What Price Humanity? – April 29, 2018 – Jerika Whitefield’s memories of the infection that almost killed her are muddled, except for a few. Her young children peering at her in the hospital bed. Her stepfather wrapping her limp arms around the baby. Her whispered appeal to a skeptical nurse: “Please don’t let me die. I promise, I won’t ever do it again.” Ms. Whitefield, 28, had developed endocarditis, an infection of the heart valves caused by bacteria that entered her blood when she injected methamphetamine one morning in 2016. Doctors saved her life with open-heart surgery, but before operating,…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Pills Kill – April 28, 2018 – The event is held twice a year and during the last event in the fall the DEA collected nearly a million pounds of drugs. “Prescription drug addiction is just as devastating as heroin addiction,” says John Bellan, a substance abuse counselor at Victory Bay Recovery Center. He works with a program in Gloucester Twp called project SAVE (Substance Abuse Victimization Effort) that support addicts and their families. Managing his own recovery for the last 13 years from prescription drug addiction, Bellan stresses the harm that popping pills for the wrong reasons can do…
God Works in Mysterious Ways – April 28, 2018 – Officials in Seattle are taking a step to vacate every misdemeanour marijuana conviction in the past few decades in a major step for the city since the state legalised recreational marijuana. The city says that the motion to vacate the marijuana convictions would impact more than 500 people. “Vacating charges for misdemeanour marijuana possession is a necessary step to correct the injustices of what was a failed war on drugs, which disproportionately affected communities of colour in Seattle,” Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement … “The war on drugs…
Something to Shout About? – April 25, 2018 – …drinkers tended to have less of the good (Lactobacillales) and more of the bad (e.g., Bacteroidales, Actinomyces and Neisseria species) bacteria. In other words, drinking may bring out the punks in your mouth … However, if something like alcohol can wipe out various species of bacteria, fewer species that happen to be able to handle alcohol may begin to dominate. Unfortunately, such species often aren’t good species. This Microbiome study alone is not proof of what specifically happens when you put something with greater than zero proof in your mouth. More…
Best Practices Perhaps – April 24, 2018 – End health mysterious insurance “scholarships”? A phrase common in the online and print rehab ads that lure thousands of addicts from around the country to centers in Southern California is this: “No insurance? No problem!” It’s a come-on that informs clients they’ll get health insurance — at no cost to them — via a “scholarship” that will be paid upon arrival. The rehab center (or the broker who is recruiting the addict on the center’s behalf) pays the premium, often without the patient’s knowledge, because they can recoup their investment many times…
What’s the debate? – April 28, 2018 – In this April 26, 2018 photo, David Humes stands outside Legislative Hall, the state capitol building, in Dover, Del. Humes, whose son died from a heroin overdose in 2012, has been pushing for an opioid tax in Delaware, which did not increase funding for addiction treatment in 2017 as it struggles to balance its budget. “When you think about the fact that each year more people are dying, if you leave the money the same, you’re not keeping up with this public health crisis,” he said. Full Story @ USNews.com
Impulsivity? – April 6, 2018 – Impulsivity can be described as rapid, unplanned reactions to internal or external provocations with little consideration of the consequences. Impulsivity often refers to problematic behavior (Madden and Bickle, 2010). For example, a person is described as impulsive when he or she repeatedly buys things on impulse without considering his or her ability to pay for them. The choice may be satisfying now, but potentially detrimental in the long run. A failure to resist impulse is considered as an important obstacle to a more rational, long-term strategy for success. We can all relate to this…
Danger Lines – March 29, 2018 – A pipe was the only sign of drug use found near Chris Bennett’s body in November. But it looked like the 32-year-old Taunton, Mass., native had stopped breathing and died of an opioid overdose. Bennett’s mother, Liisa, couldn’t understand what happened. Then she saw the toxicology report. “I’m convinced he was smoking cocaine that was laced,” she says. “That’s what he had in his system, [it] was cocaine and fentanyl.” Liisa Bennett was shocked. Chris had developed an addiction to pain pills and then heroin in his late teens but had not used…
Life or Death – April 26, 2018 – Narcan. It’s the opioid reversal drug that has saved thousands of lives here at home, all over Ohio, and nationwide. But it’s also been the source of controversy during a public health crisis like we’ve never seen before. So is this life-saver also encouraging addiction? 21 News wanted to investigate; Narcan: Help or hindrance? The signs of a killer epidemic are in our community everywhere and it’s something the community can’t unsee. A generation dying from an addiction that claims nearly one dozen lives in Ohio every single day. But no one…
Fumble! Recovery!!! – April 27, 2018 – Ryan Leaf doesn’t think that people are necessarily products of their environment. “If that were the case, I would have never ended up in a prison cell,” Leaf says. “I grew up in a really supportive environment. I had two amazing parents, two younger brothers, grandparents, a supportive community. Really loved.” Leaf’s hometown of Great Falls, Montana was like many towns throughout the U.S., at least when it came to how it treated its star athletes. By the time Ryan Leaf was 13, he enjoyed the view from a very high pedestal. “I…
INSANITY or GREED? – APRIL 27, 2018 – The research is unambiguous: Needle exchanges reduce the spread of bloodborne diseases like hepatitis C and H.I.V. and do not increase drug use. They’ve been shown to reduce overdose deaths, decrease the number of needles discarded in public places and make it more likely that drug users enter treatment. They also save money: One recent study estimated that $10 million spent on needle exchanges might save more than $70 million in averted H.I.V. treatment costs alone. Health experts say the programs create relationships between deeply addicted people and the health care system,…
Weed Rather Be Pain and PTSD Free – April 28, 2018 – To get away from the memories of war in Afghanistan – the violence, the unexpected danger, the rush of adrenaline and the hypervigilance that can come with post-traumatic stress disorder – Aaron Newsomstarted gardening. Since World War II, generations of veterans have found healing in horticulture. Digging in the dirt did that for Newsom, but the Marine, who served in an attack helicopter squadron, wanted more. He wanted to share this healing feeling with service members who may never even touch a spade, and he had an idea…
Sovereign v. Buschel – by M. David Meagher, Esq. © 2018 This article is written with the permission of Leonard L. Buschel, the target of Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center, Inc., better known as Sovereign Health, a true litigation bully.1 Leonard was a target, not a victim because he had the courage to stand up to the pressure of Tonmoy Sharma and Sovereign filing a frivolous law suit against him and Writers In Treatment, Inc. The eBulletin, is a publication that provides third party news and announcements to the addiction and recovery field. This information is important to those of us…
Smart Chocolate – Apr 26, 2018 -In another study, Burk looked at how dark chocolate affects the immune system. Again, participants ate a dark chocolate bar, and scientists studied their blood work for the following week. They found an increase in anti-inflammatory markers as well as an increase in T cells, infection-fighting cells. These findings are overall “great for immunity,” according to Burke … Before you gorge yourself on brownies and hot fudge sundaes in the name of science, all of these studies are very specific to dark chocolate. Researchers used dark chocolate with 70 percent cacao, a recipe reserved…
AA Straight Up – April 22, 2018 – What you learn in AA is most of the reason that you drink is resentment and fear, the two main reasons,” Holt said. “Everyone, people, organisations, life, the world. So you write all of these resentments that you have and you go ‘these guys, it’s all their problem, everyone’s an arsehole apart from me’ … “But then when you work through all this resentment you go ‘there’s a pattern here and it’s me’.” Holt said she realised one of her own deficiencies was a tendency to be easily influenced by others. “Mine…
A Former Therapist Speaks Out – April 20, 2018 – Sometimes, for the young person, simply being removed from the environment where the dysfunction is occurring for a short while helps more than anything else. April 20, 2018 – As a former therapist in teen rehab, I have an insider’s view. I no longer work at a teen treatment center and my goal is not to recruit clients. Rather, I am sharing what I have learned along the way in order to provide parents, loved ones, and young people with some insight into what adolescent addiction treatment is like. One…
Loose Lips Sink Smugglers – April 18, 2018 – The 24-year-old Roberge, a Canada native who became known in Australian media as “Cocaine Babe,” wept as she learned her fate. Roberge was known as an Instagram influencer, posting stylish photos of herself and her friends in luxurious surroundings. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that she was lured into drug smuggling by an older man she called her “sugar daddy.” It all came to an end in July 2016, when she accepted a free trip on the Sea Princess, a luxury cruise liner that made stops in several countries in the…
Pay It Forward – April 20, 2018 – Today, FBI Director Wray presented Carolyn Weems with the Director’s Community Leadership Award for her leadership in expanding opioid education in schools across Virginia and raising awareness about the dangers of prescription drugs … 57 people in all were given the agency’s Director’s Community Leadership Award, which is given to individuals and organizations, acknowledging the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence. Full Story @ WTKR.com
Last Last Call – April 22, 2018 – And for 24 hours, that remains a steadfast commitment. The next week rolls around, however, and somehow we’re back in the same bar with the same round of tequila that lead to the previous week’s hell. But when Africa Brooke said that infamous line back in 2014, she meant it. ‘I had finally accepted that I had a big problem with alcohol and something had to change,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘For eight years up until that point, I had been a blackout binge-drinker and just like my peers, I had normalised this…
Rynda Laurel Q&A – Rynda Laurel has worked with hundreds of music artists from developing acts to multi-platinum, Grammy-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. She also advises music based online platforms and is a sought-after moderator, speaker at international conferences including MIDEM, Silicon Beach Fest, SXSW, SXSW, V2V, DEW, CMW, and Digital LA. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your DOC and when did you discontinue its use? A. Sobriety Date July 10, 1992 DOC depends on the year! Alcohol, stimulants & opiates. Q. At which of the schools you attended did you learn the most?…
Enabling a Prince – April 20, 2018 – Mr. Johnson later told investigators that it was that emergency landing, after a concert on April 14, 2016, that made him realize that Prince had a serious problem. In subsequent days, Mr. Johnson and other members of Prince’s tight inner circle would help arrange visits with addiction specialists. A week later, just as help was on his Paisley Park doorstep, Prince was dead at 57. On Thursday, the Minnesota authorities wrapped up their two-year investigation into the musician’s death, opting not to charge anyone criminally because they said they could not track…
Fiddler on the Roofie – April 20, 2018 – Drug addiction is a taboo topic that is rarely discussed in the Orthodox community, where family reputations are everything, and many fear that the stigma of an addict in the family may hamper marriage prospects, yeshiva acceptances and social status. In North Jersey, psychiatrist Jeffrey Berman says, young Orthodox people have died of overdoses, but their families refused to acknowledge the deaths were drug-related. Berman runs a support group for parents of addicts at the Kaplen JCC. The silence can make it harder for victims and their families to get help.…
Art Shines a Light – April 20, 2018 – Most popular art about addiction tends to fall into two categories: wistful remembrances that elucidate the shocking ease of slipping into an unwanted habit, and the ghoulish rides into the terrifying logistics of feeding a hunger whose bottomlessness upends the addict’s life. Works in the latter category often feel like slow-motion car crashes. To weather Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy biopic or watch Nicolas Cage drink his way through Leaving Las Vegas or crack the garish Mötley Crüe bio The Dirt is to spectate passionate, doomed characters’ methodical undoing. Works in…
MEDIA: Hot New Recovery Memoir – April 22, 2018 – But its main focus is on her subsequent sobriety, achieved with the help of the 12-step programme, better known as Alcoholics Anonymous; eventually, she turns her narrative over to the voices of some fellow addicts. She is interested in the connection between storytelling, and both alcoholism and sobriety. As she writes early on: “Yearning is our most powerful narrative engine, and addiction is one of its dialects.” She first felt the buzz of alcohol at 13. She first drank in secret at 15. At a Harvard student initiation ceremony, she…
My Disease Made Me Do It – April 22, 2018 – Investigators said 20-year-old Dallas Joe Juggert and 20-year-old Mary Loueze Mace are believed to have stowed the dead man there. Utah County documents state Juggert called a relative and said the man had overdosed on April 7 and that he was scared to report it because they had been using drugs and he was trying to regain custody of his son. He also told the relative that he had contacted someone who goes by the name “Cupcake,” who has a “clean-up crew,” to dispose of the man’s body and…
Sober Slugger – April 15, 2018 – Darryl Strawberry is known as being one of the great baseball players to play for the Mets. Eight-time All-Star, four-time World Series champion and New York Mets Hall of Famer; but just like so many others the Straw Man and his wife have had their fair share of struggles in life including with drug addiction. They were in Van Wert at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center as a part of the Epidemic of Hope conference your speaking about drug addictions. From how they fought their’s to how they’re using their faith to help…
Over DOS – April 19, 2018 – The recommended treatment for patients with “Internet Gaming Disorder” is 90 days away from the devices or technology they developed an addiction to. After that time, doctors said patients can be re-introduced to what devices they couldn’t leave alone to see if further treatment is needed. Most recently, a video game that hit the market last fall called Fortnite is pulling in teenagers by the millions. The game growing in popularity is so addictive, many teens can’t put down their controllers or phones. Dr. Thurstone said teens ages 16-17 are the most at…
Real Reefer Madness for Real – April 22, 2018 – ‘The big danger for young people – particularly teens – is that their brains can be really messed up by this stuff because they are still developing biologically. If they develop drug-induced psychosis – as Rupert did – the illness can stick for life.’ The large rise in the number of youngsters treated for cannabis abuse comes despite the fact that total usage is falling slightly. The report concludes: ‘While fewer people are using cannabis, those who are using it are experiencing greater harm.’ Almost all cannabis on Britain’s streets…
When Will It STOP? – April 18, 2018 – Last August, Destini Johnson practically danced out of jail, after landing there for two months on drug charges. She bubbled with excitement about her new freedom and returning home to her parents in Muncie, Ind. She even talked about plans to find a job. Eight months later, Johnson, 27, lay in a coma, silent except for the beeping of machines. She looked small and pale, buried in a tangle of hospital bedsheets and tubes, after suffering a dozen or so strokes as a result of her latest opioid overdose. Her mother,…
The Results are in… – On September 21, I was informed that I was being sued by Sovereign Health of California for publishing a link on August 25, 2015’s edition of the Addiction Recovery eBulletin with a few sentences of an article I found on the OC Registrar’s Newspaper’s website… More @ AREB