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Monday, January 13, 2014
Colorado Addiction Treatment Centers Brace for More Teens Referred for Marijuana Use
By Join Together Staff | January 7, 2014 | 4 Comments | Filed in Addiction,Community Related, Drugs, Treatment & Youth
Addiction treatment centers in Colorado are bracing for an increase in teens referred for marijuana use, ABC News reports. The state began legal sales of recreational marijuana for adults last week.
While only people 21 and older are allowed to purchase marijuana, some experts are concerned the law will allow the drug to more easily fall into the hands of teens.
Dr. Christian Thurstone, who heads the teen rehabilitation center Adolescent STEP: Substance Abuse Treatment Education & Prevention Program, said 95 percent of patient referrals to the program are for marijuana use. In preparation for the new law, Dr. Thurstone has doubled his staff.
He told ABC News that marijuana can be harmful for some teens, particularly those suffering from mental illness. He said that after Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2009, teens began to use much higher potency products. “Our kids are presenting more severe addictions; it takes them longer to get a clean urine drug screen,” he said. Higher-potency marijuana can increase the risk of psychotic episodes in some teens, Thurstone added.
“Anecdotally, yes, we’re seeing kids in treatment here who have paranoia and seeing things and hearing things that aren’t there,” he said. “Adolescent exposure to marijuana [raises] risk of permanent psychosis in adulthood.”
Ben Court, an addictions expert at the University of Colorado Hospital Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation, has also seen an increase in patients addicted to marijuana since the state approved medical marijuana. He says the younger people are when they start consistently using marijuana, the more likely they are to become addicted. “Most people are going to smoke weed and it’s not going to be an issue. By 18 to 24, your odds are less than 1 in 10 that you’re going to be addicted,” he said. “If you start under 18, it’s 1 in 6.”
Sunday, January 12, 2014
January 12 v 19 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB
Truthful words stand the test of time,
but lies are soon exposed.
STEP 5 : I will admit to God, to myself, and to another human being, the exact nature of my wrongs.
You can never go wrong with telling the truth. Along with lieing comes fear guilt shame and worry. at least for me that is what I carried for many years. Every time I tried too get away with something there was a gnawing in my gut and the constant racing thoughts of will I get caught ,did anybody see me.Constant lieing made me physically and spiritually sick . Chemical substances cannot take away the those constant feelings of fear worry anxiety and guilt.These emotions are relentless and they will eventually eat you alive. Step five is hell and one of the most difficult steps to take but the reward of freedom you will receive is well worth walking through the flames. The Proverb once again is spot on in living a sober and healthy life. Step five is the key that will open the prison door of the cell in which you have lived far too long.
Ambien Zombies, Murder, and Other Disturbing Behavior
Ambien Zombies, Murder, and Other Disturbing Behavior
The number one prescription sleep aid is becoming better known for triggering bizarre behavior than it is for treating insomnia.
By Allison McCabe
01/10/14
On March 29, 2009, Robert Stewart, 45, stormed into the Pinelake Health and Rehab nursing home in Carthage, North Carolina and opened fire, killing eight people and wounding two. Stewart’s apparent target was his estranged wife, who worked as a nurse in the home. She hid in a bathroom and was unharmed. Stewart was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder; if convicted, he could face the death penalty. Even though there was evidence that Stewart’s actions were premeditated (he allegedly had a target), Stewart’s defense team successfully argued that since he was under the influence of Ambien, a sleep aid, at the time of the shooting, he was not in control of his actions. Instead of the charges sought by the prosecutors, Stewart was convicted on eight counts of second-degree murder. He received 142 – 179 years in prison.
Ambien, a member of the class of medications known as hypnotics, was approved by the FDA in 1992. It was designed for short term use to combat insomnia and was a welcome change from the prevailing sleep aid at the time, Halcion, which had been implicated in psychosis, suicide, and addiction and had been banned in half a dozen countries. Ambien works by activating the neurotransmitter GABA and binding it to the GABA receptors in the same location as the benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium. The extra GABA activity triggered by the drug inhibits the neuron activity that is associated with insomnia. In other words, it slows down the brain. Ambien is extremely effective at initiating sleep, usually working within 20 minutes. It does not, however, have an effect on sustaining sleep unless it is taken in the controlled release form.
Ironically, you are more likely to be successful using the Ambien defense if you injure or kill someone than if you just crash into a parked car or a tree.
After its approval, Ambien quickly rose to dominance in the sleep aid market. Travelers swore by it to combat jet lag, and women, who suffer more insomnia than men, bought it in droves. Sanofi, Ambien’s French manufacturer, made $2 billion in sales at its peak. In 2007 the generic version of Ambien was released, Zolpidem, and at less than $2 per pill, it still remains one of the most prescribed drugs in America, outselling popular painkillers like Percocet and prescription strength ibuprofen.
Although the Ambien prescribing information warned, in small print, that medications in the hypnotic class had occasional side effects including sleep walking, “abnormal thinking,” and “strange behavior,” these behaviors were listed as extremely rare, and any anecdotal evidence of “sleep driving,” “sleep eating,” or “sleep shopping”—all behaviors now associated with Ambien blackouts—were characterized as unusual quirks, or attributed to mixing the medication with alcohol. It wasn’t until Patrick Kennedy’s 2006 middle-of-the-night car accident and subsequent explanation to arriving officers that he was running late for a vote that the bizarre side effects of Ambien began to receive national attention. Kennedy claimed that he had taken the sleep aid and had no recollection of the events that night.
Shortly after the Kennedy incident, Ambien users sued Sanofi because of bizarre sleep-eating behaviors while on the drugs. According to Chana Lask, attorney for the class action suit, people were eating things like buttered cigarettes and eggs, complete with the shells, while under the influence of Ambien. Lask called people in this state “Ambien zombies.” As a result of the lawsuit, and of increasing reports coming in about “sleep driving,” the FDA ordered all hypnotics to issue stronger warnings on their labels.
In addition to giving consumers extra information so they could take the medication more carefully, the warning labels also gave legitimacy to the Ambien (or Zombie) defense. In March of 2011, Lindsey Schweigert took one Ambien before getting into bed at 6pm. Hours later, she woke up in custody with no idea how she’d gotten there. In the following weeks, Schweigert pieced together the events of that night. She’d gotten out of bed, drawn a bath, and left the house with her dog. She started driving to a local restaurant but crashed into another car soon after leaving her house. Police described her as swaying and glassy-eyed. She failed a sobriety test and was charged with DWI and running a stoplight.
Schweigert had a job that required a security clearance. She had never been in trouble with the law before and was terrified of losing her job and having a criminal record. Prosecutors initially wanted to impose a six month jail sentence in addition to other punishments, but Schweigert’s lawyer argued that Lindsey’s bizarre behavior on the night in question was a result of a medication which warned right on the label that “After taking AMBIEN, you may get up out of bed while not being fully awake and do an activity that you do not know you are doing. The next morning, you may not remember that you did anything during the night…Reported activities include: driving a car (“sleep-driving”), making and eating food, talking on the phone, having sex, sleep-walking.” In fact, the lawyer argued, Schweigert should have been taken to a hospital, not to jail. Prosecutors dropped the charges and allowed Lindsey to plead to the lesser charge of careless driving, which meant that she could keep her security clearance. Her license was suspended for a year, however, and she had to pay upwards of $9,000 in legal fees.
As a result of the Schweigert verdict, an attorney successfully used the Ambien defense to overturn a 2006 DWI conviction for a New Jersey woman by arguing that the drug's labeling had changed six months after his client’s arrest. The court agreed, saying that it would be an "injustice to hold her responsible for the undisclosed side effects of a popular and readily available medication that she was lawfully prescribed and properly administered."
Friday, January 10, 2014
January 10 v 25 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB
When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone,
but the righteous stand firm forever.
STEP 12 :Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The Proverb is clear and the storm is our lives. Just like the weather your life will have sunny days and some rainy. When the big storms come and they will ,do you want to be standing alone in addiction That is what eventually happens due to our selfish and destructive ways. How many of our brothers and sisters have been swept away too soon. God promises that if you stand with Him , He will stand with you and shield from the storm. Lets put that in perspective a storm , lets think back to hurricane Sandy and the destruction it left behind. I know most of you remember the images on the TV. Addiction is a lot like that it destroys everything in its path including your life. So why would you want to stand alone if you turn to God He will bring you His divine protection and get thru the storm . That is the message ,step one surrender,step two let go let God , step twelve pass it on. The Proverb is the promise !
Affordable Care Act from the Mental Health Association
Good Afternoon!
We have finally been able to reschedule the training on the Affordable Care Act from the Mental Health Association of Southeast Pennsylvania (MHASP) Navigators. It will be held on January 16th from 12:30 to 3:30pm at The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc.
If you want a basic primer on the Act the first part of the training is for you. There will be a Powerpoint overview from 12:30 to 1:30ish. Then the floor is open for questions and people can be registered for insurance coverage if they wish.
Please pass along the attached flyer to anyone you feel would benefit from this information! Please be sure to let me know if you are coming so we can arrange for materials and some form of refreshments.
Thank you,
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! and Twitter https://twitter.com/TheCouncilSEPA
Jessica Schwartz
Volunteer Coordinator & Prevention Specialist
The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc.
252 West Swamp Road, Unit 33
Doylestown, Pennsylvania 18901
Phone: (215) 230-8218 ext. 3158
Fax: (215) 230-8205
(800) 221-6333 - 24 Hour Information Line
jschwartz@councilsepa.org
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