February 28 2017 Addiction Recovery eBulletin

Experience Strength and HopeExperience Strength and Hope AwardsLeonard Buschelnonprofit organizationREEL Recovery Film FestivalWriters In Treatment

Breaking News – Smart phone addiction, Best pro-Recovery video, War on Addicts

“I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect.” – Spike Lee

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February 28, 2017 Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News Vol. 4., No. 30

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Best Pro-Recovery Video Ever! VIDEO

8th Annual Experience, Strength and Hope Awards

Feb. 27, 2017 – Breezeway Productions went to The Skirball Cultural Center Museum in Los Angeles, CA, to cover The 8th Annual Experience, Strength, and Hope Awards which honors the men and women who have gone through addiction issues, and have been able to express the stories of Recovery, Addiction, and Healing through writing amazing memoirs. Writers In Treatment, an organization that supports recovery and the arts honored author and television personality Pat O’Brien. The annual event featured special guests including Joe Walsh of the world renowned band The Eagles, Actor Bruce Davison (X-MEN, Insidious 4) hosted this year’s event. Author/actor DeJuan “DJ” Verrett (“Sons of Anarchy”) kicked off the show with a spoken word performance. HBO favorite Sarge, entertained the audience with his power comedy routine. As well, there was a musical appearance by Sherri Lewis (performer and consultant for UCLA AIDS Institute) along with Tony Denison (Crime Story, Major Crimes). Additional participants included Ed Begley, Jr. and Rachelle Carson-Begley (“Bold and the Beautiful”).
WATCH MORE @ YouTube.com

Mental Euphoria vs. Anguish

What Happens to Your Brain When You’re Addicted to Opioids

Feb 13, 2017 – It wasn’t until she experienced a psychotic episode that he finally entered her into a treatment facility. “It’s so hard to stay sober when you’re around the people you used drugs with,” Emma says. “In rehab, I developed a support network of new, sober friends. I took online classes to finish high school, and filtered calls from my old social circle.” … “It’s important for treatment centers to focus on helping kids get to know themselves and identify what they enjoy,” adds Jamison Monroe, founder and CEO of Newport Academy, a teen rehab mental health center. Monroe believes having a reason to want a better life in the first place can give people addicted to painkillers the motivation to work toward one.

READ MORE @ TeenVogue.com

ONE PILL CAN KILL VIDEO

Teens’ hard hitting anti-drugs video goes viral VIDEO

An anti-drugs film produced by a group of Co Antrim teenagers has gone viral, racking up almost half a million views. The graphic movie, entitled One Pill Can Kill, shows the deadly consequences that taking just one drug from a dealer can have. Brooke Thompson from the Rathcoole-based group said they wanted to get their message to a wider audience – and they have certainly been successful, drawing in viewers from across America, Canada and England.

WATCH MORE @ ITV.com

Legalize It

25% of all overdoses are from heroin

Feb. 24, 2017 – America’s doctors have finally admitted it: Their pharmaceutical tools to treat one of patients’ most common ailments don’t work … Lower back pain is one of the most frequent reasons people visit the doctor. Yet doctors are finding drugs should actually often be the last line of treatment for it…Exercise or alternative therapies, the ACP noted, can work as well as or better than medications, but don’t come with the side effects. The doctors group also strongly discourages opioids, since research suggests these drugs are only modestly effective for back pain and carry serious risks, including overdose and addiction … doctors don’t generally recommend doing MRIs for acute episodes of low back pain, since they can lead to overtreatment – like surgery – that also won’t improve health outcomes.

READ MORE @ CNN.com

Broken Heart Club

A father’s emotional open letter about teen drug overdose

In light of the recent death of popular Kanata teenager Chloe Kotval from an apparent drug overdose, and warnings from Ottawa police and Ottawa Public Health about counterfeit prescription drugs they suspect have been the cause of “recent life-threatening overdoses” in the city, on Saturday, concerned father Sean O’Leary posted an emotional Facebook message about teen drug overdoses in Kanata…

READ MORE @ OttawaCitizen.com

Going The Extra 79.09 miles VIDEO

Recovering Alcoholic Reaches Goal in 12-Hour Treadmill-A-Thon VIDEO

Feb. 20, 2017 – After staying sober for almost ten years, a recovering alcoholic from Massachusetts is inspiring others to get clean. Henry Ward set his goal to run 12 hours aiming for 70 miles within that time frame and has reached his goal. During his 12-hour treadmill-a-thon, Henry accomplished his goal of running 12 hours and ran a total of 79.09 mile. A lot of people came out to say hello and support him.

WATCH MORE @ MyTwinTiers.com

The Main Villain in America is Not Smack

Alcohol-related deaths among women rising in Nevada

February 19, 2017 – Data recently analyzed and reported by The Washington Post show that Tudor is among a growing number of middle-age white women in the U.S. whose likelihood of drinking heavily is far higher than those who are black, Hispanic and Asian. The data further show that rates of alcohol-related deaths among white women ages 35 to 54 skyrocketed from 1999 through 2015, while deaths among Hispanic women have gradually increased and among black women have dropped nationwide. In Nevada, alcohol-related deaths among women increased from 43 in 2011 to 51 in 2012 then dropped the two subsequent years to 29 in 2014, according to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public and Behavioral Health.

READ MORE @ ReviewJournal.com

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin

Industry Applauds

Another Big Health Insurer Loosens Rules For Covering Addiction Treatment

Aetna’s policy change comes as addiction to heroin and opioid painkillers continues to sweep the country. More than 33,000 people died from overdosing on these drugs in 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Easing the prescribing restriction puts Aetna in the company of Anthem and Cigna, which also recently dropped the prior authorization requirement for their privately insured patients throughout the country. Anthem made the switch in January and Cigna last fall.

READ MORE @ NPR.org

Recovery Detour?

After overdose deaths, Chris Murphy wants federal review of sober homes

Concern about unregulated “sober homes” has reached Washington, D.C., where lawmakers want a federal review of the drug recovery homes. The move comes after two young adults from Danbury and Ridgefield died of heroin overdoses in sober homes earlier this year. “There have been several recent overdoses that have occurred in Connecticut sober houses,” Sen. Chris Murphy wrote to the federal Government Accountability Office. “These deaths have raised questions about these facilities and the GAO review will be helpful in determining whether state and federal policymakers should consider additional oversight.”

READ MORE @ NewsTimes.com

Limit Scripts = Score Heroin VIDEO

What you need to know about science of addiction VIDEO

Feb. 23, 2017 – An injury that he sustained while fighting a fire required pain management, and the doctors gave him opioids. Those prescriptions led to an addiction. When the prescriptions ran out, he eventually turned to heroin. While his family and fellow firefighters helped him get into rehab several times, he lost his battle with addiction. Four years after his injury, Tilton died of a heroin overdose.

READ MORE @ KCRA.com

Burying More Loved Ones

Funeral directors face emotional burden from overdose flood

The Decort Funeral Home owner is 33 years old – just a few years shy of the age of the average Cambria County overdose victim last year. Decort said he has watched onetime classmates, old friends and Portage neighbors struggle with addiction. And sometimes they’ve ended up inside a coffin in his Main Street funeral parlor … I think he knew he was going to die in that moment,” Harris said, his voice suddenly trembling. “A slave to addiction.” People dying young is part of a new, heart-wrenching norm for funeral directors such as Harris. Men and women who have spent much of their adult lives arranging funerals for the aging and retired suddenly have found themselves doing the same for a generation of young lives being stolen by powerful drugs such as heroin and Fentanyl.

READ MORE @ SFGate.com

Nothing Good

What happens to your body and brain when you drink too much

FEBRUARY 25, 2017 – Q: What are the dangers of binge drinking?
A: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive drinking causes more than 90,000 deaths in the U.S. each year-and accounts for 1 in 10 deaths among adults ages 20 to 64. While alcohol consumption on its surface isn’t necessarily a problem, too much alcohol can lead to a host of problems, both in the short and long-term. In the short-term, over-consumption of alcohol can irritate the stomach lining and can enlarge blood vessels in the esophagus, which can rupture, leading to death.

READ MORE @ Philly.com

Heaven Help Us VIDEO

Here’s why your smartphone addiction is ruining your life VIDEO

Feb. 26, 2017 – People who constantly check their smartphones report higher stress levels than those who don’t. Our dependence on smartphones is stressing us out, according to a report from the American Psychological Association on Thursday..But being connected 24/7 has a price – people who look at their phones continuously throughout the day report higher stress levels than those who spend less time staring at their screens. The data came from an online Harris Poll of 3,511 adults over the age of 18, conducted from Aug. 5-31, 2016 on behalf of the APA. One of the biggest culprits of online stress? Social media.

WATCH MORE @ WBALTV.com

Technology Treatments

IN CHINA: Drug addicts use virtual reality to help kick habit

CHEN strapped a pair of virtual reality goggles to his eyes and put on a headset. As videos played, his heart pounded and his hands sweat. Chen, a heroin and methamphetamine user for seven years, is undergoing treatment at the Zhejiang Liangzhu Rehabilitation Center in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province. The center is among several Chinese facilities to use virtual reality technology for drug rehabilitation. There are over 1,100 patients at the center. Virtual reality treatment is introduced to patients who have undergone a typical detox program for at least a year.

READ MORE @ ShanghaiDaily.com

No Iron Man Here

Cocaine addiction leads to accumulation of iron in the brain

The finding offers hope for new treatment options. In a new Translational Psychiatry study, Karen Ersche of the University of Cambridge and colleagues demonstrate for the first time that chronic cocaine use is associated with iron build-up in the brain and lower iron concentration in the blood. Future studies will use these results to look at whether this could be a biological sign of addition, and whether it could be a treatment target for cocaine addiction.

READ MORE @ ResearchGate.net

Serve Compassion and Understanding

5 Things Not to Say To Someone With An Eating Disorder

From the steady stream of diet advertisements on TV, to the calorie counts on menus at restaurants, our weight-obsessed world is a challenging climate for those who are in recovery from an eating disorder. While it is impossible to eliminate diet culture from one’s life, there are steps that individuals who are struggling can take to distance themselves from negative media messages. However, certain comments from friends or family members can be highly triggering to those that are suffering.

READ MORE @ HuffingtonPost.com

Welcome to 2017

To our Readers and Advertisers:
An Open Letter from Leonard Buschel Publisher/Editor of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin

” Gratitude is always in season, and as we begin 2017, I want to thank our readers and astute progressive advertisers for your loyalty and confidence. The Addiction/ Recovery eBulletin is approaching four and a half years of continued growth and influence. This would not have been possible without the support of “The Good Guys” – our sponsors who continually stand on the side of truth, integrity and Best Practices. It is an honor to serve our readers and a responsibility I do not take lightly.”

READ MORE @ AddictionRecoveryEbulletin.org

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Johanna O’Flaherty, PhD

Her doctorate in clinical psychology is from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

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Head$ In Bed$

Deceptive marketing looms large in drug-treatment industry, grand-jury report finds

A grand-jury report has found that deceptive marketing and admissions personnel are more interested in selling treatment to drug addicts rather than providing help. The grand jury – which was arranged by Dave Aronberg, state attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida, and met for three months, according to a Sun-Sentinel article – was believed to be the first of its kind in Florida to examine the abuses in the drug-treatment industry. After considering the state’s billion-dollar substance-abuse treatment industry, the grand jury’s 44-page report found it is plagued by “deceptive marketing, insurance fraud and patient brokering.” The report offered recommendations on how to improve it.

READ MORE @ FLARecord.com

American Nightmare

Gutting Obamacare Would Leave 3 Million Americans Without Drug Treatment

Kathleen Frydl, a historian and the author of The Drug Wars in America, recently found that in nearly every Ohio and Pennsylvania county with high drug overdose rates, Trump’s share of the 2016 vote was 10 points higher than Romney’s in 2012, Clinton’s share was 10 points lower than Obama’s in 2012, or both. While the link between the drug epidemic and Trump’s popularity is circumstantial, “When you’re dealing with counties that have overflowing hospital parking lots, the message that America is already great doesn’t resonate with people,” Frydl says. It’s not just overdoses: Trump overperformed in counties with high rates of “deaths of despair,” or deaths from alcohol, drugs, and suicide…

READ MORE @ MotherJones.com

Mazel Tov Craig – Happy Birthday

Craig Ferguson @25 years sober

TV star Craig Ferguson is celebrating 25 years sober. The former Late Late Show presenter, who grew up in Cumbernauld, tweeted to his followers on the social network site Twitter that he was celebrating a milestone in sobriety. He said: “I’m 25 years sober and anyone who knew me back then would tell you how impossible that is. Thanks for the miracle.” The recovering alcoholic has been sober since February 18. 1992.

READ MORE @ EveningTimes.co.uk

Whatever It Takes

Ruby Rose credits sobriety to late friend

Ruby Rose has posted a heartbreaking tribute to her friend Natalie Hall on Instagram, saying news of her death has left her “defeated.” … “Natalie, you were one of a kind. To wake to the news that [you] won’t be lighting up my phone with ridiculous texts and I won’t be laughing and pointing at you when you drop the trolley and erewhon [sic] in front of everyone and try to walk away like it wasn’t you,” the Aussie star wrote on Instagram, alongside a pic of her friend posing in front of the ocean.

READ MORE @ PageSix.com

Third World Civilization in Philly VIDEO

A HIDDEN HELLSCAPE- “I questioned whether I was still in the U.S.” VIDEO

Along a half-mile gorge cut by a Conrail line that runs through Kensington and Fairhill, tens of thousands of used syringes and their tossed off orange caps cover the sloping ground like a plague of locusts. The contaminated needles make conditions so hazardous that police are reluctant to traverse the embankments to get to dead overdose victims at the bottom.

WATCH MORE @ Philly.com

Keeping Up With The Joneses

Many people keep taking prescription opioids during addiction treatment

February 23, 2017 – The grip of opioid addiction is so strong that many people who undergo treatment relapse repeatedly. Now a study by Johns Hopkins University researchers offers new clues about why treatment is so difficult. The researchers discovered that 43 percent of people receiving buprenorphine, a widely used anti-addiction medication, filled at least one prescription for opioids – which they presumably consumed or diverted to others.

READ MORE @ WashingtonPost.com

Alcohol Kills Too!

Christine Dolce, My Space Queen: How I drank myself to death

How a former social media icon drank herself to death, dying of alcohol related illness. The rise of baseless stardom … Hospitalized since December for alcohol related issues, Dolce died on February 6 surrounded by friends and family. An early pioneer of the rise of social media, the photogenic persona quickly made a name for herself with racy selfies on the once-popular social media site. So rapid had her ascent had become, that a Vanity Fair feature in March 2006 led to the woman being christened the Queen of Myspace.

READ MORE @ ScallywagAndVagabond.com

Law of LIFE VIDEO

Johns Hopkins: Safe drug spaces could drive DOWN drug use VIDEO

An estimated 19,000 people in Baltimore are injecting drugs and overdose deaths continue to skyrocket all over the metro area, but there is one report from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that says it could drastically reduce those numbers, by allowing people to shoot up. They would be called safe consumption spaces and allow people to use their drugs in a safe, clean and protective environment. It is admittedly a controversial finding, but one a Johns Hopkins professor thinks could work here in Baltimore, facilities one on each side of the city, where drugs can be consumed under medical and counselor supervision…

WATCH MORE @ ABC2News.com

Drug Addiction = Grief

Dad’s heartbreaking open letter reveals ‘nightmare’ of families living with drug-addicted teens

“‘EVERY DAY I CHECK SHE IS STILL ALIVE'” THE dad of a teenage drug addict has penned a tear-jerking open letter detailing his difficulties in coping with her addiction. Sean O’Leary posted the heartbreaking account on Facebook where he explained that his 16-year-old daughter Paige had been abusing drugs for over a year and a half.

READ MORE @ TheSun.co.uk

Is Addiction a Legal Problem?

Jeff Sessions’ tough stance on crime will lead to fuller prisons

Feb 26, 2017 – The federal prison population is on the decline, but a new attorney general who talks tough on drug … and already has indicated a looming need for private prison cells seems poised to usher in a reversal of that trend … More than half of federal prisoners are in custody for drug crimes, and the Bureau of Prisons budget accounts for about one-third of the department’s overall $29 billion spending plan. The population ballooned during the 1980s-era war on drugs as Congress abolished parole and as federal prosecutors relied on mandatory minimum sentences – rigid punishments strictly tied to drug quantity – to seek decades-long prison terms for drug criminals.

READ MORE @ WCVB.com

Here We Go Again

Trump’s Agenda: War on Drugs

2-26-17 – The weeks since Trump took office with a pledge to make America wealthy/safe/proud/great again have been tumultuous ones … The threat posed by drugs was a consistent theme during the campaign and often lumped with immigration, globalization, and violent crime as part of a rising lawlessness that threatens the American people. Trump reiterated this theme in his apocalyptic inaugural address, pitting “the forgotten men and women of our country” against foreign enemies who drain jobs and wealth and replace them with poverty, crime, gangs, and drugs-all under the watch of political elites who did nothing to stop the “American carnage.

READ MORE @ HistoryNewsNetwork.org

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Addiction/Recovery eBulletin

Lemons Into Lemonade VIDEO

Ex-offender helps steer kids straight away from drugs, alcohol, bad choices VIDEO

Michael DeLeon wants kids today to make better choices than him. “I don’t want my past to be their future,” DeLeon said. DeLeon battle with drugs started with caffeine pills then moved to cocaine. He said he took everything, from prescription pain pills to heroin and added that he joined a gang and sold drugs to others to feed his own addiction. He joined a gang and sold drugs to feed his addiction. When he speaks to groups, like he did at Geisler Middle School in Walled Lake, he is very candid about what his addiction cost him. “My 63-year-old mother was strangled and killed on Mother’s Day, and I’m 100 percent responsible for that. I brought this madness into her life,”…

WATCH MORE @ ClickOnDetroit.com

Or Your Mother’s Either

Pediatricians Warn Against Pot Use: Not Your Dad’s Marijuana

The brain continues to develop until the early 20s, raising concerns about the potential short- and long-term effects of a mind-altering drug. Some studies suggest that teens who use marijuana at least 10 times a month develop changes in brain regions affecting memory and the ability to plan. Some changes may be permanent, the report says. Frequent use starting in the early teen years may lower IQ scores, and some studies have shown that starting marijuana use at a young age is more likely to lead to addiction than starting in adulthood. Not all teen users develop these problems and some may be more vulnerable because of genetics or other factors.

READ MORE @ NBCNews.com

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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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