Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Stick with the Winners! –

October 23, 2020 – Joey Carson is a Transformative leader and change agent with over two decades of broadcast television and digital content production experience. His numerous television credits include a variety of nonfiction and scripted programming for MTV, HBO, A&E, FOX, ABC, NBC, FSN, Oxygen and the multi- Emmy Award-winning documentary “Autism: The Musical”. He was previously chosen by the Producers’ Guild of America and The Hollywood Reporter as one of the “Digital 50”, new media producers and innovators shaping the future of digital storytelling via broadcast, games, interactive television and mobile content.

Q. If you are in recovery, what was your Drug of Choice? and when did you stop using?
A. Alcohol. I stopped twice; once in 1985, then again in 2015 after 25 years of sobriety and a 4-year relapse. Sober over 5 years now.

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice or a wicked twist of fate?
A. Both a disease and an illness

Q. Do you log on to ZOOM 12-step meetings? How often? Do you share?
A. Yes, I do them weekly in an intensive 12-Step Study group. I share in every meeting and also lead them frequently.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

GIRLS gone mild –

Oct. 23, 2020 – The pandemic has brought a whole new layer of anxiety, and also a whole new mode of needing to sit with myself. It’s like hitting a new level in a video game and having to battle different goblins, but it’s proved possible, and on some days even lovely. Being a writer, I am pretty accustomed to long stretches of time with just my dog and my thoughts and the clacking of computer keys, and I feel very blessed doing that with only the buzz of coffee. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you in your sobriety?  So many magical things have occurred, in work, in travel, in health. Maybe they’re miracles, maybe I just didn’t notice this stuff before. But the very best thing is how so many of my relationships have strengthened themselves, even certain ones that seemed beyond repair for whatever reason. I’ve been able to show up as an adult to these dynamics, and they’ve been able to see me show up, and the love just flows. To those reading this who want to help, what can they do? It’s really scary to ask for help. It’s scary to admit you need it, maybe even scarier to admit it to yourself than it is to admit it to somebody else. But the moment you ask, a lightness really does appear. An amazing place to start is to call the SAMSHA national helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Scumbag Millionaires –  

Oct. 23, 2020 – Walmart has been tightening its policies on filling opioid prescriptions, according to its “opioid stewardship initiative” – not just questioning particular scripts, but refusing to fill any prescription for controlled substances from doctors about whom the company had doubts. In part to appease federal regulators, Walmart applied various restrictions on controlled substances. But soon state authorities accused the company of violating state regulations – even of committing crimes – by blocking prescriptions or even just filling smaller quantities of drugs than doctors had specified. The company also received pushback from medical groups that accused Walmart of trampling on doctors’ prescribing prerogatives. 

Walmart’s damned-if-you-fill-the-script, damned-if-you-don’t bind reflects the problems faced by large chain pharmacies, which also include CVS and Walgreens. They are among the chief targets in opioid-related lawsuits that may be some of the most complicated and expensive litigation in American history – the so-called National Prescription Opiate Litigation. The companies didn’t get there on their own: Contradictory regulations, demands, and threats from Washington and the states have combined to create a tangle trapping the pharmacies, leaving them exposed to plaintiffs’ lawyers in a massive “multi-district litigation” playing out in an Ohio court. 

The nationwide tobacco litigation of the 1990s was complex enough, involving the states and a handful of cigarette manufacturers. By contrast, plaintiffs in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation – counties, boroughs, parishes, cities, townships, municipalities, and villages – number in the thousands. They are looking for just about everyone in the opioid business – manufacturers, distributors, and retailers – to pay for the opioid misuse that has been so costly to society. Plaintiffs’ lawyers are seeking damages well into the billions.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

All taxes go for free rehabs? –

Oct. 19, 2020 – Transform’s campaign for legalising the three drugs is backed by the former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos. He has publicly stated that only through legalisation can the resources of mafia organisations be taken away. “I am totally in favour of legalising cocaine,” Santos said.

The book proposes that a specialist regulatory agency, overseen by the government, could license production of the drugs.

Only a single adult use dosage of the drugs would be available in unbranded pharma-style plain packaging with highly visible health warnings and risk information. The new regulatory agency would determine prices and there would be a ban on advertising the drugs.

The sale would be managed by a state monopoly to minimise profit incentives, which Transform said would only increase sales. Specialist new pharmacies would open under strict controls with vendors trained to offer health and risk-reduction advice to drug users.

The book’s authors stressed that sales should be limited to over-18s, with only one dose per purchase.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

LISTEN – Podcasts are next to godliness –  

Oct. 22, 2020 – There was nothing funny, of course, about the death that motivated Wachs’ podcast, “Last Day,” which premiered its second season Wednesday. Her little brother, Harris Wittels — a comedian, writer and guest performer on “Parks and Recreation” — died from an accidental heroin overdose on Feb. 19, 2015. He was 30.

Wittels’ death shocked and rattled the Los Angeles comedy community. His entertainment tenure was short but indelible: He coined the term “humblebrag,” and his chill, off-color, Phish-loving persona endeared him to podcast listeners as well as mentors and colleagues such as Sarah Silverman and “Comedy Bang! Bang!” host Scott Aukerman. He was set to play Aziz Ansari’s best friend in the Netflix series “Master of None” (the role was instead assumed by Eric Wareheim), and many of his famous friends grieved publicly and poignantly. But it was a much deeper, more intimate loss for Wachs, who wrote her 2018 memoir, “Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful,” purely as an act of survival, says the 39-year-old mom of two. “I felt like I was dying of grief and pain.” She heard from many grateful, grieving people who told her they devoured the book in a single day — including Jessica Cordova Kramer, executive producer of the activist podcast “Pod Save the People.”

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

It takes what it takes –

2020 – After two decades of substance abuse, the final straw came when he returned home from a drug- and alcohol-fueled Vegas trip. He said:“I never slept. I missed my first two flights back home and reeked of alcohol when I got home. My wife and I had always had this agreement, which was, if I smelled like alcohol, I wasn’t allowed to play with my kids — I couldn’t be around my kids. But what really hit me was the moment, my youngest daughter Lyric said to me that night, ‘You don’t smell like my daddy.’ And when she said that to me, that was it. Enough said. I felt disgusting.” “You don’t smell like my daddy.” That is just heartbreaking…

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Think Feel Act –

Oct. 20, 2020 – Hearing racist and homophobic insults were a standard part of life in Waco. So common that I didn’t think much about it. I, too, even engaged in ignorant dialogue and derogatory slurs “as a joke.” Now I can see that the joke was on me. 

You know how they say if you hang out in a bar long enough, you’ll end up ordering a drink? My version of that is: If you live in Texas long enough, you’ll end up voting Republican. I voted Republican in the 2008 election — despite my views on the aforementioned social issues. I found myself in a conservative echo chamber where it was “easier” to repeat talking points than to read about which candidate was aligned with my values. As I said, it was a confusing time. While this was all going on, I self-medicated regularly from ages 15 to age 29. Whether it was alcohol, drugs, sex, or calorie-counting, I taught myself how to use those self-destructive behaviors as tools to avoid my depression and anxiety. I didn’t care much about tomorrow, let alone engaging in constructive political discourse. Though I was a high-functioning substance abuser, the thought of fighting for social change never crossed my mind when I was actively trying to hide from reality.

At age 29 in 2015, I moved to the hyper-political New York City — right before the 2016 presidential election campaigns began. I also quit drinking just a few months after moving here. Suddenly, I was plugged into a reality where nearly everything seemed to be a political statement that I could no longer ignore. So I learned. A lot. It was easy to avoid politics back in Texas. In fact, it’s rude to discuss politics and religion there. Folks often view anything that challenged the status quo as inappropriate. Now, in New York City, it’s considered tone-deaf to ignore the patriarchy, privilege, and pillaging that have shaped our country. 

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Who hasn’t? Raw deal –  

Oct. 22, 2020 –  Now the Democrat, who also goes by “Doc” and who has worked to fight drug abuse in Suffolk County, N.Y., could face up to nine years in prison. Spencer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony charges of third-degree sale of a controlled substance and third-degree possession of a controlled substance, Newsday reported. A judge released him without bond after he surrendered his passport and gun. Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini told the newspaper that Spencer “essentially confessed” to the incident. Sini called the incident “obviously troubling” for someone of Spencer’s occupation and noted that an investigation would continue.

“It is extremely disturbing that an individual is engaging in this type of behavior who is a sitting county legislator as well as a medical doctor,” he said. “Someone who has spoken about drug prevention and substance abuse disorder.”  Spencer’s attorney, Mark Goidell, said in a statement to Newsday that his client “dedicated his life to the well-being of the community, his family and his patients. Nothing about these charges diminishes those contributions.”  Yet following a decades-long prescription drug epidemic that has raged nationwide while doctors and pharmaceutical companies have denied responsibility, the charges…

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – The son also rises! –  

Oct. 24, 2020 – In a new interview on Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, the now-sober Iron Man actor recalls being in a “near-coma” at points before being revived in order to start working. He confirmed to Letterman that he used heroin and cocaine and drank heavily, as well. He claims this substance abuse issues began when he was 8 years old and did not stop until age 38. “Back then, when I was a kid, doing that, you could say that it was ‘fun’, but it was pretty stressful too,” he said, per the Hindustan Times.

He recalled one instance while filming 1995’s Home for the Holidays, which Jodie Foster directed and produced. She noted his abuse during the production and advised him not to “try this again.”

“There was a single crossover, and I call it the most relaxed performance in the history of cinema,” Downey said. “She was really critical of just being like, ‘Well, looks like you’re getting away with it on this one. I wouldn’t try this again because we’re kind of a forgiving group.’ I was like, ‘Wasn’t that last take great?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re great. It’s going great.’”

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Father knows best? –

Oct. 22, 2020 – MY RESPONSE to some of Amy’s ‘situations’ was that I would pretend to have a heart attack and go into hospital, thinking that would shock her into going straight.

“At the end of the day though, that stuff doesn’t work. Amy stopped taking drugs when she wanted to stop taking drugs…”

Mitch Winehouse, father of the late singer Amy Winehouse, is reflecting on some of his attempts to intervene when his daughter was struggling with addiction.

As one of the most discussed singer-songwriters of her generation, Amy’s lasting legacy is a tale of two halves. Although remembered as a great singing talent, during her short life, she became just as famous for her battles with drugs and alcohol, as she was for her iconic voice. In 2011, aged 27, she died of alcohol poisoning.

In the wake of her death, Amy’s family set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation (amywinehousefoundation.org), a charity that helps to support other young people struggling with addiction.

“We created the foundation literally the day Amy passed away,” recalls Mitch (69). “I was in America and I said to the family, ‘We can either jump in a hole, or we can do something positive’.”

Among other things to date, the charity has addressed around 300,000 kids in schools as part of its Resilience Programme, and also runs Amy’s Place, a residential recovery house for young women.

“We provide counselling support, and in some cases, we fund residential rehab,” says Jane, Amy’s step-mother and a co-founder of the charity. “It’s virtually impossible to get funded for residential rehab in this country. It’s an area that’s on the decline as the drug treatment budgets are decreasing, so we’re trying filling the gaps where we can.”

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