A recent study examined the medical burdens that people in recovery face from alcohol or drug abuse.
For many recovering from addiction, the damage done to their health remains an issue well into sobriety. Massachusetts General Hospital’s Recovery Research Institute in Boston carried out a study that examined the medical burden of people in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse.
Published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, the paper included over 2,000 subjects in active recovery from the 2017 National Recovery Survey.
Around 37% of this sample had received a diagnosis of one or more of these medical issues: liver disease, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, tuberculosis, and diabetes, cancer and hepatitis C.
David Eddie, PhD, is a research scientist and the lead author of the published study. He told Medical News Today, “The prodigious psychological, social, and interpersonal impact of excessive and chronic alcohol and other drug use is well-characterized. Less well-appreciated is the physical disease burden, especially among those who have successfully resolved a significant substance use problem.”
The conclusion of the study was that COPD, heart disease and diabetes all were more prevalent in the recovery sample group than in the general population.
The type of substance most associated with the respondent correlated with the burden of the disease.
Some examples listed in Medical News Today include: hepatitis C correlated to the opioid and stimulant groups (versus the alcohol group); HIV and sexually transmitted infections correlated to the stimulant group than the alcohol group; heart disease appeared the least in the opioid group; diabetes was least seen in the marijuana group, and there was no notable difference found in the prevalence of tuberculosis and COPD.
Chronic inflammation may be an underlying association between drug or alcohol abuse and physical disease. Alcohol is known to be problematic; the WorldJournal of Gastroenterology states that chronic usage of alcohol can lead to systemic inflammation.
Certain findings were expected, while others were surprising. Further research is needed to pinpoint the variations between expected cause and effect.
Eddie noted an example to Medical News Today, “Those citing cannabis as their primary substance did not have lower rates of alcohol-related liver disease than participants who primarily used alcohol. It may be that these individuals had prior histories of heavy alcohol involvement.”
In this study, the participants had a 4% to 7% higher risk of having two or more chronic illnesses, with factors such as additional substance use 10 or more times, being older when developing a disease, and the time in life when recovery began.
Not surprisingly, factors like younger age, social stability and economic resources greatly reduced the risk of ongoing disease.
Coverage of the law, known as Section 35, on NPR’s health news program Shots and elsewhere detailed support for involuntary commitment by law enforcement and individuals who view it as a “last resort” to save their family members from substance abuse.
But Section 35 has also drawn criticism and legal action from both patients, who allege inhumane conditions while committed, and their family members, including one woman whose son committed suicide after his commitment.
As the NPR feature noted, Section 35 allows family members, physicians or law enforcement to petition the courts to commit an individual to substance abuse treatment without securing their permission.
The petition must present “clear and convincing” evidence that the individual in question has an alcohol or substance use disorder, and is likely to commit serious harm to themselves or others because of that disorder.
If the court grants the petition, male patients in Massachusetts are committed to one of three locations, including the Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center (MASC), which is a minimum security prison in Plymouth. Women are sent to one of four addiction treatment facilities, but a lawsuit filed in 2016 bars the state from sending them to correctional institutions.
The use of prisons as treatment facilities is at the heart of most concerns regarding Section 35. More than 6,500 Massachusetts residents were placed in involuntary treatment in the 2018 fiscal year—and while 37 states currently have statutes similar to Section 35, the Bay State is among the few that send involuntarily committed patients to prisons or jails for addiction treatment.
Patients and their family members have alleged that conditions at such locations are, at best, inadequate to properly handle addiction treatment. In several cases, the prisons have reportedly subjected involuntarily committed patients to harsh conditions: a lawsuit filed against the state by 10 men committed to MASC alleged that they were subjected to strip-searches, placed in solitary confinement for minor infractions, and saw violent fights between other inmates—all while receiving minimal counseling or mental health treatment.
The NPR coverage also detailed the case of Sean Wallace, whose mother Robin committed him to a 90-day program in a state prison. She recalled his fear that he would be unable to continue with methadone treatment while committed, but because of her experience as an addiction treatment counselor, Wallace said, “I couldn’t conceive that there would be an opioid treatment program that would not provide medication-assisted treatment.”
As NPR noted, Sean’s concerns were well-founded. Not only was he unable to continue with methadone, he was frequently placed in solitary confinement for no apparent reason. Upon his release, Sean struggled with adjustment. Anxiety issues led to hospitalization and another jail sentence before he took his own life.
His mother told NPR that she believes his time in involuntary commitment was a contributing factor.
The Massachusetts Department of Correction told NPR in an emailed statement that the huge demand for treatment has some centers turning away individuals who refuse voluntary commitment, and placement in prisons provides a solution.
The piece also quoted Denise Bohan, who said that involuntary commitment saved her son’s life.
“This is a last resort,” she said. “This is a desperate act of just trying to save your child’s life.”
While families continue to weigh the option of placing a substance-addicted member in such a program, state officials are considering whether to remove correctional facilities from Section 35 due to a growing understanding that addiction requires medical treatment and not incarceration.
The woman said she noticed a significant difference after the second treatment.
People suffering from severe depression oftentimes don’t feel like they care if they live or die. That’s the state that Heather B. Armstrong was in when she agreed to participate in an experimental depression treatment that induced a deep coma to try to reset the brain and treat her depression.
“If it means I don’t have to feel this way through the rest of my life, let’s maybe do it?” Armstrong said of the treatment in an interview with The New York Post.
The treatment mimics brain death by inducing a deep coma for 15 minutes at a time over 10 sessions. This “burst suppression” essentially shuts down the brain’s neurological communications before starting them back up, resetting neurological functions that may contribute to symptoms of depression. Doctors who help anesthetize patients call the deep sedations “the abyss.”
“Quieting is a polite way of saying ‘taking down to zero,’” Armstrong writes.
Although the thought of the treatment was terrifying—doctors used the anesthetic propofol to sedate Armstrong and the opioid fentanyl to help her cope with headaches induced by the process—Armstrong quickly saw results.
“It was after the second treatment when I suddenly realized, ‘Oh, I showered without even thinking about it!’ After the third treatment… I started doing my hair and wearing cleaner clothes,” she said.
Halfway through the treatment cycle, “I was sitting outside watching my kids playing, and I actually felt happy,” she said.
Armstrong wasn’t alone in her success. She was one of 10 people who took part in a study run by the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute. Of those, six people experienced significant relief from their depression symptoms.
Doctors believe the treatment works in a similar way to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) by targeting the brain’s neural networks. However, the treatment appears to avoid common complications of ECT, including memory loss.
Researcher Dr. Brian J. Mickey said in the afterword of Armstrong’s book. “This study… could be the beginning of something new, but the true benefits of Propofol for treatment-resistant depression remain unknown. Much work still needs to be done.”
It has now been two years since Armstrong underwent the treatments, and she says that her depression symptoms have stayed at bay. By undergoing brain death again and again, she has rediscovered life.
Yang also vowed to legalize marijuana on April 20, 2021.
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang outlined his position to decriminalize drugs such as heroin and non-prescription fentanyl when found in small amounts during a CNN town hall on Sunday.
The candidate, who is relatively unknown in a crowded and growing field of Democratic presidential hopefuls, is running on a number of unusually progressive positions, including a $1,000 per month universal basic income for all U.S. citizens. He also fully supports the complete legalization of marijuana across the country.
At the town hall, Yang described the opioid crisis as a “plague” and called out the U.S. government for being “complicit in enabling this opioid epidemic,” saying it “stood by while Purdue Pharma dispensed hundreds of thousands of OxyContin prescriptions as a non-addictive wonder drug.”
He recalled an exchange he’d had with a high school student whose friends had gotten their hands on fentanyl patches and were now addicted to opioids.
“How can we get them treatment when they’re afraid they’re going to get sent to jail if they step up and say, I have a problem?” Yang asked on behalf of the student. He then brought up the example of Portugal, which decriminalized all opioids as long as an individual doesn’t have more than a week’s supply of the drug. “Then, instead of referring you to a jail cell, we refer you to treatment.”
Yang specified that this policy would include heroin. However, he is not currently in favor of decriminalizing cocaine, because “the addiction has very different features.”
Yang has also vowed to pardon all non-violent cannabis-related crimes after legalizing the drug on April 20, 2021 and high-fiving every released prisoner on their way out.
Currently, all major Democratic presidential candidates support cannabis legalization. President Donald Trump has expressed support for decriminalization, though he said he would leave the issue up to the states. No other candidates have expressed support for opioid decriminalization.
A recent Emerson poll found that Yang is polling at 3%, just ahead of Senator Cory Booker. Despite founding multiple start-ups, including the non-profit Venture for America, Yang is running without political experience.
The pop star shared a quote by Carrey about depression and the award-winning comedic actor reached out to her on social media.
This month, pop star Ariana Grande shared that she is going through “hell” at every concert, reliving the trauma of recent years.
In 2017, Grande survived a terrorist attack at her concert at Manchester Arena in England that killed 22 people and wounded 59. The following year, her ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, succumbed to a fatal overdose. All while the media and fans scrutinized her whirlwind relationship with SNL cast member Pete Davidson.
She recently shared a quote by author Jeff Foster on her Instagram Story about depression.
“Depression is your body saying, ‘I don’t want to be this character anymore. I don’t want to hold up this avatar that you’ve created in the world. It’s too much for me. You should think of the word ‘depressed’ as ‘deep rest.’ Your body needs to be depressed. It needs deep rest from the character that you’ve been trying to play.”
“I read your lovely mention of me and things I’ve said about depression. A brilliant teacher and friend, Jeff Foster was OG on the ‘Deep Rest’ concept. I admire your openness. I wish you freedom and peace. I feel blessed to have such a gifted admirer. Happy Easter!”
The singer, a die-hard Jim Carrey fan, thanked the actor for his kindness. “Thank you for taking the time to share this with me. You are such an inspiration. I can’t wait to tattoo this tweet to my forehead,” she responded.
Earlier this month, Grande shared her brain scans with fans on Instagram, comparing them to images of a “healthy brain.” But the lit-up areas of her brain indicated the effects of PTSD.
She followed with a note to fans. “Didn’t mean to startle anyone with my brain thingy. It just blew me away. I found it informative and interesting and wanted to encourage y’all to make sure you check on your brains/listen to your bodies/take care of yourselves too.”
“Making [music] is healing. Performing it is like reliving it all over again and it is hell,” she wrote.
Grande is currently on tour to promote her two albums Sweetener and thank u, next. She just performed at Coachella music and arts festival in Indio, California, where she was joined on stage by *NSYNC, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber.
The teacher says it was all for the purpose of learning, and nothing else.
A professor dubbed “the Japanese Walter White” has been accused of teaching his students to make ecstasy and another designer drug.
In Japan, a government license is required to produce narcotics for academic research. Iwamura did have the license at some point, but it was expired at the time he was accused of having the students make the drugs.
The Japan Times reports that Matsuyama University professor Tatsunori Iwamura, 61, was aware that he was breaking the law by conducting the class experiment despite his expired license.
Iwamura allegedly instructed an associate professor and four students to produce MDMA in class—the first time being 2011-2013 and again from 2016-2017, according to the Times. Then, the professor would take the drugs “into his possession.”
While multiple reports including from the Guardian claim that the professor also had students make 5F-QUPIC, a cannabis-like designer drug, the Times makes no mention of it. 5F-QUPIC, also known as 5F-PB-22, is a controlled substance in the U.S., UK and China.
Iwamura says it was all for the purpose of learning, and nothing else.
Authorities, acting on a tip, did not find ecstasy in a search of the professor’s home or lab at the university. But they did find traces of 5F-QUPIC, according to the Guardian.
Authorities are now investigating the four students and associate professor involved in the illegal drug-making. President of Matsuyama University Tatsuya Mizogami said the university will pursue punitive action against Iwamura following the outcome of the investigation. “We sincerely apologize for causing major concern to students and their parents,” Mizogami said.
Iwamura is facing prison time for his illicit class experiment. The Guardian reports that he could face up to 10 years in prison.
Japanese culture is not at all forgiving about drug use. In March, Sega indefinitely halted sales of its new video game Judgment after allegations surfaced that actor Pierre Taki, who portrayed a yakuza crime boss in the game, was arrested for cocaine possession.
“I hadn’t set out to make a political film but my personal point of view about what’s happening right now is horrifying. I mean whatever way we’re dealing with the opiate crisis, it isn’t working.”
Writer-director Nia DaCosta’s first feature Little Woods is fresh off the film festival circuit and now playing in theaters nationwide. The movie earned multiple awards including Tribeca’s prestigious 2018 Nora Ephron Prize. It’s the kind of thriller that makes you lean forward—a nail-biter. Tessa Thompson and Lily James keep the audience transfixed.
This is a tale of two sisters living in Little Woods, North Dakota, a fracking town in rapid decline. Ollie (Thompson) is the stronger, tougher sib. She’s the one who gets things done. Unfortunately she got too careless as a drug runner and was caught transporting opioids across the border from Canada. When Parole Officer Carter (Lance Reddick) reminds Ollie that they have only one more meeting before she’s free to start a legit job in Spokane, his concerned look foreshadows looming problems. He says, “Please stay out of trouble,” but the audience understands: Uh oh. Something bad is gonna happen.
Deb (James) had been the most popular girl in high school so it’s not a surprise that she paired up with the most popular guy, Ian (James Badge Dale). But now Ian is an alcoholic and deadbeat dad to their son Johnny (Charlie Ray Reid). Frail Deb is a broken and broke substance abuser with a knack for screwing up her life.
The estranged sisters are together again in the house they grew up in, each feeling exhausted and alone despite their close physical proximity. They are separately grieving the recent loss of their mother after a prolonged illness, in which Ollie stayed to provide care while Deb did her own thing. Their family history is fraught with resentments.
Easing their mother’s pain was the impetus for Ollie’s initial border-crossing opioid-gathering mission. Canadian prescription painkillers were cheaper. That was how the trafficking started; we get the bigger picture when Deb asks Ollie why she got caught.
“I forgot to be scared,” Ollie said. “I liked it too much.”
There is no money left after their mom’s death. Mortgage payments are overdue and Ollie finds a foreclosure notice on the front door. She is ready to just walk away, to blow this depressing town and let the bank take the house. With a new job to look forward to, she feels hopeful for the first time in longer than she can remember.
Then everything comes to a screeching halt.
Deb reveals that she is accidentally pregnant by Johnny’s no-good father.
Deb tried to handle things herself: She went to see a doctor but was told that without insurance, the cost of prenatal care combined with the fees for the birth would run between $8,000 and $9,000. Disillusioned, she opts for an abortion only to discover that North Dakota abortion centers were shuttered. Finally, desperate, Deb researches where she can get a legal abortion in Canada.
When Deb breaks down and tells Ollie the news, including that she’ll have to travel hundreds of miles in order to get an affordable abortion, the stronger sister kicks into high gear like the super-duper codependent she is. With only one week to pay the bank at least half of the $6,000 they owe on the mortgage, Ollie decides she can’t leave destitute Deb and Johnny homeless.
That’s when I wanted to scream, “No! Go to Al-Anon!”
But Ollie risks her freedom, her new job, and her safety to make one last drug run. The heart-pumping action begins. Luke Kirby plays the frightening drug dealer.
Nia DaCosta talked to journalist Dorri Olds for The Fix.
“They told me in film school, ‘Write what you know,’” said DaCosta. “At first, I took that literally. But I didn’t want to write about my life, I wanted to explore other worlds.”
DaCosta figured out that she could use the same principle to write about topics she didn’t know but could learn if she was able to relate emotionally.
“We look at poverty and addiction as personal failures, moral failures,” said the Brooklyn-born, Harlem-raised 29-year-old. “I had a great family. I mean we weren’t well off but growing up in New York City, I could walk to a hospital. I can get to a Planned Parenthood. Lives of deprivation, like Deb and Ollie’s, [were] completely unfamiliar to me.”
Determined and hardworking, DaCosta spent time in Williston, North Dakota to write the fictional town of Little Woods. She was stunned by how little she knew about how dark life is for so many people in America, especially women.
“I wanted to present what was happening. This is reality. This is where we are. Medications are overprescribed to a startling degree. I remember getting 20 Vicodin pills when I got my wisdom teeth taken out. I didn’t need any of the pills.”
Alarmed, she threw them out.
“I hadn’t set out to make a political film but my personal point of view about what’s happening right now is horrifying. I mean whatever way we’re dealing with the opiate crisis, it isn’t working. That is heartbreaking.”
DaCosta confirmed that trafficking opioids was never about getting high for Ollie. But after smuggling affordable painkillers to help her mom, Ollie found out how much locals would pay for the ill-gotten opioids. The town of Little Woods attracted men who came for the oil drilling jobs, hard manual labor that resulted in body aches and chronic pain. The more Ollie became known as the go-to for “meds,” the more it went to her head. She liked being a badass drug dealer. In a town where there were few options, especially for women, she liked her tough persona and getting to hang with the boys.
“It gave her a purpose,” said DaCosta. “It gave her a place where she mattered; a way to stand out.”
The filmmaker decided to add substance misuse to Deb’s problems after she spent time in North Dakota researching for the movie.
“I remember talking to people, and it was just a part of the ecosystem. Everyone I spoke to either knew someone, or they themselves had substance abuse issues and had been involved with it in some way.”
Even though she didn’t set out to make a political film, DaCosta’s movie explores interrelated social, economic, and health problems that the U.S. is grappling with. In the red states, clinics that perform abortions and other health services for women are being shut down. Many fear that Roe vs. Wade may be overturned. The opioid epidemic has reached astonishing numbers. Click here for more information.
Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson discuss Planned Parenthood:
A new study examined the drinking habits of individuals who regularly interact with the public.
If you feel forced to put on a happy face at work, you may be more likely to drink heavily after a shift, new research has concluded.
Researchers at Penn State and the University at Buffalo examined the drinking habits of individuals who work often with members of the public, PennState News reports. This included professions such as those in the food service industry, nurses and teachers.
In doing so, the researchers found that individuals who often had to play up positive emotions, such as smiling, or push aside negative feelings were more likely to take part in heavier drinking after work.
Alicia Grandey, professor of psychology at Penn State, tells PennState News that these results may mean employers in such industries may want to reassess the manner in which they ask employees to act.
Grandey adds that the exact reason for the connection is unknown, but she thinks that by keeping emotions in check and putting on a positive face for customers, individuals may be using large amounts of self-control that they later let go of when drinking.
“Smiling as part of your job sounds like a really positive thing, but doing it all day can be draining,” Grandey said. “In these jobs, there’s also often money tied to showing positive emotions and holding back negative feelings. Money gives you a motivation to override your natural tendencies, but doing it all day can be wearing.”
In conducting the study, the researchers examined data from the National Survey of Work Stress and Health, specifically from phone interviews with 1,592 employees in the U.S. The data they studied had to do with how often employees took part in “surface acting,” meaning they faked or suppressed emotions, as well as how often and how much they drank after work.
Additionally, researchers took into account the amount of autonomy individuals felt they had at work, as well as how impulsive they were.
Researchers concluded that employees who worked with the public tended to drink more after work than those who did not interact with the public.
“The relationship between surface acting and drinking after work was stronger for people who are impulsive or who lack personal control over behavior at work,” Grandey said. “If you’re impulsive or constantly told how to do your job, it may be harder to rein in your emotions all day, and when you get home, you don’t have that self-control to stop after one drink.”
Grandey also notes that for those who consider their work to be rewarding, surface acting may not be as problematic.
“Nurses, for example, may amplify or fake their emotions for clear reasons,” Grandey said. “They’re trying to comfort a patient or build a strong relationship. But someone who is faking emotions for a customer they may never see again, that may not be as rewarding, and may ultimately be more draining or demanding.”
A new study found that dozens of mental health apps shared user data with various advertisers, including big names like Facebook and Google.
Despite the hope of confidentiality, individuals who use mental health apps may have their private information being shared with advertisers.
According to a new study published in JAMA Network Open, some mental health apps are sharing private data without the app user’s knowledge.
Tech the Lead reports that researchers looked into 36 different mental health-related apps. Of those 36, they discovered that 33 shared user data with various advertisers, including big names like Facebook and Google as well as smaller organizations.
Overall, 92% of the apps studied were determined to have shared information with a third party and about 50% of those did not notify users of doing so.
Of the apps studied, three even explicitly stated they would not share data and nine others completely lacked a privacy policy of any sort.
While the shared data wasn’t all necessarily related to medical conditions or were “personally identifiable,” the fact that any information at all was shared is a red flag, says John Torous, co-author of the study.
“It’s really hard to make an informed decision about using an app if you don’t even know who’s going to get access to some information about you,” Torous said, according to Tech the Lead.
Researchers did find, however, that some of the information shared was sensitive, such as journal entries or information about substance use.
Steven Chan, a physician at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System who was not involved in the study but has worked with Torous before, tells The Verge that advertisers could use this information to manipulate audiences.
“Potentially advertisers could use this to compromise someone’s privacy and sway their treatment decisions,” he said.
Chan cited one example in which someone who is trying to quit smoking may be marketed cigarette alternatives.
“Maybe if someone is interested in smoking, would they be interested in electronic cigarettes?” he said. “Or could they potentially introduce them to other similar products, like alcohol?”
Researchers concluded that mental health app users likely lack the access to information and the choice about such sharing practices.
“Data sharing with third parties that includes linkable identifiers is prevalent and focused on services provided by Google and Facebook,” the researchers wrote. “Despite this, most apps offer users no way to anticipate that data will be shared in this way. As a result, users are denied an informed choice about whether such sharing is acceptable to them.”
The new Netflix documentary spotlights marijuana’s role in shaping culture, music and politics in the U.S.
Marijuana—cannabis, weed, pot, bud, reefer—has played a significant role in shaping American society since the early 1900s.
Most of that has to do with how the plant has been demonized from generation to generation, as the government broadcasted anti-marijuana propaganda to the public despite the evidence that marijuana was and is not the menace to society it has been claimed to be.
A new Netflix documentary, Grass Is Greener, traces back the history of American drug policy to illustrate how we as a society came to believe that this relatively benign, naturally occurring substance could wreak havoc on people’s lives, how it shaped the evolution of music and culture in the United States, and how it became a symbol of resistance to the powers that be.
The documentary, directed and narrated by hip hop pioneer and “long-time cannabis connoisseur and advocate” Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite), became available for streaming on Netflix, fittingly, over the weekend on 4/20.
“How is it that a mild intoxicant, a plant that grows naturally all over the world, could be so feared by the American government and become worthy of a war?” Brathwaite asks.
The short answer: Harry Anslinger. As the first head of the Bureau of Narcotics in the 1930s, Anslinger launched a racist anti-marijuana crusade sparking fear and spreading false information to the public. He played a major role in demonizing the plant. It was his roundabout way of vilifying black jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong (“one of our glorious, early potheads”) and Mexican people.
Back then, the fear was that marijuana, which was infused in the jazz scene, was bringing white and black people together, says Baz Dreisinger of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the documentary. As jazz music gained steam around the world, so did the U.S. government’s anti-marijuana fervor.
From here, marijuana further influenced music and culture by paving the way for the Beat Generation and the hippie movement.
The documentary highlights two instances where the state commissioned a report to study the effects of marijuana—and in both instances, the conclusion was the same.
“The occasional use of marijuana does not do any physical harm and may not do any psychological harm,” the Shafer Commission stated during the 1970s. They were appointed by former President Richard Nixon—the man who declared drugs Public Enemy Number 1 and declared the “War on Drugs” as we know it—to study marijuana. Nixon was expecting the commission’s findings to support his anti-weed stance, but they found the opposite.
“There has been previous misinformation, false statements, and for that reason, we’ve attempted to demythologize the drug,” the commission stated. “Unfortunately, because marijuana has become politicized, the realities have become blurred.”
Years earlier, a 1944 report commissioned by New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia stated a similar conclusion. However, the laws did not reflect the report’s findings. Lawmakers “chose propaganda, chose racism” instead, said Kassandra Frederique, New York State Director of the Drug Policy Alliance.
There is so much more that is covered in Grass Is Greener—from the legendary drug dealers of jazz and hip hop, to the damning testimony of Nixon administration official John Ehrlichman who revealed that the administration lied about drugs to vilify people of color and anti-war protestors.
Whether you partake or not, it’s incredible to witness the enormous role that weed has played in shaping American history.
