Relapsed and forced out, sober home residents die in motels
When 20-year-old Nicole Cronin relapsed in 2012 at Halfway There, a Delray Beach sober home, employees told her she couldn’t stay and dropped her off at a cheap motel. Eleven hours later, Nicole was dead, face down on the floor, alone. She overdosed on a deadly cocktail of oxycodone and antidepressants. Addicts like Nicole who relapse while living in sober homes in Delray Beach, often are dumped into seedy motels, often still high. Without supervision…
CONTINUED @ MyPalmBeachPost.com
The Cure
Art does heal: scientists say appreciating creative works can fight off disease
The healing power of art and nature could be real after scientists discovered they boost your immune system. Psychologist Dr Dacher Keltner, said: “That awe, wonder and beauty promote healthier levels of cytokines suggests the things we do to experience these emotions – a walk in nature, losing oneself in music, beholding art – has a direct influence upon health and life expectancy.”
Monday students at West Virginia University at Parkersburg created Addiction Awareness Day in hopes of saving lives and bringing the realization that there is help out there and it’s right here at home. Addiction doesn’t just have to be about narcotics, it also includes alcohol, tobacco, gambling, eating disorders and much more.
CONTINUED @ TheNewsCenter.tv
Too Much of a Good Thing…
Caffeine overdose is very real
If you’re an average American, caffeine is a part of your daily life. But can you overdose on caffeine? Well, you can overdose on drugs, and caffeine is a drug, so the answer must be yes. But knowing exactly how much caffeine is required to cause an overdose is a little more complicated.
Scott Kellogg is a masterful psychotherapist who brings intelligence, passion, creativity, and love to his commitment to reducing suffering in the world. His inspiring and useful book, Transformational Chairwork: Using Psychotherapeutic Dialogues in Clinical Practice, resurrects and refines the lost art of Chairwork, as originally pioneered by Jacob Moreno and Fritz Perls…
Recovering alcoholic talks of experience, says drinking culture made things more difficult VIDEO
One recovering alcoholic living in the island says Jersey’s culture of drinking made it difficult for him to realise he had a problem. Alan Greenan gave up alcohol entirely 14 years ago, but says he used to drink constantly, round the clock, from the minute he got out of bed. He says he now understands it was his way of numbing his anxiety. He’d go to work after drinking a couple of cans of beer and would ‘constantly top up’ throughout the day.
CONTINUED @ ITV.com
Coke in a Can
Having Just One Energy Drink Could Put Your Heart at Risk
A single can of Rockstar, they discovered, produced an average blood pressure increase of 6.4% – more specifically, a 6.2% spike in systolic blood pressure and a 6.8% spike in diastolic blood pressure … The Rockstar also led to a 74% jump in levels of noreprinephrine, a hormone that increases blood pressure…
Congressman Calls For DEA Chief’s Removal After He Calls Medical Marijuana A ‘Joke’ VIDEO
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said Wednesday that acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief Chuck Rosenberg should be replaced after calling the notion of smoking marijuana for medical purposes a “joke.” “Rosenberg is clearly not the right fit for the DEA in this administration,” Blumenauer said during a speech on the House floor Wednesday morning.
Viola Davis details her sister’s sexual assault and drug addiction: ‘Her whole life could have been different.’
“She came home and she told my mom. My mom ran down to the store, started screaming at the store owners and they said: ‘Leave that man alone. He does that to all the little girls,'” she said, noting that the police were called and the man was put in a car. The shocking incident would be the tip off for a life of drug abuse and promiscuity for Davis’ now 39-year-old sister.
Hart experimented with other prescriptions in stock and often moved to different jobs. He eventually became addicted to sleeping pills. The former pharmacist said at one point, he nearly died from significant gastrointestinal bleeding, which he said was caused by the prescription drug abuse. Before his wife drove him to the hospital, he made sure he had enough sleeping pills to last him through his hospital stay, sticking them into his sock.
CONTINUED @ TheCourier.com
Addict Nation
10 Percent of U.S. adults have drug use disorder at some point in their lives
A survey of American adults revealed that drug use disorder is common, co-occurs with a range of mental health disorders and often goes untreated. The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that about 4 percent of Americans met the criteria for drug use disorder in the past year and about 10 percent have had drug use disorder at some time in their lives.
Daniel Radcliffe Admits He Struggled with Alcohol Abuse After ‘Harry Potter’ ended
Radcliffe joined Marc Maron on his WTF podcast this week to chat about the movie business as well as his dangerous addiction to alcohol, a habit which he broke in 2013. He remains sober to this day. Radcliffe says his alcoholism became rampant while he was still filming the Potter films, and it was after the series ended that he had to take a hard look at his booze intake.
Kate and Jeremy met in 2008, when she was 18 and he was 23, at an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting. After meeting, Jeremy spent six months wishing he had gotten Kate’s number. Seven years later, Kate and Jeremy are happily married. They spoke with Cosmopolitan.com about how they deal with alcoholism and addiction in their marriage.
Parents Warned About Soda-Flavored Alcoholic Drinks VIDEO
A growing trend in alcoholic beverages: “hard” or “spiked” soda. It’s a drink that tastes a lot like a plain old soft drink flavor. The difference is it has booze.When Sarah Sigro picks up drinks for hangouts with friends, she’s often choosing “root beer beer.” “I like it because it’s delicious. Like, it is drinking an awesome childhood drink, but in an adult way,” Sarah said.
When you listen to Republican locally elected public officials describing the mayhem here in Indiana – the Methamphetamine State! – you really have to wonder about the priorities at the Statehouse…”There were 362 children removed from meth houses last year.”…The boys and father were arrested and jailed, soon to be followed by cousins, along with an aunt and uncle. “That’s the creeping effect that it has.”
Following our latest report on “The Call for Greater Use of Medication to Treat Drug Abuse”, we wanted to hear more about what is being done to address the current addiction epidemic. The Dr. Oz Show has teamed up with Drugs Over Dinner and Facing Addiction to present The National Night of Conversation…
‘We’re a dumping ground’: Newark residents hoping to fend off new drug treatment center
The signs read “Bus Stop Not Drug Stop” “No Drug Dealers” and “Don’t Tread On Me”. Over and over, Unib “Shaw” Shaida and his crew at Metro Auto Service have trotted out of their shop to post them along of Frelinghuysen Avenue in an attempt to stop the steady parade of hustlers, prostitutes and drug addicts from loitering in the area. Eventually the signs turn up missing and life in this desolate strip of the South Ward goes on as usual.
Jimmy Fallon Called A ‘Mess,’ High Functioning Alcoholic’
But the Tonight Show host’s string of injuries is not something to laugh at, apparently. According to the New York Post, NBC executives are concerned that Jimmy Fallon’s frequent injuries and hospital visits are the result of drinking and excess partying. Jimmy Fallon is “a mess,” according to a bartender who the New York Post identified as someone who regularly serves the comedian. “Everything you’ve heard [about his drinking problems] is true.”
CONTINUED @ Inquisitr.com
Williams Cope Moyers
Beyond Addiction: Moving Past The Stigma
William Moyers shares powerful stories of individuals struggling with addiction and uncovers the path to seeking the right help in his new book, Beyond Addiction: Moving Past The Stigma. Moyers delves into a continuum of stories about seeking clarity from addiction, and will move you to act toward better health for yourself and loved ones battling addiction.
When Treatment For Drug Addiction Never Ends NPR AUDIO
Opioids have a stranglehold on parts of the U.S. And where addictive pain medicines are the drug of choice, clinics for addiction treatment often follow. Sometime these are doctor’s offices where patients can get painkiller-replacement drugs, such as Subutex and Suboxone…The spotty results lead some to question how committed some of the clinics are to seeing people through to recovery. “You get this relationship built with them where they’re just really legit drug dealers in a sense, in my eyes.”
A new study published in the journal Circulation found that regular coffee drinkers-people who drank less than five cups of coffee in a given day-have a lower risk of dying early from a number of different causes … researchers found that those who drank coffee on a regular basis had a lower risk of dying during the study’s 30 year follow up from problems such as…
People that demonstrate excessive erratic behavior when drunk or even when they have only had a few drinks of alcohol are genetically different from their peers. Dr. Roope Tikkanen and colleagues from the University of Helsinki are the first to discover a genetic mutation that produces extreme erratic behavior when a person drinks alcohol. The discovery was reported in the Nov. 17, 2015, edition of the journal Translational Psychiatry.
The Local 4 Defenders and Good Health’s Dr. Frank McGeorge team up to bring attention to the Faces of Addiction. You can watch all of the reports as they run here: A local woman is sharing her story in the hopes it helps others who are facing what she went through. Watch: Macomb woman starring as face of addiction.
First-ever report on Pennsylvania heroin overdoses released
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday released a report analyzing drug overdoses in the state last year, which officials called the first of its kind. The 89-page report culled information from 62 of the state’s 67 counties on nearly 2,500 overdose deaths…In Allegheny County, 307 deaths were attributed to a drug overdose of some sort. Philadelphia was the only county with more, 655.
Doctors’ group calls for ban on prescription drug ads
The American Medical Association on Tuesday called for a ban on direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs and implantable medical devices, saying they contribute to rising costs and patients’ demands for inappropriate treatment…. “Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and more expensive drugs, even when these drugs may not be appropriate.”
Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention Holds Promise For Treating Addiction
…But mindfulness can also help the nearly 24 million Americans struggling with drug and alcohol addiction to find lasting recovery, according to some experts. Research on mindfulness-based relapse prevention, an eight-week program developed at the University of Washington, offers hope even for addictions with the lowest recovery rates, such as opiate and crack cocaine addiction.
TSRI scientists awarded $1.6 million grant to bring heroin vaccine closer to the clinic
The vaccine trains immune system antibodies to recognize and bind to heroin molecules, blocking the drug’s active products from reaching the brain to trigger a “high.” Without that high, scientists believe recovering drug addicts will be much less likely to relapse.
Drug Treatment Slots Are Scarce For Pregnant Women NPR AUDIO
Tennessee’s “fetal assault” law is designed to push pregnant women into drug treatment programs. But there are not enough of those programs available for the people who need them.
A drug used to treat alcoholism is likely a “game changer” in the fight to cure HIV. According to the medical journal The Lancet, teams from the University of Melbourne and the University of California San Francisco found that disulfiram, a drug which has been traditionally used to produce the symptoms of a hangover when alcohol is consumed, also has the ability to bring dormant HIV out of hiding.
Daniel Radcliffe has his head on pretty straight for someone who was thrust into worldwide superstardom at the age of 10. Daniel stops by the garage to talk about growing up as part of the Harry Potter juggernaut and how he’s chosen projects like Equus, Kill Your Darlings.
Staten Island Borough President James Oddo and actress Kristen Johnston helped usher in New York City’s first recovery high school last week. On the crisp, fall night of November 12, teens and adults gathered at the historic St. George Theater just steps from the iconic Staten Island Ferry … An audience of 100 assembled to celebrate the first recovery high school in New York City, located in Staten Island.
FDA OKs Nasal Spray to Reverse Painkiller Overdose
The newly approved nasal spray (Narcan) contains the medication naloxone hydrochloride, which can stop or reverse the effects of an opioid drug overdose. Narcan is the first approved nasal spray version of the medication and offers an important new easy-to-use treatment option for family members and first responders dealing with a heroin or narcotic painkiller overdose.
Macklemore Tackles Prescription Drug Addiction on New Track
Macklemore debuted “Kevin,” his new track with Ryan Lewis, last night at the American Music Awards. Featuring neo soul man Leon Bridges, the emotional song tackles the problem of prescription drug addiction. Detailing the downfall of a talented young man who became addicted to oxycontin and died, “Kevin” gets real about the problem of overprescription in America.
CONTINUED @ 923AmpRadio.com
Mounties On The Job
Drug treatment centre director accused of sex assault
The director of an Etobicoke drug treatment centre is accused of sexually assaulting a female client. Investigators arrested Erik Bouaziz, 37, Thursday and charged him with sexual assault and sexual exploitation. A Toronto Police spokesman said he didn’t know the victim’s age. He said investigators are being careful with information so as not to reveal the victim’s identity.
Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center Inc., which also does business as Sovereign Health of California, and Vedanta Laboratories charge that the moratorium is illegal and discriminatory. The suit says the city also denied expansion permits for a toxicology laboratory, only because one of its owners also has ownership in treatment centers the lawsuit says the city is “unlawfully driving out of town.”
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.
Our Cities include: New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Ft. Lauderdale, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Vancouver.
If you would like to bring the REEL Recovery Film Festival to your area, please call 818-762-0461.
If you or someone you know has a film about Addiction OR Recovery, please click on our:
Subscribe Today! Your best source of current news, information and opinion about the issues that matter to you most. Serving the treatment industry, recovery community and health and wellness professionals.
