Arrested to Death – MAR. 7, 2020 – “Yeah I’m literally ill right now. I can’t even think straight. I’m gonna like literally pass out from pain,” Linsemeir tells Sgt. Moises Zanazanian who is listed as a defendant in the suit along with Officer Remington McNabb and prison employee Shelia Rodriquez. She goes on tell the officer she has “really, really, really bad chest pain,” and that it feels like “it’s caving in.” According to the suit, symptoms of endocarditis include chest pain as well as a difficulty breathing. In another video, McNabb can be seen moving to “press the…
Author: Leonard Buschel
All Roads Lead to Home – March 5, 2020 – It started with my graveyard shift at CBS News when I was 30 years old. Besides having two babies under the age of two, my shift was brutal. After a one-hour commute, I went to work at 9 p.m. and returned home at 5 a.m. Upon my return home, I forced myself to sleep whenever I had childcare. In the early days, my doctor prescribed me Lorazepam and Ambien. I always felt unhealthy when I would wake up from this forced sleep and never felt normal physically. An endless exhaustion…
Just Like Life – March 2, 2020 – While her friends are supportive of her sober lifestyle, she finds it comes up a lot in one particular area of her personal life. “It’s kind of difficult being single and dating,” she said. Meeting for a drink is kind of a default first date, she said, and while she’s perfectly comfortable meeting at a bar and ordering a non-alcoholic beverage, she’s found that her dates sometimes get hung up on her choice. “Some people are like, ‘Oh, OK, you don’t drink,’ and other people are like ‘I could never do that,’”…
And Getting Worse? – FEBRUARY 27, 2020 – The undercounting of opioid deaths is important because “you need to know the scale of a problem to know how to intervene in the problem,” Venkataramani says. Dealing with a crisis like opioid addiction—or coronavirus, for that matter—requires lawmakers and public-health workers to make choices about where to direct precious funding and resources. If the severity of the opioid epidemic is underestimated, local public-health departments could be shortchanged, and even more lives could be lost. This is particularly important in the case of infectious diseases like coronavirus, where knowing the total number…
Locking Up The Dead – February 29, 2020 – The person who has overdosed is given the opportunity to plead guilty, and if they go that route, “the prosecutor’s office would agree to offer treatment services through probation,” instead of arresting the person and making them serve jail time. When faced with questions as to whether or not this is a good idea, Eaton told Fox 59 News, “We are enforcing the laws in the State of Indiana. It is against the law to possess controlled substances. That is the law the legislature passed. People in this community, we do…
Woman’s Empowerment – March 5, 2020 – According to the Daily Mail, Demi tells Ellen “My bulimia got really bad. I asked for help and I didn’t get the help that I needed. I’m thinking to myself: ‘I am six years sober and I am miserable … why am I sober?’” Demi revealed that she felt she had no control over her own life, explaining “I lived a life for the past six years that I felt like wasn’t my own. My life, I just felt it was controlled by so many people around me.’ If I was in my…
L’Chaim and L’Chaim again… – March 1, 2020 – Dr. Charles Shadel founded Shadel Hospital outside Seattle in 1935 offering aversion therapy in a “homelike setting” — the same year Bill Wilson started Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron, Ohio. Decades later, a stay at Schick Shadel includes mandatory counseling, aftercare planning and other trappings of traditional treatment. But its most distinctive feature remains aversion therapy, which is based on the idea that if you associate a substance with an unpleasant experience, you’ll want to avoid it. Schick Shadel patients are given a nausea-inducing drug followed by a cup filled with their…
Keeping Life Alive – March 4, 2020 – Approximately 24,500 people in San Francisco regularly use syringes to inject illegal drugs, according to the city’s health department. In the city, drug overdosing accounted for 259 deaths in 2018 and 182 deaths in just the first six months of 2019. “What we are proposing is not a radical new idea,” Haney said. “One hundred overdose prevention sites operate in cities around the world. None has ever experienced an overdose death and thousands have gained access to services and therapy.” To examine the sites firsthand, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit traveled…
THEATER “Dope is Death” – March 6, 2020 – “You don’t want to fight on drugs,” says Felipe Luciano, the founder of the Young Lords, in “Dope is Death.” “[After getting off of them] I found out I was political.” His epiphany contributes to a greater one in Mia Donovan’s incredibly absorbing chronicle of how the underserved African-American and Puerto Rican communities in Harlem took their fate into their own hands to combat the drug addiction that was holding them back from organizing towards a better quality of life and breaking free of the system that had so thoroughly failed…
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” —Marie Curie
Off His Back – March 4, 2020 – There is an origin story for his current predicament, one that is both universal and specific, the film never allows that trauma to excuse or justify his behavior. Jack is surrounded by people who have suffered without succumbing. The assistant coach (Al Madrigal) has a mother dying from multiple sclerosis, while Jack’s wife is suffering every bit as much as he while still making the effort to move on. The whole “can Jack get this team to the playoffs” thread is less a culmination of Jack’s personal growth than a distraction from…
To Protect and Serve – Feb 23, 2020 – He always bought his morning snort of heroin from his trusted dealers there, then he’d go back to the suburbs to cut hair at the barbershop he owns. He commuted more than an hour to get his fix. On that summer day, though, James was hauled to a police station and — to his surprise — placed in a drug-treatment program instead of going to the Cook County Jail. He’s one of more than 250 people who’ve agreed to participate in the “narcotics arrest diversion program” the Chicago Police Department launched…
Batshit Sane – FEBRUARY 24, 2020 – The Godfather of Heavy Metal released his reunion album with Black Sabbath in 2013 and has been sober for seven years. “The last album, I wrote some of it stoned,” he admits. “I quite like being sober now. ‘Cause at least I can remember the fucking thing I did yesterday.” In the clip above, Osbourne and Lowe reflect on late musicians who made legendary music, including Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley and Linkin Parks’ Chester Bennington. “But then, why am I here?” he asks Lowe. “Chris Cornell was a great, great singer.” “I’m…
There’s always one… – Feb. 24, 2020 – The agreement took more than two years to reach and focused largely on the allegations that Simonds created a “hostile work environment.” There was only a brief, undetailed section on allegations involving patient care. The prosecutor on the case, Jennifer Colin, described the agreement as “a very difficult and contentious” one to achieve and noted the “alleged facts are broad and the violations limited.” Colin told participants in the case by email: “This was not my preference. I agreed to this solely to accomplish the ultimate outcome,” that Simonds agreed to never…
It’s Always Happy Hour – Feb. 26, 2020 – Further examinations found high levels of Candida glabrata, yeast naturally produced by the body, were accumulating in her bladder when she ingested sugar. The yeast is similar to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a fungus known as brewer’s yeast because it’s used by beer-makers to convert carbohydrates in grains into alcohol. Tests showed this conversion process was taking place inside the patient’s bladder. This was taxing on her liver which was forced to try and eliminate it from her body every time she ate certain foods. To get rid of the yeast infection, she…
THE HOLE WITHIN – FEBRUARY 24, 2020 – Oftentimes, food disorders do not exist in isolation. It is not uncommon for those who suffer from eating disorders to also experience substance addiction. Singer and actress Demi Lovato candidly revealed in an interview on Ashley Graham’s podcast “Pretty Big Deal” that her recent drug relapse was sparked by the stress of an unresolved eating disorder. “I honestly think that’s kind of what led to everything happening over the past year was just me thinking I found recovery when I didn’t, and then living this kind of lie and trying to tell…
Hallelujah! – Feb. 25, 2020 – It’s the only facility of its kind in Monroe County since it opened its doors two years ago. The center helps direct people to addiction treatment services by giving immediate engagement and assessment for people suffering from all types of substance use. Mark Johnson is a senior peer advocate who works Delphi Rise’s Open Access in Rochester. When walking through the doors, Johnson is one of the first people to offer help. One man’s journey to beating the drug epidemic “You can go to the doctor all you want and the doctor can say,…
Courting Disaster – February 25, 2020 – In what could be a major win for the city of Costa Mesa — waging a lonely and expensive battle over sober living homes while other impacted Orange County cities look on — a tentative court ruling holds that disability can’t be used as both sword and shield. That assertion by a federal court judge could empower other cities to exert greater control over addiction recovery homes — something many cities have been reluctant to do for fear of being sued. On Monday, Feb. 24, U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna entertained…
Get Married? – Feb. 26, 2020 – A quick Google search of “sober porn stars” took me down a rabbit hole of former adult entertainers who are now in recovery and often cite the porn industry as the catalyst for their downward spiral. While these anecdotal stories deserve to be heard, what about the people who get sober and still choose to work in porn? What about the folks that are working in the porn industry and thriving — both personally and professionally — precisely because of their recovery? …
Karma Time? – Feb. 27, 2020 – The charge wasn’t part of his original 11-count indictment, which included multiple second-degree official misconduct counts and charges of computer crime and tampering with records. A count of official misconduct-unauthorized use of official function was amended to the third-degree commercial bribery charge. The remaining 10 counts will be dismissed. McWain’s guilty plea “does not touch upon” his employment as a police officer, according to the plea paperwork. Under terms of the plea, though, he must forfeit his police job and any future public employment. Gloucester County prosecutors declined to comment on details of…
History Lesson – FEB 27, 2020 – The most widely known telling of Wilberforce’s life, the 2006 movie Amazing Grace, insinuated Wilberforce quit using the substance, but he did not. In the 2007 biography of the same name, author Eric Metaxas argued, “Wilberforce did not appear to become addicted to it; he quite admirably managed to keep his dosage from increasing over the decades.” This was not the case. The deepest look at Wilberforce’s opium use comes from John Pollock, a Christian author and the…
Our hats are off to you… – Feb. 27, 2020 – This is spawning both a philosophical movement whose adherents have holidays (Dry January and Sober October) and is creating an industry through sober influencers; nonalcoholic beer, wine, and “spirits”; dry bars; dry events; and sophisticated cocktails without alcohol. Let’s call it mindful drinking. “Mindful drinking is a nice catchall term for anyone who might be thinking about their drinking in some way,” argues Laura Willoughby, co-author of How to Be a Mindful Drinker: Cut Down, Stop for a Bit, or Quit. “They either don’t drink for religious reasons, they’re…
Sharing for the heart – February 26, 2020 – Kirkpatrick, who suffered a spine fracture, cracked ribs and gash to her head, said she didn’t know she had a drinking problem until the accident. She said she was having wine during a lunch break in D.C. when she had to rush back for a vote that came three hours early. “I’m feeling really good, it’s so nice to be back,” she said about returning to D.C. “I just want to thank everybody for their overwhelming support. You know seeing my colleagues has been great today. Everybody’s just been very very…
Recovery Ink. – Feb. 27, 2020 – When he was around 15 years old, he got his first gang tattoo in large letters across the top of his back. He’d been drinking and smoking pot since sixth grade. He started doing hard drugs, like the hallucinogen LSD, in seventh grade. From then on, he rarely did homework and skipped school often. “I couldn’t even say I have a third grade education because third graders are much smarter now,” he says and laughs. “They’re probably way ahead of me.” About the same time he got the his first…
Education Is Key – February 20, 2020 – Sadly, when left untreated, mental health disorders can also lead to serious, life-threatening consequences. Every day, there are an average of 3,000 suicide attempts by young people grades 9-12 and suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds. Healthcare professionals attending the day conferences can earn up to seven continuing education credits and will experience dynamic, interactive workshops on providing ethical, clinically driven care to help teens and young adults create authentic connections and live healthy lives. Session topics include resilience, shame, relational trauma, treatment engagement, music therapy,…
Been there, done that… – Feb. 25, 2020 – The Oscar-winner said: ‘It doesn’t really bother me to talk about alcoholism and being an alcoholic. It’s part of my life, it’s something that I deal with. ‘It doesn’t have to subsume my whole identity and be everything but it is something that you have to work at. I had a problem and I really want to address it and I take some pride in that. It’s about yourself, your life, your family … we encounter these kinds of hurdles and we have to deal with them.’ @DailyMail
Retake The Crown – Feb. 23, 2020 – Of course Fury has experienced such glory before – he was on top of the world back in 2015 when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko to claim all four world title belts. But his highest high was quickly followed by his lowest lows, as public battles with depression and drug addiction ultimately cost him his accolades and saw him retreat from the sport he loved. @SkyNews
First and Goal… – FEBRUARY 25, 2020 – “Addiction is terribly difficult for everyone involved, and it’s important that people aren’t shamed by this disease because shame kills,” Irsay said. “IU Health has a tremendous program, and we are committed to partnering with them to address this problem across Indiana.” A 2018 study conducted by Indiana University found that two in three Hoosiers know someone who is struggling with addiction. Thanks in part to recent funding from grants and philanthropic support, IU Health has significantly expanded access to addiction treatment statewide. The system has launched five regional addiction treatment recovery…
Money For Nothing… – February 26, 2020 – Meth use is skyrocketing nationally, but there are few options available for treatment. San Francisco has been hit hard. Meth is now involved in a fifth of drug arrests in the city and is tied to about half of visits to the psychiatric emergency room. Unlike with opioids, there are no federally approved medications for meth addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse recognizes contingency management as an effective strategy, and it has been embraced by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “When it comes to opioids or alcohol, we have other…
Riveting Story – February 21st, 2020 – n the backyard, the two friends mixed whisky with Pepsi and drank until Elliot was giddy and a little bit dizzy. Elliot lay back on the grass. Wow, he thought, no wonder my mom likes this stuff. This is incredible. I want to feel like this all the time. For a moment, he was content. He looked at his friend and asked, “When can we do this again?” He didn’t think twice about asking; he felt wonderful and he wanted to feel wonderful all the time. She gave him a funny look, like,…