Sober in the City: A Gay Atheist Walks into AA by Ginger Hale
Perhaps I might want to examine why I shacked up with another addict who constantly encouraged me to stay wasted? Despite all of my issues with AA – sexual predators, verbal abuse, misogyny, sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, and victim blaming – it seemed to be the only thing keeping me sober. So, I’m not writing this to deter anyone from seeking out AA if they feel they need help. Rather, I would like to see more inclusive, progressive versions of AA.
Phil Collins Reveals He Nearly Died, Ended Up In Alcoholics Anonymous
“I was supposed to be an alcoholic… I went to meetings and I did try rehab – for a week. But I couldn’t stand it. It was like being at boarding school. So I said to myself, ‘I know what I need to do, I’m not a f**king alcoholic… I was taking medication for all kinds of different little things. [The prescription pills] were not mixing with the drink, basically.
The “Grow 4 Vets” giveaway in Colorado Springs aimed to bring cannabis-based treatments to veterans with service-related conditions as an alternative to pain medications. Marijuana activists have tried unsuccessfully to have post-traumatic stress disorder added to the Colorado list of medical conditions that qualify for joining the medical marijuana registry. Now that pot is legal for all adults over 21, organizers are free to give away marijuana.
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HOPE BY THE SEA
Achieving Emotional/Physical Sobriety
Understanding Addiction and How to Quit Unhealthy Habits
Addiction isn’t only about drugs and alcohol. Some people think that working a 12-hour day and drinking six double espressos isn’t a problem. Others think that eating sugar or going to the gym seven nights a week is fine. These things can be difficult to recognise as addictions because they are common and socially acceptable, but they can be as detrimental to your health as any other addiction.
Massachusetts Gets $400,000 Grant To Combat Prescription Drug Abuse
Gov. Deval Patrick, who has declared opioid abuse a public health emergency, said Friday that the grant will help improve the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. “This important (Department of Justice) grant will help increase training for Massachusetts officials using the monitoring program in recognizing the signs of addiction and providing appropriate referrals to treatment, which is key to breaking the cycle of abuse and addiction,” U.S. Sen. Edward Markey said in a prepared statement.
Right now, just Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have legal online gambling. New Jersey’s industry yields more than $10 million a month; Nevada’s is about $1 million a month, and Delaware’s has reached as high as $240,000 for a single month. Online gambling, but specifically poker, really thrives when there is a lot of liquidity. This is the conventional wisdom.
See clips from last year’s Award Winning REEL Recovery Film Festivalwith Paul Williams, Russell Brand, Robert Blake, Barbara Eden and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. SEE VIDEO
An Honest Politician?
Sen. Whitehouse To Introduce Legislation to Combat Drug Addiction
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2014, cosponsored by Minnesota’s Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, would provide a series of incentives and resources designed to encourage states and local communities to pursue a full array of proven strategies to combat addiction.
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Not So Hidden Killer
Chart Shows Insane Number Of Americans Die From Drugs Or Alcohol-Related Causes Every Year
The chart maps some causes of death and shows the average age at which people die of these causes. Drug overdoses are the most common causes of accidental death among young adults, ahead of car accidents and suicide, and they claim some of the youngest victims. The chart uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vertical axis shows the number of Americans killed every year, while the horizontal axis shows ages. The peaks of each line, marked by the dotted lines on the right, indicate the average age of people who die from each cause.
Women who have the largest number of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms are almost three times more likely to develop an addiction to food, a new study suggests.”If clinicians providing mental health care are aware that PTSD is sometimes accompanied by problematic eating behaviors, then they may be able to offer better and more tailored care to their patients.”
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There Is A Solution VIDEO
The Truth about Sex Addiction VIDEO
We continue part two of our series on sex addiction, this week we turn things from the addict to the partner. Therapist Dan Gabbert discusses the repercussions the addiction has on the addicts partner and how they can seek help.
Screening @ 6th Annual Los Angeles REEL Recovery Film Festival Oct. 24-30
A Frank Talk about Addiction with
Frank Ferrante
Addiction is one of South Africa’s most endemic problems. The Cape Town Recovery Film Festival tackles this topic head-on. MARELISE VAN DER MERWE talks to the unlikely anti-hero of one of its documentaries, ‘May I be Frank’
Researchers Identify Brain Changes in Alcohol-related Sleep Disturbances
Clinical assessments and research indicate that individuals with alcohol use disorders frequently suffer from severely disrupted sleep. This can occur when people are actively drinking, when they are going through withdrawal or when they are abstaining. “Sleep-wake disturbances can last for months, or even years, after someone stops drinking, which indicates that chronic alcohol abuse could cause long-term negative effects on sleep.”
The 28-year-old actress was arrested on Sunday morning at 3 a.m. for DUI, the California Highway Patrol confirms to E! News. She has been charged with a misdemeanor after police “determined she was under the influence of a controlled substance” while driving. The former Nickelodeon star was held at the Van Nuys, Calif., station on $15,000 bail before she was released at 12:44 p.m. that same day.
William Cope Moyers to Talk about Addiction to Help Nonprofit
William C. Moyers, of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, will join forces with Roads to Recovery Inc. in October as the agency continues its push to eliminate the barriers residents face in their effort to recover from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Moyers, author of the memoir “Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption” will present “Unmask the Stigma” on Oct. 16 at the James River Conference Center.
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Don’t Show This To Panda Express
Chinese Restaurant Admits To Selling ‘Opium-Laced Noodles’
The store’s owner, identified as Zhang,confessed to the Xi’an Evening News that he had crushed poppy buds into powder and added it in with the seasoning to his noodles. The result, as the BBC notes, was “opium-laced noodles.” Police reports stated that the unprocessed seeds contained enough opiates to cause positive drug-test results and could “produce dependence” in consumers.
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DUFFY’S NAPA VALLEY REHAB
The Company You Keep
Peers, Not Genetics, Make Teens Drink More
When it comes to teens and alcohol abuse, peer pressure may trump genetics. Though some people carry a gene variant that decreases the likelihood that they’ll develop an alcohol problem, it may not be enough to prevent younger people from drinking too much, especially in certain social settings around friends who consume alcohol in excess.
Doctors say that you should expect to feel or notice a change in mood or thought process in as many as three or four weeks. Understand the side effects that each drug carries. Again, not all antidepressants are made alike so if the side effects are unbearable, ask your doctor if you can try a different kind of antidepressant to see if it works better and with fewer side effects.
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BRIDGES TO RECOVERY
He’s Black … What A Surprise
39 Year Old Gets 2 Life Sentences For Cocaine, Methamphetamine Possession
Mayberry was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of methamphetamine, as well as failure to stop at a red light. The jury acquitted him of possession with intent to distribute and instead found him guilty of possession. But because both possession counts were charged after two or more previous felony convictions, each count was punishable by up to life in prison and that’s what the jury chose.
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DESTINATION HOPE
Doctor Addiction On The Steps
Dr. Drew Talks Addiction, Childhood Trauma and Why He Believes in 12 Steps
Dr. Drew Pinsky: I didn’t decide — it just sort of happened to me as I moved through my career. I’m an internist. I was doing general medicine and during residency, I moonlighted at a psychiatric hospital and became very interested in the medical care of psychiatric patients. A lot of the medical problems were down in the drug unit and all of a sudden I was seeing lots of drug addicts and alcoholics.
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Addiction Hysteria? VIDEO
Neuroscientist Debunks Common Beliefs About Drug Addiction VIDEO
CARL HART: About 80 to 90 percent of the people who use illegal drugs don’t turn out addicts, Hart explained. As an example, Hart pointed to the three previous presidents, all of whom used drugs when they were younger. “Their drug use did not result in an inevitable downward spiral leading to debauchery and addiction,” Hart said. “And the experience of these men is the rule, not the exception.”
Rehab Opens Nation’s First Free Surf Camp For People In Recovery
Morningside Recovery of Orange County, California, has created the nation’s first substance abuse and mental health recovery surf camp. Swell Life combines the healing powers of holistic therapy and the ocean to create a unique and inviting program for the recovery community.
Unlike at some jobs, part of the problem at restaurants can be that the boss is right there with the staff, drinking or doing drugs. That point got underlined vividly a month ago when celebrated local chef Michael Solomonov, founder of Zahav, came out as a drug addict in the pages of the Sunday New York Times.
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Joined AA? Like the Rotary Club? VIDEO
Liam Neeson Joined AA Meetings for Movie Role VIDEO
Actor Liam Neeson attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for his role in new crime movie A Walk Among The Tombstones. The star plays a former heavy-drinking private investigator and the role involved detailing his character’s struggle to stay sober with the help of his AA colleagues. Neeson was so determined to nail the part that he arranged with organisers of the global support group to allow him to observe meetings in New York and Los Angeles.
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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 and the general public.
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The Experts Have Spoken
Doctors’ Group Issues Painkiller Guidelines
The risks of powerful narcotic painkillers outweigh their benefits for treating chronic headaches, low back pain and fibromyalgia, a new statement from the American Academy of Neurology says. Narcotic, or opioid, painkillers include medications such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone (Oxycontin), methadone, fentanyl, hydrocodone or a combination of the drugs with acetaminophen. The drugs can cause serious side effects, overdose, addiction and death
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Los Angeles Reel Recovery Film Festival October 24-30 – Laemmle NoHo Cinema
1000 Veterans Line Up for Free Marijuana
Sen. Whitehouse To Introduce Legislation to Combat Drug Addiction
PTSD Linked to 
The Truth about Sex Addiction VIDEO
William Cope Moyers to Talk about Addiction to Help Nonprofit
Chinese Restaurant Admits To Selling ‘Opium-Laced Noodles’ 
How To Approach Antidepressants
39 Year Old Gets 2 Life Sentences For Cocaine, Methamphetamine Possession
Dr. Drew Talks Addiction, Childhood Trauma and Why He Believes in 12 Steps
In Philly Restaurants, Addiction is on the Menu
Doctors’ Group Issues Painkiller Guidelines
