One Movie Star at a Time – July 9, 2018 – “It was awful, terrible,” he added. “It owned me.” Pegg, who is also known for his cult zombie film “Shaun of the Dead,” said his “crisis years” were marked by a dependence on alcohol to numb feelings of sadness. “I would feel like – I’m in a film with Tom Cruise, I’ve got the part of Scotty in “Star Trek.” This should be making me feel happy,” he said. “But it wasn’t.” Pegg said rehab and seeking help from Alcoholics Anonymous helped him get on the path toward health.…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Sovereign Health Shuts California Facilities – July 11, 2018 – One of the bigger addiction treatment providers in Southern California, Sovereign Health, is closing its doors amid financial difficulties and an ongoing investigation following allegations of insurance fraud. In a July 5 letter to employees Sovereign Chief Executive Tonmoy Sharma wrote, “While we attempted to secure funding to keep the business operating, we’ve been unsuccessful … At this point given the lack of resources to make payroll over the extended period, I cannot in good conscience, ask you to continue working for no pay.” Sharma could not be reached for…
MEDIA: Art Book Recommendation – His images are unsympathetic, and communicate the inner emotional trauma of the homeless, the addicted, and of the lonely, as well as pride and the strength of human bonding experienced by addicts in recovery. By revealing the essence of his subjects, the works magnify with often unsettling clarity the pain of discovery, joy of friendships born of pain, or turmoil of new journeys that resound within each person. Through these poignant images he challenges the viewer to look within ones own heart, to question, affirm, accept, or reject, leaving one with valuable insights into our…
You think? – July 6, 2018 – People addicted to prescription opioids or heroin are far more likely to have run-ins with the law than those who don’t use opioids, according to a new study published Friday in JAMA Network Open. The study provides the first nationwide estimate for the number of people using opioids who end up in the American criminal justice system. The results suggest a need to engage law enforcement officials and corrections systems to tackle the opioid epidemic. The connection between the criminal justice system and substance abuse is well-known. About 65 percent of people who…
Giving Birth to Truth – May 9, 2018 – The other day I caught the headline about a class-action against 20 pharmaceutical companies. Nothing earth shaking there. These lawsuits are well-publicized. What caught my eye was the first nine words of the story. Words that when I see them used in the media, make me cringe not only for the child, but because it’s is not an accurate description of what is taking place. It’s flat-out false. Full Story @ AboveTheLaw.com
Not in D.C. – July 6, 2018 – The use of drugs by people hoping to boost mental performance is rising worldwide, finds the largest ever study of the trend. In a survey of tens of thousands of people, 14% reported using stimulants at least once in the preceding 12 months in 2017, up from 5% in 2015. The non-medical use of substances—often dubbed smart drugs—to increase memory or concentration is known as pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE), and it rose in all 15 nations included in the survey. The study looked at prescription medications such as Adderall and Ritalin—prescribed medically…
Beverage of the Gods – July 3, 2018 – • In a study of around half-a-million British adults, coffee drinkers were found to have a slightly lower risk of death over a 10-year follow-up period than non-coffee drinkers. • The apparent longevity boost comes as yet another piece of good news for coffee lovers, with health benefits recorded in drinkers of instant, ground and decaffeinated coffee. • Late last year, researchers at the University of Southampton in the U.K. found people who drink three or four cups of coffee every day could significantly reduce their chances of early death. Full…
Men at Work – July 6, 2018 – A lawsuit filed on behalf of Tennessee taxpayers against Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma in May reveals company records that lay bare how a giant of Big Pharma intentionally fueled the opioid epidemic to snare profits. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III filed in Knox County Circuit Court in May a lawsuit against the drug-maker under seal. Purdue fought to keep it that way – until attorney Rick Hollow intervened on behalf of the News Sentinel and the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. Full Story @ KnoxNews.com
Never Too Early to Learn – July 7, 2018 – A new state law is taking effect in New York state that will require schools to teach mental health to students in elementary, middle and high school. The measure was passed and signed into law in 2016. It requires schools to include teaching about mental health in traditional physical education and health classes. It takes effect on Sunday… Full Story @ CNYCentral.com
Kat Woman – July 9, 2018 – Vegan tattoo artist and make-up entrepreneur Kat Von D is celebrating 11 years of sobriety. The pregnant star – who recently married husband Leafar Seyer in a lavish ceremony – took to Instagram yesterday to mark the milestone. Speaking two years ago about her former addictions, she said: “ I was using drinking and drugs as a safety blanket, as a way to ignore bigger issues. It was like putting a band-aid on an untreated wound.” Full Story @ PlantBasedNews.com
Weeding Out the Addicts – July 9, 2018 – For decades, young people in California have had almost unlimited access to marijuana but virtually no access to affordable drug treatment. When voters legalized recreational pot in 2016, they also provided the resources for California to create an effective system of youth drug prevention and treatment. That’s why the California Society of Addiction Medicine is sponsoring Senate Bill 275 to ensure that hundreds of millions of dollars in state money delivers quality services … That’s why as a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission that helped shape Proposition 64 and now…
Is it a Rehab or Cop Scandal? – July 3, 2018 – McWain, 31, of Woodstown, was charged last November with official misconduct, tampering with evidence and computer crime, after a six-month probe turned up evidence of alleged wrongdoing. The case involves four arrests made in 2016 and 2017. The 11-count indictment describes a December 2016 arrest in which McWain allegedly referred the man he nabbed to a drug rehab center in California in which McWain had a financial interest. He agreed to dismiss charges against this man if he attended the program, then submitted the man’s personal information to…
Recovery is Possible! – July 6, 2018 – The words that saved Crystal Champ’s life were delivered like a spear into the heart. She had just arrived at a drug treatment facility in Central Florida in December, and a therapist looked in her eyes and said, “This is life or death.” … “That really like hit me hard,” Champ said. “My therapist wouldn’t work with me if I wasn’t going to take it seriously.” The message worked. Champ has been sober for nearly seven months and has escaped a life of drug addiction and homelessness. Full Story @ MyFox8.com
Are We Not Men? – July 6, 2018 – There are a ton of negative stereotypes and stigmas attached to opioid addiction, but Netflix’s new documentary Recovery Boys brings a humanizing perspective to the nationwide epidemic. It follows the journey of four men as they recover from addiction at Dr. Kevin Blankenship’s residential substance abuse center, Jacob’s Ladder. The rehab facility is not what you would expect, which makes you wonder, who is Dr. Kevin Blankenship, and how did his unconventional recovery center come to be? Full Story @ Romper.com
Who’s Is She Again? – July 2, 2018 – A milestone worth commemorating! Luann de Lesseps looked happy and healthy while celebrating six months of sobriety alongside her ex-husband Count Alexandre de Lesseps and their children, Noel and Victoria. Celebrities Who Have Been to Rehab “Greatest reunion ever! Wonderful to spend the weekend with the kids and The Count,” the Real Housewives of New York star, 53, captioned a photo of herself and the aristocrat, 69, soaking up the sun in Sag Harbor, New York, on Monday, July 2. Full Story @ USMagazine.com
One Bourbon, One Shot and One Arrest – July 6, 2018 – A program that allows patients to drink while in alcohol addiction recovery seems counterintuitive, but a Vancouver-based clinic believes it’s an effective alternative to abstinence. Erica Natividad has more on how it all works. Full Story @ Winnipeg.CityNews.ca
England Swings Like An Addict Do – July 6, 2018 – Sex addiction is a mental illness, the World Health Organisation says in a landmark move that could mean the 2 to 4 per cent of the UK population suffering from it getting help on the NHS. Full Story @ TheSun.co..uk
Jury Pampering – July 2, 2018 – Oakland Park doctor Andres Mencia, accused of prescribing 1,200 opioid doses a day while running a pill mill, beat nine of 10 drugs and fraud charges in federal court on Friday. But Mencia likely will still see federal prison time and face further discipline from the Florida Department of Health, which already wants to discipline him for another matter. Possession might be nine-tenths of the law with hard goods, but federal prosecutors’ possession of guilty pleas by Adult & Geriatric Institute of Florida staffers was good for a guilty verdict on only one…
Drugs Saves/Takes Lives – July 3, 2018 – Even asking how best to wean drug abusers off opioids can raise hackles. Addiction specialists have straddled a philosophical divide over the use of pharmaceuticals in the process. But the side advocating against medication assisted treatment is shrinking in Tennessee and nationwide. One line of thinking is that freedom from all drugs is the only real recovery. So it’s been difficult for those with that mindset to embrace special opioids that tame the cravings and ward off the misery of withdrawal sickness. “Actually it’s in my pocket,” says Chris Dummer, a manager…
Law and Disorder – July 6, 2018 – Senator Marco Rubio posted on Twitter how he hopes a bill he’s sponsoring will put an end to fraud in the residential drug treatment industry. He and Senator Bill Nelson are jointly sponsoring the “Sober Home Fraud Detection Act”, allowing the federal government to regulate residential drug treatment for the first time. The ABC Action News I-Team has spent months looking into how the serious problem is affecting Florida, from more crimes in neighborhoods to rising health insurance rates. The problem of insurance fraud and patient abuse is so bad in the…
Back in the Saddle – July 8, 2018 – “I CAN’T BELIEVE I just ran a supreme time!” my niece, Brooke Stromberg, shouted out with joy upon completing the figure eight race at a recent Patterned Speed Horse Association show. This was also her first time competing on a borrowed horse named Sunny. “This horse is so fast, I have a hard time keeping up with her,” she said with a broad smile. Riding looks so effortless for Stromberg, 26. She recently moved back to Sequim after spending much of the past several years living in Vancouver, Wash. Full Story…
Sovereign Health Abandons Illinois Town – July 6, 2018 – North of Murphysboro, Illinois sits a large, vacant facility on 14th Street that used to be known as Jackson County Rehab & Care Center or a nursing home for decades. According to Murpysboro Mayor Will Stephens, in 2015, Sovereign Health Group bought the building from Jackson County for $365,000 to turn it into a drug and rehabilitation facility. However, today, Mayor Stephens questions the legitimacy of the business. Full Story @ KFVS12.com
Whatever It Takes – July 7, 2018 – A tortoiseshell kitten named Zoe is more than a pet for Cheri Mueller and Chris Gunter. She’s a symbol of the couple’s ongoing recovery from opioid addiction. “They told us we had to have an animal and a plant and we’d be doing good in our sobriety if they were still alive after a year,” Mueller said. It’s working so far for both Zoe and her owners, who found her as a stray in the parking lot of the Savannah Treatment Center, a methadone clinic off Chatham Parkway. It was an early…
Hope is in the Air – July 6, 2018 – As the opioid epidemic continues to rage across the United States, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office is embracing two new local statistics as evidence that their efforts to curb the county’s crisis are working. Delray Beach, considered the epicenter of the county’s epidemic, went through the month of June without recording a single opioid-related overdose death – the first time that’s happened since July 2015. Full Story @ PalmBeachPost.com
Education in Alcoholism and Treatment, 1-hr. – Feb. 8, 2018 – This week, we devote an entire hour to what one important scholar deemed “the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.” From its earliest role as a source of nourishment to its depictions in ancient literature, we examine the roots of mankind’s everlasting drinking problems. Plus, how a bizarre 60 Minutes piece spread the idea that red wine has medicinal effects. Then, a look at how popular culture has incorrectly framed Alcoholics Anonymous as the best and only option for addiction recovery. And, a scientist cooks up…
Positive Vibrations – July 7, 2018 – Five years later, Reifman’s HAPPY Week heroin program for middle and high school students has earned her a $36,000 Helen Diller Foundation Teen Tikkun Olam (“repair the world”) Award, one of only 15 granted nationwide. Her program now reaches 40 New Jersey and New York public schools and their 15,000 students — on a zero-based budget. “The biggest programs we had were someone from the county coming into the school to lecture,” Reifman recalls. “The students were intimidated. Nothing existed about kids talking to kids.” Full Story @ Chron.com
ABC: Always Be Conniving – July 6, 2018 – A lawsuit unsealed this week alleged that OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma used “unprecedented marketing” to push opioids to prescribing doctors and created a “deceptive narrative” claiming that its opioids were less addictive than they actually were. The suit was originally filed by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery in May, but the suit was made public this week after Purdue Pharma dropped its attempt at keeping the lawsuit sealed citing trade secrets. Full Story @ NewsChannel5.com
Ask Dr. Maté – July 8, 2018 – Alternative therapies and medicinal plants are definitely having a moment. Last week the FDA approved a seizure medication derived from cannabis, and now ayahuasca, a psychedelic drug, is being studied as a treatment for depression. Despite its questionable legal status, ayahuasca has been finding its way into mainstream culture on shows like Weeds and in the Ben Stiller movie While We’re Young for years. In the wellness world, the hallucinogenic drug has become a trendy gateway to cleansing and spiritual awakening with ayahuasca ceremonies held in yoga studios and organized trips to…
From Those You Trust – July 7, 2018 – A Kanawha County lawsuit is alleging HOPE Clinic, four medical professionals and two pharmacies are responsible for one man’s addiction and overdose death. The case, filed June 29 by Inez Lewis, argues Timothy Jason Lewis, of Floyd County, Ky., was prescribed “highly addictive and potentially lethal drugs,” including oxycodone and methadone, with no medical purpose. The following are named as defendants in the suit: Hope Clinic PLLC; Dr. James Blume Jr.; Poca Valu-Rite Inc.; Cross Lanes Family Pharmacy Inc.; Dr. Paul W. Burke Jr.; Dr. Mark A. Clarkson; and Teresa Emerson,…
Handmaids Tale Coming True? – July 4, 2018 – Men who ate about two handfuls of mixed almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts daily for 14 weeks improved their sperm count and had more viable “swimmers”, scientists found. The study comes amid a decline in sperm counts across the Western world, linked to pollution, smoking and diet. Researchers said there was growing evidence a healthy diet could boost the odds of conceiving. About one in seven couples have difficulty getting pregnant and about 40-50% of cases of infertility are attributable to men. Full Story @ BBC.com