Drug Hell – November 12, 2019 – One of the women I took care of and interviewed at MCI-Framingham, a women’s state prison in Massachusetts, was in the health services unit — where they send people when they’re first coming in — and she heard someone withdrawing from methadone. That person was screaming — she was, you know, in agony. And then [my patient] stopped hearing her screaming. [My patient and other prisoners] tried to get the guards’ attention. And they found out that she had hung herself … People going through withdrawal in jail health facilities — it’s not…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Have A Heart – Nov. 13, 2019 – More than 2,000 Americans who use e-cigarettes have become sick since March, many of them teenagers and young adults, and at least 40 people have died. The bulk of the cases occurred in August and September but new cases are still being reported, the Associated Press reported; THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, was found in most samples tested by the Food and Drug Administration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday identified vitamin E acetate, a chemical added to vaping fluid, as a “very strong culprit of concern” in…
Blood or Piss? – November 12, 2019 – A first positive test will not result in disciplinary action, according to the policy. However, if a student tests positive a second time, there will be repeated drug testing during that student’s enrollment and they’ll face a 10-day suspension. If a student tests positive a third time, the student and parent will have to meet with school officials and the student could be expelled. A refusal to take a test will be considered a positive test. “I think this is a good step in the right direction,” Badin parent and public school…
American Mystery – NOV. 13, 2019 – Investigators are trying to determine whether any student deaths are connected with tainted drugs, said sources who spoke to The Times on the condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to comment. The sources stressed that no links to tainted drugs have yet been confirmed. Autopsies and toxicology tests are still pending in a number of the deaths … “We’re doubling down on educating [students] about the harm and serious risks associated with all types of drug abuse and substance abuse,” Folt said Wednesday. “And in particular, we’ve been also talking about…
Get Outta Here – Nov. 14, 2019 – Last year, the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported, 391 Bronx residents died of drug overdoses — accounting for 31% of all drug fatalities citywide. The Bronx is home to 17% of the city’s population. In his 2018 inauguration speech, Gjonaj decried an “opioid crisis” and advocated for treatment and prevention programs. “We can no longer afford to be quiet in the face of this crisis,” he said. “It is an epidemic that is hitting all of us, regardless of your background, your education, your success in life.” He’s…
Sober Schools Rule – November 7, 2019 – Three sober years later, Cafran is now the coordinator of the university’s newly launched Collegiate Recovery Program, or CRP, one of 136 such programs at colleges and universities across the countryand part of a growing effort in higher ed to help students with drug or alcohol problems. While public health officials and policy makers have been focused on stemming the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic, higher ed institutions have directed attention to tackling alcoholism and drug addiction among students. College leaders and student affairs administrators are increasingly embracing on-campus recovery programs and centers…
Another Hit? – Nov 17, 2019 – However, ACEs can be prevented, the CDC said. Preventing ACEs can help children and adults thrive and potentially mean a lower risk for conditions such as depression, suicide, asthma, cancer, heart disease and diabetes in adulthood; reduce risky behaviors such as smoking and heavy drinking; improve education and job potential; and stop ACEs from being passed from one generation to the next. The findings appear in CDC’s latest Vital Signs report, which examines the associations between ACEs and 14 negative outcomes. CDC analyzed data from 25 states that included ACE questions in the…
Disease or Demon? – NOV. 17, 2019 – ut pregnant drug users have drawn a different response in many places. More than two dozen states have laws that treat drug use during pregnancy as child abuse, at least for the purposes of terminating parental rights. Although California is not one of those states, its penal code specifically defines murder as the unlawful killing of a human being — or a fetus. Decades ago, legislators added “fetus” to the murder statutes as a way to punish people who injured a pregnant woman’s fetus — for instance, in a case of domestic…
Who are the 99%? – Nov. 11, 2019 – The authors said that although a sharp uptick in prescriptions during the past two decades has led to more opioid use disorders in the U.S., their data shows that the vast majority of pain patients surveyed did not seek more prescriptions after their first round of medication. “Although it is becoming increasingly clear that problematic opioid use is associated with the duration and quantity of initial opioid prescriptions, the long-term risks of an opioid prescription for an individual patient with acute pain are poorly understood and inadequately quantified,” the authors wrote.…
Art Imitates Life – Nov. 14, 2019 – “It doesn’t really bother me to talk about alcoholism and being an alcoholic. It’s part of my life, something that I deal with. It doesn’t have to subsume my whole identity and be everything but it’s something you have to work at. I had a problem and I really wanted to address it. I take some pride in that … It’s about yourself, your life, your family. People encounter these kinds of hurdles and we have to deal with them.” Full Story @TheBlast
New Pair of Glasses – Nov. 17, 2019 – Mr O’Neill is one of the world’s most collected photographers with work hanging in national art galleries and private collections worldwide. His images have burst out from iconic albums, movie posters and magazine covers and by 1965 he was being sought out for work by the biggest magazines and newspapers in the world. The Royal Photographic Society said he had grasped that the youth culture of the 1960s was a key moment in time globally and he began to record the new faces in film, fashion and music who would go…
Extremely Sad and Incredibly Close – Nov. 15, 2019 – “I had a drink last night. It was an experiment.” My heart sank. That was five years ago. Over that period, he lost everything and then he died. For years, I tried to help my brother. It mattered so much to me that he was safe. First, I wanted him to be a good husband to his wife and a good father to his three children. When his marriage ended, I focused on getting him to a place of mental and financial stability. Once, I stayed up all night by…
Lawyers Rejoice – NOV. 18, 2019 – Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey said Monday that Juul’s decision to stop selling some flavored vaping products has come “too late,” noting that many teens are already caught up in using e-cigarettes. State officials said the percentage of high school students who have vaped has increased from 11.7% in 2017 to 27.5% this year. “Unfortunately tobacco and nicotine use is on the rise among young people, driven largely by vaping products,” Lacey said at the news conference on Monday. Full Story @LATimes
Making Waves – Nov 15, 2019 – In a farewell email Monday to his State House colleagues, Coderre wrote of his “incredible opportunity working on solutions to the opioid crisis, broader mental health and addiction recovery issues, health-care policy, and so much more … It was a complete honor to work for Governor Raimondo and my fellow Rhode Islanders.” In the email, Coderre wrote that now he will “be promoting initiatives that advance behavioral health and engaging target populations as well as developing, supporting and leading collaborative initiatives across [the Department of Health and Human Services] and other federal agencies…
Truer Words… – November 18, 2019- Pearce said the advertisements — which are placed on television, billboards and posters — feel like domestic policy more than an actual effort to reach the people who need the resources. “This is not about trying to find people in the tough parts of town that are hiding from society and using meth,” he said. “This is about telling everyone in the state: ‘I know we’ve got a problem, and I’m addressing it.’ Nobody thought about the ramifications. The Twitter reactions are hysterical.” By Monday evening, social media had a field day with the…
Brain’s Powers – Nov. 15, 2019 – She told MailOnline: ‘All I could think about was drink. I’d go to work and even though I’d finish at about 2pm, I’d make excuses to go home early. ‘Rose was my favourite and I’d go to the shop – often with a back full of coins which I’d scraped together – and buy three bottles for £10. ‘I’d raid my mum’s Christmas drinks stash and just take anything – rum, vodka, Baileys.’ Ms Coombes said that she became an alcoholic at 17 to deal with the pain of an abortion. For…
Stick with the Winners! – Dr. Steven Dansiger played CBGB and Max’s Kansas City in the late 70s; drank, played drums in a toy rock band and then got sober in the late 80s; became an international educator and rocker again in the 90s; and is now a sought after clinician, writer and meditation teacher. Dr. Steve has attempted to cure Marc Maron on his world renowned WTF Podcast, become a master EMDR therapist and provider of EMDR Training and Advanced Topics Courses with the Institute for Creative Mindfulness, and is a pioneer in the Buddhist recovery field. He is…
Only in the Red States – Nov. 11, 2019 – Young has freely discussed his marijuana use in interviews and books. In his 2012 memoir, he wrote of being arrested in a drug bust with other members of Buffalo Springfield, his 1960s band. And in his 2014 memoir, he wrote that the August 1976 all-nighter he spent writing his album “Hitchhiker” was interrupted “only for weed, beer, or cocaine.” Though he had said he stopped smoking marijuana in 2011, he has since begun again, he told The Los Angeles Times. The naturalization process involves an application and an interview,…
I’ll Buy That – NOV. 15, 2019 – BSD is not currently recognised as a disorder in its own right, but instead as part of a wider category called ‘other specified impulse control disorder’. This is known to have serious mental effects, according to the German researchers. The condition works in a cycle of having extreme cravings to purchase, which feeds off a feeling of satisfaction when money is spent. Health website Very Well Minddescribes the characteristics of an addiction to shopping as a “preoccupation with shopping for unneeded items”, “spending a great deal of time doing research on coveted…
Problem? What Problem? – November 13, 2019 – A new study suggests that marijuana legalization leads to more cannabis use and perhaps addiction, particularly among adults 26 and older — highlighting a public health downside to a policy change that now 11 states and Washington, DC, have adopted and several others are considering. Cerdá, who’s also a drug policy expert at New York University, cautioned that the results should not be taken to mean that legalization is a bad idea, but that the way the country legalizes should better take into account, and try to prevent, more problematic use and…
Out of the Dark – November 13, 2019 – So it’s nothing to be shameful about.” – Lamar Odom was once one of the biggest stars in the NBA and a reality star on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” formerly married to Khloe Kardashian. Then addiction took over his life, and he spiraled out of control and nearly died. In 2019, Odom began reinventing himself. He took to the “Dancing with the Stars” ballroom and is now publicly speaking about his journey. “I’ve lived a blessed life and had a microscope on my life for a long time,” Odom said. “But,…
It’s cheap and effective – November 13, 2019 – “Methamphetamine is becoming more available and in a more potent form, which makes it more dangerous than it has been in the past,” said Peter Reuter, a professor of public policy and criminology at the University of Maryland. “Deaths seem to be increasing quite rapidly but it’s not as if it has uniformly spread across the country. It has spread in a sort of spotty way, and no one has an explanation for why this is the case.” One supervisory DEA agent involved in breaking up meth rings VICE spoke to…
And proud of it… – Nov. 15, 2019 – “It’s always special to come home to my hometown. The place I was born and raised and see friends and see family and put on a rock show,” Stapp said. “I love Orlando. We are here all the time as a family. We bring our kids here for vacation and it’s a beautiful place and I’m so grateful I was raised here.” Stapp’s new album debuted in the top 10. The first single released was “Purpose for Pain.” “It’s a journey of human emotion. It’s raw. I’ve always tried to write…
Making Ends Meet? – Nov. 17, 2019 – “The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is a top priority, and we continue to cooperate with authorities,” she said. It was not clear whether the chemical smell in the school building had prompted the investigation by law enforcement. Ms. Hall referred questions about whether the instructors were making meth on campus to the sheriff’s department. Sheriff Jason C. Watson did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday. Professors Bateman and Rowland could not immediately be reached on Sunday. Their court appearances are pending, according to the sheriff’s department.…
From cutting ribbons to cutting deals? – November 15, 2019 – Yates owned and operated Morningside Recovery, a substance-abuse treatment facility in California. Prosecutors say he conspired with father-son duo Jeffrey and Nicholas White to fraudulently enroll individuals with substance abuse problems “in ACA plans that offered the highest possible reimbursement for residential substance abuse treatment services, even though the patients were not in fact residents of the offering state, as required by law.” After Whites and Yates then arranged to have the individuals admitted to Morningside Recovery facilities for treatment, according to the indictment, Morningside Recovery then billed ACA…
Thanatos at Work? – November 11, 20`9 – “It’s even that much more strong than fentanyl, you need even less of it to get people high or kill people on it,” Banta-Green said. The DEA says carfentanil is sold as a white powdery substance, or in pill form, and is often combined with other drugs like heroin. The state crime lab discovered traces of carfentanil in a syringe mixed with other drugs at an unauthorized homeless camp near Seattle’s Fremont Troll and the Aurora Bridge. It’s where five people overdosed on the same day in January — all survived. It…
Everybody Hurts – November 13, 2019 – On November 13, RAND Corporation a nonprofit think tank, published research that linked punitive policies targeting pregnant drug users, with newborns experiencing opioid withdrawal. Lead study author Dr. Laura J. Faherty, a RAND physician policy researcher, told Filter that punitive policies simply “aren’t beneficial” to pregnant women. In the study, she wrote that states that introduce them are likely “missing key opportunities for interventions,” such as family planning services, mental health care, and services related to managing opioid use, due to “disengage[ment] from the health care system.” “When we approach pregnant women with…
Life on Life’s Terms – November 13, 2019 – When he was on the road, he and his colleagues would retreat to one of their hotel rooms and drink. For Mr. Breland, drinking was a way of being social, but he was also doing it to “ease the pain,” he said. He and his family moved back to New York City in 1988 after his wife was offered a job with the Metropolitan Transportation Agency. But he said he soon found himself “moving too fast” as his drinking began to spiral out of control. He returned to South Carolina within…
PREVENTION WORKS – November 13, 2019 – New York is the 18th state to raise the age to buy tobacco and e-cigarette products to 21, according to the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, an advocacy group. Other states to pass this legislation include Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia, Illinois, Delaware, Arkansas, Washington, Maryland, Utah, Vermont, Texas, Connecticut and Ohio … Several states have considered new ways to limit e-cigarette sales after a nationwide outbreak of vaping-related lung injury. As of November 5, there have been 2,051 cases of vaping-associated illnesses, and states have reported at least 40 deaths.…
Brotherly and Sisterly LOVE! – Nov. 15, 2019 – The Department of Justice says injection sites violate the law. News on the opioid epidemic is from Michigan, as well. Stateline: With Safe Injection Sites, ‘Somebody Has To Go First.’ It Could Be Philadelphia. A preliminary decision by a federal judge last month could put Philadelphia on a path to becoming the first U.S. city to host a so-called safe injection facility, where users can come in off the street and consume their illicit drugs under the watchful eyes of medical professionals who will rescue them if they overdose. Politicians and…