Death By Laws – July 22, 2019 – Cox said she believed he overdosed while in the holding cell. She wanted to know how it happened — not just for him, but for others in police custody who are addicted to drugs. “How do you keep them safe? You make sure you’re watching the cameras. You make sure you’re going by, so in case they’re sleeping and their body looks lifeless. . . ,” she said before trailing off. “That’s what you do to make sure you keep people alive. Because that’s what our tax dollars pay you to…
Author: Leonard Buschel
“But my doctor told me…” – July 23, 2019 – Nearly seven million of them take aspirin without a doctor’s recommendations. Dr. Evelina Grayver is a cardiologist at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. She says patients should talk to their doctors before making any changes. “The study showed there were people taking the drug that had an increased risk of bleeding that does occur,” says Grayver. “But there’s the other side, the side of the patients that have such high-risk factors or have truly proven heart disease with coronary stents that should never ever stop aspirin.” The Harvard study…
Science Can Tell You – July 25, 2019 – Researchers have examined multiple factors to figure out why some people’s bodies appear to handle more alcohol better than others, Martin said. Gender and body weight clearly influence how an individual tolerates alcohol. Men tend to be able to drink more than women before they appear drunk. Larger people may imbibe more than smaller people without immediate ill effects. Other biological factors are a bit more complicated. “Some think it relates to the enzymes involved in metabolizing the alcohol; others think there’s a varied effect on neurotransmission in the brain,” Martin…
Step Up to a Lighter Place – July 11, 2019 – How easy would it be, I thought, to just take a pill and not be hungry? For an emotional eater like me, it seemed like the perfect solution. I looked up the nearest medical weight-loss clinic and took the first appointment. The year was 2001, and I picked the clinic with the nicest ad in the phone book. Little did I know, I would eventually visit them all. When I stepped on the scale at the clinic, it read 170. I was informed that my BMI was firmly in…
CNN’s Turning Point – Beautiful – July 26, 2019 – A root canal sparked Restivo’s prescription drug addiction at the age of 22. The dentist “prescribed me Vicodin. It kind of felt like my first drink. It was something that’s supposed to numb the pain and relax you, but it had the opposite effect on me. It was almost like speed for me. I was taking them quite frequently … as prescribed at first, and then once every six hours and then six every hour.” But Restivo did more than just get by. In 2008, he joined the New…
Crystal Clear – July 26, 2019 – Australian Border Force Aviation Goods officers examined and X-rayed the snow globes. Tests of the liquid inside returned a “presumptive positive result for methamphetamine,” the Australian Border Force said in a statement. The investigation has been referred to the Australian Federal Police.”Our officers work tirelessly to prevent these harmful drugs from making it into Australian communities, and I’m proud of the results they continue to achieve,” border force regional commander Danielle Yannopoulos said. “The ABF has invested heavily in our technological capability in recent years and we can see further into every package…
Relapse + $ = Confession – July 29, 2019 – Everything was business as usual at Granite Recovery Centers last Monday morning when CEO Eric Spofford went into a meeting with the organization’s director of human relations to discuss employee benefits. Little did Spofford know when he left the meeting at 11 a.m. that he was about to receive a confession from his chief business development officer that would make national headlines in less than an hour. In early July, Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to deliver an address at one of Granite’s New Hampshire facilities on the opioid…
Hook Them With Flavors – July 25, 2019- In a statement, Juul said the presentation was part of a “short-lived Education and Youth Prevention Program which was ended in September 2018 after its purpose — to educate youth on the dangers of nicotine addiction — was clearly misconstrued.” But experts say that Juul itself contributed to epidemic-levels of vaping among teens, in part by raising nicotine levels and triggering an “arms race” of the addictive chemical. “I believe the presenter was sending mixed messages by saying Juul was ‘totally safe’ and following up every totally safe statement with ‘but…
Police Action Coming – JULY 26, 2019 – Mitts was charged with failing to register as a sex offender, sodomy, and multiple counts of sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he allegedly sexually assaulted two women during massages at Dire Wolf; one woman in May and another last week. Mitts has a past conviction for sexual misconduct in St. Louis is 2005 and pending charges of sexual exploitation of a child in St. Clair County, Illinois from a 2015 case. He hasn’t registered as a sex offender since 2010, authorities said. Full Story @ KPLR11.com
Writer In The Storm – July 31, 2019 – My Twenty Favorite Books Out of Africa by Isak DinesenA book suffused with longing for the lost world of adulthood. Father and Son by Edmund GosseA model for writing about a parent. Speak, Memory by Vladimir NabakovA book suffused with longing for the lost world of childhood. In Pharoah’s Army by Tobias WolffElegant and electrifying book about the war in Vietnam and the war in our hearts. A Drinking Life by Pete HammillAnother kind of history of New York. The Liar’s Club by Mary KarrAmazing stories that never would have been…
Just Let Them Die On the Street – July 28, 2019 – But needles don’t frustrate Pastore as much as this: If she were a user, she could dispose of the needles for free at the local syringe exchange. Pastore thinks there’s something fundamentally wrong with the exchange. “Why don’t they just hand the addicts a gun and let them shoot themselves? Because that’s what they’re doing,” Pastore said. “No citizens in this town were ever given a right to vote on something, yet our taxpayer dollars were used for the syringe exchange.” Syringe exchanges, once seen as an…
Mixed Messages – A recovering alcoholic started helping other addicts and it kept growing! Full Story @ YouTube.com
Everyone Loves Movies! – July 29, 2019 – 12 South Recovery’s Orange County Drug Rehab and Alcohol Treatment Programs offers step down levels of care beginning with Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), followed by Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) and then Outpatient Programming (OP). Each phase is structured according to the needs of the individual and allows for a slight reduction in structure each time, with a gradual acclimation back to life and society, while still maintaining a strong focus on recovery.”In the past few decades, there have been hundreds of Hollywood, European and independent films exploring addiction and recovery, from comedies…
In Praise of Sanity – From the Vault: 2015 – Carl Hart, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University, offers a provocative, evidence-based view of addiction and discusses how it should impact drug policy. Full Video @ YouTube.com
All You Need Is Love? – July 27, 2019 – How widely antidepressants should be prescribed, and under what circumstances, is a real debate among psychiatrists. But Ms. Williamson has tended to make broad arguments, suggesting that the drugs are hugely and recklessly overused. Mental health experts say comments like these can increase stigma and make people less likely to seek treatment, even if that is not the intention. “I have no judgment — nor do I believe I have ever expressed any — of anyone taking antidepressants,” she added in a text message after the interview. “I’m happy…
The Story Lives On – July 26, 2019 – “I felt robbed, I felt this is not the way the script was written by me,” said Baldwin. “He finally got it, he had three and a half years sober and then I got a phone call that the first time he went back out and used heroin again it was laced with fentanyl and he overdosed.” The Raynors say this hasn’t been easy. Life is no longer the same. Their first born is gone. “I’m a different person now,” Patrick Raynor said. “Not always a good thing when you’re…
In Memorium – July 27, 2019 – “Once again terrible news,” the message said. “Tonight the NYPD lost a sergeant to suicide. We ask that everyone pray for his family, friends and Co-workers. The NYPD continues to go through a difficult time.” The news underscored the Police Department’s ongoing struggles with mental health. More police officers commit suicide every year in New York City than are killed in the line of duty. (Since 2014, an average of five New York City police officers have taken their own lives each year, according to the Police Department.) Full Story @ NYTimes.com
AA is not the only way… – July 26, 2019 – He helped me to discover my own purpose. That alone was a lifesaver. I never met the writer and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, but I feel I know him far better than many people with whom I’ve had actual contact. I’ve read his books and listened to thousands of hours of his recorded lectures. He’s an incredibly articulate speaker, and often very funny. had the honor of directing the audiobooks of nearly every one of Mr. Hubbard’s published fiction works. They total some 500 hours, and have won numerous…
How Well do YOU Feel? – July 24, 2019 – Upbeat accounts of modern psychiatry, like A History of Psychiatry by Edward Shorter, present it as a story of good science triumphing over bad. Biological theories of and treatments for the brain, notably drugs like Thorazine, lithium, Valium and Prozac, displaced Freudian psychobabble and transformed psychiatry into a truly scientific discipline. This story is false, Harrington asserts. She writes: “Today one is hard-pressed to find anyone knowledgeable who believes that the so-called biological revolution of the 1980s made good on most or even any of its therapeutic and scientific…
AA the Only Way? – July 29, 2019 – In the touching post’s caption, John reflected on what the date meant to him. “Twenty-nine years ago today, I was a broken man,” he wrote. “I finally summoned up the courage to say 3 words that would change my life: ‘I need help.’ … “Thank you to all the selfless people who have helped me on my journey through sobriety,” John continued. “I am eternally grateful.” He signed the post, “Elton xo.” Full Story @ People.com
Not If You’re a Doctor – July 1, 2019 – For years I have ranted about the flaws of medicine, especially when it comes to mental illness and cancer. But my complaints are mild compared to those of Jacob Stegenga, a philosopher of science at the University of Cambridge. In Medical Nihilism, published by Oxford University Press, Stegenga presents a devastating critique of medicine. Most treatments, he argues, do not work very well, and many do more harm than good. Therefore we should “have little confidence in medical interventions” and resort to them much more sparingly. This is what Stegenga…
Rehab Not Prison Cell – July 24, 2019 – Prosecutors said the drug-seeking doc used her own prescription pad to get her hands on strong opioid narcotics, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, which are generally used to treat pain, but can be highly addictive if abused After writing the bogus prescriptions, Williams then posed as patients at pharmacies where she picked up the potent pain pills, prosecutors said. Williams, who specializes in internal medicine, also used another doctor’s prescription pad and name, as well as the physician’s Drug Enforcement Administration number, to write additional prescriptions to herself, according to prosecutors.…
365 Days – July 24, 2019 – Demi Lovato looked happy and healthy as she stepped out for a friend’s birthday dinner in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The outing — which came just a night before the one-year anniversary of the singer’s near-fatal overdose on July 24, 2018 — took place at Barton G. in West Hollywood, where Lovato and her friends dined on several of the restaurant’s signature dishes including their Holy Smokes Nitro Popcorn, Barton’s Seasonal Chopped Salad, Samurai Striped Bass and Great American Steak. An onlooker tells PEOPLE that Lovato, 26, and the large group…
Worse Than the “Seen” Ones? – July 26, 2019 – What they’re saying: “These kids have behaviors that we often see in patients who have opioid or marijuana addiction, but we didn’t typically see with kids who developed addiction to traditional tobacco cigarettes,” Sharon Levy, director of the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, told the Post.“We kind of lost four years of Cade to this addiction,” Kristin Beauparlant told the Post, speaking about her son. Now that he has cut back, “He just seems like a different kid. You can’t help but say there’s…
The Hole Would Be Healther – July 26, 2019 – People would take to the streets, demanding change. These children need our help, they would scream. But the words obese and abused are interchangeable. Obese children are abused. Hear me out. Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or inaction, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. It’s much more than “just” acts of physical violence; it’s any form of maltreatment by an adult that is violent or threatens the child. This includes neglect. Displaying a clear unwillingness to meet…
Stick with the Winners! – Born and raised in NYC, Johnny Sweet graduated from Syracuse University in 2003. He was an Emmy Award winning feature producer at ESPN for 10 years, primarily covering the NBA and the NFL. In 2016 Sweet directed his first film, “Vick” which won the Associated Press Sports Editor Award for journalism. His second film, “Quiet Storm,” a documentary about the life of Ron Artest was released on Showtime in May of 2019. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your Drug of Choice and when did you discontinue its use? A. I’m not in…
From ER to REhab – JULY 22, 2019 – The study measured the success of a collaboration between Bucks County addiction treatment agencies and hospitals that provided warm handoffs to overdose survivors. It recommended expanding warm handoff training to new physician orientations, implementing automated triggers in electronic health records to identify overdose survivors, and expanding access to the overdose antidote Narcan. Additionally, the IBX Foundation is launching a new study to re-evaluate the program, track outcomes and provide additional recommendations. “It’s a fight we’re going to win,” said Steve Fera, IBX senior vice president of public affairs. “I can’t…
Crazy Profits – July 21, 2019 – Behavioral Rehabilitation market by key players: Acadia Healthcar Universal Health Services Magellan Health Psychiatric Solutions CRC Health Aurora Behavioral Health System Behavioral Health Group Haven Behavioral Healthcare Springstone American Addiction Centers Full Story @ MildMint.com
“The pain pushes, until the vision pulls.” —Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith
Say It Ain’t So Jeff Hatch – July 26, 2019 – Hatch, a former NFL player, worked at Granite Recovery Centers from 2014 until this month, when word of a federal investigation came out. News 9 Investigates has confirmed a tip about the case played a part in Vice President Mike Pence’s abrupt cancellation of a July 2 visit to New Hampshire. Court documents revealed Hatch admitted to moving 1,500 grams of fentanyl into the state in 2017. That same year, he engaged in several discussions with students about his own recovery, including one where Shaheen was also a member…