| Demi Lovato Talks About Getting Sober: “A Huge Weight Has Been Lifted” Demi tells the Daily Mail’s You magazine that a “weight has been lifted” now that she is clean and sober. She explained: “When you are no longer hiding anything, you don’t worry about what is going to get out. I don’t care who knows about my life, and now that I am an open book a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.” CONTINUED | | The Difficulty with Understanding Addiction Today’s dominant view of addiction, the “disease theory,” is more complex but no less problematic. At its root is the premise that all behaviors-including addiction-have purely physiological causes. But addiction treatment professionals have muddied that definition with other factors that don’t really fit their premise. The result is a mess. CONTINUED | | No Daily Double, or Any Double for David | | David Cassidy’s DWI Plea Deal Hearing Halted By His Horse Track Tweet The New York Racing Association tweeted that Cassidy was at a course nearby the court where his lawyer was set to appear on his behalf, which ‘disturbed’ officials. A tweet by the New York Racing Association said Cassidy was at Saratoga Race Course, 40 miles north of Schodack. CONTINUED | | An Easy Way to Alter Your Life | | Homemade Altar Serves As Powerful Reminder For Recovering Alcoholic “I said, ‘If I ever get sober, I’ll erect the statue of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the angels,’ ” DeSimone said, pointing to the small winged figures that ring his fence. DeSimone has been sober since 1985, when he started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after moving to Costa Mesa. CONTINUED | | DR. KREVOY EATING DISORDERS PROGRAM | | Time Has Come Today VIDEO | | New York Times Calls for Ending Federal Ban On Marijuana VIDEO The Times said the federal ban on pot has resulted in enforcement that is “racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.” CONTINUED | | COMMUNITY RECOVERY L.A. TREATMENT CENTER | | Sugar Is The Next Tobacco? Among the least likely viral megahits on YouTube is a 90-minute lecture by the food scold and pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, entitled “Sugar: The Bitter Truth.” He delivers it in a windowless room at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the UC San Francisco. CONTINUED | | Brigham Young, Bring’em Often | | Alcohol Sales In Utah Increase By More Than $20 Million Under Utah’s liquor laws, most alcohol can only be purchased from one of its 41 state liquor stores, a licensed bar or restaurant, or a packing agency, some of which are located at hotels or resorts. Beer, however, is legal to purchase from supermarkets and convenience stores. CONTINUED | | DUI Suspect In Teen Deaths Arrested Again For Violation At the time of the second arrest, Prinzo told officers that he was under a lot of stress because it was the two-year anniversary of the fatal crash on the interstate. But when prosecutors realized that Prinzo had violated the terms of his initial release for the 2012 traffic deaths – he faces two counts each of vehicular homicide, DUI causing death and DUI causing serious injury. CONTINUED | | Selena Gomez Reportedly Headed Back To Rehab Selena Gomez is reportedly heading back to rehab following an overdose that has occurred after a recent partying spree. Gomez has been making celebrity new headlines for the past several months and for all the wrong reasons. et us hope that Selena Gomez steers clear of Justin Bieber and Orlando Bloom and gets to rehab soon for the help she needs before bad things happen to this young star. CONTINUED | | VISIT OUR NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES | FOR EVERY
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| | “Quitting Drinking” Isn’t The Same As “Getting Sober”
by Ward Anderson Somewhere right now, at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, there’s a guy asking for forgiveness because he once did a bump off a mirror at a party with some girl from his Psych class. Meanwhile, the guy next to him lost his life savings and got caught snorting blow naked with his sister in-law. The second guy wants to beat the hell out of the first guy. CONTINUED | | Program of Attraction, NOT Coercion | | Man Sues State Over Being Forced Into AA Some courts have held that it’s unconstitutional for authorities to order people who declare a religious objection to attend AA meetings. In 2007, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, found that a parole officer can be sued for damages for ordering a parolee to go through AA. CONTINUED | | In Delray Beach? Don’t Miss It | | Pass It On: An Evening with Bill W. & Dr. Bob This dynamic two-man show features nationally acclaimed veteran Broadway actors Gary Kimble and Will Stutts. Both actor’s lives have been impacted by alcoholism. Mr. Stutts suffered and struggled with close family members and friends who have suffered and died from alcoholism. Gary Kimble has been clean and sober for 17 years. CONTINUED | | Fired Miami Cop Blames Positive Coke Test On ‘Erection Cream,’ Is Rehired Reinaldo Casas was canned in February 2013 after a drug test showed up with cocaine. But Casas denied he’d ever taken the drug and blamed it on a sex cream that a friend had gotten from ‘an old Cuban guy.’ The argument worked and the homicide detective will be rehired with back pay. CONTINUED | | “Worked for me since 1994” – says Addiction/Recovery eBulletin Publisher | | AA Recovery Attacked Again by Dr. Dodes who’s not in Recovery AA’s emphasis on proselytizing, a basic tool through which recognized religions and certain fringe religious groups spread their message, is an essential part of its worldwide success, and it’s a big reason that it has been nearly impossible to have an open national dialogue about other, potentially better ways to treat addiction. CONTINUED | | NEW YORKERS Come Together Right Now! | | Attention New Yorkers!
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| | An Alcoholic At Age Nine Kicking the habit is particularly difficult for Michael – he has been drinking beer every day for about two years. His story is not uncommon but the fact that he is just 9-years-old and in rehab is. According to the Department of Social Development, 242 children were referred to the South African National Council on Alcoholism this year – 69 of them strictly for alcohol abuse. CONTINUED | | | INDIEGOGO
Goes for REEL Recovery Film Festival, New York & Los Angeles | | Alcohol is Killing 15 Australians a Day VIDEO Alcohol companies should be forced to warn consumers on their labels that alcohol causes cancer and heart disease in the same way cigarette packets do, the Foundation’s chief Michael Thorn says. “The alcohol industry, like the tobacco industry, has long shown itself unwilling to acknowledge the extent of the harms it causes Any potentially harmful product should carry a warning for the consumer. A box of matches does.” CONTINUED | | DUFFY’S NAPA VALLEY REHAB | | ‘The Insider’ Host Pat O’Brien Recounts Battle With Alcohol Addiction Before Pat O’Brien became a fall-down drunk, “The Insider” host lived a life of celebrity riches. Everywhere he turned, it seemed a famous face was smiling back at him. Regarding Nancy O’Dell, ” She confessed she had never read a book “cover to cover,” he writes, and once boasted to a crowded room that “she knew how to perform oral sex without actual oral sex.” CONTINUED | | Gee, Not the Seven Tours of Duty ? | | Home Stresses Linked To Alcoholism In National Guard Columbia University has found that civilian life stresses – divorce, job loss, legal problems – are more likely to lead to alcohol abuse in returning National Guard soldiers than members of the general public, regardless of whether they had experienced traumatic events on the battlefield or not. CONTINUED | | Staying Connected, No Matter What | | Why Drugs Are No Longer Cool: Teenagers Are Internet Addicts But teenage use of alcohol and drugs has been steadily declining for a decade, and across Europe and the United States. Drugs have fallen out of favour just as social media has increased in popularity and, though it sounds incredible, it seems old-fashioned drug addicts have been replaced by internet addicts. CONTINUED | | Where Did I Put My Glasses? | | Heavy Drinkers Prone to Memory Problems in Old Age People who have a history of drinking problems by the time they are middle-aged are more than twice as likely to exhibit memory problems in later life as those who don’t, in a study that followed 6,500 Americans for two decades. CONTINUED | | 2013 REEL Recover Highlight Reel Here | REEL Recovery Film Festival HIGHLIGHT
Reel 2013
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 | | How to Tell if You’re Too Drunk to Drive First of all, if you have to ask yourself, the answer is probably “you’re too drunk to drive.” The best answer about how to tell if you’re too drunk to drive is that if you’re asking yourself, you probably are. But in case you need some reassurance, here are our tips. As a responsible adult, you should know your limits when it comes to alcohol, and plan to find alternate transportation as soon as you’ve passed those limits. CONTINUED | | INVEST NOW! Holy Grail for the Holy Disease | | Profits Seen Jumping With Its ‘Holy Grail Of Alcohol Treatment’ Addiction solutions company BioCorRx Inc. (BICX), may see its profits jump from $2.6 million this year to $10.5 million in 2015 and $22.8 million in 2016 as more rehab clinics use its so-called “holy grail of alcohol treatment.” Treatment of both alcohol and opioid addiction is an enormous market in the U.S., where upwards of $23 billion is spent per annum. More than half of Americans have one or more close relatives with alcohol dependency, and nearly 7 million children under the age of 18 live with a parent that struggles with alcohol. CONTINUED | | Authorities Seize Cocaine In Underwear of Passenger For three days, the nation’s leading public health officials, politicians, law enforcement agents, drug treatment counselors, and others gathered in a downtown Atlanta hotel to discuss the national epidemic of opiate prescription drug abuse. The scope of the epidemic is staggering. Several speakers during the third annual National Rx Drug Abuse Summit cited statistics that indicate more than 125,000 people across the country have died in the past 10 years from opiate-related overdoses. CONTINUED | | Bottoms Up for the Bottom Line | | Santa Barbara Businesses Busted for Selling Booze to Minors First-time offenders can be fined anywhere between $750 and $3,000, depending on the location’s alcohol sales revenue, Pond explained. Second-time offenders face fines between $2,500 and $20,000, and third-strikers immediately lose their license. Suspension lengths vary by circumstance. CONTINUED | | Zac Efron’s First Interview About Rehab “I just never want to have to take something again from the outside into me to feel good about myself. To be comfortable in my present skin, that takes a lot of work. It’s just meditation and stopping and slowing down your brain. CONTINUED | | DO YOU LIKE OUR eBULLETIN? | We Welcome Your Feedback! If you have any comments, compliments or suggestions for our weekly Addiction/Recovery eBulletin, please contact us at:
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Leonard Buschel – Send an email | | Over The Counter, Under The Ground | | It’s Easy to Overdose on Tylenol Consumer Reports calls out the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for inconsistent and potentially dangerous labeling of acetaminophen painkillers. If the pain isn’t going away, then continuing to take the medications isn’t going to help, and will only expose you to potentially harmful side effects. CONTINUED | | Alcoholics Helping Alcoholics Before this week I had never been to an AA meeting before – and I hope I never attend another again, but if I should have to either by my own failings or those of a family member, I’m happy to say the family environment at the open meeting in Stony Plain’s Serenity Centre was as welcoming as one could hope. CONTINUED | | Reel Recovery Film Festival LAS VEGAS
| | Next There Will Be Yelp Page VIDEO | | Consumer Reports Reviews Deadly Pain Pills VIDEO Prescription painkillers like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin can make days bearable if you’re suffering, but they can be as addictive as heroin and just as deadly. Prescriptions have soared 300 percent in the past decade. In fact, Vicodin and its generic, hydrocodone, are now the most commonly prescribed drugs in America. 46 people a day-almost 17,000 people a year-die from overdoses of opioids. CONTINUED | | REEL Recovery Film Festival CHICAGO
| | Indiana Preparing For Limits On Drug Treatment Meds Federal law caps the amount of methadone, the most commonly used medication to treat drug addiction, patients can take home. If someone’s been in treatment for at least six months, they can get three doses to take home per week. After a year, they can get 14 days worth of the medication; after two years, 30 days. CONTINUED | | |