Several months after legislation to change the name of the rainbow-arched Waldo tunnel connecting the Golden Gate bridge to Marin County. the newly re-dubbed Robin Williams tunnel finally got official. The tunnel’s new moniker, which was officially confirmed last June, was meant as a dedication to the late actor and comedian’s life. Many thought that the tunnel’s rainbow border was a natural reminder of his character Mork from “Mork & Mindy,” who wore multi-colored suspenders on the show.
Drug Czar: Treating Substance Abuse as a Crime is “Inhumane”
In 1988, Michael Botticelli woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed, injured, and under arrest for causing on accident while driving drunk on the Massachusetts Turnpike. A judge gave him two options: Seek care for his drinking problem, or go to jail. Today, 28 years later, Botticelli is not only sober, but helping to shape a dramatic new approach to how the United States confronts drug and alcohol abuse. As the first former addict to run the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, he has a different perspective from any of his six predecessors.
Documentary Shows What A Humane Approach To Addiction Actually Looks Like VIDEO
In the early moments of “Chasing Heroin,” a new “Frontline” documentary that will air Tuesday on PBS and online at 9:00 p.m. EST, a police van pulls down a Seattle, WA, alley and stops near a pair of heroin addicts. A cop gets out of the van and assures them that he means no harm.
Drug Treatment Specialist says Vivitrol: ‘silver bullet’ for treating heroin addiction VIDEO
Audrie is a student at Genesee Community College, with plans to leave home to finish her education. Her last Vivitrol injection was over a month ago. She is clean now, on her own. “I think for any heroin addict or opiate addict that’s in recovery that wants to stay sober I think (Vivitrol) should be a necessity.” Listen to the entire interview with Alkermes..
CONTINUED @ KSDK.com
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Australian AA’s On The Air AUDIO
Inside Alcoholics Anonymous AUDIO
Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs in the community, but how much booze is too much? Chrissy and Michelle have both battled alcoholism and found help through Alcoholics Anonymous – now they’ve turned their attention to helping others with the same addiction. They spoke to 6PR’s Chris Ilsley about their darkest times, the road to recovery and how others can take the first step toward sobriety.
CONTINUED @ 6PR.com.au
Prayers for Perry
Matthew Perry Shuts Down Sober House Amid Bizarre Behavior
In February 2015, Perry sold the facility’s luxe Malibu property, where men suffering from alcoholism and addiction found solace in a safe drug and alcohol-free environment. Despite the $10.65 million sale, the 46-year-old actor promised over the summer to reopen The Perry House in Santa Monica or Studio City, as the Malibu space was “too expensive” to operate. “I’m keeping the business going because I like it; it’s a good way to help alcoholics,” Perry assured The Hollywood Reporter in August.
I have not had a drink in over a decade. Yet, I still refer to myself as an alcoholic. An alcoholic in recovery, but nonetheless, an alcoholic. I am also many other things. I am a mother, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a yogi, and yes, even a huge Monopoly enthusiast. The difference is none of those hats that I wear humble me to remembering that I am no better and no worse than anyone else.
Hear Some of the Most Powerful Stories about Overcoming Drug Addiction AUDIO
Regan finally broke that cycle of addiction only when his mother finally flew out to California to find him. “She found me in an abandoned hotel, kicked in the door and pulled me out of there, Regan stated. Regan said he was in such a deep psychosis, that he was fortunate that he was forced into a treatment center that finally turned his life around.
Things You Only Know If You Went to Rehab in Your 20’s
‘I tried to manage my drinking by cutting down but spectacularly failed. It wasn’t something I was able to do. My brother suggested that I went to an AA meeting but I was still worried about giving up alcohol completely – I needed it to soothe me and comfort me because of my relationship with food. The idea of never drinking again with food, with my family and friends … it was too much.’
Ned Presnell from Clayton Behavioral has a new program aimed specifically at people with these food addictions. He joined us at KPLR 11 to outline what constitutes food addiction and how to fight back. Unlike people with binge-eating disorder, bulimia, or anorexia, people with food addiction are not typically obsessed with body image, calorie counting or restricting. Instead, they are obsessed with the pleasure or relief associated with certain sugary, salty and fatty foods.
“I have a hard time calling myself an alcoholic, but then I decided, does it really matter if I am or not? I have a problem and I could become one. And by some people’s definition, I already am.” Maynard resists absolutes, including the idea that she will remain alcohol-free for the rest of her life. “I do not think of abstinence forever, nor do I not.” She continued, “It is hard to imagine being in Paris and eating cheese and drinking mineral water, but I have no plans to drink and maybe never will.” Joyce Maynard talks to The Fix about being six weeks abstinent from alcohol, thanks to her new book, as well as eating disorders, and her relationship with J.D. Salinger.
The Rebellious Psychiatrists Who Helped Me See Beyond the Myths of Mental illness
Oblivious to these changes, I simply wanted to know why people went mad. Seeing things, hearing things, thinking you were God. There was an air of the supernatural about it; as though the patients I caught glimpses of in the common room, staring into space as the tea trolley rattled past, were possessed, or even ghosts themselves. No one could give me a satisfactory answer. So when I picked up Laing’s The Divided Self, not from my parents’ bookshelves but from those of my first landlady in London…
E-cigarettes 1 Million Times More Harmful Than Polluted Air VIDEO
Although e-cigarettes are often used as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, the study discovered that e-cigarettes contain one million times more cancer-causing substances than outdoor air heavily polluted Hong Kong…”Even though we don’t know the exact number of e-cigarettes one should take, not to mention that many of the carcinogenic effects are cumulative, I don’t think there is a safe margin,” Chung added.
What Government Researchers Get Wrong About Addiction
Wrong. The model “continues to be questioned” not because the linkages between addiction and biological processes hadn’t always been well established. But rather because those linkages only show, as anyone would expect, that the brain is involved with drug addiction. The linkages do not, per se, make the case that addiction is best defined as a brain-based phenomenon. Indeed, we fully expect more details about the biology of addiction to be uncovered in the near future. But that won’t make it anymore a brain disease than it is now.
CONTINUED @ AEI.org
Heart Breaking VIDEO 49 mins.
Raising Awareness of Opioid Addiction VIDEO 49 mins.
FBI, DEA Release Documentary Aimed at Youth – Today, in an effort to help educate students and young adults about the dangers of opioid addiction, the FBI and DEA unveiled a documentary called Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., before an audience of educational leaders from the region. The 45-minute film, whose title refers to the never-ending pursuit of the original or ultimate high, features stark first-person accounts told by individuals who have abused opioids or whose children have abused opioids, with tragic consequences.
Terry Crews Opens Up About His Porn Addiction In New VIDEO
The only thing larger and stronger than athlete-turned-character actor Terry Crews’ biceps is his sense of duty and decency. Every week, he portrays Sergeant Terry Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, playing a character who challenges traditional images of masculinity by raising two children with delicacy, sensitivity and empathy. But beyond the four corners of the TV screen, Crews has also spread his message of positivity and social responsibility.
L.A. Spends Over $233,000 Yearly On Each Youth In Juvenile Lockup
A county audit found that the average cost of incarcerating a youth has soared to $233,600 a year, significantly higher than other comparable jurisdictions. In Chicago, the annual cost was $204,400 per youth; in San Diego, it was $127,750; and in Houston, it was $84,680, the study said.
Caught on Video: Police Save Man from Heroin Overdose on City Bus VIDEO
Passengers yelled for help and called 9-1-1 as the driver stopped the packed bus along State Road near Lansdowne Avenue. Upper Darby police officer Matt Rugh was first to arrive. He opened a little red box attached to his keychain and grabbed a vial containing Narcan, the brand name of the opiate overdose reversal spray naloxone. Rugh put the vial to Meeney’s nostrils and sprayed. Within minutes, Meeney was awake, talking and able to walk to a waiting ambulance.
For Dr. Willenbring, Substance Abuse Treatment Begins With Research by Gabrielle Glaser
“Rehabilitation programs largely adhere to the 12-step principles of the 80-year-old Alcoholics Anonymous and its offshoot, Narcotics Anonymous. Addicts have a moral and spiritual defect, they are told; they must abstain from alcohol and drugs and surrender to a higher power to escape substance abuse.” This treatment is typically delivered through group therapy led by counselors…
Researchers at the University of Arizona have found that Native Americans abstain from alcohol far more often than do whites, that fewer Native Americans than whites are light or moderate drinkers and that the two groups engage in binge and heavy drinking at pretty much the same rates. This is the first studyto look at drinking in the American Indian population as a whole. Other studies have focused only on specific tribes or places, such as a particular urban area…
CONTINUED @ IndianCountryTodayMedia.com
Let’s Get To Work! AUDIO
Shortage Of Addiction Counselors Further Strained By Opioid Epidemic AUDIO
“I had open beds,” she says. “But a girl came in and was on the waiting list – she just didn’t have the right funding.” Because of the rules, Chickering had to reserve empty beds for clients who had a different kind of health insurance than the girl in front of her had. “So she died while she was sitting on the waiting list,” Chickering remembers. “And I went home that night, and I was like, ‘I had an open bed!’ How do you sit with that and be OK the next day?”
W-18, the Drug That’s 10,000 Times More Powerful Than Morphine
W-18 is a novel psychoactive substance and synthetic opioid that comes in powder form, and likely derives from Chinese labs where little-known drugs and analogues of known drugs are mass-produced and sold online. It is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine and 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, greatly increasing the likelihood of overdose and death.
CONTINUED @ Vice.com
Addiction/Recovery eBulletin
European Eureka AUDIO
Ithaca Mayor Wants to Allow Heroin Addicts Safe Supervised Space to Shoot Up AUDIO
Ithaca, New York, would be the first in the U.S. to offer a supervised space where addicts could inject heroin, under a plan unveiled today by Mayor Svante Myrick. The sites would be staffed by trained medical professionals who could respond to overdoses. The site, similar to those in Europe and Canada, would be part of a comprehensive approach to fighting drug addiction.
Pat Robertson responded to a concerned viewer who feared that ever since her family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, they have been exposed to “New Age spirituality” such as “dream catchers, yoga [and] veganism,” and wondered whether she should let her daughter take “yoga classes with one of her friends.” Robertson cautioned that while there is nothing wrong with stretching exercises, “along with yoga they have a mantra, and the mantra you say is in Hindu.”
CONTINUED @ RightWingWatch.org
Conversation Starter AUDIO
New Video on Addiction Aims to Stir More Conversation AUDIO
Federal law enforcers hope a newly-released video documentary featuring real-life stories of opioid addiction will prove to be a powerful tool as Americans address the continuing public health and safety crisis … The video, known as Chasing the Dragon, features testimonials from a half-dozen people who have battled drug addictions. The stories do not necessarily end happily, with all but one relapsing shortly after the completion of the project.
Glaxo Fined £37m For Paying Rivals to Delay Release of Cheap Alternative Drugs
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline has been fined £37million for paying off firms to delay the launch of cheap versions of an antidepressant drug in a move that denied the NHS ‘significant’ cost savings. In 2012, Glaxo was fined $3billion (£2billion) in the biggest healthcare fraud in US history after it admitted paying medics to prescribe Seroxat for children although it was not intended for under 18s, while it also pushed its Wellbutrin drug for uses for which it was not approved.
New Twist in Addiction Crisis: Deadly Painkiller Impostors
In San Francisco, the health department blamed several overdoses last summer on lookalike Xanax containing fentanyl, while Canada has issued warnings about multiple recent cases of lookalike oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. And in suburban Cleveland, federal agents arrested a man this month after seizing more than 900 fentanyl pills marked like oxycodone tablets. “These pills are truly a fatal overdose waiting to happen,” said Carole Rendon, acting U.S. attorney in Cleveland … Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drug overdoses rose again in 2014, driven by surges in deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers. Overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 47,000 – up 7 percent from the previous year.
CONTINUED @ ABCNews.Go.com
Playing It Safe
Bobby Brown Checks Into Rehab for Alcohol and Cocaine Addiction
An insider told the New York Daily News that the “Don’t Be Cruel” singer is in rehab to deal with alcohol and substance abuse. Since death of his daughter Bobbi Kristina in 2015, it would be understandable if Brown is still trying to cope with such a tragic loss. The 47-year-old singer has admitted in past of his struggles with alcohol…We want to wish Bobby well and hope to see him in better spirits.
Addiction Doctors Take Aim at 12-step Principles of AA AUDIO
“Am I saying that medication alone is recovery? Absolutely not. Although I work with methadone. I work with Suboxone. I’ve worked in a number of medication-assisted treatment environments, I’m always the biggest banner-waver for getting into counseling. There are many people who manage medication badly.” Norris says data show that there are people who are able to get sober by going to abstinence-based rehab, but they’re in the minority. It usually takes them several attempts. More important, says Dr. Mark Willenbring, is that they are at high risk for relapse and for fatal overdose if they are detoxed from opioids without getting replacement medication.
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