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March 22, 2016                   Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News                   Vol. 3., No. 32
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Florida: Rehabs Pay You
Addicts For $ale     

In the rehab capital of America, addicts are bought, sold, and stolen for their insurance policies, and many women are coerced into sex … The kid broke and told him the details of the scam: For every person he convinced to leave, he’d get a few hundred dollars. “I said, ‘Do you realize these guys have pimped you out?'” Steve said. “It’s really easy to get people who are vulnerable and in need of money to say yes.” Goldman, Delray Beach’s chief of police, confirmed to BuzzFeed News that this is a problem. “Moles are going in and they’re trying to tell Johnny that this place is better,” he said … One woman … told BuzzFeed News about getting $250 a week to do an intensive outpatient program (IOP) in Delray. When her boyfriend, a marketer for the business, failed to bring enough new clients in, the owner cut them off. The woman contacted another marketer, who brought her to a new house.

CONTINUED @ BuzzFeed.com 

Why is America in Such Pain?
Opioids: Bad Medicine for Chronic Pain    

Since 1999, more than 165,000 people in the U.S. have died from causes related to painkiller use. The CDC guidelines note that the deaths have paralleled an enormous increase in the sales of these drugs. About 250 million prescriptions were written in 2013 … Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell praised the release of the guidelines and noted that she had seen first hand the devastation caused by painkiller abuse in her native West Virginia.

CONTINUED @ LATimes.com 

Anonymous and Proud of It  VIDEO
Demi Lovato Celebrates 4 Years with Social Media Posts VIDEO     

“Stone Cold” sober! On Tuesday, Demi Lovato celebrated her most important anniversary – her sobriety. The “Confident” singer, 23, took to Twitter to share that she was four years sober. “This last year I experienced so much life and too much death … But I made it through … Sober. #4Years #GodsWill,” she tweeted.

CONTINUED @ CBSNews.com 

NA Becoming Obsolete? Or Hijacked?
Can a Vaccine Cure Heroin Addiction?     

Every time heroin addicts shoot up, they’re taking their lives in their hands. That’s not just because heroin itself is dangerous; increasingly, the drug is combined with fentanyl … Plus, in the U.S., addicts could access a number of different drugs if they wanted to get high again-a vaccinated heroin addict could still relapse with morphine or painkillers against which he’s not vaccinated, for example. And even a highly effective vaccine would need to be paired with behavioral therapy to treat the non-physical aspects of addiction, plus another drug to combat craving. “There’s no magic bullet for addiction,” Skolnick says.

CONTINUED @ DailyBeast.com 

Opinion @New York Times
What to Do About Heroin Addiction     

Many heroin addicts have found a way out by giving purpose to their lives. Helping others is a path we choose to walk. Great wisdom can be achieved by having lived on the dark side and then putting the madness behind us. I was once that junkie in the bathroom. Do not give up hope”. by HOWARD JOSEPHER,Exponents, New York City.

CONTINUED @ NYTimes.com 

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Open Minded?
7 Facts About Drugs That Will Make You Question Everything You Know     

But this isn’t true of most other drugs, is it? We all know that most people who use heroin or crack or meth become addicts. This question has been carefully studied by leading social scientists – and it turns out this belief is a myth. As I learned from Professor Carl Hart at Columbia University, it turns out 85-90 percent of people who use any drug do not become addicted.

CONTINUED @ HuffingtonPost.com 

The Truth Might Set You Free VIDEO
The Radical Imagination Imagining an End to the Drug War w/Dr. Carl Hart VIDEO
 

Injustice in America is nothing new. Millions of people fight everyday to be heard and to bring positive change to those who need it most. First is Dr. Carl Hart, neuroscientist and professor of psychology and psychiatry at Columbia University. Known for his research on drug abuse, Dr. Hart hopes his work will redefine the public’s understanding of drug addiction and end the hysterical drug war in America.

Makes Cents
Unconventional plan for SF substance abusers could work     

We will now pause while everyone smacks their forehead with their palm and wonders if we’ve lost our minds. But honestly, this makes sense, not just for the addicts but for the city. Let’s start with dollars and cents. Former homeless czar Bevan Dufty, who is supporting both ideas, has the numbers memorized. “Back in 2011, a Department of Public Health study was done that showed we were spending $13.5 million a year on the top 225 street alcoholics,” Dufty said. “That works out to $60,000 a person.”

CONTINUED @ SFChronicle.com 

Not Good
Prescott’s Sober-Living Group Homes: ‘A Festering Issue’     

Prescott parents push for more regulation after death of son … Jill and Glenn Martin have become experts in the field of the drug and alcohol rehab homes – albeit not initially by choice. The Prescott couple can reel off names of California and Arizona state legislators, ill-fated regulatory bills, and insurance procedures. Sadly, for the Martins, that expertise came at a heartbreaking cost. When their second son Joey was just 22 years old, he died in a group home in Hemet, California of an accidental overdose of pain medications Oxycodone and Hydrocodone.

CONTINUED @ DailyCourier.com 

What Would Ben Franklin Say?
House Votes Yes, Legalize Medical Marijuana in Pennsylvania VIDEO     

CONTINUED @ Fox29.com 

Beware!
It Takes A Shockingly Little Amount Of Alcohol To Cross Into Binge Drinking 

Heavy or binge drinking, which experts lump together under the “excessive drinking” umbrella, causes 88,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and costs the country an estimated $224 billion, notes the Guidelines. Binge drinking counts for most of these deaths and costs, and is also linked to a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol poisoning, liver disease, SD, violence and accidental injuries.

CONTINUED @ HuffingtonPost.com 

Makes Your “FRIENDS” Look Like Satan
Taking LSD for Breakfast ‘helps you beat your Facebook addiction’ 

A writer working with psychedelics researcher Dr James Fadiman – who worked with LSD until it was banned until 1966 – took a tiny dose of LSD for breakfast… and found that he gave up Facebook. A growing movement of people are ‘microdosing’ LSD in the morning – taking 10-15 micrograms, instead of the larger doses used for drug trips – and claim that it can cure anxiety and insomnia.

CONTINUED @ Metro.co.uk  

MEDIA: Film Review
‘Yalom’s Cure’ A Meditative Immersion Into a Leading Psychologist’s Life     

The proverb “physician, heal thyself” comes to mind while watching “Yalom’s Cure,” a fittingly meditative documentary portrait of psychotherapist-professor Irvin D. Yalom that offers a candid glimpse into the bestselling author’s private life…Incorporating archival footage to illustrate his groundbreaking work in group psychotherapy at Stanford during the 1960s, the film is at its most revealing when focusing on Yalom’s more personal endeavors.

CONTINUED @ LATimes.com 

Big Business   VIDEO
How Government Enables the Opioid Epidemic and Tax-Payers Help Fund It VIDEO     

Most people know there is a prescription painkiller epidemic underway but few realize how much the government is enabling it,  how much taxpayers are subsidizing it, and how this is the root cause of the current heroin epidemic … In February, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote a letter to Sylvia Burwell, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), about the glaring conflicts of interest at the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, convened as part of the Affordable Health Care Act3 to improve pain-related treatment strategies.

CONTINUED @ Mercola.com 

Life Saving Measures
The Facts on Interventions     

Q: What is an intervention?
Q: Are interventions always an ambush or are there different kinds?
Q: How do I know if my loved one needs an intervention?
Q: How do I select an interventionist?
Q: What questions should I ask when hiring an interventionist?
ANSWERS … here

CONTINUED @ DoctorOZ.com 

Saving Lives
To End HIV in Drug Users…     

Globally, about 12.7 million people inject drugs and 1.7 million of them are living with HIV. On average, one in 10 new HIV infections is caused by sharing injecting equipment, according to the World Health Organization. In 1998 and 2009 the UN declared its ambition to bring about a world free of drugs. Many countries continue to take a punitive approach to HIV and drugs, using arrests, incarceration, criminal penalties and compulsory detention to criminalize and punish users.

CONTINUED @ TheGuardian.com 

Drug Profits First
Nine Overdose Deaths in 2016 Linked to Counterfeit Xanax 

“People need to immediately stop buying Xanax on the street because their life literally depends on it,” he said at a news conference. The agency has confirmed three deaths and suspects six more linked to the pills. Nine others sold the pills to undercover law enforcement officers, Gualtieri said. “Nine people are dead. Nine more would have been,” he said.

CONTINUED @ TampaBay.com 

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Time Magazine Time Lapse Animation
Watch How the Drug Overdose Epidemic Spread in America     

The epidemic of drug overdoses in the U.S. has reached crisis levels, according to newly published data from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps project. The following map shows the spread in per-capita drug overdoses from 2002 to 2014, the most recent year for which data is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

CONTINUED @ Time.com 

In Every Bookstore
Should NYC Open Safe Injection Sites For Heroin Users?     

“People need to become more educated and look more deeply into this crisis,” Rosenthal told us on Friday. “It’s the same thing as when the city started giving out free condoms. It didn’t mean people would go out and start having sex, it meant that they were going to have sex with or without. It’s just acknowledging the reality of a behavior, and trying to make it safer.”

CONTINUED @ Gothamist.com 

I’m Shocked
Docs Who Get Company Cash Tend to Prescribe More Brand-Name Meds     

The more money doctors receive from drug and medical device companies, the more brand-name drugs they tend to prescribe … But overall, payments are widespread. Doctors who got money from drug and device makers-even just a meal- prescribed a higher percentage of brand-name drugs overall than doctors who didn’t … Nationwide, nearly nine in 10 cardiologists who wrote at least 1,000 prescriptions for Medicare patients received payments from a drug or device company in 2014, while seven in 10 internists and family practitioners did.

CONTINUED @ ProPublica.org  

Life Saving Measure VIDEO
Gov. Baker Signs Bill to Curb Opioid Overdoses VIDEO     

BOSTON – Bill limits initial opioid prescriptions to 7 days … A landmark bill aimed at curbing the state’s opioid addiction crisis is now law in Massachusetts. After signing the bill into law at the Statehouse Monday, Rep. Gov. Charlie Baker fought back tears recalling stories from families who watched loved ones struggle and, ultimately, succumb to opioid addiction.

CONTINUED @ WCVB.com 

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Hydrate, Not High
CLEAN Cause Water Supports Addiction Recovery Programs     

The local Texas company was founded by Wes Hurt, a recovering addict, and 50% of the profits benefit alcohol and addiction recovery programs. A fully organic, naturally-sweetened and delicious option for some energy, with a passionate mission to boot? I’ll drink to that.

CONTINUED @ Observer.com 

By Maia Szalavitz
Why the ‘Disease Model’ Fails to Convince Americans that Addiction Is a Health Issue 

“No one goes around issuing statements about how ‘cancer is a disease’ or ‘AIDS is a disease’ … because it’s pretty obvious that they are.”… Lack of acceptance of the disease model can be seen everywhere – from the “let them die” (and worse) comments on articles about people with addiction, to the War on Drugs, to the segregation of addiction treatment from mainstream healthcare. Although there isn’t much polling on the question, the research that has been done suggests that despite all the proclamations, many, if not most, people still don’t see addiction as genuinely medical.

CONTINUED @ HuffintonPost.com 

Making Progress
CNN: Mental health stigmas are shifting     

Mental health has a long-standing public perception problem, but the stigma appears to be shifting, at least in the United States, a new survey reveals. Results from a national online survey on mental health, anxiety and suicide indicate that 90% of Americans value mental and physical health equally … “Progress is being made in how American adults view mental health, and the important role it plays in our everyday lives.

CONTINUED @ CNN.com 

Rubio Supporters?
Rise of the Synthetic-high Zombies: Cops across Florida called to ‘Horror-Movie Style Scenes’    

Authorities in several Florida cities have seen an increase in emergency calls related to people being slumped over in a stupefied state, as they have overdosed on the dangerous drug known as spice, or synthetic marijuana. Police in Tampa say that more people than ever before are overdosing on the drug, as investigators in Clearwater say they’ve received dozens of calls for people who have had to be rushed to the hospital because of suspected spice use.

CONTINUED @ DailyMail.co.uk  

High Scoring Game  VIDEO
NBA Player Jay Williams: 80% of Players Use Marijuana VIDEO     

Williams estimates that 75 to 80 percent of athletes use marijuana in the NBA. “You see pictures of guys in California going in and getting their medical marijuana cards. And I’m not just saying athletes, let’s talk about society. I know a lot of people that use it. It’s something that the whole world is becoming more progressive with.

CONTINUED @ FOXBusiness.com 

Coercion Not Attraction
New Zealand Addicts Would be Forced into Treatment Under New Bill     

Legislation that would force some drug addicts to go into compulsory treatment has had its first reading in Parliament. The bill is part of the government’s action plan to tackle methamphetamine abuse. It would provide for the compulsory treatment of people with severe drug addictions, who are deemed to be incapable of seeking treatment by themselves.

CONTINUED @ RadioNZ.co.nz  

Home Alone
The promise and pitfalls of online sobriety programs 

“But on the Facebook group I just write what I am feeling and whoever can relate responds, so I’m getting immediate gratification without having to tell my sob story to a bunch of different people.” Lindsey M., who has been in recovery from mental illness for 11 years, agrees that her Facebook-based support group makes it easy to speak up whenever she needs help.

CONTINUED @ DailyDot.com 

Addiction Is Not A Crime, Or Is It?
Protesters Outside DEA Rip Agency’s Role in ‘wasteful’ Drug War, Mass Incarceration

Chanting “Decriminalize all drugs!” the protesters, led by Vocal New York and the Drug Policy Alliance, dropped a banner in front of the 10th Ave. offices reading “Just Say NO to the DEA.” The protesters say the federal government won’t win the war on drugs by locking up low level offenders and addicts who need treatment – not incarceration.

CONTINUED @ NYDailyNews.com 

Washington Post Post
Doctors should pause before dismissing the ’12 steps’ approach to addiction     

By Jessica Gregg, a medical director for substance use disorders at Central City Concern in Portland, Ore.
Addiction has long been medicine’s unwanted stepchild. Doctors didn’t understand it, didn’t know how to treat it and felt helpless in the face of the wreckage it brought to their patients’ lives…As an intervention based on anonymity and welcome to all comers, 12-step groups are virtually impossible to study in a controlled way … With addiction, as doctors grow interested in the disease, there has been increased criticism of traditional approaches, particularly medicine’s old ally, the 12 steps.

CONTINUED @ WashingtonPost.com 

Predictable? VIDEO
Treating Fortune Telling as an Addiction  VIDEO 

After years of visiting a sequence of five psychics who shared as much as $25,000 (U.S.)of his money, Jack, a single father seeking to fix a broken relationship, resolved to quit the habit. But that proved far more difficult than he anticipated. “It becomes an addiction,” says Jack, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity to protect his family. “It’s like gambling; it’s like drugs; it’s like alcohol – you want more.”

CONTINUED @ TheStar.com 

Humanity First
Canadian Prisoners Fight for Addiction Treatment     

Laura Shaver had a heroin habit for years. Sometimes that meant going into opiate withdrawal in a British Columbia jail: “You’re in a four-by-four cement cell. It’s way too hot or way too cold and you don’t get a proper blanket. You don’t know what’s happening. You shit yourself, you puke yourself.” Plenty of other inmates were in the same fix: “You can hear people screaming,” she said.

CONTINUED @ Vice.com 

Jailhouse Doc VIDEO
Pain Pill Doc Sentenced to 8 Years VIDEO 

Eric Jacobson pleaded guilty to prescribing oxycodone and hydrocodone to 19 patients, the day after he was forced to surrender his DEA license to do so. He also admitted for the first time on record that he prescribed painkillers to three patients he knew did not need the drugs.

CONTINUED @ LongIsland.News12.com 

Get Them to a Rehab QUICK
14 Airmen in Charge of 150 Nuclear Missiles – Are Cocaine and Molly Addicts 

Tasked with guarding 150 nuclear missiles at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, fourteen airmen are under investigation for allegedly using cocaine. Last year, three launch officers, known as missileers, pleaded guilty to using ecstasy after an investigation into illegal drug possession uncovered roughly 100 officers involved in a cheating scandal.

CONTINUED @ GlobalResearch.ca  

Go Make a Movie
2016 REEL Recovery Film Festival

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 and the general public.

 

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin Publisher & Editor:  

Leonard Buschel  
© 2016 Addiction/Recovery eBulletin 

March 22 Addiction Recovery eBulletin