SAY CHEESE – August 31, 2019 – The ceremony is preceded by a plated meal the students plan and prepare. On the menu: short ribs, au gratin potatoes, and roasted carrots, followed by several dessert options. “We needed someone to bring it out in us and that’s what they did here,” said graduate Johnny Gibson, as he was presented with a food handler certificate issued by the County of Napa. The students learn culinary skills but also develop confidence and character. “I learned how to work in a team, and stay honest, and have a work ethic,” graduate Anthony…
Author: Leonard Buschel
My secret to happiness is, “I don’t mind” – August 31, 2019 – Whenever you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually restructuring the actual physical structure of your brain. Imagine that! Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the research-backed stress-reduction program Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), explains how mindfulness lights up parts of our brains that aren’t normally activated when we’re mindlessly running on autopilot. “Mindfulness is awareness that…
Awesome Feat – Aug. 28, 2019 – “Exercise addiction often goes undiagnosed because it’s not recognized as a problem,” Alyssa Williamson — a psychotherapist in Dallas, TX who specializes in eating disorders — said. “We think of someone with an eating disorder as someone who is emaciated but never think that it could include elite athletes or that guy who talks about CrossFit and eats avocados.” But according to a 2011 study, 3% of adults in the United States work out more than they should, and Williamson told Vice that number may actually be higher. “Because we glorify athleticism and…
Vapid or Victorious? – Aug. 31, 2019 – Patients, mostly otherwise healthy and in their late teens and 20s, are showing up with severe shortness of breath, often after suffering for several days with vomiting, fever and fatigue. Some have wound up in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator for weeks. Treatment has been complicated by patients’ lack of knowledge — and sometimes outright denial — about the actual substances they might have used or inhaled. Health investigators are now trying to determine whether a particular toxin or substance has sneaked into the supply of vaping products,…
$pider’s Stratagem – August 29, 2019 – A representative for the family of Purdue co-founder Mortimer Sackler declined to comment for this story, as did a company spokeswoman. A representative for the relatives of Raymond Sackler, Purdue’s other scion, did not respond to a request for comment. When the Oxycontin maker plead guilty in 2007 to a federal charge it mislead the public about the drug’s risks, it listed 215 companies under its umbrella. But that did not include some companies used to manage property and investments for family members or the trusts, some offshore, set up to administer their…
Learning To Love Life – Aug. 29, 2019 – Brent Walker had posted the photo of him and his wife Ashley as part of the “#CleanChallenge” and said the addiction photo was taken in late 2016, shortly after he was released from jail. “This is my wife and I in active meth addiction[,] the first was taken around December 2016 and the second one was taken in July of 2019,” the now-30-year-old wrote in the July 26 post. “This December 31st will be 3 years we have been clean and sober and living for God. I hope that my transformation…
Love Your Lungs? Please take this survey? – 2019 – With recent headlines on Acute Vape Related Illness Syndrome (AVRIS) driving attention to vaping impact on lungs and overall health of users and through secondhand exposure, The Vaping Survey is an important step to glean consumer information on use. We ask for your help in learning more on how vape products are used in everyday life, how vaping lives in the consumer’s social circles, and why vaping came to a consumer’s often daily, experience cycle. Brad Lamm, CIPBreathe Life Healing Center |Founder Full Survey @ SurveyMonkey.com
Shooting Towards the Precipice – Aug 29, 2019 – In 2017, ten states accounted for one-third of all mentions of synthetic opioid overdoses, despite making up a little more than one-tenth of the nation’s population. Conversely, almost three in ten states report synthetic opioid overdose death rates that are one-quarter of the national average of nine per 100,000. The math is simple and distressing: If the rest of the country had a synthetic opioid–involved death rate of half of New England’s in 2017, that would come to about 38,000 synthetic opioid–involved fatal overdoses. If this estimate held, Pardo told me,…
Are Poppies All Pooped Out? – September 1, 2019 – But the pill was actually a far more powerful and more addictive opioid: fentanyl. Within weeks, Parker was crushing and freebasing up to eight pills a day. Developed decades ago as a painkiller of last resort, fentanyl has surpassed heroin and prescription pills to become the leading driver of the opioid crisis and is now the top cause of U.S. overdose deaths. While heroin is made from poppy plants that grow only in specific climates and take months to cultivate, fentanyl and other so-called synthetics are cooked from chemicals…
September 3, 2019 We are very blessed to be entering our 7th year of publication. The team at the eBulletin has curated over 9,000 news articles, features, book and film reviews, editorials, videos, advocacy movements, celebrity sobriety stories, and a vast array of pertinent, powerful and passionate descriptions of the hope and heart break associated with Addiction and Recovery. Every Tuesday we take great pride and responsibility regarding the importance of our mission. “To provide our readers and the general public with the most up-to-date news and views every week regarding addiction and recovery in the US and abroad– Good…
All You Need Is… – September 1, 2019 – One of the chalked messages included the name of a man who died last October at the age of 27. “Narcan would’ve said his life,” said the message, which accompanied by a couple of red and yellow flowers. Shelly Yankowsky, recounted that both her sons, Adam and Sean, died from drug overdoses and imparted three lessons to the crowd. She said that however difficult it may be, families shouldn’t enable their loved ones to keep abusing drugs by giving them money or bailing them out in other ways. She urged people…
The War is at Home – Aug. 31, 2019 – Pam Turgeon, 56. Her son Ryan Turgeon worked all over the world in oil and gas. He came back to Canada after suffering a mental breakdown. He fought to recover, working out and going to meetings, but partying made him feel better. One night a neighbour offered him cocaine that turned out to be laced with fentanyl. Ms. Turgeon found him at 9:05 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2016, his father’s birthday. When she tried to revive him with CPR, “his body was cold and unresponsive.” He was 32 … Carrie…
Canadian Club – August 29, 2019 – Safe consumption sites, also known as overdose prevention sites, safe injection sites and supervised consumption services, are clinical but community-oriented spaces where people are provided clean supplies to use drugs, typically by injection, under the supervision of medical staff who are trained to provide first aid and reverse a potential overdose. Safe consumption sites also connect drug users to health care that offers a path toward addiction recovery if they wish. Hampton says that if he’d had access to clean syringes, first-aid supplies and medical help, he could have avoided long-lasting health problems.…
A Sativa State of Mind – August 28, 2019- The new law will also provide a path for some individuals with prior marijuana convictions to have their records expunged. Proponents of this law, like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, said marijuana convictions have disproportionately affected communities of color. “This law is long overdue, and it is a significant step forward in our efforts to end this repressive cycle and ultimately mend our discriminatory criminal justice process once and for all,” Cuomo said in a statement. Full Story @ ABC7NY.com
Chemical Warfare – August 30, 2019 – “The illicit fentanyl that’s coming in, the vast majority is from China and a lot of it is coming in through the mails,” he said at a press conference announcing the arrests. At least one suspect ordered fentanyl from a vendor in Shanghai that was successfully mailed through US Postal Service to Newport News, Virginia, according to the indictment. “The last thing we want is for the US Postal Service to become the nation’s largest drug dealer and there are people way above my pay grade working on that, but absolutely it’s about…
Suicide Sticks? – Aug. 31, 2019 – “This study suggests that the introduction of such warnings could impact the decision-making of these groups. “It shows that this approach is a viable policy option and one which would – for the first time – extend health messaging to the consumption experience.” The study consisted of 20 focus groups, made up of 120 participants split into different age groups. One male who took part in the 36-50 age group said: “If you were a non-smoker and you were standing talking to somebody – maybe one of the boys smoking – you’re…
What, We Worry? – August 31, 2019 – “No one is going to be happy after this,” said Adam J. Levitin, a Georgetown Law School professor who studies bankruptcy. “People are going to be mad that the Sacklers aren’t going to jail, that they will have money left.” The Washington Post reviewed a detailed analysis of the settlement plan that has been valued at $10 billion to $12 billion. The plan has been at the heart of negotiations among the parties for many months. The material was confirmed by three people close to the discussions who spoke on the…
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” —C.S. Lewis
Let Them Die Like Dogs – Aug. 28, 2019 – Protest was held outside of governor Cuomo’s office in midtown, advocating for the creation of overdose protection centers in the city, artist Nan Goldin and members of P.A.I.N., the activist group she founded to combat the opioid crisis, were arrested. They protested to raise awareness of the rising numbers of overdoses in the city each year, called on the governor to allow overdose protection centers, which allow users to take drugs in controlled spaces. In 2017, an estimated 1,487 people died of drug overdoses in New York, more than 100…
It’s An Inside Job! – August 23, 2019 – “I do know that worthlessness feeling,” Stephanie, 33, revealed to Ashley, who clued Spencer Pratt’s younger sister in on Jason’s alcohol relapse last November. “Saturday before Thanksgiving he had a slip,” Ashley told Stephanie. “I just felt bad for him because I love him so much, and to feel like you care about somebody so much and they feel so low about themselves sometimes.” “I’ve had spouts of sobriety from drugs, and you’re just like, ‘I’m young, how is this my life?’” Stephanie responded. Full Story @ RadarOnline.com
Buzz Kill – August 23, 2019 – The affected individuals have had symptoms including cough, shortness of breath and fatigue, officials said. Some also experienced vomiting and diarrhea. Symptoms worsened over a period of days or weeks before they were hospitalized. Illinois officials said the death was in an adult who died this month but did not provide further details about the person or what device or product had been used. While some of the cases appear similar, officials said they don’t know whether the illnesses are associated with the e-cigarette devices themselves, or with specific ingredients or contaminants inhaled…
Keep Human Beings Safe! – August 19, 2019 – The nonprofit Safehouse has its first day in federal court on Monday. The group wants to open an injection facility in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood where people could inject opioids under medical supervision. In February, William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, filed a civil lawsuit against Safehouse, claiming its intended activities would violate the federal Controlled Substances Act. At the judge’s request, Monday’s evidentiary hearing will be limited to discussing the services Safehouse proposes to offer and the nuts and bolts of how the supervised injection facility…
We All Do! – AUG 19, 2019 – Meanwhile, state Sen. Judy Schwank of Berks County, another Democrat, has proposed that the 800-plus treatment centers in Pennsylvania pay for the licenses they get from the state, something they have never done. In March, Shapiro and federal prosecutors announced dozens of felony charges had been filed against 11 people associated with Liberation Way, which drew patients from Pennsylvania and many other states. A media report published in the summer of 2018, based on interviews with more than a dozen then-current and former Liberation Way employees, showed the company appeared to put…
The Weekly Vape Warning – August 20, 2019 – E-cigarettes first appeared on the market in 2007 and in the years since, vaping among teens has skyrocketed. The CDC estimates that one in five high school students use e-cigarettes. From 2017 to 2018, e-cigarette use among teenagers increased by more than 75 percent, prompting the us surgeon general to call it an “epidemic.” Yet not much is known about the harms associated with e-cigarettes. Sure, nicotine is harmful even when it isn’t smoked: vaping nicotine is still highly addictive, can harm the development of adolescent brains, and can even…
Struck Drunk – Aug 19, 2019 – My mum died when I was 36, after 25 years of fighting cancer. Six weeks later, in September 1991, my dad died of a broken heart. He was in perfect health, but that day he said his heart was racing. He went to the hospital and just died. Until that summer, I had a fairytale life. Married to an accountant, living in the outskirts of London with two children, aged eight and 11, in private schools – my life was a whirlwind of lunches at the golf club, weekends at health farms and…
Meshugas – AUGUST 21, 2019 – I had to confront this issue when I first became sober more than 27 years ago. As an observant Jew, I was uncomfortable with entering churches, if only the basement. I didn’t feel comfortable with the concept of “fellowship.” And I certainly wasn’t down with the Lord’s Prayer. At the same time, I recognized that A.A. was “the last house on the block” – pretty much the last chance I had to stop drinking and get my life in order. What’s a Jewish drunk to do? Remarkably, that same week was Yom Kippur,…
Pulling The Trigger – August 21, 2019 – Every year, about 5 million Americans, most of whom are adolescents and young adults, have their wisdom teeth removed. Many of them are prescribed opioids for the pain during recovery. The American Dental Association said that after updating its guidelines advising against prescribing opioids, dentists wrote almost half a million fewer prescriptions in 2017 compared to five years earlier. But that still amounted to a staggering 18.1 million prescriptions — and some families are living with the devastating consequences. That includes Ellen Earley, whose daughter Saige was a young mother doting on…
Self Will Run Riot? – August 21, 2019 – In 2017, just 30 percent of opioid-related deaths involved prescription analgesics, and the records compiled by the CDC indicate that 68 percent of those cases also involved heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, or alcohol. The role of drug mixtures is probably even bigger than those records suggest. In New York City, which has one of the country’s most thorough systems for reporting drug-related deaths, 97 percent of them involve more than one substance. The evidence does not favor a simple narrative in which more opioid prescriptions led to more abuse…
Results Totally Debunked – Aug. 23, 2019 – Published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine (JMA) the study, is entitled, Opioid and Cannabis Co-use Among Adults with Chronic Pain. The study implies that when compared to opioid use alone, opioid and cannabis co-use is associated with elevated anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, and sedative use issues, and does not diminish pain, according to the University of Houston’s website. The primary researcher, Andrew Rogers, is a doctoral student in clinical psychology who works in the University of Houston Anxiety and Health Research Laboratory and its…
Too Little, Too Late – August 24, 2019 – The suit names Sheriff Peyton Grinnell and Deputies Zack Marable and Joshua Searcy, who worked at the 960-bed facility. Sacchetta says her son’s Constitutional rights were violated under the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits government from depriving anyone of “life, liberty or property without due process,” and calls for “equal protection of the laws.” It is not the first time a prisoner has died at the jail. On July 11, 2018, Tiffany Michelle Allen, 35, who was described by a fellow inmate as being “very out of it,” ended up committing suicide…