Shooting Gallery – Feb 4, 2018 – The images, which quickly went viral, served as visual, chilling proof that that the country is in the throes of a devastating opioid epidemic. Today, people addicted to heroin or prescription pain medication permeate American society—2.1 million in 2016. “The needle doesn’t discriminate,” noted Philip Montgomery, a photographer who recently captured the opioid crisis for the New Yorker. “It could really be any of us.” No longer are addicts societal outsiders; they are lawyers and football players, nurses and stay-at-home moms. And, as our understanding of drug users shifts, so too does the…
Author: Leonard Buschel
OPINION: It’s Black & White – Feb. 2, 018 – I rejoice in the progress being made in Philadelphia’s response to drug addiction, but it’s nonetheless bittersweet. As I witness the growing compassion for the mostly white victims of opioids, I still mourn the deaths of thousands of Black and brown people from crack overdoses and the survivors who remain behind bars serving unfair sentences on nonviolent drug charges. If only they had had a safe site and a local government who empathized with them — imagine how Philadelphia might have turned out. We cannot change the past, but we…
Canadian Containment – January 24, 2018 – The vending machine project could solve those problems. Under the pilot project, drug users would be able to get two to three hydromorphone pills three times a day. The cost per patient would be roughly 3 Canadian dollars per day — far less than the 25,000 Canadian dollars per person per year that it costs for the programs at the Crosstown Clinic. The machines are relatively inexpensive, making it easy to expand the program quickly … Since 2011, Vancouver’s Crosstown Clinic has offered injections of pharmaceutical-grade heroin to addicts for whom other therapies…
New York Times – FEB. 1, 2018 – The cavalier overprescription of addictive drugs was bewildering: After a tooth extraction, I emerged from an oral surgeon’s office with a two-week supply of Percocet. When S. came to see me, she was pleasant and self-possessed, a former office worker who had lost her job and was living with her daughter. She offered a packet of mints. I asked her about the headaches, and she told me a story riddled with contradictory clues. At times, the headaches arose with no triggers or warnings. At other times, they resembled migraines: There was a…
Not Enough – Feb. 2, 2018 – A western Montana pain doctor who was convicted of prescribing drugs that led to the overdose deaths of two patients has been sentenced to 10 years in prison … During the trial, prosecutors alleged Christensen overprescribed opiates and other drugs in dangerous combinations and should have known he was putting patients at risk because five of his patients in Idaho died and six others were hospitalized in the 1990’s because of overdoses. He was not convicted in Idaho, but he voluntarily gave up his medical license for two years. Full Story @ USNews.com
Home Audience Astounded – Jan. 28, 2018 – Aired: 1/28/2018 | 0:26:48 | Episode The discussion of rehab scandals continues with OC Register investigative reporter Teri Sforza, addiction doctor Daniel Headrick and rehab center operator Omar Turbi. What should be done to reform a broken system? Full Story @ PBSSoCal.org
More than Pong – Feb. 3, 2018 – Before becoming a psychotherapist, Driver himself suffered from a gaming disorder, his addiction focused on MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) such as Everquest. “I went through a period where I was addicted to gaming. It was pretty much all I was doing – all day, every day, to the point of neglecting my health, sleep, social life, everything. Eventually, I failed out of university.” A decade later, Driver returned to university to train as a psychotherapist. It was while on placement at a drug and alcohol treatment facility that he began…
Illegal or Unethical? – January 31, 2018 – California’s troubled addiction treatment industry may face stricter oversight and a raft of new requirements in 2018, as lawmakers try to protect vulnerable patients and reduce blatant fraud … “We’re all at fault for allowing this to grow out of control the way it has,” said Albert Senella, president and CEO of Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles … After reports of death, sexual assault, drug use and paying-for-patients inside the state’s loosely-regulated treatment centers, the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday called a dozen witnesses to explain the Golden State’s approach to…
Human Toll Too High – Feb. 4, 2018 – No place has been hit harder by heroin, fentanyl and opioid addiction recently than Hull, a former fishing town of 260,000 people about 150 miles north of London that was improbably named Britain’s 2017 “City of Culture.” On a drizzly cold day last month, under a bright green sign welcoming visitors to the city, several addicts lay bundled up, stashes of drugs and alcohol secreted in blankets and other belongings. Others lined the doorways of nondescript buildings on the city’s main street. Since the fishing industry collapsed in the 1970s, the…
Meds for Mom – Feb. 4, 2018 – There’s an enormous sense of self-medication … The fastest thing you can do at the cutting board is open a bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass. It’s faster than going to your doctor to say ‘I’m suffering from burnout,’ it’s faster than going to a yoga class and relaxing in a different way.” It was more than 10 years ago when Johnston finally realized that she herself had a drinking problem. “I got into trouble with alcohol in my 50s when I was over-performing at a job and used alcohol for…
MEDIA: Book Review – Jan. 26, 2918 – SLOW MEDICINE , The Way to Healing , By Victoria Sweet , 289 pp. Riverhead Books. $27 – At the beginning of her book, she relates how her 93-year-old father was mistreated after being hospitalized for a seizure. He is put in 4-point restraints and sedated. Bloody urine drains from his bladder because it has been injured by a catheter insertion. Worse, his rushed doctors don’t know that this isn’t his first seizure but rather the latest in a long line that can be managed at home. The steamroller of inpatient care…
Redemption Song – February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981 Full Song @ YouTube.com
CBDeaths – February 1st 2018 – Two Marines have died in accidents blamed on synthetic cannabinoid-induced seizures. The Army bans the use of cannabis products, including Cannabinoid oil, known as CBD oil, so some soldiers turn to synthetic options. U.S. Army Public Health Center spokeswoman Chanel Weaver told the Fayetteville Observer that the health threat is considered a “top priority.” … “Consumers must be extremely vigilant if they are going to use vaping oils and should seek medical attention immediately if they feel they are having an adverse reaction to one of these products,” she said. Full Story @ WJLA.com
Day Care – Jan. 22, 2018 – “There’s a tremendous need for outpatient addiction treatment services in greater Los Angeles in the wake of the opioid epidemic. This new center is committed to providing the highest standard of evidence-based addiction treatment that over the years has defined the Cliffside Malibu brand,” says Shannon Caldwell, clinical manager. A licensed MFT, she previously worked at Tarzana Treatment Center, San Fernando Valley Counseling Center and Santa Barbara Inpatient Psychiatric Health Facility. Full Story @ BusinessInsider.com
It’s All in Vein – JANUARY 15, 2018 -Unfortunately, this new initiative is anything but a kind approach. It is, instead, an attempt to appease neighbors with little compassion for how the actions will impact people who use drugs and those struggling with addiction. The city’s theory is that since blue light makes it difficult for individuals to see their veins, people will not inject there … In a 2013 study, researchers interviewed 18 people who were either using or had used intravenous drugs about their willingness to inject drugs in public restrooms with blue lights. The study concluded that…
By Tian Dayton, Ph.D – Jan 23, 2018 – Whether through TV streaming channels, newsrooms or the internet, technology is inevitably shaping who we are and who we will become. And it can become addictive in which case we’re no longer able to stop, to modulate, to make intelligent decisions about what we’re looking at or participating in. Instead of viewing sites, sites start viewing us; boring cyber holes into our preferences and offering up more. We replace our relationships to people with a relationship to a screen. We’re no longer in charge, they are … and the truth of…
FLASHBACK to 2015 – February 12, 2015 – Still, the number of deaths caused by drugs are overwhelmingly dominated by tobacco and alcohol – the two most popularly used and legally accessible drugs on the market. Tobacco killed 480,000 Americans in 2013, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Alcohol killed 29,001 in the same year. By comparison, heroin, prescription drugs, including opiods (pain killers) and benzodiazapines (anti-anxiety medication) and cocaine, the drugs with the highest number of deaths other than tobacco and alcohol, combined to kill 4,202 Americans. Marijuana, which is legal for recreational use in Washington…
Brotherly and Sisterly Love – JANUARY 23, 2018 – And though the precise locations of Philadelphia sites have not been established, the city could be the first in America to open an officially-sanctioned safe-injection site. The move, announced at a 1 p.m. press conference by high-ranking city officials — but not Mayor Jim Kenney — places the city at the forefront of confronting the opioid crisis, which killed an estimated 1,200 people in Philadelphia last year, quadruple the homicide rate. Full Story @ Philly.com
The Family Afterwards – January 28, 2018 – Chris Cornell‘s widow Vicky Cornell and daughters Toni, 13, and Lily, 17, walked the red carpet at the 2018 Grammy Awards on Sunday. It was the first time the late Soundgarden singer’s family had walked a red carpet together since his shocking death in May. The late rocker was also a father to son Christopher, 11. All wore black — Vicky and Lily in sleeveless black gowns with cut-outs and Lily in a cocktail-length black dress with ballerina flats. Full Story @ People.com
Good News – Jan. 25, 2018 – Kim Koop says after being diagnosed with a learning disability, being bullied in school, cutting, and even attempting suicide her daughter Madison started experimenting with drugs at the age of 15, just as she was heading into Grade 10. Koop says her daughter started by smoking marijuana and was soon going to parties where she would take Molly, Ecstasy, and cocaine. “With pot, pot you can smell. We would confiscate so much in the house. Her eyes were kind of blood-shot, pupils dilated, you can pretty much tell. They just kind of want…
Caveat Emptor – Jan. 22, 2018 – The cruel irony about relationships is that, often, by the time people reach an age when they’ve learned a lot about themselves, about how to treat others, about what they want in a partner and what sort of partner they’d like to be, they’ve had some, well, experiences they can’t take back. If you’ve been out there dating for a while, you’ll start to realize that even the guys who seem perfect come with one caveat. It could be an enormous amount of debt due to a loan taken on a business that…
Milk Duds Aren’t for Happy People – Jan. 21, 2018 – The best anti-depressant is to change our way of life … Junk food has taken over our diets, and it is making millions of people physically sick. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that something similar is happening with our minds — that they have become dominated by junk values, and this is making us mentally sick, triggering soaring rates of depression and anxiety. For thousands of years, philosophers have warned that if you think life is about getting money and status and showing it off, you will…
Never Start – Jan. 25, 2018 – Smoking just one single cigarette a day can significantly raise your risk of heart disease and stroke, researchers say in a new report. While it’s better to cut down than to smoke heavily, the study contradicts the common belief that cutting way down also reduces risk quite a bit … For men, smoking one cigarette a day on average raised the risk of heart disease by 48 percent over a non-smoker, while smoking 20 cigarettes a day doubled the risk. For a woman the risks were even higher. Smoking one cigarette a day…
Radio Star – Jan. 23, 2018 – Sixty-nine days later, I heard the news, like anyone else who follows Lange: that he was near death after stabbing himself in the stomach nine times with a 13-inch kitchen knife. Mandy: When was the last time you did coke or heroin? Artie: Well I just pissed clean at Hazelden so that’s 38 days. But here’s the thing: 31 of them were in lockdown. So now’s the real work. And I’m not going to lie to you, it’s a struggle lying there every night. Mandy: Do you take, what is it, methadone? Artie:…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: January 22, 2018 Madison Hill Public Relations Rachel Madison Hill [email protected] (323) 445.0425 EMMY AWARD WINNER AND NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL TO RECEIVE EXPERIENCE, STRENGTH AND HOPE AWARD® FOR HER TELL-ALL BOOK: “iWANT: MY JOURNEY FROM ADDICTION AND OVERCONSUMPTION TO A SIMPLER, HONEST LIFE” LOS ANGELES, CA – Writers In Treatment, an organization that supports recovery and the arts, is proud to announce this year’s honoree of the 9th Annual Experience, Strength and Hope Award® television journalist and author, Jane Velez-Mitchell. She hosted her own show on CNN’s Headline News, “Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell”…
Evelyn Wood Approved – Jan. 22, 2018 – About 10 hours had passed – and she felt like she could still keep going. Her focus and alertness were aided by a small orange pill – Adderall, a prescription stimulant prescribed for disorders, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy, that she does not have. Adderall is generally recognized as a “study drug” for students without these disorders because of its ability to boost productivity and extend wakefulness. The freshman is one of 14 students who said in interviews that they’ve used these easily accessible drugs, especially during the stressful midterm…
Radio Radio – January 25, 2018 – Kali McConnell, a drummer who has played alongside musicians such as Willie Nelson and Pete Seeger, said he lost everything to opioid addiction. He was prescribed the pills to treat chronic pain, but got hooked. In a detox program, he was introduced to heroin. “Why are you taking Percocets?” McConnell recalls another patient saying to him. “Heroin is much cheaper.” But even to get into a detox program, McConnell said, he had to test positive for drugs. Full Story @ GazetteNet.com
Business is Whizzness – Jan 23, 2018 – Residential drug treatment centers are doing big business as the opioid epidemic continues to grows. Facilities routinely charge patients’ insurance thousands of dollars a day for treatment. But the ABC Action News I-Team uncovered not all of those charges are justified and may be helping to drive up insurance rates for everyone. “I went on a bender. By the time it was done, I was in handcuffs in the back of a sheriff’s car,” said Rachel, a registered nurse from Florida’s East Coast who didn’t want to give her last name because…
Family Focus – January 26, 2018 – Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky’s family did not discuss what killed his uncle in 2015. The man was young, not quite two weeks past his 45th birthday, when he died and had lost touch with loved ones in his final months. At the time, Ostrovsky wondered if his uncle had perhaps killed himself. Almost two years later, Ostrovsky was Medicaid’s chief medical officer, grappling professionally with an opioid crisis that kills about 115 Americans each day, when he learned the truth: His uncle had died of a drug overdose. Family members knew the uncle’s life…
Stick with the Winners – Leonard Buschel is a Philadelphia native, and a very happy Los Angeles transplant. He is a California Certified Substance Abuse Counselor with years of experience working with people struggling with addiction. He attended Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Mr. Buschel is the founder of Writers In Treatment whose primary purpose is to promote ‘treatment’ as the best first step solution for addiction, alcoholism and other self-destructive behaviors. Leonard is the director of the nine year old REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium®, and for five years has been the editor/publisher of the weekly Addiction/Recovery eBulletin®.…