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June 2, 2015              Treatment Industry & Recovery Community News                Vol. 2., No. 41
Testimonials
Ready for our Wide Shot   VIDEO
Ed Begley Jr. Interviewed for REEL Recovery Film Festival VIDEO    

St. Elsewhere that’s when I first fell in love with Ed Begley Junior a long acting career and a long record as an environmentalist. Ed’s work for the environment has earned him all kids of awards of course, he’s appeared in dozens of films and TV series and tonight, Ed is in Denver for the premiere  of the “reel” recovery film festival.”  Ed and the founder of the film festival, Leonard Buschel, join us live in-studio.

CONTINUED @ KDVR.com 

JUNE 11 to 14 in San Francisco…Be There

One More Old Fashioned?
‘Moderate’ Drinking Harms Older People’s Hearts?    

The findings of this new study — linking moderate alcohol consumption to structural changes in the heart — contradict the results of other research, he said. “Thus, any clinical significance of these findings is unclear at the present time,” said Fonarow, who was not involved in the study. The American Heart Association recommends that those who drink alcohol do so in moderation. This means an average of one to two drinks a day for men and one drink daily for women. The association cautions against starting to drink alcohol for potential heart benefits.

CONTINUED @ WebMD.com 

New Method Wellness

There Is Hope
Do You Have an Addictive Personality?     

I recently came across the story of Rich Roll, a man who went from being an overweight alcoholic to being one of the fittest, healthiest men in the world-all due to a change, not only in his way of eating, but his way of being in the world. It’s likely we all have addictive personalities to some degree, but not every addiction is visible. Just because our addiction is obsessive worrying, or nagging, or pornography, or complaining, or approval, or being right, doesn’t make it any less an addiction. Lesser addictions stay hidden by the simple fact that they’re covert.

CONTINUED @ ElephantJournal.com 

You Dirty Rat
DNA Changes During Drug Withdrawal     

Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine which was cued by a specific light or sound. This drug craving or “addictive” behavior was tested after either 1 day or 30 days of withdrawal from cocaine. Following the long withdrawal, the rats developed an intense drug seeking behavior when exposed to the cue. It was after a lengthy period without the drugs that the epigenetic changes were most evident.

CONTINUED @ AniNews.in  

Click here for Biosound Therapy

Game Changer or Topsy-Turvy   VIDEO
WV Supreme Court allows drug addicts to sue doctors, pharmacists for addiction           VIDEO    

A West Virginia Supreme Court ruling says juries can now decide if drug addicts can sue physicians and pharmacies for their addictions. In a 3-2 decision issued Wednesday, the justices paved the way for people to claim damages for allegedly causing or contributing to their addictions of controlled substances– even if they broke the law by doctor shopping.

CONTINUED @ WOWKTV.com 

 Recovery Program Management

A Most Deadly Disease
Report sparks debate on merits and dangers of video gambling     

Melynda Litchfield said her gambling addiction, which started at casinos in Joliet, once led her to consider taking her own life – but her love for her children and family kept her from acting. Litchfield, now an activist for the anti-gambling organization Stop Predatory Gambling, said she sees little difference between a drug addiction and gambling. “It’s not a sexy addiction, and it’s not one that people understand. Just because you’re not ingesting something into your veins, doesn’t mean you don’t have a problem.”

CONTINUED @ ChicagoTribune.com 

 AcademicAddiction.com

Abroad: Aldous Huxley Lives
Naltrexone treatment jail first for WA drug addict inmates    

DRUG addicts in WA prisons are to be surgically implanted with blocker pellets to cure their cravings in an Australian-first. Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis said the experimental naltrexone treatment pioneered by Perth doctor George O’Neil would be introduced to the state’s prisons. Mr. Francis told The Sunday Times he wanted to “break the cycle” of offenders “coming to jail as drug addicts and leaving as drug addicts”.

CONTINUED @ PerthNow.co.au

 Benchmark Transitions

Cemetery or Sobriety
Pete Townshend: Being a rock star fuels addiction    

“So for the next 15 years, I just drank a lot. And anybody that did a lot of drugs, I used to feel a bit superior to them. Filthy drug addicts. At one time I was doing about three bottles of brandy a day – I didn’t drink any water, I didn’t drink any tea, I didn’t drink Coca-Cola. I don’t think I ate. I just lived on cognac.”

CONTINUED @ PageSix.com 

Legalize It
Feds Charge 4 in ‘Killer’ Heroin Linked to 60 Deaths    

Four people accused in federal court of distributing adeadly mix of heroin and the painkiller fentanyl that that has been linked to as many as 60 fatal drug overdoses in metro Detroit since Jan. 1. Federal prosecutors tied the four men to three of those deaths as part of a nationwide crackdown that targets drug traffickers with enhanced penalties – life in prison – when someone dies from taking the drugs.

CONTINUED @ Patch.com 

Craziness                VIDEO
What is flakka (aka gravel) and why is it more dangerous than cocaine? VIDEO    

A small overdose of the drug, which can be snorted or injected, can lead to a range of extreme symptoms: “excited delirium,” as experts call it, marked by violent behavior; spikes in body temperature (105 degrees and higher, Hall said); paranoia. Probably what has brought flakka the most attention is that it gives users what feels like the strength and fury of the Incredible Hulk.

CONTINUED @ CNN.com 

Why Only Boston?
Boston proposes 2% alcohol tax to fund recovery services    

Addiction and treatment recovery professionals told the Boston City Council on Wednesday that money raised from a possible tax on alcoholic beverages sold in the city would help them close the service gap at the back end of the recovery process. Their comments to the Council were part of a hearing on a home rule petition filed by the Councilors that calls for the creation of 2 percent tax on all alcohol sales in the city to fund addiction treatment and recovery programs.

CONTINUED @ MassLive.com 

Think You’ve Got Problems?
‘Why take my vibrator?’: cops rob ‘every belonging’ from medical marijuana patient  

Medical marijuana user Ginnifer Hency told a group of Michigan lawmakers last week that a drug task force raided her home and kept ‘every belonging’ she owned – including her vibrator – even after a judge dismissed the charges against her. “They have had my stuff for 10 months, my ladder, my iPad, my children’s iPads, my children’s phones, my medicine for my patients,” Hency noted. “Why a ladder? Why my vibrator, I don’t know either. Why TVs?”

CONTINUED @ RawStory.com 

UPCOMING EVENTS

REEL RECOVERY FILM FESTIVAL

2nd ANNUAL BAY AREA EDITION

June 11-14, 2015 

VIZ Theater, 1746 Post Street

San Francisco, CA 94115

Smith Rafael Film Center

1118 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 

Call for more information:
415-548-0492   

FOR MORE INFORMATION 
WATCH VIDEO 

New York Times Investigates  VIDEO
A Choice for Recovering Addicts: Relapse or Homelessness VIDEO    

After a lifetime of abusing drugs, Horace Bush decided at age 62 that getting clean had become a matter of life or death. So Mr. Bush, a homeless man who still tucked in his T-shirts and ironed his jeans, moved to a flophouse in Brooklyn that was supposed to help people like him, cramming into a bedroom the size of a parking space with three other men. Mr. Bush signed up for a drug-treatment program and emerged nine months later determined to stay sober. But the man who ran the house, Yury Baumblit, a longtime hustler and two-time felon, had other ideas.

CONTINUED @ NYTimes.com 

He Loved It, Yeah Yeah Yeah
Paul McCartney has quit smoking pot   

Paul McCartney has revealed he has given up smoking marijuana after using the drug on and off for around four decades. The 72-year-old said he made the decision because he didn’t want to set a bad example to his five children and eight grandchildren. ‘Back then I was just some guy around London having a ball, and the kids were little so I’d just try and keep it out of their faces. McCartney was reportedly introduced to cannabis by Bob Dylan in the mid-Sixties.

CONTINUED @ DailyMail.co.uk  

Stopping The Cycle
‘My Whole Family Has Been Destroyed to Smithereens From Addiction and Alcoholism’ by Griffin O’Neal    

“My whole family has been absolutely destroyed to smithereens from drug addiction and alcoholism,” says Griffin, 50. “The common denominator is drugs and alcohol and depression and it’s a never-ending cycle. I had to walk away from all of it. I’m done.” Now sober, he’s speaking out about his fight to remain clean now that his nephew, Kevin McEnroe, the son of Tatum and her ex, John McEnroe, has written a novel about Griffin’s mother.

CONTINUED @ People.com 

The Daily Reprieve
Demi Lovato: ‘I have to remind myself that I have an addiction’    

Demi Lovato “hit other rock bottoms” after going to rehab.The 22-year-old singer, who sought treatment for an eating and self-harming disorders in 2010 and recently revealed she is bipolar, still has to remind herself that she has an addiction every day…”I’ve actually learned how to overcome those feelings without drugs and alcohol now, which is awesome, and I now live well and I’m very happy even though I have bipolar disorder.”

CONTINUED @ NZHerald.co.nz  

Healing With Words
Rapping About Addiction    

Rappers such as New York legend DMX and Southern rap veteran Lil Wayne began to talk about their addiction problems. Lil Wayne was also one of the few rappers to talk publicly of the dangers of “zyrup”, a mix of cough syrup and codeine that’s very popular in Southern states like his native Louisiana, describing it as “death in the stomach”.

CONTINUED @ CastleCraig.com 

Check out Loma Linda University

Brandi’s Wish

Depends
How Much Alcohol Is Too Much?     

The study provides valuable information about how alcohol affects the heart, and how much alcohol exposure can trigger changes to the heart’s structure and more importantly, how it functions. But where the tipping point lies with each individual between the benefits and harms of a having a few drinks isn’t clear yet. More studies investigating which genetic factors may predispose people, and in particular women, to the toxic effects of alcohol will need to done before more refined advice about how much is too much can be discussed.

CONTINUED @ Time.com 

InTheRooms.com

New Yorkers Get Free Tickets

 

Visit the Newsletter ARCHIVES

Not All Bad   VIDEO
Scientists are studying if MDMA can treat adults with autism VIDEO    

Los Angeles researchers want to see if MDMA, a “heart-opening” drug, reduces the fear of interacting with people in the first study to look at MDMA and autistic people, co-investigator Alicia Danforth said. MDMA has been shown to boost confidence, heighten bonding and increase understanding of social cues, all qualities that could ease social anxiety, researchers said. Scientists are not trying to “cure” autism but instead find data about MDMA’s effect on social anxiety, she said.

CONTINUED @ NYDailyNews.com 

Shooting Something Different  VIDEO
Wahlberg brother produces film on opiate addiction   VIDEO

The film, produced by James Wahlberg, tells the story of two teenagers battling addiction to prescription opiates. One of the boys gets help to beat the addiction, while the other dies of an overdose. Wahlberg is the brother of Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg. To fill the church pews for the funeral in the film’s final scene, Wahlberg asked that locals who had lost loves ones to opiate addiction be extras in the film. About 150 people came out in the middle of a snowstorm to share their stories.

CONTINUED @ SentinelAnd Enterprise.com 

Pink Cloud? NOT!
I Quit Drinking 5 Years Ago and I’ve Been Insufferable Ever Since  by John DeVore

I miss the tinkle of ice, wine stains on my teeth, vomiting beer foam. I miss talking to strangers about the nuances of the human condition at 3AM. I miss not having to take responsibility for my actions. Being a sober asshole is so much more satisfying that being a drunk one. Drunk assholes never, truly, own their selfishness. They make excuses. I believe it was Joseph Campbell who wrote about how the hero stops drinking, and becomes a better person. That hero is less exciting, almost dull, but he sure doesn’t lock himself in the bathroom during parties. That’s the old hero. The new hero only drinks diet ginger ale, and he deals with anxiety attacks the way Beowulf or Perseus might have…

CONTINUED @ Medium.com 

Another Opinion
America’s 80-Year Addiction to A.A.    

One Congressman was asked his stand on whiskey, responding: “If you mean the demon drink that poisons the mind, pollutes the body, desecrates family life and inflames sinners, then I’m against it. But if you mean the elixir of Christmas cheer, the shield against winter chill, the taxable potion that puts needed funds into public coffers to comfort little children, then I’m for it.

Justice?
Creator of Silk Road Website Gets Life in Prison    

Ross Ulbricht, 31, was sentenced in Manhattan after a federal jury in February found him guilty of charges including distributing drugs through the Internet. Outside of court, Joshua Dratel, his lawyer, promised an appeal, calling the sentence “unreasonable, unjust and unfair.” A sniffling Ulbricht, who had admitted to creating Silk Road but denied wrongdoing at trial, told the judge before being sentenced that, contrary to what the prosecutors argued, he did not build Silk Road out of greed. “I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity,” he said.

CONTINUED @ NYTimes.com 

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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.   

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