Prescription murder trial should set precedent for doctors
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Tseng wrote more than 27,000 prescriptions over a three-year period — an average of 25 per day. She and her husband operated out of a storefront medical clinic. The prosecution said the busy practice was highly lucrative, with the doctor handing out prescriptions after appointments that sometimes lasted just three minutes.
Dr. Garrett O’Connor was an internationally renowned psychiatrist, recognized for his expertise in the clinical assessment of fitness-for-duty in safety sensitive personnel, as well as for his extensive clinical experience in corporate risk and workplace addiction liability. Dr. O’Connor was President and first CEO of the Betty Ford Institute and served on the Board of Directors of the Betty Ford Clinic. Prior to his appointment as President, he served as Medical Director of the Betty Ford Center’s Licensed Professionals Treatment Program and Chief Psychiatrist of the Betty Ford Center.
Labeling drug addiction a choice is intellectually dishonest
In recent mainstream articles, addiction has been portrayed as a habit or a choice, instead of what it truly is – namely, a chronic, treatable brain disease. This misconception is both wrong and dangerous, and it flies in the face of neuroscience, which has shown addiction to be rooted in the brain’s chemical imbalance and altered circuitry in afflicted individuals. The habit is merely a symptom.
Sober home industry finds gold in laws meant to restrain it
An FBI task force is investigating claims of insurance fraud, patient brokering and kickbacks in Palm Beach County’s billion-dollar addiction treatment industry. A client at one recovery residence, which owns its own intensive outpatient center (IOP) and has ties to a lab, attended IOP three times a week and gave a urine specimen each session. His insurance company was billed $1,075 for every IOP session, $5,594 for every urine test and $600 for weekly individual psychotherapy.
CONTINUED @ MyPalmBeachPost.com
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Neuroscience Fiction?
Could This Discovery End Alcoholism?
Scientists say a cure for alcoholism could be on the horizon thanks to the remarkable discovery of neurons in the brain that play a role in whether one glass of wine turns into a bottle. “This is the major finding, D1 receptors are essential for alcohol consumption and if we suppress this activity, we’re able to suppress alcohol consumption.”
CONTINUED @ Yahoo.com
RecoveryAS.com
UK News
Booze cruise tycoon ‘was overbearing alcoholic’ stabbed to death by his son
Booze cruise tycoon David West was an overbearing alcoholic who verbally abused his staff for years before being stabbed to death by his son. in his £2.5million home. The 70-year-old self-made millionaire, known to staff as ‘Papa Bear’, would regularly ‘scream and shout’ at employees for no reason, according to his personal assistant.
MTV Video Music Awards criticized for glorifying marijuana
An organization that ran anti-cigarette smoking ads during the Video Music Awards has complained to MTV’s parent company about the program’s multiple references to marijuana and said it sent the wrong message to young viewers. Miley Cyrus came backstage with a lit joint after the show and passed it around to photographers.
CONTINUED @ StamfordAdvocate.com
There is no problem Houston!
“Because I’m an alcoholic”
Killer Avoids Murder Trial As He Is Alcoholic
A plumber who nearly decapitated a barmaid with a bread-knife has avoided a murder trial – because he is addicted to alcohol. James Richardson, 35, will only face a manslaughter charge after the prosecution accepted a diagnosis of alcohol dependency syndrome.
CONTINUED @ NewsSky.com
Meetings in Moscow
Russia to Launch App for Recovering Alcoholics, Drug Addicts
Russian Health Ministry officials announced plans Monday to launch a free mobile app for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. Users of the app will be able to get information about support group meetings and advice from doctors on how to keep the addiction in check … He also announced a radio network to be launched in rehabilitation clinics. “Experts and alcoholics will talk on air about recovery.”
Drug addiction starts in the home medicine cabinet
The anticipation of that warm and relaxed feeling of your body floating away that some painkillers deliver can be an introduction to addiction. I don’t say that as an advertorial for the drug, but rather to show that within a very short time I was anticipating the prickling brain and inevitable numbing this tablet gave me as I lay back and sank through my bed.
Drugs to conteract opioid side effects further complicate treatment
Supplemental treatments, called adjunct therapies, often are prescribed to help injured workers treat symptoms brought on by taking prescription opioids. Common side effects include constipation, weight gain, dry mouth, nausea, lower testosterone, impotence and depression, said Dr. Teresa Bartlett, “There’s an old adage that physicians who start patients on opioids should also start them on some sort of laxative protocol.”
Doctors Play A Role In The Opioid Addiction Epidemic
A quarter of patients given a short-term prescription for painkillers transitioned to long-term use. We know how opioid addictions end: all too often, in death by overdose. About 16,000 Americans every year die of an overdose of opioid painkillers, such as oxycodone or fentanyl…”They don’t work well when you take them long term. They can even make pain worse,” Dr. Kolodny explained. “These are extremely important medicines for end-of-life care,” he said.
The motivational speaker and author of such self-help books as “Your Erroneous Zones,” “Wisdom of the Ages” and “10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace,” says one speech can change a person’s life. “Sunday Morning” asked Dyer to list his five favorite addresses aimed at elevating and moving an audience to action. There are presented below, with video extracts.
You need not agree with Dr. Marc Lewis that addiction is more important than ever before to agree that it has become ubiquitous, springing up in the lives of politicians, entertainers, and even our relatives. The way people become addicts and the way they move beyond their addictions is complicated and mysterious,” Lewis writes in The Biology of Desire. “During periods of addiction, brains are remarkably stuck.
Clinton unveils $10 billion, 10-year anti-drug abuse, treatment initiative
The Clinton plan rolled out Tuesday night calls for establishing a $7.5 billion fund to support new federal-state partnerships to comprehensively address substandce abuse. It also adds $2.5 billion to the existing Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant program, a 15 percent increase. Such reforms would include “alternatives to incarceration for low-level and nonviolent drug offenses,” and treatment programs that would help those affected to get “back on their feet.”
The question of the connection between genetics and addiction is one that should be pretty straightforward: is there one, or isn’t there one? But the reality is, that it isn’t a simple yes or no question…In a lengthy and fascinating story on this subject for the New York Times, Dr. Richard Friedman…
Emergency rooms in South Florida are filling up with patients suffering from synthetic drug overdoses, and the problem is getting worse due to a device that’s ostensibly supposed to help people quit smoking. From big cities like St. Louis to New York, these vape pens are popping up more frequently in drug busts, and the steady rise of abuse is alarming communities across the country.
Review: ‘Stoned: A Doctor’s Case for Medical Marijuana
Now Dr. Casarett, a physician at the University of Pennsylvania is selflessly immersing himself in the culture, science and, yes, smoke of medical marijuana in order to unravel and report back on the truth behind the buzz. He delivers a readable, absorbing and informative account, laudably minimizing the yucks and emphasizing the science, or as least as much as the data allow. (Read an excerpt.)
In 2012, the highly respected, peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics published a paper titled “The Diet Factor in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” by two pediatricians – Gordon Millichap and Michelle Yee – who specialize in work with children who exhibit classic ADHD behavior s … As Ravenel and I point out, a proper diet, as opposed to ADHD medications, has no side effects other than the positive “side effects” of improved mood, memory, focus, alertness and problem-solving.
CONTINUED @ ColumbiaTribue.com
Learning Dope
High schoolers use e-cigarettes to vape marijuana
Nearly one in five high school students who said they used electronic cigarettes to vaporize nicotine also used them to vaporize pot … “We know very little about the acute and long-term effects of high-potency THC on neurobiology and behavior,” Lee said in an email. “This is especially concerning for teens, who are in a critical time for development of brain structures that are integral in executive functioning.”
CONTINUED @ Reuters.com
When The Saints Go Marching In VIDEO
LDS addiction recovery video: Aram’s story of drug addiction VIDEO ESSAY
“I couldn’t recall truly asking God to remove my character defects,” Aram said. “I decided I was going to do it, and I didn’t know what I was expecting to happen, so I just thought to myself, ‘If he was here in front of me right now, what would I want him to say?’ I thought, well, I’d want him to just take it and say ‘Thanks, I got this,’ and instead, at that moment, I heard a question, and it was…
The more you age, the more you need to limit liquor
If seniors drink more than that, Moore says, they put themselves at increased risk for alcohol-related problems … Psychologists employ what is called a motivational interview to get someone to consider changing his or her drinking behavior. This means talking through the consequences of drinking — making a health condition worse or getting poor sleep or not keeping up with life’s responsibilities.
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