Answer Addiction

Author: The Fix

  • Gov. Newsom Signs Medical Marijuana Compassionate Care Bill Into Law

    Gov. Newsom Signs Medical Marijuana Compassionate Care Bill Into Law

    The bill would exempt compassionate care programs from state cannabis taxes.

    After years of support from compassionate care providers, veterans groups and medical marijuana advocates, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB-34—the Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary Act—into law on October 12, 2019.

    High Times reported that the bill—named after San Francisco medical marijuana activists, Dennis Peron and Mary Jane Rathbun—would exempt compassionate care programs from state cannabis taxes.

    High Tax Rates Have Hindered Compassionate Care Programs

    The programs, which provide medicinal marijuana to low-income patients for minor fees or free of charge, have either been shuttered or incapacitated by the Golden State’s high marijuana tax rate, which as of January 2019 stood at 15%. The passage of the bill will allow such programs to continue to provide assistance to patients who may have turned to the state’s black market industry for cannabis.

    The bill’s chief sponsor, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), issued a statement that said, in part, “Access to medical cannabis has allowed so many people living with HIV, cancer, PTSD, and other health conditions to survive and thrive. Taxing programs that give away free medical cannabis, and thus have no revenue, makes no sense and has caused far too many of these programs to close. SB-34 will allow compassionate care programs to survive and serve those in need.”

    The Bill Was Vetoed Back In 2018 

    The bill nearly passed in 2018, but then-Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the legislation, citing that exempting compassionate care programs from the same tax rate as retail cannabis businesses might run contrary to the decision of voters who passed Proposition 64, the state’s marijuana legalization initiative.

    But as Josh Drayton, Communication and Outreach Director for the California Cannabis Industry Association, told High Times, “While Prop 64 did not intend to cut off medical cannabis to compassionate use patients, by imposing all state taxes on donated cannabis products, licensed operators have been inhibited from donating product, and as a result, patients have been forced to the unregulated, illicit market to get their much needed medicine.”

    The Bill Pays Homage To Noted Marijuana Activists Dennis Peron & “Brownie Mary”

    California NORML Deputy Director Ellen Komp was pleased to see that the bill paid homage to Peron and Rathbun, who earned the nickname “Brownie Mary” for baking cannabis brownies for, among others, AIDS patients at San Francisco General Hospital in the 1980s. Both were key figures in the passage of Prop 215, which in 1996 made California the first state to exempt caregivers and patients from criminal charges for medical marijuana possession or cultivation.

    “Compassion is what they were all about,” she said. “And [that’s] what first brought medical marijuana to all of us in California and the nation,” Komp told High Times.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Artie Lange Speaks On Addiction, Legal Troubles In Comeback Tour

    Artie Lange Speaks On Addiction, Legal Troubles In Comeback Tour

    In the opening show, Lange touched on past relationships, Todd Bridges, and having a brand of heroin named after him.

    Comedian Artie Lange is on a stand-up comeback tour after completing rehab and being released in September. During a recent show, he opened up about some of his past experiences with drugs and got real when it came to the addiction disorder that has dogged him for decades.

    Lange posted on his Twitter account on September 10 announcing that he was back home and feeling good.

    “Great to be home!” he wrote. “7 months 14 days sober but one day at a time. Lots of new stories to tell. Will announce some new tour dates on Friday. Thanks for the support. Love you all.”

    The First Stop Of The Tour

    Radar Online outlined the most notable moments from the first show of Lange’s tour on October 18, in which the former Howard Stern Show co-host touched on his past relationships, life in prison, and how drugs have affected his life.

    “I had three fiancées who left me because of heroin. Heroin saved me a lot of money,” Lange joked. “Divorce would’ve been way more expensive than the drugs.”

    Lange was in a relationship with Dana Cironi from 2002 to 2006 and was with Adrienne Ockrymiek from 2009 to 2014.

    He also joked about his former use of crack cocaine and “burning bridges.”

    “I burned all the bridges you can burn in show business, that’s why I’m in Bridgeport. I was in the crack house recently, I was trying to light a crack pipe and I burned Todd Bridges.”

    A fellow actor, Bridges struggled with addiction to crack in his 20s. He entered rehab in 1992 and has been sober ever since.

    They Named Heroin After Him

    Later, Lange treated audiences to a story about being sold a bag of heroin that was named after him.

    “Here’s the f—ked up thing, on the marquee where I was performing, they had my name spelled wrong. On the bag, it was spelled perfectly!” he said. As funny as it might have been, Lange didn’t feel all that good about the way he was being admired. “My name was on poison dude. Kids are taking this… I guess I am a famous scumbag!”

    At the end of the show, Lange got serious, advising his audience to avoid the difficult life that he’s had to struggle through thanks largely to addiction while also showing his appreciation to the fans who have stuck with him through the bad times.

    “The fact that you guys come out on a Friday to support me means everything to me. Tell your kids to never touch drugs.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jane Pauley Talks Bipolar Diagnosis, Ending Stigma

    Jane Pauley Talks Bipolar Diagnosis, Ending Stigma

    “Words have power. The word ‘stigma’ is its own stigma. So every time you say ‘stigma,’ it is a reminder for people like me that I’m fighting two wars.”

    Veteran broadcast journalist, Jane Pauley, is something of a household name, since debuting on the Today show as Barbara Walters’ replacement at the age of 25. Now 68, the CBS Sunday Morning host has continued her advocacy for mental health awareness, since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder nearly 20 years ago.

    Pauley appeared on CBS This Morning to speak on the issue for the show’s “Stop the Stigma” segment.

    “When I was 49, I was not bipolar. When I was 50, I was,” she said. “I was switched, flipped…”

    “I Was In Pretty Deep Trouble”

    Pauley described how a bout of hives led to her diagnosis. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2001—a mood disorder that is characterized by dramatic mood swings.

    She had no family history of the mood disorder “that I know of,” so her diagnosis came as a surprise, especially in middle age. “It unmasked what doctors described as a genetic vulnerability to a mood disorder, and by that time I was in pretty deep trouble,” she said.

    A Cover Story From Her Doctor

    Pauley’s doctor was so reluctant about sharing Pauley’s diagnosis with others that he offered her a cover story to hide her bipolar disorder.

    “The only time in my life… that I experienced stigma was that day, day one, when I recognized that my doctor was giving me a cover story to tell my employers that I was being treated for a thyroid disorder, which was true, but I knew it was not the whole truth.”

    Instead of hiding her truth, Pauley wrote down her experience in her book published soon after her diagnosis, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue. (An excerpt can be read on NBC News.) Pauley said that her doctor “went pale” at her decision to write about it, but she went ahead and did it anyway.

    Ending Stigma

    “Words have power. The word ‘stigma’ is its own stigma,” she said on CBS This Morning. “So every time you say ‘stigma,’ it is a reminder for people like me that I’m fighting two wars. It’s not enough that I have a disorder that’s pretty serious, but I’m also fighting this front.”

    She added, “My goal is that we fight stigma, which is real, but we fight it with sophistication. It’s a medical disorder.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Combat Veterans May Be At Greater Risk For Opioid Addiction

    Combat Veterans May Be At Greater Risk For Opioid Addiction

    Combat exposure not only increased opioid narcotic and heroin use, but also non-medical use of sedatives and tranquilizers.

    The Military Times addressed the findings from a new study which suggested that U.S. troops and veterans who experienced combat had a more “substantial” risk for developing dependency on prescription opioids or heroin, than service members that were deployed but never saw armed conflict.

    The study, published in September by the non-profit National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), found that opioid abuse was 7% higher among vets who were exposed to combat than other military service members.

    Injuries Linked To Drug Abuse

    The study authors also found that combat-exposed troops were also 1% more likely to use heroin than those who were not involved in combat, and that about one-third of opioid abuse and more than half of heroin abuse could be linked to an injury suffered as a result of combat.

    The exact number of U.S. troops and veterans that have used or developed a dependency on opioids or heroin is unknown, but Veterans Administration (VA) officials reported in 2015 that they had observed a 55% increase in opioid use disorders among veterans with combat experience in either Iraq and Afghanistan, while approximately 68,000 veterans were treated at VA facilities for opioid dependency. 

    Between 2010 and 2016, more than 6,000 veterans in the VA system died of opioid-related causes. The economic impact of opioid addiction among service members is estimated at $1 billion per year, while heroin dependency is estimated at $470 million. But the study authors also noted that those numbers are most likely higher due to under-reporting by troops or veterans, who may also live in areas without access to treatment.

    Opioid Addiction Rates Are Underreported Among Vets

    To determine statistics regarding opioid use among vets, the study authors drew information from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and the 2008 Department of Defense Health and Related Behaviors Survey.

    Data from more than 12,000 male servicemen culled from both studies found that of more than 400 service members, nearly 13% reported using prescription drugs for recreational or non-medical purposes. Additionally, 9% of more than 11,000 servicemen who reported being in combat also stated that they used opioids for non-medical use, while 0.6% reported using heroin.

    From these findings, the study authors concluded that combat exposure not only increased opioid narcotic and heroin use, but also the non-medical use of sedatives and tranquilizers, as well as the use of opioids with other drugs like benzodiazepines, which can increase incidents of overdose.

    They also found that in states where medical marijuana is available, rates of opioid prescription, as well as hospitalizations and overdoses due to opioid use had all dropped. “While marijuana legalization is not a silver bullet, evidence that marijuana and opioids are substitutes suggests that access to medical marijuana may provide an alternative, less addictive and less unhealthy means of treating pain,” the study authors wrote.

    The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have attempted to address the opioid issue by issuing new guidelines in 2010 and 2013 that sought to reduce or offer alternatives for opioids as pain medication. Opioid prescriptions at VA facilities have dropped since 2012.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Liam Payne Drank Heavily To Deal With One Direction Fame

    Liam Payne Drank Heavily To Deal With One Direction Fame

    “I used to get off stage, high off the endorphins and get horrendously drunk, get up at five in the afternoon and do it all again.”

    One Direction, the wildly popular boy band from the UK, first gained fame from performing on The X Factor in 2010. They then scored their first number one single a year later. Years of fame and success followed, but as former 1D member Liam Payne recalls, the sudden rise to pop stardom “nearly killed” him before he cleaned up his act.

    As Payne explained on Table Manners with Jessie Ware podcast, “I went through a stage in the band when I was drinking really heavily—I put weight on and didn’t notice,” to the point where he was called the “fat one” in One Direction.

    “I was just really drunk every day… I used to just get wasted and say whatever I wanted. Our schedule time was just a mess, I used to get off stage, high off the endorphins and get horrendously drunk, get up at five in the afternoon and do it all again.”

    Reality Check

    The singer added, “I didn’t see what was looking back at me in the mirror.” It wasn’t until he saw an unflattering paparazzi picture of himself that he decided he needed to get help.

    “I was surprised I’d become that guy,” he says. “It was worth it to make me realize what life’s made of.”

    Payne ultimately realized, “You’re either gonna end up a crazy child star who dies at whatever age or you’re gonna live, laugh and actually get on with it properly.”

    It’s been hard for Payne to adjust to life post-stardom, but he says, “I needed to stop, definitely. It would have killed me. One hundred percent. I literally spent the last two years of this, in and out of doing the music, trying to learn to be a person, if that makes sense.”

    Life After One Direction

    In recent years, Payne has talked openly about his mental health struggles as a famous pop star. It was hard to hit the stage for hundreds of concerts when he didn’t feel good, and as he told Men’s Health Australia, “It’s almost like putting the Disney costume on before you step up on stage. I was pissed (drunk) quite a lot of the time because there was no other way to get your head around what was going on.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Why's It Easier To Buy Marijuana Vape Pens Than To Research Them?

    Why's It Easier To Buy Marijuana Vape Pens Than To Research Them?

    “I can buy a vape device around the corner, but I can’t bring it into the lab and test it.”

    About one-third of the legal cannabis industry is based on vape products—but as more and more consumers began to vape cannabis, rather than smoke it, experts were unable to study the health effects because of federal bans on studying marijuana.

    “It’s disgraceful,” University of California, San Francisco professor and researcher Dr. Neal Benowitz told The New York Times. “I’m not able to take products we think are potentially harmful and do analysis. I can buy a vape device around the corner, but I can’t bring it into the lab and test it.”

    He Tried To Warn Congress

    Benowitz, a professor of medicine, studies vaping. This summer, before reports of widespread vaping-related became prevalent, Benowitz wrote to Congress expressing his concern about cannabis vapes. 

    “Very little is known about the safety or effects of vaped cannabis oil,” he wrote. He continued, warning that ingredients in the oils “could have harmful, toxic effect on users, including the potential for causing and/or promoting cancer and lung disease.”

    Vaping-related illnesses have killed 33 people around the country. 

    Even those who are in favor of vaping cannabis recognize that there are many unknowns about vapes. As president of the board of the United Cannabis Business Association, Jerred Kiloh represents 165 California dispensaries, including those that sell legal cannabis vape products. 

    “There’s a glaring gap in trying to understand this product,” Kiloh said. 

    Black Market Weed Vape Pens Are An Open Secret

    Kiloh pointed out that regulated vape pens cost about $55, but people can buy a black market pen with a comparable amount of THC for as little as $25. Investigators say that most of the vaping injury victims have used black market pens. The federal government has warned that people should stop using THC vape products.

    “We don’t know what the chemical composition is, and we especially don’t know what the chemical composition is once it’s been combined, heated and inhaled,” Kiloh said.  

    Users Discuss Why They’ll Continue To Vape

    Despite the risk, some people, like Cynthia Valdivia, 34, are still using vape pens. “There’s someone behind the brand and they don’t want to kill people. They want their money.”

    Another customer, who is 35, said that he prefers vaping because they are inconspicuous. “You could vape in a police station and no one would even know, not that you’d want to do that.” 

    Former FDA tobacco official Eric N. Lindblom said that for a long time there was no interest in regulating the vaping industry. Now, there is.

    “Only now that we have this special, extra weird mystery crisis with the disease and deaths is there now interest in doing something.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Anti-Anxiety Drugs Prescribed More Often In Poorer Areas

    Anti-Anxiety Drugs Prescribed More Often In Poorer Areas

    A UK study analyzed public prescribing data on the anti-anxiety and insomnia drugs. 

    A new study has found that benzodiazepines and z-drugs (non-benzodiazepine drugs with similar effects) are more often prescribed in poorer areas of the UK, the New Scientist reports.

    The study analyzed public prescribing data from the National Health Service. Saran Shantikumar, a researcher at the University of Warwick, was curious if prescribing behavior toward “benzos” would reflect prescribing behavior toward opioid medication, which also had previously been found to be more prevalent in “deprived areas.”

    They found that there was a correlation between prescriptions for benzos and z-drugs and deprived areas (defined by deprivation of income, employment, education, health, housing and more). The study only analyzed public prescribing data, leaving private prescription data unaccounted for.

    Lack Of Treatment Options

    Shantikumar suggested that the prescribing trend may be the result of a lack of substance use disorder treatment options in these areas for people who become dependent on the drugs, which are prescribed for managing anxiety and sleep problems.

    “I feel that the health service as a whole probably has insufficient capacity to deal with people with addictions,” said Shantikumar. “It may be that people in more deprived areas simply don’t have access to drug-dependency services.”

    The Hidden Epidemic

    It’s important to note that benzodiazepines are not harmless and should be approached with caution. The popular drugs are at the center of a “hidden epidemic akin to the opioid crisis,” as NBC News reported last year.

    It’s easy to develop a tolerance to benzos, leading patients to rely on increasingly higher doses. Withdrawal is painful and long-term use can cause neurological damage, according to Dr. Anna Lembke, chief of addiction medicine at Stanford University Medical Center.

    The simultaneous use or abuse of benzos and opioids is also a concern, as Dr. Indra Cidambi, founder and medical director of the Center for Network Therapy in New Jersey, noted in a 2016 article in The Fix.

    People who use both of these drugs are at “heightened risk of respiratory depression,” i.e. overdose, and face an even more difficult withdrawal.

    Cidambi recommended that doctors and patients who require both opioids and benzodiazepine medication work together to establish a short-term treatment plan with a clear end in mind.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Julie Andrews: Therapy “Saved My Life, In A Way”

    Julie Andrews: Therapy “Saved My Life, In A Way”

    The icon detailed her experience with therapy on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    The legendary Julie Andrews revealed that seeking therapy during a difficult time in her life “saved my life, in a way.”

    While promoting her new memoir Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, out this month, Andrews shared her experience with therapy during a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    Mike Nichols Nudged Her Into Getting Help

    The Sound of Music star said that a famous friend inspired her to seek help after separating from her first husband, set designer Tony Walton, in 1967.

    “Sadly, I separated from my lovely first husband. And separations were always inevitable and the marriage was over and my head was so full of clutter and garbage,” she told host Stephen Colbert. “Believe it or not, it was Mike Nichols who really tipped me into wanting to go to therapy.”

    Nichols, who directed The Graduate and The Birdcage, among others, had a certain quality that resonated with the young actress. “He was so sane, and funny and clear. He had a clarity that I admired so much. I wanted that for myself. And I didn’t feel I had it, so I went and got into it and it saved my life, in a way,” she told Colbert.

    She said there was no harm in sharing her experience with therapy, especially if it could help someone else. “The truth is, Stephen, why not [share it], if it helps anybody else have the same idea? And these days, there’s no harm in sharing it. I think everybody knows the great work it can do, and anybody that is lucky enough to have it, afford it, and take advantage of it, I think it would be wonderful, yeah.”

    “I’d Felt Like I Lost My Identity”

    Losing her voice in 1997 was also difficult to cope with, she said in the October/November issue of AARP The Magazine. “When I woke up from an operation to remove a cyst on my vocal cord, my singing voice was gone. I went into a depression. I felt like I’d lost my identity,” she said.

    The surgery resulted in permanent damage to Andrews’ iconic singing voice. She sued the hospital, Mount Sinai in New York, for malpractice in 1999 and settled with the hospital in 2000 for an undisclosed amount. The actress has tried to repair her singing voice through more surgeries, but had no success, according to the Daily Mail.

    “That was just an extremely, acutely painful time. Not physically, but emotionally,” Andrews recently told Oprah Magazine. “The thing that I felt defined me, always, was that I was a soprano… I finally thought, ‘If I don’t do something else, I’m just going to go crazy.’ Because I’m not one to ever just be idle. I’m far too curious and interested.”

    She found a different calling in writing children’s books with her daughter Emma. “So along came a brand-new career in my mid-60s,” Andrews told AARP. “Boy, that was a lovely surprise. But do I miss singing? Yes, I really do.”

    Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years is now available.

    View the original article at thefix.com