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April 26, 2016                   Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News                   Vol. 3., No. 37
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 Sign o’ The Times? Say It Isn’t So.
Sign o’ the Times

Rehab CEO Chris Bathum Faces Lawsuits Alleging Drug Use and Sexual Battery of Clients     

Chris Bathum, the founder and board chairman of a chain of more than 20 sober living houses and outpatient clinics in California and Colorado (and the subject of a December L.A. Weekly cover story), has been sued three times in the past three months for allegations ranging from wrongful termination to sexual battery.
Bathum has denied nearly every charge leveled against him – to the L.A. Weekly, on his blog and in court filings – and, in February, filed a lawsuit against L.A. Weekly parent company Voice Media Group claiming the December cover story contained “multiple defamatory statements” that were “injurious of [Bathum’s] trade, business and profession.”

Continued @LA Weekly Monday, April 25th, 2016  

Say It Isn’t So – Sign o’ The Times?
Insider details Prince’s secret addiction to powerful painkillers     

“He’d buy large supplies of both drugs – I think the most he ever spent was around $40,000 at one time” for a six-month supply, said the self-described LA-based drug dealer, calling himself “Doctor D.” The singer-songwriter’s drug use would increase during times of stress, including when he was filming the 1984 hit “Purple Rain” and right before his performances at the Miami Super Bowl in 2007 and his 2008 appearance at Coachella, Doctor D. said.

One Film at a Time
Rob Reiner’s Son Nick Reiner: I Lived on the Streets Battling Drug Addiction     

Nick Reiner was packed off to his first rehab facility around his 15th birthday. Now 22, he’s co-written a film loosely based on that experience – and the 17 rehab stays that followed – directed by his dad, Rob (When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride) … “I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas,” recalls Nick in his father’s West Hollywood office. “I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun.” … “When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. You roll the dice and you hope…” opens May 6.

CONTINUED @ People.com 

Was This on Saturday Night Live? VIDEO

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American Nightmare
U.S. Suicide Rate Surges to a 30-Year High 

Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases in every age group except older adults. The rise was particularly steep for women. It was also substantial among middle-aged Americans, sending a signal of deep anguish from a group whose suicide rates had been stable or falling since the 1950s.

CBS 60 Minutes  VIDEO
Heroin epidemic kills at least 23 Ohioans each week  VIDEO     

The following is a script from “The Heroin Epidemic” which aired on April 24, 2016. Bill Whitaker is the correspondent. Tom Anderson, producer. It’s one of the biggest problems in America today: the out-of-control heroin epidemic. It’s happening all over the country and forcing authorities to decide whether heroin should be treated as a medical or a legal problem … A new University of Cincinnati study says one in five Ohio residents knows someone who is struggling with heroin. One sheriff told us that up to 80% of the prisoners in his county jail have drugs in their system, largely heroin.

Especially if You’re Ambidextrous
Utah ceremonially declares porn a ‘public health crisis’     

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert wants the world to know the state’s position on pornography: It’s a public health crisis.  “We realize this is a bold assertion and there are some out there who will disagree with us,” Herbert said at a Tuesday news conference. “We’re here to say it is, in fact, the full-fledged truth.” Herbert signed the resolution, sponsored by state Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, Tuesday at the Utah Capitol…Weiler said kids as young as 12 are being exposed to porn in places such as the library and fast-food restaurants, using the facilities’ unprotected, free Wi-Fi.
 

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BOOK Recommendation
The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health & Lifelong Thriving 

In The Spiritual Child, psychologist Lisa Miller presents the next big idea in psychology: the science and the power of spirituality. She explains the clear, scientific link between spirituality and health and shows that children who have a positive, active relationship to spirituality:

– are 40% less likely to use and abuse substances

Pot It’s Not
6 Rushed to Hospital for Overdoses on Skid Row in LA 

SKID ROW, LOS ANGELES (KABC) – Six people were treated for drug overdoses on Skid Row Friday evening, according to officials. Emergency crews responded to the corner of 5th and San Pedro streets in downtown Los Angeles at about 7:15 p.m. The Los Angeles fire and police departments blocked off the intersection while crews worked to rush the patients to the hospital. Los Angeles police said the six patients were smoking synthetic marijuana when they overdosed.

Crazy Sick Sad Finale
Manager of halfway house dies from suspected heroin overdose     

The manager of a halfway house for people in addiction is the latest person to die from a suspected heroin overdose, police said. The body of the woman, who was not identified, was found in the front room of the halfway house about 4:45 p.m. Saturday, according to Detective Capt. Steven Vicente, a spokesman for the New Bedford Police Department.

Dope, No More Dope
Memoir Offers Hope for Life Without Addiction     

Mitchell is a wife and mother of three children, the holder of a graduate degree who is also a certified addiction specialist. She didn’t have any of those titles when she was among the people featured in the 1999 documentary “Black Tar Heroin.” Mitchell was an addict when the film was made, although she had reached her personal rock bottom and had started the recovery process that has entered its 17th year before “Black Tar Heroin” made its TV debut.

CONTINUED @ SouthBendTribune.com 

…What It’s Like Now  VIDEO
One man’s journey from addiction to recovery VIDEO     

Eubanks, 41, said he started using crystal meth in his late 20s after he watched a friend die in front of him. When he wanted to quit, a friend gave him Percocet. “I just traded one addiction for another,” Eubanks said. “It’s a prescription pill … I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.” … If someone’s mother has only $400 to her name, they would want to take $450 from her, Eubanks used as an example. In their mind, a mother loves her son and would understand. Later they may realize it was a bad idea, but in that moment, when the high was so close, it seemed like a normal thing to do.

Technically Speaking
Methamphetamine abuse affects gene expression in brain-derived microglia of SIV-infected macaques to enhance inflammation and promote virus targets     

We found that Meth alone has a strong effect on the transcription of genes associated with immune pathways, particularly inflammation and chemotaxis. Systems analysis led to a strong correlation between Meth exposure and enhancement of molecules associated with chemokines and chemokine receptors, especially CXCR4 and CCR5, which function as co-receptors for viral entry. The increase in CCR5 expression was confirmed in the brain in correlation with increased brain viral load.

Canadian Sunset

Increase in Overdose Deaths Prompts B.C. to Declare Public Health Emergency 

An emergency has been declared in British Columbia over a “significant” increase in drug-related overdoses and deaths. The announcement was made Thursday morning by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall. It is the first time he has exercised his emergency powers. Kendall said that overdose deaths have climbed steadily since 2010, reaching 474 in 2015, a 30 per cent increase over the 365 overdose fatalities in 2014.

Because They’re Smarter?

9 Reasons Why Women Should Drink Less Alcohol Than Men  

The National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported that women end up with higher amounts of alcohol in their blood and become more impaired than men after drinking equal amounts of alcohol.
* But that’s not all. Here are nine reasons why women should drink less alcohol than men.
1. Enzymes affect women’s capacity to metabolize alcohol.
2.They are at greater risk for liver damage. 

Luck Of the Irish Again
Ireland to ‘decriminalise’ small amounts of drugs, including heroin, cocaine and weed  

Ireland will move towards decriminalising substances including heroin, cocaine and cannabis as part of a “radical cultural shift”, the country’s drugs minister has said…The minister said attitudes to drugs needed to move away from shaming addicts to helping them and emphasised there was a difference between legalisation and decriminalisation…His comments follow a leaked report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, appearing to call for a worldwide decriminalisation on 19 October..

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Investigation Continues



Chyna Found Dead: Possible Drug Overdose For Undefeated WWF Champ     

However, Dr. Drew Pinsky, who worked with the late star on reality show Celebrity Rehab in 2008, admitted he fears addiction may have killed her. Joanie Laurer, who wrestled as Chyna at the peak of the WWE’s “attitude era” and was found dead in her apartment Wednesday at 46, never got the chance to have her feel-good, comeback moment. TMZreports that officials are investigating a possible overdose as the cause since she had a history of drug abuse.

CONTINUED @ TheDailyChappaqua.com 

Time Will Tell…
Steven Tyler Mourns Prince and Talks Addiction: ‘If He Had the Same Disease I Have … This Didn’t Have to Happen’     

For Aerosmith frontman and former American Idol judge Steven Tyler, the speculations that drug use may have been involved in Prince’s death make the loss particularly poignant. “I’ve certainly had my moments of crying about him,” Tyler says in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. “He was a saint…

CONTINUED @ People.com 

It’s Complicated
Maybe Addiction Is More Like a Learning Disorder Than a Disease     

When Saturday Night Live aired a skit this weekend riffing on America’s new heroin epidemic-a satirical fake ad for “Heroin A.M.” to help addicts remain productive while using-many people weren’t laughing. That’s because heroin and other powerful opiates are killing more people than ever, across all demographics. So much for the War on Drugs. Maybe that approach is failing because we’re thinking about addiction all wrong.

Being of Service  VIDEO
Columbine survivor beats addiction to painkillers and now helps others VIDEO 

LITTLETON, Colo. – Austin Eubanks was 16 years old on April 20th, 1999…Now, 17 years after the tragedy, Eubanks is living a life he’s proud of – and inspiring others to overcome their own trauma. “I remember… hitting multiple low points in my life and thinking there was no way out and i just want people to know there is a way out,” Eubanks says. “Change is possible, change is possible for anybody.”…”I was 29 years old before I found lasting sobriety.. I had to change pretty much everything about my life.”

Public Role Model?
Maine Gov. Paul LePage To Heroin Addicts: Drop Dead     

Maine Gov. Paul LePage has routinely attracted attention for off-color, racist or bizarre public statements. But in what ranks as one of the most vicious messages ever to accompany a veto, LePage explained Wednesday that he blocked a bill to increase access to a life-saving overdose medication because the people it could save are just going to die later anyway. “Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,”… 

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Even If Not in a Manger  VIDEO
Research Suggests Babies are Born Spiritual  MSNBC VIDEO     

Before a baby is born, parents already worry about how best to help them grow physically and how to support them emotionally. However, scientific research suggests that it is just as important to nurture a baby’s natural spirituality. Dr. Lisa Miller is Professor, Director of Clinical Psychology and Ex. Dir. of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia U., she is a leading national expert in spirituality, health and thriving in development. 

But Not to the Hockey Players
Canada to Introduce Legislation in 2017 to Legalize Sale of Pot     

The Canadian government announced Wednesday that it will introduce legislation next year to decriminalize and legalize the sale of marijuana, making Canada the first G7 country to permit widespread use of the substance. The announcement was made by Canada’s health minister, Jane Philpott, at a U.N. drug conference in New York. It follows through on a promise made during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s successful election campaign last fall.

Accountability = Stability
California May Regulate Sober Living Homes For the First Time    

“Poorly operated sober living homes have plagued our neighborhoods for years without facing any repercussions,” Melendez said in a statement. “Without any health and good-neighbor standards, too many of these homes provide little to no care for individuals struggling with addiction and their neighborhoods. This bill is a simple solution to promote safety and effective recovery throughout the state.

CONTINUED @ LAWeekly.com 

It’s a Book, It’s a Movie VIDEO
The Girl On The Train trailer teases all the mystery, none of the alcoholism VIDEO     

She’s a drunk. Like, a “waking up in the morning and buying a six-pack to down before noon” alcoholic who’s mourning the end of her marriage and making a mess of her life…and maybe by the October 7 release date, the film will have sobered up and remembered to offer a hint of the severe drinking problem that drives so much of the plot.

Facts Over Fiction
REVEALED: British alcoholic stereotype is WRONG     

NEW research has dispelled the pub-binging stereotype associated with British culture as almost half of the population reveal they are light to moderate drinkers who prefer a quieter night at home with a partner or family … Only nine percent of the 187, 878 drinking occasions analyzed by University of Sheffield’s Alcohol Research Group, revealed cases of people engaging in heavy drinking at home or a bar. Only 13 percent of these occasions involved people drinking at home alone.

A New Paradigm
Vancouver Prescriptions for Addicts Gain Attention     

“We’ve seen people make dramatic changes in their lives,” said Dr. Scott MacDonald, the clinic’s lead physician. “They don’t have to hustle or do sex work anymore, and some are now able to go to school or work. It’s very rewarding.” Larry Love, 65, a gray-haired, jovial former oil rig worker, said he started using heroin at 13. Decades of addiction destroyed his marriage and relationships with his children. A $350,000 inheritance he received in the 1990s vanished in less than four years. Diacetylmorphine, he said, has opened up a path back to normalcy. He compared it to the insulin injected daily by diabetics: just a drug he needs to stay alive.

BBC Only – Short Trailer
Drinking To Oblivion: Louis Theroux’s sobering new documentary VIDEO     

For his newest documentary, Drinking To Oblivion, Louis Theroux has embedded himself at King’s College Hospital in south London. He’s been interviewing patients whose alcoholism has put them in A&E and those at their penultimate destination, Kings’s liver unit… but if you’ve got the emotional fortitude this is an engaging and pretty mind-blowing bit of television...For some, it might be hard to see how boozing could be more appealing than, say, actually being alive on Earth. But watching Louis’s conversations remind us that death factors heavily in the slide into addiction.

US POLICY  

House Tries to Sort Out Legislative Response to Drug Abuse     

More than a month after the Senate acted on legislation to reduce heroin deaths, the House is trying to figure out how to deal with the election-year issue … The Senate last month passed a bill 94-1 that would create grants to bolster state and local programs aimed at reducing overdose deaths… a group of lawmakers pushed for a package of bills including similar grants and legislation to reduce over-prescribing and improve treatment…” It’s urgent,” Portman said on the Senate floor Thursday. “There is a crisis. There’s no time to waste.”

CONTINUED @ NYTimes.com 

Attraction and Information
AA Advice – How to treat alcoholism?     

In many cases, the first step of treating alcoholism is acknowledging there is a problem. As with many health problems the second step is to seek help from a professional. You could also use the mutual help groups: Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is widely available, free and there is no waiting list: just phone their helpline, turn up and watch how they help each other.

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Addiction. It’s Complicated
‘Addiction Is an Adaptation to Your Environment’: An Interview With Johann Hari      

Perhaps the most shocking thing that I discovered for the book, and the thing that really blew my mind, was that addiction is not at all what we think it is. If you had said to me, four years ago, what causes heroin addiction? I would have looked at you like you were a little bit stupid, and I would have said well, heroin causes heroin addiction. The first thing that alerted me to the fact that may not be right was something that one of your former guests, Gabor Maté said to me..

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