Author: Leonard Buschel

AND HEALTHIER – June 6, 2025 – Cut back on sugary and salty processed foods in favor of whole, fresh ones; quit smoking; cool it on the alcohol; and get in some regular exercise. However unsexy such recommendations may be, it’s these routine behaviors that have the most evidence behind them for helping you eke out more years and ward off illness too. “I’ve seen that little changes can make a real difference over time,” Jeffrey Boone, MD, In fact, approaching all facets of your lifestyle with moderation may be the best tack. “To get too obsessed with one thing…

WATCH – BREAK NEWS – May 31, 2025 – The founder/former CEO made an initial court appearance. The federal investigation into Sovereign Health which ran multiple addiction treatment centers in Southern California has been underway since June 2017 when the FBI raided Sovereign’s treatment facilities, its San Clemente headquarters and Tonmoy Sharma’s home.  But even after the closure, NBCLA investigations found that Tonmoy Sharma, the former CEO, operated a licensed residential treatment facility in San Juan Capistrano under the name Dana Shores Recovery. Sharma, who was arrested at LAX Thursday afternoon, is accused of submitting more than $149 million in fraudulent claims to private insurance companies…

STILL AT WOODSTOCK? – June 3, 2025 – In 2023, roughly 7 percent of adults 65 and older reported using the drug in the past month. Researchers found marijuana use among older adults who are college-educated, higher-income earners and female. Findings highlight the need for health care providers to screen adult patients for cannabis use and educate them about potential risks.  Top 5 Reasons Older Adults Use Cannabis A 2024 report from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, which is supported by AARP, found that older adults are using marijuana for a variety of reasons, including to: CONTINUE@AARP

SAVE THE CHILDREN – June 2025 – Teen substance use trends are always changing, and staying informed can help parents have better conversations with their kids. The good news? Teen substance use is at an all-time low! According to the Monitoring the Future survey, fewer teens are drinking, vaping, or using drugs compared to previous years.1 So, the next time your teen says, “Everyone is doing it,” you can ask how… That said, it’s still important to keep an eye on emerging trends. New products, shifting laws, and the influence of social media continue to shape how young people perceive…

HONESTLY? – June 4, 2025 – This new approach uses a tool called microinteraction-based ecological momentary assessment, or μEMA for short. It works on smartwatches and collects small pieces of data throughout the day. This method reduces the pressure on users while increasing accuracy and reliability. AlcoWatch, marks the first time μEMA has been used over a long period to collect alcohol-related data. Researchers tested this new method on 32 people. They were part of a long-term health study and lived in the Bristol area. For 12 weeks, these participants wore basic Android smartwatches equipped with the custom-built AlcoWatch app.…

“The ideal subject of totalitarianism is the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true or false, no longer exists.” – Hannah Arendt, b. 1906 – d.1975

NOT VERY NEIGHBORLY – May 27, 2025 – West Villagers are up in arms over a church’s plan to build a new $11 million mission at a historic NYC street corner, arguing it would lure even more junkies and vagrants to the already besieged area. The Church of St. Luke in the Field’s plans to erect a 4,400-square-foot building on the iconic corner of Christopher and Hudson streets..on the same block as a swanky school — complete with Narcan kits and free meals, to serve up to 300 hobos and drug addicts. Residents were not feeling charitable towards the scheme,…

COMING SOON – March 28, 2025 – Paul Walter Hauser offers news on the upcoming Chris Farley biopic, where he’s set to portray the comedy legend. The SNL standout died from a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33. Based on Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby’s biography, The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts, directed by Josh Gad. More@ScreenRant

MORE KINDNESS NEEDED – May 19, 2025 – On May 11, 2015, our 25-year-old son Alex died of a heroin overdose in a vacant lot in Newark. It was every parent‘s worst nightmare, the worst case among many moments in Alex’s addiction. This year, May 11 was Mother’s Day. To mark the 10th anniversary of Alex’s death, we had brunch with friends and walked in DC‘s Rock Creek Park. Nationally, life-saving strategies such as buprenorphine and naloxone are more common. Libraries, schools, pharmacies, restaurants, and other establishments often stock naloxone. Restrictions on methadone maintenance were reduced during Covid-19, allowing more…

THE GOOD SON – May 27, 2025 – “She was a great mom. It was tough when she left,” the actor said during an appearance on the “Messy” podcast. Faustino said he went off the “deep end” when she died, partying and abusing alcohol and drugs to numb the pain. “Within about four months of being sober, I was able to acknowledge and be like, ‘Oh, my mom is dead. Right? She’s gone. That’s what people do. They get old enough, they die. And she was a great mom… “And now I’m on the other side of it. I’m able…

LIFE ON LIFE’S TERMS – May 26, 2025 – The actor, 32, shared in a Hollywood Authentic profile that he battled drug addiction during his rise to stardom in the early 2020s, when he appeared in films like The Banshees of Inisherin, Saltburn, The Batman, and Marvel’s Eternals. Now, Keoghan is working to put his addiction behind him, a condition that runs deep in his family tree. “I’m not in denial anymore,” Keoghan told Hollywood Authentic. “I understand that I do have an addiction, and I am an addict. You know, when you accept that, you finally can move on…

RINGO AGREES – May 24, 2025 – To begin with, not drinking was just experimental, then it became a challenge. With time, I started to see the good in it. You never know how you’re going to react under stress or grief, and from an early age I had just ruled out drinking as a way to deal with these things. I also developed an ability to speak my mind or just have the balls to speak to new people sober…not needing something to help ease social anxieties. I was the odd one out among my friends. They’d wonder why…

HEARTBREAKING – May 27, 2025 – The daughters of a U.S. Army veteran whose body was found in a homeless encampment are raising concerns about the LA Police Department’s handling of their mother’s case. Lucrecia Macias Barajas, 46, was found dead May 12 by one of her three daughters after she traced her mother’s cellphone to a large, tarp-covered shelter … Video taken by a resident showed the daughter wailing on the ground after making the tragic discovery and later begging officers to remove her mother’s body. The LAPD has characterized the death as a suspected drug overdose, and told…

NO ONE KNOWS WHY – May 28, 2025 – Danan reportedly died while watching TV at his home. A postmortem examination determined that Danan’s death was caused by a combined toxicity of heroin, cocaine, methadone, codeine, pregabalin and zopiclone, contributed to by benzodiazepine use, A neighbor reportedly used a ladder to look into Danan’s apartment, where he found him on the sofa with the television still on, according to the Daily Mail and the U.K. newspaper Metro. Danan’s girlfriend, Melissa Crooks, had raised concerns after not hearing from him since the early hours of Jan. 14 after they went out…

NO MARIJUANA MARTINIS? – March 19, 2025 – Swapping one addictive, mind-altering substance for another isn’t harm reduction; it is exploitation and a tried-and-true marketing tactic of the addiction-for-profit industry. Setting aside the known health risks, unintentional edible-related THC ingestion in children under 12 surged between 2017 and 2023, largely driven by edibles that look like candy. With THC-infused drinks packaged like soda, we don’t have to guess what comes next.  Trading alcohol for weed isn’t healing. This is about shifting addicted drinkers to THC to maintain and grow dependence-driven profits. Twelve-step programs, cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication-assisted treatments are proven…

VIDEO – ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE –  May 25, 2025 – Elvis Presley sang it in Heartbreak Hotel and now a top voice in American health says the classic song’s chorus has become an alarming reality: Americans are feeling so lonely, they could die. Vivek Murthy, the former U.S. Surgeon General, is warning that the negative health impacts of chronic loneliness are comparable to some of the nation’s biggest killers. “The overall mortality increase that can be related to social disconnection is comparable to the mortality impact of smoking and obesity,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “That’s…

DOING THE RIGHT THING – May 25, 2025 – Ms. Hayes went onto lose her job, her home, and contact with most of her friends and family before her sister convinced her to seek help. Now sober for eighteen months and one week, she said she still carries “immense guilt” in relation to her daughter Farah, who lived with her father during the height of her mother’s addiction. After disappearing from the spotlight for a period of a few years, she recaptured public attention in 2023 when she appeared before the courts on charges of money laundering. The case against…

SUCCESS AND THEN SOME – May 25, 2025 – This millennial founder got his start working alongside Diary of a CEO’s Steven Bartlett, before launching a rival multimillion-pound marketing agency of his own. But before his rise in the agency world, Sam Budd was grappling with the trauma of his brother’s death, battling school expulsions, and visiting his homeless father under motorway bridges. Money makes money. Research estimates that just 12% of CEOs come from a working-class background. And the startup world is no different: Entrepreneurs without wealth or connections face an uphill battle for funding—without the capital, connections, or…

PROBABLY DO – May 25, 2025 – Thousands of people with alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) could be going undiagnosed, an expert says. Research suggests consuming 35 units of alcohol per week for five years or more can cause ARBD, which affects a person’s ability to carry out basic daily tasks. Lee Caldwell, 56, who was diagnosed with ARBD last year, said he struggled with short-term memory and impulse control. Prof Gareth Roderique Davies said stigma and lack of awareness led to ARBD being missed or misdiagnosed, and said adequate resources remained a challenge. CONTINUE@BBC

FREAKY PHARMA – May 27, 2025 – Used for urinary tract infections Azo, Pyridium, Prodium, Pyridiate, Baridium, and Uricalm — available over the counter (OTC) in the US and UK at lower strengths and by prescription at higher strengths. Experts are warning the drug could cause cancer based on early evidence from animal studies. n one study conducted by the National Institutes for Health (NIH), it was found that dietary exposure to phenazopyridine caused tumors in two rodent species at two different tissue sites. In female mice, it caused benign and malignant liver tumors while in rats of both sexes,…

LOVE LOVES – May 28, 2025 – This essay is adapted from “The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex” By the turn of the century, my lovers were increasingly women, which meant I finally had orgasms with other people. But I was still trying to play the cool girl and enjoy casual sex, even though I seemed constitutionally incapable; I always ended up committed.  Probably because, underneath that relaxed exterior, I was anything but casual. My ability to seduce and capture my partners was a primary source of my self-esteem. Once partnered, however, it was I who felt…

VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – 1961 – Nobody has ever recorded a better version of that tune. Ernie Wilkins’ arrangement is gorgeous, and Mark’s vocal is perfect. Back in those days, the record companies were promoting Mark as the next Sinatra, a crooner singing American classic tunes. But Mark was really a hard core jazz singer, and he went down his own path. He could have made a lot more money if he’d gone the commercial route. But he stuck to his artistic vision. I respect him for that. Amazing singer. CONTINUE@YouTube

VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – 1967 – I used to visit all the very gay placesThose come what may placesWhere one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of lifeTo get the feel of lifeFrom jazz and cocktailsThe girls I knew had sad and sullen gray facesWith distant gay tracesThat used to be there you could see where they’d been washed awayBy too many through the dayTwelve o’clock tales  CONTINUE@YouTube

NO LAUGHING MATTER – May 28, 2025 – John Perrotta likes to stay busy. He spent decades building a comedy business at night while working as a correctional officer by day. He did all this while living a reckless lifestyle that nearly ruined him on more than one occasion. Now 67, Perrotta has just released an autobiography, How Comedy Saved My Life: My Wild Journey of Addiction, Recovery & Making the Ultimate Comeback. The story is largely unhappy, beginning with a difficult childhood. “My father was an alcoholic and had depression,” Perrotta says. “In the sixties he had shock treatments.…

BASTARD – May 28, 2025 – Hospital workers revived a puppy with Narcan after an apparent overdose in St. Louis. The puppy’s owner now faces criminal charges. The Attorney’s Office has charged Ashley Harris, 35, with two misdemeanors – animal abuse and resisting/interfering with arrest – amid the investigation Investigators say the puppy was believed to be 8-10 weeks old and showed various signs of an opioid overdose, including blue gums and dilated pupils. CONTINUE@Fox

STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – June 3, 2025 – Neil Scott is producer/host of Recovery-Coast to Coast, the National Podcast, featuring interviews with many prominent people in recovery, including Betty Ford, Judy Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Bonnie Raitt, and others, as well as everyday people in long-term recovery. Neil has been in the field of addiction for 50 years. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?A. I am not in personal recovery, however I have spent the last 50 years in the field of addiction. I attend open AA…

VIDEO – SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT –  May 27, 2025 – Actor Tommy Dorfman joins “CBS Mornings” to discuss “Maybe This Will Save Me,” a deeply personal memoir about growing up queer in the South, battling addiction and discovering one’s true self. CONTINUE@CBSNews

GOD BLESS HER – May 27, 2025 – Equipped with clothing, food and medical supplies, Lisa Lipyanic of Wind Gap tries to help people who live on the streets like her brother had been doing for many years. Randy Lipyanic died a year ago this month after struggling for 20 years with homelessness and drug addiction. He was 51. She has been making excursions for the last year to drug-infested areas of Philadelphia. CONTINUE@LVL

NOT RUNNING…AWAY – May 25, 2025 – She began running to ease the pain of her alcoholic neuropathy, or nerve damage caused by chronic alcohol consumption. After being hospitalized in 2021 for the second time due to the effects of alcohol abuse, Fortuin signed up for treatment at Turning Point Recovery Center. “I just started running. I didn’t know what to do. Sleeping was hard and I wanted to get healthy. I look forward to waking up and running,” Fortuin said. “Running became so much a part of my life, a part of my recovering journey.” CONTINUE@UNM  

VIDEO – NUTRITION MATTERS – May 26, 2025 – Meals on Wheels is making a difference in the lives of individuals recovering from substance abuse through a new program. Graduates of the program emphasize that the meals provided were vital to their sobriety.The program delivers 10 meals each week to individuals in their first 90 days of recovery. For Matthew Hopkins, a graduate of the program, these meals helped him reach milestones. “You know, without the program I would have been worried about finding my next meal, so I wouldn’t have been able to devote my time to my meetings…