Recovery Connections Network

Friday, December 5, 2014

Florida Welfare Applicants Do Not Need to Take Drug Tests: Federal Appeals Court

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

December 4th, 2014/

A federal appeals court has struck down a Florida law that required welfare applicants to undergo drug tests. The court ruled the law was an “unreasonable search.”

The law, passed in 2011, required drug tests for welfare applicants even if they were not suspected of using drugs, The New York Times reports. The court ruled Florida officials failed to show a substantial need to test all welfare applicants. Under the law, applicants had to submit to urine tests.

In October 2011, a federal judge temporarily halted the law. At the time, Judge Mary Scriven said the law may violate the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. The judge’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida and a Navy veteran. The veteran, Luis Lebron, was a University of Central Florida student who cares for his son and disabled mother, and receives welfare.

The Florida law required applicants to be responsible for the cost of the screening. They could recover the costs if they qualify for assistance. Under the law, applicants who failed the drug screen could designate another person to receive the benefits on behalf of their children. A federal judge ruled the law unconstitutional in 2013, but the state appealed.

According to the article, 11 states have passed laws mandating drug testing for welfare applicants since 2011. Most of the laws require testing only if drug use is suspected.

“Florida’s suspicionless drug testing program for those seeking assistance clearly violated the Constitution,” Jason Williamson, Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, said in a news release. “With today’s decision, this prejudiced and intrusive treatment of the poor will come to an end.”

Researchers Developing Breath Test for Marijuana-Impaired Driving

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

December 4th, 2014/

Researchers at Washington State University are developing a breath test for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The test could be used to determine if a person is driving under the influence of marijuana, according to The Seattle Times.

Drug-impaired driving has become an increasing concern since recreational marijuana use became legal in Washington in 2012. The Washington State Toxicology Laboratory reported 25 percent of tested blood samples taken from suspected impaired drivers tested positive for active THC in 2013, compared with 18.6 percent in 2012.

Currently there is no portable tool that allows law enforcement officers to test drivers for marijuana impairment using a breath sample, the article notes. Officers now use blood tests to determine how much THC is present in a driver’s blood. Test results are not immediately available.

The new marijuana breath test is being developed by Washington State University chemistry professor Herbert Hill. He says current technologies, such as those used by airport security and customs agents to detect drugs and explosives, can be re-purposed to test for marijuana.

Washington state set the legal limit for THC at which a driver is determined to be impaired at 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood. While the breath test is unlikely to pinpoint the exact level of THC in the body, it will indicate whether some active THC is present, according to Hill. “We believe at least initially that it would lower the false positives that an officer would have,” he said. “They would have a higher level of confidence in making an arrest.”

Follow-up test results would still be needed as evidence, Hill noted. He plans to finish lab tests on the device this year, and hopes to start testing human breath in early 2015. He then plans to test the device in the field.

Residential Rehab Can be Good Option for Young Adults Dependent on Opioids: Study

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

December 4th, 2014/

A month-long residential treatment program may be more effective than standard outpatient programs for young adults who are dependent on opioids, a new study suggests.

Residential programs may result in higher abstinence levels for young adults dependent on prescription painkillers or heroin, Reuters reports.

“Given evidence that outpatient treatment for opioid dependence in young adults is not as effective as it is in older adults, we need alternatives to protect this vulnerable population,” said lead author Dr. Zev Schuman-Olivier of Massachusetts General Hospital.

The researchers followed 292 adults ages 18 to 24 who were enrolled in a month-long residential rehab program based on a 12-step approach. One-fourth met the criteria for opiate dependence and 20 percent for opiate misuse. The remaining 55 percent were being treated for abusing other substances, such as alcohol and non-opiate drugs, the article notes.

The study found 29 percent of participants who were dependent on opioids and 22 percent of those who misused opioids were abstinent a year later. Another recent study found 83 percent of people who entered an outpatient treatment program had dropped out one year later.

The findings are published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

“This study is important because it stresses the need for parents to advocate for residential treatment when that moment arises for an emerging adult when they think about going into treatment,” Schuman-Olivier said. He said there is a “window of willingness” after an event such as a minor overdose. “If someone can be encouraged to go into residential treatment at that time, then there is a likelihood that it will have a longer lasting effect than if they go to outpatient treatment,” he said.

Schuman-Olivier noted some people cannot access residential programs because of the cost. They are usually only covered by private insurance, and only after other levels of outpatient care have failed, he noted.

Almost 8 Percent of Americans are Moderately to Severely Depressed

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

December 4th, 2014/

An estimated 7.6 percent of Americans ages 12 and up are moderately to severely depressed, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those with severe symptoms, only 35 percent reported having contact with a mental health professional in the past year.

“Not enough people are getting appropriate treatment for depression,” lead author Laura Pratt, with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, told HealthDay. “People with severe depression should be getting psychotherapy. Some might need complicated medication regimens, which psychiatrists are better equipped to do, which makes it even more concerning that only 35 percent of people with severe depression have seen a mental health professional.”

About 3 percent of Americans had symptoms of severe depression between 2009 and 2012, the study found. Just over 3 percent of black people reported severe depression, compared with 2.6 percent of white people.

Females had higher rates of depression than males in every age group. The highest rate of depression, 12.3 percent, was found in women ages 40–59. People living below the poverty level were nearly 2.5 times more likely to have depression than those at or above the poverty level. Almost 43 percent of people with severe depressive symptoms reported serious difficulties in work, home, and social activities.

I remember sitting in our dining hall last year almost across from Jacqueline when she said this was her "first Christmas". I was blown away!

How could someone in there twenties make such a statement? Reading her testimony again today, I was moved to tears. What a powerful proclamation of the power of God and the love of God shown through the gift of His Son.

Jacqueline's family was constantly moving and her father "wasn't in the picture". The sexual, physical and emotional abuse she suffered as a child produced a life filled with trauma, and years when she became heavily addicted to drugs.

It was that addiction and the inability to deal with the suffering in her life that brought Jacqueline to His Mansion.

"My first impression of His Mansion was shock," she says. "I was shocked at the physical beauty of the place and the sense of peace. I was also scared being around so many people all the time...I didn't know what to expect."

That has changed by the time last Christmas came around. "I was beyond blessed with gifts from people I didn't even know; the family dinners, the Advent series in the church and the play in the barn."

"I cried often because there was so much love and beauty. I hope future holidays will be good and I want to continue experiencing them for what they truly are: a celebration of Christ with family and friends!"

As I reflected on Jacqueline's story and the up coming Christmas season, I was reminded of when the angels appears to the shepherds and begins to speak in a thunderous voice, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people!"

The shepherds hurry to Bethlehem. They see Mary and the Babe. And when they have seen Him, "they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed".

Today, you and I are the shepherds. And the message is the same: "Good tidings of great joy!"

We are the shepherds. And young people like Jacqueline, are souls loved by God who need His guidance and His direction to set their lives back on the right path.

As you have seen in this amazing testimony, hearts are filled with the love of Jesus, we also want to give them some wonderful new memories of the celebration of His birth.

Your special Christmas Gift of $100, $25 or $50 will be a means in which God shares His love with some very lonely and broken young men and women that will creative wonderful new memories of the holidays with us here on The Hill.

Please continue to be a part of what God is doing here at His Mansion by giving a gift on our website at HisMansion.com.

May you and those you loved be blessed this Christmas,