Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

DEATH REDUCTION – 

April 3, 2021 – Doctors or nurses based at SIFs provide treatment or give referrals to treatment for people with opioid addiction. In my work as a buprenorphine doctor, many of my patients say before meeting me they were unable to find a place to access medication for their addiction. They continued using drugs not because they wanted to but because they could not find treatment. SIFs offer a way to meet people where they are at and provide them with what they need, directly linking them to life saving care.  

SIFs open the door to treatment to everyone no matter their status in the community — they save public money, save lives, do not promote drug use, and provide access to life saving treatment. They protect the community from harm. Nevada is no longer a small state with small problems. With treatment ads on the TV and a growing population throughout all parts of the state, Nevada’s libertarian culture is the perfect place to open the first SIF in the country. Support AB345. We need everything available in our arsenal to fight this epidemic and save lives.

Mat Kladney is a Reno native and a graduate of Galena High School. He is an assistant professor of medicine at New York University, and is currently researching how best to treat opioid use disorder by providing buprenorphine and naltrexone for patients at Bellevue Hospital.

more@NevadaIndependent

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

LAUGHTER HEALS – 

April 2, 2021 – The thing about being a standup comedian is that you can never turn off that part of your brain, not even when you are trying to kill yourself. Margaret Cho learned this in 2013 when she attempted suicide in a hotel room, using a shower curtain rail. “It started bending and I was like: Oh shit, I’m too fat to kill myself, so I had to get down,” says Cho. “I thought: I’ll go on a diet and I’ll try again when I reach my goal weight, which means I’m never going to kill myself, because I’ll never reach my goal weight.”

The 52-year-old Emmy-, Grammy- and Oscar-nominated comedian, author, actor and podcaster lets out a delighted cackle. “That joke … people get really upset. They’re like: ‘You should put in a trigger warning.’ I don’t know how to do a trigger warning!” The point Cho is trying to make is a serious one. Comedy has saved Cho’s life several times over. In her 2002 memoir I’m the One That I Want, Cho describes the alcoholism, drug addiction and depression that followed the cancellation in 1995 of her sitcom All-American Girl. “Suicide … seemed very practical to me … [I decided] to drink as much as I could until I just stopped breathing,” she writes. A survivor of rape and childhood sexual abuse who has spoken often of the racism her parents – Korean immigrants to San Francisco in the 60s – experienced, Cho has forged a style of humour that is intimate, confessional and utterly without self-pity. As Jameela Jamil said with horrified relish while interviewing Cho for a recent podcast: “I can’t believe how fucking intersectional your trauma is.”

The past 12 months have been horrendous for the Asian community in the US and beyond. Cho is a leading voice in the Stop Asian Hate movement, giving interviews and using her podcast to focus on anti-Asian hate crimes. Since the Covid pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, hit the US, attacks on Asian-Americans have been rising. Analysis from California State University has found that anti-Asian hate crime in major US cities increased by 149% in 2020 (in the UK, the Home Affairs select committee heard last May that hate crime directed at east and south Asian communities had increased by 21% during the pandemic). Much of the animus, early on, was driven by Donald Trump’s descriptions of the coronavirus pandemic as the “Chinese virus” or “kung flu”.

more@TheGuardian

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – TIME TO WINE DOWN – 

April 2, 2021 – Between 2019 into 2020, reports of women binge drinking rose amid the COVID-19 pandemic — now many, particularly mothers, say they’re reevaluating their relationship with alcohol in hopes to put an end to a hazardous health trend.  In 2019, Lainy Warnecke made it 47 days without having a drink after becoming “sober curious.” She said she eventually went back to consuming alcohol in moderation, though when the pandemic hit, the mother of two found herself pouring a drink every single day as she worked a full-time job remotely along with having her kids out of school.  “It was a stress unlike any that I’d ever experienced before,” Warnecke of McKinney, Texas, told “Good Morning America.” “I used to tell my manager who I worked for at the time, ‘It’s not the kids and it’s not the work. It’s that everything is going on at the same time.’ You didn’t have, ‘It’s the end of the day.’ [Instead], you had everything coinciding.”  In a study released in September by the RAND corporation and supported by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), adults’ drinking habits were compared from 2019 to 2020. Surveying 1,540 adults, participants were asked about their shift in consumption between spring 2019 and spring 2020, during the virus’ first peak.

more@ABCNews

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD…TO REHAB – 

April 1, 2021 – Martin is initially the most hesitant of his pals, but soon he’s discreetly taking sips of vodka at school. He delivers a passionate, welcomed lecture about drunk politicians who won major wars (Winston Churchill). He reconnects with his wife (or at least, they have sex in a tent). He vacations with his family. At first, the whole group thrives as well, coaching soccer teams to victory and mentoring their students with real compassion and understanding. 

Another Round unfolds like a night out: It starts off joyous and limitless, and then descends into a reality that the four men have avoided confronting. They see what upping their BAC beyond 0.05 will accomplish. They get drunker and drunker. In no time at all, Martin is slamming dishes on the floor as his wife subtly admits she had an affair. But he and two of his friends recognize their limits and pause the theory. They try to make amends with their families and co-workers. Another friend, however, does not.

But Another Round doesn’t end in tragedy. In the last scene, Martin is partying with the new high school graduates, swigging champagne. His wife texts him that she misses him. He finally has the confidence to dance.

more@FilterMag

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – LONG OVERDUE CONVERSATION – 

April 3, 2021 – As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States, Floyd, the father of two young daughters, started using again: he lost his job as a nightclub security guard because of quarantine shutdowns, he was hospitalized for several days after an overdose, he found out he had the coronavirus. On the day he died, his neck trapped under the knee of former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin for more than nine minutes, he had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system, toxicology reports later showed.  “We got addicted and tried really hard to break that addiction many times,” Ross said tearfully Thursday during testimony in the Chauvin trial over Floyd’s death. 

Floyd’s death helped launch a global civil rights movement over racial injustice and police violence. The trial over his death could similarly shape how Americans view drug addiction at a time when Black people continue to overwhelmingly be denied medical treatment compared to white Americans even as they suffer from disproportionately high rates of fatal opioid overdoses. 

more@USAToday

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

LISTEN – HUNGRY GHOSTS – 

April 1, 2021  – The White House plan drew praise from Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who represents one of the states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic.

“I have long pushed to expand access to medication-assisted treatment,” Hassan said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the White House to get this done.” In the briefing Thursday, LaBelle outlined a vision for addiction policy that would shift the government’s response away from law enforcement and drug arrests toward healthcare and treatment.

The plan notes that President Biden has called for an end to incarceration for individuals struggling with substance use disorder.

The White House has also drawn criticism, however, for moving slowly to appoint key members of its drug policy team. The administration still hasn’t named an individual to permanently lead the Drug Enforcement Administration or the ONDCP. LaBelle said much of the Biden team’s drug plan can be implemented immediately while appointments are still being made and confirmed. But the acting director also acknowledged delays in policymaking because of key positions that remain unfilled.

more@NPR

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

MORE THAN A SPIKE LEE JOINT – 

March 31, 2021 – Anyone with a previous marijuana conviction that would now be legal under the law will have the rap expunged or be re-sentenced. And New Yorkers will now be legally allowed to possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis outside the home and up to 5 pounds at home — and can smoke pot in public where smoking tobacco is permitted. However, smoking weed is not permitted inside schools, workplaces or cars. The law takes cannabis off the list of controlled substances and allows those who are 21 and older to use the drug freely. Legal marijuana could be sold in licensed dispensaries as soon as next year.

The bill also establishes the Office of Cannabis Management to implement a regulatory framework that covers medical, adult-use and cannabinoid hemp. It also expands the state’s existing medical marijuana and cannabinoid hemp programs. But it will be some time before stores hawking legal weed appear in the state. 

more@NYPost

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

HAPPY TEARJERKER – 

March 23, 2021 – Thomas was convicted of crimes that led to probation. He said he served in the Navy for seven years and had PTSD and anxiety. He said at one point he tried to kill himself by overdosing on meth, but he survived. Then someone told him about Reincarnation Cottages.”I’m happy to be here,” said Thomas. “I have no regrets coming to this place.””We wish Landon nothing but the best. He’s fantastic,” said Niki Shelton, Thomas’ HR Manager at XCaliber International. Thomas has a new job thanks to the program and his manager said Thomas is the ideal employee. Some other men in the recovery program are doing work at the Patriot Auto Group in Pryor. Thomas thought we would be interviewing some other guys working at the dealership with Reincarnation Cottages, but he was in for quite the surprise. “We know you’ve been going through something the last year,” said Tatton Manning with the Patriot Auto Group. “We want you to know this car right here, it’s ours, but it’s about to be yours and it’s 100 percent free.”

more@NewsOn6

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

SOBRIETY IS ON THE MENU – 

March 25, 2021 – Glass explained she had been addicted to several different drugs for 19 years, including pain killers, heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. She said she has now been sober for 17 months and credits the support she gets through the small groups for keeping her on the right path.

“If somebody like me that was an IV drug addict for a lot of years, that had given up on everything I love and value in my life, came off the bike path, I was unemployed, I was locked up in jail, I was institutionalized, if someone like me can get clean just like the people that came before me and that showed me how to do it here, anybody can do it,” Glass said.

Like Glass, Chris Stoeckle, who is a member of the café, explained the recovery circles have been a lifeline.

“It’s been a foundation of my recovery since the beginning, I’ve done narcotics anonymous (NA) and all that stuff but I always come back to this place, it’s a safe space,” Stoeckle said. “It’s a family of choice.”

Stoeckle said he used to be addicted to methamphetamine for four years, prior to joining the support group. He explained since becoming sober, he has been able to accomplish career goals and has now begun to help others who are struggling with their addiction.

more@KTVL

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

“I AM AL-ANON” – 

MARCH 25, 2021 – Michael Douglas is opening up about one of his biggest struggles as a father. Speaking to AARP the Magazine, the “Wall Street” actor, 76, got candid about son Cameron’s drug abuse and revealed that he learned to set boundaries as a result.

“Set boundaries, big and small. My older son, Cameron, was a drug addict and ended up serving seven-and-a-half years in federal prison,” the actor told the outlet, per Entertainment Tonight. “That was hard, having to protect myself and my family and tell my older son that if you feel like I’m pulling away from you, I am, because I’m afraid you’re either going to kill yourself or kill somebody else … CAMERON’S sentence was lengthened after he confessed to smuggling drugs into prison. He was then placed in solitary confinement from 2012 to 2014 at the Cumberland Federal Corrections Institute in Maryland. In a 2018 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Douglas said that maybe Cameron “needed [his prison sentence] to really see the new life that he’s got ahead of him.”

more@FoxNews

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