Happy to Be Alive – April 1, 2018 – “I never in a million years thought I would become a heroin addict, but it happened,” Kyne said. “But I’m a strong believer you’ve got to be accountable for your actions — you’ve got to take responsibility. I know this is my fault. I think that has helped me.” Before going back again into detoxification, Kyne knew he would either stop now or die. He then asked for God’s help. “Either God would help me get clean, or he would take my life,” Kyne said. “To be honest, I didn’t care…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Good Work Gentlemen! – March 27, 2018 – Founded in 1978, NAATP is a national professional membership association of addiction treatment providers. Its mission is to provide leadership, advocacy, training and other membership support services to assure the availability and highest quality of addiction treatment. The awards will be presented at NAATP’s 40th Anniversary National Addiction Leadership Conference on Sunday Evening May 20, 2018 at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Denver, CO. The award ceremony will be part of Opening Night at NAATP National 2018. The event is sponsored by NAATP, Ashley Addiction Treatment, Caron Treatment Centers, Hazelden Betty Ford…
Please, Just No SRO – March 27, 2018 – Accompanying research shows “a positive correlation between regularity of gig attendance and wellbeing”, a statistic that was further backed-up by the fact that participants who found themselves at gigs once a fortnight (for 20 minutes or longer) were the “most likely to score their happiness, contentment, productivity and self-esteem at the highest level.” When speaking on his research, Patrick Fagan said: “Our research showcases the profound impact gigs have on feelings of health, happiness and wellbeing – with fortnightly or regular attendance being the key. Combining all of our findings with…
Recovery is Possible – March 26, 2018 – He came back from Vietnam “in a rage.” Though Ron Brown didn’t know it yet, his experiences in the war had left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and in trying to cope with it sought out alcohol, the same solution generations of his family had turned to in times of grief. But when drinking couldn’t solve the problem, it was quickly joined by a combination of amphetamines and marijuana. Five years after returning home, he made his first suicide attempt. It was another eight years before he checked into rehab. “I was…
Rightful Determination – April 2, 2018 – A former New Jersey broker for the Wall Street bank was deemed a “reputational risk” and fired after publishing a November 2017 memoir about getting sober after years of bad behavior, The Post has learned. The move to oust the broker was made even though the bad behavior occurred years before he joined Morgan Stanley in January 2006. And, even more stupefying to the broker, Craig Schmell, was that his ouster came while the bank took no apparent steps to discipline a second broker who it knew, over the course of 15 years,…
Sober Success Story! – April 2, 2018 – John received treatment for his alcoholism, and he’s now been sober for 10 years … John took home the 1993 Golden Globe for Best Actor on the hit sitcom, but the loss of privacy and pressures of being in the spotlight led him to turn to alcohol. “I got complacent and ungrateful. And after nine years—eight years, I wanted to leave the show,” John confessed. “I handled it like I did everything else, by sittin’ on a bar stool. And that made it worse.” As we all know, John ended up staying…
Not Just Names, They Are People – March 29, 2018 – by Maia Szalavitz. With his unerring eye for approaches that are not only cruel but also offensive and tasteless, President Trump has announced that the White House will host a temporary memorial to people who’ve died from prescription opioid overdoses that consists of a wall depicting 22,000 faces engraved on pills. The exhibit, which will sit in the Ellipse in President’s Park from April 12th through the 18th, is titled Prescribed to Death … Why 22,000 and why depict these people as the agents of their own death? The…
MEDIA: Book Recommendation – March 26, 2018 – On paper, Leslie Jamison had the kind of life every young author dreams of: Ivy League education, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo retreat and a published novel — all before age 30. But more than anything else, she wanted to drink. She is 34 now and has been sober for more than six years. Her new book, “The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath” (out April 3, Little, Brown), is her candid attempt to grapple with not only her own addictions, but those of both the famous and the non-famous. AM NewYork spoke…
Chasing the Muse … Stone Cold Sober! – March 30, 2018 – Literature is full of books that glorify addiction, not so many about recovery. The novelist and essayist Leslie Jamison takes on sobriety in her new book “The Recovering” – her own sobriety and famous writers who came before her. She writes that at first, being sober felt like a specific moment from her childhood. At age 7, she told her mom she could make a better apple crumble topping. Her mom said, go for it. LESLIE JAMISON: I made a disgusting concoction with too much butter and, for…
MEDIA: The Only Life I Could Save – April 2, 2018 – Katherine Ketcham writes about her son’s addiction in her new book, “The Only Life I Could Save.” “My son, Bryan,” he begins again, “is a heroin addict.” He starts sobbing. “I’m sorry,” he manages to say, wiping at his tears with the back of his hand. “I’m so sorry.” His wife, Susan, takes his hand and continues. Steve’s next. He’s stoic, but that changes as the days go on. My husband, Pat, and Ben’s two older sisters, and I struggle through our tears as we remember the way…
The Heat is On – March 27, 2018 – Q: What is the problem with drug treatment facilities in South Florida, and how does it affect us in Orange County? A: We’ve seen an influx of thousands of young people descend upon South Florida to enter rehab, and then leave only in an ambulance or body bag. Seventy-five percent of all individuals in private pay rehab in Florida come from out of state … In the past two years, we have led a crackdown on fraud (and) abuse in the drug treatment industry. We’re seeing an exodus of bad players…
OPINION – New York Times – March 23, 2018 – I live in Florida, where I have been in treatment for drug addiction for the last year, through periods of recovery and occasions of relapse. People have long traveled to Florida to get lost — to convalesce by the beach and get well, or to die. And I have known quite a few people who have died here since I deplaned in Tampa for rehab at the lovely River Oaks in February 2017. Since then I have logged many months in detox wards and treatment centers: mornings spent over coffee…
Fame is No Protection – March 26, 2018 – A toxicology report from Prince’s autopsy, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, shows he had what multiple experts called an “exceedingly high” concentration of fentanyl in his body when he died. A toxicology report from Prince’s autopsy, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, shows he had what multiple experts called an “exceedingly high” concentration of fentanyl in his body when he died. Full Story @ NYDailyNews.com
UNREAL – April 2, 2018 – Two people have died and 56 have been sickened in the Chicago area and central Illinois after using synthetic pot, popularly known as K2 and Spice, state officials said Monday. Over the weekend, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced that one person had died after using synthetic cannabinoid products, but on Monday the state agency announced that a second person had perished. Nearly half of those sickened were in the Peoria area and more than 20 were in the Chicago area. Generally, those who became ill after using the drug were hospitalized for…
No One is Immune – April 2, 2018 – Dwayne Johnson shared his personal battle with depression in a new interview, revealing that he was “crying constantly” at one point. Speaking to the Express, Johnson talked about the challenges he’s faced in maintaining his mental health. “Struggle and pain is real,” he said. “I was devastated and depressed.” Johnson hit a low point, he said, when injuries shattered his dreams of playing professional football. He was let go from the Canadian Football League within a year of signing, and shortly after that, his then-girlfriend broke up with him. “I reached…
ACE (not the hardware store) Turns 20 – March 28, 2018 – by Tian Dayton, Ph.D. Adverse Childhood research has been around for a while but recently it has moved front and center in the conversation on childhood trauma. Thanks to people like Dr. Robert Anda co-principal investigator of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) research and Oprah Winfrey, adverse childhood experiences as a direct cause of developmental and health problems later in life, are getting the attention that they deserve. As someone who works with relational trauma, I deal with the effects of these forms of abuse or neglect that…
David and Goliath? – April 1st, 2018 – Trail starts April 23, 2018. Anaheim, CA. Sovereign is a corporation that “offers specialized mental health, substance abuse, and dual diagnosis disorder treatment” in eight treatment centers located in four different states. One of the treatment centers is situated in the City of San Clemente, which is also Sovereign’s principal place of business. Buschel, a former Certified Substance Abuse Counselor, is the editor and publisher of a weekly electronic newsletter related to alcohol and drug treatment and recovery entitled “Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.” The eBulletin is distributed via e-mail to approximately 22,000 readers, including…
The Fix … Is In – March 26, 2018 -The White House’s national strategy to combat the opioid crisis, unveiled last week, would expand a particular kind of addiction treatment in federal criminal justice settings: a single drug, manufactured by a single company, with mixed views on the evidence regarding its use. Federal prisons should “facilitate naltrexone treatment and access to treatment” to inmates as they transition out of incarceration, according to a fact sheet circulated by the administration. A White House spokesman later confirmed to STAT that the document referred specifically to naltrexone in its injectable form. Only one…
Follow The Money – March 28, 2018 – A California lawmaker is seeking to rein in addiction treatment centers and dialysis providers accused of profiteering off vulnerable patients by collecting millions of dollars in inflated medical claims … Representatives of the addiction treatment industry acknowledge cases of fraud and abuse exist in patient referrals, billing and payment of premiums. But they don’t think that this state proposal would be as effective as stronger enforcement of federal anti-kickback laws that target patient-steering and conflicts of interest. Stampp Corbin, president of the Addiction Treatment Advocacy Coalition, a nonprofit group in Los Angeles…
Traffickers Beware! – March 30, 2018 – WEST PALM BEACH — A woman identified by police as the operator of a Delray Beach sober home is charged with receiving at least $65,800 to refer residents to the London Treatment Center in West Palm Beach, whose owners were arrested last year by Palm Beach County’s Sober Home Task Force. Betsy Dieujuste, 36, of Boca Raton was booked Thursday evening into the Palm Beach County Jail, charged with 33 counts of patient brokering. The charge is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up…
Stoned, Not Dead – April 2, 2018 – Medical marijuana appears to have put a dent in the opioid abuse epidemic, according to two studies published Monday. The research suggests that some people turn to marijuana as a way to treat their pain, and by so doing, avoid more dangerous addictive drugs. The findings are the latest to lend support to the idea that some people are willing to substitute marijuana for opioids and other prescription drugs. Many people end up abusing opioid drugs such as oxycodone and heroin after starting off with a legitimate prescription for pain. The authors…
Breaking News – March 23, 2018 – Handa is charged with illegally writing prescriptions for buprenorphine, better known as suboxone. While working at Redirections Treatment Advocates in Washington, where he was in charge of day-to-day operations, investigators say he wrote bad prescriptions, illegally distributed suboxone and defrauded the Medicaid program over a four-year period. Full Story @ WPXI.com
The LSD of Anti-Psychotics – March 20, 2018 – Compulsive gambling, hyper-sexuality and compulsive shopping are all listed as harmful side effects in lawsuits against the anti-psychotic drug, Abilify. This week, five patients in northern Nevada have filed a suit against the drug’s manufacturers. The drug is primarily used to treat mental health issues like schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. An attorney for the plaintiffs in Washoe County says the drug led to compulsive behavior that not only caused financial losses, but also mental anguish. Perhaps the worst part, he says, is that the drug makers knew about the risks, but…
Very Dirty Money – March 20, 2018 – The National Portrait Gallery is facing scrutiny over a proposed £1m donation from the Sackler family following allegations that the American dynasty’s fortune is tainted by the US opioid crisis. The gallery is one of a number of British cultural and academic institutions in line for substantial donations from members of the Sackler family, which is locked in a growing controversy over its connection to one of the worst drug crises in US history. Despite questions over the nature of the family’s philanthropy, institutions including the Courtauld Institute of Art and the…
It’s All in Your Head – March 20, 2018 – Scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have found out what happens to the brain when too much dopamine is released through factors like drug addiction. “Dopamine is very important for initiation of movement,” said Dr. Mike Beckstead, Ph.D., scientist at Oklahoma Research Medical Foundation. “It’s also important for our perception of rewards in the brain.” And, too little or too much dopamine can have tragic effects. Full Story @ KFOR.com
Venus or Mars on the Rocks? – MAR 19, 2018 – March celebrates female achievement: not only is it Women’s History Month but March 8th was International Women’s Day. Today, women worldwide have amassed unprecedented success, becoming billionaires, filmmakers, trauma surgeons and Nobel laureates. Many famous women including Joan Crawford and Lady Gaga were born in March. Despite historic success by the everyday and celebrity woman, as a female physician specializing in addiction, certain disconcerting realities are not lost on me … Mortality from drug overdose remains the leading cause of death from injury in the United States, with opioids…
RAID: Kills Brain Cells Dead – Mar 21, 2018 – Some say it’s easier to get high than get help. Drug rehab has a new resource in Indiana, but it is not stopping people from finding new and dangerous ways to overdose. Ingredients for the concoction can be found in cabinets at home, bought at the store, or shipped to your door. Bug spray. A man in Indianapolis this week, believed to be high on bug spray, was caught on camera being helped by paramedics. It is called KD on the street, and it’s a new, easy, and cheap way…
Too Young at Any Age – March 19, 2018 – J.C. Ruf, 16, was a Cincinnati-area pitcher who died by suicide in the laundry room of his house. Tayler Schmid, 17, was an avid pilot and hiker who chose the family garage in upstate New York. Josh Anderson, 17, of Vienna, Va., was a football player who killed himself the day before a school disciplinary hearing. The young men were as different as the areas of the country where they lived. But they shared one thing in common: A despair so deep they thought suicide was the only way out.…
First Class Death – March 22, 2018 – The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis has endorsed it, President Trump touted its goals during the 2016 campaign, and the two most recent Department of Homeland Security secretaries said they supported it. But a bipartisan bill that would help curb the delivery of the deadly opioid fentanyl by the United States Postal Service to American doorsteps has not seen the light of day, leaving advocates scratching their heads … The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis has endorsed it, President Trump touted its…
Higher Power – March 24, 2018 – It turns out that the CBD helped the critters consume less alcohol or cocaine, even when they were put into anxiety-inducing situations that might push them to take more. And the rats that had the gel applied to their skin were also less anxious and less impulsive, the study says …One week of treatment with a non-psychoactive marijuana compound could help drug addicts and alcoholics from relapsing for months, a new study found. Researchers gave cannabidiol (CBD oil) to rats that consumed either alcohol or cocaine every day. The animals received a daily…