The Wednesday Weekly Addiction + Recovery News Clips - February 21, 2024

The Wednesday Weekly is a collaboration of Sober Linings Playbook and Recovery in the Middle Ages Podcast.

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Highlights

National
The “Portugal model” serves as flashpoint in U.S. discussions of opioid epidemic | NFL’s Ryan Leaf shares his story of recovery from mental health, SUD
State and Local
Ocala, FL mayor shares recovery story | CA county plans for involuntary treatment for SUD in wake of new law
Studies/Research in the News
What we are still learning from Lexington’s “Narco Farm” | Cleveland Clinic: What does alcohol do to your body?
Opinion
Minnesota needs comprehensive strategy for addiction | Long-term prison recovery program sees success
Books and Movies
In “The Outrun” Saoirse Rona’s character seeks sobriety in Scotland
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National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Comments

National

Bow Wow Opens Up About His Addiction to Lean
His usage eventually led to his hospitalization and dropping out of a Chris Brown tour before getting clean.
Billboard - Feb. 16, 2024

US federal prison failures led to inmate deaths, Justice Dept review finds
Safety failures by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP), including the widespread use of single cells and failure to keep out drugs and weapons, led to preventable inmate deaths, the Justice Department watchdog said on Thursday.
Reuters - Feb. 15, 2024

Tribes in Washington are battling a devastating opioid crisis. Will a multimillion-dollar bill help?
As tribes in Washington state battle opioids addiction, state lawmakers are proposing sending them more money. But for a Lummi Nation outreach worker, the work to save lives is personal after her son died of an overdose.
AP - Feb. 15, 2024

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf shares addiction and mental health struggles with students
Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf returned to Spokane today to visit with North Central High School about his struggles with addiction and mental health.
KXLY - Feb. 15, 2024

Xylazine ignites a new challenge in the struggle against opioid addiction
While fentanyl is notorious for its lethality and range of audience, drug sellers have been combining fentanyl with xylazine, known on the street as “tranq,” to make the highs last longer, compared to opioids adulterated solely with fentanyl. In addition to the effects of fentanyl, the xylazine in tranq also complicates health effects with symptoms such as low blood pressure, heart rate, and, most notably, necrosis.
Scot Scoop News - Feb. 15, 2024

What happens to your liver when you stop drinking alcohol?
Most people who regularly drink more than the recommended limit of 14 units of alcohol per week (about six pints of normal strength beer [4% ABV] or about six average [175ml] glasses of wine [14% ABV]) will have a fatty liver. Long-term and heavy alcohol use increases the risk of developing scarring and cirrhosis.
Raidió Teilifís Éireann - Feb. 14, 2024

Portugal's approach to the opioid epidemic is a flashpoint in U.S. fentanyl debate
Portugal cut its number of fatal drug overdoses by 80% at a time when drug deaths here in the U.S. were exploding out of control. Now the Portugal model, which focuses more on health care and less on tough crime laws, has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate over how to solve America's fentanyl crisis.
NPR - Feb. 13, 2024

FDA warns addictive ‘gas station heroin’ supplement widely available in U.S.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about a potentially addictive dietary supplement that’s widely available in the U.S. "Neptune’s Fix" is often sold as a supplement and features an ingredient called tianeptine, popularly known as "gas-station heroin." Ali Rogin reports. The FDA is asking Americans not to purchase or use any products from the supplemental brand Neptune's Fix. It contains a substance called tianeptine.
PBS - Feb. 13, 2024

National State and Local Studies in the News Opinion Reviews Comments

 State / Local

Kentucky: Budget subcommittee hears update on opioid settlement and addressing addiction
Kentucky is part of a $26 billion settlement with opioid distributors and a manufacturer. The Commonwealth’s portion is $478 million to go towards programs to address the opioid epidemic. The state’s portion will be managed by the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission (KYOAAC). The settlement resolves more than 4,000 claims of state and local governments across the country. Members of the Budget Review Subcommittee on Health and Family Services met this week to receive an update on the status of the commission and its current operations.
Advocate-Messenger - Feb. 16, 2024

Washington Senate approves $8M to combat addiction among Native Americans, but some say it is not enough
A bill before the Washington Legislature would bring more state funding to tribes like Lummi that are trying to keep opioids from taking the next generation too. The state Senate unanimously approved a bill this week that is expected to provide nearly $8 million total each year for the 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington, funds drawn in part from a roughly half-billion-dollar settlement between the state and major opioid distributors.
Fox - Feb. 16, 2024

Florida: Ocala Mayor Marciano shares addiction journey as Florida A.G. details plan to combat drug overdoses
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody held a press conference in Marion County discussing the state’s efforts to combat drug overdoses on Thursday afternoon. Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano shared his journey with drug and alcohol addiction. He said seeking treatment was the best decision he ever made.
WCJB - Feb. 15, 2024

Oregon: Portland Community College addiction counseling program faces roadblocks
Limited recovery resources in Portland make getting clean unreachable for many, so Portland Community College (PCC) is training people to reach out to the homeless community through its addiction counseling program. However, enrollment is down, with Chew saying they have about ten students this term. Chew said he has come up with a faster, nine-month program to attract more students and keep up with the need on the streets, but the college has postponed that faster program twice.
KGW.com - Feb. 16, 2024

Florida: Recovery high schools in Pasco and Pinellas help teens heal from addiction
Victory is one of a few dozen recovery high schools in the nation that offer teens emotional support and wellness activities along with the math and English classes they need to graduate.
WLRN - Feb. 15, 2024

Arizona: Phoenix nonprofit helping mothers affected by opioid addiction
Hushabye Nursery is a nonprofit that provides a place for recovering moms and infants to detox and receive treatment. Since opening in November 2020, Hushabye has helped 1,656 parents and 700 infants. “Babies are being born dependent on opioids and they go through a withdrawal process. It’s painful. It’s really hard to watch,” said Tara Sundem, the executive director for Hushabye Nursery.
KOLD - Feb. 15, 2024

New Jersey: State to distribute $95M to expand safe-syringe sites and addiction recovery services
New Jersey communities will get $95 million in national opioid settlement funds over the next three years to expand addiction treatment services and fight an opioid epidemic that contributed to more than 2,500 overdose deaths statewide last year, officials announced Thursday.
New Jersey Monitor - Feb. 15, 2024

Oregonians rally in Salem, demand more addiction recovery beds, health services
More than 200 people traveled from across Oregon to Salem on Thursday to rally and meet with state lawmakers and demand they expand addiction recovery services.
KPTV - Feb. 15, 2024

Michigan: New Metro Detroit initiative offers hope, healing to those battling addiction
West Bloomfield Fire Department is partnering with Family Against Narcotics (FAN) to launch a new program at six of its stations that will connect people to treatment for their drug or alcohol addiction. Hope and Healing initiative is similar to the Hope Not Handcuffs program, but instead of working with police departments, there’s a public health approach.
Click On Detroit - Feb. 15, 2024

Oregon: Addiction recovery advocates upset after a bill to change OLCC membership dies again
Addiction recovery advocates were upset and disappointed to find that a bill they had been advocating for died just as it was scheduled for a committee vote. The measure would have required at least one Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission member to have a background in public health. Recovery advocates had hoped this would have resulted in enforcement of Oregon's alcohol industry.
KATU - Feb. 15, 2024

California: Stanislaus County leaders set target date to start involuntary treatment for substance use
Stanislaus County supervisors on Tuesday approved a Jan. 1, 2025, target date to implement significant changes to conservatorship and involuntary mental health treatment laws. A state Senate bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October went into effect last month, but almost all counties including Stanislaus exercised an option to delay the changes for up to two years. Stanislaus leaders want to get started earlier than 2026 but allowed time for county staff to talk to law enforcement, hospitals and other affected agencies before setting an implementation date.
Modesto Bee - Feb. 14, 2024

Oregon judges, including chief justice, concerned about legislative addiction proposal, letter says
Writing on behalf of Oregon’s judges, trial court administrators and court staff in 27 judicial districts, Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Meagan Flynn outlined a detailed list of concerns that some of their ideas would pose for the judiciary. The letter came in response to a request for input by the Democrats about their proposal to charge those caught with illegal drugs with a misdemeanor and offer them an opportunity to avoid criminal charges by entering a so-called deflection program.
Oregon Capital Chronicle - Feb. 14, 2024

Pa. courts, DOJ settle opioid addiction treatment case
A recent settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania court system offers new protections to people who county courts allegedly barred from taking medications for opioid use disorder. The agreement follows the DOJ alleging the system forced some people under court supervision into a lose-lose scenario: Give up medication prescribed by a doctor or risk going to jail.
Spotlight PA - Feb. 14, 2024

National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Comments

Studies/Research in the News

Lexington’s Narco Farm did groundbreaking addiction research. We’re still learning from it
The Federal Medical Center in Lexington has a fairly simple purpose — it’s a facility used to treat seriously ill people who are imprisoned by the federal government. The Narcotic Farm, also informally known as Narco, was operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Public Health. It also became a place for the government to give drugs to people, including LSD, during experiments performed for the CIA. Then the war on drugs made addiction a criminal issue, not a medical one. More than 80 years after the facility opened, the U.S. still grapples with issues it thought the Narco Farm would solve.
Lexington Herald-Leader - Feb. 16, 2024

What Does Alcohol Do to Your Body? (clevelandclinic.org)
But even moderate alcohol use changes the way your body functions. We talked with hepatologist Shreya Sengupta, MD, about how alcohol use affects your body and your emotional health. “Some people think of the effects of alcohol as only something to be worried about if you’re living with alcohol use disorder, which was formerly called alcoholism,” Dr. Sengupta says.
Cleveland Clinic - Feb. 15, 2024

New marijuana research could help addiction and medicinal marijuana patients
New research in Colorado is trying to curb marijuana addiction and learn more about its medicinal properties. Researchers believe it could also be used to help fight the opioid crisis. "We saw a need to create objective science that would inform the public and our policymakers about the science of cannabis, and how that impacts people in our society," said Professor of Biology at CSU-Pueblo Jeff Smith.
KOAA - Feb. 15, 2024

National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Comments

Opinion

State needs more than tactics to reduce addiction
In the last legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers adopted two tactics. First, they toughened the penalties for selling fentanyl. Second, they mandated that all public and charter schools in the state must have Naloxone (Narcan) available on site to prevent overdoses. While both moves are good tactics, they need to be part of an overall strategy that is still missing. What should that strategy be? How about “Do more to first, prevent addiction and, second, to move people off addiction as quickly as possible”? As to prevention, that might begin with giving repeat-offending drug dealers life in prison. It might also include placing the children of addicts in foster care sooner rather than as a last resort. The great failure in Oregon is that the addict, whose brain has been taken over by these mind-altering drugs, gets to make the decision on when to get treatment. A better approach would be to make treatment mandatory.
Hometown Source - Feb. 16, 2024

The Addiction Recovery Story We Don’t Hear Enough
What if everyone with a drug problem who was caught up in the criminal justice system had access to a comprehensive and long-term recovery program? What if high-quality treatment programs were available free to all 48 million Americans over the age of 12 who, according to federal estimates, have a substance use disorder involving drugs, alcohol or both? That could cost tens of billions of dollars. But anyone who thinks we can’t afford effective drug treatment doesn’t understand the costs of addiction.
New York Times - Feb. 14, 2024

National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Comments

Books and Movies

Saoirse Ronan on Addiction and Recovery Drama ‘The Outrun’: Berlin
The recovery drama filmed on the sparsely populated Orkney Islands in Scotland, where Amy Liptrot memoir, on which the film is based, took place. While filming The Outrun, Saoirse Ronan delivered lambs, swam with seals and communed with her fair share of flora and fauna. The four-time Oscar nominee plays Rona, a young woman who leaves London and returns to her small hometown on Scotland’s Orkney Islands as she charts her course to sobriety while experiencing all the harsh realities and natural wonders that a tiny, wind-swept isle off the coast of Scotland has to offer. 
Hollywood Reporter - Feb. 16, 2024

National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Comments

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