On the downer side… – May 7, 2020 – Finally, the social isolation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic is leaving people especially vulnerable. Some support groups for people experiencing opioid addiction or for those in recovery are now taking place over Zoom, Volkow said. But the virtual contact often just isn’t the same. “One of the most powerful interventions is to keep people in treatment is that social network,” she said. “Isolation can lead you to seek out some relief, like starting to take drugs.” It will be a while before we know the true effects that Covid-19 has…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Catch-22 – May 8, 2020 – “We come from a different philosophy, we truly believe the treatment process can be pretty complex,” Shea said. Shea did say that Families in Transition will take action, even eviction, if there is a concern for the safety of any of the clients. When that does happen, the organization is careful to follow relevant state law. At present moment, Shea said Families in Transition is well aware of the current executive orders regarding evictions. “We follow all of the stay at home orders and the executive orders that have taken place,” Shea said. As…
Good Times – May 7, 2020 – Her life used to be defined by trauma, pain and drugs. “I lost everything, I lost custody of my children, I was selling myself on the streets to get my drugs, I was homeless,” Forrester said. Forrester has battled addiction throughout her entire adult life. At three and half years sober, her mission is to help those currently battling addiction. “I had to choose, and I chose to continue to fight, and fight for others still out there struggling,” Forrester said. Every week her organization, Hope Dealers BTC Inc. goes out in Rochester…
As Slippery as Scope – May 7, 2020 – Dr. Bradley says it’s banned at recovery centers for this very reason: tempting those trying to stay sober. He says the smell alone can be so provoking, it could threaten sobriety. “The sense of smell is a very strong indicator to trigger urges, and impulses of obsession and even cravings,” he said. These cravings can be so strong, Dr. Bradley says he’s seen some in recovery attempt to drink the substance. Others may attempt to indulge in other ways. “They’ll put it on their hands, and lick their fingers,” Dr. Bradley…
In The Zone – April 17, 2020 – Both pronoia and paranoia create an exaggerated sense of coherence from the chaos and confusion of the social world.”— Professor Laurence J. Kirmayer. To personalize something is an inherent quality that we can’t refrain from doing; to create order from disorder and to instill meaning where we feel it ought to exist — these are pre-dispositions that are so ingrained within our genetic impulses that we can’t even fathom not having them by our side because they make sense out of a nonsensical reality. In doing so, we’ve come to classify different…
Belated Happy Mother’s Day – May 8, 2020 – Karla Gachet (Topanga Canyon, California) We are lucky to live surrounded by nature. Because of the quarantine we have made it a point to get our two sons out every day. These walks have become magical. I feel like I will look back at this time with nostalgia: the time when the outside world was a scary place and yet we became stronger as a family. This lockdown has forced the boys to be together all the time. The most beautiful gift for me has been to see them get closer…
Die trying? Or dichotomy? – May 5 2020 – He had misused opioids since he’d been sidelined by a football injury in high school, later adding Xanax and other benzodiazepines to his mix. He’d already been through dozens of different treatment programs, often dropping out and relapsing the same day. He desperately wanted to change his life. “Yeah, yeah, of course,” he told James Mahoney, who is assistant professor of neuropsychology at West Virginia School of Medicine and part of his treatment team, “Anything that I could possibly do to give me a better chance at recovery, I’m all about…
90 Zooms in 90 Days? – May 7, 2020 – All that probably comes as a relief, but what should you do? The process usually begins with community. Whether you find that community in an in-person group like AA, in an online program, in a group of like-minded friends, or even in a single person like a significant other or sibling who can hold you accountable, a community centered around healthy, sober living will give you a strong basis for your journey towards sobriety. Recognize that it is a journey, not a single step to success, regardless of whether or…
OPINION: Ryan Hampton – May 10, 2020 – Nationally we’re seeing increased unemployment and poverty, mandatory changes to daily routines, and increased anxiety and stress which are only magnified for people managing addiction. These added stressors can disrupt a person’s recovery journey by overwhelming their coping mechanisms. Addiction is a disease of isolation, so the necessary physical distancing protocols that yank people out of their routines and their communities and trap them alone with anxiety (and even boredom) is dangerous to recovery. Not only that, but the pandemic is shifting how people can receive treatment. Many support groups and counseling…
What day is it? – May 9, 2020 – People are so motivated to avoid boredom that they’ll often take unfortunate shortcuts to do so. In The Music Man, Harold Hill cons a whole town just by insinuating that boredom will lead its citizens’ sons to play pool, and from there head down a slippery slope to booze and consorting with “scarlet women.” Restless in self-isolation, you might take a similar trajectory toward bad habits: eat snacks you’re not hungry for, check your phone 800 times, drink too much (happy hour, in fact, was a Navy invention to give sailors…
For your information: – May 8, 2020 – In this hurry-up world, we’re not always 100% in tune with what’s going on inside our heads. “Sometimes we don’t recognize we’re dealing with excessive anxiety until physical signs appear,” Przeworski says. Common anxiety-induced symptoms: sweating; shaking; dizziness; a fast heartbeat; migraines; a headache that feels like a tight band is around your head; back, shoulder, or upper neck pain; feeling edgy; or not sleeping. “Sometimes insomnia is caused by temporary stress, but insomnia shouldn’t be a chronic issue,” says Przeworski. The key is to pay attention to your body and be…
BOOK: Happiness by Matthieu Ricard – MAY 8, 2020 – I was never really happy. Sometimes I would masturbate four to five times in one day or I would masturbate until it hurt. But no amount of sex, porn, or masturbation would ever truly satisfy me. My breaking point was on sidewalk outside a Peet’s coffee in Davis, CA. It was the summer after my senior year of college and these two freshman-aged girls were walking ahead of me. This screaming animal urge inside me said, “WANT. MUST HAVE. LOOK. TOUCH!” In that moment I was reduced to a miserable…
The long and winding road – May 8, 2020 – The group is calling for a robust approach from local, state and federal officials and agencies to ensure those who lose their jobs because of the pandemic can find work. “Unemployment during the Great Recession was associated with an increase in suicide deaths and drug overdose deaths,” according to the Well Being Trust. For instance, deaths from both suicide and drug overdoses rose along with unemployment during the 2008 recession. Unemployment went from 4.6% in 2007 to a peak of 10% in October 2009 and declined steadily reaching 3.5% in…
Konichiwa? – May 8, 2020 – But Tokyo is not L.A., and Sawajiri’s true punishment was meted out in public. Before any evidence had been shown to a judge in court, Sawajiri had been effectively scrubbed from the public domain. She lost her job, was forced to declare she would never work again as an actress, and was publicly shamed across the media. On her Wikipedia page she’s described as a “former actress.” She just turned 34. Japan is certainly not one of the world’s most punitive nations on drug crime. Its maximum sentence for cannabis possession of five years,…
California Screening – May 5, 2020 – The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a national nonprofit that treats more than 25,000 people annually at its 15 clinical sites, including three in California. It serves thousands more who are in recovery from substance use and mental health disorders and is a leading provider of education and training for professionals who provide such care, as well as prevention services. Long a provider of telehealth solutions, Hazelden Betty Ford began piloting virtual outpatient treatment services last summer and quickly sped up and expanded its plans when the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)…
Whole Lotta Shakin’ to the End – May 9, 2020 – “He played piano,” Cohn wrote, “and he’d stand knock-kneed at the keyboard, hammering away with two hands as if he wanted to bust the thing apart. At climactic moments, he’d lift one leg and rest it on the keys, banging away with his heel, and his trouser rims would billow like kites. “He’d scream and scream and scream. He had a freak voice, tireless, hysterical, completely indestructible, and he never in his life sang at anything lower than an enraged bull-like roar.” He was born Richard Wayne Penniman…
“There’s no such thing as hurting someone for their own good. There’s only hurting someone for your own good.” —Kate Bornstein
Burning Desire? – March 9, 2020 – • On average, drug rehab costs range from a few to several hundred dollars for a 30-day detox, and between $5,000 and $80,000 for residential recovery treatment. Many individuals in or contemplating recovery may see this as a deterrent to getting the help they need. However, several resources exist that offer financial assistance for drug rehab and associated programs. • One federal grant for those recovering from addiction is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) program. Through SAMHSA, block grants are provided to state addiction treatment providers to benefit those…
Lawsuit Filed – May 4, 2020 – ‘We are proud of Ms. Pierce for her courage in exposing this unlawful conduct.’ The affair was cause for Pierce to relapse from a period of sobriety, according to the suit. She later turned down his advances and received text messages from Haggerty requesting nude pictures of herself, according to screenshots of the messages included in the lawsuit. After a brief stint in a detox Pierce in November had another relapse and while still drunk called Haggerty for help, according to the lawsuit. That’s when Haggerty ‘exploited’ Pierce and forced her to have…
Obituary – May 6, 2020 – An article in the Los Angeles Times described him as the role model for Jim Morrison of the Doors. He later had a long association with another member of the Doors, Ray Manzarek. They recorded together and toured together, with McClure reading to the accompaniment of Manzarek on keyboards. “Michael was one of the most significant American poets of the latter half of the 20th century,” Caples said. “He had a place in popular culture in addition to literary culture that not many poets have been able to occupy.” McClure also wrote novels, plays…
Just “Don’t” – May 3, 2020 – Tim Ryan, a recovering heroin addict and host of A&E’s 2017 documentary “Dope Man,” has a message for those struggling to get clean and those in recovery who may be finding it hard to resist the temptation to pick their habit back up during this insufferable time in history: don’t. Following his own lifelong battle with addiction and his son’s passing from a heroin overdose almost six years ago, Ryan has made it his life’s mission to help as many addicts as he can, suffering from the “disease of more,” overcome it and…
Gradual and Deadly – APRIL 26, 2020 – On the other hand, Koob explained, mental health conditions can also complicate alcohol abuse treatment. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) causes an enormous amount of human suffering, loss of productivity and cost to the medical care system and the US economy. There are 3 stages that make up the heuristic framework—a binge/intoxication stage, a withdrawal/negative affect stage, and a preoccupation/anticipation (craving) stage representing the domains of incentive salience, negative emotional states and executive function. These stages has allowed identification of key neurocircuits: basal ganglia, extended amygdala, and frontal cortex, respectively, that underlie addiction…
Stigma or Stamina? – April 26, 2020 – Bengals receiver Tee Higgins on Saturday defended a controversial ESPN graphic that brought national attention to the fact his mother was once addicted to drugs. A screenshot of the infographic went viral when the Bengals drafted Higgins with the 33rd overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. The graphic resulted in backlash for ESPN, which also received criticism for focusing too heavily on the deaths of draftees’ family members. @SportingNews
Heavy Science – APRIL 24, 2020 – Researchers have demonstrated that a key receptor for dopamine, called D2 (D2R), intervenes in the mechanism through which cocaine modifies functions in the striatum. The striatum is a region of the brain responsible for the psychomotor and rewarding effects of drugs like cocaine, directly involved in the process of addiction. “In our study, we show that D2R signaling over cholinergic interneurons (ChIs) and acetylcholine (Ach) release exerts a major control in the striatum, which is required for the normal functioning of striatal circuits,” says Emiliana Borrelli, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics,…
No Narcan for You! – Apr 27, 2020 – Prior to the pandemic reaching US soil, opioid deaths have been on a slow decline, with the rate of deaths decreasing by 5% from 2017 to 2018. Many experts have attributed this drop to the emphasis placed on naloxone access on both the local and state level. Attitudes towards naloxone were still unfriendly in some places, with one Indiana county stating in February this year that using naloxone to reverse a drug overdose could warrant a police investigation. However, other states, like Pennsylvania, had begun supplying naloxone to area airports. “Usually…
It’s Complicated – APRIL 28, 2020 – That drug use is a reaction to external stress may sound obvious, but the American response to drug use has rarely addressed environmental causes, instead treating it, at different points in time, as a moral failing or a chronic disease. The currently prevailing view of drug use and addiction emphasizes biology over life events. According to the disease model of addiction, repetitive and prolonged drug use “hijacks” the brain’s reward system, leaving the person powerless over cravings. It is considered a chronic illness, often likened to such ailments as diabetes and hypertension. While…
Minimum Wage is just that – April 30, 2020 – The researchers recruited 91 participants, ages 21 to 74, for the study from the Center for Learning and Health at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center campus in Baltimore. The participants were paid $8 an hour with an optional $2 bonus as they completed three months of training and testing. After three months, 44 were randomly chosen to receive an $8 per hour wage supplement. The remaining 47 received no additional financial incentives. During the yearlong study: • 65% of participants who received wage supplements provided urine samples free of…
It’s Ain’t Just Rock – April 29, 2020 – As you step foot into any honky tonk, you are bound to hear Merle Haggard’s voice in the distance singing, “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down.” For some, this would become a dark reminder of trying to maintain their sobriety in the music business. For years, it seems like Hollywood glamorized the entertainment industry. In order to fit in, one must partake in drinking or perhaps using drugs to get by. Television, radio, and print ads have made it appear that you are popular whenever you use substances. There is always…
Small Problem? – MAY 2, 2020 – Oh, and he claims that if you were to “print out the data” from just one porn site (which he doesn’t want to name!), you’d have “…enough pornographic materials to fill the Empire State Building every single day for a year.” What kind of metric is that? (And print out what? A list of available photos and videos? Screenshots? Every frame in every dirty video on offer?) It’s like religion itself, apparently. Once you’ve willed yourself to just have faith, you can toss around all the twaddle you want. Most people on the…
Paging Doctor Pills – April 30, 2020 – Though I questioned him since I’d had trouble reducing before, he assured me that was the thing to do. I only slept 30 minutes in the next 60 hours. Eventually, I slept one or two hours per night and paced the rest of the time. I also found myself hearing “conversations,” which was my imagination’s interpretation whenever the air conditioning blew through the vents. I experienced the emergence of hot flashes. I would feel the anxiety build and about the time it peaked, I would break out in a full sweat. The…