Alberta eliminates $40/day fee for residential treatment

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Canada – Where Human Life Still Matters –  

Nov. 6, 2020 – “For the first time in Alberta’s history, publicly funded addiction treatment will be extended to all Albertans,” says Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan.

“Previously, people struggling with addiction could only access residential addiction treatment if they received Alberta Supports or paid privately. We are giving all Albertans – regardless of their financial situation – the opportunity to recover and build a better life. Recovery is for everyone.”

The old Residential Addictions Treatment program was accessed by approximately 200 people on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) supports and 2,500 on Income Supplements every year.

Albertans struggling with addiction can call the Addiction Helpline at 1-866-332-2322. The toll- free line offers help 24/7.

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‘Street Team’ has given out 90 doses of Narcan

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Hand to Nose – 

Nov. 7, 2020 – Several addiction experts have blamed months of intense stress and isolation for the uptick in drug overdoses. 

The Street Team has spread out on Ridgewood Avenue and the streets that connect to it a couple times in recent months — once on Sept. 19 and again on Oct. 9. Street Team leaders have so far had one instance where a free dose of naloxone was used to revive someone who had suffered an overdose.  With the help ofmore than 50 volunteers on both nights combined, 90 doses of naloxone landed in the hands of drug users on the streets. Besides naloxone, the backpacks held condoms, personal hygiene products and business cards for addiction treatment centers. Snacks and water bottles were also tucked into the drawstring bags. 

“It feels like we’re doing the right thing,” said Sarah Sheppard, the statewide recovery integration specialist for the Florida Department of Children and Families. “We’re hoping to show people that there’s another way to live. We get a lot of push back and the majority of it is people saying we’re enabling them or giving them an excuse. I just think about all of the moms and dads that I work with that have lost children as a result of the disease of addiction. We’re not going to close our eyes and pretend this isn’t our problem.”

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Jim Ramstad, congressman championed mental health and recovery issues, dies at 74

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Loss of a good guy –  

Nov. 6, 2020 – Shortly before his death, Mr. Ramstad celebrated his 39th year of sobriety. He spoke openly on how he hit his low point. In 1981, he awoke from a blackout in a South Dakota jail cell after his arrest for a drunken disturbance at a Sioux Falls hotel coffee shop while he was a state senator. That shock started him on the road to recovery.

“If I had not wound up in that jail cell, I would not have sought treatment. I probably would be dead today,” he told the New York Times in 2006, for a story about how he became an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor for Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.).

James Marvin Ramstad, whose father became president and chief executive of a car dealership, was born in Jamestown, N.D., on May 6, 1946. He was a 1968 graduate of the University of Minnesota and a 1973 graduate of George Washington University law school. He was in the Army Reserve from 1968 to 1974, then worked as a lawyer in Washington.

In 2005, he married Kathryn Mitchell. In addition to his wife, survivors include a daughter.

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Q&A with Paul Steinbroner, filmmaker

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Stick with the Winners! – 

November 10, 2020 – So grateful for my long-term partnership with my cinematic partner William Cohen (dearly departed) and Dr Darryl Inaba formerly director of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic.  Together we published eight editions of the book Uppers, Downers, All Arounders.  Currently I’ve created a series of films on how connection and community are the antidote to addiction.  Two of these films were selected for this year’s Reel Recovery Film Festival-Home Boy Joy Ride and Soul Sanctuary.  I am currently in the process of finishing another film for that series, Journeys on the Red Road. I have started editing my next project – JustUs – which is the story of one family in New Mexico that is trying to heal a neighborhood that is infested with heroin and meth dealers.  It is a very spiritual approach as they try to heal generational trauma.  I am so grateful for the miracle of my choice to start this series nearly four years ago…

Q. If you are in recovery, what was your Drug of Choice? and when did you stop using?
A. 1983

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice or a wicked twist of fate?
A. Addiction is a combination of heredity, environment, and exposure to drugs. It is a disease that takes over the life of a susceptible host.

Q. Do you log on to Zoom 12-step meetings? How often? Do you share?
A. I am in lots of Zoom meetings and I often share.

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Ricky Byrd on Changing the Conversation Around Addiction

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

LISTEN – Music is Magic –  

Nov. 6, 2020 – Byrd spoke with Kyle Meredith about playing to recovery music groups and how the conversation and stigma has changed since becoming sober in the late ’80s. The singer-songwriter also discusses making a fun record with a message, his penchant for rough & tumble music, and the possibility of continuing the theme on future albums.

Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Meredith digs deep into the artist’s work to find out how the music is made and where their journey is going… 

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Voters rejecting the war on drugs

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

America – Giving Peace a Chance –  

November 7, 2020 – People want a truce in the War on Drugs. Cannabis has been rebranded as a wellness panacea. Mushrooms and MDMA are making headlines as therapy tools, not party fuel. And as the overdose crisis continues, it is ever more apparent to a growing swath of the country that threatening to jail drug users doesn’t reduce drug-related death rates or help families struggling to save their loved ones. Instead, it disproportionately hurts Black communities

What once sounded like progressive pipe dreams—decriminalize it, legalize it!—is now increasingly interpreted as simple common sense, and not just when it comes to cannabis. “There’s a disconnect between what the voters want and what the legislators are comfortable with,” Beletsky says. In other words: voters are far more progressive on this particular issue than their congressional representatives. (Even cannabis remains federally illegal.) 

On Tuesday, Washington, DC, voted to decriminalize psilocybin, and Oregon’s voters approved two landmark reform measures—Measure 109, which legalizes psilocybin therapies, and Measure 110, which decriminalizes personal possession of drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, and opioids.“What passed in Oregon was historic,” says Beau Kilmer, director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. “A lot of other states are going to pay attention to how this plays out.” Following the passage of Measure 110, people found with illegal drugs in Oregon will be asked to complete a health assessment with a certified drug and alcohol counselor, or to pay a $100 fine—but they will not face criminal charges. 

The measure draws funding for its increased treatment options from state cannabis tax revenue, as well as projected savings from reduced arrests and incarceration. In essence, it reimagines the entire state’s response to drug issues, making it a public health matter, not a criminal justice one. Drug policy reform advocates are heartened by Oregon’s substantial shift away from punishment. 

“This puts resources and funding into things that work—evidence-based treatment, as well as housing and harm reduction,” says Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the drug reform nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, which led contributions to the “Yes to 110” campaign. “We have always advocated for replacing criminalization with a health-centered approach.”

On the ground in Oregon, some people who work in addiction treatment are also elated. “This is a huge public health win,” says Andrew Seaman, a Portland, Oregon-based addiction medicine researcher. Seaman sees decriminalization as a change that could help on several fronts of the ongoing overdose crisis. Studies indicate that opioid users who are incarcerated are far more likely to fatally overdose shortly after being released than the general population. Not putting drug users in jail for possession, Seaman says, will reduce their likelihood of going through withdrawal and then overdosing when they get out. He also believes that decriminalization will reduce stigma surrounding drug use, encouraging people to more openly and proactively seek treatment.

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Treatment centers in Maryland struggle

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Time to come together – 

Nov. 8, 2020 – On a summer evening in August, Holt relapsed in Brooklyn Park and contacted Pascal Crisis Stabilization Center in Crownsville for short term help. They picked him up, but he passed out after reaching the short term care center. It took eight doses of Narcan and CPR to revive him.

“It’s really unheard of. You either come back after five or six doses, or you die,” said Holt, a well-known Pascal patient. “Because of my status with the people here … they were doing anything they could in their power to keep me.”

Holt eventually got additional treatment, but not every person who overdoses gets the help they need. Short-term treatment at the Pascal center can help people like Holt who may fall through the cracks, but health officials say longer-term care is key to recovery.

And while overdoses are up in Anne Arundel County this year, the usual pathways to long-term care have been obstructed by the pandemic.

Courthouses were closed for weeks, severing the referral progress for incarcerated patients awaiting treatment. Some walk-in patients fearful of contracting COVID-19 or uninterested in isolating upon arrival leave rehab early. Others are denied entry when a resident tests positive for COVID-19, sending the facility into a two-week lockdown.

Now, they’re facing steep financial shortfalls because of it, putting the programs at risk for closure. Without Medicaid reimbursements or federal and state funding, treatment centers straining under large deficits like Gaudenzia and Hope House say they will have to close some of their centers soon.

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After Meth: Dealing, desperation and a house fire

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Downward spiral ends on film – 

Nov. 5, 2020 – Moneyas escaped through the front window. That house fire saved him.

“Here I am crying to get out of this house and 15 hours before I was trying to kill myself. It was kind of a wake-up call for me,” he said. Moneyas’ harrowing story, and his descent into meth addiction and then into recovery is the subject of Part 2 of After Meth, a new series of three short films. The four-minute long film was produced by Winnipeg filmmakers Tyler Funk and Carmen Ponto for CBC’s Creator Network, which works with emerging storytellers.

Moneyas’ story is the second of three films by Funk and Ponto about meth addiction. In the first film, Dane Bourget revealed how meth took over his life within weeks, causing him to temporarily abandon his family. 

The films feature personal stories from three Winnipeggers who are now sober. The third and final piece will be released next week by CBC Manitoba. 

Now 30 years old, Moneyas spent four years in a fog of addiction. It started with drinking at age 18, and escalated to cocaine, opiods and then meth.

Moneyas was able to dig himself out withe the help of a 28-day treatment program and an 11-month stay in Two Ten Recovery, a sober-living centre in Winnipeg. 

He has advice for anyone currently in the vice of addiction. 

“There is help, seek help, talk to someone but remember you have to want it in order for it to work,” Moneyas said. “There’s only two ways out of addiction; death or help. Please choose help because you are worth living.”

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Sober on Demand® Offers Unique Alternative to Traditional Substance Abuse

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Hands On Recovery –  

November, 2020 – Sober on Demand® also offers an extended version of this program for those in need of medical detoxification due to drug and alcohol withdrawal. These programs are available worldwide, however, there are some variations in services depending on the regional factors. This is not inpatient or residential treatment. This is an alternative to those programs that is tailored directly to the client, with no groups.

“This is a completely customized approach, a total body wellness approach,” Estes assured. “Talk therapy alone is a thing of the past, we have enough science now that healing the gut and the brain are paramount in the wellness process from addictions and behavior choices.”

“For the past 10 years, we have helped hundreds of people overcome the vice that holds them back from hitting the next level in life,” Dr. Estes said. “We teach coping skills, life skills, trigger management, and how to get ‘Unstuck’ and release the demons that hold individuals back from creating the best version of themselves. Everyone is unique and deserves a program that is tailored to their individual needs.”

Dr. Cali Estes and The Addictions Academy have been offering a wide-ranging assortment of advanced training for several years in an ongoing effort to counteract the growing addiction problem. The Academy has more than 30 faculty teaching over 40 courses in five different languages. Program graduates can be found in 25 countries helping address the addiction problem worldwide.

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Mariah App, reveals haunting link of Met’s Sackler Wing to opioid crisis

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Exposing the Truth – 

November 7, 2020 – The billionaire Sackler family is known for donating millions of dollars to museums and cultural institutions around the world. The Mariah App, however, calls attention to their ownership of Purdue Pharma, which they are relinquishing under a bankruptcy proposal. The pharmaceutical company made and marketed the prescription painkiller OxyContin.  Mariah Lotti was addicted to opioids and died of an overdose in 2011. She was 19.  Artists Adam DelMarcelle and Heather Snyder Quinn created the app as part of what they call a “virtual hacking of space with memorials to the countless lost hidden in plain sight.”  The artists didn’t actually hack the Met, but the Met wasn’t involved with the app, which superimposes Lotti’s story, and those of other people who died of opioid abuse, over the artifacts in the Met’s Sackler Wing. When users point their phone camera at different objects, information about the Sacklers, opioid abuse and its victims are revealed.  In 2019, the Met announced it would stop accepting gifts from the philanthropist Sacklers, and in recent years some other institutions funded by the Sacklers have dropped their name. “Stripping the Sackler name off the wall would mean something only if it’s replaced with the name of a person who died of an overdose,” he said. “That’s what we did with the app.”According to the settlement, Sackler family members demanded Purdue aggressively market OxyContin, leading to, in the words of the Justice Department, uses that were “unsafe, ineffective, and medically unnecessary, and that often led to abuse.”Nearly 450,000 people died of overdoses involving opioids between 1999 and 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 128 people die of overdoses involving prescription and illicit opioids a day. To download the app, visit Mariahonview.com

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