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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

GIVE HIM AN A+ – 

March 5, 2021 – He started writing that book in March 2020 and finished it in October; “Battling Addiction, Bondage and Temptation” was published in January. Cobb said he struggled with nicotine addiction and anxiety problems.

“Tobacco really took a toll on me, physically and spiritually,” Cobb said. “I felt shame all the time. I prayed God would help me get through it.”

Although he lives in Dallas with his parents, Darrell and Pamela, Cobb spent summers, holidays and spring breaks in Tupelo with his grandfather, Henry Cobb. The elder Cobb taught automotive technology at Tupelo High School for more than 30 years.

After high school, Cobb attended Mississippi State University, where he graduated in the fall of 2020 with a degree in kinesiology. He hopes to be accepted into an occupational therapy school this year.

Cobb said “Battling Addiction, Bondage and Temptation,” which is geared toward teens and young adults, wasn’t hard to write.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

ADDICTION RULES – 

March 2, 2021 – “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to stopping drug-dealing doctors like Rodos,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Williams. “As a physician, he was well aware of the inherently dangerous nature of the drugs he was selling.  But because of his greed and sometimes to satisfy his own lecherous intentions, he took advantage of vulnerable people struggling with addiction, piling on to the enormous opioid epidemic ravaging the neighborhoods of Philadelphia.”

“It’s hard to understand how a longtime physician, trained to help and to heal people, could be this depraved,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Dr. Rodos used his patients’ addictions against them, readily doling out powerful opioids in exchange for money or sex acts. The FBI and our partners are doggedly working to put drug-dealing doctors like him out of business, as we battle our country’s opioid epidemic.”

“Doctors are expected to help their patients, not take advantage of them,” said Maureen Dixon, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services. “HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners will continue to work together to protect patients from illegally prescribed prescription drugs.”

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE – 

March 2, 2021 – “Just for anonymity purposes,” Steve explained. “It’s our AA tradition.”

Steve says the last year has been rough for recovering alcoholics, and not just because of the stress of living through a pandemic. Not being able to see supportive AA members in person has been particularly hard.

“You lose some of that connection online and it’s so important, especially for people who are just finding their way in recovery,” Steve said.  

Face-to-face meetings are starting to open back up again as COVID-19 restrictions ease. According to Steve, more people are seeking help too because some have crossed that line between drinker to alcoholic during the pandemic.

“There is absolutely going to be an influx,” Steve said. “It’s happening already and it will continue to happen.”

He says it’s a great thing if they do see membership of the nonprofit rise because that’s the most important step in recovery.

more@KTVB

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

BE DELICATE – 

2021 – Instead let us be present for our friends and loved ones and say:

• I hear you
• I am listening to you
• I am here for you
• Let me help you

It is tough that all is so overwhelming right now. The world is upside down:

• You have my support 

And let us validate our words through actions:

• A phone call
• A safe in person visit
• A listening ear
• A small token

Or help your family, friend, work associate get the help they need by getting them the emotional support they need.

more@AllAboutInterventions

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

THEY SING THE BODY ELECTRIC – 

Feb. 28, 2021 – Now McGregor has called on ministers to properly consider NET, suggesting they start by watching the documentary he narrated called The Final Fix.

He said: “This film takes a hard look at this different kind of treatment and it really seems to work. I would hope that the authorities would take notice and perhaps explore for themselves. It’s at least worth exploration. Current treatment for drug addiction often utilises other addictive drugs and that may not be the answer.”

Heroin substitute methadone has been central to the government’s drugs policies but critics of the programme suggest it merely substitutes one drug for another and traps users in addiction.

Meanwhile, the number of rehab beds has fallen from around 700 to less than 200.

NET was developed in the 1970s by Hong Kong-based Scottish surgeon Meg Patterson. She believed a low-level current, delivered painlessly to the brain from two small electrodes behind the ears, caused the development of chemicals which allowed addicts to detox without the painful and distressing side-effects of withdrawal, and could be adjusted to treat different opioids.

more@SundayPost

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

OXYMORONs – 

March 3, 2021 – According to Chesterfield Sheriff Karl Leonard, the alleged drug smugglers exploited a regulatory loophole regarding legal mail that is addressed to inmates.

While jail staff conduct thorough examinations of all general mail addressed to inmates, they are prohibited from applying more than a cursory level of scrutiny to correspondence from an attorney, judge, clerk of court or other legal entity.

In this case, the Suboxone strips were concealed between two sheets of letter-sized paper that had been glued together and mailed to the jail. The envelope was addressed to an inmate and contained a typed return address label purporting to be from a local law office.

“It’s very upsetting that in a facility where we try to help people overcome opioid addiction, others would try to bring these drugs into our jail,” Leonard said in an interview last Thursday. “I find it personally offensive.”

The county jail’s landmark addiction recovery program HARP (Helping Addicts Recover Progressively) marks its fifth anniversary this month. Leonard noted that none of the four inmates implicated in the Suboxone plot were housed in jail pods designated for HARP participants.

Three of them – Jersey James Grant, Feraud Tyrell Freeman-Butler and James Logan Williams – were already in the Chesterfield jail awaiting trial on other charges. The fourth, Devonte Anthony Terrell Boucher Jr., was serving time for grand larceny, felony probation violation and failure to appear in court.

All four men are facing additional felony counts related to the drug scheme, in which two women also are accused of participating.

Samantha Daulton, of the 800 block of North Hamilton Street in Richmond, and Erica Freeman-Butler, of the 200 block of Secretariat Court in Ashland, have been charged with conspiracy to deliver drugs to a prisoner. The Class 5 felonies come with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Freeman-Butler briefly was at large last week. She was taken into custody after voluntarily reporting to the county jail Feb. 25, then released on a $1,500 bond.

“We’re pretty confident this has not been a long, ongoing operation. We were able to nip it in the bud before it became a major issue,” Leonard said.

Following his office’s investigation, county administration authorized the sheriff to hire a part-time civilian to handle processing and distribution of general inmate mail. That freed up a full-time sworn deputy to be assigned to handle inspections of “legal mail.”

more@ChesterfieldObserver

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

HOUSING NOT HOSING – 

March 1, 2021 – Jei Africa, director of Marin County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services division, said, “We’re calculating that an additional 48 folks will have some temporary housing as they’re getting services for substance abuse.” Africa said there are five recovery coaches working with the program. The grant will make it possible to add one more.

Africa said some of the grant money also will be used for ongoing operation of the program. He said the county has been receiving grants from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to help support the program since 2017.

“We have about 94 individuals who have been served through the adult drug court,” Africa said. “We have 17 currently who are still in the program.”

Deborah Lewis, the public defender assigned to the drug court, said the court’s most recent graduation rate was 62%.

“In years past, we never even came close to 50%,” she said.

more@MarinIJ

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

MUCH LESS THAN HIS FACILITY – 

March 3, 2021 – Rosen’s next court date is in April. He’s shacking up at the Huntington Beach City Jail, which charges about $3,000 a month for accommodations. Surf City’s pay-to-stay inmates are housed separately from all other inmates and have minimal contact with them. They have to pitch in with chores — cleaning and sanitizing cells, taking out the trash, washing inmate laundry, mopping floors, cleaning the prisoner compartments in patrol cars and general cleaning of the jail’s facilities as needed, said Lt. Brian Smith of the HBPD. If they’re unable or unwilling to perform the tasks, they’re returned to the custody of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Cushy compared to the county jail, perhaps, but a step down from Rosen’s previous digs: He was released to home confinement at his Brentwood mansion on Dec. 17, after contracting COVID-19 at the Orange County jail. His request to move to the Huntington Beach lockup, rather than return to county jail, was approved by the court on Feb. 8. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Some see unequal justice for the rich.

“He should be in the county jail!!!” said Rose Lynch of New York by email. Her son had several procedures from Rosen — including implants that administer an opioid-blocking medication — but prosecutors contend he and others didn’t receive other treatments necessary as part of a comprehensive, supervised recovery plan, and went on to die of an overdose.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

ANYONE CAN DECIDE TO STOP – 

Feb. 28, 2021 – She is now eager to tell her story and help show people there is a “solution to this disease”.

“I lived a life full of misery and prayed every time that I slept to please not wake up. I thought for a long time that I would never get out of there,” Madison said.

“When I had enough, I found a new way of living. It is possible, there is help. Grab on and don’t let go.”

Madison went on: “‘I was in my first rehab at the age of 15, dragging my family through my addiction and hurting them and others left and right.

“Until the age of 18, I would go to programs and get out and pick up again. My disease had me. When I was 18, I had nine months sober while I was pregnant with my daughter, who is now nine. Until now, that was my longest time not using.”

She would spend six years living on the streets when she hit “rock bottom” as her addiction took over her life.

It was an arrest which finally helped her realize she had to try and take back control and overcome her vices.

more@TheSun

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – SCREAMING? – 

March 4, 2021 –  Actor Jamie Lee Curtis joins Hoda and Jenna to talk about her show-stopping Golden Globes dress and how she has found confidence in herself through sobriety. She also talks about how people can help to raise money for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles through her company, My Hand In Yours, and the Make March Matter campaign.

more@Today

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