The deal was this: NPR, along with a select group of media outlets, would get a briefing about an upcoming announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a day before anyone else. But in exchange for the scoop, NPR would have to abandon its reportorial independence. The FDA would dictate whom NPR’s reporter could and couldn’t interview. Is the Food and Drug Administration manipulating what stories we get on its decisions? Ten reporters-from the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, NBC, CNN and NPR-were invited to have their stories shaped. The day after the briefing, on February 4, everybody-except for the New York Times-ran with stories about the ad campaign. Independent comment was notably missing. Only NPR, which went live hours after the others, and CNN, in an update to its story midday, managed to get any reaction from anyone outside of the FDA.
NEW YORK CITY SPECIAL Lawrence Block Speaks TOMORROW NIGHT – Sept. 28
The True Story of a Fictional Drunk’s Recovery – LIVE EVENT
New York, NY – Award-Winning author Lawrence Block discusses one of his most beloved characters, Matthew Scudder, on Wednesday Sept. 28, 2016 at 8:00 pm at Cinema Village 22 E. 12th Street, New York City, NY. 10003. This is the symposium bit of the 5th Annual REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium. Author of over 150 novels, Mr. Block will discuss the devo/evolution of sober private eye, Matthew Scudder. The ex-cop first appeared in print in 1976 in The Sins of the Fathers, as a hard-drinking, defrocked New York cop, now working as an unlicensed private investigator. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear a master storyteller tell his most important story of all. Mr. Block has generously agreed to sign books after the meeting. Hell sign up to three books that you bring with you, and will bring a limited quantity of books for sale. Tickets $20.00 purchase through Brown Paper Tickets.
Alcoholics who quit completely do better than those who dabble
In my last week of using drugs in the summer of 2005, I had a moment of clarity during a binge that combined codeine cough syrup, Ativan pills and ground-up Oxycontin that I was snorting. I was stumbling around the room – I was always a mess of bruises from head to foot in those days – trying to decide whether or not to take all the rest of the Ativan in the bottle when it occurred to me to ask myself, “Why is it that I can never get high enough? What exactly is it I’m trying not to feel?”… An ex-boyfriend whom I’ll call Alex, wasn’t so lucky. He quit drinking and joined AA for a couple of years, then relapsed. On a crack, alcohol and crystal meth binge, he contracted HIV during a blackout.
Living in an ADHD Nation: How a Manufactured Epidemic is Victimizing Our Children
Schwarz, whose New York Times series on concussions in the NFL led to nationwide safety reforms, claims that ADHD has become the most misdiagnosed condition in American medicine. “Millions of kids today,” he writes in ADHD Nation, “are labeled with a brain disorder they probably do not have, changing their self-image and personal narrative forever.” His comprehensive investigation traces the troubling history of the diagnosis and of the drugs that have been developed and used to squelch this supposed disorder-from Dr. Charles Bradley’s experiments feeding Benzedrine to difficult-to-control children in the 1930s; to the systematic drugging of some six thousand, mostly black elementary school children in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1970; to the normalization of over-medicating to the point where, in some parts of the country, about half of boys in grades three to five are on ADHD meds.
Fentanyl Maker Donates Big to Campaign Opposing Pot Legalization
Supporters of an Arizona campaign to legalize marijuana say opponents should return a donation from a drug company that produces fentanyl, a powerful painkiller known for killing illegal drug users. An embattled pharmaceutical company that sells the powerful painkiller fentanyl has donated $500,000 toward defeating a ballot initiative that would make recreational use of marijuana legal under Arizona law. It’s hard to imagine a more sinister donor than Insys Therapeutics Inc. in the eyes of pot legalization proponents, who long have claimed drug companies want to keep cannabis illegal to corner the market for drugs, some addictive and dangerous, that relieve pain and other symptoms.
READ MORE @ USNews.com
More or Less than a Funeral? VIDEO
The cost of recovery: Drug addiction treatment can be pricey VIDEO
The Center for Disease Control says 78 Americans die from an opiate overdose every day, 29 of them from heroin. With the drug problem only getting bigger, how much is the cost of addiction treatment and how does it work? An estimated 435,000 Americans use heroin regularly, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Last call! Why men can’t turn down just one more drink
Out of 88,000 people who die every year from alcohol related causes, 70.5% (or 62,000) of them are men.These statistics become more concerning when combined with the startling correlations between alcohol use, depression and suicide … in an effort to protect itself from the toxins in alcohol, the brain releases dynorphin, a naturally occurring painkiller that has been linked to depression. Dynorphin numbs all pleasure equally – from drinking alcohol to every day pleasures like hearing a child’s laughter. This means that drinking alcohol leads to a muted pleasure response to all types of enjoyable life experiences.
TechKnow looks at the controversy surrounding psychedelic science and asks if a party drug can help cure PTSD … Being a teetotaler, Hope says she was very apprehensive about taking any sort of drug to treat her PTSD, but claims she saw immediate results. “Whether it’s a cure or a durable remission, that can be argued,” says Mithoefer. “Her symptoms have been reduced to the point where she no longer falls into the category of having PTSD.”
READ MORE @ Aljazeera.com
7 Dead in O H I O
In one day, 7 fatal drug overdoses in Cleveland area
(CNN) – Seven people died from drug overdoses in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County on Saturday, prompting the county’s medical examiner to issue a public health warning. Fifty-two drug overdose deaths occurred in August alone, the highest such number in a given month for the county. said Chris Harris, the communications specialist for Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office … Carfentanil and fentanyl are both strong opioids that drug dealers are now mixing with heroin in order to give the drug a boost and make their supply last longer…
Addiction Treatment Price Gouging Gets House Scrutiny
WASHINGTON – As the U.S. faces a steadily increasing scourge of opioid addiction, prices for lifesaving drugs to treat overdoses and addiction have skyrocketed. A decade ago, the antidote for opioid overdose – naloxone – cost $1 per dose. Now, the drug costs $40. “It’s beyond dispute that such price increases have had a devastating impact on patients, their families, insurers, first responders and health care providers,” Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) said Thursday during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on competition in addiction-medicine markets.
Marijuana Could Be the Key to Overcoming America’s Opioid Epidemic
Based on a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health last week, researchers observed that fewer drivers who tested positive for opioids in states that now have legalized medical marijuana laws than before those laws went into effect were killed in car crashes.
Social media addiction is a real thing, and it’s on the rise VIDEO
You can’t go far without seeing someone on electronics these days. Some people might even say they are addicted. But is social media addiction a real thing? Experts say yes, and they’re seeing more and more people suffering from it. The number of likes on Instagram. The comments you get on your Facebook post. If it seems, you can’t get away from social media. You could have a problem. “It tends to activate the rewards center of the brain in a way that cocaine use or alcohol use tends to activate the rewards center of the brain, increasing dopamine which is a pleasure chemical…
READ MORE @ NWCN.com
Says: Margaret Brackett
Alcoholics Anonymous plays important role in society
Alcoholics Anonymous, which is most often just called the Big Book, was first published in 1939. Since then it has sold millions of copies throughout the world and, for over six decades, has helped millions of people recover from alcoholism … If a person is an alcoholic; touching alcohol in any form cannot be risked. Alcohol is alcohol. For the alcoholic, one drink of alcohol in any form is likely to be too much, and twenty drinks not enough. To be sure of sobriety, alcoholics simply have to stay away from alcohol, regardless of quantity, mixture or concentration they may think they can control.
EU Chief Drinks 4 Glasses of Champagne During Interview to Clarify Alcoholism Denial
During an interview with a French newspaper to set the record straight, the European Commission president downed four glasses of champagne. But the 61-year-old former prime minister of Luxembourg said: ‘You’d think I’d still be in office if I was having cognac for breakfast?’ Mr. Juncker said the persistent rumours about him being drunk had even caused problems in his marriage. He told Liberation: ‘It really makes me sad and it has even led my wife to question if I lie to her, as I do not drink when I’m home.’
READ MORE @ PatDollard.com
Crack/Pot
Where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump stand on the opioid epidemic
Over the past decade, the US has undergone an opioid epidemic. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has called it a “tremendous problem,” while Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has called it a “quiet epidemic.”
“I’ve been reading the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin for some time and I look forward to receiving it on a weekly basis. “
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.
Internet addiction may signal other mental health issues among college students, according to a new study. Canadian researchers say their findings could affect how psychiatrists approach people who spend a significant amount of time online. Dr. Jan Buitelaar is a professor of psychiatry at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands … He said: “Excessive use of the internet is an understudied phenomenon that may disguise mild or severe psychopathology; excessive use of the internet may be strongly linked to compulsive behavior and addiction.”
An Open Letter To The DEA On Its Plans To Ban Kratom, An Herbal Treatment For My Pain
I choose kratom because the alternative is opiates or agony, and I want neither. I came across kratom about 5 years ago while searching for something to help the chronic pain in my feet and legs due to non-diabetic neuropathy. As a registered nurse in a busy ICU unit, I’m on my feet for 12+ hours at a time, 3-4 days a week. Kratom is absolutely the only thing I have ever found that helps my pain enough for me to be able to continue doing the job I love.
American police have for the first time used a marijuana breathalyzer to evaluate impaired drivers, the company behind the pioneering device declared Tuesday, saying it separately confirmed its breath test can detect recent consumption of marijuana-infused food. The two apparent firsts allow Hound Labs to move forward with plans to widely distribute its technology to law enforcement in the first half of next year, says CEO Mike Lynn.
READ MORE @ USNews.com
Life Saver
Seattle’s new war on drugs: Giving heroin addicts ‘safe sites’
Seattle officials are moving forward with a controversial plan for what would be the nation’s first supervised heroin-injection clinics – government-financed shooting galleries that supporters say can save lives but that critics say will only enable drug users. A new 99-page task force study envisions at least two safe-use facilities – one in Seattle, another in the suburbs – where heroin addicts can legally take narcotics while being monitored by medical personnel who can administer aid or call 911.
Angelina Jolie Files for Divorce From Brad Pitt – Allegations of Substance Abuse
Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt and the trigger was a conflict over the kids, substance abuse and anger … TMZ has learned. Jolie filed legal docs Monday citing irreconcilable differences. She’s asking for physical custody of the couple’s 6 children. She is asking the judge to give Pitt visitation. It’s significant … she does not want Brad to have joint physical custody … only joint legal custody. Sources connected with the couple tell us … Angelina’s decision to file has to do with the way Brad was parenting the children … she was extremely upset with his methods. Our sources say, Angelina became “fed up” with Brad’s consumption of weed…
The Reel Recovery Film Festival: Sharing the Message of Recovery through Film
September is recovery month, The Reel Recovery Film Festival and Symposiumthis week at Cinema Village in New York City explores both the dark side of addiction and the light of recovery through the medium of film, through stories about people who “have been there”. I sat down with Leonard Buschel, producer of the festival and was frankly surprised at his frightening medical history, amazed that with his drug use he is a sober man today and very amused by his witty and incisive intellect. He is a man with a purpose and this article sheds light on how he turned a life threatening illness into a life giving passion.
U.S. Attorney: Send drug addicts to treatment not jail VIDEO
Across the country more people are dying from drug overdose than car crashes. “We need to not just prosecute but also to treat those who are suffering from addiction,” said U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles. Now instead of sending drug addicts behind bars the United State’s Attorney’s Office wants them to get treatment.
They would accumulate more than 20 venues before selling that first company to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Gary Mendell would become president of Starwood under CEO Barry Sternlicht, a period when it bought both Westin and ITT, before going out on his own anew with HEI Hotels & Resorts in Westport that later moved to Norwalk’s Merritt 7 complex. After Starwood’s sale this week to Marriott International (NYSE: MAR), HEI is now the largest independent hotel owner based in Connecticut. Even as Mendell built HEI, his son Brian Mendell was spending much of his late teens and early adult life in repeat rehab attempts to break his drug addictions, according to his father, who said he believed his son had been clean for more than a year when he committed suicide on Oct. 20, 2011. “There is a shame and a stigma that goes along with being addicted,” Mendell said. “It’s not viewed as a disease; it’s viewed as, ‘Brian, why don’t you just stop? What’s the matter with you? Why are you the bad kid?’
Krista Sizemore’s brain was crying out for heroin. But she knew she was pregnant. She knew her baby needed her to stay safe. She knew what could happen if she used again. She thought she’d been through it all, even overdosing once in her father’s Newport home. Sizemore, 26, called her mother, Kimberly Wright. “I knew I wasn’t going to stop without help,” Sizemore said. But when Sizemore tried to get help from a top addiction doctor in Northern Kentucky, the insurance blocked the first attempt. WellCare of Kentucky gave her a little Suboxone but required Zubsolv, a similar medication used to reduce cravings and stabilize heroin users…
Russell Brand donates Trew Era Cafe to charity for former prisoners and addicts
Comedian Russell Brand is donating a not-for-profit cafe he opened last year to a charity which supports ex-prisoners and those struggling with addiction. Brand joked that he hoped his donation to the charity RAPt, the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust, of which Brand is patron, would secure him a “cushy job in the library” if he ever ended up in jail. “I’m donating this cafe to RAPt – a great charity that helps prisoners stay clean,” he said. “If I ever get sent down I hope this’ll mean I get a cushy job in the library.”
READ MORE @ ITV.com
Healthy Living In Style
A New PATH: Strut 4 Sobriety!
The Honorees this year were: Little Tommy Sablan, producer of the Jeff and Jer Show on KyXy; Julia Negron, Director of PATH Florida and a steering committee member of Moms United to End the War on Drugs; Dennis Childs, Ph.D; director of African American Studies at UCSD, and this year Strut was privileged to have former professional baseball player Steve Garvey as a special guest speaker. As many know, the first baseman was nicknamed “Mr. Clean” for his wholesome image during his career. Plus, he holds the National League record for consecutive games played. – Gretchen Productions produced the entertaining fashion show. Gretchen Bergman is well-known for her choreography; she incorporates dancing and singing to produce a top-notch theatrical fashion show
There continues to be a rise in the number of U.S. babies born who are dependent on opioid drugs, according to a new study.
Researchers looked at the rate of babies diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome, a condition in which newborns experience withdrawal symptoms as a result of being exposed to opioids (including prescription opioids or heroin) while in the womb.
READ MORE @ LiveScience.com
Addiction/Recovery eBulletin
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“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.
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