April 15 v 22 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

Plans go wrong for lack of advice;
    many advisers bring success.

STEP 1  - We admitted we were powerless against addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable.

Sometimes it takes a village to raise a child. When it comes to sobriety the same is true . I have seen many including myself under the direction of my old prideful thinking that I can white Knuckle my recovery in the beginning and then I would be fine. It was that kinda of thinking that kept me stuck for so long. Addiction is the only war you will win when you surrender, Our nature as humans is to dominate and stay in charge.The step tells us we are powerless and that is only true if we think we can do this on our own. Surrendering and admitting your whipped breaks the grip of your foolish pride .Once its grip is loosened you have to cry out for help from others like yourself who have been right where you are . The more brothers and sisters you surround yourself with and talk to the more likely your chances  of success will be. 

Psalms 13: 3 - 6 - Consider [and] hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the [sleep of] death;

By Joseph Dickerson

Largest Health Insurer in Massachusetts Has Cut Narcotic Prescriptions
 

By Join Together Staff | April 9, 2014 | 1 Comment | Filed in Community Related, Insurance, Prescription Drugs & Prevention


Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest health insurer, announced it has reduced prescriptions of narcotic painkillers by about 6.6 million pills in the past 18 months. The insurer limited the amount of opioids that members could obtain without prior approval of the company, WBUR reports.

Since the changes were implemented in July 2012, prescriptions for opioids including Percocet have declined by 20 percent, and those for long-lasting drugs such as OxyContin have declined by 50 percent, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts President Andrew Dreyfus told The Boston Globe.

An initial review of prescription information, launched in 2011, revealed more than 30,000 of the company’s members received opioid prescriptions that lasted for more than 30 days. “What we found out is in looking at patients who deserved to get pain medications or needed pain medications, many of them were getting significantly more than they would need,” Dr. John Fallon, Senior Vice President and Chief Physician Executive, told WBUR.

Under the program, patients are initially given shorter-term prescriptions for opioids. Patients seeking long-term prescriptions must go through a review process. Before patients are given more medication beyond the new limits, they must be assessed for the risk of addiction, and must agree on a treatment plan with their doctor.

Patients with cancer or other terminal illnesses are exempt from the rules.

“In the past, physicians said that no one should be in pain, and people gave more prescription medication than they probably needed, and that led to supply sitting around, which was then used for inappropriate reasons,” Fallon said. “Now I think there’s an awareness in the physician community how hazardous these medications are.”

Daily Quote

"Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits." - Hannah More

Today's Online Meetings

AA Meeting - 8:00 pm CST: "Face to Face"

Copyright 2011 Community of Recovering People LLC

Privacy Policy

If you no longer wish to receive My Recovery emails, click here: Place my email on the "No eMail" list

APRIL 14 V 17 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

Short-tempered people do foolish things,
    and schemers are hated.

STEP 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 

Manipulation of others at this point should not bet an option in your toolbox for life. From time to time I catch myself thinking the way I used too think and how can I get over on someone who is just not following my rules . It is that kinda of thinking that made  me sick. My short temper made many in my life run away and I only have myself too blame . Looking at the Proverb and the step make me realize I was a real piece of work and their were many victims of my insanity . Regret is an anchor that will slow your recovery process down . Say your sorry try to make it up too them and move on . Some of your victims want nothing too do with you apologize and leave them alone . NO more games ! Its called maturity and sobriety ! Pray for what you need  , always remain calm and wait , if what your praying for does not come it means God has something better . 

Colossians 1:11-12 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

By : Joseph Dickerson

APRIL 13 V 15 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

A person with good sense is respected;
    a treacherous person is headed for destruction.

STEP 4 -   Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Who are you ! Are  you someone heading to hell in a hand basket or are you someone with good sense .Step four will help you figure this one out . My life was a mystery for thirty two years all that time growing up and living in active addiction had me convinced I was someone else . After hitting bottom and finding the steps ,  I began to discover I was not who I was pretending to be. Step four solved the mystery and brought freedom I never thought possible in life . 

  Proverb 21 v 2 - Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. 

BY : Joseph Dickerson 

Ten Ways the War On Drugs Violates the U.S. Constitution

How our government's ongoing policy on drugs threatens all of us in unexpected ways.



shutterstock


By Clarence Walker

04/10/14
Share on facebookShare on twitter | More Sharing ServicesShare

An Inside Look at the Drug War Vs. Civilization
Art Exhibit Confronts Race and the Drug War
Blacks In Government Blast "Racist" Drug War
Is Drug Testing an Invasion of Privacy?

Even while marijuana legalization has been approved in some states, the War on Drugs remains the biggest and greatest violation and imminent threat to our civil liberties and the preservation of the Bill of Rights under the Constitution. The War on Drugs is an enemy to the rights and privacy of U.S. citizens everywhere. And this war not only targets guilty drug users or traffickers; it is also waged against innocent Americans who may think they are safe from draconian drug war policies.

This belief is a myth, and here's why: even if you don’t use marijuana, cocaine, pop pills or inject heroin—the drug war can still target you as a suspect. It doesn't matter if you're at work, picking up mail, applying for a job or even purchasing cold medicine at drug stores like CVS or Walgreens, the drug war has boldly established a 24-7 disturbing presence in the lives of American citizens.

The drug war is also responsible for the past and present illegal surveillance of people's cars and property and even plays a vital role in collecting information through illegal spying. The government's drug policies have unequivocally undermined basic civil rights and gutted the constitutional amendments. And it's not coincidental that much of the eroding civil rights in the "war on terror" came directly from the war on drugs.

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once summed up the drug war by reminding his fellow justices that "there is no drug exception to the Constitution."

The drug war is a war on everyone. So who is the real enemy? Drugs are not the enemy because drugs are chemicals. We have a war on drugs no more than we have a war on fruit trees. Just read the Constitution and there's nothing in it that says our government can pass laws to prohibit citizens from injecting narcotics or smoking marijuana; our brains and bodies don't belong to the government.

In a recent email, Phil Smith, editor of Drug War Chronicle, slammed the drug war this way: "One area of constitutional violations is in the realm of mandatory, suspicionless drug testing. The federal courts have held repeatedly that a drug test is a search under the Fourth Amendment and have generally barred government from requiring such tests, although they carved out a handful of exceptions for public safety-sensitive positions such as law enforcement, and for students engaged in extracurricular activities."

Smith points out the differences in how the Constitution functions against the government and private entities. "The Fourth Amendment protects us from the government, not privatization. That's why private employers can demand a drug test for no reason, but the government cannot demand welfare recipients take a drug test for no reason."

According to drugpolicy.org and Forbes, here are the stats proving the failure and institutionalized racism of the drug war:

• More than $51 billion has been spent annually in the U.S. on the drug war.

• 1.55 million people were arrested in 2012 on non-violent drug charges.

• 749,825 people were arrested that same year for marijuana drug violations. Of those, 658,231 were charged with possession only.

• Over 200,000 students lost federal financial aid eligibility due to a drug conviction.

• Studies show that the amount of tax revenues drug legalization would rake in annually is estimated at $46.7 billion dollars if current illegal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to alcohol and tobacco.

• African Americans represent an alarming 62 percent of all drug offenders sent to U.S. state prisons, yet they only represent 12 percent of the American population.

• Black men are sent to prison on drug charges at a rate that is 13 times that of white men.

• Out of 25.4 million Americans arrested on drug charges since 1980; approximately one-third of them were black

Here are prime examples of how the drug war policies violate the Constitution:

(1) Facts Behind How DEA Designated Marijuana as a Schedule 1 Drug: Long ago the federal government defined marijuana as a schedule 1 drug with no scientific accepted medical use. Apparently the feds intentionally ignored how marijuana is beneficial for people to treat serious ailments like arthritis, diabetes, glaucoma, Crohn's disease, and Parkinson’s disease and marijuana is also used to relieve joint pain as well as relieve nausea that cancer patients feel after undergoing chemotherapy. Further, marijuana has been used to treat depression and other mood disorders.

Plus we must not forget how the DEA and conservative lawmakers have tried to block legislation for states to pass medical marijuana laws. Thousands of chronically ill patients have suffered unnecessarily due to this opposition. In states where medical marijuana is legal the DEA along with city and county law enforcement officers continue to raid marijuana businesses, and arrest patients and legal pot growers.

Warning: Anyone living in a state without medical marijuana laws can be arrested for buying it to treat a medical condition. Under federal law marijuana is illegal even if a particular state legalizes it for medical or recreational purposes.

(2) Millions of Americans are Drug-Tested Each Year: Remember the job you applied for where the hiring requirements included submitting to a drug test? Well approximately 84 percent of U.S employers drug-test current employees including anyone considered for hiring.

So here's the kicker: what if a potential employee confides to a prospective employer that he takes prescribed legal opiates like oxycodone for pain, or a legal amphetamine like Adderall for ADHD, or even medical marijuana? The potential employee has just set himself up for rejection; even though he takes legally prescribed medication, this testing mandate actually gives employers unlimited power to discriminate against millions of workers based on private health decisions.