MEDIA: Reality Fiction TV – Jan. 5, 2019 – Last week’s episode of ‘Dirty John’ gave us the rude shock of what was in store for Debra Newell after she let John back into the penthouse and how she finally realized that there was nothing true about her husband. Moreover, she also finally began to gauge the extent to which his parasitic nature ran after he started questioning her about spending her own money. This man thought that everything he touched in the world was his — irrespective of what the reality of the situation was. The episode aptly titled,…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Suffer the Little Children – December 30, 2018 – One of the main issues is that when adults store or use opioids in the home, it has a ripple effect on everyone, including teens and children who can misuse or divert the drugs to other persons. Data revealed that in teens aged 15-19, heroin was the cause for 23% of deaths. From 1999-2016, the rate of fatal heroin overdoses soared by 404%, while the rate of deaths from prescription opioids in this demographic increased by 94%. Full Story @ Forbes.com
Where there’s smoke… – Jan. 5, 2019 – Nationwide, the number of high school students who use e-cigarette or other vaping devices jumped 78 percent from late 2017 to November 2018, a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed. In Wisconsin, e-cigarette use among high school students increased 154 percent between 2014 and 2018, the state Department of Health Services said in its advisory issued this week. Some “electronic nicotine delivery systems” or ENDS offer candy like flavors. They may look like pens or USB flash drives and, because they don’t require combustion and don’t produce…
The Moth Podcast – Jan. 3, 2019 – You never know who is willing to offer a helping hand – Auburn Sandstrom learned this when she was a young mother neck-deep in the throes of drug addiction. Yet despite struggling with abuse and poverty, she found help in an unlikely place after she dialed a phone number that was written on a slip of paper – and that phone call ended up becoming a pivotal moment in her life. Full Story @ GoodNewsNetwork.org
God Shot – January 6, 2019 – He recognized that many of those whom he approached felt beaten down, worthless. Forging a personal connection with God helped change that, filling a void for many of the people he approached. “We wanted to create an environment where people would walk in and they would feel welcome and loved,” said Bonney, who attends a nondenominational church. “We’re a faith-based approach. We don’t beat anyone up with the Bible, but we’re not afraid to have spiritual discussions … We just don’t shy away from talking about the things that we believe can actually…
Out of Options – January 2, 2019 – The early trauma Daniel experienced very likely affected his brain development, doctors say. And his PTSD and severe anxiety disorder manifested in violent episodes. “He held knives to people’s throats,” Toni says. “He tried putting his fingers and his tongue in the light sockets. He broke almost every door in the house.” Despite Toni and Jim’s efforts to help their son with therapy and medication, the violence escalated, and Daniel was repeatedly hospitalized. Full Story @ NPR.org
The Truth Can Set You Free – Jan. 5, 2019 – Jack, who identifies as non-binary, went on to describe how her relationship with alcohol began at age 14. However, the relationship didn’t turn ‘problematic’ until 2014. ‘I had my first book out, my second on the way, and had been uncomfortably catapulted into the public eye,’ she wrote in the Guardian article. Full Story @ Metro.co.uk
Reading to Recover – January 1, 2019 – The Sober Revolution addresses different forms of problematic drinking, their causes and effects and gives practical advice for anyone looking to start their sobriety journey. The pair liken their respective troubled drinking histories to emotionally abusive relationships – something I instantly recognized. I hadn’t considered before that alcohol was a lover I kept returning to who only made me feel bad about myself. “In quitting alcohol, you are not denying yourself anything – you are giving yourself the gift of a life lived in the real world.” Full Story @ Refinery29.com
Will to Live – January 6, 2019 – When the Chris and Rob were just 14-years-old they started taking speed and LSD, just two years later the pair had moved on to cocaine and ecstasy. When Chris and Rob were 42, the pair attended a party where Rob took ecstasy, which shut down his organs and killed him. Chris said the pair had tried most drugs when they were younger and the more they tried the more they wanted. Full Story @ DailyMail.co.uk
…and walking the walk – JANUARY 6, 2019 – Critics might accuse Hampton of hyperbole, but on these subjects he speaks with authority. In American Fix, Hampton writes with equal candor about his own experiences with addiction and recovery and the criminal failings of the treatment industry. Hampton didn’t spend his time on heroin under a bridge. As a political staffer in Washington, DC, he stood alongside some of the most powerful people in the United States. The book recounts a 2012 campaign fundraiser for Barack Obama where Hampton shook hands with the president and conversed with him for several…
No Drugs Means No Drugs – Jan. 5, 2019 – Speaking on the topic of misperceptions about the organization he’s encountered over the past 30 years, Cornell said it’s about educating people about what the organization does. It’s “always about teaching people that what we’re about when we host the meeting is hosting a safe place so people can stay alive,” he said. He said that a friend of his who is a funeral director said almost 30 percent of the people he’s burying are young men due to opioids, and the most important thing is to keep people alive…
Playing whack-a-mole with death – January 4, 2019 – The development is, in part, an outgrowth of the crackdown on opioids in the U.S., and the result of cartels finding other drugs. The 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), released last fall, noted the rise of more potent forms of meth and cocaine in the United States. Particularly worrisome in recent years has been the mixture in many overdose cases of cocaine and illicit fentanyl, authorities say. The same is happening with meth … {and} Cocaine overdose deaths rose to about 14,500 in 2017, twice what they were in 2015.…
God is the Bottom Line – Jan. 1, 2019 – What the prosecutors alleged was that these three top executives knew almost immediately after OxyContin appeared in the market, which was 1996, that it was being diverted to the street, that it was a drug of abuse, and that they had gotten consistent reports, reports that the prosecutors believe should have been the basis for a public alert, a public warning. Full Story @ PBS.org
What history can teach us, it’s not the same – January 3, 2019 – “As the HIV/AIDS epidemic has taught us, the existence of effective medical treatment does not mean that people who need treatment can and will obtain it,” says Caroline Parker, PhD candidate in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences. … the benefits of scientific progress have been unequally distributed, with growing ethnic and sexuality-related disparities. This failure of equity should draw our attention to the importance of social factors in shaping who benefits from effective biomedical therapies.” Over 2 million Americans had an opioid use disorder in 2016.…
NO JUSTICE – NO PEACE – Jan. 5, 2019 – The broken entity that is child welfare system and the racism that is so embedded in this society had prominent roles in how my child welfare case played out. Nevertheless, the ultimate responsibility of not having raised my children rests with me. This country’s war on drugs was intended to be a system of social control. Yet the war on drugs has instead become a system of social chaos. American citizens, including drug users, have rights. My rights were violated numerous times during my child welfare case, and my family…
Become a Citizen Advocate – Thursday, January 24, 2019, 1:00 – 5:00pm The Recovery Ambassador workshop prepares individuals to become citizen advocates in the grassroots recovery advocacy movement Facilitators: Hannah Rose, Director of Training & Technical Assistance, National Recovery Institute at Faces & Voices of Recovery; Donald McDonald, National Field Director, Faces & Voices of Recovery – Sheraton Gateway Hotel, 6101 West Century Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045 Full Story @ FacesAndVoicesofRecovery.org
It’s Hip to Be Dry – January 3, 2019 – With Dry January ensnaring us, we’ve created the perfect soundtrack. (T)here’s a host of musical treats to buoy your spirits. From the vegan straight edge hardcore of Earth Crisis…, to big hitters like Kendrick Lamar and Pink – who implores in her song, Sober, “I don’t wanna be there callin’/4 o’clock in the morning”. Below we delve in the deep pool of sobriety bangers. Full Story @ NME.com
Freedom is Stardom – December 21, 2018 – I relayed that story Friday to Raiders tight end Darren Waller, who grew quiet for a second, then said, “Wow. That’s powerful.” Waller, whose own life has included a cycle of drugs and alcohol starting at age 16, can relate. “I like myself now, and that’s probably the most important part if it, just acceptance,” Waller said. “With who I am and what I brought to the table before, it was hard to do that. I was beating myself up in the form of drugs and alcohol. Liking myself is a huge…
Healthy Viewing – December 26, 2018 – There is still a stigma when it comes to talking about mental health issues, mainly because many people are misinformed, confused, or too embarrassed to talk about their struggles. And while there are still many hurdles to proper discussions, there are plenty of documentaries available that shine light on various mental health concerns in an array of communities. Covering fields including bipolar disorder, anorexia, and depression…these 13 documentaries {about mental health} are required viewing. Full Story @ Bustle.com
Peaking Johns – DECEMBER 22, 2018 – Obviously some sex addicts cheat on their partners, and their inability to control their sexual urges can destroy their relationships. But recent research suggests a lot of sex addiction is complex and exists on a spectrum, with many sufferers acting out their desires solely with their partners, while some feel the need to cheat, and others are plagued by intrusive sexual thoughts. And just like drug use, the more sex you have, the more slavishly addled you are likely to become by your need for sexual activity. A Cambridge University study found that…
Evidenced Based Success – Dec. 22, 2018 – It wasn’t easy, of course. “Easy” has never been said about addiction. But in the almost six years since, Korhonen has gotten clean, gotten work, gotten a network of support. One of his proudest achievements: paying to fix his mother’s car using money that came from his two jobs, not from selling cocaine. “I had to be the one to straighten my life out,” said Korhonen, 49. “I had to do it for my family, do it for me.” Ashley Morissette was arrested for drug trafficking five years ago on New Year’s…
Don’t Freak Out – December 26, 2018 – People who score high on neuroticism are easily worried and are more likely to experience negative feelings such as fear, anger, frustration, jealousy, guilt, and loneliness. They tend to interpret common situations as threatening, or to feel that small challenges are hopelessly difficult. Now Eivind Ystrøm, a professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo and his colleagues say that this trait best defines the risk of developing psychiatric problems. Ystrøm said. “People with mental illnesses systematically have a different personality than healthy people.” Full Story @ ScienceNordic.com
Game Over – December 26, 2018 – For them, tech gets in the way of daily functioning and self-care. We’re talking flunk-your-classes, can’t-find-a-job, live-in-a-dark-hole kinds of problems, with depression, anxiety and sometimes suicidal thoughts part of the mix. “The drugs of old are repackaged. We have a new foe”, Cosette Rae says … A former developer in the tech world, she heads a Seattle area rehab center called reSTART Life, one of the few residential programs in the nation specializing in tech addiction. Full Story @ WashingtonPost.com
Burning Down the Horse – Dec. 25, 2018 – Fire stations make the perfect centers for this program because they are open 24/7, staffed by trained EMTs, and aren’t associated with law enforcement, said Providence Fire Capt. Zachariah Kenyon, who launched the city’s Safe Stations program. “The beauty of the program is really you’re just providing access at any point in time, day or night, to treatment and recovery coaches … because a lot of times when people are ready, they have no idea where to go,” he said. “This way, somebody has a known spot that they can just…
American Nightmare – Dec. 26, 2018 – When the Justice Department in 2007 settled its criminal case against the maker of OxyContin, a high-powered painkiller, federal officials claimed a “victory” that would deter other companies from illegally marketing opioids. But now we know thanks to a once-secret Justice Department report that the case’s real winner was OxyContin’s producer, Purdue Pharma, and its billionaire owners, the Sackler family. According to the report, prosecutors wanted to charge three top Purdue Pharma executives with covering up evidence of OxyContin’s early abuse. But senior Justice Department officials rejected the recommendation, settled the case for…
SPEED KILLS – Dec. 28, 2018 – As an addiction medicine physician, I treat patients with all types of substance use disorders (SUDs): alcohol, opioids, marijuana, cocaine, tobacco, etc. From 1999 to 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that over 700,000 people died from a drug overdose; the vast majority associated with an opioid such as heroin or illicitly-manufactured fentanyl. Addiction is clearly a public health problem that is not fading away. Now, we are seeing a rise in the use of stimulants. From 2011 to 2016, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths involving methamphetamine…
Time to Live – DEC. 28.18 – “Imagine having a friend who is always watching for signs of overdose; someone who understands your usage pattern and knows when to contact [someone] for help and make sure you get help,” says Rashmi Kalkunte, a software engineering student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “That’s what the HopeBand is designed to do.” The team has yet been unable to test the device in real-world situations, but says lab-based trials on simulated inputs paint a positive picture for its ultimate application — and that in the future it hopes to incorporate features that…
Slow and Steady Wins the Race – December 26, 2018 – University of Pennsylvania neuroscientist Amber Alhadeff put it well in a recent interview: “There are billions of neurons in the brain, and we can change behavior with only a few hundred neurons. In other words, it only takes a small change in neural activity to influence behavior.” With that in mind, our journalists have been reviewing the year in health news to come up with tips that could help with a shift toward healthier behaviors. It may be tempting for devoted resolvers to incorporate a lot of changes at…
Skipping Down Memory Lane – December 26, 2018 – You may want to think twice about doing that because research has found that nostalgia can be good for your health and emotional well-being. Strolling down a pleasant memory lane can improve your mood and stimulate inspiration and motivation, research has found. Nostalgia can provide you with a window into your authentic self, according to a series of studies published in a 2015 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and it can give you a greater sense of meaning in your life. “With nostalgia, stress can be met with…
Hope for the Future – December 16, 2018 – “I have hope for my children and their future. I will do whatever it takes to help my children live a better life.” Shannon Marie Johnson is a mother of four who lives in East Liverpool. She says she has lost a lot of good friends and acquaintances to heroin. She says talking to her kids about these deaths has been one of the hardest things she has ever had to do. But she says, she still has optimism about the future of the town. Full Story @ NPR.org