MEDIA: Book Review – Feb. 7, 2018 – One Woman’s Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction – Is sex addiction real? I was never particularly convinced, until one afternoon spent in a dark theater in Si Racha, Thailand, changed my mind. It was the spring of 2014, and the movie onscreen was called “Thanks for Sharing.” It starred Mark Ruffalo, Pink and others as addicts fighting to maintain sobriety — from pornography, from masturbation, from intercourse before commitment. They attend 12-step groups; they have televisions removed from business trip hotel rooms so pay-per-view won’t tempt them; they struggle for intimacy.…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Selves Discovery – Feb. 9, 2018 – Major psychiatric disorders like autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder appear to have more in common than scientists thought they did. A new study finds that they have important similarities at a molecular level. And understanding the molecular basis of those disorders could help in developing better treatments. These psychiatric disorders are diagnosed by how a patient behaves. There are no clear signs on a brain “that you can see with your eyes or most microscopic techniques,” says Dan Geschwind… Full Story @ WABE.org
Defensive Driving Day – Feb. 12, 2018 – America’s highways are decidedly less safe on April 20, a day when stoners publicly celebrate marijuana use. Why? Researchers report there’s an uptick in fatal traffic crashes on that evening, which for decades has been a counterculture holiday revolving around pot use. Your risk of dying in a fatal wreck increases about 12 percent on that date, comparable to the increase in traffic risk that’s been observed on Super Bowl Sunday, according to the analysis of crash data. Teenage drivers have an even higher risk of dying in a traffic crash on…
Diseased Model – Feb. 2018 – Ending the reign of the “Disease Model.” feat. Andrew Tatarsky, Julie Holland, Gabor Mate. Full Story @ YouTube.com
Wet Brain No More? – Feb. 10, 2018 – Excessive alcohol use can cause severe effects on the brain, leading to impaired cognition and thiamine deficiency. But in a study of five-week-old mice, researchers have uncovered a new drug that could treat the damaging effects of heavy alcohol consumption. Tandospirone, a drug with anxiolytic and antidepressant properties, may help reverse neurogenic deficits caused by chronic alcohol consumption, according to a study in Scientific Reports. In the study, conducted by researchers at the Queensland University of Technology, male mice were administered tandospirone, dissolved in 2 percent of dimethyl sulfoxide and saline,…
Follow The Money – Feb. 8, 2018 – “Stephen J. Ubl, the trade group’s chief executive, said in an interview that it was in the “tens of millions,” over multiple years, a heady influx of cash for a nonprofit group whose annual donations and grants totaled $4.7 million last year.” … “She was insisting that she was totally independent and they hadn’t put any strings on her,” said State Senator Chris Eaton, one of the bill’s sponsors. “I wasn’t buying it.” Two weeks later, Jessica Hulsey Nickel ties to the industry grew even deeper when her advocacy group, the Addiction…
Carry On Nurse – FEB. 9, 2018 – In 2016, the opioid epidemic claimed 1,374 lives in New York City. That’s roughly four drug overdose deaths each day. One death every seven hours. It’s a harrowing statistic that continues to soar, and New York City officials are floating an idea that so far has not been tried in the United States: sanctioned locations where drug users can shoot up under the supervision of medical staff ready to revive them if they overdose. They are called safe injection facilities, and the city has been eyeing them for more than a year,…
State of Greed? – Feb. 11, 2018 – Some advocates worry about proper oversight and the potential for financial abuse … Quiggle cited an extensive report on Philly.com last year on the acceptance of kickbacks by “recovery house” operators who steered addicts to certain treatment centers, and reporting in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on abuses in that part of the state. In one Pittsburgh-area incident, David Francis, the operator of the purported drug rehabilitation center Next Step Foundation, was charged with drug distribution last fall after a federal investigation. The criminal complaint said agents who raided Francis’ home found scales covered…
Nobody’s Perfect – Feb. 6, 2018 – A California jury has awarded the biggest verdict to date against a controversial drug treatment company that also operates a facility in the Tampa Bay area. The I-Team has been reporting for weeks about problems with the center the company operates here … “They were negligent in how they marketed and brought people in,” said attorney Jude Basile. “These people took calls from their mass marketing program and were paid a commission and had sales quotas.’ … the complaint alleges he never saw a doctor, never saw a psychiatrist and was never prescribed…
Do you? – February 06, 2018 – According to a recent article in The New York Times, growing distrust in the medical profession poses a threat to public health and safety.1 “Trust is crucial in the relationship between patients and health care providers, but it’s been on the decline in recent decades,” Dr. Dhruv Khullar, a physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital and a researcher at Weill Cornell Department of Healthcare Policy and Research writes, noting that: “Mistrust in the medical profession — particularly during emergencies like epidemics — can have deadly consequences. In 1966, more than three-fourths of Americans…
Florence Nightingale Lives – February 5, 2018 – The safe injection sites could mean fewer dirty needles on the streets, since they’d be collected inside. Public health officials believe that 85 percent of the city’s intravenous drug users would use safe injection sites and that the city could save $3.5 million a year in medical costs … The Chamber of Commerce’s Dignity Health CityBeat Poll is conducted every year, and for the first time this year included a question about safe injection sites. It asked respondents whether they support or oppose “drop-in facilities called safe injection sites where intravenous drug…
Will it Cut Deaths in Half? – February 10, 2018 – Purdue eventually acknowledged that its promotions exaggerated the drug’s safety and minimized the risks of addiction. After federal investigations, the company and three executives pleaded guilty in 2007 and agreed to pay more than $600 million for misleading the public about the risks of OxyContin. But the drug continued to rack up blockbuster sales. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University and an advocate for stronger regulation of opioid drug companies, said Purdue’s decision is helpful, but that to make a real difference, other opioid…
You’ll Never Be Bored – Dec. 5, 2017 – A private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us…
Shoot the Shooters? – February 7, 2018 – More than three months after President Trump declared the nation’s opioid crisis a public health emergency, activists and health care providers say they’re still waiting for some other action. The Trump administration quietly renewed the declaration recently. But it has given no signs it’s developing a comprehensive strategy to address an epidemic that claims more than 115 lives every day. The president now says that to combat opioids, he’s focused on enforcement, not treatment. Trump spent just over a minute of his 80-minute State of the Union address talking about opioids. In…
At Harvard Too! – JAN. 26, 2018 – Administrators like Dr. Ahn expected significant enrollment for the class, but none anticipated it to be quite so large. Psychology and the Good Life, with 1,182 undergraduates currently enrolled, stands as the most popular course in Yale’s 316-year history. The previous record-holder — Psychology and the Law — was offered in 1992 and had about 1,050 students, according to Marvin Chun, the Yale College dean. Most large lectures at Yale don’t exceed 600. … Students have long requested that Yale offer a course on positive psychology, according to Woo-Kyoung Ahn, director of…
America’s Drug Counselor – Feb. 6, 2018 – Under Conway’s leadership, efforts have amounted to the promise of a “just say no” campaign and a call for a border wall, which is aligned with Trump’s claim that the opioid crisis was imported … A member of Trump’s bipartisan opioid commission, former Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy, last month called the panel a “charade.” … “I have to be true to the way I feel—this is essentially a sham,” said Kennedy. “It means nothing if it has no funding to push it forward.” In October, Trump declared a 90-day public health emergency…
Another One Bites the Dust? – February 5, 2018 – Health Net, in a counter-suit filed a year ago, said Sharma and his companies were engaged in massive fraud. Within the span of a single year, Sovereign’s companies went from billing Health Net less than $50,000 a month to more than $13 million a month, Health Net said … “This scheme, which involves fraudulently obtaining insurance policies and the submission of thousands of false and fraudulent claims, also raises the costs of healthcare coverage to consumers, who ultimately will have to pay higher insurance premiums,” Health Net’s suit said. When…
It’s About Time – January 30, 2018 – The amount of prescription narcotics that have wound up with drug dealers and users during the past decade has been staggering. This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the opioid industry, said it discovered that two drug distribution companies had shipped more than 20 million pain pills to two pharmacies four blocks apart in Williamson, W.VA., a town with a population of 2,900. Full Story @ WashingtonPost.com
A Look Back at the Backside – Feb. 4, 2018 – THE Jackass crew mesmerised and shocked the world with their hilarious and, at times, truly dangerous stunts. The likes of Johnny Knoxville, born Philip John Clapp Jr, became superstars in the process but it led many of them down a path of alcoholism, drug dependency and even suicidal thoughts … But with these injuries came exposure to painkillers and soon, addiction. “If you got hurt, you were like, ‘I can just take a pill for that’,” Raab said. “And you justify it’s a painkiller, I’m in pain. I broke…
Killing Americans for Fun And Profit? – Jan 30, 2018, – The state’s overdose death rate was 48.3 per 100,000 people that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In comparison, the state’s homicide rate in 2016 was 5.9 per 100,000, and its rate of fatal car crashes was 15. The opioid epidemic goes back to the 1990s, with the release of OxyContin and mass marketing of prescription painkillers, as well as campaigns like “Pain as the Fifth Vital Sign” that pushed doctors to treat pain as a serious medical problem. Doctors subsequently prescribed opioids in droves,…
Quitting Ain’t Easy – Jan. 30, 2018 – Promises by DMX to continue drug rehabilitation and to be accompanied by a drug counselor during travel so he could continue his career “was a great big lie, a repeated lie as it turned out,” Rakoff said. “His activity shows he is a genuine flight risk in ways I hoped weren’t true,” the judge said. After the judge adjourned the hearing, DMX prepared for incarceration, lifting off his sweatshirt to reveal a shirt with a smiley face and a peace sign on it. He turned over a wad of cash with $100…
Also Relieves Depression and Anxiety – Jan. 31, 2018 – Addiction to video games can contribute to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem in players, affecting them both psychologically and physically, a study has suggested. Excessive game playing caused physical ailments including cardiovascular stress, wrist pain, issues with sleep and the nervous system and reduced physical activity, researchers from Nottingham Trent University and the University of Oulu, Finland, found. Gamers were also at risk of mental side effects, ranging from depression, obsessive-compulsive behaviours, anxiety, lack of concentration and self-control and impulsiveness, the report said. Full Story @ INews.co.uk
Growing Brains Are Delicate – Jan. 31, 2018 – Scientists at King’s College London drew on data from the Netherlands to show that admissions to specialist treatment centres rose when coffee shops sold increasingly more potent cannabis, but fell again when the cannabis weakened. The work is the first to investigate how admissions to drug treatment programmes rise and fall in line with the strength of cannabis available to users. It found that changes in demand for treatment typically lagged five to seven years behind changes to cannabis strength. “This is the first study to provide evidence for an association…
Patients are Patients – January 31, 2018 – As millions of Americans grapple with opioid abuse disorders, skilled nursing facilities are attractive locations for drug treatment facilities. With more than 2 million people in the U.S. having a substance abuse disorder, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the demand for care is spiking. “There’s this huge need for additional treatment centers,” Dr. Deni Carise, chief scientific officer for Recovery Centers of America (RCA), told Skilled Nursing News. “Anything that can get a treatment center up and running quickly can save more lives.” RCA is a treatment…
Sad Goodbyes – Feb. 1, 2018, – A Mass of Remembrance and Healing will be held Feb. 11 in Oakland for people who have been affected by the drug epidemic, Bishop David Zubik announced. The service begins at 2:30 p.m. at Saint Paul Cathedral. Zubik said in a news release that the Mass will be a time to pray for loved ones who have died or struggle with addiction, as well as families and friends who have been affected. In Allegheny County, 3,520 people died from drug overdoses between 2008 and 2017, according to Overdose Free PA. Full Story @…
Free Taste – Jan. 31, 2018 – “I didn’t think I was a drug addict,” Solomonov told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg in a recent podcast episode of The Atlantic Interview. Even after he dropped out of college, a decision fueled by drugs, he said, “I thought I just did what every other kid did, and I took it a little bit too far.” Solomonov’s breaking point came when his younger brother, David, was shot to death by Hezbollah snipers while he was patrolling Israel’s border with Lebanon. It was Yom Kippur, and three days before David’s release date from the…
Films Can Teach – January 31, 2018 – … Jan. 25 featured a screening of the documentary “The Opiate Effect,” followed by a panel discussion. The event, organized by Fed Up Manchester, The Collaborative, United Counseling Service, GNAT-TV and the Manchester Community Library, brought more than 100 community members to the library for the conversation. Andrew McKeever, news director at GNAT-TV, led the panel discussion that followed the film, featuring Wendy Galbraith of Fed Up Manchester, Maryann Morris of the Collaborative, James Reilly of UCS, Beth Sausville of the Vermont Department of Children and Families, and Nissa Walke of Vermont…
Racing to Recovery – Jan. 30, 2018 – Sobriety Nation, a national non-profit organization dedicated to ending the tragedies addiction causes families, has teamed up with Premium Motorsports and driver Wendell Chavous for the entire 2018 season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as the primary sponsor of Chavous’ No. 49, Chevy Silverado. Brian Keselowski will continue to serve and call the shots as crew chief for the team … “We are very excited about the opportunity to partner with Wendell Chavous and Premium Motorsports in bringing awareness to the drug epidemic in the Unites States. Sobriety Nation offers…
Attraction or Coercion? – FEB. 02, 2018 – Governor Charles Baker’s proposal to allow individuals to be involuntarily placed in a drug treatment program for up to 72 hours will help save lives. It will also address the all-too-familiar vicious cycle that occurs when a patient reports to the emergency room suffering from an overdose and is treated and released, only to end up back in the ER after another overdose … Under previous legislation we adopted in 2016, ER patients treated for an opioid-related overdose, or given the overdose-reversing drug naloxone prior to arriving at the hospital must undergo…
Use Caution with Addictions – Feb. 1, 2018 – Military health officials say there have been no fatalities as a result of vaping. The unequivocal statement from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner on Thursday comes after the Army Public Health Center retracted a report that two Marines had died as a result of seizures induced by vaping. A spokeswoman from the Medical Examiner System told Military Times no military personnel have been reported dead from vaping synthetic cannabinoid oils. Full Story @ AirForceTimes.com