Tuesday, February 12, 2013
PRO-ACT Family Addiction Education Program helps families address drug and alcohol addiction
Next free sessions start week of March 5 at various locations in five counties
Each month PRO-ACT (Pennsylvania Recovery Organization–Achieving Community Together) hosts a free Family Addiction Education Program to help individuals and families recognize and address an addiction problem in a spouse, parent, child or other loved one. Led by trained volunteers who have been in the same situation, these information and support programs begin the first week of each month and run one evening a week for three consecutive weeks. Each session lasts two hours.
Programs are offered at several locations throughout the five-county southeast Pennsylvania region:
· Tuesdays—From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Media and Northeast Philadelphia.
· Wednesdays—From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Pottstown; from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in North Philadelphia; and from 7 p.m.to 9 p.m. in West Chester.
· Thursdays—From 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Northern Liberties; 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Bristol and Colmar
Sessions are free and confidential—first names only. Pre-registration is required. To register, call 800-221-6333, weekdays 9 a.m. through 5 p.m., or visit www.proact.org and click the Family Addiction Education Program link.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Amy Winehouse's Legacy
Mitch Winehouse may have lost his daughter Amy to addiction, but as he tells The Fix, he's doing his best to prevent similar tragedies in other families.
Mitch and Amy Winehouse
Photo via
On July 23, 2011, the music world—and beyond—was dealt a
crushing blow when Amy Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning after binge
drinking. But while fans were mourning, Amy’s father Mitch immediately
sprang into action by starting the Amy Winehouse Foundation,
an organization designed to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol
misuse on young people in the UK. The foundation has crossed over into
the US and now offers music scholarships for disadvantaged youth; it
will also hold the first annual Amy Winehouse Foundation Inspiration Awards and Gala on March 21 in NYC, where Tony Bennett will serve as the honoree and Jennifer Hudson and Nas will perform.
Mitch has also released the memoir Amy, My Daughter and is carrying on her musical legacy with his own album, "Rush of Love"—with the proceeds from both ventures going directly to the foundation. In an exclusive interview with The Fix,
Mitch speaks about the accomplishments of the foundation, parenting a
child who’s addicted and the importance of early intervention.
How did the Amy Winehouse Foundation first come about?
I
was in a hotel room in New York when I first got the news that Amy
passed away and one of the first things that entered my head was
“Foundation, foundation, foundation.” But I had no experience with this
and when we started to create it, we realized you can’t just start one
up. It was a steep learning curve and continues to be.
We
launched in the UK in September 2011, but we’re really just starting
here in the US. In the UK, we’re helping a number of grantees and have
joined up with a homeless charity called New Horizon that feeds hot
meals to 60 young people a day. We’re also working on creating drug and
alcohol education projects and, starting in April, we’ll go into 45
schools and speak with the kids.
Nobody chooses to be an addict. Amy didn’t choose to be an addict.
What is the foundation hoping to accomplish?
Our
mission is to help disadvantaged young people so we’re looking to do
that in all forms. In the US, we’ll have a slightly different aim and
focus more on providing music scholarships. We just donated $25,000 to
the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Amy was half-American and her mom
was born in Brooklyn, so it made sense for one of our first US grants to
be given out here.
But in the UK, there is no drug education in
schools whatsoever. And what about the kids who suffer from self-esteem
issues? What do they do when they’re being pressured to drink or do
drugs by their peers? What if they’re being bullied or bullying
themselves? It’s an issue that goes beyond drugs and alcohol and there
are enough people working in recovery in Britain who could be of
assistance with this. The service that we’re providing is completely
unique to the UK.
Did Amy have issues with drugs as a child or did those develop in adulthood?
To
be honest, that all happened so long ago that I don’t want to look back
on it. She dealt with her drug problems successfully and was clean for
the last three years of her life. What she was suffering from was
alcohol addiction. And she really was just one step away from winning
that battle, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Having a child who’s an addict can’t be easy.
It’s
the most difficult thing that you can imagine. If you talk to three
clinical psychologists, they’ll give you three different answers about
the best approach. Some say hard love, others say soft love, another
says tough love. And when people are in the midst of an addiction, they
find it difficult to relate to their families and often separate
themselves completely. Luckily, Amy didn’t do that with us. You just
have to let them know you love them and care about them.
It’s such
a difficult situation for families both in the UK and the US, though,
because, unless you have the resources to send your child to private
treatment, it’s a three-year waiting list. And we did have the means to
send Amy to all these different places, but so many people don’t.
In
your memoir, you talked about needing a holiday from her. A lot of
parents of addicts often feel guilty admitting that it can be
exhausting.
It’s
exhaustion, it’s boring and it’s repetitious. I really wanted that to
come across in the book. One day she’s clean and hasn’t done any drugs,
the next day she’s using again. It would get better and then we’d be
back to square one. It was important for me to try and convey that
feeling of helplessness and boredom.
Did you reach out to any support groups?
There
are a few voluntary organizations in the UK with a family focus, so I
did attend those. And what I found is that most parents are in the same
boat. They think they’re on their own and genuinely don’t know what to
do because if you can’t afford treatment, you pretty much are left on
your own to figure it out.
What message do you hope to convey with the foundation and your work in addressing addiction?
Nobody
chooses to be an addict. Amy didn’t choose to be an addict. 100 percent
of people suffering from addiction didn’t imagine it would end up this
way. It’s an illness and should be treated as such. If someone has
appendicitis in the US and they don’t have private insurance, they’ll
still get an operation and the hospital will pick up the bill. The same
principle should apply with treating addiction.
I
also want to stress the importance of early intervention in school
education programs, as well as reintegration into society once addiction
has happened. Instead of being a burden on society, addicts should be
allowed to earn their own money and rejoin the community. It’s not
rocket science.
McCarton Ackerman is a freelance writer currently residing in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in Time Out New York, The Huffington Post, abcnews.com and usopen.org, among others. He has also written about Carré Otis and Celebrity Rehab, among many other topics, for The Fix.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Fewer Teens Receiving Substance Abuse Prevention Messages From Media
The percentage of teenagers who receive substanced abuse
prevention messages from the media in the past year dropped from 83.2
percent in 2002, to 75.1 percent in 2011, according to a new government report.
Teens also received fewer school-based prevention messages, the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
found. Such messages reached 78.8 percent of teens in 2002, and 74.5
percent in 2011. An estimated 40 percent of teens did not talk with
their parents in the past year about the dangers of substance abuse, Newswise reports.
A recent SAMHSA report
found teen attitudes about the risk of substances such as alcohol and
marijuana have changed in recent years. From 2002 to 2011, the
percentage of teens who perceived great risk from heavy drinking
increased from 38.2 percent to 40.7 percent. During that same time,
there was a drop in binge drinking among teens, from 10.7 percent to 7.4
percent.
The report found the percentage of teens who perceived great risk
from marijuana use once or twice a week dropped, from 54.6 percent in
2007, to 44.8 percent in 2011. Teens’ rate of past-month marijuana use
increased during that time, from 6.7 percent to 7.9 percent.
“To prevent substance abuse among our adolescents, our young people
have to know the facts about the real risks of substance abuse, and
we’re not doing a very good job of that right now,” SAMHSA Administrator
Pamela S. Hyde said in a news release.
“It is time for all of us – the public health community, parents,
teachers, caregivers, and peers – to double our efforts in educating our
youth about substance use and engaging them in meaningful conversations
about these issues, so that they can make safe and healthy decisions
when offered alcohol or drugs.”
Relatives of Painkiller Overdose Patients Speak at FDA Hearing
Relatives of patients who overdosed on painkillers told
federal regulators Thursday they want changes on the labels of narcotic
painkillers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Pain patients concerned such action could limit their access to the medications spoke against the proposed changes.
They spoke at a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing on the use of opioids
in the treatment of chronic pain. The FDA said it wants to gather
scientific evidence on issues including diagnosis and understanding of
patient pain, understanding and adhering to the labels of pain-treating
products, limiting opioid prescriptions and use, and abuse and misuse of
opioid medicines.
The FDA is considering a petition by Physicians for Responsible
Opioid Prescribing, a group of doctors and pain specialists, to include a
recommended upper daily dose on the medications’ label, and to limit
opioid treatment to 90 days, the article notes. The doctors’ group is
also recommending that opioids be indicated for severe pain, not
moderate pain, except in cancer patients.
Last month, a FDA advisory panel voted to strengthen restrictions
on hydrocodone combination drugs, such as Vicodin. The panel
recommended the FDA make the drugs more difficult to prescribe. If the
FDA accepts the panel’s recommendation, it will be sent to the
Department of Health and Human Services, which will make the final
decision.
Illegal Street Sales of Take-Home Doses of Methadone on the Rise
Illegal street sales of take-home doses of liquid
methadone, prescribed to treat opioid addiction, are on the rise,
according to law enforcement officials in Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia
and West Virginia.
The diverted methadone has been tracked to clinics operated by CRC
Health Corp., the article notes. CRC, owned by Bain Capital Partners, is
the largest U.S. provider of methadone treatment, according to
Bloomberg. Last year it operated 57 clinics in 15 states, Bloomberg reports.
Former employees say the company’s clinics are chronically
understaffed, which makes it easier for take-home methadone to be
abused. Former counselors say their heavy workload did not allow them to
adequately counsel patients.
The clinics provide take-home packages, some with just one dose, and
others containing as many as 30 doses. Police and prosecutors say in the
small towns where the company has clinics, methadone has surfaced in
criminal cases.
CRC Chief Executive Officer R. Andrew Eckert said take-home dosing
can help keep patients on methadone, and off illegal drugs, by not
making them come to the clinic every day for treatment. “Our mission is
to help these individuals, but sadly, we cannot report 100 percent
success,” he said. “No treatment provider can.”
Philip Herschman, Chief Clinical Officer of CRC, told Bloomberg the
company follows specific and rigid state and federal rules when it
decides which patients may obtain take-home doses. The company conducts
spot-checks, in which it calls back patients to clinics, to account for
their take-home bottles, he said. If a patient tests positive for any
illicit substances, take-home doses are suspended immediately, he added.
State regulatory records show this is not always true. The records
also indicate CRC’s clinics have not met staffing standards on more than
50 occasions.
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