Charlie Sheen: “Tigers Blood”, “Winning”, Two and a Half Men & Road To Recovery

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – STAYING ALIVE – 

March 23, 2021 – Charlie shares what it was like growing up the son of a famous actor, Martin Sheen as well as the sibling of Emilio Estévez. When did his loved ones first intervene to help Charlie understand that he had a problem? Stories of partying or working with Rob Lowe, George Clooney, John Cryer, Nicolas Cage, Micheal Dougless, Laura Dern and others. 

We talk about the steps towards sobriety, his relationship with his father now as well as stories from the set of some of his films and Two and A Half Men. How did he feel about being replaced by Ashton Kutcher and what are his career aspirations? This is Charlie Sheen in his own words on Knockin’ Doorz Down.

more@YouTube

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Q&A with Amanda Marino, Co-Founder of Next Level Recovery

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

STICK WITH THE WINNERS! – 

April 9, 2021 – Amanda Marino is a Certified Intervention Professional (CIP), Certified Recovery and Life Coach, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Alternative Medicine. She is one of the co-founders of Next Level Recovery Associates alongside her partner, Blake Cohen. Utilizing their expertise, experience and passion, Amanda and her team strive to fill gaps that are currently present in the pre and post treatment process. 

Q. If you are in recovery, what was your Drug of Choice? and when did you stop using?
A. I became clean, sober and stable on February 12, 2007. I switched my addictions over the years from age 14-22. Alcohol, cocaine and pain pills brought me to my knees.

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice or a wicked twist of fate?
A. I’m sure addiction is a disease. Those who choose to use recreationally are able to pick it up and leave it. Those of us who have Substance Use Disorder, lose out choice when we pick up a drink or a drug.

Q. Do you log on to ZOOM 12-step meetings? How often? Do you share?
A. I do! They have saved me this year. I’ve been able to be really consistent with my meetings. I attend at least three a week on zoom. In Florida, we have open meetings again, so I’m mixing zoom and in-person.

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Pandemic drinking is dangerous for women

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – A NEW “DAWN” WITHOUT ALCOHOL – 

April 8, 2021 – Alcohol consumption has increased during the pandemic and it could be putting many women at an increased risk of breast cancer. A growing group of women are pushing back against the wine-to-unwind culture.

more@CBC

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True Works of Genius: Global Sober Books

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

THE WORLD AT YOUR FINGERTIPS – 

April 13, 2021 – Peter T. has authored eight books, and very few folks know his full name. Such is a life and a lifestyle shaped by Alcoholics Anonymous. 

In early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the brakes on most travel, Peter put the finishing touches on the seemingly oxymoronically named Liquid Sober. It was the seventh and final installment in a series of themed coffee table-style books showcasing how truly global an organization Alcoholics Anonymous has become – and how internationally binding its principles are for those living in recovery. 

Upon obtaining Liquid Sober, the first thing I did was … weigh it. The ambitious effort is nearly 900 pages long, two inches wide and 12” x 16”. I simply had to know its heft. The scale read “14 pounds,” and I promptly misquoted a classic liquid-centric film, Jaws. “We’re gonna need a bigger pot of coffee.” 

The bottom line: Originally, each Global Sober Series book retailed for about $100. However, now reduced to $40 per title, the books make an attractive and affordable gift for an alcoholic near and dear to you. To peruse or purchase the Global Sober Series collection, visit www.global-sober-series.com.

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CA. Senators OK Bill To Legalize Possession Of Psychedelics

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

THEY BE TRIPPIN’! – 

April 6, 2021 – A bill to decriminalize psychedelics in California and create a working group to study broader reform advanced through a Senate committee on Tuesday. The panel also approved separate legislation to allow communities in the state to temporarily open safe consumption sites for illegal drugs. The Senate Public Safety Committee approved the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D), by a vote of 4-1. If enacted into law, it would remove criminal penalties for possessing or sharing a wide range of psychedelics—including psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, ibogaine, LSD and MDMA—for adults 21 and older. The measure would also provide for the expungements of prior convictions for offenses that it makes lawful. The state Department of Public Health would be required to establish a working group “to study and make recommendations regarding possible regulatory systems that California could adopt to promote safe and equitable access to certain substances in permitted legal contexts,” according to the bill text. Those recommendations would be due by January 1, 2024.  Another expands the definition of drug paraphernalia used in connection with psychedelics that would no longer carry criminal penalties if possessed by adults. For psilocybin, the legislation would repeal provisions in California statute that prohibit the cultivation or transportation of “any spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material” that contain the psychoactive ingredient. Mescaline derived from peyote is specifically excluded from the bill’s reform provisions “because of the nearly endangered status of the peyote plant and the special significance peyote holds in Native American spirituality.”While the bill is being described by lawmakers and advocates as simple “decriminalization,” the official legislative analysis of the proposal states that it would “make lawful” the personal possession and social sharing of these substances…

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Teenage Brains Especially Vulnerable to Marijuana?

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

SHE’S NINETEEN – 

March 29, 2021 – Adolescents and teenagers who experiment with marijuana and prescription drugs are more likely to get hooked on them than young people who try these drugs for the first time when they are college-aged or older, according to a new analysis of federal data.

The research suggests that young people may be particularly vulnerable to the intoxicating effects of certain drugs, and that early exposure might prime their brains to desire them. The findings have implications for public health policymakers, who in recent years have called for increased screening and preventive measures to reverse a sharp rise in marijuana vaping among teenagers.

The new study, published in JAMA Pediatrics and led by a team of scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, sought to gain a better understanding of how adolescent brains respond to a variety of recreational drugs. Previous research suggested that early exposure to marijuana, nicotine and alcohol might lead to faster development of substance use disorders. But the new analysis cast a wider net, looking at the effects of nine different drugs, including opioid painkillers, stimulants, marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and tranquilizers.

more@NYTimes

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Sackler Family’s Self-Pitying Emails

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

BOOK REVIEW – 

April 8, 2021 – In a 2017 email, Mortimer Sackler, son and namesake of one of the three brothers who co-founded Purdue Pharma, requested a $10 million loan—and “a possible additional $10 million…MAX”—from the family trust to fund his lavish lifestyle, with instructions to keep the cash infusion secret from his relatives.

“Start off with saying I am not happy,” he wrote to a psychiatrist and “leadership confidant” named Kerry Sulkowicz. “I am falling significantly behind financially.”

The heir was prepared to sell off “artworks, jewelry, stock positions,” but it would not be enough to get him into the black. “I have been working for years on Purdue at what I consider to be a considerably discounted value relative to what MY TIME IS WORTH,” Mortimer wrote. “I am LOSING money by working in the pharma business.” As for the secrecy, he conceded, the money could be “reported in the trust accounts as loan/cash flow assistance to family members but not be specific… I don’t want to hear my siblings’ opinion on this and I don’t need more stress for this. I need to have this resolved… This needs to happen, the only question is how much DRAMA will be needed for this to happen.”

“Historically,” he added, his father, Mortimer Sr., who died in 2010, had been “more than willing to help me.”

Feelings of aggrieved entitlement were not exclusive to Mortimer. When David Sackler, grandson of co-founder Raymond, got married, the book reveals, he wanted to buy a bigger apartment but was snubbed by his father and boss, Richard—the man who oversaw and pushed the development of OxyContin more than anyone.

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Can 12-Step Groups and Psychedelics Coexist?

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WHAT WOULD BILL W. DROP? – 

April 8, 2021 – After years of daily opioid use, Kevin was finally succeeding at his recovery. In 2011, he moved into a halfway house, got a sponsor, and started going to 12-step meetings every day. But there was a problem. 

The experience that had brought on his newfound dedication to sobriety was a stay at a clinic in Mexico, where he took the psychedelic drug, ibogaine. When others in his programs would ask what detox program he went to, and he was honest about it involving a psychedelic drug, he got mixed responses. “People didn’t quite understand,” said Kevin, who is using only his first name to protect his identity and that of others in his 12-step groups. Some said things like, “Oh that sounds like a cool drug, I’d love to try it,” and treated his experience as if it was recreational. Others felt that Kevin’s psychedelic use would be a barrier to his recovery.

“I quickly felt alienated about that part of my story,” Kevin said. “I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be a part of the social structure of the rooms.” 

Starting from the first time he shared in a meeting, he started to censor himself. “I would gloss over the ibogaine treatment,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’d really never mentioned it, aside from those private conversations that I quickly stopped. Over time, it stripped away the ability for me to merge that part of my story into this public forum.” 12-step programs, also called fellowships, include the well-known Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and there are dozens of other groups for different issues. In 2020, AA estimated there were over two million active members and 129,790 groups worldwide. 12-step programs provide considerable help for many: They’re free and widely available, and though they’re not run by professionals, a 2020 Cochrane review of AA found that it can be as or more effective than other established treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, for increasing abstinence.

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‘The Crime of the Century’ Examines Deadly Opioid Crisis

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – HBO DOES IT AGAIN – 

April 7, 2021 – HBO Max has released a teaser for filmmaker Alex Gibney’s upcoming documentary about the opioid crisis, The Crime of the Century, which will air in two parts on May 10th and 11th.

The film is rooted partly in a confidential Justice Department memo issued in 2006 that laid out a criminal case against Purdue Pharma, claiming the company knew how addictive OxyContin was but was misleading the public and Congress about its dangers. A case was never brought against Purdue, and the opioid epidemic only grew in the ensuing years as pharmaceutical companies raked in billions.

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Teens more likely than adults to develop addiction to marijuana, drugs within 12 months

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

A YEAR IN THE LIFE – 

April 1, 2021 – The new report, published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA pediatrics, adds to mounting evidence showing adolescents are more vulnerable to substance use disorders than young adults, increasing the need for early screening and drug prevention education, health experts say.

“We know that young people are more vulnerable to developing substance use disorders,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, NIDA director and lead author of the study analysis. “Though not everybody who uses a drug will develop addiction, adolescents may develop addiction faster than adults.”

Researchers at the NIDA, a part of the National Institutes of Health, analyzed data from the nationally representative National Surveys on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services from 2015 to 2018.  They found that 10.7% of teenagers between the age of 12 and 17 developed cannabis use disorders, versus 6.4% of young adults between the age of 18 and 25.

While there may be mixed messaging surrounding marijuana as states begin to decriminalize or legalize recreational use, teenagers can still develop a cannabis use disorder that can impact their future, said Dr. Krishna White, an adolescent medicine physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “You don’t have the same physical addiction, but you can get a psychological addiction (to marijuana),” she said. “And you’re more likely to have it when you’re younger.”

The study also found teens were more likely than young adults to become addicted to prescription drugs within 12 months:

11.2% of teens were addicted to prescribed opioids, versus 6.9% young adults

13.9% of teens were addicted to prescribed stimulants, versus 3.9% of young adults

11.2% of teens were addicted to prescribed tranquilizers, versus 4.7% of young adults

“Research has shown that brain development continues into a person’s 20s, and that age of drug initiation is a very important risk factor for developing addiction,” said Dr. Emily Einstein, co-author of the study and chief of NIDA’s Science Policy Branch.

The study results don’t surprise White, who says it’s important for parents to know the difference between recreational use and substance abuse.

“There’s a belief among parents that it’s normal to experiment with drugs and alcohol,” she said. “But we know that the younger kids are drinking, using cannabis and using prescription drugs, the riskier it is.”Although the estimates of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin use among teens were too small to report, approximately one-third of young adults developed a heroin use disorder and one-quarter became addicted to methamphetamines within one year of trying that drug for the first time, the report said.

Alcohol, marijuana and tobacco continue to be the substances most commonly used by teenagers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The agency says substance abuse can affect the growth and development of teens and contribute to developing adult health problems in the future such as heart disease, high blood pressure and sleep disorders.

more@USAToday

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