RAT RACE – Dec. 5, 2024 – A new study of lab rats who were given cocaine is shedding new light on the cognition of addiction. Rats that initially overindulged eventually reduced their consumption. CONTINUE@NYPost
Author: Leonard Buschel
AVOID AT ALL COST – Dec. 6, 2024 – …for the most part fentanyl analogs are sometimes a bit more potent than fentanyl and sometimes a bit less, which is a boring explanation with no shock value. For that you’d want to focus on the highest-potency analog identified so far, which is why everyone likes talking about carfentanil. On December 5, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an analysis of overdose mortality data between 2021 and 2024. “Carfentanil, a fentanyl analog 100 times more potent than fentanyl, has reemerged in the US drug supply,” the authors…
BETTER THAN ON TV – Dec. 4, 2024 – Here are The Associated Press’ Film Writers Jake Coyle and Lindsey Bahr’s picks for the best movies of 2024: In between the blockbusters, though, the challenge of not just capturing the attention of audiences but of simply getting to the screen feels more perilous than ever. The year was marked by filmmakers who wagered everything from a $120 million pile ( “Megalopolis” ) to their life (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”). Considering the paths of the “The Apprentice” (about Donald Trump’s rise in New York) or the Israeli occupation documentary…
VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – OCT. 26, 2024 – 160,430 views Premiered Laurie Anderson and more come together in a concert of new works inspired by poet C. P. Cavafy. Filmed at the Saint Thomas Church in New York City, the performance is commissioned by the Onassis Foundation. On the 160th anniversary of C. P. Cavafy’s birth, the Onassis Foundation in New York presented a week-long festival that traced the influential character of the Alexandrian poet and the global impact of his work. Watch the hour-long concert. CONTINUE@YouTube
STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – Dec. 10, 2024 – Tio Hardiman, Executive Director for Violence Interrupters, NFP, Two Time Gubernatorial Candidate, and Former Presidential Candidate, has dedicated his life and career to community organizing for peace and social change. In 1999, Mr. Hardiman joined CeaseFire, an award-winning public health model that has been scientifically proven to reduce shootings and killings. In 2004, Tio created the Violence Interrupters Initiative. In 2004, under Tio’s direction, CeaseFire received additional funding from the State of Illinois to immediately expand from 5 to 15 communities and from 20 to 130 Outreach Workers and Violence Interrupters. …
GO TELL IT TO THE JUDGE – Nov. 29, 2024 – Rainier Recovery, which runs centers in Lakewood, Gig Harbor and Puyallup, is accused of altering patient records to maximize profits and employing unqualified staff, according to investigative documents from the Washington State Department of Health. The treatment provider has 28 days to formally respond to the allegations…and cannot provide services to patients in the state until the charges are resolved, the DOH said Tuesday in announcing the licensing suspensions. In a statement to The News Tribune, Rainier Recovery rejected accusations of wrongdoing. “Our client denies the allegations raised by…
ANOTHER TWO BITE THE DUST – Dec. 5, 2024 – Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) has temporarily closed at least two more facilities, officials told WYMT Thursday. (ARC) continues to face significant challenges due to reductions in state and payer reimbursement rates for addiction treatment and mental health services. As a result, we are making the difficult decision to temporarily close two of our centers. To ensure uninterrupted care, all current clients at these facilities have the option to transition to other ARC centers — or other centers of their choosing. Despite these industry-wide challenges, ARC remains steadfast in its commitment…
JAIL’S CHEAPER THAN REHAB – Dec. 6, 2024 – The American Medical Association’s annual report on the overdose crisis, released last month, repeatedly accused insurance companies of violating federal laws that require them to cover SUD treatment. Laws that further criminalize drug use are also making it more difficult for people who use drugs to access care, and could also lead to more overdoses. Research shows that people are as much as 40 times more likely to overdose after experiencing incarceration, and very few jails and prisons provide access to SUD treatment. The Biden administration continued a Trump era policy…
THEM OR HER? – Nov. 30, 2024 – The “Smile” singer confessed she’s never “had sex” with a partner “not drunk” until she married her current husband, “Stranger Things” star David Harbour. “We don’t really talk about it,” Allen, 39, told The Times of London. “I don’t think I’d ever had sex with anybody not drunk before I got together with him. So that was different for sure.” Allen’s comments come after she recently celebrated five years of sobriety. Harbour, 49, has also been sober for more than 20 years, respectfully. “It’s a totally different thing. It’s unavoidable, conscious and…
INCARCERATION FOR ADDICTS – Dec. 5, 2024 – Trump’s “Agenda 47” proposes an aggressive stance against drug trafficking and addiction, including measures such as naval embargoes on cartels and the death penalty for drug dealers. (Yours truly would have been a target if these were in place 20 years ago.) The “War on Drugs” has long been criticized for its disproportionate impact on marginalized communities and its failure to reduce substance use and related struggles. Instead of addressing root causes such as poverty, trauma, and lack of access to mental health care, these policies focus on punishment, exacerbating harm for…
IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE? – Nov. 30, 2024 – When I first met Evan B Harris he was fizzing with talent and kindness. So I was shocked to hear he had become homeless and out of control. What happened to him is a story playing out in cities across America. … One evening, a friend invited me to an art opening across town. Inside, Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie was playing an acoustic set … but most of us were out in the yard, drinking beer in the lowering sun. I remember Evan, heavily tattooed and wearing a…
ANYTHING FOR A BUCK – “That business has been built on deception, a New York Times investigation found.” Dec. 7, 2024 – The the country’s largest for-profit chain of 165 methadone clinics has generated more than $1.3 billion in revenue since 2022. Clinic directors can get bonuses when their patient enrollment goes up, an incentive that has led Acadia to treat people who do not have opioid addictions but are dependent on other drugs. Her boss excoriated her after she turned away a patient who tested negative for opioids and admitted to using only methamphetamine. The boss demanded to know…
VIDEO – WHO IS AT FAULT? – Dec. 3, 2024 – Chronicle photographer Gabrielle Lurie and reporter Maggie Angst spent 10 months investigating deaths inside San Francisco’s largest publicly funded addiction treatment provider, HealthRight 360. In the last 13 months, four clients and one staff member fatally overdosed at HealthRight’s facilities, which promise a safe environment for drug and alcohol detox and recovery. CONTINUE@YouTube
BEYOND DENMARK? – Dec. 1, 2024 – Brain rot is defined as the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material considered to be trivial or unchallenging, you spending hours scrolling mindlessly on Instagram reels and TikTok? If so, you might be suffering from brain rot, which has become the Oxford word of the year. It is a term that captures concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media. he first recorded use of brain rot dates much before the creation of…
TO EACH HIS OWN – Dec. 4, 2024 – Stigmas can result in poor mental health, physical harm, lack of understanding and fewer opportunities. I saw this firsthand with my brother and the stigmas that were put onto him and by extension my family. Substance Abuse Disorder has been defined as a medical condition of the brain by the American Addiction Center, yet there is still debate whether addiction is a true medical condition or simply a choice someone makes. Being from a small town in Florida, it’s hard to have any kind of moral failing without everyone dissecting your…
FOLLOW YOUR ROOTS – Nov. 30, 2024 – The boys, who range in age from 12 to 17, are part of a 90-day youth residential treatment program, a Portland-based nonprofit founded in 1970 to provide culturally competent addiction care to Native people. All but two of them are Native American. Most have been ordered by courts to participate in the program. The teens represent one of the most at-risk groups in the opioid epidemic — according to a 2022 data analysis by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Native Americans aged 15-34 consistently had the highest rate of drug-overdose deaths…
“Our very life depends directly on continuous acts of beginning.” – John O’Donohue
VIDEO – DUH? – Nov. 23, 2024 – Microplastics have been found throughout the human body, raising concerns about their potential impact on our health. Studies have shown correlations between their presence and health issues such as heart attacks and strokes … Efforts to mitigate microplastic pollution include banning certain plastic products, developing better recycling technologies, and working towards a UN agreement to end plastic pollution globally. In 2022, scientists found microplastics — pieces of plastic less than five millimeters long — in human blood. Since then, they’ve been discovered throughout the human body, including in our lungs, kidneys, livers,…
MUST SEE – Nov. 21, 2023 – In her extraordinary debut feature, Irish artist and filmmaker Myrid Carten fixes her camera, when possible, on her erratic, alcoholic mother Nuala —On a busy Belfast shopping street, in broad daylight, the filmmaker observes a woman slumped on a sidewalk bench, her head hidden in a gray hoody, her right hand clasping a bottle of red wine. Pedestrians walk past, either ignoring the hunched figure or casting her a fleeting glance of concern before carrying on with their day. Carten keeps her camera on her, in transfixed recognition — for the woman is…
NO MEDITATION? – Nov. 23, 2024 – That said, there are daily habits and practices that older adults can engage in to help ease some of the aches and pains that come with aging. We spoke with a number of doctors across different specialties about things they wish older adults would do daily ― and many are easier than you think. As you get older, you’ll particularly want to try to avoid heavily consuming processed foods. While these are OK in moderation, you should try to focus on incorporating more nutritious foods onto your plate. “Making these changes can be…
AUDIO – A DIFFERENT TRIBE NOW – Nov. 27, 2024 – “I didn’t think in a million years I’d ever make it,” the 35-year-old mother of one said from her home. “I have struggled with addiction through the majority of my adult life.” “One time since I’ve been home, somebody was using [drugs] in the same area as me,” she recalled. “All I could think about was the promise I made to my son. I promised him that even though I messed up while he was a very young child… and he’s 13 now. I’m going be there when he…
ADVICE FROM AOL – Nov. 23, 2024 – When you think of holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, what comes to mind? Gathering around a table set with food and wine, sitting on the couch watching football with a beer in hand or enjoying cocktails at a bar with friends? We’re here for each other for a reason. Just trusting in that sense of fellowship that you find. Styer stopped drinking about six years ago, when the attitudes around alcohol hadn’t quite begun to shift. Styer described the experience as “isolating,” but at the same time was heartened by the fact…
VIDEO – A SHAME – Nov. 27, 2024 – Chelsea Moore never imagined she’d be advocating for better addiction treatment options. Three years ago, she hit rock bottom after overdosing while pregnant. “I was with very experienced users. They had Narcan, the nose spray, the injection, everything. But it didn’t work at first,” Moore recalled. She refused to go to the hospital because her father worked there as a doctor. With her father’s support, Moore eventually got help at UNC Horizons, a comprehensive treatment program for pregnant and parenting women. The program provides residential treatment, group therapy, and on-site pediatric…
EVERYTHING’S DIFFERENT – Nov. 26, 2024 – It’s been four years and five months since Sam Tutanuak of Rankin Inlet had a drink of alcohol or a puff of marijuana. Tutanuak, 57, who now resides in Iqaluit, said believe it or not, over a 20-year period he figures to have gone through more than a million dollars on his addictions. “That’s an astronomical number and that’s not including aged 12 to 20 and it’s also not including ages 41 to 48,” said Tutanuak. “I finally reached the realization that I can battle my demons within myself without having external substances…
VIDEO – MONEY MONEY MONEY – Nov. 26, 2024 – Ifeanyi Vincent Ntukogu, 49, of Fresno, pleaded guilty to distributing more than 450,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills based on fraudulent prescriptions, prosecutors said Monday in a news release. “This defendant displayed a blatant disregard for public safety and the law,” U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a statement. Ntukogu owned and operated New Life Pharmacy in Madera, which shuttered after his arrest. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. The scheme involved forged prescriptions attributed to more than 10 other doctors, prosecutors said, as part of a…
AUDIO – THE HIGHEST POWER – Nov. 25, 2024 – Catholic in Recovery is “a nonprofit organization that seeks to serve those suffering from addictions and unhealthy attachments,” such as alcohol and drug abuse, gambling, and sex addiction, according to its website. While I was writing the manuscript for the book, I did a four-week series at the cathedral, St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown San Diego, on the structure of the book. The best part of that happened when I was done speaking; other people in the audience had a chance to share their experience with addiction or recovery or…
VIDEO – MUSICAL INTERLUDE – 309,074 views Sep 2, 2014 – This is not singing or acting, this is becoming. In 63 years of my life I had never witnessed such an actor’s transfiguration, at such an intensity. This is the strength of the Art, this is the strength of the text, of extremely cultured Music, of interpretation beyond oneself. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, Directed by Harold Prince CONTINUE@YouTube
OR NOT? – Nov. 26, 2024 – The song and the concept are called California sober: the idea that you can be considered drug free if the only substance you use is cannabis. (Booze, in moderation, sometimes gets a pass, too, depending on who you talk to.) It’s a popular notion — and a divisive one among people in recovery. When Brooke Delgado was designing her study of sober musicians, she drew a hard line. “I have had potential participants ask if California sober qualifies,” the CU Denver graduate student says. “And I say no. My study is on people…
MOVE ON – Nov. 29, 2024 – The maxim “movement is medicine” exists for a reason. When done safely and properly, physical activity can boost your mood, bone health and more. While the connection between exercise and, say, muscle development is apparent, some of its benefits are less obvious. One of these relates to brain health. The study included 204 people between the ages of 40 and 65. For a week, they checked in with researchers six times a day, or about every 3.5 hours. During these check-ins, participants reported their recent physical activity and completed short cognitive assessments that…
VIDEO – ‘TIS THE SEASON OF GIVING – Nov. 22, 2024 – “Watching families come back together that, by all means, addiction had destroyed, that’s what we’re doing here,” said Kelly Cluff, director of marketing and admissions for Lion’s Gate. Lion’s Gate Recovery is giving back to the Southern Utah community with two full-ride scholarships to its treatment facility, offering comprehensive support for individuals on their journey to sobriety. Each scholarship covers personalized care based on individual needs, including residential treatment, day programs, intensive outpatient services and a month in a sober living facility to ease the transition. Beyond treatment,…