Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

IT’S SIMPLE & IT’S COMPLICATED – 

April 23, 2021 – The difference is still clearly evident when comparisons are made of the full detoxification treatment packages. In our calculations, the costs of a 3-week in-patient detoxification programme are nine times those of an 8-week out-patient programme.

A more informative calculation of the relative cost-effectiveness of the detoxification in the two settings can be made by adjusting the costs of the treatment packages according to their observed success rates. The costs of the in-patient detoxification programme should therefore be divided by 0.81 to adjust for the 81% abstinence rate of patients treated in this programme, and the costs of the out-patient programme could be divided by 0.17 Gossop et al, 1986). When adjusted for successful achievement of abstinence, the difference is greatly reduced ± the in- patient treatment costs less than twice as much as the out-patient treatment.

more@Cambridge

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

DOCTOR’S DILEMMA – 

April 23, 2021 – We heard from someone who has reached the end of his rope: “In June, I will have suffered from severe chronic pain for 28 years. I will be dead before then. My doctor has cut me back from 180 mg of methadone and 75 mcg of fentanyl to 80 mg of methadone, along with Robaxin. When I was first put on methadone and fentanyl after 13 years of pain, I was pain-free for nearly 14 years.

“My doctor wants me off all opioids. I have three different types of severe pain.

“I also have dysphagia [trouble swallowing], which led to COPD. There is a possibility of improving the dysphagia, maybe even eliminating it altogether. Instead, it looks like it might be my way out. I have already talked to my pulmonary doctor about discontinuing my nebulizer treatments so I could die without committing suicide. Since 2003, I’ve had eight bouts of pneumonia. It wouldn’t be hard to get another one.

“He told me that he would make me as comfortable as possible if I chose to go into the hospital. I’m sick of hospitals, so I’d rather die at home.

more@SWOKNews

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

LITTLE LATE for 2021, but GREAT IDEA! – 

April 20, 2021 – “Just for 24 is a day to celebrate your recovery and support your friends in recovery by having fun in the name of sobriety,” she added.

She said that the festivities on Saturday, April 24 will begin at 10 a.m., with a trip to the Lower East Side’s booze-free bottle shop Spirited Away “to load up on booze-free beverages” she said, “then off to Brooklyn for some roller skating [at Pier 2] and wrapping at PS Kitchen with an event with prizes from REVA Recovery Support, Soylent, Athletic Brewing Company and Monday [alcohol-free] gin.” 

It’ll be live-streamed from 4 p.m. on Duke’s Instagram and the Just for 24 account. 

“Come join the event and celebrate sobriety and make new friends!,” said Duke.

Duke and her online cohorts recently did battle with juice brand Tropicana over a series of ads encouraging parents to drink in secret to combat COVID-related stress.

more@PageSix

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – BACK TO BASICS – 

April 20, 2021 – “I really, really resonated with the episode,” the 37-year-old songwriter expressed, adding how amazed he was by Shepard’s ability to be “vulnerable and honest” with his fans.

“It was within two months of my COVID relapse, and the disease of addiction is crazy,” said Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty. The Grammy winner furthered that speaking about the struggles with sobriety “lets other people feel that they’re not alone.”

“It made me feel, as someone that had relapsed again, like a month or two before, that I’m not alone,” he said. Macklemore, who revealed he first was sent to rehab in 2008, praised Shepard for helping him realize that a relapse is not a sign of failure and, because of that, he no longer counts how long he’s stayed sober.

“I’ve spent most of the last 11 years in recovery, and it’s made me who I am,” he said. “I’ve compromised my life and other people around me, I’ve done things that I’m not proud of, but I do have that foundational level of 10 years of recovery, and I’m f—— proud of that.”

Macklemore revealed last week that he and wife Tricia Davis are expecting their third child, who is due to arrive this summer. They share daughters Sloane Ava Simone, 5, and Colette Koala, 3.

more@ABCNews

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WHEN WILL IT STOP? – 

April 22, 2021 – Data analysis published in the American Journal of Public Health, which analyzed overdose deaths across 31 states, found West Virginia’s increase during that month to be significantly higher than any other state.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m not,” said Jon Dower, the executive director of West Virginia Sober Living and an adjunct professor at West Virginia University. “People lost in-person services and they lost stability.”

The deaths, according to the data provided by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, were driven primarily by an increase in overdoses linked to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.

Last year, 955 deaths, about three of every four in the state, were linked to the drug.

Fentanyl, which is cheaper than heroin and can be more deadly, is linked to a spike in overdoses nationally. Just this year, the federal government changed rules on funding to allow grant money to be used to buy fentanyl test strips to help combat the crisis.

The test strips allow people with substance use disorders to test their drugs before using, and some cities across the country have pushed to make the strips more accessible in an effort to decrease overdose death rates.

In West Virginia, harm reduction programs — including syringe exchanges — have played a major role in supplying the strips, along with the overdose reversal medication naloxone. But rather than working to increase access to these life-saving tools, West Virginia’s lawmakers put in place a greater barrier.

more@Register-Herald

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

IMAGINATION – 

April 19, 2021 – From the outside, she said, she was keeping it all together, but internally, she said she realized she was “not doing so good.”

But Taylor, who now considers herself in recovery, realized when she stopped drinking how integral it had been to both her social and business lives. She was inspired to learn about drink options for people in recovery that would still allow them to feel included, and came up with a few nonalcoholic “mocktail” recipes while researching business options. Taylor also wondered, after working for years in tech, if she was ready to end her career without the chance at working for herself.

A real-life test came in 2017, when she was invited on a trip with some friends, and brought along what is now called the Cranberry Cosmo.

“At first I felt weird,” Taylor said. “They opened up their stuff and made drinks, but I had mine, and I poured my own drink and had this internal spark like, ”This is really special.’ I’m still participating but on my own terms.”

Shortly after, Taylor launched Mingle Mocktails, a line of alcohol-free bottled cocktails with the goal of inclusion in social events for folks who are sober, taking a break from alcohol, are pregnant or who are too young to drink.

more@Technical.ly

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

HIGHER POWER WORKS – 

April 22, 2021 – At the age of 20, Barr was held down by a group of friends while they injected heroin into his veins, which started his 22-year drug addiction. At the height of his addiction and during his darkest hour, his father came to him. He didn’t start preaching at Barr, telling him that he needed to quit. He didn’t talk about the hurt and the pain that Barr was causing his family. He didn’t even tell Barr about the damage that he was doing to himself. He just opened the Bible to a certain scripture, gave it to Barr, and told him to read that scripture every morning before he left home. The scripture was Psalms 121.

He comments, “One day after work, I also overdosed on heroin but was lucky I wasn’t alone when it happened. There were a few of us in my apartment at the time. I pressed the needle into my vein and allowed the heroin to take over. My legs became weak as I fell back against the wall. The next thing I remember was waking up on the couch. Someone said Poopy shot some salt in my arm to bring me out of it. I never would’ve thought that a guy named Poopy would be the one that God used to save my life.”

more@BlackNews

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – ALL IN A DAY’S WORK – 

April 23, 2021 – Said Aronberg, “Mr. Lohan was investigated by our Sober Homes Task Force and he’s being charged with receiving kickbacks for referring patients to drug treatment. Patient brokering corrupts our health care system because decisions are motivated by greed instead of a patient’s needs. This is our Task Force’s 117th arrest and will not be our last.”

Heidi Perlet, Lohan’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the charging documents, an investigator spoke to Lohan on April 8, 2021, when he denied being involved in patient brokering.

South Florida is sometimes known as the “recovery capital of the world.” Thousands of addicts arrive here each year from all over the U.S., hoping that at one of South Florida’s many drug treatment centers, they’ll find recovery. And some do.

more@NBCNews

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

5.7 MILLION FANS LOVE HIM FOR BEING GAY & SOBER – 

April 26, 2021 – He now has 5.7 million followers. Fans, old and new alike, were cheered by his quirky posts delivered in Jordan’s distinctive Southern drawl. Jordan’s newfound reach has meant he’s also been able to indulge in his love of Christian hymns with an album called “Company’s Comin.’”

The “American Horror Story” star says that when he first arrived in Hollywood in 1982, he was hungry for fame.

“I didn’t care about the money or work, I wanted to be famous” he detailed. “I remember reading that Hugh Hefner had a mansion with seven blonde Playmates that lived with him, and I thought, ‘Oh I want to be the gay equivalent of that! I want to have a mansion with seven blond boys all giggling around the pool.’”

more@PageSix

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

FLORIDA RETIREMENT COMES EARLY – 

April 23, 2021 – Said Aronberg, “Mr. Lohan was investigated by our Sober Homes Task Force and he’s being charged with receiving kickbacks for referring patients to drug treatment. Patient brokering corrupts our health care system because decisions are motivated by greed instead of a patient’s needs. This is our Task Force’s 117th arrest and will not be our last.”

Heidi Perlet, Lohan’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the charging documents, an investigator spoke to Lohan on April 8, 2021, when he denied being involved in patient brokering.

South Florida is sometimes known as the “recovery capital of the world.” Thousands of addicts arrive here each year from all over the U.S., hoping that at one of South Florida’s many drug treatment centers, they’ll find recovery. And some do.

But an investigation by NBC News in 2017 found that many of these vulnerable addicts had been treated more as profit centers than patients. Some treatment centers partner with “body brokers” and operators of so-called “sober homes” to find patients with good health insurance. Brokers and sober home owners offer those trying to get clean free rent and grocery store gift cards, cigarettes and manicures in exchange for going to a specific treatment center, which pays kickbacks for every client.

more@YahooNews

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