Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

NO BETTER –

Feb. 6, 2024 – Colombia is the world’s biggest cocaine producer and exporter, mainly to the United States and Europe, and has spent decades fighting against drug trafficking. “If you want peace, you have to dismantle the business (of drug trafficking),” he said. “It could easily be dismantled if they legalize cocaine in the world. It would be sold like wine.”

Petro also pointed out that fentanyl “is killing Americans and it is not made in Colombia”, referring to the opioid responsible for around 75,000 deaths in the United States a year, according to official data.

“Fentanyl was created as a pharmacy drug by North American multinationals” and those who consumed it “became addicted,” he added.

Since coming to power in 2022, Petro has attempted to make peace with all of the armed groups that are fueled by drug trafficking in the hope of ending six decades of conflict.

CONTINUE@YahooNews

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

VIDEO – HARD TO SWALLOW –

Feb. 3, 2025 – Childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970s, with one in five children overweight or obese! 

Experts attribute this trend to the prevalence of ultra-processed foods in children’s diets, which are high in calories but low in nutrition. “What we put into our bodies is the most important determinants of our health. Garbage in, garbage out.” They say that processed foods, often engineered to be palatable and addictive, contribute significantly to health issues such as diabetes and hypertension in children. These foods are typically high in added sugars, salts, artificial colors, and preservatives. Martinez noted that the lack of essential vitamins and minerals in these diets affects children’s immune systems, while Apodaca highlighted the impact on brain function and energy levels.

CONTINUNE@MSN

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

HELL ON EARTH – 

Feb. 4, 2025 – Prosecutors called Anthony Del Valle an “enemy of the public,” a man so greedy that he preyed on and poisoned two disabled, drug-addicted women who considered him a friend. His lawyer called him an “absolute hero” who, like the dead women, had gotten hooked on painkillers after a freak accident and lost his grip on a law-abiding life. For his part, Del Valle looked only frightened.

Prosecutors recommended that he be sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for selling counterfeit painkillers to sisters Jennifer Graham, 50, and Julie Beckstrom, 57, hours before they fatally overdosed on April 7. Armed with advisory sentencing guidelines that recommended less than half that time, defense attorney Glenn Mitchell asked for seven years and three months instead.

CONTINUE@PalmBeachPost

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

VIDEO – TEAM WORK –

Feb. 3, 2025 – Ryan Leaf is an NFL analyst with the Bleav audio and video network and host of Last Mile Radio on Sirius XM. He was originally the second overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers.  

CONTINUE@YouTube

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

ALL BETS ARE OFF – 

Feb. 3, 2025 – Dr. Meredith Ginley is the director of the gambling clinic at ETSU and said that this time of year, they see an increase in gambling addiction cases. “Seeing all the advertising, for our compulsive clients, will put them at increased risk!”

Gambling addiction can affect adults of all ages and demographics, so it is good to be aware of some potential red flags.

The biggest two are going over budget and devoting too much time to gambling. If you see these signs in yourself or a friend or family member, it is time to seek professional help from a qualified counselor.

The Gambling Clinic at ETSU has multiple resources to help individuals gain control over their addiction and get back on their feet. The clinic said it has been very successful in helping individuals recover from their gambling or betting addiction, no matter how tough the task may be. The clinic said it has flexible payment plans available. 

CONTINUE@WJHL

The post Gambling Clinic Ready for Destructive Super Bowl Betting appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

VIDEO – PROFITS NOT PROTECTION –

Jan. 29, 2025 –  A new concern in classrooms is a nicotine product known as ZYN.

It’s a smoke-free alternative for tobacco users, but the Food and Drug Administration warns it could be popular among teens.

Reporter Ezra Kaplan has insight into how the tobacco-less product can harm a teen’s health.

CONTINUE@WWNYTV

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

TOUSLED TALENT – 

Jan. 30, 2025 – The colors swirled and pulsed before his eyes: electric blues, starburst yellows, deep, bottomless blacks. The world did not stand still for Vincent van Gogh; it flickered, danced, and whispered in a language only he could hear. But in the final years of his life, those whispers turned into voices: mocking, accusing, commanding.

In the dimly lit cafés of 19th-century France, absinthe was more than a drink; it was an obsession. Artists, poets, and dreamers chased its otherworldly effects, believing it unlocked creativity. But what many did not realize was that this emerald-green liquor carried a hidden neurotoxic secret: Absinthe contained thujone, a compound known to cause seizures, hallucinations, and disordered thinking. The more van Gogh drank, the more he saw things that were not there. Neurologists like Henri Gastaut (1956) later theorized that absinthe, combined with his likely epilepsy, triggered a storm of psychotic episodes​. The American Journal of Psychiatry (Blumer, 2002) reviewed van Gogh’s medical history and found striking similarities between his symptoms and alcohol-induced psychotic disorder—a condition marked by auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoia, and violent agitation​.    

CONTINUE@PsychologyToday

The post Van Gogh’s Haunted Mind: Absinthe and Madness appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

NOT – 

Jan. 27, 2025 – Hello! I’m stopping by to share a conversation I had recently with Club Reticent’s Valerie—a 26-year-old writer living in Amsterdam who’s newly sober. She had some great questions about quitting alcohol and what it means for mental health, social life, dating, relationships, body image, self-esteem, and life in general.

I was already a fan of Valerie’s raw, gorgeously rendered, from-the-heart-and-guts writing, and I loved her honest, deeply relatable questions.

In our Q&A, we spoke about:

My reasons for quitting alcohol (even without hitting rock bottom)

How the process of quitting spanned months of exploration, during which I immersed myself in content by badass sober women doing amazing things and exuding brilliance, resilience, and confidence (I wanted what they had—and what they had felt infinitely more exciting than alcohol.)

All the ways my life has changed since quitting—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and in my relationships and way of being in the world.

CONTINUE@SoberSoulful

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

YOU’LL NEED THAT STRAW AGAIN – 

Jan. 21, 2025 – “Research has shown that alcohol, even in small amounts, is bad for your health. It can lower the quality of your sleep, impair sexual function and increase your risk of developing certain cancers and other diseases,” Nicole Stock wrote in a December 2024 New York Times article outlining the sobriety challenge.  I’ve never been a fan of all or nothing thinking, and let’s face it, most of us like booze.  

Luckily, Dry January isn’t the only option. Some people have taken to simply cutting back for the month, taking a break to reexamine their relationship with alcohol. Out of a true Dry January, this seemingly more realistic “Damp January” has emerged.  

With all of this on mind this month, I’ve been on a search for new dry drinks. 

Mocktails are an increasingly common sight on restaurant and bar menus. Liquor replacement options have increased at an incredible rate. Belgrade Liquor, one of the largest stores around, has shelves of non-alcoholic options, from mixers to mock spirits that emulate their alcoholic cousins. Non-alcoholic gin is a favorite, with the juniper-forward herbaceousness easily covering the lack of booze when combined with tonic.  

The Cave Spirits and Gifts in Big Sky carries well over a dozen non-alcoholic beer options, plus some bubbly and Curious Elixirs’ non-alcoholic cocktails infused with adaptogens.   

CONTINUE@ExploreBigSky

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

VIDEO – 50/50 –

Jan. 25, 2025 – “Not all online pharmacies or supplement stores are legit!”  Customers have reported several issues with rogue online pharmacies, including unexpected subscriptions from free trials, communication problems, and difficulties obtaining refunds. “You think you are just trying one bottle, but you are actually signing up for an ongoing monthly fulfillment,” said Dale Dixon. To avoid these risks, Dixon advised consumers to prioritize transparency and research. He suggested verifying the credentials of online doctors, checking the legitimacy of the pharmacies, and ensuring that products have been clinically tested.

“Research doesn’t take long but can go a long way to helping you find a business you can trust and feel confident about,” Dixon said.

CONTINUE@KomoNews

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