Spirit Don’t Ever Die – Sept. 13, 2019 – A rare instance of critical acclaim chiming with public taste, it sold millions. It may well be the most influential album of the last 20 years. The immediate effect of its success was a wave of artists obviously working in her image. Female vocalists made retro soul-influenced music, replacing Winehouse’s troubled unpredictability with something less volatile and more marketable: earthy everyman good humour or cute kookiness. Adele was by far the most successful, but at one point there seemed to be dozens of them, all filling the void created by the…
Author: Leonard Buschel
“then President Obama signed it into law” – Sept. 13, 2019 – The new information is emerging through the efforts of lawyers in the massive federal lawsuit against two dozen drug companies in Cleveland who have obtained depositions from high-ranking company officials, internal company emails and confidential memos. The documents were unsealed in July after a year-long legal fight by The Washington Post and the owner of the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia. In 2016, the drug companies convinced members of Congress and Obama administration officials to rein in the DEA and force the agency to treat them as “partners”…
Desperate Measure – September 14, 2019 – “Defendants do not bring this motion lightly,” the lawyers wrote in a filing Saturday morning on behalf of some of the nation’s biggest drug distributors and retailers but no drug manufacturers. “Taken as a whole and viewed objectively, the record clearly demonstrates that recusal is necessary.” The lawyers contended Polster has overstepped his authority and created the appearance of bias. They cited his statements since the beginning of the case encouraging settlement so that money for badly needed drug treatment and other services could go quickly to communities hard hit by the opioid…
Morally Bankrupt Too! – Sept. 15, 2019 – The information, in records an unnamed financial institution produced in response to a subpoena from James’s office, detailed financial transfers involving former Purdue board member Mortimer D.A. Sackler, according to court documents her office filed. He allegedly used shell companies “to shift Purdue money through accounts around the world and then conceal it in at least two separate multimillion-dollar real estate investments back here in New York, sanitized (until now) of any readily-detectable connections to the Sackler family,” a lawyer in James’ office said in one of the court filings. “There is…
Thank You Ryan Hampton – Sept. 12, 2019 – Google used to famously refuse to put anything but a logo, a search box, and a button or two on its homepage. That’s changed in recent years, but a homepage promotion is still rare enough to be notable. Google says a link to its new site will appear underneath the search box. It says it’s launching in honor of the 30th annual National Recovery Month. Even if the site is partially (or even mostly) meant as a PR move to make up for how badly it let itself get gamed by…
SUD Whack-A-Mole – September 9, 2019 – The epidemic arose in the 1990s in areas that had experienced economic decline, a brain drain and population loss over decades. Many factors combined to create a monstrous situation in which small towns were flooded with prescription opioids: the preponderance of injury-prone hard labour jobs, requirements that physicians routinely ask patients about pain, aggressive marketing by the pharmaceutical industry, greed and extensive job losses from the collapse of key rural industries such as coal mining. By the time Congress moved to address the opioid epidemic, the pattern of drug use had started to…
Success Based Evidence – Sept. 03,2019 – Spiritual or religious based programs, such as those based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, are effective for treating people with substance use disorders, according to the first systematic review of such programs. In the U.S., more than 20 million people 12 years and older (about 7.4%) have a substance use disorder and among 18-to-25-year-olds, 15% have a substance use disorder, according to the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Substance use disorders are a significant contributor to disability and premature death and take a tremendous toll on individuals, families…
The American Dream – Sept. 14, 2019 – For three weeks this summer, those suburban millennials climbed onto the witness stand at his federal trial and offered an unprecedented window into how fentanyl bought and sold online has transformed the global drug trade. There was no testimony of underground tunnels or gangland murders or anything that a wall at the southern border might stop. Shamo called himself a “white-collar drug dealer,” drew in co-workers from his time at eBay and peppered his messages to them with smiley-face emojis. His attorney called him a fool; his primary defense was that…
Trigger Warning Video – September 13, 2019 – Jackass star Steve-O has never been shy about his many years of abusive drug use, and now the stuntman is celebrating a decade of sobriety by sharing a shocking video of every drug he’s taken, among them being acid, cocaine, and ketamine. In a video shared to his YouTube page, Steve-O walks viewers through every drug he’s ever taken and how they impacted. He also shares some disturbing old footage of himself on some of the various drugs. In the YouTube post, Steve-O described the video by saying, “It’s fairly common knowledge…
He Plays a Great Alec Baldwin – Sep 15, 2019 – The Beetlejuice and Hunt for Red October actor actually traces his sobriety to well before those hits occurred. According to Baldwin, he stopped drinking on February 23, 1985. “I got sober when I was just about to turn 27,” the actor said. A support group helped Baldwin find his way towards sobriety. In his book he writes, “God got me sober. That day, God was a black, 65-year-old retired postal worker named Lenny.” Going further on the man who helped him get away from the addictions, Baldwin continues, “Lenny…
Time To Go On The Water Wagon – September 10, 2019 – If Sober September or Dry January bring up serious emotions for you, here’s how to cope, according to experts. 1. Be Prepared: Right now, there are two distinct times of year where periods of sobriety are becoming more popular: the times after the winter holidays, and after summer. Experts tell Bustle that if you’ve experienced a disordered relationship with alcohol in the past, it’s important to be aware that these times exist. “If you find it difficult to maintain sobriety then you will need to learn to pay…
“It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning.” —P.D. Ouspensky
Blood Money Safe in Switzerland – September 13, 2019 – “Records from one financial institution alone have shown approximately $1 billion in wire transfers between the Sacklers, entities they control, and different financial institutions, including those that have funneled funds into Swiss bank accounts,” she added. The filing comes after nearly two dozen states and 2,300 local governments reached a tentative settlement with Purdue Pharma to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging that the company helped fuel the opioid crisis. New York and others states rejected the settlement. James has been critical of the settlement, calling the deal “an insult.”…
Vape Like There’s No Tomorrow – September 12, 2019 – The US Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday that more than a quarter of high school students this year have reported using e-cigarettes and the “overwhelming majority” reference using popular fruit and menthol or mint flavors, according to preliminary data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey. Adam, who vaped nicotine and THC products, said he isn’t sure his lungs will ever be back at 100% — and he worries whether he will ever be able to wrestle again. “I was a varsity wrestler before this and I might not…
Breaking News – Slap on the Wrists – Sept. 11, 2019 – Often when a company goes into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, all litigation against it is stayed. The deconstruction and evolution of Purdue would now be presumably overseen by a bankruptcy judge and, eventually, trustees appointed to assemble a new, transparent board, which would not include any of the Sacklers. Still unclear is what distribution of any Purdue and Sackler money would look like for 23 states and nearly 2,300 local governments and tribes who signed onto the deal, as well as for the federal government, which has been…
Pharmaceutical Infanticide? – Sept. 7, 2019 – Every 15 minutes in America, a child is born after a prenatal exposure to opioids. Here in West Virginia, 14 percent of babies are born exposed to drugs, and perhaps 5 percent more to alcohol, totaling nearly one out of five newborns. Some get by without symptoms, but for many, their very first experience after birth is the torment of withdrawal. These babies reflect the catastrophic implosion of drug policy in America, from the war on drugs that filled prisons to the continuing failure even in 2019 to provide enough treatment for drug…
NPR All Things Considered – September 5, 2019 – When doctors and nurses become addicted to opioids and they get caught, they have to follow strict treatment guidelines to get their licenses back. Often that means they’re not allowed to use the so-called gold standard of treatment — medications such as methadone and Suboxone. NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin has more. Full Story @ NPR.org
And the Industry Says: ‘Keep Coming Back.’ – Sept. 3, 2019 – That’s often coupled with approaches that have even less evidence behind them. There’s wilderness therapy, focused largely on outdoor activities. There’s equine therapy, in which people are supposed to connect with horses. There’s a confrontational approach, which is built around punishments and “tough love.” The research for all these is weak at best, and with the confrontational approach, the evidence suggests it can even make things worse. “It is a scam,” Carol Beyer, founder of Families for Sensible Drug Policy and a mom in New Jersey, told me.…
Can This Article Cost or Save Lives? – Sep 3, 2019 – “The problem in the industry isn’t that we have a few bad actors,” Tami Mark, a health economist at the research foundation RTI International, told me. “It’s that a large portion of the addiction industry isn’t providing the type of care that we know leads to recovery.” America is in the middle of an addiction crisis, with alcohol and drug overdoses linked to tens of thousands of deaths each year. At the same time, the addiction treatment system meant to deal with this crisis often has high costs…
Would You Have Done the Same? – Sept 9, 2019 – The Sackler family made $4 billion from the sale of prescription medications between 2008 and 2016 through the family business, according to court filings. Attorney generals in over 40 states have filed lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, with David’s father Richard Sackler alleged to be the architect behind the rise of the OxyContin epidemic. Sackler has distanced herself from the company she married into but previously defended the family business, adding: ‘I believe they will be completely vindicated. But they have nothing to do with LBV.’ The 34-year-old reportedly wanted…
Trending, Pretending or Saving Lives? – September 4, 2019 – Instagram emerged onto the social media scene in October 2010, and was soon affiliated with Zuckerberg’s Facebook. It very quickly became the place to be seenfor people looking for overnight celebrity status or for product brands looking to become overnight marketing sensations. As its popularity grew, this way of branding an idea, a person, a product or a business became the norm, and those who did it successfully and/or professionally became known as social media influencers(or just plain influencers). Social media influencers are those who have established a level of…
Not For Much Longer – SEP. 6, 2019 – Painkillers, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, tranquilizers, stimulants — each can affect users’ bodies so intensely that severe withdrawal symptoms are possible, even likely, if you stop taking them. Such symptoms include dizziness, fatigue, nausea, mood swings and other conditions that can make daily life miserable. In some cases, suicidal tendencies can occur. Adam Bisaga, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, said that “most people aren’t prepared for the changes these drugs can cause to the body.” “It’s easy to just take a pill every day,” he said. “To…
Seeing What Is – Sept. 10, 2019 – Robert Louis Frank was born in Zurich on Nov. 9, 1924, the younger son of well-to-do Jewish parents. His mother, Regina, was Swiss, but his father, Hermann, a German citizen who became stateless after World War I, had to apply for Swiss citizenship for himself and his two sons. Safe in neutral Switzerland from the Nazi threat looming across Europe, Robert Frank studied and apprenticed with graphic designers and photographers in Zurich, Basel and Geneva. He became an admirer of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who co-founded the photo-collective Magnum in 1947 and whose photographs…
Taking The Right Steps – Sept. 8, 2019 – She explained: “At first it was just to de-stress after a hard day. I’d have a glass of wine after work in the evening. “That was the start of it all. I felt relief after drinking, so I’d do the same thing night after night.” Her drinking then went from one glass to one bottle every day, and she would ‘binge out completely’ on weekends. Charlie-Jane, who now lives in Pontyclun, said she soon began sneaking wine into the family home where she stayed with her mum, step-dad and three brothers.…
The Wrong Side of Science – AUGUST 28, 2019 – In California alone, where recreational marijuana is legal, there have been 28 potential cases of acute lung disease among people who had recently vaped cannabis products, according to a spokesperson from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). On August 12th, the CDPH released a health alert regarding a “cluster” of at least seven healthy adults in Kings County, California, all of whom had been admitted to hospitals between July and August 2019, and all of whom had presented with symptoms of severe acute pulmonary disease, including coughing and…
Strange Bedfellows – September 6, 2019 – Eleanor Health is rethinking how to treat addiction—now the leading cause of death in America for those under aged 50 years—by fully treating addiction as a chronic disease. Eleanor Health will focus on clinical and non-clinical factors to manage the disease and provide both human and high-tech support. This includes comprehensive treatment, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid and other substance use disorders. The Eleanor Health approach is designed to meet patients where they are in their recovery journey, through outpatient clinics, community settings, and at home through technology and field-based teams,…
Save One Life, Save The World – September 6, 2019 – Just two months earlier, Rugh had been trained to use Narcan, also known as naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses and had a travel kit with her. She thought the unconscious person looked like a possible overdose. She asked if anyone knew the person. No one did. She explained she had training in Narcan and offered to give it. By this point, the victim’s face was blue. She had never used the kit but knew she had to act quickly. “I didn’t know that a face could turn…
How Do Many You Have? – September 6, 2019 – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rates hospitals, and it’s directly tied into their payment. The ratings are based on quality metrics reported from the hospitals and clinics. Measures include a combination of patient satisfaction with how well doctors and nurses communicate, and also the cost of care. The better the ratings, the higher the payments, making the quality of care the priority more than the quantity. If regular hospitals are rated based on the how well their patients do, why aren’t rehab centers rated on their success, too?…
Getaway Drug – September 7, 2019 – Despite news of the opioid crisis dominating headlines, alcohol remains one of the most abused substances by teens. Here in Talbot County, the latest youth risk behavior survey indicated that more than half of all public high school students have tried alcohol at least once. More than 14 percent drank before the age of 13. Research shows that young people who start drinking before the age of 1 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life. And almost everyone who becomes dependent upon alcohol or other drugs started…
Tooooo Much Caffffeine? – September 5, 2019 – n an interview with Yahoo Finance, Johnson said that the company found that some employees were afraid to reach out to the Employee Assistance Program, so they’re working to enhance the program, which provides short-term counseling services. “We believe this is a societal problem and we want to take steps within Starbucks for our partners to break the stigma of mental health, acknowledge that it exists, and do some creative things to provide services to those in need,” the CEO said. There will also be other announcements to come, Johnson added. In…