Seek and Ye Shall Find – FEBRUARY 12, 2018 – It’s a choice, not occasion. 1. Being happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect, it means you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections: You may never have everything that’s perfect, and it’s alright. You may never need it that way. So, all you need to do is to give your best and be happy. 2. You can’t change what people think about you, so don’t try, just live your life and be happy: You will never be able to make everyone think good and positive about you, what people say about you…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Science May One Day Do So… – Feb 9, 2018 – David Nutt is the director of the neuropsychopharmacology unit in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London. He claims to have invented a viable alcohol substitute that includes all of the benefits of alcohol and none of the risks — and no one in the media or business thinks his product stands a chance in the marketplace. He joins Brooke to discuss his product, called “alcosynth,” as well as corporations’ hostility toward illicit substance innovation (that is, until there is any money to be made) and his…
True? – Feb. 9, 2018 – Among other problems, it has obstructed other channels of investigation, including the social, psychological and societal roots of addiction … Definitions point us to strategies of investigation, including formal research, survey research, case studies and so forth. If addiction is a disease, then we should be looking at cellular mechanisms, MRI scans and other brain-recording techniques, and this is exactly the policy NIDA has followed for years. In fact, it’s the policy the NIH has implemented in its approach to all psychiatric and psychological problems. Roughly 10 years ago, NIH grant applicants were informed…
A Bad OMEN – Feb. 14, 2018- Instead of leading with facts, consider starting with genuine curiosity. Setting judgment to the side, ask, “What’s your take on e-cigarettes?” or “Do you know kids who are vaping?” or something along those lines. Finding out what adolescents already know and think about vaping, or any other hazardous behavior, does two things at once. First, it shapes how the rest of the exchange might go. If your teenager wrinkles her nose and says, “I tried it and thought it was weird,” you’re having one conversation; if she responds slyly, “Lots of kids are…
And Lives to Tell the Tale… Feb. 17, 2018 – “Eventually, I was snorting it in the bathroom of my high school. And I knew it wasn’t good, but I couldn’t stop.” Adderall is an oral medication – but crushing and snorting it makes the effect kick in “faster and stronger”, according to Emma. She began spending money her parents gave her for food on the drug and even stole from her family. She went on to tell how she had been 20-years-old in the overdose photo, adding that she has nearly died. On that day, Emma had been left…
Management? – Feb. 18, 2018 – In the months before the abrupt shutdown of Colorado’s largest alcohol and drug treatment provider, others in the substance abuse field worried Arapahoe House’s new leadership lacked experience and that the organization had become insular and guarded. In November, two months before the sudden January closure, the recently resigned director of the state Office of Behavioral Health, also a former Arapahoe House executive, put her concerns in writing, sending Arapahoe House board directors a letter about the organization’s “downward spiral.” Full Story @ DenverPost.com
Payoff to Pain players – Feb. 18, 2018 – Fourteen nonprofit groups, mostly representing pain patients and specialists, received nearly $9 million from the drugmakers, according to investigators. Doctors affiliated with those groups received another $1.6 million. Most of the groups included in the probe took industry-friendly positions. That included issuing medical guidelines promoting opioids for chronic pain, lobbying to defeat or include exceptions to state limits on opioid prescribing, and criticizing landmark prescribing guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Doctors and the public have no way of knowing the true source of this information and…
Call Center or Non-Profit? – Jan. 25, 2018 – “We did have a name change,” confirmed Wendy Hart, Secretary of the National Addiction Foundation. “We were first called the National Assessment Foundation, but the new name more accurately reflects our primary concern and the scope of our services. I am happy to say that we have received our official status as a registered not-for-profit corporation in the State of California.” As of January 22nd, 2018, the Office of the State Attorney General database of registered non-profits had no entry for the National Addiction Foundation. It is possible, of course, that…
Can You Handler It? – Feb. 13, 2018 – Another celebrity has announced plans to enter into the retail marijuana industry. Comedian Chelsea Handler announced to her 3.3 million Instagram followers todaythat she plans to get into the cannabis business with her own line of marijuana. “I want everyone to know that I’m going to a weed farm today. Yep. I’m gonna go pick a grow. It’s called a grow for those of you who are not in the know,” Handler said in an Instagram story posted around 9 a.m. PST. “I’m going to come out with my own line…
Urine the Money – February 19, 2018 – Her bill shows that Sunset Labs LLC charged $4,675 to check her urine for a slew of different types of opioids: $2,975 for benzodiazepines, a class of drugs for treating anxiety, and $1,700 more for amphetamines. Tests to detect cocaine, marijuana and phencyclidine, an illegal hallucinogenic drug also known as PCP or angel dust, added $1,275 more. The lab also billed $850 to test for buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid addiction, and tacked on an $850 fee for two tests to verify that nobody had tampered with her urine specimen.…
2:25 min. VIDEO – Feb. 16, 2018 – Ishmael Daro talks to Johann Hari, journalist and author of ‘Chasing the Scream’, about what we’re getting wrong with our approach to treating drug addiction. Full Story 2 YouTube.com
So They Don’t Take Over? – Feb. 12, 2018 – Smart Kids Are More Likely to Be Misdiagnosed I was on to something. Some scientists believe that kids with IQs in the top 5 to 10 percent of the population are especially at risk for ADHD misdiagnosis. Although there are no hard numbers, experts estimate that somewhere between one-third and one-half of intelligent kids diagnosed with ADHD are misdiagnosed. Even the manual used to diagnose ADHD warns doctors against confusing intelligence with ADHD. Full Story @ Newsweek.com
Investigation – Feb. 16, 2018 – RIVERVIEW, Fla. — A widow is seeking justice tonight against a drug treatment center that’s part of an ongoing I-Team investigation. “There is an absolute lack of oversight, there’s a lack of supervision,” said Tampa Attorney Jack Gordon. He is suing River Oaks Drug Treatment Center and its parent company American Addiction Centers, alleging their negligence led to his client’s death. Graeme Hill flew to River Oaks from Illinois in December of 2016, hours after speaking to an AAC patient recruiter, who he spoke to during a mental breakdown. “He was taken into custody…
Riches to Rags – Feb. 18, 2018 – One of the great and humbling things about journalism in the digital age is being able to see at any given moment exactly how many people your journalism is reaching. Humbling because sometimes an important piece of reporting fails to reach the audience you think it deserves, sending you back to the drawing board. Great because other times, a story that you care deeply about touches more people in more places than you ever dreamed possible. That’s what happened to “The Search for Jackie Wallace.” In case you missed it – and…
Best Wishes – Feb. 15, 2018 – The model called getting sober the “best decision” she’s ever made. She says without drugs or alcohol she’s more in touch with her emotions and the world around her. “I am constantly evolving. The moment I stop my evolution is the moment I disservice myself and ultimately those I love. As cheesy and cornball as it sounds, life does get better, if you want it to,” she wrote. “I’ll never claim I know something other people don’t. I only know what works for me and seeking to escape my life no longer works…
MEDIA: Book Review – February 7, 2018 – by Sherry Gaba. After Rihanna and Alanis Morissette and Amber Smith and Rachel Uchitel, we’ve all heard about love addiction people who feel they can only be happy when they are deep in an all-consuming love. There are a handful of books about it but no one has approached the subject of its equally damaging cousin marriage and relationship addiction. Marriage addicts are so in love with love that they continually move from one relationship to another, always on the rebound, never giving themselves time to heal and learn how to be…
Want Help? No Thank You. – Feb. 12, 2018 – A year ago, local police responding to drug overdoses started handing out treatment information instead of making arrests for drug possession. The change was in line with Ohio’s Good Samaritan Law that grants immunity from prosecution for low-level drug possession if a suspect gets a drug screen and an assessment for addiction treatment. Law enforcement officers handed out 221 notices between February and December of last year, according to statistics tracked by the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office. A quarter of notice recipients followed through and got an assessment. Fewer have…
It Ain’t Easy – Feb. 12, 2018 – Former quarterback Johnny Manziel said he hopes to return to the National Football League following what he calls his “huge downfall,” and opened up about how he has turned his life around since the Cleveland Browns cut him for off-the-field controversy. “I had a sense of entitlement about what I had accomplished at the age,” Manziel, a former college football phenom, said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ T.J. Holmes “For a while I got so ingrained, caring only about what Johnny wanted, only caring what mattered to me, what made…
Renting a Safer Life – Feb. 16, 2018 – There’s a new living option for those facing addiction, CADAS opened a 24-unit sober living apartment complex on the North Shore. The goal is to help those in the process of recovery stay on track. “As soon as I graduated high school I just kind of lost reality got to the point where I didn’t care,” said Marcus Moore. It was the turning point in the wrong direction Moore saw his life going. “I experimented off and on with opioids, meth, just pretty much done it all,” he said. Last July,…
Win One for the Dealers – Feb. 13, 2018 – The five biggest companies making prescription opioids have been accused by a US Senate committee of spending $10m on patient advocacy and medical groups to encourage use of the addictive drugs, which are at the root of a public health crisis in America. … “I think these groups were cheerleaders … cheerleaders too often for opioids,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, the top Democrat on the Senate homeland security and government affairs committee, which is investigating pharmaceutical company practices. The committee reported on Monday that Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of leading narcotic…
We Are a Clever Bunch – Feb. 9, 2018 – After his fourth driving while intoxicated conviction in 2016, a San Antonio man tried to overturn his four-year prison sentence by arguing that Texas’ legal limit on drunken driving discriminates against alcoholics. Ralph Alfred Friesenhahn argued that the state’s driving limit of 0.08 blood alcohol level ignores the higher tolerances that frequent drinkers have to the effects of liquor, allowing the “protected class of alcoholics” to be prosecuted without having to prove that they had lost control of their mental or physical abilities. So stop beating yourself up for buying…
Jim Carroll – Feb. 9, 2018 – President Donald Trump’s first choice for the post, Rep. Tom Marino, withdrew from consideration in October … White House deputy chief of staff Jim Carroll will be nominated as President Donald Trump’s “drug czar,” in a move designed to shore up the administration’s response to the opioid crisis. Carroll, an attorney, would take the helm of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which has been targeted with budget cuts and whose chief of staff was sacked in December. For months, the office’s top political appointee was a 24-year-old Trump campaign…
Women’s Lives Matter – Free Seminar February 21, 2018 – Audrey A. Klein, PhD, MBA, is executive director of the Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Center City, Minnesota, where she oversees key data operations throughout the organization, including collection, analysis and reporting of patient outcomes, and other program and product evaluation efforts … Audrey A. Klein, PhD, MBA, is executive director of the Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Center City, Minnesota, where she oversees key data operations throughout the organization, including collection, analysis and reporting of patient outcomes,…
The Company You Keep – Feb. 8, 2018 – The International Criminal Court said on Thursday that it was opening a preliminary investigation into accusations that President Rodrigo Duterte and other Philippine officials had committed crimes against humanity in the course of the government’s deadly crackdown on drugs. Fatou Bensouda, a prosecutor for the international court, said in a statement that the inquiry would gauge whether there was enough evidence to build a case. She said she would be looking at events since July 1, 2016, “in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ campaign.” Full Story @ NYTimes.com
BIG Pharma Rules… – Feb. 9, 2018 – A pill that’s been credited with delivering super-human strength, feelings of euphoria, powerful pain relief, and better focus … When ingested, the drug taps into some of the same brain receptors as opioids, which is why the Food and Drug Administration gave kratom a new warning and classification on Tuesday. … In all but one case, the people who died were found to have been taking multiple drugs, including other opioids in many cases. That makes definitively labeling kratom as the cause of death impossible. Still, concern about kratom is mounting, especially…
Born in the USA – Feb. 5, 2018 – The risks are compounded by the fact that many of the women come from poverty, have burned bridges with family and friends, and lack basics such as housing, transportation, regular meals, and medical care. “You’re not eating a healthy diet because you don’t even have access to that—you’re not even thinking about food,” explains Hendrée Jones, an obstetrics professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the director of Horizons, a center for pregnant and parenting drug users. “Dehydration and poor nutrition can be associated with poor birth outcomes. It’s…
GENIUS – Feb. 9, 2018 – A Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group funded by pharmaceutical interests is spending big money to drum up a secretive citizen letter-writing campaign in Oregon to help kill a drug pricing transparency bill in the Legislature. The group, Caregiver Voices United, has enlisted a firm in Virginia to call Oregonians around the state to ask them whether they’re interested in sending a letter to 13 targeted lawmakers, a mix of swing-seat Democrats and moderate Republicans, during the ongoing session. But internal documents reviewed by The Register-Guard show the pharmaceutical industry’s involvement was intended to be kept…
Is it or Isn’t it? – February 6, 2018 – The substance, which is imported from Southeast Asia and marketed as a supplement, has become increasingly popular among consumers looking for relief from pain, anxiety and depression as well as opioid-withdrawal symptoms. Kratom, which is sometimes used for recreation, can produce a feeling of euphoria. Advocates call it a safe way to deal with chronic pain and other conditions, and some researchers are exploring whether it helps people overcome addictions. But other researchers warn that the herb, taken in capsules or by drinking tea, is too risky to use ……
Mel Pohl, MD, DFASAM is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. He is the Chief Medical Officer of Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC). Dr. Pohl was a major force in developing LVRC’s Chronic Pain Recovery Program. He is certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) Dr. Pohl is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your DOC and when did you discontinue its use? A. Alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, 10-13-1984 Q. Do you believe leaders are made or born? A.…
Lock NO ONE Up! – Feb. 6, 2018 – Canada gets the headlines for its plan to legalize marijuana nationwide in 2018. So does anti-marijuana rhetoric from some officials in the Trump Administration. Meanwhile, in the South American country of Uruguay, the sale and possession of marijuana has been legal since last July. Citizens there can grow their own marijuana and buy it over the counter without fear of arrest. So far, about the only major complaint about the law is that it doesn’t go far enough … He said that war “has been absurd, with catastrophic results no matter…