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September 20, 2016                   Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News                   Vol. 4., No. 7
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The Reel Recovery Film Festival: Sharing the Message of Recovery through Film  

September is recovery month, The Reel Recovery Film Festival and Symposiumthis week at Cinema Village in New York City explores both the dark side of addiction and the light of recovery through the medium of film, through stories about people who “have been there”. I sat down with Leonard Buschel, producer of the festival and was frankly surprised at his frightening medical history, amazed that with his drug use he is a sober man today and very amused by his witty and incisive intellect. He is a man with a purpose and this article sheds light on how he turned a life threatening illness into a life giving passion.

AUDIO Debate

Story Behind The Rise Of ADHD In the US AUDIO

About 15 percent of children in the U.S. receive a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. That is about three times the rate most experts agree is appropriate. This over-diagnosis means millions of kids may be taking powerful medications for a psychiatric disorder they do not have, or are not getting the support needed for the real challenges they do face. Investigative reporter
Alan Schwarz , “ADHD Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma and the Making of an American Epidemic...Alan Schwarz investigatiove reporter, New York Times; author of “A.D.H.D. Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic”
Dr. Lawrence H. Diller behavioral developmental pediatrician, private practice and at University of California at San Francisco; author of “Running on Ritalin” and “Remembering Ritalin: A Doctor and Generation Rx Reflect on Life and Psychiatric Drugs”
Dr. Ned Hallowell psychiatrist; author of several books including “Driven to Distraction” and “Driven to Distraction at Work”

The New Deal (ers)

Opioid Industry Spends BIG on Political Campaigns

As opioid overdose deaths climbed steadily during the past decade, a loose network of pharmaceutical companies and allied groups spent more than $880 million on campaign contributions and lobbying at the state and federal government levels. From 2006 through 2015, members of the little-known Pain Care Forum dwarfed even the powerful gun lobby in similar political spending..for instance, New Mexico state legislators considered limiting initial opioid prescriptions for acute pain to seven days, a measure aimed at reducing addiction. But opioid makers and their allies hired 15 lobbyists in Santa Fe that year – up from nine the year before.”The lobbyists behind the scenes were killing it,” said Bernadette Sanchez, the Democratic state senator who sponsored the measure.That bill died…

Opinion: As He Seize It
Maine Man Calls for New Approach to Heroin Addiction

At 15 years old, Tim Cheney was a heroin addict living on the streets of New York City … The failed “war on drugs” and the lack of effective treatment options for individuals struggling with heroin or opioid addiction amounts to “negligent homicide,” said Cheney, Walpole resident and co-founder of the addiction resource directory Chooper’s Guide and its nonprofit advocacy arm, Chooper’s Foundation. Every person who has died from an overdose is a victim of policy makers who have turned their back on scientifically-proven addiction treatment resources, he said.

Cheech & Chong Can Move Back to LA
LA TIMES says: It’s time to legalize and regulate marijuana, pot, weed, ganja, reefer, bud, nug and treez in California 

The reality is that California has already, essentially, legalized marijuana. Virtually any adult can get a medical marijuana recommendation and buy pot products legally at a dispensary. And those who can’t be bothered to fake a headache or back pain can buy it on the black market without fear of going to jail. Proposition 64 would end the need for such ruses and deal a blow to the illegal market, which thrives on prohibition. If it is passed, adults 21 and older would be allowed to grow, buy and possess marijuana for their personal use in private homes or at businesses licensed for on-site consumption.

Look How Happy Buddy Rich Was
Group drumming more effective than antidepressants, study suggests VIDEO  

As our scientific and cultural understanding of mental health continues to progress, finding solutions for people struggling with depression become increasingly important. Long gone are the days when people who were struggling with mental health issues were locked up in prison-like asylums. However, modern drugs can often have a similarly oppressive effect on sufferers, as people’s emotional responses are numbed and they become unable to experience highs as well as lows … These drugs are often thrown around without caution, and they fail to acknowledge the circumstances behind the individual’s depressive state. They attempt to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. A group of UK-based researchers seems to have found an unlikely cure – group drumming.

Wherever Two or More Are Gathered
Alano Society: Hope for People Suffering from Alcoholism  

Research shows one out of ten people will become an alcoholic in their lifetime, but the St. Cloud Alano Society, is hoping to help families or others suffering from alcoholism. In conjunction with September being National Recovery Month, the society is offering a number of activities to heighten awareness about drug and alcohol abuse. John Donovan is the communications director for Alano Society. He says National Recovery Month, is an important national observance that we all need to pay attention to.

Family Healing
Rosie O’Donnell Says Estranged Daughter Chelsea ‘Is OK’ after Overdose  

As reported, the 19-year-old was checked into a Long Island hospital after suffering a drug overdose Tuesday night. Later, she underwent a psychiatric evaluation … Sadly, Chelsea’s relapse comes as no surprise following her particularly tumultuous year of rebellion. As Radar reported, family drama was first thrust into the spotlight last August when Chelsea disappeared from Rosie’s Nyack, NY, home for two weeks. She was later found with a man – and drug dealer – she met on Tinder, Steven M. Sheerer.

READ MORE @ RadarOnline.com 

Open For Business
Horizon Health Services Opens Inpatient Rehab for Young Adults

The state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services provided a $776,000 grant, which Prentice said paid for all of the construction and part of the treatment expense for the facility. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement that the aid to Horizon’s project is part of carrying out his pledge to add 270 treatment beds and 2,335 opioid treatment slots statewide.

READ MORE @ BuffaloNews.com 

Longest Recovery Event in America
A Look at the REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium…

Leonard Buschel is an undefined character. From one angle, he’s frazzled and possibly a bit mad. At another, he’s brilliantly keen and inquisitive. It’s hard to put a finger on the silver-haired businessman and one gets a sense his free spirit likes it that way. As a creative enthusiast, he has drawn up and executed several successful projects in the recovery industry, all centering upon the same thing: the individual gestalt.

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin

 

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
FDA Is Cracking Down on Internet E-Cig Sales

Less than six weeks after banning sales to minors. “We’re helping protect the health of America’s youth by enforcing restrictions that make it illegal to sell tobacco products to minors – including e-cigarettes, e-liquids and cigars,” FDA Center for Tobacco Products director Mitch Zeller wrote in a press release. “It’s clear from these initial compliance checks that there’s a need for strong federal enforcement of these important youth access restrictions.”

A D D I C T I O N  AUDIO
Nikki Sixx: Heartbreaking Rant on What Nobody Else is Talking About  AUDIO 

While Americans are mostly distracted by the upcoming election, what Colin Kaepernick ate for breakfast, and which movie reboot is the worst … there is a devastating epidemic happening that is killing people in record numbers and NOBODY is talking about it. In recent months, this epidemic has become more deadly than gun violence and car accidentsin the US. That’s a MIND BLOWING statistic. MOTLEY CRUE bassist Nikki Sixx has had enough of the deafening silence on this epidemic and went on a heartbreaking rant about it on his syndicated radio show “Sixx Sense”.

READ MORE @ RockFeed.net  

Looking Good VIDEO
‘Here’s what 826 days sober looks like’: Former heroin addict shares powerful before and after photos VIDEO

A former heroin addict has shared a powerful set of photos showing her before and after she got clean to encourage others who are struggling with addiction. The images were posted to Reddit by user DisregardThisOrDont with the caption: ‘Here is what 826 days sober looks like. Left is me June 11, 2014, on the right is me today. Recovery is possible!’

Only In America
Children as Young as Five Committing Suicide   

Adults need to realize that school-age children as young as 5 kill themselves,” said Dr. Gregory Fritz, director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School … However, the study authors stressed that it’s rare for young children to die by suicide. Kids between the ages of 5 and 11 have a suicide rate of 0.17 per 100,000 children. For teens from 12 to 17, that number rises to 5.18 per 100,000, according to background information from the study.

Pills NOT Pleasure
Pharma Company Funding Anti-Pot Fight Worried About Losing Business

Pharmaceutical executives who recently made a major donation to an anti-marijuana legalization campaign claimed they were doing so out of concern for the safety of children – but their investor filings reveal that pot poses a direct threat to their plans to cash in on a synthetic cannabis product they have developed. On August 31, Insys Therapeutics Inc. donated $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, becoming the single largest donor to the group leading the charge to defeat a ballot measure in Arizona to legalize marijuana.

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You Have Been Forewarned
FDA requires strong warnings for opioid analgesics, prescription opioid cough products, and benzos

The FDA, an Agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The Agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

Guilty
Consider this before sharing images of drug overdoses  

Officials in East Liverpool, Ohio, released photos of a man and woman slumped over in the driver and passenger seats of a car, pale and unconscious from a heroin overdose. The woman’s grandson sits in the back seat, face visible for the world to see. The images spread through the Internet, inspiring a Wisconsin woman to share a similar scene with a local television station. Video taken on the woman’s cell phone shows a couple passed out in a car from a drug overdose with a toddler in the back seat … There’s no doubt the images are disturbing. But can any good come from sharing them?

Helping One Addict At a Time
OPEN YOUR HEART, DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT

Our goal is to have everyone close to Hazelden Betty Ford participate. Every gift, every person makes a difference. DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT: Thanks to four generous donors, your gift will be matched, dollar for dollar, when you make your Day of Hope gift. Take part and show the world you stand for hope, that recovery is possible, and that everyone suffering from addiction deserves the most-effective car

READ MORE @ HazeledenBettyFord

Stressed Out Rats Love Happy Hour
What We Know About Rats’ Drinking Habits Thanks to Science

It’s impossible to tell the story of human history without talking about alcohol. Alcohol helped shape America and can be a tribute to the dead. It’s shaped secret ancient clubs and brought cultures together through unique drinking customs. But amid all the fuss surrounding alcohol’s importance in human history, people tend to forget that humans aren’t the only mammals touched by the nectar of the gods.

Go Make a Movie
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 & the general public.

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin Publisher & Editor:
Leonard Buschel  

© 2016 Addiction/Recovery eBulletin®

Stone Cold Stoned-Not Stoned Cold Dead
Marijuana May Alleviate America’s Opioid Crisis, New Study Suggests  

Access to medical marijuana may be cutting down on the overall use of opioids, including prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet, new research suggests. In a study, researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health analyzed traffic fatality data from 1999-2013 for 18 U.S states. They found that most states that passed medical marijuana laws saw an overall reduction in fatal crashes involving drivers who tested positive for opioids.

Wealth Not Health
A Big Tobacco Moment for The Sugar Industry 

This week’s revelation that Big Sugar engaged in dubious machinations to hide the potential health effects of sugar consumption came about from slogging through document archives in libraries around the country. But the implications of that work, performed by Cristin Kearns, a postdoctoral fellow at U.C.S.F., and published this week in an article titled “Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research,” in the American Medical Association’s journal of internal medicine, are similarly dismaying. The sugar industry, by contrast, wasn’t just interested in creating uncertainty. It explicitly sought to villainize fat, and to place sole blame on it for coronary heart disease. In doing so, it was looking to reshape the scientific discussion, but it was also, ultimately, trying to enlist the government to carry out its work, by reshaping Americans’ diets.

Very True Story Sadly Not Unique
My Partner Started Using Heroin After 17 Years Clean… 

He looked like a blond Keith Richards and obviously a lot older than me so, despite the mutual attraction-that time and every time after that-I never took the flirting seriously. Until May 2007, after I opened the New York Times Book Review and saw a two-page rave about his memoir. The writer compared Joe to William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson and Jerry Stahl. I showed up for Joe’s book reading at Barnes & Noble and bought the hardcover, which he inscribed, “To the prettiest girl.” It was such a relief that a man still found me attractive. I was 45, never married, and feeling hopeless after what felt like my millionth breakup. What worried me was that he was 18 years older, had AIDS from shooting heroin, and was an ex-con.

Addicts Lives Matter – This Is Life Saving De-Stigmatizing
Canada has just approved prescription heroin  

The Canadian government has quietly approved new drug regulations that will permit doctors to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade heroin to treat severe addicts who have not responded to more conventional approaches … In April, the Trudeau government announced plans to legalize the sale of marijuana by next year, and it has appointed a task force to determine how marijuana will be regulated, sold and taxed. The government has also granted a four-year extension to the operation of Insite, a supervised injection site in Vancouver where addicts can shoot up street-obtained drugs in a controlled environment.

Reading, Writing and Alcoholism AUDIO
Chicago columnist Neil Steinberg on building a romance of sobriety AUDIO  

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg joins Justin to talk about his fascinating new book, “Out of the Wreck I Rise: A Literary Companion to Recovery.” Neil discusses what he was trying to accomplish by writing this book, the connection between drinking and writing, the romanticizing of alcohol in literature, his own experiences with alcoholism and his relationship with the written word and how it helps him with his recovery. Neil also reads a few quotes from the book. Great stuff. 

Talk About It Now – VIDEO
Liam Byrne – Alcoholism is last taboo in British public life VIDEO  

READ MORE @ BelfastTelegraph.co.uk  

Memories are Made of This
Moby Talks About Alcoholic Father on ‘Hollywood Medium’ 

…psychic Tyler Henry has a reading with singer/songwriter Moby. Tyler connects with a paternal figure named James who has a connection to New Jersey. Moby (born Richard Melville Hall) reveals that his father James was from New Jersey. He died when Moby was 2 years old. Tyler tells Moby he’s also picking up on a lot of family dysfunction including “multiple alcoholics.” Moby reveals that his father was an alcoholic and “died very drunk” in a car accident while he was driving.

Ever Heard of Facebook? VIDEO
WeConnect is an app to support addiction recovery VIDEO

Their app-based support platform includes context-sensitive notifications to encourage timely communication within support groups; a dashboard view that structures the user’s day with activities they view as beneficial to their wellbeing (such as prayer or meditation); and ongoing tracking of their personal progress at attending recovery program meetings – including using geofencing to determine they really attended a particular meeting and even how long they spent there. It also includes an SOS button a user can press to send a message requesting specific pre-slected contacts get in touch – for moments when they’re feeling really low or in need of immediate support.

HEALTH WARNING
Trump’s FDA plan should raise concerns for Americans who EAT FOOD   

Congressional Republicans have pushed for years to scale back those food safeguards, and as of yesterday, Donald Trump made clear he intends to do exactly that if elected. In a fact sheet Thursday, the campaign highlighted a number of “specific regulations to be eliminated” under the GOP nominee’s economic plan, including what they called the “FDA Food Police.” Of particular interest, the Trump campaign complained about FDA rules on issues such as inspections of food facilities, the temperatures at which food is stored safely, and “farm and food production hygiene.”

Reach Out
Watching Men Read Their Suicide Notes Is a Powerful Public Service Announcement

Depression and other mental health struggles are often erroneously thought of as women’s issues, despite the fact that this is far from the truth. Suicide, in particular, leads to far more male deaths than female deaths every year. In fact, men are a whooping 3.5 times more likely than women to take their own life, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

We Are Not Mice, We Are Devo
Marijuana Makes for Slackers? Now There’s Evidence

A small study shows something similar in humans. Published this month in the journal Psychopharmacology by a University College London team, the study of 17 adults showed that inhaling cannabis with THC alone (versus pot with CBD plus THC, or a placebo), induces people to choose an easy task more often, eschewing the harder one that offered four times the payoff. Neither the researchers nor the subjects knew who had gotten the drug, who the placebo. The effects were short term, meaning that the subjects’ apathy didn’t persist after the high wore off.

 FOR SPONSORSHIPS CALL – 818-762-0461

Why Bother?
Uncovering The Ingredients of Successful Adolescent Recovery???

LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY This study was conducted in a single program with only 14 individuals all of whom were immersed in a 12-step focused program and had achieved 1 or more years of recovery. Also, the findings reflected perceptions of parents and staff members. Consequently, the findings may not represent the population of adolescents in, or seeking, substance use disorder recovery, or the multitude of settings where adolescents may seek treatment more generally (school, outpatient, residential, etc.)

READ MORE @ RecoveryAnswers.org  

Addiction/Recovery eBulletin Fan Mail
“It’s a unique service to addicts and their families.”  

“It’s a unique service to addicts and their families. And an informational periodical for the rehab industry. If I don’t ingest the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin, then I immediately need a fix.”

Paul Krassner 

American author, journalist, comedian, and founder of the magazine The Realist. Krassner became a key figure in the counterculture of the 1960s as a member of Ken Kesey‘s Merry Pranksters.

Become a Sponsor – Click on City

Cinema Village, September 23-29, 2016

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Laemmle NoHo, October 21-27, 2016
FT. LAUDERDALE
Gateway Cinema, November 4-6, 2016
To Sponsor, call:
818-762-0461

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Alcohol Anonymous Movie Tribute Day, Thee Amazing Films about the Birth of AA and Al-Anon 

On Saturday, September 24, 2016 we will have a Q&A with Author William Borchert between the screenings of two very important films about the inception of AA:  

1:00 pm – My Name is Bill W.  – Starring James woods and James Gardener View the trailer here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Zv8GNROhQ
LIVE IN PERSON:   William Borchert discussing the books behind the films and filming of  “My Name is Bill W.” (with William having a small part as bar patron) and “When Love is Not Enough – The Lois Wilson Story “

ALSO, Dr. Kimberly Johnson from SAMSHA, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, will be facilitation a Q&A with audience participation.
3:00 pm  When Love is not Enough- The Lois Wilson Story  – Starring Winona Ryder and Barry Pepper
View the trailer here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZgg3y7lJng

5:00 pm the World Premiere of “The Mary Seiberling Tapes, Witness to a Miracle” with IN PERSON guests, filmmaker Kathy Anderson and  William Huhn, Grandson of Henrietta Seiberling.  Ms. Anderson and Mr. Huhn will conduct Q&A following the 40 minute film

Lawrence Block Speaks in New York on Sept. 28
The True Story of a Fictional Drunk’s Recovery – LIVE EVENT 

New York, NY – Award-Winning author Lawrence Block discusses one of his most beloved characters, Matthew Scudder,  on Wednesday Sept. 28, 2016 at 8:00 pm at Cinema Village 22 E. 12th Street, New York City, NY.  10003. This is the symposium bit of the 5th Annual REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium. Author of over 150 novels, Mr. Block will discuss the devo/evolution of sober private eye, Matthew Scudder. The ex-cop first appeared in print in 1976 in The Sins of the Fathers, as a hard-drinking, defrocked New York cop, now working as an unlicensed private investigator. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear a master storyteller tell his most important story of all. Mr. Block has generously agreed to sign books after the meeting. Hell sign up to three books that you bring with you, and will bring a limited quantity of books for sale. Tickets $20.00 purchase through Brown Paper Tickets.

THIS BANNER AD SPACE AVAILABLE

Call Leonard Buschel @ 818-762-0461 

September 20 Addiction Recovery eBulletin