Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

What is a bachelorette? – 

Dec. 18, 2020 – Clark recently shared a story about someone who played a major role on his road to recovery from addiction.

He called the woman in question, Rhonda Jackson, his “angel” in an Instagram post this week.

In 2011, Jackson was working at a PNC Bank in Camden when Clark walked in and tried to cash a forged check in order to buy drugs.

“Rhonda didn’t know me, didn’t care what I looked like and didn’t judge me,” Clark said. “She just knew that I needed help.”

Instead of calling police, Jackson called Clark’s father, whose name was on the check. Just three days earlier, Clark had stolen a bunch of checks from his father’s desk. Clark’s family had been searching for him when Jackson called. His father went to meet him.

“He rushed down to the bank just in time before I disappeared back to the streets,” Clark said. Just after the incident, he entered treatment for addiction.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Cooking with Love – 

Dec. 18, 2020 – A well-known Chattanooga business owner who has been sober for 19 years has opened a home to help other women struggling with addiction.

Restaurant owner Scottie Bowman built The Launch Pad, a sober living house for women, and opened the doors to residents earlier this year.

It’s a place where women can navigate the road to sobriety and make a positive transition back into society.

Bowman, who owns The Big Chill & Grill and Scottie’s On The River, battled addiction for 25 years.

“I actually remember drinking a whole bottle of Formula 44-D and getting drunk on that in third grade and going to school and showing out being drunk,” Bowman told Channel 3.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Save the Country … Music – 

Dec. 18, 2020 – Gilbert’s battle with substance abuse began soon after he graduated from high school, in Jefferson, Georgia. As the son of a Baptist preacher, the singer had a religious upbringing. But in his teen years, he developed a fondness for liquor, which expanded into an affection for various pills — which evolved into his casual consumption of opiates. “I remember always making sure I had them,” he told PEOPLE.

At 19, Gilbert survived a nearly fatal car accident, which was the result of drinking while driving. The incident became the driving force that led him to move to Nashville, where he kicked off his career as a country star. Still, he continued drinking, “Every day was a party,” he admitted. Gilbert said he always kept a laptop bag which was filled with several bottles of hard liquor.

His cycle went on. “Every hour and a half to two hours, it would be time to get two or three good pulls on the bottle, and every three or four hours, it was time for a pill or two,” he detailed. Even at night, he would periodically wake up to consume more alcohol.

It was not until 2011, after abdominal pains led him to the hospital, that he finally realized he would not be okay if he did not make a change. Gilbert told PEOPLE he had his last alcoholic beverage on Dec. 18, 2011 and detoxed through that Christmas.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

by Lily Dulan, MFT

MEDIA: Book Recommendation – 

DEC. 2020 – “…In a world where so many people are hurting, we need honest, authentic voices speaking their truth and sharing their stories of overcoming with others. Lili’s book provides us with a valuable tool to help heal, grow, transform and reach our highest potential. I look forward to sharing this tool with others in the mental wellness community.” —Metta World Peace, NBA Champion and Mental Wellness advocate

“Death and loss are potent experiences that can overwhelm a person for life. This could have been the fate of Lily Dulan after her beloved newborn daughter Kara unexpectedly died. Her moving account of how her daughter’s memory eventually led her to a life’s vocation of helping others is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.”―Sharon Salzberg author of Real Happiness and Real Love

—Reverend Michael Beckwith, New Thought minister, author, and founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, from the

GIVING GRIEF MEANING (Mango Press; December 1, 2020) by Lily Dulan, a Marriage and Family Therapist, psychotherapist and certified yoga teacher, is a unique, new therapy for healing and self-discovery which can be harnessed in every facet of our lives. We need collective healing now more than ever as we experience stress, loss and grief at unprecedented levels. Lily’s personal journey from grief to recovery, along with her training in eastern and western wellness modalities, offer a tangible and healing balm for the wounds of sorrow, illness, addiction, unexpected life changes and every other obstacle in our path. 

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Subcutaneous injection once a week –  

Dec. 18, 2020 – Camurus AB (NASDAQ STO: CAMX) announced today that the Swiss agency for therapeutic products, Swissmedic, has approved weekly and monthly Buvidal® prolonged release buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence in adults and adolescents from 16 years of age. This marks the first approval of a long-acting treatment for opioid dependence in Switzerland.

 Buvidal is a long-acting buprenorphine medication given as a subcutaneous injection once a week or once a month. In clinical studies, the treatment has proven to be effective in reducing illicit opioid use, alleviating opioid withdrawal and cravings, achieving opioid blockade, and improving patient reported experiences and outcomes compared with daily sublingual medications.2-5

Opioid dependence is a serious, chronic, relapsing disease associated with a disproportionate amount of drug-related harm that includes infectious diseases and other health problems, mortality, unemployment, homelessness and social exclusion.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Make it Free? – 

DEC. 16, 2020 – “SADLY, THE DRUG OVERDOSE EPIDEMIC CONTINUES, AND IT HAS BECOME MORE COMPLICATED DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC,” SAID PATRICE A. HARRIS, M.D., M.A., CHAIR OF THE AMA OPIOID TASK FORCE. “IT IS LONG PAST DUE FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO CARE AND ADDRESS SYSTEMIC INEQUITIES THAT HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO LIGHT DURING THIS PANDEMIC. PHYSICIANS AND OTHER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS WILL CONTINUE TO TAKE ACTION, AND THE AMA IS WILLING TO WORK WITH ALL STAKEHOLDERS TO IMPLEMENT THESE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS.”

“The recommendations laid out in this year’s analysis build on our work from 2019 and elevate proven solutions,” said Joel Ario, managing director, Manatt Health, and former insurance commissioner in Oregon and Pennsylvania. “Still, we have an unprecedented public health challenge today, as the COVID-19 pandemic has strained our health care system, exacerbated the drug overdose epidemic, and highlighted pre-existing, systemic barriers to care facing vulnerable and underrepresented populations.”

The AMA and Manatt recommendations come amid five key themes surrounding the current drug overdose epidemic:

An evolving drug overdose epidemic. The “opioid epidemic” continues to evolve into a more deadly and broader drug overdose epidemic, with more people dying from illicit fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine even as opioid prescribing has decreased by nearly 40 percent in the past six years. According to the CDC, from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2019, the number of deaths involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs increased from 5,766 to 36,509, while deaths involving prescription opioids decreased from 12,269 to 11,904. Simultaneously, increased stress, social isolation, and disruptions to treatment plans during the pandemic has made access to treatment more complicated.

Communities of color face higher risks. Despite experiencing rates of SUD similar to those of white Americans, Black Americans and other minoritized and marginalized populations experience sharp disparities in access to SUD treatment due to a range of factors, including stigmas that Black Americans are more likely to use illicit substances and feel less pain, a mistrust of the health care system by Black Americans, and a shortage of health care professionals and opioid treatment programs in those communities.

Mental health and substance use disorder treatment are linked. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the link between mental health and substance use disorder. While some states have enacted meaningful laws—and 30 states have joined a new National Association of Insurance Commissioners working group to refine regulatory tools that can hold insurers accountable—state and federal oversight remains limited. When states conduct compliance exams, they routinely find parity violations.

Telehealth. One implication of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the rapid expansion of telehealth services. Ensuring behavioral health and SUD providers receive full reimbursement for these virtual services has become an essential aspect of continued treatment plans during the pandemic, and it will likely remain important in the future. While telehealth access should not be viewed as a substitute for an adequate in-person provider network, the changes made by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and SAMHSA to help individuals maintain access to critical services during the COVID-19 pandemic should be continued.

Justice-involved populations are overlooked. Those who are incarcerated or in drug diversion programs, including those who are incarcerated in part due to substance use disorder or a related mental health issue, face distinct barriers to coverage. As recent lawsuits have validated, corrections officials must provide physician-prescribed medications for opioid use disorders to incarcerated individuals. In addition, once these individuals are released, it is vital they have access to harm reduction strategies and continued treatment plans.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Sow the seeds of success –  

Dec. 17, 2020 – “It’s not uncommon for farmers to go over to a neighbor’s house and have a beer,” he said, and while that’s “not a bad thing” in moderation, “I went from occasionally having drinks with friends to isolating myself from everybody and drinking as much as I possibly could, having alcohol in my system 24 hours a day.”

Though his drinking escalated quickly during times of extreme stress, Klabunde said, he was still able to continue operating the farm and doing advocacy work with the Minnesota Farmers Union, working out at the gym five days a week and giving the general impression of being a strong, capable farmer, husband and father — at least for a while … “I was a workaholic, alcoholic, exercise fanatic,” he said, “but pretty soon the alcohol took control, and I was good at nothing — a bad dad, a bad husband, a bad advocate for farmers … I was a miserable human being, mentally incapable of balancing everything in an effective manner.”

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

You are what you eat –  

Nov. 19, 2020 – “Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it.” The leading cause of both death, disability, and disease within the United States is diet. Bon appetite…

Nov. 19, 2020 – We’re going to start by ignoring the fact that grapefruit and pomegranates are not even on the list. Mostly, I just really liked the image, but feel free to add those fruits to your list anyway — they’re incredibly healthy, too!

I suppose eating 15 different foods every day (or 17 if you’re counting the photo) sounds like a lot to manage. Truthfully — and especially if you’re not accustomed to eating this way — it is.

The idea with lists such as these isn’t to achieve perfection, nor to even strive for it. Instead, view this article and the science mentioned below as inspiration to incorporate more of these foods into your day-to-day. If you can knock out 5 foods on one day, and a different 5 on the next, then you’re already on your way to success! Please keep in mind that this list is only a suggestion, and ought to be adapted to your needs and personal preferences.

more@Medium

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Heaven’s Overcrowding… –  

Dec. 19, 2020 –  The crisis fueled by the powerful painkiller fentanyl could have been far worse if it wasn’t for the nearly 3,000 times Narcan was used from January to the beginning of November to save someone from the brink of death, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

The data reflects the number of times people report using Narcan to the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project, a city-funded program that coordinates San Francisco’s response to overdose, or return to refill their supply. Officials at the DOPE Project said that since the numbers are self-reported, they are probably a major undercount.

Last year, 441 people died of drug overdoses — a 70% increase from 2018 — and 2,610 potential overdoses were prevented by Narcan, a medication commonly sprayed up the nose to reverse an opioid overdose, according to data from the city Medical Examiner’s office and the DOPE Project.

The crisis is deepening because fentanyl, which can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, flooded the city’s drug supply, the newspaper said. Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted city services like housing and treatment, and left many people who rely on others to help save them if they overdose to use alone.

While nearly 40% of the deaths occurred in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods near downtown, city data showed the epidemic has touched every part of the city. Many people overdosed in low-income apartment buildings and in city-funded hotel rooms for the homeless. Others died on sidewalks, in alleyways and parks around the city.

more@Yahoo

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Not the face of evil – 

Dec. 18, 2020 – According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl — a synthetic opioid — is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, which is processed to make heroin.

In the criminal complaint filed in 2019, then-Oconto County investigator Justen Ragen noted it’s typical for drug dealers to sell fentanyl as heroin, or mix fentanyl with heroin, because both drugs are narcotic analgesics. They provide similar effects to the user, have similar appearances and by mixing the two, dealers can create more quantity of the drug.

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