Sober College Founder, Robert Pfeifer, Passed Away
Addiction/Recovery eBulletin is saddened to share the news that Robert Pfeifer died Sunday, July 10th, of a heart attack. He was an amazing person. He built and was the director of Sober College. Robert Pfeifer’s dream in life was to leave his mark helping the world and through Covenant House and Sober College he has succeeded in doing that. He will be missed. We extend our prayers and condolences to his family…
READ MORE @ SoberCollege.com
CELEBRITY RECOVERY
Music Heals
Richie Supa Releases ‘Enemy,’ A Collection of Songs About Recovery From Addiction
Richie Supa today released “Enemy,” a record album of songs about recovery from addiction. Supa is an award-winning singer/songwriter who’s written and/or co-written hits for Aerosmith, Richie Sambora, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Alexandra Guzman, Air Supply, Ozzy Osbourne, P!NK, Big Kenny and Willy Nelson, among many others. At 71, he is a recovering addict, clean for 27 years and Director of Creative Recovery at the Recovery Unplugged® Treatment Center…
John, who played Nick Cotton in the BBC soap, reveals all in a new book called Nick Of Time. He charts his rise to fame from when he arrived in Albert Square in 1985 to his battle with booze and drugs. He says: “There was some very pure LSD around in those days and my mantra was, ‘Don’t say you don’t like it until you’ve tried it’. Some of my best times back then were on acid.”
Access Expanded for Drugs to Treat Opioid Addiction
(CNN) A new rule finalized Tuesday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration increases the number of patients health care providers can treat with buprenorphine, Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell said. Buprenorphine is a medication to treat opioid use disorder, similar to methadone … The $1.1 billion would plug the “huge treatment gap” for states looking to devise new strategies so that people can access treatment and get into long-term recovery, Botticelli explained.
The recommended treatment for chronic alcoholism is abstinence. But at the Oaks – a permanent home for those who once lived on the streets – residents are given a measure of wine at hourly intervals. It is called the Managed Alcohol Program, and aims to change the drinking behaviour of inveterate addicts. In a converted hotel in the west of the city of Ottawa, a quiet, orderly queue snakes around the reception area. The men and women are mostly middle-aged or older. Some of them use sticks, walkers or wheelchairs, their health fragile after a lifetime of booze. “I used to drink all day and now I just drink once every hour” – David McConnell.
How black-market OxyContin spurred a town’s descent into crime, addiction and heartbreak
What he found was OxyContin from Southern California, where organized drug rings were colluding with rogue doctors and pharmacies to obtain enormous quantities of the drug.Illicit OxyContin devastated the entire Everett region. At the height of the drug’s popularity, it was a factor in more than half of the crimes in Snohomish County. Abuse of the drug touched off an epidemic of painkiller and heroin addiction, which continues to this day.
New initiative improves health behaviors of lesbian, bisexual women VIDEO
(July 7, 2016) – Lesbian and bisexual women have higher rates of obesity, smoking and stress when compared to their heterosexual counterparts, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. To address this issue, a University of Missouri researcher has led the first-ever national study to develop healthy weight programs for lesbian and bisexual communities.
Wall Street Golden Boy Blames Addiction for $100 million fraud
NEW YORK – Groomed at some of the country’s most elite private schools, Andrew Caspersen glided onto Wall Street with ease. His father was a well-known financier, and Caspersen followed in his footsteps. He snagged jobs in the close-knit private equity world, earning a salary of more than $3.68 million in 2015 … Starting at casinos and with sports betting, Caspersen developed a compulsive addiction that eventually included betting on the stock market, said Paul Shechtman, his attorney. He gambled away his fortune, including a $20 million inheritance, Shechtman said.
One million Oxy$ ended up in the hands of criminals and addicts. What the drugmaker knew!
The doctor began prescribing the opioid painkiller OxyContin – in extraordinary quantities. In a single week in September, she issued orders for 1,500 pills, more than entire pharmacies sold in a month. In October, it was 11,000 pills. By December, she had prescribed more than 73,000, Street value: $6 million. Purdue Pharma did not shut off the supply of highly addictive OxyContin and did not tell authorities what it knew about Lake Medica.
True or false? 10 facts and myths about liver disease
Spirits are worse for the liver than wine or beer? FALSE. Liver specialists stress that it’s the quantity of alcohol that matters, not the type of drink. Plus, drinking a glass of water to “compensate” for an alcoholic drink and avoid hangovers is no better for the liver. Alcohol is a major cause of liver disease? TRUE AND FALSE. Eighty percent of liver conditions are linked to excessive alcohol consumption and hepatitis. People who received blood transfusions before 1990 are potentially at risk of hepatitis, as the HIV and hepatitis C viruses were unknown at the time.
Jack Wagner Opens Up About Son Harrison’s Struggle With Addiction
Jack Wagner has reached out to his Twitter followers for help and to start a dialogue about addiction. Early this morning, he began by tweeting “I fear for my youngest sons safety. Harrison has struggled w drugs & alcohol just as I did when I was younger. He’s relapsed & is MIA 5days.” … The soap opera star, 56, added that he wanted to hear from his followers about their fears and struggles in the face of addiction.
is a social, educational, networking and recovery forum showcasing first-time filmmakers and experienced professionals who make films about addiction and recovery. Our audience is treatment professionals, people in recovery, members of the entertainment industry, media representatives, educated moviegoers & the general public.
‘Unbroken Brain’ Explains Why ‘Tough’ Treatment Doesn’t Help Drug Addicts NPR AUDIO
Tough love, interventions and 12-step programs are some of the most common methods of treating drug addiction, but journalist Maia Szalavitz says they’re often counterproductive. “We have this idea that if we are just cruel enough and mean enough and tough enough to people with addiction, that they will suddenly wake up and stop, and that is not the case,” she tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. Szalavitz is the author of Unbroken Brain, a book that challenges traditional notions of addiction and treatment.
White House to Take Action on Opioid Abuse Epidemic by Asking for Funding VIDEOS
Jul 6 2016, 1:14 am ET The White House is expected to ask Congress for $1.1 billion in new funding to expand access to lifesaving treatment, particularly the drug buprenorphine, as well as to strengthen prescription drug monitoring, enable safe disposal of unneeded drugs, and accelerate research on pain and opioid misuse and overdose…
Recovery-focused sober housing option to debut at Missouri University
Students interested in sober housing must sign an agreement stating their need. After confirming the need, Residential Life will contact the student to pinpoint his or her level of interest. Students granted housing will pay the regular price for suite-style residence hall living – $8,155 per academic year – and will live with those also needing recovery-focused housing … Adam Dietrich, a co-founder of Sober in College,…sober housing could be the deciding factor for some students who are considering MU. “I’m grateful they gave us an opportunity to fulfill this need,”…
READ MORE @ ColumbiaTribune.com
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PHARMACEUTICALS
Big Pharma Fingered
Pfizer Agrees to Note Addiction Risks in Opioid Marketing
Mayor Emanuel said the companies should be “held accountable for their deceptive actions that cause serious damage to individuals, families and neighborhoods.” … Chicago is suing five pharmaceutical companies, alleging they have misrepresented the benefits of opioids while concealing serious health risks associated with the drugs. Pfizer Inc. is not named in that lawsuit, and the city said it found no evidence that the company engaged in any misconduct in its marketing.
READ MORE @ SaukValley.com
INDUSTRY NEWS
UnCovered California
Sovereign Health Sues Health Net
The complaint alleges that Health Net “engaged in a disgraceful scheme to enrich themselves by backtracking on their insurance promises to recovering addicts and the mentally ill at the expense of providers … While Health Net had always failed to reimburse Sovereign Health in full, it paid only 36 percent of Sovereign Health’s claims in 2015 and a mere 3 percent in 2016, resulting in a massive $55 million receivable for the provider.
READ MORE @ Yahoo.com
TECHNOLOGY
Just Like Soberlink
Staying Sober with help of a ‘selfie’
They blow into the tiny breathalizer, while using the smartphone to take a ‘selfie’ confirming that it is them. The results are monitored and any issues – alcohol presence, slurred speech, or late response – are reported. “Most of these have a DUI so they don’t have licenses,” says Chief Marshal Justin Roper. “And that requires sometimes several buses and several hours for them to come down for a breathalizer test…
Chaka Khan enters rehab for getting hooked on drug that killed Prince
Chaka Khan has checked herself into a rehab program to fight her addiction to prescription drugs. The 63-year-old songstress canceled her upcoming performance at the California State Fair and explained in a statement she was spurred into action after the death of her longtime friend Prince. Khan revealed that she has been hooked on fentanyl … In her statement to the Associated Press on Sunday, the Ain’t Nobody singer said: ‘Unfortunately, I will miss concert appearances over the summer…
Amber Tozer Opens Up About Her Descent into Alcoholism
It was long past midnight, and Amber Tozer had passed out in the backseat of a taxi in Brooklyn. When she came to, she realized she didn’t have enough money to pay the fare. With the cabbie chasing after her, she sprinted through the darkened streets. While running, she encountered two strange men who chased the cabbie away. Inexplicably, Tozer then got into a car with those two strangers … This is just one of many dangerous situations that Tozer, a 39-year-old standup comic and television writer, details in her candid book, Sober Stick Figure.
READ MORE @ People.com
SCIENCE MAY ONE DAY DO SO…Now?
Implanting Sobriety
New Addiction Treatment Brings New System For Doctors To Navigate AUDIO
In a big hotel conference room in Times Square six doctors huddled around a greasy piece of pork. They watched as an addiction medicine specialist, Michael Frost, delicately marked the meat…”If you can do it well on the pork, you can easily do it on the person,” Frost told his audience. Frost was training the group of doctors to implant the newly FDA-approved drug Probuphine. They were learning to implant it in pork so they can later implant it in patients’ arms.
Johnny Manziel Supposedly Begins Sobriety by Renting House in Beverly Hills
We have every reason to be skeptical about Johnny Manziel’s intentions toward getting sober. And we have even more reason to be skeptical of his commitment towards returning to the NFL…word is going around that the football fallen star has been sober since July 1st and is living in a new house in Beverly Hills to accommodate his sober lifestyle.
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