Rehab Mogul Accused of Drugging Clients before Sex: Chris Bathum
Bathum is “embroiled in over 50 lawsuits, the accusations in those suits ranging from fraud to pumping his female clients full of hard drugs to prey upon them sexually.” In April, Bathum was sued by two former patients who alleged that he supplied them with heroin and meth. ABC News’ “20/20” interviews Christopher Bathum, owner of more than 20 drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, who has been accused by women of offering them drugs, making unwelcome sexual advances, and derailing their recovery. Several former clients who have filed suit against Bathum, alleging sexual battery, tell their story to ABC News. Correspondent Matt Gutman reports for “Rehab Mogul.”
The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Internal Medicine, reinforces earlier complaints that drug companies were buying loyalty by showering doctors with gifts, promotional items, lunches with often-attractive drug industry representatives and, most notoriously, paid vacations to luxury resorts that were ostensibly for advanced medical education…
Big medical conferences, where doctors once could load up on branded luggage, electronic devices and medical supplies, are now notably sparse on such promotional items. But Monday’s study suggests that even the subtlest incentives work, at least from the perspective of the drug companies. Read More @ NBCNEWS
ADDICTION
You Are Not Alone
Triple XXX Church cites important lessons people learn from porn addiction
The fourth lesson addicts can learn is that it’s easy to slip from one bad decision after another, and the only way to stop is to be brave and stop making compromises. Usually, mistakes start small and then it expands … Horner is encouraging addicts not to let these lessons go to waste. Former addicts can also enlighten others who may be going through the same issues.
READ MORE @ ChristianToday.com
ADDICTION
Sugar, Addictive?
Philadelphia: First to pass Soda Tax
The 13-4 vote put to bed months of speculation and at-times-bitter negotiations, but also ensured that the national spotlight will stay turned on Philadelphia for months, if not years. Critics quickly vowed a court challenge. And as the city introduces the unprecedented levy … approved a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened and diet beverages, the first such tax imposed in a major U.S. city.
Recovery success often depends on what happens after detox
In 2012, long before the epidemic of opiate and heroin abuse grew to its current size, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine conducted a study on what impact sober living housing … The study concluded that having drug-free housing options for substance abusers leaving detox programs were conclusively linked to fewer relapses. The individuals who were placed in sober living situations were 10 times more likely to stay abstinent than those released back into their own housing.
READ MORE @ ShoreNewsToday.com
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MEDICINE
FDA Says Binge and Purge
Demand the US FDA withdraw approval of the Aspire Bariatrics ‘assisted bulimia’ device
This aspiration device legitimizes purging, encourages binging, undermines bodily autonomy, intuition around eating and fullness, and steps up fatphobia under the falsehood of ‘obesity reduction.’ This is a medicalized, surgicalized imposition of bulimia on higher-weight bodies, telling folks that having an eating disorder is better than being fat…
A few weeks ago in London I experienced something rather similar – a festival about addiction called UKESAD. But it wasn’t promoted as a “festival about addiction”, it was a conference about a serious issue but there was a gaiety about it (the joy and spark of old friends meeting up) that reminded me of Edinburgh. UKESAD took place over three days, and four events were occurring at the same time. UKESAD is a vast get-together of those who work in addiction treatment: therapists, counsellors, managers of rehab clinics, medics and camp-followers like me. They do an important job – saving people from addiction and maybe even an early death – but are unknown to the media and the public. Over the three days of the event I didn’t come across one single journalist.
The abuse of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs costs the U.S. $700 billion annually in costs related to crime, lost work productivity and health care … Watch the video above to learn about addiction in the U.S. by the numbers.
In her work Rogg utilizes the “alchemy” of turning weakness into strength, passing on resources and tools for recovery from emotional pain, depression, anxiety, and addiction – for building a good life. Rogg encourages the reader to “Reverse the lens of perception and find liberation from the past.” WAKING UP SOBER is a hybrid recovery guide with poetry interspersed throughout, serving as food for thought to be discussed and applied by recovering addicts and anyone looking for relief of suffering.
NYC health commissioner: Mandated drug treatment is not a solution
Coercion can’t “jump-start” people toward recovery; people only recover when they make the choice to recover. We are deeply thankful that those individuals saved by naloxone are alive today, and we are working tirelessly to increase access to humane and respectful care and treatment for people who use drugs. People suffering from addiction need compassion and more opportunities to stay alive.
Our only alternative to the nightmare of Donald Trump’s drug policy is depressingly mediocre. So, drug policy reformers, here’s the bad news-no matter who gets elected (not counting Gary Johnson), we’re headed backwards the next four-to-eight years!
READ MORE @ TheInfluence.org
LAW ENFORCEMENT
1,000 Didn’t Die
Anti-overdose drug Naloxone has saved 1,000 lives in Pennsylvania
“We’ve saved 1,000 lives with naloxone,” Mr. Wolf said. “That’s 1,000 people [for whom] we’ve had the possibility of getting a cure, and addressing the fundamental problems they suffer from.” Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Secretary Gary Tennis remembered sitting down with the governor on the second day of the administration to discuss Pennsylvania’s overdose problem. He praised both the governor and law enforcement officers for taking an “enlightened and committed stance”…
Addiction Treatment Industry Worried Lax Ethics Could Spell Doom
Among the more abusive practices the NAATP is trying to root out is “patient brokering,” which several conference attendees told The Huffington Post should be more accurately thought of as “human trafficking.” Art VanDivier, chair of the NAATP’s Ethics Committee, said the going rate to steer a patient with Affordable Care Act coverage to a particular facility is now $7,000. That sounds like a lot of money, but the clinic can bill the insurer $15,000 to $30,000 for a month of treatment, charge for lucrative drug tests along the way, and then bill for eight or so weeks of intensive outpatient treatment.
Jim McMahon, who won Super Bowl XX with the Chicago Bears, said that the plant has helped him cope with the early onset of dementia as well as severe headaches, memory loss, depression and other issues that have been linked to the kinds of concussions he suffered over the years.
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.
America’s Biggest Drug Problem Isn’t Heroin, It’s Doctors
Not everyone ignored the surge in prescription drug abuse. A small number of unscrupulous health-care providers set out to capitalize on it. The problem was particularly pronounced in Florida. Most states have laws that prevent doctors from owning pharmacies or prescription drug-dispensing pain clinics. Florida, until recently, did not. As a huge market in opioid painkillers sprang up, health-care providers in those states opened so-called “pain management clinics.”
READ MORE @ Governing.com
SOBER LIVING
Living It Up
Recovering Addicts Can Party Alcohol-Free At This Sober Bar
Luckily, places like The Other Side exist. Sober bars where recovering addicts or individuals interested in sobriety can hang out over non-alcoholic beverages. This particular bar, which launched in 2013, is run as part of nonprofit New Directions Addiction Recovery Services, and is meant to give recovering addicts a place to kick it and connect with a community that’s there for them. The Other Side is in Crystal Lake, Illinois but for more info on sober venues around you visit the NDARS website or your local AA or NA. Resisting temptation can be a bitch, but programs like these make it a little more manageable.
FDA Approves Weight Loss Stomach Pump AspireAssist to Combat Obesity
The Food and Drug Administration approved a new and unusual weight loss device Tuesday: an external pump that dumps part of the stomach contents into the toilet. “There is no such thing as medical bulimia or assisted bulimia,” Sullivan told NBC News. Bulimia is an eating disorder defined by overeating and then purging, often though forced vomiting. The device joins a growing list of new ways to help Americans lose weight, from carefully controlled diets to surgery and a batch of devices that make the stomach smaller in effect.
Cigna CEO David Cordani argues that we need more comprehensive, evidence-based solutions for drug addiction … The current approach to substance-use disorder treatment, however, is based largely on the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step model, which doesn’t take into account that 40% to 60% of substance abuse is attributable to a person’s genetic makeup.
AAC Holdings Commences Development of 150-Bed Treatment Center in New Jersey
June 16, 2016: Ringwood Brings De Novo Pipeline to 442 Beds and Total Investment of $42.5 Million Approximately 60 minutes from LaGuardia and Newark Airports and close to the New Jersey Botanical Garden and Ringwood Manor, the facility will be located on the former Mount St. Francis, which was previously home to the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. The original manor home was constructed in 1861, and AAC purchased the convent and surrounding grounds in February 2015.
Study ignores possibility that drugs, chemicals affect sexes differently
Many of the medicines we take were only ever tested on men during clinical studies. This poses a distinct danger that females are receiving suboptimal care-and that treatments specifically benefiting women are going undiscovered. As a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office study reported, 80 percent of the drugs withdrawn from the market are removed due to side effects on women.
Alcoholics Test Smartphone App That Warns of Nearby Drinking Venues
A smartphone app that help prevent heavy drinkers from going to pubs, bars, clubs and anywhere else selling alcohol is being trialed at a London hospital. Sixty patients with alcohol-related liver disease at the Royal Free Hospital will try out AlcoChange, which was launched in March … Using GPS technology, users are sent alerts as soon as they approach a drinking establishment or a shop selling alcohol. Also equipped with a breathalyzer, which must be plugged into the phone’s headphone socket, “users can simply blow into [it] to record their blood alcohol concentration,” the AlcoChange website…
READ MORE @ Newsweek.com
ADDICTION
Probably
Are you addicted to work?
The study found that 7.8% of people could be classed as workaholics. This meant these people were spending more time at work than intended, working to reduce feelings of guilt and anxiety, and deprioritizing hobbies and exercise because of work.
Katie Couric hosts a panel on food addiction with tennis champion Monica Seles, interventionist Brad Lamm and Yahoo Finance Markets Correspondent Nicole Sinclair … You may have heard the word “bingeing” used casually. People binge on food, alcohol, or even a series on Netflix (NFLX). But Binge Eating Disorder, or B.E.D., is the most common eating disorder in the U.S.
“I don’t recall him ever telling me he loved me as a kid,” he reveals. “I’d do a gig I thought was fantastic and the only thing he’d say is, ‘When you speak onstage, you’ve got to slow down.’ He never commented on anything else. And the way he disciplined me, he seemed to have forgotten about it as he got older. I don’t think he was in denial, he genuinely had no recollection. ‘Hitting you? I never did that!'”
The singer Barbara Cook has a copy of her autobiography, “Then and Now: A Memoir,” propped up near her bed so she can look at it when she wakes up in the morning and marvel at its existence…In its pages, she is frank about the steep ups and downs of a career that in her mind has had two acts: before and after recovery from alcoholism.
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