Only a Straw Away? – Sept. 17, 2018 – A radical gene therapy for drug addiction has been shown to dampen down cravings for cocaine and protect against overdoses of the substance that would normally be lethal. The therapy uses implants of stem cells which have been genetically engineered to release a powerful enzyme that removes the class A drug from the bloodstream. Tests in the lab showed that mice fitted with the implants lost their appetite for cocaine and survived massive overdoses of the drug that killed 100% of untreated animals. The work has raised hopes for a long…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Addicts or Rapists? – September 21, 2018 – “We’re expanding our inquiries to several states and as well as other parts of California,” he said. “We now believe that Robicheaux and Riley not only met their prey in person at bars and restaurants, but Robicheaux may have targeted victims through dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble.” Rackauckas also announced that there’s a new allegation that Robiccheaux assaulted a woman 20 years ago, when Robicheaux was only 18. One woman described the couple as a “Bonnie and Clyde” team who drugged and forced her into sexual acts. Full Story @…
Not going with the flow – Sept. 22, 2018 – The 30-year-old had come from Louisiana for a contract job fixing power lines damaged by Hurricane Florence. After 16-hour days in the elements, he said he’d been soaking wet, from rain or sweat or both, from the day he arrived in North Carolina. But what really worried him was how far he was from the closest opioid addiction clinic that would treat him – the Carolina Treatment Center of Fayetteville – after a road collapse blew out the tires of his service truck. Without the methadone he takes twice a…
Passion for Compassion – SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 – “There’s three times that much still in there,” says the Gig Harbor woman, who used to be a bank branch manager. She has a hereditary degenerative condition where the bones in her spine are crumbling away and doctors built a metal cage around her spine. Higginbotham says her pain is nearly constant. And while her doctor has tapered down her meds to 40 percent of where they were, she’s afraid new state regulations that might come in the next year will make her pain meds to be tapered off even more. “A…
We All Should Be – Sept. 21, 2018 – Williams has been giving back through the Hunter Foundation, created with husband Kevin Hunter, since 2014. The two recently added a new anti-drug initiative, BeHere.org. Their goal is to raise $10 million in five years to fund such things as drug treatment facilities and research, the latter focused on K2. “It’s very pretty packaging,” Williams told The Associated Press recently of the popular and potentially deadly synthetic marijuana. “It looks like a pack of Pop Rocks. The kids are smoking it. Adults smoke it. It’s not just a city thing. It’s…
Garbage In, Garbage Out – Sept. 21, 2018 – A Very Sweet Video about Poison food in the USA. Full Story @ Chron.com
IQs are UP … In Smoke – September 17, 2018 – Vaping is generally considered less dangerous than smoking, because burning tobacco or marijuana generates chemicals that are harmful to lungs. But there is little research on e-cigarettes’ long-term effects, including whether they help smokers quit. The rise in teenagers using e-cigarettes has alarmed health officials who worry kids will get addicted to nicotine, a stimulant, and be more likely to try cigarettes. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration gave the five largest e-cigarette makers 60 days to produce plans to stop underage use of their products. Nearly 9…
WHO’s Next? – Sept. 22, 2018 – CNN wrote that the survey estimated 2.3 billion people across the planet consume alcohol, of whom some 237 million men and 46 million women have some type of disorder with a causal link to alcohol. The study also found that spirits constitute the highest percentage of alcohol consumed (45 percent), with beer (34 percent) and wine (12 percent) falling behind. In the four years since the previous edition of the study, however, the proportion of deaths linked to alcohol dropped slightly from 5.9 percent. “In the last decade or so, there has been…
Helping kids cope … in school! – Sept. 23, 2018 – The family lives on Cape Cod, where a growing number of schools are hiring treatment counselors to work with teachers and students whose families are battling addiction. The counselors work at the schools, but are employed by Gosnald, the largest provider of addiction services on the Cape. Cayenne Kelly is a counselor who works for Gosnald. She is based at Lawrence Middle School in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where she sees Maddy Nadeau at least once a week. She has increased the number of days she works at the school because…
De-Evolution? – September 22, 2018 – A study from University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health shows drug overdose deaths have steadily increased over the past four decades, years before prescription opioids first flooded the streets. Dr. Donald Burke, the graduate school’s dean and the paper’s senior author, said drug overdose deaths “have been on an exponential growth curve” that began years before the rise in opioid prescriptions seen in the mid-1990s. “What’s surprising about this is that every point fits on the curve in a regular pattern,” Burke said. “The growth is approximately 8 percent every year, and it’s…
The Sun Also Rises – Sept. 20, 2018 – We’ve broken this 30-minute routine into two, five- and 10-minute intervals. Here’s what to do, starting with the moment you open your eyes to get your day on the best possible track. You can do this all before a workout, shower and breakfast, or build these activities around those essentials. FIRST TWO MINUTES: POSITIVE THOUGHTS AND NO PHONE Many of us (myself included) use our phones as our alarms. That’s fine — so long as you can resist the urge to read any missed messages or emails once you’re awake. If…
MEDIA: Film Preview – September 14, 2018 – The screenplay was written by Sam Taylor-Johnson and her real-life husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who stars as James in the film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. To prepare for the role of the drug-addled scribe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson had to lose a significant amount of weight and “spent a lot of time around many different addicts in different realms, whether it be alcohol or drugs, and looked them in the eyes and saw a sadness and that depth of darkness … it’s not an easy journey to play,”…
Celebration of Life – September 11, 2018 – “When you’re in a different place every day, there’s this kind of madness that sets in. It’s easy to get away with getting high, because everybody’s drinking on the road,” Sia (born Sia Furler) told the New York Times in 2014. “None of my friends thought I was an alcoholic, and neither did I.” … “I got seriously addicted to Vicodin and oxycodone, and I was always a drinker but I didn’t know I was an alcoholic,” the star — who split from husband Erik Anders Lang in 2016 — said. “I…
No Hope in Sight – September 11, 2018- A record number of people died in Delaware from suspected overdoses in August, according to reports from the Delaware Division of Forensic Science. The monthly total of 39 deaths was the highest since the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) began tracking deaths from suspected overdoses in late 2013. The previous high monthly total was 27 deaths, which occurred in April 2018. “It is heartbreaking and alarming to see so many lives lost to suspected overdoses,” said DHSS Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker, a board-certified family physician. “We suspect that many…
Life Saves Life – September 11, 2018 – But the 32-year-old pushed on and has been sober now for nearly two years. She shared her harrowing story Thursday night at an opioid forum in Chili. Families who attended tell News10NBC these types of stories are why they come, hoping to learn more about the epidemic plaguing families. “I have two grandsons that are teenagers and it scares me to death to know all of this is going on in the community,” said grandmother and Gates resident Rose Martin. So far this year, nearly 800 people have overdosed and more than…
Smoked Out – Sept. 12, 2018 – The order was part of a sweeping action that targeted both makers and sellers of e-cigarettes. The agency said it was sending warning letters to 1,100 retailers — including 7-Eleven stores, Walgreens, Circle K convenience shops and Shell gas stations — and issued another 131 fines, for selling e-cigarettes to minors. In addition, the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a briefing that the agency would look closely at the manufacturers’ own internet storefronts. He flagged what he called “straw purchases” — bulk orders of the devices, which buyers in turn used…
Nonsense or Bullshit – September 12, 2018 – “I would say, like, ‘I’m Cristina. I’m on Suboxone; I’m just looking for an open bed,’ “ she says. “And they’re like, ‘We don’t take people on Suboxone.’ And they’d just hang up on me.” Rivell’s experience is not unique. And as many doctors and government agencies now consider these medical treatments part of the standard of care for opioid addiction, some are concerned that recovery houses with rigid rules prohibiting them are pushing more users into homelessness. After Rivell called around for a few days, she began to worry that would…
Tough Adversaries – Sept. 15, 2018 – “Large amounts of dangerous drugs, such as fentanyl, are always charged as trafficking by state and federal prosecutors in Ohio,” said Dennis Willard, a Yes on Issue 1 spokesperson. “Law enforcement arrest them for trafficking, prosecutors charge them with trafficking and courts convict them of trafficking, and they go to prison for trafficking.” Full Story @ StarBeacon.com
Walking the Walk – Sept. 13, 2018 – That addiction, however, reached its nadir when Ryan overdosed behind the wheel and nearly left four people dead. Sent to prison, he began to seek answers — and sobriety. It’s a story that encompasses his own son’s overdose death — caused, in part, by Ryan’s addiction and low points that included the two of them, father and son, doing heroin together. Now, Ryan seeks to pull others away from addiction, offering hope amidst the darkness and a hand to those nearing their own tragedies. “Systems of Care wants to raise awareness of…
Dialing for Deliverance – Sept. 13, 2018 – Heroin is the devil,” said Alicia Burdick. “It eats away at your soul. It makes you somebody that you would never dream of becoming. It literally steals your life from you.” … “I just knew there were other moms out there who felt like I did, and I wanted them to know they’re not alone,” Jaskulski said. “They’re not a bad parent. It’s not their fault. There is hope and help.” Jaskulski started working with the Addiction Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. – meeting with government leaders and helping get the organization’s…
Now You Tell Me – Sept. 16, 2018 – Millions of healthy people take small doses of aspirin regularly in the belief that the drug will prevent heart attacks and strokes. But when researchers looked at more than 19,000 people in Australia and the United States over nearly five years, they found it wasn’t so. There is good evidence that taking aspirin can help people with known cardiovascular problems. But it had been unclear whether healthy people older than 70 would derive the same benefit. Full Story @ WashingtonPost.com
Working Together Together – Sept. 12, 2018 – After deciding she wanted to quit, Weisz’s sister put her in touch with Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith. Sheriff Smith says he realizes if addicts get the help they need, crime will go down, so he’s offering to help anyone come clean. “I knew about A.J.’s program, come to him, he had an open door policy,” said Weisz’s sister, Catherine Coulter. Sheriff Smith is trying to change the perception that law enforcement only wants to put drug abusers behind bars. He wants people to know they want to help. Full Story @ WJHG.com
Fentanyl – Front and Center – Sept. 13, 2018 – In the case at the Bath, N.Y., VA Medical Center’s treatment program, Matthew Helmer, 34, of Hyde Park, N.Y., a resident in drug treatment, was charged in October 2017 with felony counts of drug possession by federal prosecutors, who alleged that he was a “runner” for other veterans in the program, the local Star-Gazette newspaper reported. In court documents, a VA investigator said Helmer told him that “he knew that [patients] overdosed and were currently in the hospital,” but was unaware of how they acquired the synthetic opioid fentanyl, the…
Taking it to the streets – September 14, 2018 – “Sometimes it’s accepted in the musical community, but for me, I could not accept it in my core value,” Smith told Global News Radio 980 CFPL. “I felt like I was not being the person that I was born to be. I felt that my purpose was being muted by using substances.” … “I had to seek help, and I’m now in recovery, and moving towards a better life.” Smith, who also performed with her bandmates at the breakfast, said the hardest thing to do on her road to recovery…
Do they want us dead? – Sept, 17, 2018 – Because of its incompetence, the opioid crisis has gone from bad to worse. The solution: overhauling the agency, or even getting rid of it entirely. The problem begins with poor design. A brainchild of Richard Nixon’s “war on drugs,” the agency sought to cut off supplies of drugs on the black market, here and abroad. But in passing the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, Congress also gave the agency broad authority over how prescription opioids and other controlled substances were classified, produced and distributed. The agency was supposed to curb…
Social Networking – September 13, 2018 – Instagram says people are using the platform’s hashtags to find addiction support and communities as well as illegal drugs. So, in response, the company is rolling out a pop-up today that’ll provide users with drug addiction resources if they search certain hashtags, like “opioid.” The user can then opt to get support resources that Instagram developed with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, and the Partnership for Drug Free Kids. There will also be advice for family and friends of people with substance…
OxyMoron – September 11, 2018 – As the opioid crisis continues to rage in the US, pharmaceutical manufacturers, activist groups, and state and local governments are engaged in an increasingly heated battle over who bears responsibility for the deadly epidemic and how best to treat it. On Monday, in response to recent news that Richard Sackler, whose family owns Purdue Pharma, had been part of a patent of an updated anti-opioid treatment medication earlier this year, photographer and opioid crisis activist Nan Goldin shared a scathing statement with artnet News, co-written with addiction activist and author Ryan Hampton and activist…
Listen and Learn – September 25, 2018 – Renowned author Johann Hari joins Jack Tame in the Newstalk ZB studio talking about his journey to understand drug addiction and how society may be able to deal with it more effectively. Full Story @ NewsTalkZB.co.nz
MEDIA: Book Release – Sept. 14, 2018 – A life-long spiritual walk as a friend of Bill W.” is a tribute to the author’s formative years, being around her grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, mom and dad, and all her loving animals. She has Native roots in Canada with the Blood tribe, and in Montana with the Blackfeet tribe. All of which contribute to the woman she is. She attributes the beginnings of her walk to being led to the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous on her most vulnerable and most teachable day, that being the day she began to hear for…
Bad Blow – Sept. 14, 2018 – Officials would not say when or where the fentanyl-laced drugs were sold or bought. Authorities are still investigating. But in giving the warning, District Attorney Summer Stephan said officials are “seeing a a dangerous trend of drug dealers and cartels cutting various drugs with fentanyl.” … “The public needs to be aware of the danger of using any controlled substance, but specifically quantities of cocaine that are currently on the street in San Diego that may be laced with fentanyl,” Stephan said. The warning issued Friday came from the District Attorney’s Office, the…