Author: Leonard Buschel

MAGIC BEANS – April 3, 2025 – About 80% of the coffee beans imported into the U.S. come from Latin America, and most coffee imports come from Brazil (35%) and Colombia (27%) as of 2023, according to the Department of Agriculture, as both countries face tariff rates of 10%. The U.S. accounts for roughly 30.4% of India’s annual gems and jewelry exports, industry officials told Reuters, as India handles nine out of every 10 diamonds processed globally. Sugar is largely imported into the U.S. from the Dominican Republic (17%), Brazil (14%) and the Philippines (13%), per the USDA’s estimates. The…

IT’S NOT GOOD – April 4, 2025 – For many, a drink or two is a regular part of socialising or unwinding. But how often do we consider the impact of those drinks on our bodies, both immediately and over time? While a casual glass of wine or beer might seem harmless, understanding alcohol’s effects on our health is crucial. Brain – Consuming alcoholic drinks can affect the pathways and neurotransmitters in the brain, resulting in changes to mood, behaviour, memory, and coordination. “Interestingly, neurotransmitters work in opposing ways – so while drinking can create feelings of calm and relaxation,…

AUDIO – OH MAMA –  April 4, 2025 – Guest Prudie Kristen Meinzer is joined by award-winning journalist and founder of TransLash media Imara Jones. Together, they answer questions about being taken advantage of by a friend, confronting an alcoholic parent, and supporting your cousin when her mom is being delusional. Want more Dear Prudence? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/prudie-plus to get access wherever you…

EVERY LIFE MATTERS! – March 31, 2025 – The parents of Justin Cartwright, after fatally overdosing inside San Francisco’s largest addiction treatment program, have sued the HealthRight 360, alleging that it failed to ensure their son’s safety. Cameron Sehat, the attorney representing Cartwright’s parents, said that the conditions inside HealthRight’s facilities were “the perfect fuel” for Cartwright’s death, which he said reasonably should have been prevented. HealthRight received about $65 million in city contracts last year and operates approximately 75% of San Francisco’s publicly funded beds for people looking to recover from addiction. Cartwright died of a fentanyl overdose on…

VIDEO – SING DANCE ACT –  March 30, 2025 – According to thousands of studies, researchers have determined that involvement in the arts can improve public health and promote healing from illness, as well as protect against such problems as cognitive decline, heart disease, anxiety and depression. CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook talks with Broadway director Lear deBessonet, the force behind Arts For EveryBody, a national public health movement whose mission is to connect more people to the arts and create healthier communities. CONTINUE@CBSNews

AUDIO – WHIP IT GOOD: DEVO –  April 3, 2025 – Walk into any vape store or sex shop, and you’ll find canisters of nitrous oxide showcased in window displays—ostensibly to catch the eye of bakers and baristas, who use the gas to aerate creams and foams. At the bodega near my apartment, boxes of up to 100 mini-canisters are piled up to eye level, next to Baby Yoda bongs. In fact, culinary professionals generally don’t shop for equipment at stores with names like Puff N Stuff or Condom Sense. The true clientele inhales the gas to get high. A…

VIDEO – WIT AND WISDOM – April 2, 2025 – Neuroscientist Dr Brian Pennie and his sister Anne spoke to Oliver Callan about the role of family and community in addiction and recovery; and the new documentary series ‘Hooked’ on the science of addiction from drugs to gambling and smartphones. CONTINUE@RTERadio

VIDEO – PURE AA MESSAGE – April 4, 2025 – Robert Carney’s memoir, “Unscarred,” is described as “gritty, raw and riveting true story of surviving addiction.” He stopped by Morning Break to share how childhood trauma led to addiction, poor decisions and eventually multiple stints in prison. However, as of April 4, 2025, Carney is 33 years sober. ,,, Growing up “hustling” on the streets of New York, Robert’s journey led to the confines of a maximum security prison, where he faced the ultimate test of his resilience. But it was addiction that proved to be his most formidable foe.…

BONG BONG BONG – April 1, 2025 – President Donald Trump as a candidate vowed to decriminalize marijuana and make it easier for weed companies to obtain bank accounts and for universities to research the drug. Now, commercials carrying reminders of Trump’s promises will air on televisions where the president spends most of his time. American Rights and Reform PAC will spend more than $1 million airing the two 30-second spots on cable and streaming services over the next month in Washington, DC, near the White House and in the West Palm Beach media market surrounding Mar-a-Lago, where Trump has…

“The world is a mysterious and confusing place. If you are not willing to be confused, you become a mere replica of someone else’s mind.” – Noam Chomsky, b. 1928 

TOO LATE – March 27, 2025 – “I didn’t have any ambitions to be the national spokesman for recovering alcoholics,” he said in the cover story, published on Tuesday. Affleck released a public statement in 2018, after his third stint in rehab, in which he said that “battling any addiction is a lifelong and difficult struggle.” “Because of that, one is never really in or out of treatment. It is a full-time commitment,” he wrote at the time. The Oscar winner said that if he “could have,” he “would’ve kept the fact that I’m sober anonymous.” “I think it works…

CELEBRITY REHAB – March 27, 2025 – “I would get up in the morning. I would have my breakfast and I would do yoga outside.” He would complete two one-hour therapy sessions before a break. “I would meet a doctor before going to the gym [in the afternoon]. Then I would come back [to my room], take a shower, go to therapy again and go meet the doctors to make sure my medication was working.” “That was every single day. So Monday through Sunday, we would have no days off,” Taylor told Us about the “hard” therapy sessions. “There’s just…

SORRY TOOTSIE – March 27, 2025 – Jelly Roll is extending the conversation around addiction one topic at a time. The singer recently opened up about how addiction impacted his family, especially his daughter, Bailee Ann. In an interview on “The Pivot” podcast, he recalled his ex’s recent arrest on drug charges, noting how it affected the 16-year-old. The country star broke into tears as he emotionally remembered witnessing his daughter heartbroken over seeing her mom’s mug shot. CONTINUE@YahooLife

DOCTOR OF DYING – March 27, 2025 – A doctor the state suspended from practicing medicine for nearly a decade has again had his license pulled for not complying with requirements after his license was reinstated last year. The medical commission did not answer a question about why it reinstated Li’s license, stating it was under the terms of the 2018 agreement … Li, who is board certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine, was the sole owner of the eight now-shuttered clinic locations of the Seattle Pain Centers, where he allegedly improperly oversaw opioid-prescribing practices. Concerns over the urine tests…

THE ACID KING – April 1, 2025 – Author Dennis McDougal, 77, and his wife, Sharon,76,died after a four-vehicle crash last Friday on the Interstate 10 Freeway in Desert Center, California. Dennis was not only my dear friend; he was also a brilliant award-winning, best selling author and documentarian. At the time of his death, Dennis was working on The Acid Chronicles, a documentary history of the evolution of psychedelics, from CIA abuse and party drugs to ongoing breakthroughs in treatment of mental illness in the 21st Century. CONTINUE@AddictionRecoveryeBulletin

HONESTY MATTERS – March 22, 2025 – Dukakis revealed she had overcome a 26-year addiction to amphetamines five years earlier after receiving treatment. She said she began taking diet pills at age 19. After Michael Dukakis lost the election, Kitty entered a 60-day treatment program for alcoholism. Several months later she suffered a relapse and was hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol. In her 1990 autobiography, “Now You Know,” she blamed her mother for much of her alcohol and drug addiction and a long history of low self-esteem. In 2006, she wrote another book, “Shock,” which credits the electroconvulsive therapy she…

AUDIO – THE BEAT BREAKFAST CLUB –  March 21, 2025 – The Beat’s own Lee Haberkorn hits a major milestone, opening up with raw honesty about his journey. We’re so proud of you, Lee! CONTINUE@TheBeat925

VIDEO – FEEL GOOD – March 26, 2025 – We’d like to introduce you to Change Please Coffee, a local coffee shop that is doing good in the community by helping people get back on their feet. They are a social enterprise and nonprofit, is teaching Coloradans who are at risk of becoming homeless hospitality job skills to help them secure full-time jobs. “One of the main things that can help people move out of homelessness is just a good job,” he said. “We believe that coffee, and specifically the hospitality industry, is a really good on-ramp for people to…

A SOBER DOM? – March 21, 2025 – “I bought my freedom.” In line with that open book approach, Simpson plans to produce a documentary using 400 hours of footage she compiled in the process of “stopping drinking and buying my company.” Followers of Simpson often seemed to imagine themselves as her best friend and/or personal trainer/sober coach/nutritionist. Simpson doesn’t mind sharing herself with the world — her best-selling memoir was titled Open Book, after all — but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a challenge to figure out who she is away from all that scrutiny. “If I based…

VIDEO – BACK FROM THE DEAD – March 26, 2025 – This alarming trend is personal for one Billings woman, Dawn Carter, who is now making the most of her second chance at life after surviving an overdose. Carter’s journey has been one of overcoming severe addiction, which began with prescription pain pills she would take from her mother who had cancer. Three years into pill seeking, she transitioned to heroin. “At that time, the biggest priority was just getting high with whatever was in front of me,” she said on Wednesday. “Was refilling prescriptions of my mom’s that weren’t…

READ MORE BOOKS – March 27, 2025 – We all know her. Let’s call her Claire. She appears in many books: a woman in her late 20s or early 30s; sometimes a parent, sometimes not. She’s usually cishet and white, embroiled in a mystery or scandal. And she has a drinking problem. Is she the victim or the perpetrator? We don’t know until the end, thanks to her alcohol use. It took me years to get sober. After fighting through the initial denial (which took a long time), I still hesitated because, after all, I didn’t look or act like…

ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE – March 24, 2025 – Zarha Ruiz, branch chief of environmental compliance and manufacturing safety at the Department of Cannabis Control. For cannabis, unlike for brownie mix or Tylenol, there’s no federal Food and Drug Administration to keep consumers safe. Testing for more contaminants isn’t necessarily better, however, he says. Without a vast body of research, scientists and regulators don’t know which contaminants have the biggest impact on human health. Still, California has seen recalls of legal weed — it had 63 last year, the most since the Department of Cannabis Control formed in 2021.…

A NEW BEAT – March 29, 2025 – For years, Detective Russell Berry had turned to drinking as a way to cope. After two decades in law enforcement, Berry acknowledged in 2024 that the pressures of his career had taken a significant toll. It was clear to him that it was time for a change! “There was no specific incident. There was a lot of bad calls. Death. Shootings. A lot of scary situations that most people don’t see,” said Russell, about the trauma he saw and experienced on the beat, what most of us expect law enforcement to deal…

VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE –  1,355,908 views  since Feb 28, 2022 – Thelonious Monk performing “Blue Monk” with Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums live at the University Aula in Oslo, Norway. CONTINUE@YouTube 

VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – 50,000 views – Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone, vocals; William Henderson – piano; Jeffrey Littleton – bass; John Betsch – drums. Mediawave Fesztivál, Gyor, Hungary, Synagogue, (Zsinagóga Gyor), April 28, 2002. Please read the comments. CONTINUE@YouTube

VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE –  Sept 2, 2023 – Emmet Cohen – Piano- Ekep Nkwelle – Vocals – Georgia Heers – Vocals -Tyreek McDole – Vocals – Anthony Hervey – Trumpet – Philip Norris – Bass -John Lumpkin II – Drums – Composed by Pharaoh Sanders CONTINUE@YouTube

MORE FUN THAN EVER – March 28, 2025 – Having grown up through the ladette/alcopop/Britpop era, I’ve endured more than my fair share of hangovers and often questioned my relationship with booze. Over recent time, I’ve identified as ‘sober curious’ – eagerly ticking off Dry Jans and Stoptobers – but last year I thought I’d go all in on a Dry 2024. This is what I learned. You don’t have to drink. I know, mind-blowing right? Cultural norms had me believe that alcohol was intrinsic to celebrating, commiserating and generally coping with life’s curve balls – utter BS. Across the…

STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – April 1, 2025 – John Shinholser is a recovery warrior, he fights excellent battles, and wins (most of the time) He is the co-founder of McShin and has influenced many “recovery” laws and funding streams for recovery. With over 42 years clean and sober, John is a good husband, father, son, brother, and friend to many. His best work is in front of him. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date? A. Alcohol, cannabis, acid and whatever you had. 8/10/82. Q. What do you…

POISONING PATIENTS? – March 17, 2025 – Ms. Delano is not a doctor; her main qualification, she likes to say, is having been “a professional psychiatric patient between the ages of 13 and 27.” During those years, when she attended Harvard and was a nationally ranked squash player, she was prescribed 19 psychiatric medications, often in combinations of three or four at a time. Then Ms. Delano decided to walk away from psychiatric care altogether, a journey she detailed in a new memoir, “Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance.” Fourteen years after taking her last psychotropic drug, Ms. Delano…

DON’T FALL OFF – March 27, 2025 – “It’s really fun to see the miracles,” he continued. “You see the miracles happen really fast. When someone has had enough and decides to get sober and really follows through with the 12 Step program, you watch their life dramatically change quickly.” Sheckler shares Olive, 2, and Lilah, 8 months, with wife Abigail Baloun, and he loves being a family man. “It’s just the best,” Sheckler told Us Weekly March 16. “I’ve been married to my wife for three years now. Our daughter, Olive, was born on our one-year wedding anniversary, so…