“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” – William Faulkner, 1897–1962
Author: Leonard Buschel
VIDEO – PROPHETIC – 1967 – Follows Police Detective Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Officer Bill Gannon as they investigate various different crimes in Los Angeles, Forget the pot. The real stunner here is that back then at 23 years old you could have a wife, kids, house, car, career. And “Joe Friday” died from legal nicotine addiction. WATCH
SUMMERTIME BLUES – July 5, 2026 – Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba that thrives in the summer months, especially in warm, still freshwater. It has, “in very rare cases,” also been detected in “poorly maintained swimming pools, splash pads, and other recreational venues,” and tap water, according to the CDC. The warming climate is only expected to exacerbate the problem, experts warn. Now, you may be wondering why an increasing prevalence of an amoeba is such a concern. For humans, it’s because of Naegleria fowleri’s more common name: brain-eating amoeba. Read More
MORE CARE- LESS DEATHS – July 6, 2026 – The county is being recognized as Florida’s top performer, after cutting opioid-related deaths by more than half in just one year. “There were several years, back around 2016 and 2017, where Manatee County was the top in Florida for opioid overdoses and opioid deaths.” But today, Manatee County has been named top in the state for its Coordinated Opioid Recovery Program, CORP. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, opioid-caused deaths dropped 56% from 2023 to 2024 in Manatee County, which is the biggest decrease in the state. Read…
VIDEO – LIVE AND LEARN – July 7, 2026 – An Oregon-based author, speaker and recovery coach Joey McCollum believes that you can’t change your past, but you can rewrite your story. WATCH
VIDEO – WORTH A WATCH – March 20, 2025 – AJ Daulerio is a journalist, writer, and former editor-in-chief of Gawker and Deadspin. He made a name for himself with his bold, unfiltered approach to digital media, helping to redefine sports and celebrity journalism. His tenure at Gawker came to a dramatic end with the infamous Hulk Hogan lawsuit, a high-stakes legal battle that ultimately led to the site’s bankruptcy and raised critical questions about press freedom and the influence of billionaire-backed litigation. In the years since, Daulerio has focused on personal growth, recovery, and storytelling. He is the founder…
WTF? – July 9, 2026 – Law enforcement seized more than 63,000 pounds of illegal cannabis valued at over $104 million. They removed nearly 90,000 cannabis plants, confiscated 17 firearms and $220,923 in cash and arrested 24 people. Investigators discovered numerous environmental violations, including 13 cultivation sites where banned, unregistered or foreign-labeled pesticides were found or suspected. Read More
HOPE NOT DOPE – July 8, 2026 – Using money from opioid settlements, Albany County has launched an “It’s Possible” campaign to get out the message that recovery is possible, harm reduction is possible, prevention is possible, and community is possible. County Executive Daniel McCoy said that the county has received $8.2 million in funding. “Albany County joined a number of lawsuits against the drug companies, the pharmaceuticals, the distributors that flooded the U.S. with opiates,” McCoy said at a July 7 press conference, announcing the new campaign. Read More
VIDEO – TAKE NOTES! – July 9, 2026 – For most of us, it can be hard to identify when we crossed the point of no return. And usually, by the time we notice, it’s often too late. The only way to prevent these things is to prevent becoming addicted to alcohol, and to do that, you need to know what to look out for. A former alcoholic has revealed the ‘red flags’ that mean you could have alcohol use disorder without knowing it. Let’s be honest, drinking is very much part of UK culture, and if you don’t, you…
SUE SUE – July 9, 2026 – Mojo, a synthetic cannabinoid that can be sprayed on a piece of paper and ingested, has been linked to multiple overdoses behind bars. West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office Chief of Criminal Operations Major Kevin Devall said that it’s an issue penal facilities across the country are dealing with. WBRSO reported that the overdoses took place in the booking area of the detention center after a work-release inmate allegedly brought Mojo into the jail. According to Devall, the inmate was found intoxicated at a job site and taken back to the jail, where he…
VIDEO – TAKE NOTES! – 16,508,581 views – Premiered on June 21, 2026 – Listen to ‘you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love’ out now. Music video by Olivia Rodrigo performing stupid song.© 2026 Olivia Rodrigo, under exclusive license to Geffen Records. WATCH
STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – July 14, 2026 – Harry Nelson is a healthcare attorney, author, speaker, and policy commentator in his 3rd decade as a nationally recognized voice on addiction, healthcare policy, and the future of medicine and behavioral health. He is the author of several books, including The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain. Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?A. I am not personally in recovery (if I was, it would be for disordered eating more than alcohol or drugs),…
VIDEO – SIBLING SADNESS – June 2026 – On the June 11 episode of “A Touch More,” Megan Rapinoe told guest Abby Wambach that she returned home in 2025 after her older brother Michael died. She described his death as the result of a long battle with alcoholism and noted recognizing patterns of obsession and compulsion in both herself and him. WATCH
MALIBU REHAB IN DEEP DOO DOO – June 30, 2026 – The “Bad and Boujee” rapper (born Symere Bysil Woods) entered rehab in February 2022 and worked toward their sobriety over the course of several months. During their stay, they participated in weekly group and individual therapy … Woods’ deposition has yet to take place. On June 23, Los Angeles County Court declined to compel Woods to be deposed in California, as the defendants’ legal team requested. In a June 9 filing, Woods said they were willing to be deposed in New York, where they live, or via videoconference. Read…
INTOXICATION? – July 10, 2026 – Alcohol may not affect the Alzheimer’s-damaged brain in one single way—instead, its impact appears to depend on which type of brain change is already present, according to new research. The findings complicate the widely held assumption that alcohol simply worsens Alzheimer’s-related decline across the board. Alzheimer’s disease is marked by two main types of abnormal protein buildup in the brain: amyloid-beta, which forms sticky plaques between brain cells, and tau, which forms tangles inside them. Scientists have long studied both, but rarely examined how alcohol interacts with each separately. Read More
PERPLEXING – July 5, 2026 – It didn’t look like what I thought a drinking problem was supposed to look like. It looked like beach days, boat days and long afternoons by the pool with friends who were doing the same. I wasn’t drinking alone. I wasn’t blacking out. I never drove drunk. From the outside, it felt normal. But underneath that, something was shifting. Then I got shamed for moderation. What surprised me most was how uncomfortable people seemed with the idea that recovery, or even just reevaluating your relationship with alcohol, might not look the same for everyone.…
NOWHERE IS IMMUNE – July 8, 2026 – Lorant, 46, said he turned to drugs as a form as ‘self-medication’ to cope with depression .In 2025, 2,150 people died as a result of taking drugs, up from 2,137 in 2024 and just under the all-time high of 2,227 recorded deaths in 2023. Roughly one in four were under 30 (528), up 53% from 2021, and 106 were under 20, almost double the number in 2021. The victims were on average 40.6 years old. “Many of these young people are not yet able to fully grasp the risks,” he said. Streeck,…
THE ONE YOU’RE ON – July 6, 2026 – Alcohol and nicotine are the most harmful drug, but opioids, methamphetamine, and cocaine are most addictive. If determination of the most addictive drug is restricted to illegal drugs, heroin has highest addiction liability, with cocaine and methamphetamine close behind. Studies examining first drug experiences reveal that heroin and cocaine produce the highest persistent memory of the drug, drive for next use, and reinforcement scores, meaning initial exposure strongly predicts later drug-seeking and use. Let’s zero in on cocaine, since I recently highlighted its renewed popularity. For years, my work focused on…
THE HARDER THEY COME – June 26, 2026 – While Margle didn’t admit to the crimes he was charged with, he did admit to lehighvalleylive.com that he had a cocaine problem. “I hit a speed bump that I needed to address,” Margle said on Friday, June 26. Margle was jailed in February after refusing to submit to a drug test. He eventually agreed to be tested, then was paroled to an inpatient drug-rehab facility. Margle said he spent 24 days in inpatient rehab, then seven weeks in intensive outpatient treatment. He says he’s out of rehab and he’s clean. “I’m…
SLOW DOWN – July 5, 2026 – “She would go: ‘Oh Ronnie, what am I going to do?’ I said: ‘Look, everyone knows you’ve got vodka in the water bottle. Get it together and get on stage.’ But if you could get her up there and she stayed there, it’d be great,” Wood, who used to spend time with the English singer, said in the interview. “I’m sad because she didn’t do her full span,” the guitarist added of Winehouse. “It was like saying goodbye to Billie Holiday again.” Read More
RALPH’S JEALOUS? – July 10, 2026 – “Between 2006 and 2022, Albertsons dispensed more than 641 million opioid pills into Washington, most of which had red flags that weren’t cleared before they were dispensed. At its peak, Albertsons dispensed enough pills for every senior, adult, child, and baby every year to have half a dozen pain pills every year for over a decade.” More than 26,000 Washingtonians have died from an opioid overdose, and approximately 10 times that number have misused or became addicted to opioids. Many people who start with prescription opioids develop a need for more and more medication,…
BUT WILL THEY? – July 6, 2026 – The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today announced more than $281 million in funding opportunities for 15 grant programs … “These funding opportunities reflect SAMHSA’s commitment to addressing the full continuum of behavioral health needs — from preventing substance use and suicide to expanding mental health services, trauma-informed care, addiction treatment, reversing overdoses, and recovery support,” said SAMHSA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher D. Carroll. “By investing in evidence-based programs and community partnerships, we can help save…
HEAVY ISSUES – July 9, 2026 – In addition to being a key feature of many eating disorders, body image disturbance and a desire to lose weight can motivate substance use—both legal and illegal—as women strive to attain a culturally valued low body weight. For example, in a nationally representative sample of more than 12,000 young adults in the US, losing weight was one of the most common motivations for non-medical use of stimulants for women (Drazdowski et al., 2020). Similarly, in a sample of 131 college students who used substances, 15.3 percent of women reported using drugs for weight…
“All addictions are a low level search for God.” – Carl Jung, 1875-1961
GOOD NEWS FOR NORMIES – July 2, 2026 – Historically, alcohol has been woven into many cultures. In parts of Europe, for example, children were once given small amounts of wine as a way to teach responsible drinking, according to some historians. In fact, until the practice was banned in the mid-1950s, some French schools served alcohol to children. You read that correctly. When I was a child, I remember my dad giving me about one-fourth cup of beer one evening while we were watching TV. I took a sip and wondered, “How could anyone drink this stuff?” I handed…
SOBER-CURIOUS GEN Z SHARES RESULTS – July 2, 2026 – A Cosmopolitan after work. A martini at a fancy restaurant. Tequila shots on birthdays. A glass of wine while travelling. Beers during a trip. If there was a celebration, a vacation, a weekend getaway or simply a Friday evening, my hand was rarely empty. The funny thing is, alcohol wasn’t something I was desperately trying to escape from. I wasn’t having dramatic rock-bottom moments. I wasn’t waking up every morning promising myself I’d never drink again. I was simply curious. Curious about what would happen if I stopped. Curious about…
BUZZ POSTPONED – July 1, 2026 – Best Day Brewing’s Wild American Pilsner was named Best in Show at the inaugural North American Nonalcoholic Cup, earning the competition’s top honor after blind judging of more than 100 nonalcoholic beverages. “We thought, if we can crack this, we can prove that the NA category can meet people wherever they already drink — a cookout, a tailgate, an afternoon on the water — and those are the moments we built this beer for.” Huffard says he was immediately convinced they’d achieved that goal when he first sampled Wild American. Read More
HOW HIGH? – June 30, 2026 – Compared with those who consumed the lowest amounts of preservatives, people with the highest intake had a 24% greater risk of developing hypertension. Researchers identified eight commonly used preservatives associated with a higher incidence of hypertension … including potassium sorbate, sodium nitrite, citric acid, and ascorbic acid. When researchers looked at different types of preservatives, they found that high consumption of non-antioxidant preservatives, such as sodium nitrite and sorbates used in processed meats and packaged foods, was associated with a 29% higher risk of hypertension and a 16% higher risk of cardiovascular disease.…
VIVA LA REVOLUTION – June 29, 2025 – Five years after becoming the first Southern state to legalize possession of marijuana, Virginia has approved a legal way to sell it to recreational users. State budget legislation enacted Monday will allow up to 350 cannabis shops to open across Virginia beginning July 1, 2027. The move marks the latest expansion of access to the drug — which remains illegal at the federal level — through state-level policymaking. “Virginia legalized adult possession years ago, but without a regulated retail market, we left the illicit market to fill the gap,” state Sen. Lashrecse…
Or POISON – July 2, 2026 – Alcohol contributes to millions of deaths globally each year and is linked to cancer, liver disease, unintentional accidents, violence and, importantly, dependence and addiction. Despite this, the disconnect between alcohol’s cultural role and its serious health burden is striking. An estimated 2.3 billion people worldwide consume alcohol. As a physician working in addiction medicine, I regularly care for patients whose alcohol use affects nearly every organ system. It is often not until these patients end up admitted to the hospital that they learn the effects of alcohol on various parts of their body…