The Wednesday Weekly Addiction + Recovery News Clips - October 19, 2022
The Wednesday Weekly is a collaboration of Sober Linings Playbook and Recovery in the Middle Ages Podcast.
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Highlights
National
Joe Biden’s voicemail to Hunter a “wonderful example” for family and friends | “Section Yellow” offers sober Packers fans safe haven at Lambeau Field
Fentanyl
Critics question San Francisco’s “War on Fentanyl” | Majority of fentanyl ODs are adults, but teens are unfortunately catching up
State and Local
Rhode Island embraces safe consumption sites | Oregon has wide gaps in SUD treatment services
Studies/Research in the News
Addiction medication, naltrexone, shows promise for treating long covid | Even at low levels, alcohol changes brain
Opinion
Medicinal marijuana patient ponders how to discuss with child | The case against decriminalization
Books and Movies
“To Leslie” (starring Andrea Riseborough and Marc Maron) tackles trauma and addiction | In novel “Still True,” Madison author explores alcohol use in Wisconsin
Podcasts
High Truths on Drugs and Addiction examines new medication for methamphetamine use disorder | Heroin assisted treatment on Flourishing After Addiction podcast | Recovery in the Middle Ages let me (Grant Boyken) join them for an episode and discuss Russell Brand’s book, “Recovery,” on another
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National
Ad Council Launches “Real Deal on Fentanyl” Campaign to Educate Youth and Parents on the Dangers of Fentanyl
The Ad Council, as part of a coordinated public awareness effort announced earlier this year, today launched part one of a holistic approach to tackle the overdose crisis. Shatterproof, a national non-profit dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the U.S., served as an issue advisor to the campaign production – in conjunction with Second Chance Studios and JOAN who worked hand-in-hand with these former drug dealers to develop classroom-style lessons that offer hands-on learning opportunities to educate young people on the dangers of fentanyl.
PR Newswire - Oct. 18, 2022
How Do We Save Teens From Fentanyl? Ad Council launches “Real Deal on Fentanyl” Campaign
A new series from the Ad Council is embracing education and promoting harm reduction as the right stokes fear over rainbow fentanyl. The first of its kind on a national level, the campaign is a series of informational videos that teach teenagers about the opioid crisis, using the best experts of all: former drug dealers. The PSA avoids intimidation tactics and instead uses questions from real kids to answer not just why fentanyl is harmful, but the role the drug is playing in overdoses around the country.
Rolling Stone - Oct. 17, 2022
Section Yellow offers sober Green Bay Packers fans an 'oasis' in a sea of gameday alcohol
"It's such a simple idea, but it has such a strong impact and such big support, because there are a ton of Packer fans that are sober that will not go to the games because of the drinking culture." Section Yellow now has more than 1,200 members in its Facebook group. Volunteers set up at a table near sections 110 and 112 in the stadium concourse. They give away stickers that say "one game at a time," a nod to the phrase common in recovery, "one day at a time."
Wisconsin Public Radio - Oct. 15, 2022
As drug deaths surge, one answer might be helping people get high more safely
The [Safe Supply] program is funded in large part by government insurance programs and closely monitored by Canadian health officials. This program, operated by a private company called Recovery Care, is part of a growing network of healthcare services across Canada pushing the boundaries of the public health response to an overdose crisis killing record numbers of people. The goal of this kind of treatment, often described as harm reduction, is to reduce the catastrophic surge of drug deaths — not by ending illicit drug use but by helping people get high more safely.
NPR - Oct. 15, 2022
Melissa Etheridge Says She Won’t Feel ‘Shame’ Over Son’s Fatal Overdose At 21
Melissa Etheridge revealed how she is currently coping with her son Beckett’s death from an overdose at the age of 21 in 2020. At the opening of her off-Broadway show, My Window, on Oct. 13, the legendary musician said she has been able to come to a place where refuses to feel “guilt” or “shame” about Beckett’s passing and his struggle with opioid abuse disorder by “having a deep spiritual belief that we all make our own choices,” per Page Six.
Hollywood Life - Oct. 15, 2022
Joe Biden's Voicemail to Hunter Biden Is a 'Wonderful Example'
Biden told his son: "It's Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. You gotta get some help. I know you don't know what to do. I don't either."
Newsweek - Oct. 13, 2022
Paul Newman Reveals Heartbreak Over Son's Addiction in Memoir: 'Never Thought It Would Be Fatal'
Fourteen years after the death of Paul Newman, there's a lot the world never knew about the legendary — and complicated — actor. In a new posthumous memoir, Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, he dives deep into his own psychological makeup and the tragic loss of his son Scott, who died from a drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 28 in 1978.
People - October 13, 2022
A man who lost 80 pounds on a 'game changer' weight-loss drug also lost his desire to drink alcohol. Experts say the drug could treat all kinds of addiction.
Some patients taking the weight-loss drug semaglutide were surprised it reduced their urge to drink. The drug affects the brain's reward circuits, decreasing addictive behaviors as well as hunger. At least one doctor says he's successfully using it to treat patients with alcohol-use disorder. While more research is needed on the drug's potential use as a treatment for alcohol-use disorder, it "could be the next big thing in addiction management, certainly related to alcohol," Dr. Paul Kolodzik, a metabolic specialist in Ohio who's also board-certified in addiction medicine, told Insider.
Yahoo! - October 13, 2022
Addiction recovery industry rife with abuse, state investigators say
Many recovery center operators exploit vulnerable people and trap them in addiction to ensure their hefty health insurance payments continue, investigators testified. Agents detailed illegal business practices such as double-billing, billing for services not provided, and falsifying urine tests to indicate a relapse, thereby extending patients’ stays. The addiction recovery industry is a growing $42 billion business, Brewer said. When providers let their financial interests — instead of a recovering patient’s needs — dictate their treatment placement, patients don’t get the specialized care best suited to their needs, Brewer added.
New Jersey Monitor - Oct. 12, 2022
Biden's marijuana moves set to have midterm impact before big policy changes
"As I’ve said before, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana," Biden wrote in a tweet last Thursday . "Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives — for conduct that is legal in many states. That’s before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we begin to right these wrongs." The move means many things in the long term, but in the short term, it could have an impact on the all-important midterm elections .
Washington Examiner - Oct. 12, 2022
Kathy Griffin Recalls Drug Addiction in Response to Hunter Biden Voicemail
Kathy Griffin has recounted the support she received from her husband, Randy Bick, in light of the leaked voicemail that President Joe Biden left for his son, Hunter. Following her lung-cancer diagnosis last year, Griffin recalled a dark time in her life, when she wrote in a Twitter post: "The last time I was in a hospital was in June 2020 when I tried to take my life and overdosed on prescription pills.
Newsweek - Oct. 12, 2022
The 1975’s Matty Healy Opens Up About Heroin Addiction and the ‘Emotional Hangover’ That Followed His Bandmate’s Intervention
Matty Healey got candid about his struggles with addiction and how his heroin use marked one of the first real tests for the band in a new interview with Zane Lowe. The full episode airs today, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. ET on Apple Music 1. As Healy explained, his heroin use was “the first time where there had been anything that one of us was doing, or was into, that the others weren’t… It was the first time I had to tell them something. It was the first time that the idea of a secret existing even came out. It’s almost as if, well, is there anything else that we’ve not known? Because that’s a big thing.”
Rolling Stone - Oct. 12, 2022
A former Los Angeles Angels employee gets 22 years in Tyler Skaggs' overdose death
A former Los Angeles Angels employee was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison Tuesday for providing Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs the drugs that led to his overdose death in Texas. A coroner's report said Skaggs, 27, had choked to death on his vomit and that a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was in his system.
NPR - Oct. 12, 2022
National State and Local Studies in the News Opinion Reviews Podcasts Comments
Fentanyl
Is San Francisco’s ‘war on fentanyl’ a drug war by another name?
When San Francisco Mayor London Breed held a news conference this month to discuss the city’s drug crisis, two of her appointees couldn’t quite sync up on the messaging. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins called it “a war on fentanyl.” “What’s happening in San Francisco is not the war on drugs,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “What is happening in San Francisco right now is a war on drug addicts.” While these officials tinker with their branding, the other words they used shed light on what comes next. Collectively, Breed, Jenkins, Dorsey and Police Chief Bill Scott said the words “accountability,” “consequences” and “arrests” more than 40 times at their Oct. 5 news conference. “Treatment” was mentioned fewer than 10 times. “Compassion” fewer than five times. “You don’t get a pass just because you have a substance disorder,” Scott said at one point.
San Francisco Chronicle - Oct. 16, 2022
Fentanyl overdose: US teens fastest growing group to die
Teen overdose deaths have never been higher in the US as young Americans are increasingly poisoned by the synthetic opiate fentanyl, even as fewer teens use drugs. More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year - the vast majority were adults - but the fastest growing group to die of overdoses were teenagers.
BBC - Oct. 15, 2022
Op-Ed: Fentanyl pill producers used to mimic other pharmaceuticals, now they don't have to
The candy-colored pills are just the final sign that, unlike counterfeiters everywhere, Mexican pill makers have given up any pretense of imitating the real thing — because they can.
Los Angeles Times - Oct. 14, 2022
Framingham police officer pushes for legalization of fentanyl test strips
Framingham police officer Matthew Gutwill is the President of New England Narcotic Enforcement Officer Association and a trainer for Noble LLC. He says Mexican drug cartels are putting fentanyl in nearly every illicit drug found on the street. "Those that are going to take an Adderall or those that are going to take a Xanax, even those that are a recreational cocaine user, fentanyl is probably going to be in there," Gutwill said. Gutwill has a plan to combat the crisis. He wants to distribute thousands of fentanyl testing kits so that drug users can know if there is fentanyl in their supply. "It may change their mind that moment. They may say, you know what, I'm not going to use that drug. This drug could kill me," Gutwill said.
CBS - Oct. 12, 2022
Is 'rainbow fentanyl' a threat to your kids this Halloween? Experts say no
The Drug Enforcement Administration is issuing a warning at this time, a warning that drug dealers are marketing fentanyl pills that look like candy. This warning has gone viral on social media, but some drug policy experts doubt it.
NPR - Oct. 11, 2022
America's fentanyl crisis: 'It's an invasion,' says William Bennett, former drug czar
Bennett took Rolling Stone magazine to task for its recent article that criticized warnings from the GOP about fentanyl hidden in candy this fall as millions of America's kids get ready to go trick-or-treating for Halloween. Former U.S. drug czar William Bennett said the United States is right now "soft on too many things" — including the criminals who are smuggling deadly fentanyl into the country and contributing to the death of numerous Americans.
Fox - Oct. 11, 2022
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Comments
State / Local
Marijuana ballot measures are going before voters in these five states
Voters in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota will consider marijuana-related ballot measures this November deciding whether the drug will be allowed recreationally. The five states have ballot initiatives that, if passed, will legalize marijuana for those ages 21 and older, joining a growing number of states that have made moves toward legalizing the drug in recent years.
Washington Examiner - Oct. 17, 2022
Pennsylvania: Department Of Drug And Alcohol Programs Encourages Drug And Alcohol Treatment Providers To Participate In Treatment Locator Tool During Open Enrollment Period
Since ATLAS launchedOpens In A New Window across Pennsylvania in June 2021, 67% of the total DDAP-licensed SUD treatment facilities, 515 facilities, across the state have submitted their information to be included in the tool. Since then, there have been more than 1,500 unique Pennsylvania facility views and more than 1,600 completed assessments performed by Pennsylvanians looking for treatment using the platform. ATLAS evaluates addiction treatment facilities’ use of evidence-based best practices based on the Shatterproof National Principles of CareOpens In A New Window, includes an assessmentOpens In A New Window to understand the appropriate level of care, and offers an easy-to-use dashboard to allow those in need and their loved ones to search for and compare facilities using criteria such as location, services offered, and insurance accepted so they can find the best treatment for their unique needs. ATLAS is fully available in English and Spanish.
Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs - October 13, 2022
Colorado to vote on decriminalizing psychedelic mushrooms
Colorado voters will decide this November whether to decriminalize the possession and use of some hallucinogenic plants and fungi, including "magic" mushrooms. Proposition 122, the Natural Medicine Health Act, would allow adults over 21 years old to access certain plants and fungi, including psilocybin, psilocyn, and ibogaine, which naturally have hallucinogenic effects when consumed, and establish "healing centers" where people could use the substances for therapeutic purposes.
Washington Examiner - Oct. 13, 2022
Rhode Island: As Overdoses Soar, Rhode Island Embraces a Daring Addiction Strategy
By letting people use drugs on site and under the supervision of social and medical workers, rather than alone, Project Weber hopes to curb overdose deaths and infectious diseases and coax more users like Ms. Ramsey into using medication and supplies for safer drug use. Many public health experts see this strategy as a possible template for transforming how the United States addresses drug use. Research has shown that supervised consumption sites in Canada, Australia and some European countries have saved lives and led to people getting treatment.
DNYUZ - Oct. 12, 2022
Oregon: Services for substance use in Oregon face widespread gaps, study finds
A new study by researchers at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health reveals large gaps in services in Oregon for substance use disorder treatment, prevention and recovery.
Jefferson Public Radio - Oct. 12, 2022
Tennessee creates program to help families affected by opioid addiction
Tennessee families will soon receive state-funded assistance to battle addiction and keep children out of foster care. On Monday, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse announced a 5-year, $3 million program designed to help families and children affected by opioids and other substance abuse by addressing addiction, improving permanency and enhancing the safety of children in affected households.
Tennessee Lookout - Oct. 11, 2022
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Comments
Studies/Research in the News
Addiction drug (naltrexone) shows promise lifting long COVID brain fog, fatigue
Drawing on its use in ME/CFS and a handful of long COVID pilot studies, there are now at least four clinical trials planned to test naltrexone in hundreds of patients with long COVID, according to a Reuters review of Clinicaltrials.gov and interviews with 12 ME/CFS and long COVID researchers.
Reuters - Oct. 18, 2022
Even Low Doses of Alcohol Cause Changes in Brain Circuitry
According to a recent rodent study, even tiny amounts of alcohol may cause epigenomic and transcriptomic changes in brain circuitry in a region that is essential for the development of addiction. The pathways that are involved in setting the brain up for addiction, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, are also linked to the highs that come with drinking, such as euphoria and anxiolysis, a state of relaxed but awake sedation.
Sci Tech Daily - Oct. 17, 2022
Treating Addictions in Patients With HIV
Given the benefits of antiretroviral treatment, for many individuals with HIV, substance use disorder— including opioid, alcohol, and tobacco use disorder—is a greater threat to their health than the virus. In collaboration with four partnering HIV clinics in the US northeast and in the context of the New England HIV Implementation Science Network, a group of Yale School of Medicine doctors led a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the impact of Implementation Facilitation, a package of implementation strategies (e.g., learning collaboration, external facilitation, education and academic detailing), to help clinicians and staff at these sites enhance provision of proven addiction treatments to their patients. The results of this new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open show these efforts have made some headway in promoting receipt of medications for alcohol and tobacco use disorder, but the investigators did not see much improvement in delivery or receipt of medications for opioid use disorder
Yale - Oct. 17, 2022
Mindfulness training provides a natural high, study finds
New research from the University of Utah finds that a mindfulness meditation practice can produce a healthy altered state of consciousness in the treatment of individuals with addictive behaviors. Not unlike what one might experience under the influence of psychedelic drugs—achieving this altered state through mindful meditation has the potential lifesaving benefit of decreasing one’s addictive behaviors by promoting healthy changes to the brain. The findings come from the largest neuroscience study to date on mindfulness as a treatment for addiction.
University of Utah - Oct. 14, 2022
WSU Study: Smart home sensors could help curb opioid overdoses
Smart home sensors can do all kinds of things these days, but new research out of Washington State University (WSU) found they could also help curb opioid overdoses. The study showed these camera-less sensors can provide accurate information about overnight restlessness and sleep disruption for people recovering from opioid use disorder.
KEPRTV - Oct. 13, 2022
Opioid addiction treatment disparities could worsen if phone telehealth option ends, study suggests
As the nation ponders the future of temporary pandemic-era telehealth rules, a study suggests that phone calls and video chats may play an important role in leveling the playing field for medication-based treatment for opioid addiction. Veterans receiving buprenorphine were more likely to stay on it if they had virtual visits, but phone-based virtual care was especially prominent among those who are Black or lack stable housing.
University of Michigan Health - Oct. 12, 2022
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Comments
Opinion
My Daughter Knows Not to Use Drugs. Should I Let Her In on My Secret?
At the advice of a fellow cancer patient, I tried smoking marijuana. It works amazingly well at curbing the nausea, but only by smoking. Edibles and oils do not help. I only smoke outside after work in the evening and then freshen up before joining my family in the house. I know I must smell like smoke, but my daughter has not said anything. I need to talk to my daughter about it. She must know something is going on, but she doesn’t say anything about it. I want her to know that sometimes drugs can be very helpful to a person who is suffering. I don’t want her to think drug use for recreation is OK.
Slate - Oct. 17, 2022
Drug laws should not be eliminated
The idea that we do not need laws of deterrence for illegal drug sales is like getting rid of speed limits on our highways. Steve Stefani’s commentary in the Oct. 12 edition of the Sun-Times is misdirected and counterproductive. His argument seems to be: The laws making addictive drugs illegal should be terminated. People addicted to drugs do need treatment, but people selling illegal drugs that cause addiction need a meaningful deterrent and laws stop the behavior that leads to drug addiction and overdose deaths of 107,000 in 2021, nearly 300 per day.
Chicago Sun-Times - Oct. 15, 2022
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Comments
Books and Movies
‘We Can Be Heroes’ documentary tells important story about addiction and stigma
Overcoming addiction can be a long road. Filmmaker and Flint, Michigan native Mike Ramsdell shares the struggle and success of professional boxer Taylor Duerr in the We Can Be Heroes documentary at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at the Flint Institute of Music Capitol Theatre. The program will include experts from the U-M Addiction Center. Ramsdell’s We Can Be Heroes documentary follows the story of Detroit’s own Taylor “Machine Gun” Duerr as he fights his way to a national boxing title inside the ring while fighting the demons of his addiction and his battle with recovery and stigma outside the ring.
Michigan Medicine Headlines - Oct. 12, 2022
In ‘To Leslie,’ an Unflinching Working-Class Elegy
The small-budget indie is a complex portrait of the ways that trauma and addiction haunt an alcoholic mother, and her family, in the South. In gritty detail, “To Leslie” traces the fall of a one-time lottery winner who, years later, has lost everything she holds dear. The British actress Andrea Riseborough (“Nancy”) gives a deft performance as Leslie, an alcoholic mother in West Texas barreling toward rock bottom in this deceptively simple yet heart-wrenching character study.
New York Times - Oct. 6, 2022
'It’s just the air we breathe': Madison author’s new book taps into alcoholism in Wisconsin
The Madison author of a new book said she would have sought help to quit drinking sooner if there had been more representation of alcoholism in books and television, especially in Wisconsin — a state with a pervasive drinking culture. Maggie Ginsberg’s debut novel, "Still True," is about family secrets and alcoholism in a fictional, rural Wisconsin town.
Wisconsin Public Radio - Sept. 26, 2022
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Comments
Podcasts: The Weekly Roundup
High Truths on Drugs and Addiction: High Truths on Drugs and Addiction with Clear Scientific on Methamphetamine Drug Solution
Rarely is there a new medication that is really new and innovative. Imagine a drug that deactivate methamphetamine within 2 minutes and excretes it from the body within 2 hours. CS1103 is that drug. Listen to this episode from the drug developers at Clear Scientific and learn about this magically innovation.
Flourishing After Addiction: Heroin-Assisted Treatment, and Making Sense of Addiction
In the weeks prior to this episode, the story broke that the UK’s Middlesbrough clinic, which offered a pioneering Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT) program, is slated to close because of budget cuts. Patients were allowed to self-administer medical-grade heroin (officially, diamorphine) under medical supervision. One of the key scientific studies that supports this intervention is the RIOTT Trial—“Randomised Injectable Opiate Treatment”—and I got to speak to the principal investigator of that trial, a giant in the field of addiction research, and the first knight to appear on the Flourishing After Addiction podcast: John Strang.
Recovery in the Middle Ages: Discussing Russell Brand’s Book ”Recovery,’’ and How He Reframes the 12 Steps
RMA-Episode 93: Book Review-Russell Brand’s Recovery. Love him or hate him, it’s hard to ignore him. Russell Brand is an English comedian and actor best known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. He is also, at this writing, 18 years sober from drugs and alcohol. Russell’s outsized personality is on full display in his 2018 book Recovery, which purports to re-invent the 12 steps into a program that’s more relevant to the modern age. Was he successful, or is this just a case of putting old wine into a new bottle? Tune in to find out!
Recovery in the Middle Ages: Grant Returns! We Catch Up On His Adventures In Addiction Recovery and New Role
RMA-Episode 92: Grant B’s Triumphant Return to RMA. This week Grant Boyken, OG monkster and editor-at large of the RMA newsroom, returns after a year’s absence to fill us in on how it feels to have two years sobriety, what it’s like to be working with Shatterproof, and how turning 53 helped him focus in on what is really important in life. We also discuss Shatterproof’s ATLAS addiction treatment locator, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff.
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy Comments