Tuesday, May 6, 2014 * THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS * Vol. 1, No. 36

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Family of Origin

Peaches Geldof 'Died from Heroin Overdose'

Peaches Geldof died of a heroin overdose in a tragic parallel of the death of her mother which had obsessed her. The TV presenter was found dead while caring for her 11-month-old son at the family home last month. Ms Geldof, 25, had become increasingly obsessed with the death of her mother, Paula Yates, from a heroin overdose in 2000. Ms. Yates was found dead at her home in Notting Hill, west London.

What the Public Thinks AUDIO

Is Drug Addiction a Disease? [POLL] AUDIO

There are terms being thrown around much more frequently as of ate when people about drug use. The phrases such as "explosion of drug use," or "expansion of drug use," are used to explain the growth of drug use. While we can call it "expansion" or an "explosion," the one thing no seems to have an answer for is "why" there's such a heightened epidemic.

Doctors Say...

Doctors Say Painkillers at Root of Heroin Problem

Jeff Messina, owner of Fort Hill Pharmacy said he and other pharmacists have to be aware of strong financial motivation people have for trying to obtain narcotics. "There's a pretty strong market for opioids. Oxycontin sells for about $1 per mg," he said, recalling one customer whose multiple prescriptions from different doctors had a street value of $4,000 to $5,000 per month. He recalled one patient in a three-piece suit and gold watch who was director of admissions at a private school. The man was prescribed Oxycontin for back pain and soon asked for a refill, claiming he had accidentally left his medication in a hotel room.

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It's An Inside Job

Heavy Alcohol Use Impairs Cells' Ability to Regenerate & Repair

Mitochondria are cellular structures that generate most of the energy needed by cells. Skeletal muscle constantly relies on mitochondria for power. When mitochondria become damaged, they can repair themselves through a process called mitochondrial fusion -joining with other mitochondria and exchanging material such as DNA. In research conducted with rats, scientists found evidence that chronic heavy alcohol use affects a gene involved in mitochondrial repair and muscle regeneration.

Reaching the Summit

National Rx Drug Abuse Summit Aims to Counter Opiate Epidemic in U.S.

For three days, the nation's leading public health officials, politicians, law enforcement agents, drug treatment counselors, and others gathered in a downtown Atlanta hotel to discuss the national epidemic of opiate prescription drug abuse. The scope of the epidemic is staggering. Several speakers during the third annual National Rx Drug Abuse Summit cited statistics that indicate more than 125,000 people across the country have died in the past 10 years from opiate-related overdoses.

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Paying it Forward

Woman Helps Others with Substance Abuse Problems

Just three years after her husband unexpectedly died, Virginia "Ginny" Barnes became overwhelmed with grief when her son Jim died. The 19-year-old overdosed on antidepressants, and it caused her to turn to alcohol to ease her sorrows. "When he died, I did not want to live," she told The Herald Bulletin. "So I drank, not to get high, but to get unconscious, (until) the time I realized maybe there was some reason why I was still living." That reason, she later found out, was to help alcohol and drug abusers find and maintain sobriety.

Music to Recover By VIDEO

Ten Songs About Addiction and Recovery VIDEO

In the wake of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's announcement that he is stepping aside to receive treatment for substance abuse, people across the country are talking about addiction and recovery. It's a topic the music world has explored for decades - so perhaps Ford can draw some inspiration from this playlist of 10 songs about addiction and recovery.

Supporting Recovery and the Arts VIDEO

Art Therapy Can Help Overcome Addiction VIDEO

"You can express how you feel like, 'Today I'm feeling very emotional. I'm feeling very vulnerable.' But, with art, you don't always have to say it," she said. "It's like, the words that I can't come up with, I can physically put on a piece of work, or a painting or an easel or canvas using all different types of mediums and it really develops into this thing that it then shows how I'm feeling instead of having to verbalize it."

Making a Living

Large-Scale Drug Bust Nets Anti-Drug Personalities

A Framingham man led a large-scale cocaine trafficking mob that included his mother who runs Narcotics Anonymous meetings and a man who talks to kids about the dangers of drugs. Norma Hairston, who works as a counselor at the South Middlesex Opportunity Council and had worked as a counselor at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, and speaks at Narcotics Anonymous meetings, worked as the organization's banker. She packaged cocaine, dividing large amounts into smaller, street-sale size packages.

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Report the News, Challenge the Stigma

Addicts in the News: Alcoholism, Drug Addiction Makes Headlines

Every day, we tell you about someone who's drunk or high on drugs when they kill or injure someone else. Experts who treat people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol say throwing someone in jail isn't enough to keep them from killing someone else. Samford believes alcoholism and addiction are diseases, not a moral problem.

MEDIA Live Music-Success In Sobriety

Jason Isbell At The Fillmore

The strongest of the lot to head up highway 5 is Alabama singer-songwriter Jason Isbell. A former Drive-By Truckers guitarist, Isbell has seen success and sobriety in his solo career, ultimately culminating in his breakthrough latest album, Southeastern. Isbell's tender vocals and solid guitar work paint a picture of loss and redemption in the fullest color spectrum..

Please ...

"Through Prayer and Meditation"

Mindfulness Treats Addiction More Effectively Than Traditional Treatments

Experts say the results of two recent studies found a mindfulness approach to treating addiction helped more people kick habits long-term, in some cases, over four times the success rate from traditional treatment methods. "I'm delighted to read about this study. But it doesn't surprise me. Having worked in many different treatment programs through the years, I find mindfulness to be the most effective approach," says Scott Kiloby of the Kiloby Center.

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Back Door Access to Children

Alcohol Companies Use Facebook to Avoid Advertising Restrictions

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, which funded the research wants government to tighten regulation in the area. "The current industry self-regulatory regime, as weak as it is, in dealing with traditional forms of alcohol advertising, was established in a pre-Facebook world, and as such, is simply not capable of addressing the types of aggressive and pervasive advertising and promotion that we see today so entrenched in Facebook."

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Up On the Roof for Addiction Awareness

Fundraisers for Addiction Awareness Group, SHATTERPROOF, Leap Off High-Rise

As he hung from a rappelling harness on the side of a 19-story building, Gary Mendell said he wasn't thinking about the wind or how high up he was.

We're here to make a promise to millions of people in this country who are addicted and their loved ones," said Mendell, who founded the addiction awareness organization Shatterproof in memory of his son Brian. "This is to end the shame, isolation and stigma that cause suffering."

The Harder They Come...

Mayor Rob Ford
Goes to Rehab

Rob Ford is taking 30 days off from his reflection campaign to enter rehab after not one but two videos have surfaced showing him doing drugs. Some drug dealers says he has three videos up for sale. If that wasn't enough, there is an audio recording of the mayor, apparently drunk making comments about one of his fellow mayoral candidates of a sexual nature (ew) as well as being bigoted and homophobic. I haven't heard them as the news says they are too awful to play on TV.

Riding the THC Highway

Marijuana DUI Law Killed in California Legislature

A law that would have meant a DUI conviction if you had trace amounts of THC in your blood failed in the state legislature last week. AB 2500 by Assemblyman Jim Frazier would have meant you could be convicted of driving under the influence if any amount of THC metabolites were found in your blood stream.

They're Already Enlightened

Rise In Marijuana Intoxication in Dogs

According to CBS NEWS: Symptoms of marijuana intoxication in dogs include dazed look and general lethargy, but since it takes a lot less marijuana to affect dogs!! Other symptoms: Trouble walking, jerky movements, incontinence, vomiting and seizure-like symptoms are marks of severe marijuana poisoning.

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A Clinic in Crisis

New York Moves To Shut Troubled Rehab Clinic

When ProPublica first wrote about the Brooklyn drug rehab program New York Service Network (NYSN) last September, the outpatient facility only six months earlier had won a fresh license renewal from the state agency that oversees such clinics. Within days of our story, which detailed allegations of falsifying records, padding counseling sessions and paying kickbacks to get patients from unlicensed sober homes, inspectors for the New York Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) returned to the facility for another look. ProPublica has now learned that the agency is moving to revoke NYSN's license.

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No Humor to This Story

Comedy Super Agent Died of a Heart Attack After Snorting Cocaine

For three days, the nation's leading public health officials, politicians, law enforcement agents, drug treatment counselors, and others gathered in a downtown Atlanta hotel to discuss the national epidemic of opiate prescription drug abuse. The scope of the epidemic is staggering. Several speakers during the third annual National Rx Drug Abuse Summit cited statistics that indicate more than 125,000 people across the country have died in the past 10 years from opiate-related overdoses.

But It Doesn't Help Either

Cocaine Doesn't Cause Brain damage; Poverty Does

For three days, the nation's leading public health officials, politicians, law enforcement agents, drug treatment counselors, and others gathered in a downtown Atlanta hotel to discuss the national epidemic of opiate prescription drug abuse. The scope of the epidemic is staggering. Several speakers during the third annual National Rx Drug Abuse Summit cited statistics that indicate more than 125,000 people across the country have died in the past 10 years from opiate-related overdoses.

OD in Custody

Inmate Dies of Cocaine Overdose

The Albany County Sheriff's Office says an inmate at the Albany County Jail died from a cocaine overdose. Officials are investigating how 29 year-old Michael Williams got his hands on the drugs. Sheriff Craig Apple says Williams didn't have any visitors recently, which raises the possibility he got the drugs inside the jail, or may have come into the jail with the drugs hidden inside his body.

More Will Be Revealed

John Singleton Sets Up 1980s Crack Cocaine Epidemic Origins Project

The drama will explore what has been come to be known as the American crack epidemic - the surge of crack cocaine across the USA (specifically Los Angeles in this case) during the mid to late 1980s. An "origin" story, at the center of the drama will be: a young black kid from Compton, CA who will grow to become the world's first "superstar" drug dealer, a Mexican wrestler, and a CIA agent charged with laundering money for the Contras.

Times, They Are a Changing AUDIO

Alcoholics Anonymous: Changing Demographic AUDIO

The changing role of women in society has caused a huge rise in the number of young and middle-aged female professionals at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, the group says. "They can be standing in a bar with a million people but be feeling alone, different and all wrong with how they're drinking alcohol but too proud to tell you."

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Writers In Treatment

Let's Meet this May at the WCSAD

Guess Who Won?

Battle of The Bottle

My journey makes stops in abandoned sheds, Dumpsters, ditches, emergency wards, intensive care and, finally, prison. Throughout it all, Mike Pond the professional therapist found fresh insight and understanding of Mike Pond the drunk.

Additional Therapies

Surprising Uses for Electromagnetic Pulse Therapy

Alcoholism. CES has also been used to treat the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Studies show that CES can help alcoholics to reduce their alcohol consumption as well as the stress and depression associated with quitting.[11] The treatment plan consists of daily 30-minute sessions over a period of four weeks. Additional studies indicate that the calming effect of CES also reduces anxiety symptoms in alcoholics.

Another Way to Hook Our Youth

Protecting Teens From the Allure of E-Cigs

Nearly five years after gaining the authority to regulate electronic cigarettes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finally exercised it. It should ignore the vape screen of objections from the fast-growing $3 billion industry and proceed as quickly as possible with its plan to outlaw sales to those under 18 and require manufacturers to say exactly what's in the things and how they work.

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Mob Rule May Make Moderation Unmanageable

Drinking is Even More Contagious Than You Thought

It's no secret that drinking is contagious: if your friends are binging or abstaining, there's a good chance you'll follow suit. But a fascinating study on early view at the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research shows just how far this influence goes - and also shows that the social effect on alcohol consumption happens largely outside of our awareness.

Teen in Trouble?

Upcoming Event - May 7

"The Harder They Fall" With Gary Stromberg in Los Angeles

Join the author, Gary Stromberg, for an introduction and discussion of his book, "The Harder They Fall". The book features the stories of twenty one well known celebrities, all of whom crashed and burned from alcoholism and/or drug addiction, only to rebuild their lives in recovery. The author highlights the stories of these outstanding individuals, many of whom well-known musicians, as well as actors, writers, comics and politicians, on their personal journeys of recovery.

MEDIA Television Dramas Still Exists

Don Draper & Bill W: Mad Men's Open Secret

AA has been the pink elephant in the room for years on Mad Men. We hear the occasional sober fellow attempting a bar-stool conversion; see Freddy Rumsen shame himself out of a job only to return two years later, pronouncing himself "clean and sober." Myriad critics have pointed out the classic phases of chronic alcoholism traced throughout Don's journey.

MEDIA Utah Hospital Podcast Interview AUDIO

What You Need to Know About Alcohol Addiction AUDIO

Over 65 percent of Americans say they occasionally drink, and that number is increasing. Is there a fine line between drinking just enough, and drinking too much? Dr. Jason Hunziker talks about the connection between mental health and alcohol addiction, and why some people may not realize they have an addiction.

From Cutting to Doctor to Cutting

Heavy Doses of Antidepressants Linked To Self-Harm In Children, Young Adults

The findings are likely to inform an ongoing debate in psychiatry - whether or not it's safe to prescribe antidepressants to children and young adults. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found that younger patients who start antidepressant therapy at high doses, rather than the average or typical prescribed doses, were more than twice as likely to try to harm themselves during the first 90 days of treatment.

Tax Dollars At Work

New Mexico Prison Guard Linked to Smuggling Case

A New Mexico corrections officer participated in a scheme to smuggle heroin and methamphetamine into the Otero County Prison Facility with the help of inmates, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The investigation, which included a review of recorded inmate telephone calls and surveillance video, identified the six suspects as members of the drug ring, authorities said.