STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – January 20, 2026 – I am a true believer in trying to make the world a better place. Give more than you take. Remember the less fortunate. And there but for the grace of God go I… Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?A. Cocaine. I’ve had many sobriety dates over the years…I finally settled on 01/01/2018.Q. Is there anything special in your sobriety toolkit that helps keep you sober?A. Two key things I’ve learned throughout my years of sobriety’s ups and downs are:1. I…
Author: Leonard Buschel
FOR THE LONG HAUL – Jan. 9, 2026 – Being sober after years of addiction is something to celebrate, and Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford is patting himself on the back for making it through 40 years of sobriety. In a new video posted on social media, dubbed “one day at a time,” the metal vocalist discusses why he decided to get clean and sober and talked about how grateful to those who have helped him reach this milestone. “Four decades ago, I made a decision to change the entire course of my life, stepping out of darkness into the…
LESS SHOTS – Jan. 9, 2026 – After leaving the university, Jackson was drafted by the Buffalo Braves, but he was put on waivers and ended up taking contracts to play overseas. He played in Austria and France for five years. During this time, he began to struggle with drug addiction, Jackson told 6 News. “I went through years of being a different person than the way I was raised and the foundation I had in my family.” He said that he was a late starter in addiction because he didn’t want anything to damage his athletic career, but during…
HUNGRY FOR APPROVAL – Jan. 13, 2026 – After 23 years specializing in eating disorders, about one-fourth of my practice is men. Men who binge eat. Men who obsess about food. Men who feel completely out of control. But they don’t report it. Because they’ve been told it’s not supposed to happen to them. The Silent Epidemic Research suggests men make up 25-40% of people with eating disorders. But those numbers are likely underestimated because men are far less likely to seek help. Why? Stigma. Eating disorders are portrayed as “women’s issues.” Men who struggle feel like they’re failing at…
BIG PIECE OF SILT – Jan. 9, 2026 – A 39-year-old man who ran sober homes across Massachusetts and insulation companies that received state assistance was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in a variety of fraud schemes, federal prosecutors announced. In addition to the prison time, Daniel Cleggett, of Kingston, was ordered to pay restitution totaling more than $1.8 million…In December 2024, Cleggett pleaded guilty to 25 counts of wire fraud, six counts of money laundering, three counts of making false statements to a mortgage lending business, two counts of wire fraud conspiracy and a single…
NEW MATES AT ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS – Jan. 9, 2026 – During the worst period of his alcohol dependence, Dr. Charles Knowles, 57, now a leading surgeon, was consuming ten times the recommended weekly limit after work or at weekends. That’s about 14 bottles of wine or 50 pints of beer. Yet he managed to remain high-functioning, eventually specialising in bowel disease and becoming professor of surgery at Queen Mary University of London. Now he hasn’t touched a drop in ten years and he says that as well as saving his life, giving up saved his 24-year marriage. His wife, Annie,…
WHAT INDEED? – Jan. 9, 2026 – Why do people with addiction use drugs self-destructively? Why don’t they quit out of self-concern? Why does the rat in the experiment, alone in a cage, press the lever again and again for cocaine—to the point of death? In this pathbreaking book, Hanna Pickard proposes a new paradigm for understanding the puzzle of addiction. For too long, our thinking has been hostage to a false dichotomy: either addiction is a brain disease, or it is a moral failing. Pickard argues that it is neither, and that both models stifle addiction research and fail…
VIDEO – ONE SHOT OR THREE? – Jan. 9, 2026 – The new advice from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services is an about-face from a longstanding government guideline that said drinking in moderation meant two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. Scientists, nutritionists and advocates say the new guidance is too vague for people to apply to their everyday lives, and criticize the Trump administration for missing an opportunity to warn about alcohol’s link to cancer and other health problems. “Any level of drinking has some risk, and it…
A TOXIC COMBINATION – Jan. 9, 2025 – One of America’s most infamous corporate characters just made its final curtain call. The $7 billion bankruptcy deal approved over the holidays for Purdue Pharma and its billionaire owners, the Sackler family, includes compensation for individuals harmed by OxyContin® from $3,500 to $16,000, available to anyone who filled out the right paperwork a long time ago and who promises not to sue. The payments might begin as soon as this March. Purdue, with a new name (Knoa Pharma) and under new management, gets to re-dedicate itself now to treating opioid addiction. As…
VIDEO – 911 or 211 – Jan. 12, 2026 – Nearly half of Americans admit they feel addicted to their cell phones, according to a survey from Reviews.org. The survey found that 43% of Americans acknowledge phone addiction, with users checking their devices an average of 186 times daily. “Sometimes I feel my phone vibrating and I don’t even have a text message.” Kendall suggests several strategies for healthier digital habits, including scheduling tech-free time during the day and establishing device-free zones in homes. For people who rely on phones for work, Kendall emphasizes maintaining balance by reducing nonessential phone…
YOU’RE LUCKY – Jan. 13, 2026 – Worse hangovers, more headaches — you’re not just imagining it. An aging body handles alcohol differently. If alcohol once made you feel fun and flirty but now makes you feel loopy, tired and headachy, congratulations — you’re probably getting old. There’s no question that our bodies struggle more with alcohol as we age. “I’m 53, so I’ve definitely noticed,” said J. Leigh Leasure, an alcohol researcher at the University of Houston. With every year that ticks by, our bodies break down alcohol more slowly, leading to higher blood alcohol concentrations, more impairment and…
FAMILY TRAUMA – Jan. 2026 – The tragedy of Rob Reiner and his wife, murdered after decades of attempts to navigate countless treatment centers, is a devastating reminder. Their story is not just personal; it is systemic. It exposes a world that treats symptoms while ignoring the wounds beneath them. The Op-Ed Argument: Why We’re Getting It Wrong Addiction is not the disease itself — it is often the scar tissue of unresolved trauma. A Generational Crisis We are leaving our children a world riddled with addiction and trauma. If we do not confront this reality, more senseless tragedies lie…
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King, Jr., Jan. 15, 1929, Atlanta, GA. – April 4, 1968, Lorraine Motel, Memphis, TN
CAN YOU STOMACH THAT? – Jan. 7, 2026 – A single drinking binge — roughly four drinks for women or five for men within about two hours — can weaken the gut lining, making it less able to perform one of its core jobs: keeping bacteria and toxins from entering the bloodstream, a phenomenon known as “leaky gut.” Now, investigators at Harvard and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have identified how binge drinking damages the gut, and why those leaks in the system may set off harmful inflammation long after the last drink is poured. Led by first author Scott…
VIDEO – WITHOUT A CHIP – Jan. 8, 2026 – Banishing booze for a month had quite the magnificent effect on this woman’s face. Paige Raeleen cut alcohol out of her life for 30 days as part of her ‘sober experiment’, which she documented on her YouTube channel. She explained that she wanted to share the good, bad and ugly parts of her personal challenge with social media users, as well as the ‘insights she gained’ during it. In the video which she shared online back in January 2024, the yoga instructor admitted that it ‘took a lot of self…
LESS DRINKING – Jan. 6, 2025 – The whiskey industry hasn’t had much luck lately as a handful of distillers have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy across the past year. Also venturing down the same path was whiskey distiller Rogue Ales & Spirits parent Oregon Brewing Company, as it closed operations on Nov. 14 and filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on Nov. 24. Now, whiskey beverage brand Wilder Whiskey has filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate its assets before its fourth year in business comes to a close. The Kannapolis, North Carolina maker of the whiskey drink filed a petition…
AUDIO – INTERNET KILLS – Jan. 5, 2025 – On a Sunday two years ago, Sam Nelson opened up ChatGPT and started typing. Naturally, for an 18-year-old on the verge of college, he decided to ask for advice about drugs. “How many grams of kratom gets you a strong high?” Sam asked on Nov. 19, 2023, just as the widely sold painkiller was growing more popular in the U.S. “I want to make sure so I don’t overdose. There isn’t much information online and I don’t want to accidentally take too much.” ChatGPT responded four seconds later with a stern…
HOMEOPATHY… – Jan. 7, 2026 – People recovering from alcoholism say a programme which uses alcohol to achieve sobriety is helping them transform their lives. Worthing-based substance misuse charity Turning Tides says its method of gradually reducing alcohol intake under clinical supervision leads to better outcomes. Peter Lucas, 36, who has been recovering through the programme, said: “At the height of my addiction I thought I would never feel like I feel now.” Lucas added: “I was a quivering wreck, but this place has helped me so much.” Mark Hounsome, 49, who now works in a recovery house after going…
BIG CONTROVERSY – JAN. 8, 2026 – Elyse Stevens had a reputation for taking on complex medical cases. People who’d been battling addiction for decades. Chronic-pain patients on high doses of opioids. Sex workers and people living on the street. “Many of my patients are messy, the ones that don’t know if they want to stop using drugs or not,” said Stevens, a primary care and addiction medicine doctor. Elyse Stevens was a primary physician at the University Medical Center New Orleans, which runs an integrated health clinic specialized in treating patients with substance use disorders. At first, her patient-centered…
IS THE PLAGUE OVER? – Jan. 8, 2026 – Brothers Lonny and Teyon Fritzler walked amid the tall grass and cottonwood trees surrounding their boarded-up childhood home near the Little Bighorn River and daydreamed about ways to rebuild … Teyon, now 34, began using the drug at 15 with their dad. Lonny, 41, started after college, which he said was partly due to the stress of caring for their grandfather with dementia. Their own addictions to meth persisted for years, outlasting the lives of both their father and grandfather. It took leaving their home in Lodge Grass, a town of…
BEWARE – Dec. 29, 2025 – The likes of Adele, Tom Holland and Daniel Radcliffe have all opened up about how they have gone teetotal after drinking heavily during their youth – Adele described herself as being a ‘borderline alcoholic’ in her twenties, Holland has said he was ‘obsessed’ with booze, and Radcliffe has revealed he used to drink to cope with fame. According to the NHS, alcohol misuse is “when you drink in a way that’s harmful, or when you’re dependent on alcohol.” But what are the main signs that you may be developing, or have developed, an unhealthy…
AUDIO – TOO MUCH CURRY? – Jan. 7, 2026 – According to the police, Wasim and his wife Sharmin Akter Tumpa live in a rented house separately from other family members. As he is an addict, his brother Rakib, with the consent of the family, admitted him to the drug rehabilitation centre without informing his wife. Tumpa told New Age that the police handed over Wasim to her at Kadamtali police station on Tuesday night. Responding to a question about whether Rakib admitted Wasim to the rehabilitation centre, both Tumpa and Wasim refused to make any comment. On Sunday, Tumpa…
A LITTLE MORE…OR LESS? – Jan. 8, 2026 – Dry January is hitting a little differently this year. A growing number of Americans planned to participate in the month-long abstention — 56% of adults, according to CivicScience, up from 54% last year and 52% the year before. What was not so long ago a fringe movement in the U.K. has evolved to become practically, in some circles, the norm. My own group texts this week have been filled with references to Dry January so casual that the implication seems to be of course everyone is participating. (Some of my friends…
VIDEO – WILD NEWS – Jan. 8, 2026 – The levels of caffeine in your blood could affect the amount of body fat you carry, a factor that in turn could determine your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Those are the findings of a 2023 study that used genetic markers to establish a more definitive link between caffeine levels, BMI, and type 2 diabetes risk. The research team, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, the University of Bristol in the UK, and Imperial College London in the UK, said calorie-free caffeinated drinks could be explored as…
NEW BOOK – Oct. 22, 2025 – Every one of us carries an inner narrative – the story we tell ourselves about who we are and what we have lived through. For many, those stories are filled with stress, unresolved pain, and limiting beliefs that keep us locked in cycles of suffering. But when we learn to see those stories clearly, we can begin… See Website
PLAYING FOR KEEPS – Jan. 7, 2026 – “I’ve dealt with addiction, and music gives me a sense of purpose, a reason to wake up in the morning.” This inspiring quote comes from the WeAreTheMusicMakers Reddit page, a sub-Reddit for music producers, in response to the question, “Has anyone here successfully used the practice of making music to overcome an active addiction?” Addiction is a terrible experience, one that affects you not only physically but mentally, emotionally and even spiritually. Thankfully, music has been proven to be effective in many different ways, from easing cravings and regaining a sense of…
VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – One Million Views – “The second set-opening Touch Of Grey is a triumphant rendition, one that Dick Latvala, when he first heard it, commented ‘that’s the best Touch Of Grey I’ve ever heard!’ This was the Dead’s first full stadium tour as headliners (they played stadium tours in 1986 with Dylan and Petty, and in 1987 with Dylan), and they played so well during this tour that they made these massive venues feel intimate.” – David Lemieux See Website
STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – Jan. 13, 2026 – Sacha Zimmerman is a writer and editor. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, Reader’s Digest, and The New York Times, where she penned essays for the Times blog “PROOF: Alcohol and American Life.” Her memoir is UNWASTED: MY LUSH SOBRIETY (Citadel, 2011). She also has deep experience working with nonprofits and think tanks on white papers, annual reports, website materials, and other written collateral. Her first novel is expected in 2026. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of…
WORDS OF SUPPORT – January 5, 2026 – Paris Jackson is offering a candid look into her sobriety journey. The singer-songwriter opened up about her journey staying sober, and offered words of support to others who might be grappling with addiction or mental health conditions. Jackson will celebrate six years of sobriety from alcohol and heroin on Jan. 7. In the Reel, the 27-year-old compiled a series of clips from her day-to-day life, from spending time with friends and going on nature hikes to driving with the windows down and experiencing quiet moments alone. “getting sober ain’t always the indication…
AUDIO – BOBBY BOWS OUT – Jan. 10, 2026 – “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” the family statement began. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues. The statement continued, “Bobby’s final months reflected the same spirit that defined his life. Diagnosed in July, he began treatment only weeks before returning to his hometown stage for a three-night celebration of 60 years of music at Golden Gate Park. Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not…