FEELS SO GOOD – Dec. 18, 2024 – Participants go through five phases of what is a nearly year-long program. Attendance at multiple treatment or recovery meetings each week is mandated by a plan determined to be appropriate for the individual. Drug screenings are conducted frequently to assure compliance with abstinence from drug use. Regular appearances before the court are required. … The recidivism rate has been found to be significantly lower for participants in comparison with those in a carefully matched group of drug offenders who went through traditional court proceedings. The number of adult drug court docket participants…
Author: Leonard Buschel
EMR MATTERS – October 2024 – The challenge is that many in the behavioral health space aren’t actively looking for AI solutions yet. Our role has been more about introducing these technologies. We ensure our products are HIPAA compliant by not using generalized language … I’ve worked with AI in every decade since the 80s, and I’ve always been fascinated by its potential. The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 was a turning point because this was the first time that the public had access to a large language model in a way that showed them its incredible abilities to…
FESTIVAL OF LIGHT – 2024 – As the Jewish people commemorate the miraculous victory of the poorly armed Maccabee army, we as therapists are acutely aware of a different uphill battle being fought daily – recovery from addiction – and the modern-day miracles being uncovered throughout the process. Those in recovery, like the Maccabees, often feel they are up against a fearsome battle: “The progression of recovery is a continuous uphill journey” (Narcotics Anonymous). As the staggeringly high relapse rate attests to, the odds are stacked against these soldiers who are up against an “army” that is large, fierce, and…
VIDEO – USE MORE NARCAN! – Dec. 19, 2024 – “The prospect of nitozines being out in the community drug supply is certainly worrisome because that increases the risk of overdose, when you have a very potent chemical that small amounts can be the difference between being comfortably high and not breathing anymore.” Experts say it is being shipped in from overseas, usually China. Dealers then press fake prescription drugs and put them out on the street as if they’re legitimate. Bodner says stopping these shipments coming through customs is almost impossible. “This drug is so powerful it takes so…
STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – Dec. 24, 2024 – Rabbi Ilan Glazer is dedicated to helping others embrace recovery, heal the grief they carry, and find music, blessings, and spiritual growth even in the difficulties of life. Ilan is the founder of Our Jewish Recovery, author of And God Created Recovery, Rabbi of Adat Chaim, and educator and prayer leader in Baltimore and beyond. A composer, storyteller, and percussionist, Gam Ki Elech: Turning Our Sorrows Into Song, his first album of original music launched in January. Ilan lives in Baltimore with his wife Sherri, their son Rami, and two furballs…
AUDIO – DIFFERENT STROKES – Dec. 18, 2024 – Once the nation’s fastest swimmer in her age group, Hilary Phelps’ life took an unexpected path at the age of 14 when she tried alcohol for the first time. That one seemingly small decision opened the door to a 15-year battle with addiction. After college, she “just…
CORPORATE DRUG PUSHERS – Dec. 2024 – The drug store chain knowingly filled prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not valid, and/or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice. Among the large quantities of unlawful prescriptions that CVS allegedly filled were prescriptions for dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant … CVS also allegedly filled large quantities of prescriptions for controlled substances written by prescribers it knew to be engaged in “pill mill practices” – that is, prescribers who issue large numbers of controlled substance prescriptions without…
MAJOR EXPOSÉ – Dec. 20, 2024 – The operators of PHA Healthcare had no significant experience providing drug treatment. But they built a multimillion-dollar business that appears to rely on a practice health officials described as both illegal and increasingly common in Baltimore: trading housing for treatment money. PHA Healthcare, the company whose program Vlakos entered, collects millions of dollars a year to treat hundreds of people struggling with addiction. But many of its patients have not gotten better. Instead, placed by the company in what are effectively government-funded drug houses, they have relapsed, fallen deeper into addiction and sometimes…
F**KING TRAGIC FOR EVERYONE – Dec. 21, 2024 – A sheriff’s deputy rushed into a trailer home last summer north of Troy to find a newborn girl not breathing. “Fentanyl caplets and buttons were throughout the entire house.” “The prevailing thought was, the fentanyl could have gotten into the formula, the fentanyl could have been on the pacifier. It could have been on the clothing,” Wood said. “Because fentanyl can come through the skin or it can be ingested. “Ultimately, we know the parents exposed the child to the drugs, and the drugs killed the child,” Wood said. A report…
YOU CAN DANCE BETTER SOBER – Dec. 21, 2024 – ‘Now Betty was shaking, as if being shaken awake from those lost conversations with her daughter.’‘Mom, when I was little, and even as I grew up, I always admired you for being a dancer. I wanted to be just like you. But now, these days, you’re falling and clumsy. You’re not the same person. And I’ve talked to you about things – things that were important to me, and the next day you didn’t even remember.’ Betty, reluctantly, agreed to a four-week rehab program and, a week later, sat in…
HUCK AND TOM? – Dec. 13, 2024 – “I asked Mel to present this award [the 25th Annual American Cinematheque Award] to me for a reason,” Downey began. “Because when I couldn’t get sober, he told me not to give up hope, and he urged me to find my faith. “Gibson spoke kindly of the star, who he famously helped to make a comeback by paying Downey Jr.’s insurance bond so he could star in 2003’s THE SINGING DETECTIVE. “You are my friend,” Gibson said when presenting Downey with the award. “When I saw you all those years ago and…
VIDEO – NOT EASY – Dec. 19, 2024 – “Today I’m 22 years sober, one day at a time,” Russell Brand shared. “And it’s been a really, really intense, mad, difficult year. Loads of things have happened, loads of them are public things, loads are personal things that involve my family, involve my little son and what he’s been through.” “What the great gift of recovery is, is the ability to know and practice that the spiritual life has to come first and the most important thing in your life is the way you serve other people.” “It is not…
IT’S A HOLIDAY MIRACLE! Dec, 21, 2024 – Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day Festival of Lights, begins at sunset this year on Christmas Day. WWJD? This only happened 10 times since we started using the Gregorian calendar in 1582. CONTINUE@WRAL
VIDEO – ORIGINAL MANIFESTATION – ETERNAL – One of the most popular movie musicals of all time, The Sound of Music is based on the true story of the Trapp Family Singers. Julie Andrews stars as Maria, a young nun in an Austrian convent who regularly misses her morning prayers because she enjoys going to the hills to sing the title song. Music composed by: Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II CONTINUE@YouTube
ONLY 10? – Dec. 13, 2024 – Chronic inflammation can cause cell mutation and rapid growth—the ideal environment for the development of cancer. “If your body is living daily off of ultra-processed foods, its ability to heal…decreases due to the inflammation and suppression of the immune system that allows the cancer to grow, Ultra-processed foods to stay away from: CONTINUE@MSN
WHERE’S PAPA? – Dec. 18, 10144 – Trinity Rodman spoke candidly about the current status of her relationship with her father, Dennis Rodman, in a new interview with Alex Cooper. In the hour-long Call Her Daddy conversation, available in full here, the pro soccer star looked back on a surprise appearance from her father at a game back in 2021. Headlines at the time were numerous, with Trinity herself sharing an extended statement on her father’s appearance at the game on Instagram. “We don’t have the best relationship, but at the end of the day, he’s human,” she wrote at…
“The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.” – Zakir Hussain, Mar. 9, 1951 – Dec. 15, 2024
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE? – Dec. 19, 2024 – Assembly Bill 56 (AB 56) proposes a mandatory ‘black box warning’ on social media sites during a user’s first time on the platform. The message would appear for at least 90 seconds, and would reappear every week. The warning itself would alert users to the risks associated with excessive social media use and the impact on mental health. Experts have warned about a worsening youth mental health crisis linked to social media. Studies have shown correlations between increased social media use and rising rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental health…
AND STOPPED DIGGING – Dec. 4, 2024 – In a new interview with The Times, published over the weekend, the singer recalled that her drinking caused a turbulent moment following her divorce from her first husband, Sam Cooper. “I drank myself into oblivion,” she told the outlet. “I went over to his house and started screaming at him, woke the kids up, you know, really distressed the children.” She added that her daughters Marnie, 11, and Ethel, 13, “remember that”; “they know that [she] was under the influence then and that it’s important that Mummy avoids getting into those situations.”…
NOT JUST IN PENCILS – Dec. 8, 2024 – Americans born before 1966 experienced “significantly higher rates of mental health problems as a result of lead, and likely experienced changes to their personalities that would have made them less successful and resilient in life.” Lead is “neurotoxic” and can erode brain cells and alter brain function – therefore, there is “no safe level of exposure at any point in life.” Young children are especially vulnerable … Lead study author Aaron Reuben, PhD, based in North Carolina, wrote in a statement that humans are “not adapted to be exposed to lead…
AS SUCCESSFUL AS EVER – Dec. 3, 2024 – Family Affair actor Johnny Whitaker looked nearly unrecognizable as he was spotted on a rare outing in Los Angeles on Monday during a solo errand run. The star, 64 – who got candid about his drug and alcohol addiction earlier this year – was seen stopping by an ATM while sporting a dark navy sweatshirt as well as a pair of black shorts. Whitaker added a gray, printed cap on top of his head and was seen strolling towards his next destination during the daytime excursion. The actor is…
ALANON Plus – Dec. 7, 2024 – A high percentage of treatment failures occur due to “user error.” In other words, the treatment team delivers the message, but the client—and often the family—doesn’t fully understand or follow the instructions. When a loved one enters rehab, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed, powerless, and fearful about whether the treatment will work. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Address Misconceptions Head-On “I’m not as bad as everyone else here.” The Educated Consumer Checklist identifies common gaps that lead to treatment pitfalls. Statements like “I’m not as bad as everyone else here”…
AUDIO – A GIANT IS GONE – Dec. 10, 2024 – Nikki Giovanni, the poet, author, educator and public speaker who went from borrowing money to release her first book to spending decades as a literary celebrity who shared blunt and conversational takes on everything from racism and love to space travel and mortality, has died. Subject of the prize-winning 2023 documentary “Going to Mars,”she passed with her lifelong partner, Virginia “Ginney” Fowler, by her side. The author of more than 25 books, Giovanni was a born confessor and performer whom fans came to know well from her work, readings…
DOUBLE WINNER – Dec. 8, 2024 – Standing 5′8″ and weighing in at 330 pounds, Breen had always been a big guy. He was also a regular drinker, though it had never been a “problem,” per se. That changed when the pandemic hit. He had already been dealing with a lot of stress between navigating his career as an emergency medical dispatcher and raising a daughter with autism. Add a global health crisis, and an evening cocktail turned into two or three. Then cocktails turned into bottles. At one point, Breen remembers picking up a bottle of vodka at the…
VIDEO – ACTIVE RECOVERY – Dec. 9, 2024 – Getting outdoors, hiking, climbing and even gardening has been helping those with a substance use disorder stay away from drugs and alcohol. The Phoenix, a nonprofit, promotes an active lifestyle for individuals recovering from substance abuse. CONTINUE@Fox
SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT FOR FIGHTING – Dec. 11, 2024 – “I maintain that it’s addictive. It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned — and I’ve been stoned — you don’t think normally,” he said. “Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.”He explained that his thoughts on legal marijuana stem from his experiences with other drugs. Since overcoming his addiction, he said he has helped people others overcome addiction and offered to help many more. According to the magazine, he is Eminem’s sponsor, orchestrated Robbie Williams’ first stint in rehab and tried…
VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – Dec. 6, 2024 – 16,346,294 views 11 days ago #1 on Trending for music CONTINUE@YouTube
IF LOOKS COULD KILL… – Dec. 11, 2024 – A Great Neck doctor has been convicted of selling patients oxycodone, a highly addictive prescription opioid, for cash out of her office. A jury found Dr. Roya Jafari-Hassad guilty of illegal distribution of oxycodone following a 10-day trial at Central Islip federal court. As proven, Dr. Hassad was a drug dealer who disgracefully dispensed highly addictive oxycodone pills without any regard for the well-being of the patient but with plenty of interest in their cash.” Over nine months and 10 appointments that were tape-recorded, she gave an undercover detective, who claimed…
INJUSTICE ANYONE? – Dec. 12, 2024 – For $30, Kaream Moore pedaled his bicycle at the request of a man he had not previously met to deliver a baggie containing 40 grams of fentanyl. The price for the homeless man, who has a long history of drug addiction but no previous record of trafficking, turned out to be much higher when he was caught: A mandatory minimum of five years in prison.But now his case has become a flashpoint in the debate over drug crime sentencing practices, with the Orlando federal judge who sentenced Moore issuing a scathing critique of…
FAMILY MATTERS – Dec. 13, 2024 – Intervention is as much for the one suffering as it is for the family who also suffers. We need to hate the disease and love the person. No one wants to live consumed by a substance.” “Recognize that you are standing on the ice of a frozen pond; accept that you cannot get your loved one off the ice while you are standing on ice; trust there is a way for you and your loved one to get off the ice; understand that others can help you and your loved one off the…