July 21, 2020 • Vol. 7., No. 47
|
|
|
Overdoses skyrocket: states slash treatment budgets
JULY 16, 2020 - Oregon is poised to slash $69 million from the state’s 2021 budget for behavioral health services. Colorado has already cut $26 million from its own. Georgia, New Jersey, Florida and Utah have also slashed millions for future substance use disorder programs... more@StatNews
|
|
|
|
Telemedicine is a magnet for fraud and data theft
JULY 13, 2020 - No reliable data are available on whether data breaches have increased during the pandemic, but research by the software security firm Check Point found a sharp uptick in malicious attacks targeting Zoom, Google, and Microsoft...@StatNews
|
|
|
|
Opioids Are Still The King For Many Doctors LISTEN
July 17, 2020 - The prescription opioid boom that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people is still going strong. In many of the most vulnerable communities, doctors and dentists still give out huge quantities of pills. more@WBUR
|
|
|
|
Georgia addiction centers pay $122 million to settle whistleblower lawsuits
July 13, 2020 - In a separate suit settled for $5 million at the same time, a whistleblower accused Universal Health Services’ Turning Point Care Center in Moultrie of luring patients from around the country to receive detox treatment by offering to pay for or discount their travel. more@AJC
|
|
|
|
“Lockdown Has Been the Hardest Period of My Sober Journey” - July 16, 2020 - Most of my pre-sober life had involved socializing. I worked in the entertainment industry which, funnily enough, involved a lot of entertaining. Meetings took place over drinks, deals were done in dark corners of private members’ clubs, and being ‘out’ felt way more normal than being in. @Vogue
|
|
|
|
Q&A with writer and podcaster, Laura Robbins
July 14 - Laura Cathcart Robbins is a freelance writer, storyteller and host of the podcast, The Only One In The Room. She lives in Studio City, California with her son, Justin and her boyfriend, Scott Slaughter. Her recent articles in the HuffPost on the subjects of race, recovery and divorce have garnered world-wide attention. @AREB
|
|
|
|
Why It’s OK To Not Be OK Right Now. WATCH
July 16, 2020 - What is Toxic Positivity? If you’ve ever gone through a difficult time (a breakup, a job loss), you’ve probably heard some of these phrases ad nauseam from friends and family. “It gets better, stay optimistic,” they assure you. more@HuffPost
|
|
|
|
Horrors of opioid addiction explored in LA writer’s memoir - July 17, 2020 - She is desperate, this close to the rush, but takes the time to pull the plunger back a little to make sure she has hit blood. For a second, the swirling red and white reminds her of cherry blossoms. @OCRegister Buy on Amazon
|
|
|
|
She Ate and Ate, and Never Felt Satisfied
June 23, 2020 - The author’s anger gives the book its considerable power, its substantial grace and its meaning — which goes against every received idea of what good memoir is, and how it ought it to function. more@NYTimes Available on Amazon
|
|
|
|
Centuries of Racism Have Created a Mental Health Crisis Among Black Americans
July 15, 2020 - “He wanted me to run, so he could shoot me in the back,” my father said … as a 16-year-old walking around his neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia, he had been picked up by the police. more@MarieClaire
|
|
|
|
Park Bench to Park Avenue WATCH
|
Psychiatric nurse pens book on surviving homelessness and drug abuse WATCH
July 15, 2020 - To know Anthony Brown is to know a man of earned success. To know the depth of that success you need to hear his heartbreaking story. He is Director of Nursing Services at a psychiatric hospital in Westminster, CA@FoxLA Available on Amazon
|
|
|
|
Bill to make remote addiction treatment permanent July 15, 2020 - ...the federal government issued temporary permits for the services to be provided by phone or video. Two U.S. Senators have introduced a bill to make telehealth permanent.@Journal-News
|
|
|
|
Making the world a better place... WATCH
|
Influential Women: Franki Buckman, The Molly Project WATCH
July 13, 2020 - Franki Buckman, the former CEO of Bondurant High Performance Driving School, shifted gears to work with The Molly Project, a startup focused on providing transitional, safe and sober living for single moms. more@AZBigMedia
|
|
|
|
Prisoner Ran Crack Cocaine Ring From His Cell
July 13, 2020 - James Gomes often passed the information through his mother, Lisa Ellis, 51, of Pawtucket, to two individuals, Joshua Moore, 19, and Gerald Price, 34, of Cranston, who delivered the drugs to Gomes’ customers. more@GoLocalProv
|
|
|
|
CVS Fined ... Almost Nothing
July 16, 2020 - While the fine of $125,000 on Wednesday was small for CVS — it paid its chief executive $36.5 million in total compensation last year! ... understaffed workplaces are putting the public at risk. more@NYTimes
|
|
|
|
One Step at a Time Is Easier Said Than Done
July 7, 2020 - At the depth of her alcohol addiction, Erica C. Barnett passed out in the bathroom of the newspaper where she worked with a liter box of white wine tucked into her messenger bag — two days in a row. more@NYTimes Available on Amazon
|
|
|
|
First recovery centre for Indigenous women opens in Calgary WATCH
July 17, 2020 - Shannon Little Light puts the kettle on then relaxes in her new living space – in silence inside Red Woman House. ‘From having nothing, sleeping beside my daughter on a single bed in a basement. It brings me hope.’ more@aptnNews
|
|
|
|
A Real Risk: Prescription Drug Addiction During COVID-19 - July 17, 2020 - Coping mechanisms come in many shapes and forms and drug and alcohol abuse is one of the most common guises they take. Whether due to social anxiety, depression or extreme trauma earlier in life, adults are turning to drugs and alcohol as a way to face the reality of living during this unique period in our world’s history. more@Newswire
|
|
|
|
A.A. in the “golden era of alcoholism”
July 17, 2020 - Loneliness is an offshoot of alcoholism, and the comrade of sponsorship sheds the feelings of loneliness which is a factor for drinking. A.A. members may call on their sponsor anytime for support. “I never felt like I really fit in, and now A.A. is so comforting,”... more@SandhillsSentinel Available on Amazon
|
|
|
|
Doctor arrested, suspected of fraud to feed opioid addiction - July 15, 2020 - The surgeon wrote fraudulent prescriptions to a patient, then bought back hundreds of painkillers ... “Dr. Hughes used Digilio as a means of acquiring oxycodone for his personal use in exchange for cash or services,” such as food, sports memorabilia and clothing... more@JournalStar
|
|
|
|
Sober journalist launches book about losing his beloved wife to cancer July 15, 2020 - Ian, who still lives in the home he shared with Vikki, is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and has been living a sober life for more than 30 years. He said: “I don’t know what I would have done without my programme of recovery and my clean and sober friends.” more@HertsAd
|
|
|
|
Couple sent their daughter to Florida for treatment-then she died WATCH
July 19, 2020 - Their fears were confirmed. Kothe told them she was struggling with anxiety and depression. She had begun using drugs to cope ... Quickly, they arranged for her to receive treatment in Florida. more@BaltimoreSun
|
|
|
|
3,000 miles for addiction recovery
July 19, 2020 - Greg Nance has a massive plan to recognize his 3,000 days of being sober – that’s more than eight years.Greg says that next year, he will be the first person to run from New York City to Seattle. more@DailyTimes
|
|
|
|
Cliff Brodsky: The Man Who Knew Too Much And Too Little - by John Lavitt
July 21, 2020 – When Cliff Brodsky, a successful music producer and songwriter, first met now-imprisoned rehab mogul Christopher Bathum at a 12-Step meeting in 2011, he did not realize he was coming face-to-face with a monster. With a seemingly model SoCal family of a former actress wife and three lovely daughters, Bathum easily sucked smart and successful people in recovery into his web of lies and deceit. Like so many others, Cliff Brodsky became entangled. more@AddictionRecoveryeBulletin
|
|
|
|
Ex-Rehab Mogul Sentenced for Sexually Assaulting Patients - JULY 14, 2020 - Christopher Bathum, former owner and operator of more than a dozen Southland drug treatment and rehabilitation centers was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 52 years in state prison for sexually assaulting or exploiting seven patients and offering controlled substances. more@Denverchannel
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
