Who Can’t You Trust? – Feb. 19 2020 – Last June, the authors, Stanton Glantz and Dharma Bhatta of the University of California San Francisco, stated in the original study that vaping and smoking cigarettes posed a similar risk, while doing both at the same time was an even more dangerous option. Following its publication in the summer, the peer-reviewed research was referenced by major news organizations, including CNN, Yahoo News, and USA Today. @Vice
Author: Leonard Buschel
Teach Your Children Hell – Feb. 23, 2020 – In Carter County, where 56,000 people live in a cluster of small cities and rural towns on the North Carolina border, nearly 60 people have died from opioid overdoses since 2014. That year, 8.1 million painkiller prescriptions were written in Tennessee, more than the state’s population of about 6.5 million. Desperate to save lives, county health officials have embraced a practical — if radical — strategy for stemming the tide of addiction: Teaching children as young as 6 how to reverse an overdose. In the past three years, the county’s drug…
Free Meals for Dead Bodies – Feb. 21, 2020 – That’s a dangerous practice,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said. Farley says free meals by doctors offered by big pharma are, at least, partly to blame for the city’s opioid epidemic and now, pharma companies are still providing free meals to doctors like these with other drugs. “Studies show that the more free lunches that an opioid manufacturer buys for doctors, the more opioid prescriptions he writes,” Farley said. @CBSLocal
Good Radio – Feb 21, 2020 – The podcast will consist of 10 episodes released every other Friday and focus on conversations with people of all walks of life – including some celebrities – who have dealt with struggles or trauma in their lives. The release of the podcast comes as Colorado is in the midst of having among its highest-ever drug overdose death rates and among the highest suicide rates in the country. Vela, who has spent nearly 20 years as a journalist in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, brings first-hand experience to “Back from Broken” – himself having…
Just Like Coffee – Feb. 18, 2020 – Galen joined Know Your Value co-founder and “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski and Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief Jessica Pels to talk about the science behind social media and the way it can impact a young person’s development. “I think we’re just starting to get the information about what’s happening to people’s brains,” Galen told Know Your Value. “We’re seeing more depression. We’re seeing more loneliness. We’re seeing more anxiety. And we’re seeing the need, the urge, sort of the desperation to be on social media to get…
More than a comeback! – Feb. 18, 2020 – Affleck, Oscar-winning writer, director of the Oscar-winning “Argo,” better actor than you remember — and, yes, alcoholic, divorcé and proud possessor of a mythical back tattoo — has four movies coming out this year. Dad Bod Batman has been banished, and actual films are back on his docket, including his first all-on-him movie in four years: “The Way Back,” a poignant sports drama that arrives in theaters on March 6. Affleck plays a reluctant high school basketball coach with big problems — he’s a puffy, willful, fall-down drunk who blows up…
“Just try new things, don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar!” –Michelle Obama
Decriminalize Heroin! – February 19, 2020 – I CAN SAY without a shred of doubt that the most stigmatized people in our society are those who use illicit drugs. ‘Junkies’, ‘dopeheads’ and ‘crackheads’ are some of the words that capture the general public’s loathing for this group. Sadly, it has been demonstrated that this antipathy to illicit drug users exists in spades among the public services, including the health service. The public attitudes focus on blaming the drug user for their fecklessness and lack of character. This is ironic considering that the evidence demonstrates that the precursors to drug use…
Drug Dealing on the Internet – Feb. 14, 2020 – This isn’t the first time a company selling nicotine products has been accused of targeting children. Joe Camel, the cartoon mascot for Camel cigarettes, was the subject of a similar lawsuit, Mangini vs. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, in 1997. Under public pressure, RJR settled out of court and retired its 10-year-old Joe Camel logo. Research showed that, for kids, Joe Camel was as recognizable as Mickey Mouse. And this was only through the more limited advertising venues of the day, such as television, billboards and magazines. The lawsuit against Juul…
eAddiction – Feb. 13, 2020 – “Nobody talks about it because everyone is on it,” former Call of Duty World Champion, Adam “KiLLa” Sloss said. When asked if Adderall abuse at events was something he had ever witnessed personally, Sloss replied, “Witnessed? Yeah, very frequently and a lot to be honest. It’s a major problem.” After an eight-year career, Sloss stepped away from professional play in early 2019. Sloss said a big reason he has stopped competing was due to the rampant drug abuse. “The Adderall abuse was too much to keep up with,” Sloss said. The drug’s use presents…
Higher and Higher – February 15, 2020 – A recent study shows that deaths associated with alcohol use among women rose 85%. Why are more women drinking? Lydia Burr, the Director of Clinical Services at Hazelden Betty Ford explains the reasons. @WCCORadio
Just Love – FEBRUARY 2, 2020 – When I reached out for help, I went to my ex-boyfriend, the only person I’d been honest with about my relapse. I reached out to him because, although he did have boundaries (“I won’t give you money for drugs again.”), he hadn’t practiced “tough love” with me. He always picked up the phone. He treated me like someone worth saving. He saw who I was underneath the drugs and lies and broken promises. His compassion for me cracked the door open to self-compassion. He saved my life. After that trip to rehab, it…
Sharing is Good – Feb. 13, 2020 – Hitting Bottom “Stray” is a literary coming to terms with her parents’ substance abuse, as well as her own periods of heavy drinking, cocaine and sedative use. Her father is a recovering alcoholic, opiate and crystal methedrine addict who left the family when Ms. Danler was 3, Ms. Danler writes in the book. Therefore, she wrote in an email, “hitting bottom in ‘Stray’ is less about wrecking the car or overdosing or degrading sexual encounters, and more admitting that I need to let people go. Hitting bottom is a boundary.” Getting Clean…
Sharing Beauty Enhances Sobriety – FEB. 14, 2020 – In the attempt to recover from alcoholism, Flores, 56, began to sell bouquets in the same streets he once tramped, begging for alcohol or the money to buy it in the Pilsen area. In the attempt to recover from alcoholism, Flores, 56, began to sell bouquets in the same streets he once tramped, begging for alcohol or the money to buy it in the Pilsen area. He did it. Nearly 10 years later, Flores is still sober and continues to peddle flowers, now in the Gage Park neighborhood. Though now he…
Are you hungry? – February 14, 2020 – Employees, or students as they call them, will go through a 12-week course to get their first level of certification with the National American Culinary Federation Quality Program. If the students want to stay longer to get more certifications, they can stay for years all while being an employee of the restaurant and learning from staff. “Valentine’s Day is wonderful because we get to do a little different than we do during lunch. They get to do a full dinner service with us,” Executive…
A couple of swells – Jan. 31, 2020 – Kennedy Street has helped other projects set up their own social enterprises, feeding the homeless, organising dry gigs, and using crafting as therapy. Clare said: “Kennedy Street is a charitable project that supports people in recovery and supports people achieving their potential. “Talking about recovery makes it visible so people know where we are and what we do and what the beautiful people in recovery look like. “I am really passionate about recovery because my life has been totally transformed by it. “Kevin is 21 years sober, as am I. That’s…
This Needle Heals – February 15, 2020 – While out with his drinking buddies one night, they offered Jensen a hit, and he “was immediately hooked,” he said. “It was nothing like anything I’d done before,” Jensen said. “I felt like Super Man, I had all this energy … and I was up for days.” “Getting sober was the hardest thing,” he said. “I had to find new friends and stop hanging out where I did. In order to beat meth, I had to change my entire social life.” “It’s a life-long addiction, like although I’m not actively using, there’s…
Until it Doesn’t – February 15, 2020 – Anyone who has lived through alcoholism will know that reasoning with a constantly drunk individual is not an easy task. My overriding memories from my teenage years are of incidents so bizarre and difficult to process, they are scarcely believable. On one occasion, we were held hostage in my dad’s house, whilst he drunkenly retrieved a shotgun and decided we weren’t to leave. My sister and I managed to escape to a kind neighbour’s house, but our two youngest siblings remained inside until the police arrived and diffused the situation. Another time,…
So much death in their eyes… – February 10, 2020 – It seemed to be the best option, at least, for Mortimer and Jacqueline Sackler, the more society-facing members of the Purdue Pharma-founding family, widely criticized for profiting off of the wave of opioid abuse sparked by the drug Oxycontin. Despite various attempts to keep a toe hold in the New York social scene, the Sacklers have been increasingly blacklisted by the upper crust. Even the Met museum, which boasts a famous wing named for the family, has vowed to stop taking donations from them. Ouch. Purdue filed for bankruptcy…
Finally Getting an Assist – February 15, 2020 – The players’ association hired Dr. William Parham to be its inaugural director of health and wellness in 2018, partnering with Keyon Dooling, who shared his heartbreaking story of how childhood trauma impacted his life as an adult. “I think collectively enough loud voices were heard to the point that the union felt it needed to do something,” said Parham, who has consulted with MLB, USA Soccer as well as universities such as UCLA . “I’m a person who believes in context, so when I look at these disclosures I see they…
Couple In Love – February 15, 2020 – Cody Simpson’s new music is inspired by the sober lifestyle he and girlfriend Miley Cyrus have adopted. The couple began dating last October, following the Slide Away star’s split from ex Liam Hemsworth, with the pair reportedly bonded over their similar lifestyles. Speaking with InStyle Australia, the 23-year-old credited sober living with allowing him to be successful in so many different fields. The couple inspires each other creatively, with Cody’s single Golden Thing a tribute to his girlfriend, and he plans to use Miley, 27, as the inspiration for his upcoming…
New Book Recommendation – Feb. 2020 – “Love Courtney’s voice—she’s fun, funny, frank and candid! No doubt Tonight at 10 will help many people struggling with addiction.”-Ben Stein, editorial columnist at The Wall Street Journal, host of Win Ben Stein’s Money. • “Addictive, authentic and hilarious.”-Kristen Johnston, actress and star on Third Rock from the Sun • “A raw, honest and unsparing examination of one very famous news anchor’s not-so-well-known path to sobriety—Courtney’s story will make you laugh, cringe and, ultimately, cheer. Brava!”-Megyn Kelly, journalist, former Fox News and NBC anchor and host of The Kelly File @Amazon
Stick with the Winners! – February 12, 2020 – Barbara Nicholson Brown is publisher of Together AZ newspaper in Scottsdale AZ. Together AZ is a valuable source of information online and in print for anyone to access for a better way of life. The mission is to help as many people as possible recover from substance abuse addiction and other behavioral health issues. She is also involved with CARE (Celebrate the Art of Recovery Expo) held during National Recovery Month. Celebrate the Art of Recovery Expo (CARE) is a one-day event hosted by Community Bridges, Inc. (CBI) for those struggling…
The Bynes That Tie – February 16, 2020 – …struggling with drug abuse, she’s slowly taken back her life. In 2018, Bynes did an in-depth interview and photoshoot with Paper magazine, divulging her journey through drug abuse and rehab. She was incredibly open about her experiences, saying she attributed its conception to her ADD medication. There’s been a lot of conflicting news as to whether or not Bynes is doing okay. Recently, she checked out of a sober living rehabilitation center to live with her parents while she looked for her own place to live. However, other sources reported that…
Drugstore (Cowboy) Vending Machine – February 10, 2020 – The idea of providing potentially deadly opioids to addicted people via a vending machine might sound actively counterproductive on its face. But with a heroin supply full of fentanyl, Tyndall argues, providing a safer supply to people who can’t or won’t quit just makes sense. He notes that the province of British Columbia, where Vancouver is located, already has 30 overdose prevention sites, where people can inject drugs under medical supervision and be revived if they overdose. These sites significantly reduce the risk of death where they are located and help…
Free at last…thank God almighty – February 13, 2020 – “The dismissal of tens of thousands of old cannabis-related convictions in Los Angeles County will bring much-needed relief to communities of color that disproportionately suffered the unjust consequences of our nation’s drug laws,” Lacey said in a news release. “I am privileged to be part of a system dedicated to finding innovative solutions and implementing meaningful criminal justice reform that gives all people the support they need to build the life they deserve,” she said. The 66,000 dismissals mean conviction relief for about 53,000 people. About 45% are Latino; 32%…
Better Than Suboxone? – February 13, 2020 – The patient must keep the device on for five days. After that, Reed said the patient’s more likely to continue to sobriety. “They’ll laugh or they get tears in their eyes, because they just can’t believe that that’s actually possible, that they could manage their withdrawal symptoms and do so in a comfortable way,” said Reed. Both Reed and Doiron said no matter the patient’s background, they see successful results and positive futures. “I’ve had men coming and getting their job back where they say they could not even be effective at…
Touchdown in Sobriety – FEBRUARY 13, 2020 – It’s wonderful,” said Steinberg, who added that Mahomes is the kind of player and person he has always sought to represent, someone of high character and strong work ethic willing to be a role model and give back to the community. “Again, first of all because of the type of person he is. He has a unique skillset. I still love the opportunity to enhance the best values in young people and prepare them not only for their playing career, but for a second career.” Steinberg, who turns 71 next month, has…
The Future is Sober – February 15, 2020 – The results are promising enough that the FDA has approved plans to proceed with human clinical trials. Beginning more than 20 years ago, scientists have worked to engineer a new version of a human protein that could break down cocaine so quickly that it doesn’t produce an addictive high. We all have the normal human protein BChE that helps regulate neurotransmitters, and which can slowly break down cocaine. Targeted mutations in BChE can turn it into a super-CocH – a protein that can quickly break down cocaine. When this CocH is…
4.6 million doses – Nobody Noticed? – Feb. 14, 2020 – Dr. Frank H. Bynes Jr., 69, of Savannah, was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison and ordered to pay over $600,000 in restitution. Bynes was found guilty in October 2019 by a federal jury on 13 counts of Unlawful Dispensation of Controlled Substances and three counts of Health Care Fraud. Investigators say Bynes operated a “pill mill” dispensing massive amounts of controlled substances, sometimes in return for cash or sex. Officials say Bynes worked at the MBA Community Clinic in Savannah and at Georgia Laboratory Diagnostic in Garden…