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May 19, 2015                Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News                  Vol. 2., No. 39
Testimonials
Boxer Down For the Count   VIDEO
Tony Ayala Jr.’s death ‘appears to be overdose’  VIDEO    

Controversial local boxer Tony Ayala Jr. died from an apparent overdose, according to a San Antonio police report released Thursday afternoon. The report says that when officers arrived at the Zarzamora Street Gym on Tuesday morning, they found Ayala on the floor with a narcotic-filled syringe near his body. Officers also found a ball of heroin on a desk.

CONTINUED @ KSAT.com 

No Waiting, No Lines
Cocaine Anonymous’ Annual Convention In Las Vegas 

It looks like the minds behind Cocaine Anonymous will put their participants to the ultimate test this year. The 31st annual Cocaine Anonymous World Service convention will be held in Sin City itself – Las Vegas. “We absolutely insist on enjoying life,” the Cocaine Anonymous website reads. Events will include golf, hiking, a tour of the Hoover Dam and many variations of meetings and support groups for those who have either successfully gone through the program or those currently struggling.

First Taste Is Always Free
Weekend using frequently slips into week-long drug use    

In a paper published Monday in Annals of Family Medicine, researchers report that 54% of people who said they restricted their drug use to Friday night, Saturday or Sunday admitted to using drugs on other days of the week as well, when questioned again in six months.

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His Cross To Bear
Christian Rapper Lecrae Divulges Struggles With Drugs, Alcoholism & Suicide Attempt 

Outspoken Christian rapper Lecrae will be releasing a new book, titled Unashamed sometime next year in which he reveals details about his childhood abuse, and struggles with drugs, alcoholism, bouts of depression and a suicide attempt. “I am writing Unashamed for all those who don’t know who they are, who feel confined by the labels given to them.”

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Brandi’s Wish

Show Me The Money
The New Science of How to Quit Smoking    

How the financial carrot is proffered is also important, says Halpern. Now, most employers or insurers reward quitting in more hidden ways, with bonuses in direct deposit accounts or with lower premiums. While helpful, these aren’t as tangible to people, and humans respond better to instant gratification. “They’re rewarding people in ways that are essentially blind to the way human psychology works. The fact that the benefits occur in the future make them a whole lot less influential than if people were handed money more quickly.”

 AcademicAddiction.com

One Sip Over the Line
I was a middle class ‘almost alcoholic’    

 I am a professional mother of two who grew up associating alcohol with fun. In my early twenties, it’s what marked me out as the archetypal party girl, in my early professional life big nights out were par for the course. After the birth of my first child, wine lifted me from the humdrum and provided a reliable link to the old me, the one unfettered by responsibility. With a drink inside me, I felt flirtatious, free, glamorous and eternally young.

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Against All Odds   VIDEO
Addiction physician provides perspective on hallucinogens, mixing drugs VIDEO    

“Unless they are sort of triggering or bringing out an underlying psychotic potential, aggression is usually not associated with the use of hallucinogens,” Miller said. He said while aggression is rare, some still have a strong reaction. Other medical professionals tell News 3 mixing different drugs can cause an unpredictable and sporadic reaction. “They can actually cause panic attacks because when people are having an altered experience and they like to be in control, well they will feel like, ‘Oh, I’m losing my mind,’ and they can get very afraid and they can get agitated just out of fear and have a panic attack,” Miller said.

CONTINUED @ Channel3000.com 

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Now That You’re Sober … Live
Elderly people who exercise ‘live five
years longer’    

The analysis of 5,700 elderly men  showed those doing three hours of exercise a week lived around five years longer than the sedentary. The report said: “Even when men were 73 years of age on average at start of follow-up, active persons had five years longer expected lifetime than the sedentary.” It added that physical activity was as “beneficial as smoking cessation” at reducing deaths.

Top Shelf Alcoholics
Rich Men Drink More     

People with more education and higher socioeconomic status – generally white men – tend to drink more than others, according to a new study. Excessive drinking isn’t glamorous. The report detailed numerous economic and health effects of alcohol on workers and productivity. Alcohol’s harmful impacts – such as medical expenses and crime – on an advanced economy can cost about 1% of a country’s.

REHABilitation
Treatment Programs Reduce Future Criminal Offenses     

Offenders with alcohol problems who enter an alcohol treatment program as part of their sentence are far less likely to be charged or reconvicted during the 12 months following their treatment, Alcohol treatment programs could also have cost benefits, with the bill for placing one person in prison being up to 37 times higher than assigning that person to a community-based alcohol treatment program.

CONTINUED @ PsychCentral.com 

Intoxicating Profits Go Bongers  VIDEO
Marijuana Entrepreneurs VIDEO    

If you are not somehow connected to the world of medicalmarijuana in California, you may be surprised at the industry that has been growing up here. Depending on whose research you read, the marijuana industry is nearly doubling the size of its market every year, and some believe, every quarter.

Secrets and Lies
What if Susan Hawk had divulged her
drug rehab?    

Dallas County DA Susan Hawk’s pre-campaign political calculation is pretty clear. She and her advisers apparently concluded that she would have been unelectable had she divulged her treatment for dependence on prescription drugs. I think that’s right, probably and unfortunately.

CONTINUED @ DallasNews.com 

Next Week – Vanity Unfair
Doctors remove part of sun worshipper’s skull after tanning addiction leads to skin cancer    

Since her cancer ordeal, she has campaigned for stricter sunbed regulation and even carried the Olympic torch in 2012. Justine – who also battled cervical cancer in 2007 – said: “There were no health warnings on sunbeds back then and going on a sunbed and sitting outside in the sun for hours to get a ‘bronzie’ was the thing to do. Everyone did it.

Take The Test
Am I an Alcoholic?     

The therapist I began seeing after that incident started asking whether I had an alcohol problem. At the time I was stressing out at work, panicking as friends began settling down, and grieving the recent deaths of my mother and grandmother. But the therapist focused on my alcohol use. “How much did you drink?” she asked. “Three or four vodka sodas?” I shrugged.

Predestined
Smaller Brain Volume May Increase The Likelihood Of Drug Addiction    

Researchers conducted two studies that scanned occasional drug users of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), including Ecstasy (MDMA). Then, they were monitored after 12 to 24 months to better assess their level of drug use following both time periods. Those with subsequently increased ATS showed smaller volumes in the front-sriato-limbic regions, according to Dr. Becker, who added that “prospective longitudinal studies in occasional users are of great importance to determine biological vulnerability markers…

Some Good, Some Bad
Report Outlines Ideas From Those Working to Fight Addiction     

In addition to mandating and enforcing usage of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program by all prescribers, the council report recommends establishing prescriber guidelines for hospital emergency departments, and one respondent called for the removal of patient satisfaction ratings from prescriber compensation structures, saying the ratings “create an inherent ‘perverse incentive’ by financially motivating doctors to appease patients seeking prescription pain relief.”

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One Can Always Hope
Bio-med-backed drug could end addiction 

It’s pretty exciting when 30-plus years of medical research pays off. Dr. Nicholas Goeders has been in the lab since 1985, singularly focused on his masterpiece. It’s a drug, potent and marketable, with the potential to curb an American epidemic. His intended patients? Addicted brains. That LSU-based research yielded Embera, and in three to five years it could come to market. Goeders and his financial backers at Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana are confident their product will help battle substance addiction. In ’93 there were 3 groups of rats.

UPCOMING EVENTS

REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL
DENVER EDITION

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

   

REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL
2nd ANNUAL BAY AREA EDITION

June 11-14, 2015 

VIZ Theater, 1746 Post Street

San Francisco, CA 94115

Smith Rafael Film Center

1118 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 

Call for more information:
415-548-0492   

FOR MORE INFORMATION  

Going To Any Lengths
‘MAD MAX’ STAR TOM HARDY: ‘I WOULD’VE SOLD MY MOM FOR CRACK’    

English-born actor Tom Hardy, who is the title character in the upcoming sequel Mad Max: Fury Road, admitted in a recent interview his drug problem was once so out-of-hand, he would have sold his own mother for crack cocaine. “I am f-g lucky to be here,” the 37-year-old told Essentials magazine about his old drug problem.

Euphoric Refill
40% of Medicaid Patients With Opiate Prescriptions Abuse Painkillers    

The most commonly prescribed opiate drugs are codeine, Demerol, morphine, Vicodin, and OxyContin. The CDC chose to highlight these problems in order to raise awareness among medical professionals. Compared to people with private insurance options, Medicaid patients were much more likely to be prescribed stronger painkillers and have more prescriptions.

Getting Right   VIDEO
Creed’s Scott Stapp – alcohol/drug abuse, bipolarism led to ‘psychotic break’ VIDEO   

Scott Stapp says he’s finally on the road to recovery after a troubling bout with alcoholism, drug abuse and bipolar disorder. “I was hallucinating. I drove around the United States for a month, following an angel that I saw on the hood of my car,” Stapp said. “In my delusional thinking, I thought my family was involved in ISIS, and that millions of dollars had been taken from me to support terrorism,” he added.

Blitzed
Binge Drinking Teens Around The Globe Has Increased    

Regular binge drinking by young adults, usually defined as consuming five or more drinks on one occasion once a week, has risen among both men and women in Canada, Germany and Italy over the past 20 years, the OECD said, and has also risen among French men and New Zealand women.

The Truth About Lying
Cardiologist Says Diet Drug Maker
Misled Patients     

Contrave, was prescribed 117,000 times in its first three months on the market, a better launch than any obesity drug in the past decade. A top cardiologist is accusing a drug maker with whom he worked closely of making misleading statements about its weight loss medicine and refusing to release data that would undermine its previous claims. “Patients were misled, investors were misled,” says Nissen.

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Unfriendly Fire
Military Doctor Blames Addiction Program for 2 Deaths    

USA TODAY reported in March that the Army’s substance abuse program is in disarray, with thousands of soldiers turned away from needed treatment, dozens of suicides linked to poor care and too few qualified counselors. The Army responded to the story by ordering an ongoing investigation of all 54 substance abuse outpatient clinics.

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Short, Sweet and Informative
Addiction Recovery Twitter Chat Educates Community    

Drugs, addiction and recovery are not popular topics of conversation. And when most people hear those words they tend to think of criminals and people who should be feared. But Wednesday The Delray Beach Drug Task Force along with the Delray Beach Police Department and the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce hosted a Twitter chat with the purpose of debunking myths and reducing the stigma of addiction recovery.

CONTINUED @ WPTV.com 

Please sir, can I have some more?
Is Food Addiction Real?    

In the brain, food has the potential to act a lot like drugs. It spurs a release of feel-good dopamine in the brain, the nucleus accumbens, which regulates motivation and reward, lights up, and over time the brain’s neurons down-regulate so that you need more and more of the good stuff (be it pot or pizza) to feel better, explains Brad Lander, Ph.D., clinical director of addiction psychiatry.

InTheRooms.com

Friendly Persuasion
Addiction Campuses Acquires Recovery Now Network    

Addiction Campuses, a leader in alcohol and drug abuse prevention, treatment, education and aftercare, announces the acquisition of Recovery Now Network (RNN). RNN will enhance the Addiction Campuses digital presence, and bring thoughtful, innovative strategies to our targeted markets.”The Recovery Now acquisition is part of our five year strategic plan to be the leading addiction treatment provider in the country,” says Addiction Campuses CEO Brent Clements.

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A Bindle of Laughs
Is Humor My Drug of Choice?
by Amy Dresner    

“Addiction involves the avoidance of uncomfortable feelings-so humor can be unhelpful, even damaging (if it becomes a habitual way to escape) in terms of the need to feel your feelings instead of ducking them. Humor can be a way for people who are resilient to cope with tough situations in their lives but it can also be misused. It allows people to tell a story about something-to reframe it in a way so they have an easier time dealing with it.

Just Like America
Afghan drug users nearly double    

The number of drug users in Afghanistan soared to a record high of three million last year, almost doubling over a two-year period in the world’s leading producer of opium, officials said Tuesday. Opium poppy cultivation touched a record high in 2014 and this year is expected to yield another bumper harvest, highlighting the failure of the multi-billion-dollar US-led campaign to crack down on the lucrative crop.

Crazy
Psychiatric Drugs Kill Over 500,000 Western Adults Annually    

Profeseur Peter Gøtzsche warns psychiatric drugs kill patients year in year out, and hold few positive benefits. He says in excess of half a million citizens across the Western world aged 65 and over die annually as a result of taking these drugs. “Their benefits would need to be colossal to justify this, but they are minimal,” he writes. “Given their lack of benefit, I estimate we could stop almost all psychotropic drugs without causing harm.”

There Goes The Neighborhood?
Showdown brewing between homeowners, drug rehab center developer    

The property in south Fort Myers was rezoned to make way for this drug treatment center on the area known as Cold Saturday Farms. That area sits along Winkler Road just south of College Parkway. “This is such a unique area,” said neighbor Amy Barnes. Barnes is talking about her dream home nestled off a busy Winkler Road and just blocks from area businesses. “Some of us farm. This is an agriculture way of life for a lot of us,” said Barnes. She fears that could change if this home becomes a drug rehab center.

CONTINUED @ NBC-2.com 

Trouble Down Under
Scientology-inspired rehab under fire over cure claims    

A DRUG rehabilitation centre with links to the Church of Scientology has been fined and ordered to remove unsubstantiated claims made online about “curing” patients. Among claims that led Consumer Affairs Victoria to investigate the Get Off Drugs Naturally Foundation was a graph showing “cocaine metabolites being excreted in the sweat and urine of clients participating in the Detoxification program”.

Kids Are Dying   VIDEO
The Reality of Youth Drug Addiction VIDEO   

According to Kids Escaping Drugs, there’s an epidemic in Western New York that no town, village or city is immune to. “The face of addiction today is the average american teenager,” said Jessica Sherman, Face 2 Face Program Director for Kids Escaping Drugs. Kids Escaping Drugs treats those as young as 12 on the Renaissance Campus in West Seneca, which Sherman said is the average age of experimenting with drugs and alcohol in Western New York.

Will To Be Free
Drug Addiction, the Problem with Free Will, and God’s Unconditional Love    

But at age 27, she’s addicted to heroin. Before becoming a chaplain, I wondered how anyone could ever manage to become addicted to drugs. People like that, I assumed, were just stupid, weak, and lacked self-control. Now I know better. As our breakfast came and we began eating, I looked her in the eyes and said, “You know, studies show that people who are addicted to drugs are medicating the pain of their past. Is that true for you?”

Urine for a Change
Fingerprints ‘can reveal drug use’     

The team at the University of Surrey showed that chemicals produced when cocaine is broken down in the body could be detected in the fingerprint. They argue the test could be useful in prisons, drug abuse clinics and even for routine testing in the workplace.”Drug rehabilitation centres where we are working are keen to use this methodology for patients on drug-treatment programs. “Then there are customs and probation services, drug testing and perhaps roadside testing.”

And Behind Door #3


What Was In This Mysterious “Cure” For Alcoholism?     

It’s natural that the rest of the medical community would be curious to figure out what the shots were. They obtained Keeley’s Gold any way they could. Some samples weren’t hard to get. Keeley sold vials of a version of the cure to be taken orally once a patient got home. But it was the shots that fascinated people. People went into Keeley’s institute undercover as alcoholics and as workers to try to get samples. Many of them got their hands on the stuff, but each analysis yielded different results.

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May 19 Addiction Recovery eBulletin