Home

    
Articles, Videos & Breaking News   |  Powered by Writers In Treatment
November 1, 2016                   Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News                   Vol. 4., No. 13
eBulletin Advertising
Testimonials
Music to the Rescue
 Macklemore’s Powerful New Video ‘Drug Dealer’ VIDEO

Macklemore’s newest single is an emotional, sometimes unsettling takedown of the pharmaceutical industry and what the Seattle rapper sees as a pandemic of drug addictions driven by doctors who carelessly overprescribe medicine. “My drug dealer was a doctor,” sings Ariana Deboo on the hook. “He said that he would heal me, but he only gave me problems … I think he trying to kill me. Tried to kill me for a dollar.”

WATCH IT @ NPR.org  

Vote on November 8th. The future of the planet may depend on it.
Mothers, Protect Your Children: Legalize Marijuana in California

This is a call to action to mothers across California to use your moral authority to speak out to end a broken system of marijuana prohibition that has been tearing our families apart for far too many decades. It may seem counter-intuitive that responsible mothers are promoting marijuana legalization, but it is, indeed, for the sake of our children and future generations. Proposition 64 will put an end to a criminal justice response to cannabis that has led to mass incarceration of non-violent drug offenders. Every year there are over 8,800 felony marijuana arrests in California. The war on drugs has not only failed, but it is decimating families across all social and cultural spectrums.

READ MORE @ HuffingtonPost.com    

Innocent Until Proven Guilty as Sin  VIDEO
Two arrested in crackdown on unscrupulous providers VIDEO 

Authorities arrested James Kigar, CEO of Whole Life Recovery, a substance abuse treatment facility in Boynton Beach, and Christopher Lee Hutson, also with Whole Life Recovery, they said. The two men were charged with patient brokering, a felony offense. Kigar and Hutson are accused of illegally paying a confidential informant for patient referrals, according to a probable cause affidavit released Tuesday. Florida’s patient-brokering law prohibits health care providers from offering “any commission, bonus, rebate, kickback or bribe” to induce referral of patients.

READ MORE @ Sun-Sentinel.com 

Dance of Death? VIDEO
‘Dancing with the Stars’ Drove Aaron Carter to Alcoholism VIDEO  

Aaron Carter, the younger brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, began performing when he was just seven years old … in a rare, recent interview with Oprah, Carter revealed that the problems began to surface in 2003 after his parents announced they were getting a divorce: “The depression was brought on because I loved my family being together. I did not want to see them divorced. I couldn’t dwell on it. I couldn’t think about it too much. I kind of had to just block it out.” … The comeback he hoped for would never arrive: “They were not interested in me. They had no interest in me. They didn’t want to touch me. They didn’t want to do anything. I started getting really heavy into drinking- ‘I’m on a real bad path right now. I need help.'”

READ MORE @ IJR.com 

Voting Can Get You High SO VOTE
Election May Be a Turning Point for Legal Marijuana  

SAN FRANCISCO – To the red-and-blue map of American politics, it may be time to add green. The movement to legalize marijuana, the country’s most popular illicit drug, will take a giant leap on Election Day if California and four other states vote to allow recreational cannabis, as polls suggest they may … “If we’re successful, it’s the beginning of the end of the war on marijuana,” said Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California and a former mayor of San Francisco. “If California moves, it will put more pressure on Mexico and Latin America writ large to reignite a debate on legalization there.”

Orange is the New Sobriety
Taryn Manning Speaks Out on ‘Hitting Rock Bottom’  

The 37-year-old actress admits to struggling with her sobriety and seeking support in an interview with TMZ. According to the report, Manning was speaking out in an effort to get ahead of a forthcoming story about her which she said is in the works with another news outlet. “I am truly grateful for what some may call hitting rock bottom,” she said. “Some days it sucks and some days it sucks worse. I am not ashamed of this obstacle because I have accepted that it is OK to not be OK.”

READ MORE @ ETOnline.com 

Artist on the ‘Natch
Mac Miller on Sobriety  

Rapper also talks dating Ariana Grande, owning his white-MC status and more…
How has sobriety changed you?
This planet has a certain gravity, man – it rises in the morning, it sets at night, and I never really followed that. But now I go to sleep at night and wake up in the day, and that’s been a beautiful balance in my life. Along with not feeling like shit…
Despite your album title, aren’t songs like “Skin” mostly just about sex?
It’s not, like, a feminist-type record. It’s just me searching for answers in love. And sex is a part of love, so I’m not gonna leave that out. I mean, maybe I don’t listen to it with my mom [laughs]. But actually I have. It’s not weird. It’s just sex.

READ MORE @ RollingStone.com 

Open Minded?  VIDEO
Brazil’s Psychedelic Rehab Center Treats Drug Addicts With Ayahuasca  

Every couple of weeks, Everson do Santos relives the worst day of his life. In 2003, under a crack-induced haze, he shot a man dead in a botched robbery attempt. He served six years in prison but relapsed upon his release and spent two years homeless, wandering the streets in search of his next fix. Now, three years sober, do Santos coaches 70 recovering crack and cocaine addicts at a rehabilitation center in the heart of Brazil’s rainforest using the an unorthodox method he says saved his life. The Caminho da Luz Center gives patients daily doses of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew made from rare vines found in the Amazon.

READ MORE @ MotherBoard.Vice.com 

Starting the Conversation VIDEO
Opioid addiction counselors try to disperse fear of unknown VIDEO  

Donna Wampole, a licensed clinical social worker with WellSpan who provides group and individual therapy, said some people and their families have a common misconception about treatment and therapy. They think “you’re just going to be in a room full of drug addicts and you’re all going to want to use,” Wampole said. But that’s not how it works. Here are five things to know about treatment and counseling.

READ MORE @ YDR.com 

Sobriety’s in the Air Tonight
Divorce. Alcoholism. Phil Collins so candid about his own failings, he’s written a self-lacerating page-turner

A talented child actor, he is the Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart’s stage production of Oliver!, but after his cameos in A Hard Day’s Night and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang end up on the cutting-room floor he focuses his energy on his first love: music, specifically drumming…It also references the alcoholism that hit in his mid-50s, something he documents with painful candour. Having given up music to be a full-time dad – touring has become ‘a giant pain in the a***’ – he fills the ‘void’ of divorce and retirement by emptying mini-bars around the globe with Olympian dedication.  There are harrowing and humiliating blackouts, spells in intensive care with pancreatitis and a stint in rehab, before he finally cleans up. ‘It nearly killed me,’ he admits.

Carrying the Message and Courage
‘Grateful alcoholic’ Betty Ford’s son, Steve, talks addiction

“My name’s Steve, and I’m an alcoholic,” he said. “Actually I’m a grateful alcoholic. If it weren’t for the principles of the program that got me sober by the grace of God, my life wouldn’t be as good as it is today.” Ford, son of former President Gerald and first lady Betty Ford, has appeared in movies including “Contact” and “When Harry Met Sally” and the television show “The Young and the Restless.

READ MORE @ TheChronicle.com 

Education, Prevention and Legalization
US drug problem ‘extremely’ or ‘very serious’: Poll

The majority of Americans continue to believe drugs are a serious problem in the United States, according to a new poll. Gallup’s annual Crime poll found that 65 percent of people in the US describe the problem of illegal drugs as “extremely” or “very serious.” In previous Gallup polls, Americans have frequently mentioned drugs as one of the most important problem facing the country. “The US has long struggled with problems coming from the sale and use of illegal drugs, such as drug-related crime and drug addiction,” Gallup said. The United States is suffering from a “huge epidemic” of heroin addiction, as cheap supply has pushed the number of users to a 20-year high and increasing drug-related deaths, according to the United Nations.

READ MORE @ PressTV.com 

By John Giordano DHL, DHL, CCJS, MAC, CAP

Are (MAT) Drugs Robbing People Of Their Recovery?

With all due respect to my colleagues who might feel differently, an opioid is an opioid; period. I believe the vast majority of my colleagues’ hearts are in the right place and are genuinely concerned about the wellbeing of addicts. But that sentiment doesn’t change the fact that all opioids – including Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) drugs, buprenorphine and methadone being the most popular – are highly addictive and affect the same regions of the brain in essentially the same way. They all share the same adverse side effects and withdraw pain. MAT narcotics are not miracle drugs that cure addiction – they’re simply opioids. This just strikes me as a no-brainer; but I feel compelled to repeat it at the expense of sounding redundant to galvanize the point that some of my colleagues want to leave covered in the shaded background.

READ MORE @ HolisticAddictionInfo.com 

Strange Fruit TED TALK VIDEO
Connected Sex: A Paradigm Shift for the Sexually Addicted VIDEO

The old perspective on sex must be thrown away and replaced with a new one. Rather than using sex as a numbing agent, sex must become a connecting agent. Still, this transition in thinking and practice is difficult. It requires learning, direction, and work. In her video on Sex & Intimacy (below), Sue Johnson superbly explains the dynamics of connected and disconnected sex. I believe many sexual addicts experience “sealed off sex”, which she describes as a sexual experience that is lacking emotional intimacy, is solely sensation focused, and leaves individuals feeling lonely.

READ MORE @ LifeStarCentralValley.com 

Doing the Right Thing
Navigating the Maze of Addiction Treatment

Luckily, after a couple of tough cases in a row, I realized my approach, while legal and extremely common in the field, was not in the best interest of those I served.
Families depended on me to guide them and their loved ones into recovery. The course of their lives would be significantly impacted by my guidance, and the work I had done in my personal recovery program ‘could never substitute for the formal education and clinical training I knew I needed’. Consequently, I enrolled in the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies, where on the first day they inform you: “If you are looking to get your Masters in the 12 steps, you’re in the wrong place.”

READ MORE @ TogetherAZ.com

Phoenix Rising
Recovered ‘bum’ rises from sordid past to shelter director  

He was a bum, self-proclaimed. In this era of political correctness, we’d call him homeless. But David Sneade was a lot worse off than that.

He was, literally, a stinking drunk, reeking, in his own words, of urine, vomit and feces, a falling-down, pandhandling, derelict drunk who raided dumpsters for food. And he was a druggie to boot.

Child of an alcoholic father and stepfather, he was beaten and peed on. He stole dog food to eat.

And so, he is uniquely qualified for his role as director of Crossroads, the Union Mission’s men’s shelter.

READ MORE @ WVGazetteMail.com

Heavy Traffic on 95

Exploiting addiction: Recovery industry faces crackdown for patient brokering  

Inside South Florida’s drug treatment industry, some centers pay up to $500 for patient referrals, an illegal practice that puts money ahead of a person’s health, police and industry officials say. The kickbacks create a revolving door where recovering addicts leapfrog from treatment to treatment, hindering treatment and reducing patients to the value of their health insurance, those in the industry say … Palm Beach County’s State Attorney’s Office made its first arrests for patient brokering last week amid a growing number of heroin and prescription drug overdoses and increasing concerns about the state of the recovery industry.

READ MORE @ SunSentinel 

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin

 

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin Fan Mail
“Please continue with your great work.” 

“I’ve been reading the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin for some time and I look forward to receiving it on a weekly basis. I’m a very busy professional, and I find the succinct details in which the articles are written both informative and enlightening. Please continue with your great work.”

Johanna O’Flaherty, PhD 

Her doctorate in clinical psychology is from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Go Make a Movie
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 & the general public.

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin Publisher & Editor:
Leonard Buschel  

© 2016 Addiction/Recovery eBulletin®

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin

 

Daily Beasts
The Convicted Felon Running a Deadly ‘Sober House’  

De La Pena’s Blue Cross Blue Shield was billed for over $4,000 for drug tests by Reflections while Nicole lived in Open Arms. De La Pena also said she saw numerous charges for allergy tests and said that Nicole has no history of allergies. Jennifer Flory said her daughter was enrolled in Reflections at the time of her overdose. Vans from Reflections would pick up residents at Open Arms and bus them to Reflections for the day, she said. Alison’s ex-boyfriend at the time of her overdose, Braaten, said he also received $350 a week to be a house manager while living at Open Arms and enrolled at Reflections. When asked who was paying him at a sober-living house with no staff, he answered, “Reflections did, through our insurance.” Ted Padich, an investigator with the Florida State attorney’s office, was described what Refelections is allegedly doing and said it sounds illegal. 
READ MORE @ TheDailyBeast.com 

Choice or Destiny?
Study probes inherited component of drug addiction  

A five-year study underway at UND is attempting to figure out how addictive tendencies could pass from one generation to the next. To do that, researchers are employing the help of a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, along with a set of microscopic research assistants-tiny worms known as nematodes. UND associate professor Lucia Carvelli, the leader of the study, said the goal of her research is to identify the pathways by which amphetamine use can have deep long-term effects for both users and their progeny. Carvelli said researchers have suspected a genetic component to addiction for more than 50 years, but have yet to find any kind of “addiction genes” that adequately explain how addiction might be an inheritable trait.

READ MORE @ GrandForksHerald.com 

More Mel for RDJ
Mel Gibson says sobriety refocused his life  

Hollywood star Mel Gibson says giving up alcohol has helped him “refocus” his life. The Oscar-winning actor-director says he has been sober for 10 years since his controversial anti-Semitic rant following a drink-driving arrest in 2006. “Sobriety helps you refocus everything. Believe me it doesn’t do any good to have a snort,” Gibson said at the Los Angeles premiere of his new film, Hacksaw Ridge. Gibson, 60, has returned to directing for the first time in a decade with Hacksaw Ridge, which has been widely tipped by critics as a potential Oscar contender. 
READ MORE @ TheAustralian.com.au  

May the Jury Be With You
Carrie Fisher Faces Trial in Heroin-Related Wrongful Death Lawsuit  

Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher has failed in her effort to escape a complex legal case over the fatal heroin overdose of a 21-year-old woman who lived in her guesthouse two months before her death. A motion by Fisher to be removed from a wrongful death lawsuit, which centers on the 2010 death of Amy Breliant, was denied Oct. 24 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Laura A. Matz. The ruling, a copy of which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, means that Fisher will remain a defendant in the case alongside a physician, Stephen Marmer M.D., and Warren Boyd, who was overseeing the rehab network that Breliant was under the care of when she died. 
READ MORE @ HollywoodReporter.com 

Ain’t Just Opiates
ER Visits for Alcohol Intoxication Are Going Up  

Visits to the emergency room for alcohol intoxication in the United States have increased by more than 50 percent over the past decade, a new studyfinds. What’s more, ER visits tied to alcohol are taking up an increasing portion of hospital resources, and are requiring longer hospital stays than in the past … the total number of hours that patients spent in the ER for alcohol-related visits more than doubled during the study period, the research found…

READ MORE @ LiveScience.com 

Trying to Learn More VIDEO
Drug Addiction Causes: Meth Users Display Impulsive Behavior During Teens Before First Drug Use VIDEO  

Drug abuse is a complicated affliction. It’s one of America’s most challenging health problems. It affects people of all ages, IQs, and backgrounds, but some people are more prone to addiction than others. Researchers at Oregon State University have made a link between personality traits and susceptibility to drug use. The study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors found that methamphetamine (meth) users who displayed impulsive behavior, were more likely to have started taking the drug at an earlier age. “Impulsivity is highly related to the number of years of using methamphetamine, specifically in men. Our findings suggest that impulsivity likely both contributes to using this substance and increases as a result of using it,” said Anita Cservenka, co-author of the study, and an assistant professor in the School of Psychological Science at Oregon State University, in a statement. Meth is a central nervous system stimulant that affects chemicals in the brain and nerves that contribute to hyperactivity and impulse control.

READ MORE @ MedicalDaily.com 

Starting Them Young VIDEO
Addiction experts warn millennials of Adderall use VIDEO  

The amphetamine is often prescribed to help children and young adults with attention-deficit disorder, or ADD, focus better. Over years of use, the prescription stimulant can become addictive. The CDC reported in 2011 that 11 percent of school age children were prescribed a medication to treat ADD or ADHD. According to a survey by Partnership for Drug Free Kids, one in five teens believe its ok to abuse prescription drugs as long as they weren’t doing it to get high. The survey also said one in five college students admitted to abusing prescription stimulants at least once in their lifetime.

READ MORE @ WWLP.com 

Final Out
Toxicology report shows Jose Fernandez drunk, used cocaine  

Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez had cocaine in his system and was legally drunk when he was killed in a boating accident last month, according to autopsy and toxicology reports obtained Saturday by ESPN. A toxicology report from the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department showed that cocaine and multiple other substances were detected in Fernandez’s blood. Fernandez, 24, had a blood alcohol content of .147, nearly twice the legal limit, when his boat crashed into a Miami Beach jetty Sept. 25. Two of Fernandez’s friends, Emilio Jesus Macias, 27, and Eduardo Rivero, 25, were also killed in the crash.

READ MORE @ ESPN.com 

Role Model Punk
Happy Birthday Anthony Kiedis 

Born Nov. 1, 1962) is an American singer/songwriter best known as lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which he’s fronted since its conception in 1983. Kiedis (apart from a brief termination in 1986) has been with the band throughout their entire history, having recorded all eleven studio albums with them. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2004, he published an autobiography titled Scar Tissue, which became a New York Times Best Seller. Vocalist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers along with band mates Flea, Chad Smith, and Josh Klinghoffer. The band has received seven Grammy Awards and is known for such hit songs as “Scar Tissue,” “Otherside” and “Give it Away.” He met his future music partner and long time friend Flea while at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.

READ MORE @ Wikipedia.org  

It’s a Definite Maybe, Maybe Not
Is marijuana a ‘gateway’ drug? Most scientists still aren’t sure

They also note that similar correlations have been found with alcohol and nicotine. A 2011 journal article in Science Translational Medicine, for instance, found that nicotine also altered the brain, making it easier for users to become addicted to cocaine. Some researchers believe environment and accessibility play primary roles in people’s progression from marijuana to harder substances, according to the NIDA website. Instead of a gateway-type theory proposing that marijuana leads to use of harder substances, proponents of this theory believe the movement from drug to drug is predicated on outside factors like genetics or environment.
“An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances like marijuana, tobacco or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with other substance users increases their chances of trying other drugs,” NIDA says.  A third theory indicates use of the drugs is a mixture of gateway effects, genetics and other factors.

READ MORE @ ReviewJournal.com 

Halloween Never Ends for the Addict
Heroin Isn’t The Scariest Part of the Drug Crisis

In 2014 (the most recent year for which there’s data available), there were 10,574 heroin deaths in the U.S. But in the same year, deaths attributed to prescription opioids numbered 18,893 – itself a 16% increase over the prior year. That means prescription painkillers account for 40% of all drug poisoning deaths … Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has 50-100 times the potency of morphine, and 25-50 times that of heroin … It’s also available to anyone with a prescription. A fentanyl overdose is what famously killed Prince, and it’s alarmingly easy to do … if it’s still just heroin you’re scared of, you might as well think about its effects on public health. Serious bloodstream and heart valve infections have skyrocketed recently among people who inject drugs. In fact, 16% of ineffective endocarditis cases are due to the injection of illicit drugs. Now that’s scary.

READ MORE @ Forbes.com 

(NO) End in Sight
In this N.J. county, overdose deaths continue to ‘spiral out of control’

TOMS RIVER – The number of overdose deaths in Ocean County is outpacing last year’s figures at an alarming rate, officials said. “The bottom line is we do have a problem in Ocean County that continues to spiral out of control,” Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said in a recent interview. “Clearly, we are going to be in the range of 150 to 160 (overdose deaths) by the end of the year, which is totally unacceptable.” … In Brick Township, the third most populated municipality in the county, police Chief James Riccio said as of Monday there have been 155 overdoses in 2016, including 21 fatal overdoses. Ninety-seven of the overdoses in Brick were heroin-related, Riccio said. “It effects everyone,” Riccio said. “We see people of all ages. We actually had someone in their 70s overdose. But not only in different age groups but all different levels of income. It doesn’t matter what class you’re in, it’s pretty much across the board.”

READ MORE @ NJ.com 

Sobriety Film Festival
FT. LAUDERDALE REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 4-6, 2016 

FILM FESTIVAL STARTS THIS WEEKEND!  

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin

 

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin Fan Mail
“It’s a unique service to addicts and their families.”  

“It’s a unique service to addicts and their families. And an informational periodical for the rehab industry. If I don’t ingest the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin, then I immediately need a fix.”

Paul Krassner 

American author, journalist, comedian, and founder of the magazine The Realist. Krassner became a key figure in the counterculture of the 1960s as a member of Ken Kesey‘s Merry Pranksters.

Rates for eBulletin Advertising

2015 RRFF Highlight Reel

2014 RRFF Highlight Reel

2013 RRFF Highlight Reel

2012 RRFF Highlight Reel

South Florida, Starts This Friday, November 4th
Fort Lauderdale Reel Recovery Film Festival

The Reel Recovery Film Festival is not your average film fest. Often called the “Sundance of Recovery,” it showcases those who make honest films about addiction, alcoholism, substance abuse, behavioral disorders, treatment, and recovery. The festival is held in multiple cities throughout the United States, including Fort Lauderdale. Now in its eighth year (fifth in Fort Lauderdale), the fest features a lineup that includes many genres: contemporary, classics, documentaries, and shorts from American, international, and first-time filmmakers as well as industry veterans. The South Florida festival is presented by the In the Rooms Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting recovery options, and Writers in Treatment, helping authors with alcohol and other drug addictions.

READ MORE @ BrowardPalmBeach.com   

THIS BANNER AD SPACE AVAILABLE

Call Leonard Buschel @ 818-762-0461 

November 1 Addiction Recovery eBulletin