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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – What we worry – 

Jan. 13, 2021 – “When you give them $600 they’re going to really take it to the limit and that really will raise your chances of losing your life,” said Thomas Gooch, the Prevention Director for Street Works- an HIV advocacy center. Among its services Street Works runs a certified needle exchange program. “We provide clean syringes for individuals who use the syringes. We also dispose used syringes. We provide treatment referrals to where we try to get people into alcohol and drug treatment to help them out.” Gooch said Nashville drugs that were once hard to get are now cheaper and easier to find. “At one point in time, it was so difficult to get heroin. Now heroin is the cheapest drug to use.” 

But equipped with new stimulus checks in people’s pockets, he worries things are about to get worse.

“What we found out was that the overdose rate spiked from the last stimulus checks and what we’re trying to do is be ready. We’re trying to provide Narcan for individuals, put it in the hands of every individual who comes to get clean syringes and any other kind of supplies that we provide.”

more@NewsChannel5

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Not Without Blemishes –  

Jan. 13, 2021 – “Since the onset of COVID, alcohol use skyrocketed as a coping mechanism. Everyone’s looking for relief. People drink for relaxation, to calm nerves, to sleep, as a ritual, to escape boredom, depression, a past event, or a present problem. They drink socially and as a reward. It easily becomes a habit. People believe drinking relaxes us, but it’s really just dulling the brain and our ability to analyze and process information. Ultimately it causes us to zone out and not care,” she said. Temin specializes in helping clients with goals, habits, relationships, weight, alcohol and sleep. For diagnostic purposes, clinicians categorize symptoms and label conditions to help people resolve problems. Despite good intentions, labels can breed judgment, which further debilitates people, she said. Quantity guidelines are traditionally used to identify how much alcohol consumption creates a problem. Temin believes personal information such as age, medications, food intake, body mass, brain function, mental and physical health influence how much a person can safely drink.

more@AtlantaJewishTimes

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Stick with the Winners! –

January 15, 2021 – Dr. Allen Berger’s professional career spans over 49 years, since 1971. After returning from a combat tour of duty in Vietnam in 1971, USMC Corporal Berger became a counselor at the Koneohe Marine Corps Air Station – Drug Exemption Program, helping fellow marines who were returning from Vietnam with drug problems discover recovery. 

This experience inspired him to become a clinical psychologist. A daunting task for a high school drop-out. In 1987 his dream came true when he graduated from UC Davis with a doctorate degree in clinical psychology. 

Dr. Berger is a talented and gifted clinician. His clinical acumen was developed and honed by the fantastic clinical training he received from Dr. Walter Kempler, a pioneer in family therapy, and Dr. William C. Rader, a pioneer in addiction psychiatry. 

Q. If you are in recovery, what was your Drug of Choice? and when did you stop using?
A. I have been in recovery since 1971. I was the third Marine admitted to a new program designed to help the Vietnam Veteran who was returning to the States with a drug problem. This past summer I celebrated 49 years of recovery. 

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice or a wicked twist of fate.
A. Yes I believe addiction is a medical disease. It is the result of the dynamic interaction of biological, psychological, sociological and spiritual forces. If I look at the function of addiction in our lives, I see it as an attempt to achieve emotional freedom. It’s the easier softer way, but at the time the only way. Recovery is about achieving emotional freedom or achieving a true independence of spirit. 

Q. Do you log on to ZOOM 12-step meetings? How often? Do you share?
A. Yes I do, and speak often. In fact I started an Emotional Sobriety Anonymous meeting as a community service. It has become quite popular. We are currently discussing each of the 12 Steps of AA and how they operate to achieve emotional sobriety. It is on Thursday evenings from 7 – 8 pm PST. Zoom ID: 330-149-513. PW: 375-986: 

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – On Everyone’s Mind? – 

Jan. 23, 2020 – “And we can’t say that it’s a good thing for everything to go on living. In a very simple demonstration that if we enable everybody to go on living, we overcrowd ourselves.

So therefore, one person who dies in a way is honourable because he’s making room for others.

We can also look further into and see that if our death could be indefinitely postponed, we would not actually go on postponing it indefinitely because after a certain point we would realize that isn’t the way in which we wanted to survive.

Why else would we have children? Because children arrange for us to survive in another way by, as it were, passing on a torch so that you don’t have to carry it all the time. There comes a point where you can give it up and say, “Now you work.” It’s a far more amusing arrangement for nature to continue the process of life through different individuals than it is always with the same individual, because as each new individual approaches life, life is renewed. And one remembers how fascinating the most ordinary everyday things are to a child, because they see them all as marvellous — because they see them all in a way that is not related to survival and profit.”

more@Medium

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Where there’s a Wil, there’s a way – 

Jan. 12, 2021 – Wheaton also mentioned interacting with his wife Anne before passing out from consuming too much alcohol. He woke up the next day and asked his friend Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick to seek out help for his alcoholism. As part of his recovery, the actor talked about healing himself from past traumas with poor reception from his parents. He wrote about leaning on his immediate family and Hardwick during the difficult times.

more@CBR

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Covid Wing Available –  

Jan. 13, 2021 – According to State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan, on Dec. 3, there were 13 coronavirus infections in residents and 14 among staff at the center. By Dec. 22, the number of infections reported at the center had risen to 103 (67 residents, 36 staffers). The person noted that the hotel’s website has been under construction for a year and that the phone number is always busy. She said website reviews only occur on holidays and conjectured that perhaps they let a few guests stay there occasionally to keep up the “facade.”

“Also, their vans, about 4-5 of them at a time, drive so fast down our otherwise quiet street. Also, neighbors closer to the facility report increased traffic on Sundays (visiting days) as well as middle of the night clearing of the building to check for suspected contraband which is very noisy and disruptive. Everyone on Artist Falls Road knows this is NOT a hotel unless there is some loophole they are operating under.”

Asked about the neighbor’s complaint, Holmes said: “The town is already looking into it. We initiated an investigation as soon as we were told of an upcoming story on NHPR (which has since been published) regarding the number of (COVID) positives at the company’s rehab facilities around the state and that they were being sent to the Forest Glen Inn for quarantine.

more@ConwayDailySun

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Abstinence Becomes Them –  

Jan. 13, 2021 – Helping smack down that notion is Danny Trejo who, at 52 years sober, recently filmed a PSA on behalf of CRI-Help, an L.A.-based nonprofit treatment center. The spot finds the former inmate turned boxer turned actor fighting his demons — literally and figuratively — in and out of the ring. “I got honest. I got clean. You can too,” Trejo says in the spot, which debuted in December.

Musselman says that the start of a new year often leads people to survey their decisions and life goals, especially after “indulging” around the holidays. But this year is different. She suggests anyone who is leaning toward recovery or even a “Dry January” to have grace for oneself, enlist a “trusted buddy” for compassionate accountability, and seek out the vast network of online resources.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is not your normal start of a new year, and that’s important to remember,” she adds. “Usual coping mechanisms are not readily available to people and can undermine their success. In-person support groups like AA, smart recovery or even friends and family support are mostly online. Gyms are closed, all social activity is limited. Even medical and mental care is restricted due to the outpouring of people who need support right now. These are critical components to many people who need extra support to start the path of recovery off successfully.”

more@HollywoodReporter

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

LISTEN – More Must Be Done! – 

JAN 11, 2021 – Two health crises will confront President-elect Joe Biden when the Democrat takes office on Jan. 20: the coronavirus pandemic and the opioid epidemic. WCPN reports that treatment providers hope Biden will make the addiction crisis a top priority.

more@NPR

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Getting More Out of Life – 

Jan. 17, 2021 – Rob Lowe is Willie Geist’s virtual guest on this weekend’s “Sunday Sitdown” for “Today”, and he reflected on the wildness of his younger years — and how they ultimately led him to a life of sobriety.

“I was a teen idol, young movie star and an alcoholic [with] a lotta money, and it was a great mix. What could possibly go wrong?” Lowe joked. “But when I was done, I was done.”

He got sober at 26, and admitted he “barely” recognized his Brat Pack-era self. “It is legitimately another lifetime. I’ve been sober way longer than half my life,” he said. Experiencing the kind of fame and success at such a young age, he admitted, can be perilous.

more@ETCanada

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Shrinking from Responsibility – 

Jan. 14, 2021 – A federal prosecutor explained this case was different than other high-profile pill mill cases in the Middle District, acknowledging there was insufficient evidence of medical fraud. They added that given Edwards’ limited scope as a psychiatrist, he did not prescribe opioids and he was in his 70s, all factors that they believed warranted a reduced sentence.

Prior court records outlined allegations of Edwards’ excessive prescribing habits, writing prescriptions for addictive drugs outside the course of general medical care. Records cited pharmacists at 11 different pharmacies, seven in Opelika and four in Gulf Shores, disclosed their concerns about Edwards prescribing history to federal agents. At that time, Walmart had a corporate policy against filling Edwards’ prescriptions, according to public records.

The judge reminded Edwards that this was a serious offense and imposed a two-year probationary sentence. Edwards will not pay fines or restitution.

more@WSFA

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