Hey, the women are smarter – June 18, 2020 – Her life started to turn around June 17, 2018. That was the day Rochelle stopped using drugs and alcohol. Now two years later, she is sober, happy and continuing to improve her mental and physical health. Rochelle will soon be in her final phase of AIM court, which includes going to therapy and continuing to work on relapse prevention. She encourages others in a similar situation to the one she was in years ago to seek out the resources the county has, such as AIM court, recovery court or veteran’s…
Author: Leonard Buschel
The Art of Loss – June 19, 2020 – “I have such a deep compassion for their situation,” she said, showing other faces she’s captured. “This is Vanessa, and that’s Timothy.” The pieces will be displayed at an exhibit in Asheville this fall aimed at removing the stigma of opioid addiction. “Because we’re putting a human face on this epidemic, it has a lot of power,” she said. “Into Light” is underwritten by Dogwood Health Trust. Clower’s looking for more submissions to add to her exhibit. In particular, she’d like to draw more people of color to show the opioid…
Arrested Providing MAT – June 19, 2020 – A former drug counselor at the Adams County Adult Correctional Complex, an inmate and his girlfriend are facing charges in connection to drug delivery in the complex, according to a news release from the Adams County District Attorney’s Office. Kody Samuel Fuller, 25, of Jackson Township, is charged with delivery of a controlled substance (suboxone), introduction of contraband, criminal conspiracy, and criminal use of a communication facility. There is simply no tolerance for that behavior, and it will be dealt wit to the fullest extent provided by law,” DA Brian Sinnett said…
NO doubles for you! – June 20, 2020 – The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has said that it’s best that both men and women have just ‘up to one drink a day’. That’s a change from previous recommendations in the US, where the recommended limit for booze is no more than two drinks a day, where one drink is defined as containing around 0.6 ounces of alcohol. While that remains the official limit, the committee recommending a reduction is pretty influential across the pond, so their statement could have an impact on health guidelines. The committee points to a ‘modest…
Addict No More! – June 17, 2020 – A collage of photos and newspaper clippings tell the story of Langston Jackson’s football career. Jackson, of Simi Valley, nearly died from a heroin overdose in 2013. He’s now part of the class of 2020, after earning a degree from CSU Northridge. Langston Jackson talks about his heroin overdose story inside his Simi Valley home. He is a 2020 graduate from CSUN, who was a promising athlete who nearly died from an heroin overdose. With determination and some help from family, he was able to graduate from college. more@VCStar
Innovate, don’t isolate – JUN 17, 2020 – The coronavirus pandemic gave Sanders a new perspective on how to reach people when 12-step meetings aren’t available. When Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home orders this spring prevented recovery groups from gathering, Sanders saw a need to provide a platform where recovering addicts can search for online meetings by local time, location, language, addiction or topic. “I decided to lend my experience, strength and hope to create something that could help,” said Sanders, who has a background in game design and development. The result is a clearinghouse MeetingMakersClub.com, which is under development and…
Anyone Can Quit! – June 17, 2020 – The tweet quickly went viral, racking up over 847,000 likes. It was also soon reposted on Reddit, where it got even more attention. Replying to Redditors, Travis said getting sober was the ‘hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.’ ‘I stayed in rehab for over a year and a half because I couldn’t trust myself,’ he said. Once out, he used the ‘I Am Sober’ mobile app to track his sobriety, and his health improved in other ways, too. He said he stopped drinking soda and eating fast food, adding that…
Making the Rounds – June 17, 2020 – Hall’s love of boxing began when he was around 6 years old. His father bought a pair of boxing gloves each for Hall and his two brothers, because he wanted his sons to be tough. Hall’s father would bring in other boys from the neighborhood and have them fight against his sons, and Hall fell in love with the sport immediately. But starting in the summer following his fifth grade year in school, fighting started to take a back seat to drugs. He began selling crack cocaine when he was 12, and…
Stick with the Winners! June 18, 2020 – Ronald (RT) Tannebaum has 36 years of long-term recovery and has dedicated his life to helping make the recovery movement a positive, mainstream force in the world today. RT has been married to Phyllis for 32 years and she has over 35 years of long-term recovery. They have two children; their daughter Taylor is the Sports Anchor for WTHR, NBC TV in Indianapolis, Indiana and son Jake is a Commercial Insurance Broker in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. Taylor and Jake have reaped the benefits of their parent’s long-term recovery and have never seen…
Prevention Not Incarceration!!! – June 17, 2020 – The virtual field trip featured Daryl McDaniels of the groundbreaking hip hop group Run-DMC, who spoke passionately about his experience with alcoholism, fame, recovery and ways to manage stress and harness imagination to broaden horizons. McDaniels, who was introduced by hip hop icon Doug E. Fresh, also debuted a song that he wrote with the young people from Road Recovery, who find new paths forward through music and mentorship. The event, which was meant to unfold with kids present, evolved to a virtual platform due to the pandemic — and was, in…
Clean Music – FEATURE – Country music is a hard-drinking genre. It would be almost impossible to list every last one of the songs dedicated to beer, whiskey or tequila, or to the joys and regrets that come from an all-night bender at the bar. But within the alcohol-heavy world of country music, there’s an unexpected twist: Some of its biggest stars—yes, even the ones who sing drinking songs—are sober… Tim McGraw McGraw has been sober since 2008, when his wife, Faith Hill, told him that alcohol was taking over his life. Before that, he always had a buzz going…
PRIMETIME – June 17, 2020 – “There’s morphine, there’s this, there’s that, this is really dangerous stuff — and there’s a lot of them in there,” she explained. The woman did not wish to be identified, however, she is a relative of an Eyewitness News employee. She now wants to know how a bag with hundreds of powerful pills ended up in her Amazon order. “Let me be clear, this package was not sent by DEA and these drugs were never in DEA custody,” said Bill Bodner, special agent in charge in Los Angeles. Bodner says a pharmacy in New…
Everyone is a genius … at times – May 21, 2020 – The year was 1869. Scientist Dmitri Mendeleev was trying to find a meaningful way to organize chemical elements. He toiled for years and still hadn’t found a solution. It became an obsession. Then one day he decided to write all of the elements on note cards. One element per card. He took another card and wrote the properties of each element on them. He could tell by this activity that atomic weight was somehow important, but a clear, useful pattern for organizing the elements still eluded him. He…
It Caused It! – June 20, 2020 – One significant improvement that society could make is to stop thinking of addicts as addicts and start thinking of them as people with addictions. An addiction does not define a person–it affects them. There is much more to a person than whatever illness might affect them, but society sometimes has trouble seeing that. Changing that perspective would give people with addiction a better chance at recovery by encouraging a person-first viewpoint. While addiction is a lifelong problem, it does not need to be a lifelong sentence that suppresses all the other aspects…
Man’s second best friend – June 20, 2020 – As a youth, I got in a lot of trouble. I had misdemeanors and felonies. I ended up in a mandatory rehabilitation program for minors who had felony charges when I was 16. I was there for 11 months when you were supposed to finish the program in five months. I was just so against treatment and didn’t follow the rules until the end.” more@PopSugar
Advocates Lives Matter – June 15, 2020 – I’ve been a sober woman and outspoken recovery advocate since I quit drinking in 2015. Though I’m Mexican, Jewish, and bisexual, the world sees me as a straight, white woman and I acknowledge my vast amount of privilege in that. I also acknowledge that my life could have taken a very different route if I had a more traditional Mexican last name due to the historic, systemic racism of the United States. A significant part of my recovery is waking up to the injustices of the world — the injustices that I…
And Everyone Profits – June 16, 2020 – At a Zoom meeting, all the members were talking about the coronavirus, Trump, the looting, the protests, even SLAA but when “Layla” brought up racism, she was shut down and shamed for “breaking the 10th tradition.” “The last place I expected to be triggered was in a meeting,” she said. “I cried for hours, wanting to self-harm but instead I picked up the phone.” When she experiences racial gaslighting, micro and macro aggressions and racial stereotypes in meetings she gets the program thrown in her face. Implying that she can only change…
Win some, lose some – June 19, 2020 – Most of the accused did not return calls or emails seeking comment. But Roberts responded with links to a post about a $1 billion lawsuit filed by now-defunct Sovereign Health against insurer Health Net and its parent corporation. Asked if that meant he believes Health Net is behind this action, and that the D.A.’s Office and Department of Insurance are doing its bidding, he wrote, “That is exactly what’s happening.” … “With no regard for the substance abuse patients who wanted and needed treatment, this ring trafficked and used them to…
Pill Pushers Star on TV Show! – JUNE 17, 2020 – “Although we were sharply aware of and empathetic to the horrifying pain caused by the opioid crisis for millions in this country, we were blown away when Warren Littlefield showed us Beth Macy’s book Dopesick. Consequently, Danny Strong had been crafting his own telling of the opiate epidemic and in typical Danny form, it was mesmerizing,” Fox 21 TV Studios president Bert Salke said. “The fact that Warren and Danny are collaborating on this is a studio’s dream. Together with Barry Levinson and Michael Keaton, we have every reason…
The Money Making “ism” – June 20, 2020 – According to a study of over 1,000 remote employees by Twingate, remote employment is causing workers to lose a sense of work/life balance during the pandemic. A total of 45% of employees reported attending more meetings during the pandemic than when working in the office, compared to 21% who attended fewer meetings. And 40% of employees have experienced mental exhaustion from video calls while working remotely. A Doodle, survey of more than 1,100 U.S. employees also cited symptoms of burnout among employees. Findings showed a full week of virtual meetings leaves…
Number 7, Forever – June 17, 2020 – Now, an incredible note written by the Yankees slugger just hit the auction block at Lelands … and what Mick wrote is pretty powerful. “I want to dedicate this book to all my friends. Old, new & especially young friends. Please don’t do alcohol & drugs. I never did drugs but alcohol hurt my career terribly,” Mantle wrote. Lelands says it’s unclear exactly who or what the letter was for … but they’ve authenticated the piece, and it’s legit. Mickey also seems to answer an age-old debate — who was a better…
The Smoking Gun – June 21, 2020 – DRUG COMPANY EXECUTIVES AND OPIOID SALESMEN June 2020 report This January in a federal courthouse, there was a first in the American opioid crisis: Top drug company executives were sentenced to prison for crimes related to the public health emergency. A jury found five executives of Insys Therapeutics guilty of racketeering and fraud, determining that they recklessly and illegally conspired to boost profits from the opioid painkiller Subsys. The judge sentenced former Insys CEO John Kapoor to a prison term of five and a half years. In a two-part report for 60…
Johnny Be Good – June 17, 2020 – This Must Be the Gig is joined by Johnny Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls. Since emerging as one of the most exciting voices of the ’90s with hits like “Slide” and “Iris”, the alternative rockers have continued to incessantly tour the world, contribute to massive soundtracks, and release new albums that slot in perfectly with fan favorites. Johnny and bassist Robby Takac have now released 12 LPs, including last year’s Miracle Pill. As a taste of that record, we’re thrilled to share their latest single, “Fearless”, in this episode. Plus, if you…
“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.” —George Carlin
Shorter Lines – June 15, 2020 – Among other things, that made it easier for doctors to prescribe medications such as buprenorphine … Ingoglia’s group and other treatment advocates requested $38.5 billion in emergency funding from Congress, so far unsuccessfully. In addition, he says, a plunging economy also threatens future public funding that many community treatment providers rely on. “Our members are feeling an awful lot of anxiety right now,” he says, not just from the current hardships, but the future, as states confront dramatic budget cuts. “That’s going to have implications for treatment capacity down the road.” So the…
Aloha – June 7, 2020 – But last month the county canceled its contract with Oahu-based Hope Treatment Services to operate the eight-bed youth rehabilitation center, citing problems with the company’s “performance and responsiveness.” Kauai County Managing Director Michael Dahilig wouldn’t provide specifics about why the county’s agreement with Hope Treatment Services went south. But in a letter to the vendor earlier this year, the county rendered an ultimatum: Open the rehab facility by March 31 — or lose the contract. Donald Perpignan, facility manager at Hope Treatment Services, said the county set an unrealistic deadline that did not account…
MEDIA: Book Review – June 4, 2020 – But let me put it this way: If Brown wrote the list of ingredients on the label of a can of baked beans, his lean and powerful prose would still make that list beautiful and demand you take notice. Thankfully Brown (who teaches writing at Cal State San Bernadino) sticks to literature, and in his third – and perhaps strongest – memoir, “Apology to the Young Addict,” he gives the reader a ringside seat as he not only serves up the wreckage of his former alcoholic/addict past, but also reveals how he…
Addicted to Lists – June 6, 2020 – “It’s not that bad.”At the first sign of confrontation, an addict will minimize their addiction by claiming it isn’t that bad. They might even mention they were far worse in the past and that there’s less need for concern now than there was before. “I only use it occasionally.”Instead of flatly denying the abuse of a substance, an addict will admit to far less than what they are doing. The general rule of thumb is that an addict admits to less than half of their actual usage when they do admit to…
On the Mend – June 6, 2020 – The 2001 All-Australian told The Herald Sun he was prescribed cancer-grade oxycodone tablets and at his lowest point ingested more than 1,000 milligrams in a hotel room and wondered if he would ever wake up again. ‘I was completely in denial. I was continually off my face and passing out and people knew,’ he said. You can tell by someone’s eyes they are taking drugs and I denied it and denied it, and finally family and friends got around me and said, “You need to do something about this”.’ Hay’s journey with…
Wrestling with Higher Power – June 8, 2020 -“I’ll tell you what I did do, you like to have a couple of drinks after you have a long day, I like to have a couple of cheeseburgers after a long day. So I’ve gained a lot of weight, as people can tell, but it was literally, that’s how I handled the stress for a long time up there, is when I got to my room, no matter what time it was, I would eat my feelings away and go right to sleep, you know what I mean? And then you…