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Recovery Event Gains Mainstream Support     
Wells Fargo to Sponsor San Francisco's 
REEL Recovery
Film Festival  

Wells Fargo Bank has become the first Platinum level sponsor for the Bay Area's newest film event - The REEL Recovery Film Festival San Francisco Bay Area Edition.  More 

Opinion by William Cope Moyers
If Not 'Fixed,' Then What?
Without a doubt, the foundation to overcome drug dependence or alcoholism is laid on a goal of freedom from the bondage of those substances. Freedom is abstinence, for sure. But abstinence isn't all there is to recovery. Or is it? If a man is free from crack cocaine but still beats his wife, he's hardly well. If a woman struggles with borderline personality disorder and relapses over and over again with an eating disorder yet still manages not to drink 25 years after her last treatment for alcoholism, surely her treatment succeeded in putting her on the road of recovery. More
Family of Origin
Facing My Childhood,
Leaving Behind
the Bottle     
When she checked herself out of the same rehabilitation center, I was sitting in the same car that I had been waiting in all night. My aunt was driving me north so I could stay with her family in South Carolina. But then there was a call. My mom was headed home and if I did not come home, she could charge my aunt with kidnapping. More  
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Back to School - DUI School    VIDEO
School Superintendent Accused of Driving Drunk
in District Vehicle VIDEO
Sanders is accused of driving drunk in a school district vehicle. Police said Sanders smelled like alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, and failed a sobriety test. Police said he refused to take a breath test. "He has to go before the judge and whatever the court decides, we will respond on that." More   
One Destination - Many Paths   HuffPost   VIDEO
Approaches You Don't Know About for Helping Someone With Substance Abuse VIDEO
One myth about substance abuse that prevents people from getting help -- and inhibits people from trying to help them -- is that treatment is equated with intensive, residential "rehab" and believed to be the starting point of all change. More 
Sentenced to OA?
Suspect Found Asleep at Wheel w/Burrito in Hand
A Florida man was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after he was found asleep at traffic light holding a half-eaten Taco Bell burrito early Monday morning. When Volusia County sheriff's deputies arrived at the car, they found Hernandez asleep at the wheel clutching the burrito with his foot on the brake and the engine of the car running, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. More
Raising Awareness - Reducing the Stigma
NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month, held every April, was founded by and has been sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. More  
Running Clean and Sober
NBA Guard Chris Herren Running  Boston Marathon with Team of Recovering Addicts
Until about nine weeks ago, Chris Herren had only ever had reason to run when he'd done something wrong.. The former Fresno State guard, whose brief NBA career was derailed by drug abuse, changed that really quickly after his charitable foundation, The Herren Project, received four entry bibs to run in this month's Boston Marathon. After a friend challenged him to personally represent his charity in the race, Herren's "competitive spirit ignited" and he started training.  More  
Past Issues
EVERY
Past Issue of the 
Addiction/Recovery eBulletin 

 
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AA Works, for Those Who Work It   
In Defense Of
12 Steps: What Science Really Tells Us About Addiction
Dr. Dodes fails to mention cost. Unlike psychoanalysis and other treatments, AA is free, and can be accessed almost anywhere at any time in the United States and many other countries (notably at high-risk relapse times when professionals are not available like weekends, holidays, and evenings.) Perhaps not surprisingly, given his apparent agenda, Dr. Dodes doesn't acknowledge the more recent randomized controlled trials of addiction treatment.More
Let's Meet this May at the WCSAD

Treating Parents - Healing Children

To Protect Children,
Florida Should Treat
Addicted Parents      

Mark Fontaine, executive director of the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association, said he was troubled that the bill does little to affect one of the key findings of the Casey review and the Herald series - that 68 percent of the children's deaths were related to substance abuse."You have an opportunity to help people find recovery, and when you do, their children are safe, and when you don't, their children are at risk," Fontaine told the panel.Legislation should provide those key services, not just investigations. More 

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Changing Face of Addiction   Herald News
Modern-Day Addicts Defy the 'Junkie' Stereotype
The face of opioid addiction is no longer the disheveled, down-and-out jobless heroin addict on the street corner. "It's the football player, the cheerleader, the computer kid. It's the lawyer." More  
The Public's Health    Philly.com
Addiction: Recovering
Main Street  
The powerful, disparaging mindset that addiction is behavioral, that "addicts" should resist or simply throw off the shackles of the disease still dominates otherwise modern minds. This keeps us from acting compassionately and decisively. My point isn't to criticize very real and merited terror over prescription drug and heroin epidemics. It is to ask: what can we learn from this about our attitudes toward addiction and those who suffer from it? More
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Celebrity's Best Effort  

Zac Efron Hires Sober
Coach To Stay Away
From Cocaine!       

Zac Efron has hired a sober coach to help him stay away from cocaine and alcohol after his two stints in rehab last year. The 26-year-old actor is sober today, but is scared to fall back into his old patterns."Zac's committed to his sobriety. It's an ongoing progress," one source said. People around Zac have been worried the past month, since he was involved in a fight with a group of people in a bad area in Los Angeles last month. Efron claimed he run out of gas and said that was the reason he was there, while other sources say he was there to buy drugs. "He still needs help," his friend said. More 
Teen in Trouble?
Outsider Knows More About AA Than Bill W.? 

Debunking Alcoholics Anonymous: Behind the Myths
of Recovery      

Alcoholics Anonymous has been instrumental in the widespread adoption of many such myths. The organization's Twelve Steps, its expressions, and unique lexicon have found their way into the public discourse in a way that few other "brands" could ever match. So ingrained are these ideas, in fact, that many Americans would be hard-pressed to identify which came from AA and which from scientific investigation. The biggest mistake with "One day at a time" is that it's backward. One of the truly useful things about understanding addiction from a psychological perspective is that this view breeds a kind of precognition: people become adept at predicting when the urge will arise. More 
Fortune Telling T-Shirt? 

Drunk Wearing 'Drunk As Shit' T-shirt Arrested For Drunk Driving       

He was wearing a t-shirt with the words DRUNK AS SHIT printed across the chest. So, clearly, this was an adult with complete awareness of his evening's agenda. Don't fuck with his keys? Or maybe don't get in the car? A safe bet would be to fire up an OKCupid account and find another suitor as soon as humanly possible. More 
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Writers In Treatment
Celebrity Freehab
Poolside Malibu
Extends Free
Services to Indigent
"Cliffside Malibu comped it. Prior to arriving at Poolside, Lindsay had been at Betty Ford and wasn't doing well there. Cliffside Malibu became available and agreed to allow her stay presumably because of the free publicity it gave them. "She thrived in the environment," the spy added, noting Lohan "had a private room (because) she would never agree to have a roommate."According to reputable rehab reviewer The Fix, Cliffside Malibu charges $58,000 for a semi-private room and $73,000 for a single room. More  
Safe, Fast and Effective...
Family Ties
Transgenerational Effects of
Smoking Addiction:
Thanks, Dad  
"Our results highlight the importance of the developmental timing of the paternal exposure as well as gender differences in offspring outcomes," the authors note, via the news organization. "Smoking by boys in mid-childhood may contribute to obesity in adolescent boys of the next generation."  More  
Alcoholics Anonymous Founders
The Alcoholic Stockbroker and
the Forgotten Alcoholic Doctor

In the case of Alcoholics Anonymous, media continually cite Bill Wilson as the hero-the founder of the original 12-step program that has, arguably, done more than any other treatment to heal alcoholics and other addicts. Wilson always makes the fame lists-from Life magazine's "100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century" to New York Times columnist David Brooks' piece "Bill Wilson's Gospel"-but few make mention of Dr. Bob Smith. More 

Does Anyone Ask Why?     VIDEO   
Heroin Combined with OxyContin
Kills Nine
"It's pretty catastrophic for the amount of population that we have in this area. There's not that many people here." He said the number of deaths from heroin has increased in recent years. So far this year, he said three deaths were from possible drugs overdoses. More  
Going to Any Lengths
Doctors Find Hidden
Meth While
Performing Surgery   
But it was while Whitworth was in surgery that doctors found 19 grams of methamphetamine hidden inside a body cavity, according to the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office. Nineteen grams is a little less than three-fourths of an ounce.  
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Medication Update     BBC
Ketamine 'Exciting' Depression Therapy   
Some patients who have faced incurable depression for decades have had symptoms disappear within hours of taking low doses of the drug. The small trial on 28 people, reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, shows the benefits can last months. Experts said the findings opened up a whole new avenue of research. Depression is common and affects one-in-10 people at some point in their lives. More
Menus Look Innocent to Most of Us      
Food Addiction -
A Serious Problem
With a Simple Solution 
Eating healthy and losing weight seems downright impossible for many people. Despite their best intentions, they repeatedly find themselves eating large amounts of unhealthy foods, despite knowing that it is causing them harm. The truth is... the effects of certain foods on the brain can lead to downright addiction.  More
We Proudly Endose...

 Science and Society    VIDEO
This Pot Will Blow Your Mind  VIDEO
he average potency of pot has more than tripled in the past two decades, according to testing done for the federal government. This month's "High Times" magazine, with a cover promoting "The Strongest Strains on Earth," claims to have analyzed 15 strains of pot with potencies ranging between 25 to 28 percent THC. More 
About Us
SAVE A LIFEWriters In Treatment
501 (c)(3) nonprofit
WIT gets treatment for individuals who suffer from alcoholism, drug addiction or other self-destructive behaviors.


Publisher: Leonard Buschel
Study: UC San Diego School of Medicine
College-aged Drug Users 'Have Impaired Brain Activity' Linked to Prescribed Stimulants

But in a positive sense, the findings show that it may be possible to use brain activity patterns to predict whether youths are at risk of drug addiction before they fall into such behaviors. If you show me 100 college students and tell me which ones have taken stimulants a dozen times, I can tell you those students' brains are different."  More

2013 Highlight Reel from RRFF    VIDEO
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
AA Attacked-Turns the Other Chip   AUDIO      
Addiction Specialist Defends 12-Step Programs AUDIO
We invited representatives from Alcoholics Anonymous to join us last week. They declined, but we heard from a lot of our listeners about this segment, and many took exception with Dr. Dodes' analysis. Among them was Dr. John Kelly, program director of Addiction Recovery Management Services at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Dodes argued that AA "has one of the worst success rates in all of medicine" and said it helps only one in ten people who enter the program - and can actually be harmful to everyone else. More
Addiction Is Patience
Losing the Farm: Gambling Addiction Among Seniors
"And a big factor I've found is bereavement. An older gambler who has lost a loved one might play for hours so they don't have to think a lot. It's soothing, in a way." Some people refer to casinos as "the new senior centers."  The study concluded that gambling could become a serious health problem for seniors, particularly those who are alone and have incomes below $20,000. More
Violation of all That is Holy
Seattle Man Sells Narcotics at AA Meetings    
Following a months-long sting, Michael Martin Shepard, 64, was arrested in March for allegedly selling powerful narcotics to recovering addicts.  Shepard owned and operated the non-profit Nomadian Community Resource Center in Seattle, which hosted Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. According to Seattle Police, Shepard was illegally selling Oxycodone at the center to members. More
What's New In Science

Have Scientists Found The Self-Control
Spot In The Brain?     

For the 18 million Americans suffering from alcohol-abuse problems, the daily struggle is much more complex than just deciding not to have a drink. While a growing amount of evidence suggests that the disease is as much a physiological problem as a psychological one, treatments haven't yet caught up with the science.  More 
"Downhill Spiral': U.S. Heroin Epidemic NBC VIDEO

America's Heroin Epidemic: Where to Find Help  NBC VIDEO      

Find alcohol and drug abuse treatment or mental health treatment facilities and programs around the country using the Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator on SAMHSA's web site. The Partnership at DrugFree.org provides a toll-free helpline and nationwide support service for parents (and other primary caregivers of children) who want to talk to someone about their child's drug use and drinking. The Helpline number is 1-855-DRUGFREE (1-855-378-4373).   More 

This Week's Health Warning   LA Times 

Processed Foods Decrease Rats' Motivation 
LA Times 

You know an unhealthy diet can make you fat, but new research suggests it can sap your motivation too. In a study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, researchers at UCLA found that rats fed a diet low in fat but high in simple sugars and refined flour were not only more obese than rats that had a better diet, but also less willing to work for a reward.  More