APRIL 28 v 14 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

Blessed are those who fear to do wrong,

but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble.

STEP 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

As I get older I get spooked a lot easier , you could say my nerves are shot . I look back and cant believe how quickly I was willing to do stuff I am afraid to talk about now. My stubbornness almost killed me !I could not wait for step six ! Pride , stubbornness ,and fear of nothing has left me with anxiety at times even though I am fourteen years sober. Get out while you still can , their are way too many gone too soon because of stubbornness and pride.

By :Joseph Dickerson

Proverbs 17:11, "An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him."

April 27 v 1 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB
 

Don’t brag about tomorrow,
since you don’t know what the day will bring.

STEP 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.

How many times are we gonna spend countless hours of planning whats gonna happen next. So many times no matter what we plan to do or get done it never works out the way we planned. The Proverb is giving you a warning to save you from worry , disappointment , fear , and uncertainty . These four triggers can be just the ticket to get you a seat on the relapse roller coaster. Step three is key because we really dont have control whether we are sober or not . God is in control and you can stay on your program and continue to use , suffer , and struggle or his program. His program is a destiny , it is a plan to prosper you to give you a life of peace and joy .I am not saying you wont face difficult times on His program but He will take you thru it no matter what life has to throw at you. If you live in the past you will never find your future and if you live in the future you will wind up missing the present . Live each day as if it is your last , love like you never loved before , Forgive fast and laugh always .

Jeremiah 29 : 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

By:Joseph Dickerson

Rockers In Recovery
April Newsletter  April 2014
Latest Press Become A Sponsor Rockers In Recovery Radio and Productions Inc. ALL of Rockers In Recovery Productions are funded by sponsorship dollars.  If you  or your organization would like to be a sponsor of Rockers In Recovery through Rockers In Recovery Radio and Productions Inc  please  click here for more information or call us at 954-826-5968. Through Rockers In Recovery Radio and Productions Inc. we offer different platforms to carry the message of hope in an exciting new way. RIR Events, RIR Concerts,RIR Festivals, RIR magazine (in print and online), RIR Addiction Talk Radio, RIR TV, and RIR Live Concert and Event  Streaming ,makes it easy to reach hundreds of thousands of people globally with just a click of a mouse. Info RIR Website RIR Radio RIR Store RIR Blog RIR Fan Page Meet Our Sponsors		Rockers In Recovery Newsletter is dedicated to addiction recovery through music, news, interviews, events, and festivals taking place within the clean and sober community.   Upcoming Gigs The RIR U.S. TOUR Will Be Starting On The West Coast First Then Head East: May 4, 2014 Washington DC - Meet and Greet - SOLD OUT June 2014 - D&R THEATER - ABERDEEN, WASHINGTON September 20-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Pro-Act "Recovery Walk" November 1- Fort Lauderdale, FL  - "RIR Music Festival" 5 More Concerts and Meet and Greets To Be Announced In May RIR All-Star Band Rockin' The Philly Walk PRO-ACT RECOVERY WALKS! 2014 RIR All-Star Band Rockin' The Philly Walk - PRO-ACT Building on our 12 previous years of hosting Recovery Walks! in Philadelphia, PRO-ACT is asking you to support our 13th annual Recovery Walk on September 20, 2014. Once more, we are pleased to announce that we will hold it at the Great   History Of RIR Between 1951 and 1964 John's mother had several miscarriages in between the three brothers which is why there are many years between each brother. From a very early age with all the family dysfunction going on around him, John isolated a lot. He found safety with his Aunt Marge and Uncle Blackie his cousins Vince,Bo and Pat in New Jersey as well as his oldest brother Joe when he was home in NY.   Meet The Band "Rockers In Recovery  " and The Rockin' Recovery "East Coast All-Stars":   The  All Stars  combine cream of the crop musicians that are in recovery or support recovery.  This makes for some serious good time dance music and some good old Rock and Roll.  We also invite other musicians that are in recovery or support recovery to help carry our message of hope through music.  Most importantly the message of "Rockers In Recovery Live Concert Series" is that treatment and education mixed with "HAVING FUN" in recovery is indeed possible!!   Thank your to our 17,000 Email fans, and the millions we reach everyday through Rockers In Recovery. I want to thank you for your support.    Lori Sullivan Rockers In Recovery 954-826-5968 CALL For Help  877- 241- 8383 24/7

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April 26 v 4 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB



Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools,
or you will become as foolish as they are.

 

STEP 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.



This reminds me of the song , The Gambler by Kenny Rogers . Every time I get caught up in some BS , I want to fight and make sure you hear my point of view whether I am wrong or not. I dont care if it is written down in black and white , its my or the highway . The lyrics too the song go like this you gotta know when too hold em and know when too fold em no when to walk away or no when too run! It cant get any simpler than that so why is it you wont listen too what i have been trying too tell you for the last four hours . Ohhhh I am acting a fool well that's all you had to say instead you stood there jumping up and down arguing with me til you were blue in the face. Do I need to say more. More times than not we need too just walk away our sanity and sobriety are just to damm important too keep arguing with a fool. Step ten when committed humbly and immediately will eliminate all of the drama described above.




James 4:1-2 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.” 

By Joseph Dickerson

The Effect of ObamaCare on Treatment
The Affordable Care Act has gotten a lot of attention since it was first introduced, but how does it change options for treating substance abuse? The Fix offers some practical information.



Does it care for addicts? Shutterstock


By Marissa Rosado

04/21/14
Source The  FIX
The course of events that add up to a substance abuse problem are often complicated and traumatic. The acknowledgment of the problem and the decision to enter a treatment program can be more difficult. And yet the most challenging part of this process, for many, is life after rehab: addiction resolution and continued sobriety.

Rehab can be like a cocoon. But once treatment has ended and the addict returns to society without the structure and support of the facility, he or she often relapses. For recovering addicts, the maintenance of their sobriety is a challenge that dominates their life. Will addicts be able to find continuing care from programs covered by their health insurance plans? With the landscape of health insurance options changing rapidly within the last year, what exactly can recovering addicts count on?

Previous healthcare reforms for the treatment of substance abuse

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in the US in 1935, but it took the American Medical Association until 1952 to define and acknowledge alcoholism. Case in point: we are used to a government that falls short and lags behind the issues regarding substance abuse.

After mental health insurance coverage was protected with the enactment of 1996’s Mental Health Parity Act, it took another 12 years to get it amended to include the Addiction Equity Act (its name in total, the MHPAEA). The act placed annual or lifetime dollar limits on the cost of treatment for recovering substance abuse addicts. This was a landmark move not only because it recognized the importance of supporting recovering addicts under current insurance plans, but also because it also prevented insurance companies from taking advantage of insured parties. Care for recovering addicts was guaranteed, and it looked like it wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Thanks to this legislation, the cost of substance abuse treatment was no more than the coverage for medical/surgical treatments allotted for in health insurance plans. While this doesn’t necessarily mean the treatments are affordable (especially for many in recovery, money is tight), it does provide a safety net for those seeking help. Copays, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket maximums are the same for someone treating heroin addiction as they are for someone with persistent seasonal allergies.

However: the MHPAEA did not make treatment for substance abuse a mandatory point of coverage for insurance providers. It also did not require plans to offer copays or any financial help for specific treatment of substance abuse, such as rehab programs or addiction resolution. So here is this terrific landmark legislation with giant loopholes embedded in it. This left a gap that left many in recovery without help or care.

The Affordable Care Act

In 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare” or “ACA”) into law. In late 2013 and continuing this year, the law has finally been put into practice. Millions (7.5 million, actually) of previously uninsured Americans now have health insurance. One of the tenets of the ACA is to increase the quality and affordability of health insurance. Another is to reduce the cost of healthcare for the government and insurable parties. So what does this mean for those seeking substance abuse treatment?

The good news

In a groundbreaking move, the ACA has declared the treatment of substance use disorders an essential health benefit. Where the MHPAEA fell short, the ACA is picking up the slack. Addiction recovery is now seen as a critical component to physical health. Now many more will have access to rehab programs. More in need of that treatment will receive it, which will decrease the number of abusers and, hopefully, the number of relapses.

The logic behind the ACA’s prioritization of treating substance abuse is simple dollars and cents: previously untreated addiction costs the tax payers billions of dollars accrued through privatized health care and law enforcement. Ideally, having addiction treatment covered will eventually save this country money and diminish the strain on law enforcement occupied with drug related crimes.

The methods of treating people with substance abuse under the ACA reflect a new approach. The law largely promotes the idea of preventative care. Previously, addicts were treated when they “hit bottom," when it was apparent to every outside perspective that the person needed help. Moving forward, the ACA will treat substance abuse the way it should be treated. This will include disease prevention. Think of all the campaigning to prevent obesity that’s sprung up in the last decade. Now think of that attention applied to preventing substance abuse. The ACA also promotes earlier intervention to prevent the addicted person from ever hitting bottom. The act also offers several treatment options when the insured party seeks care for their addiction.

An example of the advanced perspective of the ACA can be found in the way alcohol abuse is addressed. Screening and counseling for alcohol abuse is now considered preventative care, and under the ACA, preventative care must be fully covered. That means no deductible, co-pay or co-insurance for an insured party. People seeking care for alcohol abuse won’t be penalized or unnecessarily charged.

More good news: if someone has a history of substance abuse and is afraid of being disqualified from eligibility, there’s nothing to fear. Under the ACA, an applicant cannot be deemed ineligible for insurance based on a pre-existing condition. Under this law, substance abuse counts as a pre-existing condition; candidates cannot be rejected from the exchange based on previous drug abuse. Think of what this will mean to thousands battling drug and alcohol abuse: full health insurance, access to proper care, and a fresh start.

Are Online Pharmacies Fueling the Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic?
The Ryan Haight Act of 2008 gave the DEA the power to prosecute and shut down illegal online pharmacies. So why are so many still in business?



Shutterstock


By Allison McCabe

04/23/14
Source The Fix

On the morning of February 12, 2001, Francine Haight found her 18 year old son, Ryan, lying lifeless in his bed. Francine, a nurse, tried to resuscitate her son but it was too late. Ryan was dead of a Vicodin overdose.

“I was in shock,” Francine recounts. “Just the night before, we had dinner together after he came home from work at a nearby retail store. He used my Jacuzzi tub because he said his back bothered him from lifting things at work. At midnight I had kissed him goodnight and he said ‘love you, Mom.’”

After asking Ryan’s friends about the drugs and finding out that he had purchased them on the Internet, Francine sent Ryan’s computer to the DEA. The DEA found that Ryan had purchased the Vicodin from an online pharmacy which had then delivered the drugs directly to the Haights’ home.

If you look in your spam folder, you will probably find an ad for an online pharmacy. The majority advertise Viagra and Cialis and maybe some cholesterol drugs; drugs that require prescriptions but are not controlled substances restricted by the federal government. If you dig deeper, however, you can very quickly find whatever you’re looking for.

I once tried to score on the Internet. Many years ago, mid-kick and desperate, I searched online classifieds, looking for hidden code or secret meanings in every post; I was sure I could find someone discreetly selling heroin or other strong opiates. Why wouldn’t a dealer exploit the new global access of the web? I followed a “Pain Relief, all kinds” to a trailer park in the valley. The woman who answered the door was disheveled and her place was stacked floor to ceiling with newspapers, electronics, clothing. “Do you have the money?” She asked. Turned out she didn’t have the dope, but if I gave her my money she would “make some calls.”

These days you no longer have to wait around for an unreliable dealer, forge prescriptions, doctor shop, or engage in some other hustle to score your dope. While the FBI goes after deep underground drug selling sites like Silk Road, illegal online pharmacies have sprung up on every virtual corner. All you have to do is visit a website, make your choices, give your credit card info, and you’re set with a month’s (or more) supply of Ambien, Xanax, Ritalin, or morphine.

Jennifer was addicted to Ambien. She was the kind of drug addict who would take a handful of pills, lose consciousness, and wake up on the sidewalk in the middle of the night half-dressed. Or she would walk into a favorite restaurant, sober, and find that she’d been 86’d because of some Ambien-induced behavior that she didn’t remember.

“I was getting them prescribed by three doctors with refills, but my tolerance was so high and my body needed them so I wouldn’t go into withdrawal.” Jennifer was constantly requesting early refills and she knew that her behavior was sending up red flags at the pharmacies, so last year she decided to try her luck online.

Jennifer did a search and clicked on the first online pharmacy that popped up. She placed her order and the pharmacy called her back to get her debit card info. There was no request for a prescription, no doctor’s consultation. It was as easy to order Ambien, a federally controlled schedule 4 drug, as it was to order aspirin. Jennifer’s problems getting early refills were over. “This pharmacy doesn’t care about when you order. If I ordered 200 pills on a Tuesday, I could order another 200 on that Friday. They didn’t care, they were all about the money.”

After Ryan’s death, Francine Haight found that there were hundreds of online pharmacies (as of 2013, more than 34,000) selling prescription drugs. These pharmacies were able to dispense federally controlled drugs because there was never any explicit law against it. Laws governing the distribution of controlled substances were written in the 1970s, when no one could have predicted that one day sales could be made over a computer network. Consequently the law included no explicit prohibition against online pharmacies prescribing and distributing controlled substances. If prosecutors wanted to convict, they had to rely on an implicit prohibition, and do some tricky maneuvering in order to prove that online pharmacists’ methods “fall outside the usual course of professional practice.” This argument was used successfully in Ryan Haight’s case, and the online pharmacist and associated doctor were sentenced to prison.

The Ryan Haight Act and the DEA

As a result of Ryan’s case, Congress passed the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008. The act went into effect in April of 2009 and states that “No controlled substance that is a prescription drug as determined under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act may be delivered, distributed, or dispensed by means of the Internet without a valid prescription.” “Valid” means that the person writing the prescription has had at least one in-person visit with the recipient of the prescription. Also, each online pharmacy is required to list, on its homepage, the name of the affiliated pharmacist, his or her licensing info, the full name and address and phone number of the pharmacy, and a certification that the pharmacy is licensed to deliver controlled substances through the Internet.

Shortly after the Ryan Haight Act was made law, the DEA announced that the online pharmacy problem was close to being solved. According to a senior DEA official, “The Ryan Haight Act has pretty much eliminated the online business in the United States [and] the DEA hasn’t found a large number of foreign sites selling controlled substances to the U.S." In 2010, the DEA’s pharmaceutical investigations chief said that “(t)he Internet is not as big of a problem as we all think it is…especially dealing with controlled substances.” He added that he thought that the illegal pharmacies that were still in business were probably selling fake and counterfeit drugs. He went on to claim that the lack of any prosecutions (there have since been a couple of successful prosecutions, but they are drops in an ocean of illegal online pharmacies) under the Ryan Haight Act was due to the law having a successful deterrent effect.