INSANITY – MAR. 22, 2019 – It’s been six years since Scott Pavek stopped using opioids. But he wanted out of his addiction long before he was able to get clean. “I just wanted … some relief from the cycle of using opioids, getting sick, finding ways to acquire more, and then doing the same thing over again,” Pavek said in an interview recently. Pavek said he was able to find that relief in a drug called buprenorphine. It’s a long-acting opioid that’s far less powerful than heroin or fentanyl. And it allows people with substance use disorder to stave…
Author: Leonard Buschel
LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS! – Mar. 18, 2019 – The number one cause of addiction stigma is the fact that drugs are criminalized. Criminalization is a huge problem. We don’t lock people up with diabetes when they eat a donut, or lock depressed people up when they are sad, therefore we cannot criminalize people for having an addiction. Other barriers include people being afraid of addiction. Why do I think people are afraid of addiction? Because people are afraid of losing control. This is the same reason why there is a stigma against obese people, because we stigmatize what we fear.…
Too Bad for Rat Taverns – March 22, 2019 – “What is so exciting about these findings is that we were able to control the motivation to drink alcohol in severely dependent individuals with the flip of a switch,” said Scripps professor Olivier George, told Digital Trends. “By implanting fiber optics deep in the brain and turning on a laser that inhibits these neurons specifically we could dramatically decrease alcohol drinking and the physical symptoms of withdrawal.” For now, we can’t get too excited about a new human treatment immediately stemming from the research, which was recently published in the…
Make Him the Prison Proctologist – Mar. 20, 2019 – Hsiu-Ying “Lisa’’ Tseng was convicted in October 2015 of three counts of second-degree murder stemming from the deaths of Vu Nguyen, 28, of Lake Forest; Steven Ogle, 24, of Palm Desert; and Joseph Rovero III, a 21-year-old Arizona State University student from San Ramon, between March and December 2009. Tseng — who was the first doctor in California to be charged with murder for the deaths of patients given prescriptions for drugs — was also found guilty of 19 counts of unlawful controlled substance prescription and one count of obtaining…
NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW – March 22, 2019 – as Thomas Hager, a historian of medicine and science, explains in his absorbing new book, “Ten Drugs,” it also describes America’s first, forgotten opioid epidemic a century ago. The culprit back then was morphine, a compound isolated from poppy sap. And as Hager makes clear, we’re just as helpless treating addicts today as we were in the early 1900s. Full Story @ NYTimes.com PURCHASE YOUR COPY HERE
Don’t Look Now – March 22, 2019 – “Although people were distressed by the negative materials we showed them, they were no more or less distressed if they’d seen a trigger warning first…Psychologists working with traumatized patients have long used the word ““trigger” to refer to sensations or experiences that remind individuals of their original trauma, but trigger warnings are commonly attributed to feminist spaces online. Opponents of the idea say that trigger warnings coddle students and allow them to avoid discomforting perspectives. Proponents disagree, arguing that they can help those with a history of trauma avoid potentially disturbing material…
Double Agent – March 20, 2019 – Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid painkiller OxyContin, is one of the opioid companies being sued by more than 1,600 cities and counties for “grossly” misrepresenting “the risks of long-term use of those drugs for persons with chronic pain,” according to court documents. The lawsuits have been consolidated into one case in federal court in Cleveland. Purdue vigorously denies allegations that it deceptively marketed OxyContin. Ashley spent three decades at the DEA, specializing in preventing the diversion of prescription drugs like OxyContin. Reached by NBC News on her cellphone in Chicago, Ashley…
Move Over Bohemian Rhapsody – March 22, 2019 – Rocketman, Paramount’s Elton John musical, is expected to be rated R and will include an intimate love scene between Taron Egerton, who plays the English singer, and Richard Madden, who plays John’s former manager and lover … Director Dexter Fletcher is in the midst of editing the film, which is slated for release in the U.S. on May 31 and in the U.K. on May 24, and produced by John’s husband, David Furnish. After a Daily Mail story reported that Paramount is pressuring filmmakers to cut at least part of the…
War = Murder – March 21, 2019 – Patients in pain have become collateral damage in the war on opioids. That’s the message of a letter from more than 300 medical professionals, including three former White House drug czars, to the Centers for Disease Control. In 2016, the CDC issued guidelines to discourage doctors from overprescribing opioids. The signatories believe that those guidelines are being misapplied in a way that keeps many patients in agony. Among policymakers, however, the focus is still on cracking down on prescriptions. Thirty-three states had imposed some type of limit on opioid prescriptions by last…
Risky Business – March 14, 2019 – Marketing to physicians is only one of the strategies employed by opioid manufacturers. Between 2012 and 2017, five opioid manufacturers gave nearly US$9 million to 14 patient advocacy groups and medical societies. Although this sum is a drop in the ocean for drug companies with billions of dollars in opioid revenues, these were substantial sums for the recipients. And the companies’ investments paid off. When the CDC issued its draft guidelines to limit opioid use in 2016, opposition was significantly higher among organizations that had received industry funding. If the opioid crisis has…
House is Not a Home – March 22, 2019 – After Williams, 54, revealed on-air Tuesday that she’s been living in a sober house as a result of her past addiction to cocaine, Kevin Hunter told Entertainment Tonight that his wife is “doing well.” … “We’re doing well as a family,” Hunter, 46, said in the interview. “We are moving forward with working on her sobriety and doing the work to help others, not just ourselves.”Though Hunter was quick to share that Williams is taking the necessary steps to heal, he admitted it’s not an overnight thing.“It is a family…
An Industry With No Defense – March 25, 2019 – The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office charged Jason Gerner, the cofounder of Liberation Way, with fraud, conspiracy and related offenses. Other high-level executives, including Branden Coluccio, the chief financial officer and co-owner; Domenick Braccia, the center’s medical director; and Michael Armstrong, the company’s chief networking officer, were also charged with fraud and conspiracy. Liberation Way, headquartered in Yardley and founded in 2015, had been under deep scrutiny for some time. Full Story @ Philly.com
Rigorous Honesty – March 19, 2019 – Williams said the only other people who knew that she was staying at a sober house were her husband and son. “This is my autobiographical story,” Williams said on camera to her studio audience. “I am living it. I’m telling you this.” Williams said that every day after filming her show in New York City she goes to various meetings with other individuals struggling with addiction around the tri-state area. She said she is then driven to the sober home by her 24-hour sober coach. Full Story @ NBCNews.com
Duh? – March 12, 2019 – States that prescribe more opioids per 100 people tend to have fewer people in their labor force. West Virginia, a state with one of the highest opioid prescription rates in the country in 2015, had the lowest labor force participation rate in 2018 at 54 percent. Alabama, the state with the highest prescription rate, has a participation rate of 57 percent — which is also one of the lowest. In turn, states like Minnesota and Colorado have two of the highest labor-force participation rates along with low opioid prescription levels. (See the chart above…
“It is better to give than to receive” -JC – March 3, 2019 – The National Institute on Drug Abuse says relapse rates among drug addicts or alcoholics are the same as the relapse rates for chronic medical illnesses. With that in mind, the Recovery Centers of America has unveiled a new program focused on inspiring hope and putting new energy into the lives of those in recovery. “An individual finds it very difficult to deal with emotion,” said Scott Weisenberger, Vice President of Clinical Services for RCA. “Because they’re having a bad day, go get high or drunk, ‘my…
It’s a Family Affair – February 27, 2019 – The presence of one or more family members using long-term opioids before a procedure was associated with a higher likelihood that adolescents prescribed opioids for the first time would do the same, according to the findings. The research, led by surgery and pediatric teams at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, appeared today in JAMA Surgery. “We know from previous research that adolescents and young adults undergoing dental and other common surgical procedures are at risk of persistent opioid use after their first opioid prescription,” says senior author Jennifer Waljee,…
Go Make a Movie – March 14, 2019 – Kaitlin said she graduated last year from Lycoming College and continues to work on her filming. She started the documentary in 2017 after discovering one of her best friends was struggling with addiction. “I had the equipment. I talked about it and then decided how great it would be to see the human side,” she added. In January Kaitlin was featured in the Sun-Gazette Showcase where she discussed how she filmed the 13 minute video locally. It is shown from three different perspectives and so far, the documentary has been shown…
Does what you fight get stronger? – March 14, 2019 – “The opioid crisis is a national emergency that calls for bold leadership and big ideas,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “We hope our work in places like Michigan and Pennsylvania spares more families the heartbreak of losing a loved one to opioid addiction or overdose.” In 2016, there were 1,762 opioid-related overdose deaths in Michigan and that number grew to 2,003 in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which ranks Michigan as the 13th state in the nation for opioid deaths. Drug overdoses from all drugs left…
VIDEO – March 14, 2019 – Hollywood actress Julia Roberts discusses her new film Ben Is Back and wants to remind audiences that addiction has a lot of layers and people can create change in legislation. Full Story @ BT.com
Not a Pretty Picture – March 16, 2019 – The 2017 toll was a record for opioid deaths in the city. Although overdose deaths may have dropped last year, Philadelphia is still grappling with how to tackle opioid use. City officials are trying to raise awareness of medication-assisted treatment for opioid use. The city’s attempt to establish the nation’s first supervised injection site faces opposition from the Justice Department. “As a citizen, I am deeply concerned that not enough is being done to help those who are suffering,” Stockbridge writes. “This exhibition is a call to action.” At its heart…
Keep Coming Back – March 15, 2019 – he Grammy-nominated singer, 26, would have celebrated seven years of sobriety on Friday but instead, she looked back on her relapse. In emotional Instagram posts, Lovato details her own “mistakes” while speaking out to those who are suffering from addiction. “Today I would’ve had 7 years sober,” she wrote to her Instagram story. “I don’t regret going out because I needed to make those mistakes but I must never forget that’s exactly what they were: mistakes.” Full Story @ ETCanada.com
Tetris Forever – MAR. 14, 2019 – “This isn’t just about Japan, it’s happening all over the world,” Higuchi said in a recent interview. “We deal with patients every day and see how gaming addiction is only getting worse. How can we ignore that?” Every Tuesday, the laid-back, softly spoken 74-year-old and his two physician colleagues hold sessions for patients whose obsession with games has led them to neglect real-life responsibilities, including family, friends, school, work, and even hygiene, sleeping and eating. The majority are teenage boys brought to the clinic by worried families, but there are also adult men…
The Water’s Fine! – March 15, 2019 – You’ll see Your Health Improve! When you’re wrapped up in the throes of your addiction, everything else goes to the wayside – food, sleep, self-care, everything. This is why so many addicts suffer from things like high blood pressure, cancer, and many other serious health ailments. Your addiction is damaging your body. Once you choose to live a sober lifestyle, you’ll stop putting a heavy strain on your body, which will also improve your overall health. Full Story @ ThriveGlobal.com
Better Living Through Technology – March 16, 2019 – A Jeep accident in Yemen at age 19 left him in a wheelchair and in such intense pain that he was rarely able to sleep, he recalls. Prescription drugs, even morphine, lost their effectiveness and the chronic pain from nerve damage only got worse, to the point that it threatened to kill him. It was a 1990’s movie — “Hudson Hawk” — that led Hanbury to develop a cure.“The film went from good and bad to good and bad the whole way through. As I was watching, I realized that had…
The Candidate I’d Most Like to Do a Bong Hit With – March 17, 2019 – Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey last month introduced the pointedly named Marijuana Justice Act, which would remove the drug from the federal list of controlled substances and expunge past convictions. “It’s not enough to legalize marijuana at the federal level — we should also help those who have suffered due to its prohibition,” said Mr. Booker. Legalization is most popular with young adults under 35, with nearly four out of five in favor…A study last year in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found…
Feelings Aren’t Facts, or Are They? – March 16, 2019 – With more than 47,000 Americans dying of opioid overdoses in 2017 and hundreds of thousands more addicted to them, it was recently reported that, for the first time, Americans were more likely to die of opioids than of car accidents. This has forced many to take a step back and ponder the very nature of pain, to understand how best to alleviate it. Decades of research suggests that opiates provide little to no benefit for chronic non-cancer pain. One recent randomized trial of people with chronic joint and back…
Nodding on the job? – March 13, 2019 – The 11 experts pressed the officials to declare fentanyl a national “public health emergency” that would put a laserlike focus on combating the emerging epidemic and warn the country about the threat, according to a copy of the letter. “The fentanyl crisis represents an extraordinary public health challenge — and requires an extraordinary public health response,” the experts wrote to six administration officials, including the nation’s “drug czar” and the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The decision was one in a series of missed opportunities, oversights and…
4/15’s a Bummer for 4/20 – March 17, 2019 – (T)hat language arguably covers organizations that advocate legalization of marijuana (or any other prohibited substance) or favor looser restrictions on certain prescription medications, both of which would improve “business conditions” for companies that sell those drugs. The exclusion also seems to encompass advocacy of less ambitious reforms, such as allowing state-licensed marijuana merchants to deduct business expenses on their federal income tax returns or changing the laws and regulations that discourage banks from serving such businesses. Full Story @ Reason.com
Singing a Sweet, Sweet Song – March 13, 2019 – Macklemore is set to become the latest Seattle musician honored by the Recording Academy for their addiction recovery work. On Tuesday, the academy announced that the homegrown rap star will receive the annual Stevie Ray Vaughan Award from its charity arm, MusiCares. Macklemore will be recognized during the MusiCares Concert for Recovery, which takes place May 16 in Los Angeles. The annual concert banquet benefits the charity aimed to help music industry professionals with health and wellness issues, including offering addiction recovery programs and providing emergency financial assistance in times…
Not Enough Play Time? – March 14, 2019 – Lead author Jean Twenge, a 47-year-old professor of psychology at San Diego State University, has spent much of her career studying the attitudes and beliefs of younger generations. Most recently, in 2017, Twenge published a pop-science book laying out her central argument that teens and young adults coming of age are especially lonely and disconnected, thanks in part to the growing abundance of social media and devices like smartphones. Her book is titled iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood……