Daniel Radcliffe on alcoholism, starving himself, Harry Potter – and the day he fell in love
He gave up drinking a month after filming the final Potter film. He’d started taking insane risks, getting blackout-drunk in public places. When we last met he’d been teetotal for 17 months and recited the benefits. ‘It’s lovely. I barely think about it [alcohol].’ But he admits he’s had a relapse since. ‘I can’t tell you what kind of drunk I am because I don’t remember what kind of drunk I am. I think I’m probably great – while I’m conscious.’
Comedy saved me, says Trevor Gumbi in heartfelt interview on his drug addiction
Openly speaking about his battle with substance abuse several times, Trevor Gumbi has given one of his most heartfelt interviews yet describing how comedy saved him. “Comedy saved me. I had no direction for my life back then and I’m grateful that I found it. Who knows where I’d be. Still folding clothes at my retail store job? Still working the counter at my late night petrol station job? Or my still working the phones at my highly lucrative insurance sales job? I don’t know. But I’m happy with where I am right now.”
Samuel L. Jackson: Wife & daughter fundamental in beating drug addiction
Samuel L. Jackson has credited his wife and daughter with helping him beat his drug and alcohol addiction for the second time in a matter of days. The legendary actor first thanked his spouse LaTanya and 33-year-old daughter Zoe during his Lifetime Achievement speech at the BET Awards, June 26, and on the red carpet at his new movie, The Legend of Tarzan, Samuel elaborated on how much their support meant to him.
READ MORE @ BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
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RESEARCH
Is There a Test?
Alcohol abuse or alcoholism? How to spot the differences
Research shows about one-third of people who are treated for alcohol problems have no further symptoms one year later. Many others substantially reduce their drinking and report fewer alcohol-related problems. Similarly, for alcohol abuse abstinence is recommended. Additionally, help is available in the form of behavioral treatments aimed at changing drinking behavior through counseling; prescribed medications; and, mutual-support groups with the most recognized being Alcoholics Anonymous.
Promises Treatment Centers® Announces $10,000 College Scholarship Program
Promises Treatment Centers®, a nationally recognized leader in addiction treatment, invites students to compete in an essay-writing contest for a share of $10,000 in college scholarship funds. The 500-word essay must explore the question, “How has addiction or mental illness affected you or someone you love?” Three winners will be selected, with $6,000 in college tuition awarded for first place, $3,000 for second, and $1,000 for third.
A new and troubling trend in which youth deliberately do not eat and then go on to drink alcohol in excess appears to be sweeping US college campuses, new research suggests. Known as “drunkorexia,” the practice refers to a combination of diet-related behaviors, such as food restriction, excessive exercise, or binge eating and purging, with alcohol use, lead investigator Dipali V. Rinker, PhD, research assistant professor, University of Houston, in Texas, told Medscape Medical News.
READ MORE @ MedScape.com
Addiction/Recovery eBulletin
LAW ENFORCEMENT
One Poke Over the Line
Alcoholic mom avoids jail after naked Twister & sex with daughter’s friends
The woman’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor reported the incident to police … Rachel Lehnardt, 36, allowed her teen daughter and friends to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol before joining them in a game of naked Twister in her home in the US State of Georgia, in April last year … In a statement Lehnardt’s lawyer Shawn Hammond issued to the court, the former Mormon Sunday school teacher had begun drinking after her split from her ex-husband James in 2014, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq.
READ MORE @ Yahoo.com
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Local Hero
Phil Parker, Who Helped Homeless Alcoholics, Dies at 86
In an unattributed essay titled “He Lived Only to Drink,” which Mr. Silverman said Mr. Parker had written for the Alcoholics Anonymous “Big Book,” Mr. Parker recalled that he had become suicidal and was committed to a mental ward. But, he wrote, “I do not believe the doctors knew much more about alcoholism than I did.” Mr. Parker had been sober for nearly 48 years when he died…
Once-hopeless alcoholic finds salvation in yoga VIDEO
STATEN ISLAND, NY – “Hopelessness, bitter, abysmal hopelessness, darkness everywhere. I could not fathom a future for myself.” Meg Welch, 25, was only 10 days sober when she began her training at 5 Boro Power Yoga in New Dorp. She is now an instructor of a yoga class for people struggling with all types of addictions that meets on Saturday nights. “I have to remind myself every day that I’m very close to losing everything if I ever pick up a drink or a drug again,” said Welch.
I I … I was taught how to cook and smoke crack when I was 21. It was in a high-rise hotel room on East 34th Street in Manhattan, and some friends from New Jersey-in town for the New Year’s Eve Phish shows at Madison Square Garden-showed me the technique to convert powder cocaine into its smokable counterpart. These upper-middle-class suburban kids seemed to know every detail about the drug, from the minutiae of proper pipe handling (taking a hit requires some optimization) to the kinder, gentler euphemism for crack, “hubbas.”
Kelsey Grammer Admits Drinking ‘Every Day’ After Quitting Alcoholics Anonymous
Grammer spoke about leaving sobriety behind. “I no longer go to AA and I still enjoy a drink,” he admitted. “People need to know how to move on and put things in another place. Drinking is not a vice.” He also warned that nobody should interfere when it is time for him to hit the bottle. “I want my five minutes every day when I have my cocktail, and I want no one to bother me during that time.”
Local poet, Walk Against Heroin promote drug addiction recovery VIDEO
Local Youngstown poet and author Dennis Zitello Jr. has been clean for two years and four months and is sharing his story. He is celebrating the release of his new book, In These Streets, which talks about his battle with drug addiction. “Bureaucracy, hypocrisy, leads to mediocrity. For this, we will crumble, fumble, stumble,” Zitello said.
Sex addiction is causing devastation in some Irish families
HE STIGMA ATTACHED to sex addiction is preventing people from admitting they have a problem, according to singer and counsellor Frances Black. The new senator says that sex addiction and online pornography is a very real issue impacting many families around the country and resources are needed to tackle it.
Researchers from California State University-Fullerton say social media obsession may lead to something akin to classical addiction. The findings, published in the journal Psychological Reports: Disability and Traumashowed that the brains of people who report compulsive urges to use Facebook show some brain patterns similar to those found in drug addicts or problem gamblers.
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.
How Confronting Addiction and Depression and Finding His Birth Mom Saved Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels from Committing Suicide
Growing up in a middle-class family in Queens, New York, McDaniels – a comic book nerd who took up deejaying on his brother’s turntable as a preteen – started rapping for fun with friend Joseph “Run” Simmons as a kid. A shy guy, McDaniels started drinking young, turning to malt liquor (Olde English 800 was a go-to) for a confidence booster. By 15, he was dependent on booze to get onstage to perform.
READ MORE @ People.com
CELEBRITY STORIES
A Star Speaks Out
Kristen Bell Shares How Dax Shepard’s Struggle With Addiction Changed Her World View
by Sara Kitnick As a mother of two, Delta, 1, and Lincoln, 3, Kristen shares, “It’s the most important thing I’m trying to teach. I’m trying to teach my kids not be stunted by country lines, language barriers, or religious boundaries. And that all human beings, and everyone in the world is part of someone’s family and they should be treated as such. It’s so simple to get caught up in lines that divide us. Why are you different? I think it’s important to remind ourselves that we’re all the same and everyone is doing the best they can with what they have.” How Kristen Bell Is Destigmatizing Depression
Sometimes growing up with all the advantages doesn’t ensure an easy road to success. Jane Zarse knows from experience. She was born into a well-to-do family and grew up in the prestigious community of Lake Forest, Ill., driving an Audi to her exclusive private school where she was a cheerleader. She also began drinking and doing drugs. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come when her grades slipped and she wrecked the Audi, though initially she persevered, graduating from college and launching a career at the Chicago Options Exchange. But alcoholism proved her undoing.
READ MORE @ Josic.com
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RECOVERY EVENTS
Planning Ahead
The Faces of Addiction fashion show in Albany, New YorkNov. 20th
The show features professional models as well as men and women recovering from addiction. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Addiction Care Center, Hope House and New Choices. The event is a brunch being held at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 20 over at the Albany Marriot, 189 Wolf Road, Albany.
PEPSI putting aspartame back into diet drinks 1yr after removing controversial sweetener VIDEO
Aspartame, which is around 200 times sweeter than sugar, is one of the most common artificial sweeteners used today. It has been widely criticized for it’s proven harmful side effects. Watch the documentary below to learn more about the Donald Rumsfield scam and how he made sure it was legal even though it’s not safe … “Pepsi removed the sweetener “in response to consumer demand” in April 2015, to appeal to customers who were concerned aspartame carries health risks.
NJ emergency room becomes first in U.S. to end use of opioid painkillers
PATERSON, N.J. – St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center announced it has become the first hospital in the country to implement a program that will manage patients’ pain in the emergency room without the use of opioid painkillers. Painkillers most frequently used in the emergency room in the past were oxycodone, vicodin and percocet, according to Dr. Mark Rosenberg, the Emergency Department chair. “Our job here together is to look at the whole equation and understand how we can stop people from going from a prescription, to an addiction,” he said.
While sober living facilities may serve a purpose in assisting addicts on the road to sobriety, the unscrupulous must be prevented from taking advantage of the most vulnerable. Bathum’s arrest and the petition to close his facilities are the first steps in curbing the illegal and unethical manner in which he has engaged with those struggling with addiction. Hopefully, the state will clamp down on similar unethical operators through increased oversight and legislation.
“I’m so happy: having this chance to get healthy is amazing,” said Vickie Goldstein, 57, of Delray Beach, Florida, who’s had hepatitis C since 2003 and is now taking Viekira Pak, after her Medicaid managed care plan had refused access on the grounds that she wasn’t sick enough … Nationally, at least 3.5 million people are believed to have hepatitis C, although half of them don’t know it. Three-quarters are Baby Boomers who likely became infected from contaminated blood (the blood supply wasn’t tested for this virus until 1992), injection drug use, or sex.
In the first three months of 2016, the Oregon Poison Center received two times as many marijuana-related calls than were received, on average, during the same period in 2015. According to Tracy Brawley, the lead spokeswoman for OPC, the poison control center received 84 calls about the potential of marijuana poisoning between January and March of 2016. Ten of those calls were related to children ages 6 and younger ingesting marijuana products. “We did see a jump,” Brawley said.
READ MORE @ KGW.com
ALCOHOLISM
We Love Lists
10 Celebrity Alcoholics Who Drank Themselves To Death
Alcoholism has been a serious problem ever since alcoholic drinks were invented. Many people decide to ignore their problem by using opiates such as alcohol. And that can lead to serious health and mental problems, which has been proven many times over. But to drink yourself to death, you really have to love drinking (or have some serious issues).
What Adult Children of Alcoholics Need to Know About Perfectionism
Addicted, dysfunctional and chaotic families are a breeding ground for perfectionism. Therapists and addictions counselors often talk about alcoholism (or any addiction) as a family disease because it affects everyone in the family. As I’m sure you’re aware, an addict’s behavior has far reaching consequences for his/her family, especially the children. Alcoholic homes can be unpredictable and harsh. Some children learn that the best way to cope is to become a “perfect” child. This is actually a very smart and adaptive strategy. Trying to be perfect becomes a way to avoid harsh criticism and unwanted attention. When you’re trying to fly under the radar in order to avoid punishment, criticism, or abuse, perfectionism serves this goal.
READ MORE @ GoodMenProject.com
OPIATE EPIDEMIC
A Wind And a Prayer VIDEO
Balloon released in memory of over- dose victim travels 600 miles VIDEO
According to WBAY, Alyssa Steward died in 2014 from a heroin overdose. Her funeral was on her 21st birthday. Since then, her family and friends have the tradition of releasing balloons in her honor. Of the 80 balloons sent out this year, four were found, including one 600 miles away in Steubenville. “I was amazed and I was sure God dropped this balloon here on purpose,” said Maureen Black, who found the balloon in Ohio.
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