Thursday, July 3, 2014

Crack, Smack, and Booze -- Weren't they the opening act for Jethro Tull?

"We have rigorous science to support that crack cocaine is not as addictive as people think and that they have been hoodwinked," says addiction expert Carl Hart in this week's bulletin, and science also shows that cigarettes are more addictive now than in the 1960's.   Marijuana saves a veteran from PTSD,   
Most importantly this week's edition provides the most compelling reason why cocaine should be  quality controlled and legal -- Cocaine cut with the veterinary drug levamisole that eats your flesh! 
Whoopie! Also you will find out the weird correlation between genius and drug use, what booze your favorite authors guzzle (I'm your favorite author, and I guzzle Cherry Dr. Pepper) why Robin Williams is a wild a crazy guy but not using drugs, and we can all wonder how Michael Jackson could dance like that when he was smacked out.  Maybe the best story (aside from updates on our Reel Recovery Film Festival) is about the Christian motivational speaker found passed out in his car drunk out of his skull. He's the guy who tells us that "dateable girls know how to shut up."  He is not the guy, although he could be, who told the joke: "Why do we need shelters for battered women? Because they don't know when to shut up."
All this and much more in this latest edition of the bulletin that has news you can use and opinions that won't drive you to drink.

(Burl Barer is on the advisory board of Writers in Treatment and is 100% responsible for anything stupid he says in public or private)



Thursday, July 3, 2014  *  THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS  *  Vol. 1, No. 44

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Robin Returns to Rehab  VIDEO

Robin Williams Enters Rehab to "Fine-Tune" Sobriety VIDEO 
"After working back-to-back projects, Robin is simply taking the opportunity to fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment, of which he remains extremely proud," Williams' rep told the website. Word got out about his treatment after Williams posed for a picture with a Dairy Queen employee near the Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center in Minnesota where he's at a 12-step program to help him with long-term sobriety.
READ MORE 

First Your Morals Now This! 

Laced  Cocaine Eats Away Your  Flesh 
Bad news party people. Doing coke in New York City and LA just got even seedier.
Cocaine cut with the veterinary drug levamisole could be the culprit in a flurry of flesh-eating disease in New York and Los Angeles. The drug, used to deworm cattle, pigs and sheep, can rot the skin off noses, ears and cheeks. And over 80 percent of the country's coke supply contains it.
READ MORE 

 Celebrity Sobriety

Glastonbury 2014: Metallica's Drummer Says 'Staying Sober Biggest Downside to Headlining' 
Sobriety may seem anathema to rock bands with a high octane lifestyle, but the drummer from Metallica has said his musicians are definitely staying away from the drink this Glastonbury. Drummer Lars Ulrich won't be the only member of his heavy metal band keeping away from drink, as frontman James Hetfield has been sober for some years after he sought rehabilitation for alcohol and substance abuse in 2001.
READ MORE 

Doctor$ Should kNOw

Michael Jackson's Doctor Conrad Murray on  
5th Anniversary of Overdose Death 
At the 23-day trial, Murray revealed he injected Jackson with the drug every night for 60 nights to treat his insomnia. 'I didn't want to hurt him, he was my friend, didn't want MJ to fail, I cared about his writing and his producing, I tried to wean him off, MJ was a bit restless but it was working,' Conrad told Judge Pastor. Meanwhile, the 13-time Grammy winner is buried in an unmarked plot (only his family knows the location) at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.
READ MORE 

Finding Never-Again Land

Scientists Find the Part of Your Brain That Lies to Your Hangover 
After an indulgent evening being 'over-served' on a night out the inevitable phrase, 'never again' is uttered from many a hungover mouth. While battling the headaches, sickness and fatigue that comes with the dreaded hangover comes an overwhelming sense of needing to avoid all alcohol... until the next social gathering.
READ MORE 

HIS HOUSE  

Calling Dr. House, Calling Dr. House

Nurse Jackie Is Peaking With A Downward Spiral 
"We need to talk about Jackie," All Saints Hospital nurse Zoey warns her boss as the penultimate episode of Nurse Jackie's sixth season winds down. That's an understatement. The show's titular caregiver and reckless drug addict (Oxycontin being her preferred little blue pill), played to memorable imperfection for the past five years by Edie Falco, has relapsed so hardcore that for the first time in the Showtime drama's run, its anti-hero is a straight-up villain.
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BRIDGES TO RECOVERY 

 

Nothing Anonymous About Drug Abuse

33 Celebrity Substance Abuse Confessions 
In 2012, Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie told Oprah that her drug use proceeded from ecstasy to crystal meth. She became so paranoid she thought the FBI and SWAT teams were following her before she sought treatment.
READ MORE 

Let Him Talk His Way Out of This

Christian Motivational Speaker Arrested for Public Intoxication
Justin Lookadoo, the Christian motivational speaker who makes a living telling teenagers that "dateable girls know how to shut up," was arrested in Indiana this week for public intoxication. Police found Lookadoo passed out in his car, which he had apparently vomited in. Lookadoo's website says that his motivational presentations are "designed to reinforce the importance of high moral values and character for teens."
READ MORE 

Profit Trumps Homicide Charges VIDEO

Smoking is More deadly and addictive than it was 50 years ago VIDEO 
Tobacco companies know that almost all new smokers begin their addiction as children. Chemicals added to cigarettes to ensure addiction, make smoke easier to inhale, reduce harshness and increase the speed nicotine hits the brain. Today's smokers have a higher risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than in 1964 despite smoking fewer cigarettes.

And They Can Afford Good Lawyers

Celebrities Sign Letter Calling for Drug Law Change 
More than 90 celebrities, politicians, lawyers and health experts have written a letter  calling for a review of the government's policy on illegal drugs. The group includes musician Sting, Sir Richard Branson and ... "The tide is turning and governments need to urgently fix their drug policies and repair the damage that has been done."
READ MORE 

One Day At a Time in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

No Rehab for Russia's Drug Addicts 
As the world marks the United Nations' International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Thursday, millions of drug addicts in Russia have nowhere to go for treatment, and specialists are in despair over the lack of progress in the country's rehabilitation system. The Federal Drug Control Service, or FSKN, recently announced plans to create a system of communes to treat drug addicts, but drug counselors dismiss such statements as empty promises.
READ MORE 

Watch the 2013 RRFF Highlight Reel 

REEL Recovery Film Festival HIGHLIGHT
Reel 2013
See clips from last year's Award Winning REEL Recovery Film Festivalwith Paul Williams, Russell Brand, Robert Blake, Barbara Eden and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. See VIDEO

Media: Book Review

Book Examines Alcohol and the Writer's Life 
Let's begin by noting the continuing biographical interest in writers and drinking. In my own collection are Tom Dardis's The Thirsty Muse; Kelly Boler's A Drinking Companion: Alcohol & The Lives of Writers; physician Donald W. Goodwin's Alcohol and the Writer; Kaylie Jones's Lies My Mother Told Me; Donald Newlove's Those Drinking Days and Kingsley Amis's Everyday Drinking, with its introduction by renowned boozer, Christopher Hitchens.
READ MORE 

One Man's Poison-Another Man's Cure    VIDEO

Can Marijuana Heal a Wounded Warrior? VIDEO
"About ten months after I got back, I attempted suicide," Kahl told CBS News' Barry Petersen. "I was completely hopeless," recalled the veteran, who said he was on about 15 different medications. Until the day he tried marijuana. "Suddenly, my extremely overactive, hyper-vigilant mind started to calm down, and my pain gradually started to go away, too. I needed less of these other medications, and shortly afterwards, I determined that I absolutely have to move to a state that allows this so that I can get my life back."
READ MORE 

He Should Know...

Substance Help from One Who Struggled 
Michael Botticelli knows this crowd. They are his people, the often-underpaid foot soldiers of the no-finish-line struggle to stem the scourge of addiction. And hundreds of them return the love, giving him rock-star treatment as he walks across the stage at Worcester State University. "It's hard to get the words out: I work in the White House," said the 56-year-old Botticelli, looking slightly sheepish. "It's really wild."  Botticelli said, that "speaks to the redemptive power of treatment and how it can restore people's lives."
READ MORE 

And The Price Is Right

Mindfulness-Based Intervention and Substance Abuse Relapse 
Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) significantly reduced drug use and heavy drinking after 1 year in a trial of 286 participants randomized to receive 3 different aftercare interventions (Bowen S et al.JAMA Psychiatry. 2014;71[5]:547-556). Among individuals with substance abuse disorders who get treatment, 40% to 60% will relapse within 1 year.
READ MORE 

Opinion by Gregory Scharf

AA Saved My Family, and Many Others 
Alcoholics Anonymous began in Canada around 1939 when a clergyman from Toronto obtained three copies of the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous, and started a meeting there. Within a very short time it had spread to Lambton County where to this day AA has a strong presence. In addition to the "12 Steps" there are also the "12 Traditions" that were devised to help the groups stand on their own, and to prevent someone from co-opting the program either for financial or other personal gain.
READ MORE 

Taking It To the Streets

LGBT Pride - Lessons for the Addiction Recovery Movement? 
Lisa Frederiksen, "I grant there are definite differences between the Addiction Recovery Movement and the LGBT Pride Movement. There is not the family wreckage of secondhand drinking | secondhand drugging (aka codependency) that accompanies addiction, for example, nor is there the cost and necessity of treatment for a brain disease with its hallmark relapse factor. But there are significant similarities."
READ MORE 

Free Intervention

Indio Downey Popped For Cocaine Possession  
"There is a lot of family support and understanding, and we're all determined to rally behind him and help him become the man he's capable of being. We're grateful to the Sheriff's department for their intervention, and believe Indio can be another recovery success story instead of a cautionary tale."
READ MORE 


Off Broadway - Get Off Broadway 

Shia LeBeouf, Not Shy About AA  
Shia LaBeouf is reportedly beginning treatment for alcohol addiction, days after the troubled actor was arrested on charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct and harassment after being "disruptive" at a Broadway showing of "Cabaret." Contrary to reports, LaBeouf has not entered a rehab facility, but has started a 12-step program to treat alcoholism, according to TMZ.
READ MORE 

SIERRA TUCSON   

The Question Remains The Same

Genius and Addiction: Creative Fuel or Speedway to Self-Destruction? 
Drugs have claimed the lives of too many too soon and have pushed some to madness, and have destroyed many lives and careers, but they have also led to the blossoming of mind-bending imagery, wild and mercurial wordplay and musical composition and works of art and philosophy that have altered our entire world views.
READ MORE 

Sitting Is The New Tobacco

Watching Too Much  
TV Linked to Early Death 
People who watch TV for three hours or more each day may be twice more likely to die prematurely than those who watch less, according to new research published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. "Television viewing is a major sedentary behaviour and there is an increasing trend toward all types of sedentary behaviours,"  "Our findings are consistent with a range of previous studies where time spent watching television was linked to mortality."
READ MORE 

Wounded Healer Welcomes Women

From Addict to Entrepreneur: Woman Opens Recovery Center to Help Others 
Brittany Ringersen was introduced to prescription painkillers innocently enough. After having her wisdom teeth extracted at age 16, she was issued a prescription for opiates. By the time she'd started college, she'd developed an out-of-control addiction.
READ MORE 

MILESTONES MALIBU RANCH

A New Paradigm? NY Times

'Crack Wasn't the Real Problem' Carl Hart 
Your book dispels lots of myths - but does meth really not mess up your face? No, we think that because of great marketing. They show very unattractive people who have had a hard day's night, if you will, and they say that's a result of methamphetamine. That's not true. It's a result of people being unattractive before they start using methamphetamines or poor hygiene.
READ MORE 

SUMMER HOUSE DETOX  

WRITERS IN TREATMENT 
Writers In Treatment
501 (c)(3) nonprofit
REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL is a social, educational, networking and recovery forum showcasing first-time filmmakers and experienced professionals who make films about addiction and recovery. Our audience is treatment professionals, people in recovery, members of the entertainment industry, media representatives, educated moviegoers and the general public.
Red
Publisher: Leonard Buschel

Statistics Aren't Numbers-They're Humans

Drinking Behind 10% of Deaths of Working-age Adults 
"Oftentimes when we talk about alcohol-related problems, people assume it's about alcoholism and they're the ones causing all the problems, when in fact any of us can drink alcohol in excess, so because people occasionally binge drink and there are many more of them (than alcoholics), those non-addicted binge drinkers account for more problems in our society."
READ MORE 

Prayer And/Or Meditation

Dharma Gets  
Punked
You need not be a Buddhist to benefit from the Buddhist form of meditation. Buddhism is not about theology. The Buddha was famous for, when asked questions about theism, saying, "I only teach what causes suffering for humans, and what ends suffering." I only teach a very practical path that craving and addiction cause suffering. Non-attachment, abstinence, compassion, mindfulness, and ethical ways of life end suffering.
READ MORE 

Astronomers Prove There's Life on Earth

Photo Evidence  
of Life After Alcohol 
Look at that happy face! Here I am at 18 months sober, completely defying the stereotype that I myself once believed - that alcoholics in recovery were a bunch of sad sacks. Quite the opposite! When you aren't concerned with clubs and bars, you find there are other interesting things going on! I got in a members-only event at The Guggenheim. It was quite the experience and not one single second is fuzzy!
READ MORE 

VISIT THE ARCHIVES
FOR EVERY
Past 
Issue of the 
Addiction/Recovery eBulletin 


Opinion: Sarah Graham VIDEO

I Don't Want Russell Brand Deciding Drugs Policy VIDEO 
I love Russell Brand - as a comedian. But I really don't want him deciding drugs policy. Sting? He's a good singer and respected on the yoga-front, but here is why I think he and all the other signatories in their letter to the Prime Minister have got this issue wrong.
READ MORE 

Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown

Chinese Internet Addict Beaten to Death at  
Rehab Center 
A Chinese Internet addict was beaten to death at a Web rehab center for using the bathroom without permission, according to a new report. Guo Lingling, 19, was reportedly kicked and punched in the head for two hours by instructors as part of a disciplinary "training session" to atone for her "crime." She later died from brain damage and severe skull injuries.
READ MORE 

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Business As Usual

White House Weakened Tobacco Regulations  
White House changes to proposed rules for tobacco products significantly weakened language detailing health risks from cigars and deleted restrictions that might have prevented online sales of e-cigarettes, published documents show.  U.S. senators excoriated the chiefs of two of the biggest e-cigarette companies, blu eCigs, which is owned by tobacco giant Lorillard Inc, and privately held NJoy, saying they were targeting children with ads depicting cartoon characters, movie stars and other celebrities.
READ MORE 

Never Too Late

Rise in People Over 40s Seeking Drug Help 
A quarter of people coming forward to access specialist drug treatment services are over the age of 40, according to new figures. "It is therefore encouraging to see that there is an increase in the number of older drug users engaging in treatment to support their recovery."
READ MORE 

High School Jocks Most At Risk VIDEO

Sports Injury Gets Middle-Class Kid  
Hooked Video
"I ended up breaking my wrist and had four pins put in my arm and I had nerve damage in my hand. I lost feeling in my fingers and it was a  significant injury - enough so that it took me out of sports completely for two-thirds of my senior year. But also it was the time where I was introduced to pain medication ... I didn't understand the addictive nature until I was completely hooked."
READ MORE 

HELP WANTED


Dealing Drugs From Doctor's Offices

Medical Professionals  
Put 900,000 Oxycontin  
on Street 
Federal prosecutors are spending the summer preparing for trial against five medical professionals accused of a massive Oxycontin scam spanning Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties. The five defendants, mostly pharmacists, were snared by Operation Dirty Lake, a state and federal investigation that ended two years ago with the indictment of 20 people who allegedly diverted 900,000 pills of the powerful pain reliever.
READ MORE 

It's Not Your Imagination

Ohio Student Died From Caffeine Overdose Week Before Graduation 
A northern Ohio coroner says a high school senior found dead a week before graduation died from a caffeine overdose. The 18-year-old was a senior at Keystone High School in LaGrange, southwest of Cleveland. An autopsy found that Logan Stiner had a lethal amount of caffeine in his system when he died at home on May 27.
READ MORE 

ATTENTION New Yorkers:
Loft Prices Just Got HIGHER

Marijuana Growing Firm Looking at New York Locations VIDEO 
A national medical marijuana grower is already looking at potential locations in New York, just days after the state legislature voted to legalizethe drug for medicinal purposes. The company, Terra Tech, has already looked at real estate in New York and has started talking to local farmers about setting up an operation in the state.
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ATTENTION NEW YORKERS! 

Attention New Yorkers!  

Invitation to Receive FREE Passes to our 

2014 New York REEL Recovery Film Festival 

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