“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.” —Carl Jung
Author: Leonard Buschel
Beautiful Decision – Jan. 20, 2020 – Simpson didn’t tell her parents what happened until she was 12. Even then, she explained, “Dad … said nothing. We never stayed at my parents’ friends house again but we also didn’t talk about what I had said.” … As she grew up, Simpson said she self-medicated to dull the pain of the abuse as well as the stress of fame. @GMA
Gay Schluffen* – JANUARY 15, 2020 – “It’s intuitive to think our matrix should be worn down by wear and tear, but it isn’t and now we know why: our body clock makes an element which is sacrificial and can be replenished, protecting the permanent parts of the matrix. He added: “So if you imagine the bricks in the walls of a room as the permanent part, the paint on the walls could be seen as the sacrificial part which needs to be replenished every so often. “And just like you need to oil a car and keep its radiator…
Science may one day do so…now? – Jan. 19, 2020 – Dr. Plummer tried treatment – rehab programmes, support groups, counselling, medications – but any relief was temporary. He would inevitably slip back into drinking. “It was pretty hopeless cycle and it was very tough on my family and my wife, Jo, and on my children and my stepchildren,” he says. “I was in the hospital a lot, I almost died several times.” He went looking for help – “a more robust clinical solution, perhaps one not yet discovered” – and was referred to two neurosurgeons at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital.…
Just Like Coke – Jan. 17, 2020 – Opioid use has continually increased over the years in Vancouver, and there have been thousands of recent overdose deaths in British Columbia. The vending machine is part of an overall strategy of harm reduction, which aims to reduce death and damage done to drug users who won’t or can’t stop using drugs. Other approaches being piloted in the city include safe injection sites. … Experts have linked increasing numbers of opioid overdose deaths to the rise of fentanyl, which is often illegally manufactured in large quantities, and significantly more powerful than other…
MEDIA: Book Recommendation – January 15, 2020 – The book is divided into four separate but interrelated parts, each dealing with different aspects crucial to getting and staying clean and sober. Each chapter has detailed writing assignments designed to encourage the reader (addict/alcoholic) to dig deep and uncover their personal using history, motivation, triggers and feelings. Chapter 1 starts out with one assignment – get a journal. My journey to sobriety also began with a journal-of which now I have dozens. Interestingly journey and journal have the same root, “jour” which means “day” in French. Recovery is achieved “one ‘jour’ at a time”…
Do you want fried brains with that? – Jan. 17, 2020 – Robin Schneider, the executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association, said the ad could send a bad message about body image. “I really think we need to be careful when using examples that we don’t make kids feel bad for being overweight,” she said. “This is serious and we need to work together to protect our youth, but this is just not the way to go about doing it and it was done in very poor taste.” Schneider also…
It’s Not Delivery, It’s Your Dealer – January 19, 2020 – The dark web is a thriving marketplace for the drug and dealers are trying to stand out by sharing their ‘ethical’ credentials in a bid to improve their Trip Advisor-style ratings. In 2018, the Global Drug Survey found that cocaine can be delivered more quickly in England and Scotland than a takeaway pizza. Now, Mr Loewenstein, whose new book Pills, Powder and Smoke details the changing demographic of cocaine users, said: ‘Dealers are promoting and selling ethically sourced cocaine. It means everybody in the supply chain, from the farmers…
The Cost of Living – Clean – January 16, 2020 – Megan King had long used drugs casually. But when her brother died of a drug overdose in 2010, her use of opioid painkillers, heroin, and benzodiazepines “just kind of spiraled out of control,” she said. King, who is now 34 and lives in Oceanside, California, managed to keep her job in the video game industry through her addiction, but she felt like she was on the brink of collapsing under the weight of her drug use. At the peak, she could blow through $300 worth of opioid painkillers, heroin,…
Another Reason to Quit – February, 2020 – Researchers decided to find out using a database containing data from more than 462,000 people, of whom 8% were current smokers and 22% former smokers. The team found that people who smoked not only had a higher risk of developing depression and schizophrenia, but that people with either conditions were also more likely to smoke (although the association was not as strong for schizophrenia). The bottom line: Smoking may be bad not only…
Competition for Compassion – January 14, 2020- The VCU Pharmacy student turned Miss America returned to campus Tuesday — for the first time since her win for the national title — to talk about opioid education for the “Silent No More” Overdose Symposium in Cabell Library. Schrier said when she was looking for graduate programs, she was looking for somewhere “that felt like home,” an aspect she loved about her undergrad years at Virginia Tech. “I did find that in my school pharmacy,” Schrier said. “The faculty, the staff, the Dean of Students, every person in that entire building, and…
Anonymous – Jan. 20, 2020 – When did you first engage with drug treatment? I knew in 1998 that my relationship with drugs wasn’t right, and the doctors sent me to a drugs service on Pentonville Road. I was in and out of drugs services from then, with an active drugs worker and using therapeutic services, but it wasn’t until 2007 that I got clean. Was there a rock bottom moment? It was a drip-drip effect. The consequences became worse – losing jobs, homes, relationships, friendships. I had somebody die of an overdose on my lounge floor, which definitely wasn’t…
Long and Winding Road… – Jan. 17, 2020 – This is definitely a big deal for Demi since this will be the first album she’s released since she almost died from that overdose. What caused it was never confirmed, but TMZ also said it might have been oxycontin laced with fentanyl … Luckily, it looks like Demi has been in a much better place. She recently got baptized in Israel and made it to one year of sobriety last July. Congrats to Demi! @Seventeen
New Year, New Ben – January 15, 2020 – Affleck, 47, is leaning on his loved ones for support as well. “He’s anchored himself around his family,” adds the insider. Not surprisingly, his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, has been his rock through it all — she was the one who pushed him to go to rehab in 2018 — and Affleck is trying not to disappoint her. @USMagazine
Putting the Wheels Back On – Jan. 17, 2020 – He hit rock bottom two years ago, but found a lifeline in the charity Action on Addiction. The charity helped him get back on track and on July 12 he will be attempting to cycle across six countries in five days to raise money… Charlie said: “I want to raise awareness of addiction. I want to help others who are impacted by the widespread destruction it causes and I want to encourage people to speak up and look into getting the help they need. “I will also be raising money…
Running the Steps – Jan. 14, 2020 – At 17, I went to rehab. I was scared, but had hope that rehab would be the positive thing I needed. While at rehab, I experienced genuine vulnerability, connection, and community, all of which helped me get my life back on track. I started going to the gym with the other recovering addicts, and began feeling good about myself — mentally, physically, emotionally. I finished my stay, moved to the Poconos, and created a new, clean life for myself. Things were looking up. I was working at a drug and alcohol rehab…
Meet Dr. Downs – January 20, 2020 – Doctors often prescribe them to relieve acute anxiety, agitation or to help someone sleep. Taken over the long term, they can become addictive. In older adults, the drugs have been shown to increase the risk of falls, cloud judgment and impair memory … Women sought these prescriptions more than men and the number of visits increased with age. Nearly half of benzo prescription visits were to a primary care provider. Past studies have shown a growing number of primary care doctors have written these prescriptions. In the new study, the data showed…
It’s a Laughing Matter – January 17, 2020 – It’s just comedians are much more likely to talk about it.” Bamford says she would love to talk to people who don’t have the financial/cultural resources to handle illness. “How are they handling it? Because with … not only my income level and my union representation, but I have the best of all possible worlds with getting care. And so I think it would be wonderful to talk to people [about] how they are coping, just people who aren’t in entertainment. But it’s also interesting to talk to people in entertainment,”…
No need to move to Portugal – January 19, 2020 – She was responding to a voter who asked whether her plan to end the war on drugs centered on more harm reduction and treatment or if it involved moving to “legalize and regulate narcotics so that you’re no longer seeing tainted drugs on the street … and involvement in the black market.” The congresswoman replied that her answer was “all of the above.” … “The costs and the consequence to this failed war on drugs is so vast and far reaching, socially and fiscally, that if we take these…
Dying for a drink? – Jan. 13, 2020 – Nearly half of alcohol deaths were due to liver diseases or overdoses linked to alcohol alone or alcohol and other drugs. The other half included, among many factors, car crashes, other unintentional injuries, suicide, homicide, and heart disease. According to the researchers, the deaths tracked with other research showing a rise in the consumption of alcohol and related harms, including emergency room visits and other hospitalizations. … There were nearly 1 million alcohol-related deaths between 1999 and 2017, the study found. In that same time frame, drug overdose deaths totaled a…
Fentanyl From Hell – January 13, 2020 – Lunn’s death at age 37 brought a tragic end to a promising life. His basketball prowess and magnetic personality brought him no shortage of opportunity. He attended an elite private school, earned a scholarship to the University of Delaware and played professionally in Denmark, where he also dabbled in modeling. Later, Lunn worked helping to market his family’s welding business. He traveled widely and collected a broad array of friends. But it all was undermined by his hunger for drugs — heroin and eventually other, more lethal, opioids … It is a…
So SAD – Jan. 17, 2020 – For Mikel Peterson, Jan. 11 was supposed be a chance at a better life. Since he was a teenager in Billings, Peterson, 35, had struggled with addiction. Within the last few months his older sister Stacie Peterson said she noticed a change in her younger brother, as he talked with increasing seriousness about his desire to get into a sober living home. The chance came for him to move into one in Billings. Peterson had been sober “for some time,” but he felt this was the extra push he needed to stay that…
Suicide on the Rocks – January 17, 2020 – Their research indicates that alcohol is even deadlier than illicit drugs, including opioids, which claimed the lives of about 70,000 in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarettes, however, remain America’s No. 1 killer with more than 480,000 dying each year due to smoking-related illness. That study wasn’t the only sobering evidence of America’s growing problem. Researchers at the CDC revealed this week a 12% increase in binge drinking over a six year period ending in 2017, according to data pulled from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance…
Good Sign – January 18, 2020 – Carroll commended some local officials for trying to look past incarceration as a means to solve the epidemic, and instead looking for ways to offer treatment. Instead of arresting drug users, the goal is to treat and educate them as an individual. Carroll stated that this method had made a difference in the community. According to the report, the drop was primarily attributed to the number of deaths from prescription opioid drugs, one of the drugs that had set off an epidemic in the United States. The New York Times reported that the…
Healing Inner Space – January 16, 2020 – Aldrin said he was marginalized and shunned by NASA and the Air Force when he revealed his struggles with alcoholism and depression. It was not until 2007, when NASA reviewed allegations (since disproved) of “heavy use of alcohol” by two shuttle astronauts within 12 hours of flying, that things began to change. And yet, despite a 1991 law directing NASA to create a policy for alcohol and drug testing of its employees, no such policy was in place in 2007. NASA now has a Drug Free Workplace Program Employee & Supervisor Guidethat…
Not Real Drug Counselors – Jan. 17, 2020 – Taken into custody this week were Steven Lomonaco, 61, of Laguna Beach; Mahyar “Christian” Mohases, 37, of Santa Ana; Robert Williams, 41, of Murrieta; Nicholas Reeves, 42, of Aliso Viejo; and James Frageau, 29, of Temecula. They have been charged with multiple felony counts, including insurance fraud and money laundering, in connection with joint investigative efforts by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and California Department of Insurance. In addition, Mohases, Williams, Reeves and Frageau have each been charged with two counts of committing medical insurance fraud, one count of fraudulent…
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – January 16, 2020 – Psychedelic drugs—once promising research subjects that were decades ago relegated to illicit experimentation in dorm rooms—have been steadily making their way back into the lab for a revamped 21st-century-style look … A frenzy of interest has captivated a new generation of researchers, aficionados and investors, triggering some understandable wariness over promises that may sound a little too good to be true. But late last year the highly respected institution Johns Hopkins University—the U.S.’s oldest research university—launched a dedicated center for psychedelic studies, the first of its kind in the…
God has him under construction – January 13, 2020 – At that same time, he was going through a bad divorce with his wife Monique Idlett, and facing the pressure of being $4 million behind on his taxes from the prior three years. Although he couldn’t keep track of how many pills he was taking daily, he admits that it was “way over the limit,” and eventually had a nightmare about dying. “I had a dream that death was near,” he recalled. “I saw myself with a white face.” It was then that he realized that he needed to overhaul…
Like Tearing Down Nate’n Al’s – January 15, 2020 – “The Log Cabin is like an iconic way station for sobriety in Los Angeles,” said James Maclean, who runs a support meeting across the street at the West Hollywood Recovery Center. “You know that if you show up to the Log Cabin, there’s going to be some sort of meeting and some sort of sobriety and someone to help you.” While West Hollywood and Beverly Hills issued a joint statement citing a contractor’s report that “found portions of the building in poor condition” and saying that the jurisdictions…
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.