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  TGIF April 3, 2015                                 Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News                                   Vol. 2., No. 32
Testimonials
Happy Birthday RDJ
Robert Downey, Jr. is 50!   

We chart the highs, the lows and the comeback. He’s fought drugs and depression and is now the star of the Iron Man franchise and the highest paid actor in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr is going from strength to 

Robert Downey Jr. & Robert Downey Sr.                               

strength and turns 50 on April 4. The jail term, the comeback, the downfall, the comeback. The romances, the marriages, the Iron Man. The highest paid star in Hollywood.

Rationality of AA
Irrationality of A.A.? A Critique of the Recent Atlantic Article    

As an author and therapist, I make every effort to be open-minded when learning, speaking and writing about topics.  If I did not have personal and professional experience with alcoholism and in treating alcoholics, then I may not have felt the need to respond to this article.

Common Mistake
Teen Burglar Snorted His Grandfather’s Remains; Thought It Was Coke    

A trio of teenage burglars who stole cash, jewelry, electronics, and prescription drugs from a Missouri residence also thought they got away with a stash of cocaine they found in a wooden box, only to later discover that the powder was actually the cremated remains of the homeowner’s father, police report.  Only after one of the burglars snorted some of the powder did they realize what had been stolen.

Get well at New Method Wellness

One Hit Wonder  VIDEO
Marijuana is Far More Potent Than it Used To Be    VIDEO 

“As far as potency goes, it’s been surprising how strong a lot of the marijuana is,” LaFrate said of the samples his lab has tested in recent months. “We’ve seen potency values close to 30 percent THC, which is huge.” Compared to the 1980s, when federal officials say the level was about 4 percent, “that’s a dramatic increase in the part that gets you high,” CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus said on “CBS This Morning.”

 Twelve Promises: Rewards of Recovery

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To The Wives
Women and AA Don’t Mix    

By most every quantitative measure, women appear to be drinking more. An analysis for alcohol overdose found that the number of women hospitalized with alcohol poisoning has ballooned in recent years. The hospitalization rate of women aged 18 to 24 jumped 50 per cent from 1999 to 2008, while rising only 8 per cent among young men.

 AcademicAddiction.com

From Russia With Lysol
Russia’s Heavy Drinkers Turn To Moonshine, Cleaning Products    

As the economic crisis sweeps through Russia, a dangerous trend is emerging in this heavy-drinking country: the rise in consumption of potentially lethal moonshine, medical alcohol or even cleaning products. Layoffs, wage cuts and price increases are combining to worsen the problem of alcoholism, which has long been a major public health issue, by increasing the mix of dangerous products in the market.

CONTINUED @ YahooNews.com 

His House & New Creation Treatment

Spiritus Contra Spiritum
Alcohol: An Astonishing Molecule    

I would add another confounding ingredient to the mix: it is quite possible that much of what we consider uniquely human-music, dance, theater, religious storytelling and worship, language, and a thought process that would eventually become science-were stimulated by the creation and consumption of alcoholic beverages during the Paleolithic period, which encompasses some 95 percent of our largely unknown hominin history.

Coming Soon to San Francisco…

YES, Please Do
BlueCross May Take Opiate Abuse Campaign National    

Public Relations industry trade publication PRWeek recently awarded Eric Mower + Associates and BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York with its Community Relations Campaign of the Year honor for the community-wide, multi-media awareness campaign “Painkillers Kill.”

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Alcohol Taxes Are Bloodless Money?
Chris Christie Says Marijuana Taxes Are Blood Money    

As for legalizing marijuana to raise taxes, Gov. Christie said. “To me, that’s blood money. I’m not going to put the lives of children and citizens at risk to put a little more money into the state coffers. Christie made the big remarks at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for an outpatient drug abuse rehabilitation facility on the Jersey Shore. “As long as I’m governor of New Jersey, there won’t be legalized marijuana in this state.”

One Year Puck for Canadian Sobriety
Michael Ferland Celebrates One Year    

Michael Ferland easily – and comfortably – accepts handshakes and congratulations. Because this morning, besides the extra on-ice work for the healthy scratch, is not like any other. Friday was the Calgary Flames winger’s one-year anniversary of sobriety. “This is probably one of the biggest days of my life.”

Playing With Heart
Darryl Strawberry: Not a Fall From Grace, But Grace After the Fall    

And now, clean and sober for a decade, clear of the law, and clearly on a path far different from the one he’d followed for so long, Darryl Strawberry is an ordained Christian minister, a co-owner of two drug, alcohol and behavioral rehabilitation clinics, and co-author – along with his wife since 2006 – of a new book “Imperfect Marriage: Help for Those Who Think It’s Over.”

Trapped
Review Blasts Amount of Antipsychotic Drugs Prescribed to Poor, Foster Kids    

Poor children and foster kids covered by Medicaid are prescribed too many antipsychotic drugs, too young, for too long, and at the wrong dosages, according to an alarming new five-state review by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Of particular concern was the failure to perform basic lab tests and regularly monitor height, weight, vital signs, blood pressure, and the abnormal, involuntary movements that can result from antipsychotic use.

Reality?
Mob Wives Star Natalie Guercio Allegedly Overdosed On Meth    

Renee Graziano posted took to Twitter to announce that her former cast mate, Guercio, had overdosed on crystal meth and was being hospitalized for addiction. “I also have to consider if I’m going to keep being the target to these women. I am so much younger than all these women, yet they act younger than me. I’ve never witnessed this type of behavior with anyone.”

A Different Way
Am I An Alcoholic? How to Tell if You’re Drinking Too Much    

Writer Anna Davies was that girl. The one who wakes up in strange places, with strange men-and with only a vague recollection of the night before. But the way she got everything under control may surprise you.  I assumed AA would be dingy and dramatic. While some stereotypes were scarily accurate-yes, it was in a church basement; yes, I did say, “My name is Anna, and I’m an alcoholic”; yes, there was weak coffee in Styrofoam cups.

Love Is…
The Fight Against Addiction: Is Love All You Need?    

If anything deserves to be called “the establishment view,” it is what Johann Hari – in his new book on addiction and the war on drugs, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs – calls the pharmaceutical model of addiction.  The pharmaceutical model says that addiction is about chemicals. Addiction is a chronic incurable disease of the brain. The brain’s pleasure centers are hijacked.

The 6th Annual WCASD Conference

UPCOMING EVENTS
LAUGH FOR RECOVERY

Saturday, May 16, 2015  

The 2nd Annual Comedy Benefit, “Laugh for Recovery” which is YPR-NJ’s major fundraiser is slated for 6:30PM May 16, at the Old Bridge Knights of Columbus (61 Pine Street, Old Bridge, NJ). Last year’s event was a great success, and this year’s Comedy Benefit will be even better.

Old Bridge Knights of Columbus  

61 Pine Street, Old Bridge, NJ  

FOR MORE INFORMATION  

 

REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL DENVER

May 29-31, 2015  

The 1st Denver Edition 2015
With CeDAR and Writers In Treatment
Denver Film Society
SIE Film Center
2510 E. Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80206

Call for more information:
818-762-0461  

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Visit the Newsletter ARCHIVES

We Do Recover  VIDEO
Robert Downey Jr. Set To Receive MTV Generation Award  VIDEO  

MTV has selected Robert Downey Jr. to receive its MTV Generation Award, to be presented by his “Avengers: Age of Ultron” co-stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner.

CONTINUED @ Variety.com   

This Woman Is Dangerous AUDIO
Is Alcoholics Anonymous Irrational? AUDIO 

“Alcoholics Anonymous works for very few people” – says Gabrielle Glaser

Never Too Late
How I Got My Husband to Stop Drinking (and we have better sex)    

James had always been a party animal – great fun, but with a self-destructive streak. His drinking came in stops and starts: he wasn’t hiding bottles in his desk drawers, just drinking socially, to excess, regularly and until the point where he was occasionally out of control. He became irrationally angry with our son at a party one night and that was the last straw for me. I managed to get everyone home in one piece and the next morning I told James, in no uncertain terms that he could not stay in this family unless he never drank again.

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Willie Still At Woodstock ?
Could Willie Nelson Do For Pot What Ray Kroc did for hamburgers?     

Willie Nelson has revealed plans to launch a branded chain of marijuana dispensaries and related products, including signature strains of pot. Dubbed “Willie’s Reserve.” Nelson spokesman Michael Bowman told The Daily Beast that the operation is going to “be something that’s reflective of (Nelson’s) passion” for cannabis.

Detox With Dignity Now

Rational Response to Irrational Attack
Alcoholics Anonymous, Mr. Spock and the Lighthouse    

There’s a new brouhaha about Alcoholics Anonymous in the media in an article in The Atlantic and recent book about “The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous.” Yes, I agree! It’s totally irrational. How is it possible that a million people meet every day in rooms all over the world without a national infrastructure or a corporate umbrella or secured financing? How is it that someone who absolutely cannot stop drinking can suddenly, inexplicably enter a room and stop? What would Mr. Spock say? THAT IS HIGHLY ILLOGICAL.

CONTINUED @ HuffingtonPost.com 

Brandi’s Wish

Essay by Paula Stephens
What I Wish More People Understood About Losing A Child    

Four and half years after the death of my oldest son, I finally went to a grief support group for parents who have lost children. I went to support a friend who recently lost her son. Losing a child is the loneliest, most desolate journey a person can take and the only people who can come close to appreciating it are those who share the experience.

Bridges To Recovery

Or One Triple
3 Drinks a Day Could Cause Liver Cancer    

Based on 34 previous studies involving 8.2 million people, more than 24,500 of whom had liver cancer, the report found “strong evidence” to suggest just three drinks a day or more can lead to the disease.

Life Preservers
Police Rescue Overdose Victim on Staten Island Ferry    

The officers saw a 28-year-old man being helped onto the ferryboat by several acquaintances.  A short while later, both officers went to the saloon deck to check on the condition of the 28-year-old man and found him seated in an unconscious and unresponsive condition in a seat.

Come to Denver This Spring

Double Edge Smoke
E-cigarettes: Helping Smokers Quit, or Fueling a New Addiction?    

(CNN) t’s a portable piece of technology providing seemingly bottomless access to a drug craved by more than 1 billion people worldwide — nicotine. That craving is caused by smoking tobacco but is now being increasingly satisfied by e-cigarettes and the trend to “vape” instead of smoke.

Learning About Life VIDEO
Kristen Johnston Brings ‘Sobriety’ to Staten Island School VIDEO    

Ms. Johnston, 47, and now sober, battled her own addiction to alcohol and pills that started when she was a teenager in high school. She founded SLAM eight years ago, with partners Thom Krauss and Joe Schrank, who is also a recovered alcoholic.

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News Flash! Politician Saves Lives
Congressman Helps Anti-Drug Overdose Clinic Take on ‘Heroin Problem’    

Authorized by the Illinois Department of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, the clinic seeks to train addicts and their loved ones in how to use the counter-acting agent naloxone in the case of an opioid overdose. Clinic officials also provide insight into the biological process behind opioid use, and how to recognize the signs of an overdose. Saving someone who was overdosing was once a more complicated process involving a syringe, but the newest naloxone antidote has been simplified through the use of an auto injector.

Blasphemy? AUDIO
Rethinking Alcohol: Can Heavy Drinkers Learn To Cut Back? AUDIO     

The thinking about alcohol dependence used to be black and white. There was a belief that there were two kinds of drinkers: alcoholics and everyone else. “But that dichotomy – yes or no, you have it or you don’t – is inadequate,” says Dr. John Mariani, who researches substance abuse at Columbia University. He says that the thinking has evolved, and that the field of psychiatry recognizes there’s a spectrum.

S C O T L A N D
Methadone Programme ‘Is a Black Hole’    

Dr Neil McKeganey, from the Centre for Drug Misuse Research, said “it is literally a black hole into which people are disappearing”. Data obtained by BBC Scotland showed pharmacists were paid £17.8m for handling nearly half a million prescriptions of methadone in 2014. “We still don’t know how many addicts are on the methadone programme, what progress they’re making, and with what frequency they are managing to come off methadone.

To Honor AND Protect
Edison Police Use Narcan To Revive 2 Overdose Victims    

Nasal naloxone has been used by doctors and paramedics for years, but its ability to counter the effects of heroin and other opioid overdoses has led to wider use, including by police officers. All 120 patrol officers and supervisors in Edison have been trained to administer the drug, according to the police department, and many cars are stocked with it.

To The Employer and Employee
Return From Rehab: Dealing with Demons and Deadlines    

Most drug and alcohol addictions can’t be legally blamed on the workplace. That means many employees coming out of rehabilitation will return to work once their program ends. Though crucial for an employee on the road to recovery, going back into the workplace can also be a stressful, difficult process.

CONTINUED @ WorkForce.com 

Controversy Reaches New Zealand
Alcoholics Anonymous: Does It Work?  

Gabrielle Glaser’s article has provoked a strong reaction. A week after being published it had attracted more than 9,000 comments. New Zealand doctors and alcohol help-lines might recommend people attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, this would normally be as part of a wider treatment plan. That plan could also include professional therapy, medication and whanau support. A spokesperson at AA New Zealand head office in Wellington acknowledged that AA is not for everyone, but they also said they don’t believe that many of the criticisms contained in Gabrielle Glaser’s article are valid, especially here in New Zealand.

Health Tip
Grains Help You Live Longer    

People in the group that consumed the most whole grains were 17 percent less likely to die over a 14-year period, compared with those who ate the least amount of whole grains.he new findings agree with previous research linking consumption of whole grains to a reduced risk of premature death and chronic diseases. A study published last month found that people who ate at least 28 grams of whole grains a day had a reduced risk of death over a 25-year period.

Reducing The Stigma
Recovering Addict’s ‘Birthday’ Is Cause For Reflection    

I’m free today, and that freedom is available for any addict who wants it. They just have to find the willingness, as I did and so many others have, to wave the white flag of surrender and start down a new path of recovery. Steve Wildsmith is a recovering addict and the Weekend editor for The Daily Times. Contact him at stevew@thedailytimes.com or at 981-1144.

CONTINUED @ TheDailyTimes.com 

WRITERS IN TREATMENT

Writers In Treatment 
a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit

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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April 3 Addiction Recovery eBulletin