fivio Foreign’s life for the better. In late December, the rapper and producer announced that he planned to enter rehab, saying he wanted to “stop making a lot of dumb decisions.” “I want y’all to support me and I want y’all to [be with] me through this journey,” In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday (January 14), the Brooklyn artist gave his followers an update about how his sobriety has led to personal improvement. “Sobriety help me realize how much time I was wasting on being…
NOW WHAT? – Jan. 16, 2026 – A sweeping new study of psychiatric and genetic records has the potential to change treatment for millions of psychiatric patients, finding that many conditions involve similar genes and may not need to be treated as distinct illnesses. In essence, the study suggests that bolstering the traditional emphasis on patient behavior with a deeper understanding of the biology of mental illness could lead to better treatment. Published in Nature, the paper addresses the boundaries psychiatry uses to separate similar conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The research also suggests that linking genes to the…
TIMOTHY LEARY’S DEAD? – Jan. 13, 2026 – In the billion-dollar race to commercialize psychedelic medicine, psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogen better known as magic mushrooms, or “shrooms,” has decisively pulled ahead of the pack … “Between research results and policy changes, it’s a watershed moment for psychedelic health care, and psilocybin is the star.” State lawmakers, however, are not waiting for regulators in the nation’s capital. Last year, New Mexico joined Colorado and Oregon in offering legal psilocybin therapy to adults. Lawmakers in a dozen states, including North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia and California, are considering easing restrictions on the…
SAVE THE CHILDREN – Jan. 15, 2026 – The CDC is funding a horrific hepatitis experiment on babies. “We are allowing children, infants, to be exposed to Hepatitis B when we could prevent it, and then follow them for five years to see what happens. That’s not long enough to see the long-term benefits …The experiment had raised ethical concerns at the time the funding grant was announced in December, with Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine telling The Guardian that it “has set alarm bells ringing in the global health community.” The World…
KEPT COMING BACK – Jan. 24, 2026 – “Took my relapse public, more to come,” Lyonne, 46, wrote via X on Friday, January 23, shortly before responding to a fan sending the actress support in the comments section. “Thanks, boss … for the grace, etc. Sending love back your way. May become a pothead or a nun. Lyonne previously quit drinking alcohol in 2006, further offered insight into her ongoing substance abuse and recovery journey. “Recovery is a lifelong process. Anyone out there struggling, remember you’re not alone,” the Poker Face actress tweeted early on Saturday, January 24. “Grateful for love and smart feet. Gonna do it for baby…
UNBEARABLY SAD – Jan. 21, 2026 – Another detail has come to light in the tragic death of Victoria Jones on New Year’s Day. The daughter of Hollywood star Tommy Lee Jones was found dead in a San Francisco hotel room of an apparent drug overdose. The actress had been dealing with drug and alcohol problems in the months leading up to her death. News that Victoria was supposedly on the verge of giving birth is sure to compound what’s already a devastating situation for Tommy and his family. Court documents obtained by US Weekly, dated October 1, state that…
LITTLE BY LITTLE – Jan. 12, 2026 – New data indicate that alcohol consumption among adults in the United States has begun relatively rapidly declining in the past 2 to 3 years. Additional surveillance is needed to determine whether these declines sustain over time; if they do, it may portend significant improvements to population health. These recent trends among adults in the United States reverse longer standing trends. While alcohol consumption has been declining among adolescents and young adults for over three decades, consumption among middle aged adults has generally been steady or accelerating, as has per capita consumption. Three…
THANK GOD – Jan. 14, 2026 – U.S. overdose deaths fell through most of last year, suggesting a lasting improvement in an epidemic that had been worsening for decades. Federal data released Wednesday showed that overdose deaths have been falling for more than two years — the longest drop in decades — but also that the decline was slowing. And the monthly death toll is still not back to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, let alone where it was before the current overdose epidemic struck decades ago, said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University researcher who studies overdose trends.…
IT’S AWARDS SEASON – Jan. 22, 2026 – “Sinners,” a bold and bloody vampire saga set in the American South, earned a record-breaking 16 nominations. It was followed closely by “One Battle After Anothe,” a searing examination of radical politics, picked up 13 nods. See Website
“Mankind invented the atomic bomb, but no mouse would ever construct a mousetrap.” – Albert Einstein, 1879–1955
WELL DONE! – Jan. 9, 2025 – In a world where addiction affects millions of individuals and families, author and speaker Joey McCollum offers a message of clarity, honesty, and hope in his new book, I Don’t Do That Anymore: Breaking Free From Addiction. Rather than presenting a polished success story or quick-fix solution, McCollum shares a raw and relatable account of what it actually takes to change. At the center of the book is a simple but powerful idea: real change begins when a person draws a clear line and decides who they are—and who they are no longer…
INSANE – JAN. 9, 2026 – Methamphetamine doesn’t just spike levels of the pleasure-inducing hormone dopamine in the reward pathways of the brain – it also provokes damaging brain inflammation through similar mechanisms. Meth is addictive because it increases dopamine levels in the brain. While researchers know that meth triggers brain inflammation, whether the immune system also affects the brain’s reward system during drug use has been unclear. Our work focuses on how dopamine is regulated in the body and the reward pathways of the brain. Dopamine shapes motivation, movement, learning and cognition, and its disruption is linked to a…
DEAREST MOMMY – Jan. 9, 2026 – Stephanie Boyle will soon return to the addiction recovery center from which she received treatment more than three years ago. This time, she won’t go there as a patient. She was referred for a YWCA housing voucher that fully covered rent. However, it took months to move into permanent housing. When The Daily Herald spoke with Boyle in November 2023, she was moving from the Everett shelter to a Marysville apartment. In 2026, she lives with her three youngest sons in a Marysville house, still with help from the YWCA. Now she receives…
VIDEO – NOT ALWAYS EASY – Jan, 10, 2026 – Dave Hughes has one of the most recognisable voices in the Australian entertainment industry, and has been making people laugh through his stand-up career, radio shows and regular TV appearances for more than 30 years. But in August 2024, his breakfast radio show Hughesy, Ed and Erin was pulled from the air. Then, while he was adjusting to a new, slower pace of life in 2025, Dave broke six ribs and punctured a lung during an AFL charity game in Melbourne. n this episode of the Stellar podcast, Dave explains…
GREAT ARTICLE – JAN. 9, 2026 – Describing his time drinking as 10 years of fun, then 10 years of fun with negative consequences and another 10 years of only negative consequences, Knowles has investigated alcohol’s appeal in his new book, “Why We Drink Too Much: The Impact of Alcohol on Our Bodies and Culture.” The short answer to why humans drink? “Because it’s fun and because we learn that good things happen when we do it, or at least we think good things have happened when we did it,” Knowles said. The long answer offers insight into why some…
IT TAKES ALL KINDS – Jan. 8, 2026 – A Hudson County doctor was indicted on 58 counts including charges of exchanging opioids for sexual favors, medical fraud and running a drug-involved premises, federal prosecutors said. Ritesh Kalra, 52, initially charged with three counts of prescribing opioids in exchange for sex and two counts of medical fraud in July 2025.But the federal indictment announced Wednesday adds 36 counts of distributing opioids outside the usual course of professional practice and for illegitimate purposes, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises and 21 counts of health care fraud, according to officials. Kalra…
GO JOSH SHAPIRO – Jan. 8, 2026 – The program is run by the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and focused on preventing fatal overdoses in PA. It does this by distributing supplies to local organizations, providers and people within communities. That includes 800,000 doses of naloxone and 737,000 fentanyl and xylazine test strips given out in 2025. Those supplies are shared with recovery programs, libraries, churches, campuses, drop-boxes, mail-based distribution, mobile outreach and other places. Nearly 9,500 overdose reversals were reported between January and September last year, the report said. The DDAP said early estimates indicate that 2025…
VIDEO – JESUS SAVES – Jan. 7, 2026 – In this episode of Faith in Culture, host Tre Goins-Phillips sits down with author Jon Seidl to discuss his powerful new book, Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic. Jon opens up about his hidden battle with addiction, the slow fade that led him to rock bottom, and the deeper wounds—childhood trauma, shame, and escapism—that fueled his drinking. He shares how therapy, honesty, and radical vulnerability helped him confront the roots of his pain and invite Jesus into the most wounded parts of his life. Together, Jon and his wife discerned God calling…
SHOULD YOU? – Jan. 2, 2026 – Larissa Hope believes psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, helped her through a difficult mental health condition. Back when she was 17 and starting out as an actress, she was cast in the TV drama Skins, but the new-found fame brought out a previously buried trauma. She didn’t find antidepressants effective – but that small dose of psilocybin, which she took under clinical supervision, marked a turning point. “When I experienced it, I burst out crying,” she says today. “It was the first time in my life I had ever felt a…
COKE IS BACK – Jan. 6, 2026 – For the first time in decades, cocaine is killing more people in Cuyahoga County than opioids – including fentanyl – and the drug is going to require a different type of treatment and prevention strategy to combat it. But what could that look like? Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson started to notice a shift in overdose deaths early last year. As opioid overdoses continued to fall, cocaine-related deaths were rising, accounting for 63% of cases, compared with 46% involving opioids, including some overlap from drug mixtures. At the time, he predicted cocaine…
AUDIO – WALK THE WALK – Jan. 12, 2026 – If you feel a lift after exercise, you’re in good company. Movement can boost mood, and according to the results of a new study, it can also help relieve symptoms of depression. As part of a review of evidence by the Cochrane collaboration — an independent network of researchers — scientists evaluated 73 randomized controlled trials that included about 5,000 people with depression, many of whom also tried antidepressant medication. “It’s much easier for a primary care physician to prescribe medication to a patient. You just write it on a…
VIDEO – AND THEN YOU DIE – Jan. 9, 2026 – A new study shows ultra-processed foods can trigger brain patterns similar to those seen in drug addiction for some people… See Website
VIDEO – NO RELAPSES – Jan. 13, 2026 – Singer Lulu has opened up on whether she fears that she will relapse after publicly revealing her battle with alcoholism. The Scottish singer, 76, previously told The Times that she was at her own 65th birthday party when she first disclosed to her sister that she was not in control of her drinking, and later flew to a rehabilitation clinic where she stayed for six weeks and committed to Alcoholics Anonymous, which she still attends. See Website
KIT KAT CLUB? – Jan. 12, 2026 – One night last spring I lay in bed with my heart pounding and my hands shaking. I’d eaten a huge bar of chocolate and my body was in revolt. This was crazy. I simply had to stop. I knew I had a sugar addiction and I knew it wasn’t something that could be resolved purely by willpower. Could a “sugar detox” retreat be the cure? Sugar was everywhere in my 1960s childhood. My parents had come through the war (my father was in the Navy; my mother lived through the Blitz) and…
Lady Gaga: One Night Only. – January 15, 2026 – I’m so glad that I willingly provided my credit card information without a second thought to an unexpected email from Lady Gaga two days before the show. I had no idea where this experience would take me, but I will never take it for granted.Only a few little monsters were invited by email to buy tickets to this special event, and I was one of them. We were not allowed to bring phones in, so I’m writing down my experience so that it will forever be engrained. That’s what people used…
VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – 29 Million Views – In honor of Martin Luther Kind Day. Jan. 19th. This live performance comes from the long out-of-circulation 1973 film, “Save The Children” with James Jamerson on bass. See Website