Addiction Recovery Bulletin
August 28, 2020 – Coronation Street’s Kevin Kennedy discusses his battle with addiction and explains the signs to look out for.
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
Sept. 6, 2020 – Then this year in July, he was spotted in public in Beverly Hills with a cigarette on his lip, shortly after his breakup with girlfriend Molly Hurwitz. The actor looked quite disheveled and under the weather and quite unlike how fans remember him, according to Mirror. The show that was responsible for his massive success along with the rest of the cast aired 26 years ago in 1994 and it’s natural to not look the same, Perry’s looks had started to alter way back in 2000, while the show was still on the air and the reason for it was thought to be poor health and addiction. The actor had developed a problem with pain killers in 1997 and had checked himself into a facility to get rid of the dependency. He had also developed a problem with alcoholism but the actor took charge of his life and even though he relapsed a couple of times, he was aware that his life is precious. Not only that, but Perry also knew addicts just need help, and therefore, he founded Perry House in Malibu in 2013 and even though the facility shut in 2018, his work for recovering addicts continued. September is observed as National Recovery Month where gains of recovering addicts are celebrated and Perry’s mention is fitting and appropriate because he’s someone who’s worked towards kicking his own addiction as well as stay dedicated to help others recover.
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
Sept. 8, 2020 – Texas began reopening its bars May 1, but instead of joining the many Texas bar owners packing customers in shoulder-to-shoulder, Marshall decided to pivot and find ways to share the Sans Bar experience in a virtual way—while creating a new revenue stream. “This is a space for wellness and community, and as much as we need community right now, we need wellness more,” Marshall says.
Marshall, 37, is a member of a number of communities that are each experiencing unprecedented pressures right now: Black men. Small business owners. Born-and-raised Texans. Recovering alcoholics. Leaders in the sober curious movement. With each conversation and connection, he’s finding ways to navigate a path that makes sense for himself and for the future of his business. Sans Bar has been holding monthly Sans Bar Where You Are online events that have been attracting hundreds of attendees (the April event attracted more than 250 people). After buying tickets in advance ($25 plus shipping), guests receive event kits that include ingredients for that night’s featured mocktail, as well as other items to enhance the experience. A recent Pride-themed event included all the ingredients for the evening’s drink (recipe card, bottle of DRY Soda, simple syrup from Portland Soda Works, and a fresh lime), rainbow Pride tattoos, and even a QR code for the evening’s Spotify playlist, printed on what looked like a mini LP. “The idea is that the elements in the box will engage all your senses,” Marshall says.
He and his team have been working to make sure the evenings are well worth the attendees’ time. “We’ve been successful at taking these virtual gatherings to the next level,” Marshall says. The June meeting included live music, spoken word, and a panel that included the executive director of Seattle Pride, Krystal Marx. Marshall prides himself on creating a “fun, festive feeling” at his virtual events. Viewers from home are invited to make the drink of the night together, and the panels always include a Q&A from the audience. An event with the New York–based sobriety/recovery nonprofit BIGVISION Foundation featured a DJ and a dance party. “It was nothing like a Zoom meeting, I can assure you,” Marshall comments.
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
August 31, 2020 – The researchers said one of the reasons they embarked on the study was a concern that the effects of cannabis in older adults might be different from what younger people experience. Young adults ages 18 to 25 remain the biggest users of the drug in the U.S., with 38.7 percent reporting use in 2018, according to a government report.
“Our colleague from Canada was thinking about the use of cannabis in nursing homes, as that has gone up,” Jesdale said. “There is very little evidence base on how marijuana interacts with a lot of the medications used in that population.” There are concerns that marijuana use in older adults might increase the risk of drug interactions when combined with certain medications. A review published in January in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology noted, for example, that marijuana can interact with certain heart medications, putting users at risk.
There’s also an increased risk of confusion, dizziness, falls and other accidents, the report said.
The report didn’t touch on the respondents’ past marijuana use, so Jesdale couldn’t say whether the increase was due to new users or people coming back to a drug they’d used back in their college and high school days.
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
Sept. 8, 2020 – The opioid epidemic is not over. Even as Covid-19 rages, opioid-related deaths continue to devastate communities across our states. In New Hampshire, overdose deaths rose in April and May over last year’s levels. In the first four months of 2020, Rhode Island overdose deaths jumped 29% from the same period last year and 38% from the same period in 2018. Opioid addiction remains a persistent, lethal menace. We just learned a big reason why the opioid crisis was allowed to get so bad. The Guardian recently unearthed new details in the origin story of the opioid crisis. In 2006, career prosecutors at the US Department of Justice drafted a memo summarizing alleged criminal behavior by the major opioid maker Purdue Pharma. The memo, the culmination of a four-year investigation of Purdue’s opioid marketing and other business practices, was based on a review of millions of internal documents. The memo concluded that Purdue and its executives participated in mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy in pushing opioids, and recommended indictment.
But we still don’t know the whole story, and we need to in order to avoid a repeat of the deceptive marketing practices and corporate greed that’s cost the United States hundreds of thousands of lives.
Action in 2006 could have made an enormous difference. Bringing felony charges could have brought real accountability to executives who ran the scheme. More importantly, it might have forced the company to end its deceptive marketing practices, which contributed to millions of people becoming addicted to opioids. It could have saved the lives of an untold number of Americans.
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
Sept. 11, 2020 – “Your family is destroyed over $10 of heroin,” Mulford concluded.
Assistant State’s Attorney Anastasia Prigge acknowledged Taylor’s addiction, but said prosecutors were frustrated that she didn’t seek help and that the “family continued to make incredibly poor decisions and Niyear paid the price.”
Charges against the baby’s mother, who is now 18, were waived to juvenile court in August.
A woman who said she was one of Taylor’s daughters, but declined to spell her name for a reporter, told Mulford how the drugs tore her family apart.
“Drug addiction is a monster. It takes and it takes until there’s nothing left,” the woman said. “It took my mother, it took my sister and worst of all it took my nephew.” She said Taylor raised her well. “She’s caring, she’s loving … this doesn’t define who she is. It doesn’t define who [the baby’s mother] is.”
Anne Arundel County police arrested the mother and daughter in December, capping off a months-long investigation into the infant’s death.
The probe began when police and paramedics responded around 9:30 a.m. July 27, 2019, to Taylor’s residence on Chesapeake Drive after Taylor and her daughter called 911 about a baby in distress. Niyear was taken by ambulance to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead the same day. Homicide detectives returned to the residence.
Taylor and her daughter told investigators the baby was wheezing before falling asleep earlier that morning and was unresponsive when his mother awoke hours later. She called for help about 15 minutes later. A subsequent autopsy changed the course of the investigation.
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
Sept. 9, 2020 – “He was truly something special. He had certain charisma and charm.” He remembers Judge’s wit and how he liked to crack a joke.
“Even when I asked him to marry us a year in advance he said, ‘I cannot do it, I have funeral that day.’ I was really disappointed before he stopped me and said, ‘Dave it’s a year away, I don’t know what I will be doing, of course I will marry you.’
“I was overjoyed,” the firefighter recalls.
After receiving minor burns on the job, Fullam was admitted to the hospital late one night and was surprised when Judge appeared up in the early hours of the morning.
“I was just amazed that he showed up. You don’t expect people to visit after midnight. He sat and spent some time with me, making sure that I was okay.
“He apologized to me for not bringing wool socks. Whenever you visit a firefighter they always had wet feet as their boots are soaked,” Fullam explained.
When the news came that Judge had lost his life in the terrorist attacks, Fullam raced to the firehouse on 31st Street where Judge’s body was laid out in a makeshift shrine.
“When we got the news that afternoon we weren’t that far away. They had him laid out in the firehouse,” Fullam recalls.
“He is the only one that had an open casket funeral. I was happy I was able to kiss his hands. I think he knew that God had taken him for a reason. He was there for everybody else.”
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
September 9, 2020 – Mishek, the third-longest-serving leader in the organization’s 71-year history and architect of the historic 2014 merger of the Hazelden Foundation and the Betty Ford Center, says he will step down when his successor is hired—likely in the first half of next year. Until then, he will continue to lead the addiction treatment leader through the pandemic, which has increased demand for Hazelden Betty Ford’s services, and advance the innovation, collaboration and growth that have defined his tenure.
“While I’m excited about the next chapter in my life, I’m equally excited about the future of Hazelden Betty Ford and know that our mission is more important than ever before,” Mishek said. “In this extraordinary time, I remain 100% focused on our employees, the people we serve, and the hope and healing that so many individuals, families and communities need right now.”
When Mishek assumed leadership of the Hazelden Foundation in 2008, the Center City, Minnesota-headquartered nonprofit had six sites nationwide. Today, after several acquisitions and start-ups, as well as the pivotal merger with the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, the new Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has 17 sites and is on its way to offering virtual care in all 50 states through its industry-leading RecoveryGo behavioral health service. Major construction projects are also under way and planned to enhance and expand the organization’s two largest campuses in Center City and Rancho Mirage. In addition, the organization is serving a growing number of people nationally through its graduate school of addiction studies, publishing division, research center, professional and medical education branch, school- and community-based prevention programs and public advocacy arm.
During Mishek’s tenure—a period marked by seismic shifts in healthcare…
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
Sept. 1, 2020 – The U.S. surgeon general and state governments have encouraged wide distribution of the drug in recent years, but recovery organizations in closest contact with people dependent on opioids often struggle to afford newer, more expensive versions of the drug.
Former President Bill Clinton and other backers of the initiative hope stocking naloxone in sober recovery homes will bring the lifesaving drug closer to those who need it: people in the early stages of recovery who are vulnerable to relapse as economic and social pressures mount during the pandemic.
“There are too many people whose lives are being lost and destroyed,” Clinton told USA TODAY. “And we have the capacity to make it a lot better. So I’m just hoping that what we’re doing here will make a big difference to the brave people running all these recovery homes.” Demand for naloxone is rising at recovery houses and harm-reduction groups that treat the nearly 2 million Americans with opioid-use disorder. In June, the charitable group Direct Relief International fielded requests for 90,000 doses of naloxone – three times more than a year ago.
More than 700,000 doses of naloxone were distributed last year to people at risk of overdose, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. Nearly one in three of the sterile syringe programs that offered naloxone ran out of the drug or had to ration it over the past three months.
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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
Sept. 2, 2020 – The more recently they’d had their last drink, the greater the disruption in activity between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and striatum, a brain network associated with decision-making.
The more severe the disruption to this network, the more likely it was that study participants would resume heavy drinking and put their treatment and recovery at risk, according to the study published online Aug. 28 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
The good news is that the severity of disruption between these brain regions diminished the longer that study participants abstained from alcohol, the researchers found.
The study shows that imaging studies can help identify patients at greatest risk for relapse and highlights how crucial extensive treatment is for people in their early days of sobriety, Sinha noted.
“When people are struggling, it is not enough for them to say, ‘OK, I didn’t drink today, so I’m good now,’” Sinha said in a university news release. “It doesn’t work that way.”
The findings also suggest it may be possible to develop medications to help people with the most severe brain disruptions during their early days of alcohol treatment.
The researchers said they are investigating whether high blood pressure medications can help lower these brain disruptions and improve patients’ chances of long-term abstinence.
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