Freedom would be even better – JUNE 30, 2020 – One aspect is the potential benefits of nicotine and the harms of withdrawal to people in this setting. Nicotine has calming properties which help to explain, for example, very high smoking rates among people with mental health diagnoses—a population that heavily overlaps with the incarcerated population. Withdrawal, as Carrie Wade explained for Filter, brings symptoms like “irritability, anxiety, depressed mood, craving and malaise”—all of which would be greatly compounded for someone entering prison or jail. Since incarceration is often physically and emotionally traumatic, smoking a cigarette can be a coping…
Author: Leonard Buschel
WATCH – Celebration time is now – July 2, 2020 – This is a disease condition. This isn’t just a series of bad moral decisions and that’s what they come into the treatment center with. We’re trying to disjoint that idea from them and get them better educated on what addiction is,” Smith said. The portraits are for sale, framed originals are $500 and unframed prints are $150. All the money raised goes back to Chandra’s House of Hope, an addiction recovery facility for women in Madison. If you are interested in purchasing a portrait or print contact Mandy Kron, Art…
Coercion or Compassion? – July 1, 2020 – On Wednesday morning, Cameron and local leaders and advocates gathered in overwhelming support of Casey’s Law, asserting its 16-year impact on people with substance use disorder. Since the law passed unanimously in the Senate in 2004, its success has been documented by the number of lives and families it has touched, Cameron explained. “You cannot take a step backward by losing this important law,” he said. “It’s why we filed this brief to defend this law in court, it’s why we’re going to continue doing everything in our power to make sure…
Balancing Act As If – June 30, 2020 – The next step is recovery is emotional sobriety, or learning to deal with the uncomfortable feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that the addictive behaviors attempted to cover up or avoid. It entails confronting and managing our emotions in healthy and constructive ways, rather than resorting to methods that harm ourselves or other people. First of all, if we don’t develop some level of emotional sobriety, it’s quite possible that we will harbor many of the problematic feelings and attitudes that contributed to our developing addictions in the first place, which can make…
America’$ Rehab Dream – July 3, 2020 – Recent developments in the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased drug addiction relapses. Hence, companies in the addiction treatment market are capitalizing on the demand for drugs and are increasing their production capabilities. However, many manufacturing units have been temporarily shut down which has led to supply shocks in most hospitals and retail pharmacies. Addiction treatment medications are deemed essential goods and hence governments are relaxing lockdown regulations to resume manufacturing in production units. Individuals with opioid use disorder and methamphetamine use disorder are most vulnerable to acquire the Coronavirus infection since…
Oh, only teenagers? – July 2, 2020 – Lead author James Donald from the University of Sydney said the rate and intensity of online activity among teenagers is increasing daily. “We also know that many platforms on the internet are designed to really captivate people and capture their attention,” Dr Donald told AAP on Friday. Just under 10 per cent of students reported themselves as being ‘highly’ or ‘very highly’ addicted to the internet, with levels of online addiction gradually and steadily increasing across the four year groups. The teenagers were asked questions such as, “I have difficulty doing activities…
What’s more important? – JULY 4, 2020 — Change the Outcome was one of more than two dozen programs that sought but failed to receive funding through Minnesota’s landmark Opioid Epidemic Response Law, which in its early going has suffered a revenue shortfall and seen legislators influence the spending of funds raised by fees on drug manufacturers. Passed in 2019, the program was expected to raise $20 million to fight the opioid crisis through those fees. A 19-member citizen advisory council was established to make recommendations on distributing millions in revenue to addiction treatment and prevention programs. But the fees…
“Who knew when Leonard started his recovery bulletin years ago, how pertinent and necessary it would become in the days of hunkering down from the Covid 19 virus. When one has exhausted all the available online meetings, it is really supportive to have a ‘meeting on paper’ to peruse and feel in someway connected to others. And that, my friends, is the bedrock our sobriety: just one drunk helping another, one addict helping another. Thank yeeeeeeeeew, Leonard!”—Leslie Jordan more@Instagram
Poof – July 04, 2020 – from Charlie Sheen, dear @my lungs,it was one year ago TODAY,that i quit smoking!hashtag -YOU’RE WELCOME!if i could goback in time and have NEVER STARTED,i would absolutely do so!if you are on the fence about quitting, trust me;the sooner the better!happy 4th! more@People
Stick with the Winners – July 2, 2020 – Kenny has over 37 years of long-term recovery and has been married to his wife, Jamie, for over 32 years. Jaime has 34 years of long-term recovery. Kenny and Jamie have two children: Matt, 31, and Lexi, 29, both of whom have never seen Kenny or Jamie pick up a drink or a drug in their entire lives. Kenny has over 40 years of entrepreneurial experience, culminating in Co-founding (with partner Ron Tannebaum) InTheRooms.com. InTheRooms was created with a simple goal in mind, to give recovering addicts a place to meet…
Lock up ‘dem addicts Now! – June 29, 2020 – For individuals addicted to opioids or suffering from chronic pain, a war on drugs has never been a prescription for improving wellness. This dominant abstinence‐based policy model is grounded in the logic of prohibition, and it depends not upon healing but upon shame, isolation, prosecution, and penalty. The better model is “harm reduction,” grounded in connection and care, reason and rights, and human dignity and worth. International and historical public health efforts have demonstrated that one of the best ways to confront epidemic drug use is addiction maintenance—that is, establishing…
Sobriety is Wild – July 1, 2020 – The musician, whose real name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, said that her adopted children now call her ‘Nana’. The Grammy-nominated artist joked that she was trying to get them to call her ‘Lovey’ instead, which is the nickname given to Kardashian ‘momager’ Kris Jenner by her grandchildren. She also revealed on the podcast that her other adopted son ‘recently came out’ as gay, adding: ‘He’s just blossoming and is the light of my life… I love him so much.’ more@DailyMail
Report from the Great Northwest – July 1, 2020 – In Quitter, Barnett exercises the trademark candor people have come to expect from her Twitter feed and on her local news blog The C is For Crank. But instead of applying her critical eye toward Seattle politics, she puts her past under the microscope. Blacking out in the bathroom at work, experiencing hallucinations, having a “swollen and splotchy face too big for her body,” and stomach like “a poisoned sac sloshing bile,” alienating and disappointing her friends and family during repeated bouts in detox and treatment centers, and relapsing —…
Still a Teenager – July 3, 2020 – Nikki Sixx had previously struggled with substance abuse, while even overdosing from heroin in 1987. Since that moment in time, he has been active in a recovery program, noting that it’s a definite credit to transforming his life. “First thing I did and continue to do is cut toxic people outta my life, then comes the first step and then freedom (if you work it). Even non addicts could use the 12 step program to better their lives,” he further details. “To me it’s a life program. I am a better man,…
Hole in the head or hole in one? – July 2, 2020 – “This is something I was explaining to my wife Ayda. My addictions will manifest every day. So when I wasn’t sleeping last night, I was playing golf online. It’s something I look forward to when the kids have gone to bed. It’s basically me having my two glasses of red wine.” Meanwhile, Robbie – who has been sober since 2007 – formerly confessed he discovers his food addiction harder to control than alcohol and drugs dependence. The ‘Angels’ hitmaker explained: ”When you get rid of absolutely everything…
WATCH – MEDIA: Recovery Memoir – June 30, 2020 – Great Big Sea founding member Séan McCann and his wife Andrea Aragon discuss their book, “One Good Reason: A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Music and Love,” and how their shared love of music brought them together, and ultimately helped heal their relationship. more@TVO
Faces of Greed – July 3, 2020 – A Beverly Hills surgeon, his girlfriend and four others were charged in connection with an elaborate scheme, paying patients at Southern California sober living homes to undergo medically unnecessary surgeries, medical testing and other procedures to bilk insurance companies out of nearly $52 million, officials said Friday. In announcing the charges, the Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer called the defendants “real-life Frankensteins.” Dr. Randy Rosen, 57, has been charged with 88 counts in two separate cases involving the recruitment and hiring of numerous “body brokers” to find and pay patients to…
WATCH – Free Treatment Instead? – July 1, 2020 – But “one problem kept cropping up,” CARL HART says in his soon-to-be-released book, Drug Use For Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear, “the evidence did not support the hypothesis. No one else’s evidence did either.” After 20 years of research, he concluded, “I was wrong.” Now, he says, our drug laws do more harm than drugs. Because drug sales are illegal, profits from selling drugs are huge. Since sellers can’t rely on law enforcement to protect their property, they buy guns and form gangs. Cigarettes harm people, too,…
Seeking Help Overseas – July 1, 2020 – Chiang Mai, Thailand (CNN) — Kneeling beside a gutter within a walled compound adjoining a complex of golden-roofed temples, 50 men in red pajamas with the word “overcome” on the back are sweating under the midday sun. The temple herbalist dispenses shots of a thick, brown liquid that his assistant pours down their throats. They swallow with a wince. In the background, recovering patients are banging on cymbals and tambourines. The music stops and the kneeling men gulp large cups of water and begin vomiting into the gutter. An Irishman, whose features…
Chump Change – JULY 1, 2020 – Over the years, speaker programs have been a controversial practice in the pharmaceutical industry. Federal prosecutors have alleged the programs are sometimes nothing more than social events, where large honorariums may be paid in the form of kickbacks to speakers and attendees in order to induce them to prescribe different drugs. Novartis, in fact, was accused of running 80,000 “sham” events. “Not only did Novartis incentivize doctors to host these speaking events, reps bribed the doctors to write more prescriptions of the company’s drugs to give Novartis an advantage over competitors within their…
Healthy is for the Wealthy – July 1, 2020 – In recent years, the opioid overdose crisis ravaging Philadelphia has often been painted as affecting mostly white people. But even as overdose deaths slowly decrease among white Philadelphians, residents of color, and particularly Hispanic people, have been increasingly hard-hit by a rising death toll. The death rate among whites declined by 22% in 2018 and by 3% in 2019. But the Black overdose death rate dropped just 14% in 2018, and had bounced back up to its 2017 rate by 2019. Overdose death rates among Hispanics dropped by 9% in…
I’m Innocent! I’m Innocent! I’m Innocent! – July 3, 2020 – Dr. Randy Rosen pleaded not guilty Thursday to 88 felony counts in two separate cases, while Rosen’s girlfriend 41-year-old Liza Visamanos of Los Angeles, pleaded not guilty to 56 felony counts in two separate cases in connection with the scheme. The pair were arrested Tuesday, with bail originally set at $52 million. On Thursday, a commissioner reduced Rosen’s bail to $15 million in one case and $1 million in the other case. Visamanos’ bail was reduced to $3 million in one case and $100,000 for the second case. Both…
Movies are Miraculous – July 1, 2020 – For some, watching movies can be a form of relaxation and entertainment. But for others, it can be more than that. It can serve as an inspiration, or as a way to learn valuable lessons in life. This is particularly true in the list of addiction recovery movies that are featured below. These movies depict how addiction can impact one’s life, how it can damage relationships, and put one’s life into chaos. More importantly, these movies show that the road to addiction recovery may not be easy, but it can be done…
“The role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible.” —Toni Cade Bambara
LISTEN – WAY TOO SOON! – June 27, 2020 – Written by Morrison himself, the song featured on their epic LP Waiting for the Sun and is a staple of any Doors fan’s collection. The track ranks high as one of the most notorious songs of the band’s impressive discography and the isolated vocal adds a whole other level of wonderment to the number. Before his untimely death in 1971, Morrison was the archetypal poet/singer and commanded a legion of fans. Judging by this, it’s easy to see why. On first listen, the song can feel like The Doors attempt…
To drink ‘n drug or not to… – June 17, 2020 – In Florida, 57% of people reported an increase in substance abuse and the largest increase was between people 35 to 44 years old. Alcohol was the number one substance abused during the pandemic. Advanced Recovery Systems, a cutting-edge leader in behavioral healthcare created Real Talk, an evidence-based program dedicated to educating students and community members about addiction and the dangers of substance abuse. Real Talk has impacted over 15,000 people across the state of Florida since its inception in 2016. more@MyCBS4
Sponsor, Therapy and the STEPS!!! – June 24, 2020 – Getting help. Carl Radke, best known for his role on Bravo’s Summer House, is opening up about his journey to being a happier person. In May, the reality star, 35, told Us Weekly exclusively that he was sober — something that has continued into the summer. ‘Summer House’ Season 5: Everything We Know “I stopped drinking in March,” Radke said on the Wednesday, June 24, episode of “The Publyssity Podcast” with host Alyssa Amoroso. “I’ve been sober since. I feel great. Am I saying I’m never going to drink again?…
Kept it Simple – June 26, 2020 – In posters, logos, advertisements and book covers, Glaser’s ideas captured the spirit of the 1960s with a few simple colors and shapes. He was the designer on the team that founded New York magazine with Clay Felker in the late ’60s. “Around our office, of course, he will forever be one of the small team of men and women that, in the late sixties, yanked New York out of the newspaper morgue and turned it into a great American magazine,” the magazine’s obituary of Glaser said. Soon city magazines everywhere were sprouting…
From quitting time to getting time – June 19, 2020 – “We are all going through a challenging time right now,” she said. “I at first want to say thank you to all the first responders, to the people who you order from and they deliver, the deliveries, the doctors, the nurses, the EMTs, everyone who helps us, the bank tellers, people who are working and maybe being susceptible.” “We will get through this by staying apart,” she added, sharing that she is grateful for her dog, Mister, and her daughter, Ava. Locklear shares 22-year-old daughter, Ava Sambora, with ex-husband…
Inspired by Grief – June 25, 2020 – The series focuses on their faces and is called “Into the Light.” The pieces will be displayed in an exhibit in Asheville in the fall, aimed at removing the stigma from opioid addiction. Clower’s goal is to draw 41 faces for exhibits in every state over the next ten years. more@WCYB