Author: The Fix

Drag Race Star: Sobriety Taught Me A Different Way To Look At My Life

“I have a long journey to continue of loving myself, but I can start by doing a few things today to get to where I want to be in life.”

In a recent interview, Blair St. Clair, a former contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, addressed his DUI arrest, life as a sober drag performer, and unpacking the trauma of his sexual assault.

The 22-year-old Indianapolis native, born Andrew Bryson, was eliminated from Drag Race back in April, but the impact he made by speaking up about his sexual assault still resonates.

He revealed on the show that his first sexual experience was being raped at a college party. Bryson shared with Mic in a recent interview that he had “not talked to another human being in my entire life about that… It’s something that I didn’t want to believe.”

It didn’t dawn on him until later that he was in denial for a long time over how he had been hurt.

“I didn’t understand myself because I had so many emotions that I hadn’t yet felt,” he said. “Those things inevitably were still working without me knowing that they were working in my brain.”

After his DUI arrest in March 2017, the budding star watched as his mugshot went viral and became tabloid fodder. It was a difficult time, he said, but necessary for him to make a change. “Thank you TMZ. Because TMZ is the reason and the wake-up call I needed to see a mugshot of mine spread like wildfire across the media.”

This prompted him to become sober. “It really comes down to acceptance… Are you being honest with yourself that you have a problem? Or are you telling yourself you have a problem because that’s what you want people to hear? … Do you also desire to seek change?”

When interviewer Evan Ross Katz asked what sobriety has taught him, Bryson responded, “What has sobriety not taught me? Sobriety has taught me a different way to look at my life. I’m not perfect, I make mistakes, and I’m still growing… It allows me to take a pause and step back and reflect and look at my life and look at my choices. And recognize that I am in control of my life today.

“I finally decided to look at my life as a means for loving myself. Because I didn’t recognize and I didn’t know and I didn’t understand for such a long time that I was not in a place of loving myself… I have a long journey to continue going of loving myself, but I can start by doing a few things today to get to where I want to be in life.”

Despite heavy drinking being a large part of gay culture, which Bryson also discussed, being able to distinguish drinking and partying from performing as Blair St. Clair helped keep him focused on his sobriety.

“We celebrate by drinking when we’re happy, we’re mad, we’re sad, any emotion we feel. I had to remember… these changes were made for me, they were made to protect me, but they were also made to protect my career at the end of the day.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 June 2018
More Than One Way to Recover: A Guide of Pathways
Regardless of how we achieved recovery, it is our responsibility as members of the recovery community to better inform ourselves (and others) of the other options out there rather than suggesting that our way is the only way.

We live in a country where 45 million American families are affected by addiction. The statistics are frightening: over 20 million adults have substance use disorder and 17 million people have alcohol use disorder. 64,000 Americans die from drug overdoses each year and over 88,000 die from alcohol related causes. Sadly, less than 10 percent of people suffering with substance use disorder, and less than 7 percent of those with alcohol use disorder, get the help that they need.

In spite of this public health crisis and the tragic and very preventable deaths, the recovery community is divided in its efforts. While on the one hand we are making great strides by publicly speaking up to put a face and a voice to recovery in order to fight stigma and boost efforts to gain greater resources and access to treatment, there is still some infighting within the community about the best way to recover. If we’re fighting to eliminate the stigma that marks us as “less than” to the general public, we should also be fighting the stigma within our more insular community. How can we effectively tackle this crisis if we’re not helping each other?

There are many people in 12-step recovery who bicker in online forums and sit in church basements purporting to know the only way to recover and anyone who disagrees must be wrong. I have lost count of the times I’ve heard of someone relapsing or expressing their discomfort with the 12-step program, only to be told that the problem is actually them and their lack of willingness. As evidenced in the Big Book:

“Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.”

This passage simply isn’t true. According to Zachary Dodes, who co-wrote The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12 Step Programs and the Rehab Industry, the success rate of AA is actually somewhere between five and 10 percent, with only one in every 15 people entering the rooms achieving and maintaining sobriety. This is in stark contrast to AA’s self-reported figures in 2007 of 33 percent of members having 10 or more years of sobriety. A 2012 survey revealed 24 percent of members were between one and five years sober, 13 percent of members were sober between five and ten years, 14 percent between 10 and 20 years, and 22 percent beyond 20 years sober.

In fact, of the people who are fortunate to recover—22.35 million—half of those do so in various mutual aid groups. A recent study was conducted to determine the difference in attendance, participation, and recovery outcomes of 12-step groups versus alternatives of SMART, Women for Sobriety, and LifeRing. The study concluded that the alternatives were just as effective, if not more so, than 12-step programs. Study author Dr Sara Zemore recommended that professionals refer patients to these 12-step alternatives—especially when patients are atheist, or when they are unsure of whether they wish to pursue complete abstinence or a method of harm reduction.

I’m not the first person to say that 12-step groups didn’t work for me. And I did throw myself into the program for four years, completing the steps in both AA and NA. I reached a point where I could no longer ignore my feelings: I did not believe in the program—I found it positively disempowering and I found it self-limiting to refer to myself as something I used to be, a person with alcohol use disorder. And I’m not alone, there are articles published every day that echo my point of view, offering experiences of people who have successfully found recovery through alternative pathways.

As the recovery community expands and gains traction in fighting stigma and making resources more accessible—although we still need significantly more if we’re to end the crisis—we are starting to see greater emphasis on alternative pathways. What’s more, we are seeing that these pathways are presented on an equal footing as more and more research becomes available to support their efficacy. Just this week, Facing Addiction brought out a comprehensive guide, Multiple Pathways of Recovery: A Guide for Individuals and Families. Facing Addiction’s view is that just as substance use disorders are unique, so too is recovery—it’s dynamic and evolving, utilizing a collection of resources, or recovery capital.

The different pathways of recovery are:
1. Inpatient or outpatient treatment
2. Therapy
3. Holistic therapies
4. Natural recovery
5. Recovery housing
6. Recovery mutual aid groups. These include:
  1. Refuge Recovery,
  2. Celebrate Recovery,
  3. Women for Sobriety,
  4. LifeRing,
  5. Phoenix Multisport,
  6. Moderation Management,
  7. SMART Recovery,
  8. 12 Step groups.
7. Faith-based recovery services
8. Medication-assisted recovery, including MAT groups
9. Peer-based recovery supports
10. Family recovery
11. Technology based recovery
12. Alternative recovery supports
13. Harm reduction.
There are a wide variety of pathways and resources that can be used to recover in a way that suits the unique needs of the person recovering. Whether we subscribe to one or more of these methods or pathways, it is our responsibility as members of the recovery community to better inform ourselves (and others) of the other options out there rather than suggesting that our way is the only way. Just because something worked for us does not mean that it must work for everyone. If a person doesn’t find success with the 12-steps, it doesn’t mean that they are just not willing enough or “constitutionally incapable” of being honest with themselves. Perhaps if we stopped judging, became more informed, and met people where they are in their individual recovery journey, we might have a fighting chance at ending this epidemic.

For more information on all of these pathways, click here.

View the original article at thefix.com
5 June 2018
"The 13th Step": Inside AA's Subculture Of Sexual Predation

“There are groups in AA where you could call it a meat market,” says one former AA board director.

Sexual predation in Alcoholics Anonymous is a troubling and common occurrence, according to The Orange County Register.

The “avalanche” of allegations against former Hollywood power players like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey “have been a horrifying reminder of the prevalence of sexual assault, harassment, exploitation and abuse in American society,” the Register noted—and AA meetings are no different.

Some men there, too, use their stature and influence to prey upon unsuspecting women who are otherwise simply seeking recovery. (It happens so often, in fact, that it’s commonly referred to as “The 13th Step.”)

Unfortunately, “there is something uniquely heartbreaking” about sexual abuse in AA, Vice noted, as their members are routinely encouraged to “look for their part” in the events that have transpired.

Many argue that AA, by its very design, is to blame.

“Victims, former officials and some members say the culture of the organization—unregulated and loosely organized—puts vulnerable alcoholics at risk to predatory leaders whose only credential is their longtime sobriety,” the Register reported.

Additionally, some members of AA are sexual offenders whose presence in the rooms is court-mandated. Unless someone volunteers their criminal history, no one would be the wiser.

Offenders, thanks to the program’s core tradition of anonymity, can hide in plain sight. While a representative for AA’s General Service Office in New York told the Register that each local group operates independently, AA leaders in the U.S. and Canada have since developed guidelines and literature that specifically acknowledges the inherent danger of sexual predation.

As such, the fellowship created a “safety card” that reads (in part): “We request that members and others refrain from any behavior that might compromise another person’s safety.”

Still, many critics insist that AA’s General Service Board can do far more to protect its members than printing up a small yellow card: “Each group is autonomous. That’s… an excuse not to use the power the board has to stop abusive behavior,” James Branscome, a former AA board director, told the Register. “There are groups in AA where you could call it a meat market. You have older guys hitting on newcomer women. Some groups are hijacked by gurus, and AA will claim they have no power to do anything about it.”

Meanwhile, sexual attacks involving AA leaders keep mounting in California, the Register reported, detailing several cases of abuse, rape and murder that have occurred in recent years. Sexual predation, however, remains a thorny cultural issue within the walls of AA meetings.

As some men take dark advantage of anonymity and vulnerability, the women who’ve been victimized continually find themselves in an outrageously precarious position.

One woman, for example, told her sponsor about a rape and was quickly discouraged from going to the police. Sadly, that became a common refrain for the victim, as fellow AA members told her that she was scaring off newcomers with her story.

“They said I was ruining people’s chance to get sober,” she said. “Rape was an outside issue.”

View the original article at thefix.com

4 June 2018
Farrah Fawcett's Son Blames Recent Arrest On Parents, Not Drugs

Redmond O’Neal claims his troubled life is a result of the expectations and attention placed on him for being the son of the famous couple.

Redmond O’Neal, son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal, blames his recent arrest not on drug problems, but because of the pressure of having famous parents.

After many speculated that his alleged robbery of a 7-Eleven convenience store earlier this month may have been tied to his struggles with drugs, he claims that the root cause is deeper.

“It’s not the drugs that have been a problem, it’s the psychological trauma of my entire life—my whole life experiences have affected me the most,” O’Neal revealed to RadarOnline. “Fighting with my father, being kicked out and living on the streets, going to jail, being put in a psychiatric ward, being embarrassed all the time, just because of who my parents are.”

The celebrity son has been charged with six crimes following the incident, including assault, drug possession, second-degree robbery, possession of a smoking device, and possession of an injection/ingestion device.

At the time of the arrest, O’Neal reportedly had heroin and methamphetamine on him.

“The pressure that came with that set off a time-bomb in my head. I never asked for any of this, I never wanted any attention,” he said.

He pleaded not guilty and the judge denied him bail.

“This last arrest, something happened to me. I’m not doing good. I can’t go back, no way can I go back. I just can’t do it,” he said. “I hated prison, it wasn’t good. I don’t do well in there. In my mind, I’ve lost all hope.”

Things don’t look good for O’Neal as the felony complaint also alleges that “the defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, during the commission of the robbery.”

According to authorities, O’Neal held up the store clerk and took an undisclosed amount of money before fleeing around 2:30 in the morning. He was soon arrested with the knife that matched the description of the one the store clerk described being brandished in the robbery.

The incident is yet another in the long line of troubles O’Neal has found himself in. In 2015, he escaped having to serve a three-year sentence when his trial judge credited him a year served. He has also had probation revoked multiple times, having struggled with drugs for most of his adult life.

This includes a 2015 incident in which he lost his probation when a judge found he used drugs and did not go to his doctor’s appointments.

View the original article at thefix.com

4 June 2018
Ambien Makers To Roseanne: Racism Is Not A Known Side Effect

Rosanne Barr blamed the sleep medication for a tweet where she compared a former White House aide to an ape.

After an offensive tweet that cost TV star Roseanne Barr her rebooted show, she tried to lay the blame on the sleep aid Ambien.

“muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” read the original tweet by Barr, referring to Valerie Jarett, a former Obama White House aide.

The reaction came swiftly, with public condemnations of the tweet leading to the cancellation of her recently rebooted television show, Roseanne.

Barr apologized, mentioning that she was “Ambien tweeting,” referring to the drug’s alleged tendency to lead users to engage in bizarre behaviors. Sanofi, the pharmaceutical company that produces Ambien, shot back.

“While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication,” the pharma company’s representatives tweeted.

Still, experts confirm that it is indeed true that tweeting while on Ambien isn’t a great idea.

“People could text or tweet while on Ambien and not remember,” said Dr. Rachel Salas, an associate professor of neurology at the Sleep Medicine Division at John Hopkins Medicine. She adds that while using sleep medications, people should avoid sleeping close to their electronic devices.

Ambien has been blamed by many for a range of strange sleepwalking incidents.Golfer Tiger Woods was found asleep in his car on the highway with Ambien in his system.

A woman in a class action lawsuit against Sanofi-Aventis claimed that she “ate hundreds of calories of food, including raw eggs, uncooked yellow rice, cans of vegetables, loaves of bread, bags of chips and bags of candy” under the influence of Ambien.

The claims aren’t always so harmless. Robert Stewart, who went into a rehab and nursing home in North Carolina with a gun and shot eight people to death and wounded two others, was able to escape the death penalty and receive life in prison instead after his lawyers successfully argued that he was under the influence of Ambien at the time.

Such incidents have raised concerns at the FDA, which recommends the dose be lowered from 10 mg to 5 mg. They also warn that besides the strange behaviors, Ambien can cause nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps, diarrhea, and abnormal thinking alongside changes in behavior. In some cases, hallucinations may manifest.

“Visual and auditory hallucinations have been reported as well as behavioral changes such as bizarre behavior, agitation and depersonalization,” the FDA warns.

View the original article at thefix.com

4 June 2018
Neil Strauss' Evolution: From Pick-Up Artist to Relationship Expert

“Your relationship success has nothing to do with your partner, it’s really all about you and working on yourself…Until you do that you’ll always fall in love with the same kind of person.”

Neil Strauss has an enviable list of accomplishments. A nine time best-selling author, he got his start as a music critic writing for The New York Times and Rolling Stone; he has toured with and written about heavy metal bands, and penned books with some of the greatest rock stars. He’s written about how to survive in a post-apocalyptic world from a survivalist’s point of few, harboring skills such as flying a plane, delivering a baby, and fashioning a knife out of a credit card.

Strauss’ The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pick Up Artists, is one of the top two most shoplifted pieces of literature from Barnes and Noble. The other one? The Bible. Both are similar in appearance and in length: hardcover leather with gold embossed titles on the cover.

Even though it’s been over a decade since its debut, The Game, which many view as the holy grail on how to seduce and lure women into the bedroom, was recently released in its 11th hardcover edition. To Game fans, Strauss is somewhat of a Messiah. He delves into the elusive PUA (Pick Up Artist) scene and morphs from geek to the ultimate ladies’ man. He goes undercover, adopting the name “Style,” and by making adjustments and using certain puzzling techniques that verge on reverse psychology, he discovers that suddenly he can have any woman he wants. He explains lingo including terms such as peacocking: to wear something flashy and unusual in a crowded venue to get a romantic prospect’s attention; sarging: to go out to look for willing participants to try PUA moves on; kino: touching your object of desire sporadically during a conversation to establish a connection and build trust; and closing: sealing the deal and ending things with a kiss and/or a trip to the bedroom.

Eventually Strauss left the PUA community, but not empty-handed. He began teaching others how to wine and dine women by starting “StyleLife Academy,” which made him an unexpected celebrity and hero to many men. His admirers also included an unlikely group: the FBI. The Game was required reading for agents. Few details are known other than Strauss was personally invited to train them in an undisclosed location. He applied the same techniques he honed for picking up women to teach FBI agents how to open a conversation and gain the trust of suspects, with the ultimate goal of closing: luring confessions out of the bad guys.

One cannot play the game forever, so where does the hero go next? When it came time for the sequel, Strauss went in a radically different direction.

The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships is the exact opposite of a dating guide; it’s about Strauss’ journey from to player to monogamous man. His painfully honest candor is refreshing and as the title states, it’s an uncomfortable book. Some of the most brilliant work comes from pushing the limits of our comfort zones, and Strauss shares all, revealing details of his adventures into the world of polyamory, orgies and open relationships. On the occasion of The Truth’s re-release in paperback several weeks ago—with a new subtitle: An Eye-Opening Odyssey Through Love Addiction, Sex Addiction, and Extraordinary Relationships—we had the opportunity to talk to Strauss about emotional health, healthy relationships, and who he hopes his book will appeal to.

“You write a book and you never know who the audience is, men who are struggling with intimacy and relationship issues in general, and women too.” Strauss tells The Fix.

The Truth details how life has changed for the author post Game. After years of playing the field, he’s met the right girl at the wrong time. When she discovers that he’s had a fling with one of her friends, he checks into treatment for sex addiction in hopes to better understand himself and to save their relationship. He quickly comes to realize that what he experienced during his childhood has a lot more to do with the way he’s wired than he had thought. He accepts that he will have to make peace with his past, a realization that resonates with many individuals, whether they’re in recovery or not.

“Whatever issue someone is experiencing, whether it’s sex addiction or something else, you have to get to the core of it. We all have core wounds that take place in our first 17 years. Those imperfections get passed on and whatever label you want to put on it doesn’t matter, you just have to fix it.”

Few authors are recognized beyond their words on a page, but whether or not he intended on it, Strauss has become a guru in the topics of life, seduction and love. It’s no longer about how to get the girl; with the massive success he’s had, there are now men and women enrolled in Stylelife Academy. He’s gone beyond instructing others how to be the ultimate PUA. It’s about guiding others to live their lives to the fullest.

“I think I’m fortunate. I love learning about people and new things. I found something that changes my life and solves my problems [and] I want to share that,” he says of the journey that has led him to where he is today: a settled down family man with a beautiful wife and son.

So what comes after The Truth? Stauss has no plans to stop sharing what he’s learned with others. He’s preparing to lead a workshop called The H.A.V.E.: The Human Anti-Virus Experience, a three day intensive workshop where he’ll meet and teach those who want to do some serious work on themselves.

“If everyone took a course between high school and college, the world would be a much more comfortable place. Emotional health needs to be taken as seriously as physical health. There needs to be something for people to take to de-program everything they were taught growing up and all of their false beliefs. I couldn’t find one out there that didn’t seem dark or culty so I created one.” He’ll share what’s he learned over the years, and bring in the very instructors who guided him on his path to self-realization.

It’s easy to get distracted when speaking with an author who has such an array of experiences, and has the kind of life that so many only dream of. After a conversation with Strauss, it’s clear why he was awarded “The greatest pick up artist who ever lived.” The charisma is there and he’s filled with sincerity. Of course there are so many questions I want to ask him, but before my time with him is up, he leads me back to The Truth, and leaves me with valuable advice:

“There are a lot of bad single-sided myths about relationships in our culture. Your relationship success has nothing to do with your partner, it’s really all about you and working on yourself. You can’t accept your partner as they are unless you work on yourself. Until you do that you’ll always fall in love with the same kind of person.”

When asked what the future holds, Strauss told us he’s far from finished: “I have so many books I want to write. I want to keep telling amazing and better stories.”

The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships is now available in paperback. For more information on what Neil Strauss is up to, how you can attend The H.A.V.E. and learn other survival skills, go to www.neilstrauss.com.

View the original article at thefix.com

4 June 2018
Montana Tribes To Feds: Help Our Community Fight Meth Addiction

Addiction has undermined the infrastructure of the reservation, says one tribal board executive.

Native American tribes in Montana are asking the federal government to help them confront methamphetamine addiction in their communities, which they say is causing health consequences and putting many children in foster care.

Members of the tribal executive board for the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes met with U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on May 20 in Poplar, Montana to ask for assistance in confronting addiction on the Hi-Line reservation, according to The Billings Gazette.

“We have a massive drug problem in that we have a shortage of law enforcement, not only in our department, but in the county’s department. It’s pretty much overtaken us,” said Fort Peck Tribal Chairman Floyd Azure. “We have 107 kids in foster care right now, and the majority of that is because of drug problems and meth mainly. We had, last count, nine infants born addicted to meth. It’s tough to swallow when you see babies in that situation and they didn’t ask to be in that situation and they’re suffering.”

Azure pointed out that addiction has undermined the infrastructure of the reservation, since many jobs are left empty for years because no applicants can pass a drug test.

Zinke, who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs as Interior Secretary, said that one way to break that cycle is to focus on treatment for mothers and grandmothers, who can then focus on raising the next generation so that they are not as heavily impacted by drugs.

“The fabric of the tribe is moms and grandmas. And when moms and grandmas are addicted, then the whole fabric of the tribe begins to rip,” Zinke said. “Then kids get transferred over to uncles and different relatives, and that’s a new set of challenges. We think that focusing on moms and grandmas on rehabilitation in a community is a priority, and it won’t solve the problem, but I think it’s the best solution up front.”

Azure suggested opening a drug treatment center, while another member thought that providing housing for children whose families were impacted by addiction would help address the issue.

“To me, I think we need to help our children,” said Marva Chapman-Firemoon, a tribal board member. “That would be my first priority, maybe for us to get a dormitory. And I always say that the federal government took our kids off the reservation, took them to boarding schools and all that, but now we want a boarding school, or a dormitory, either one. I think that would be helpful because it would keep our children safe while we worked on the other ones.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 June 2018
FDA Challenges Developers To Make Better Pain Treatment Devices

For an innovation challenge, the FDA is looking for devices that provide more benefits than opioids, with fewer risks.

The Food and Drug Administration wants better options available for treating pain—and it is turning to developers for help.

The FDA announced this week that it is running a new innovation challenge for medical devices that provide solutions to detecting, treating and preventing addiction, addressing drug diversion and treating pain.

Applications will be accepted through September, and the developers of devices that are chosen will be able to work closely with the FDA to bring their product to market.

“Medical devices, including digital health devices like mobile medical apps, have the potential to play a unique and important role in tackling the opioid crisis. We must advance new ways to find tools to help address the human and financial toll of opioid addiction,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

Gottlieb hopes that by encouraging the development of medical devices, fewer patients will need to rely on opioid pain relief, which has a high risk of addiction.

“For example, better medical devices that can effectively address local pain syndromes can, in some cases, supplant the use of systemic opioids. This can help reduce overall use of opioids,” he said.

Finding replacements for opioids is an important piece of confronting the opioid epidemic, he added.

“This innovation challenge is an example of the FDA’s commitment to an all-of-the-above approach to confront the opioid epidemic, including helping those currently addicted to opioids and preventing new cases of addiction,” he said. “We’re hopeful that in collaborating with public health-minded innovators, we can identify and accelerate the development of new technologies, whether a device, diagnostic test, mobile medical app, or even new clinical decision support software, that can contribute in novel and effective ways to help reduce the scope of this crisis.”

Developers can submit devices that are in any stage of development, including the concept phase. The FDA will be looking for devices that provide more benefits than opioids, with fewer risks.

In 2012, the FDA ran a similar innovation challenge that helped develop and bring to market new ways of treating renal disease, said Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. He hopes this challenge will have similar results.

“The FDA stands ready to provide significant assistance and expedite premarket review of applications to help bring innovative devices that, if properly instituted, could help those at risk for addiction or treat those who might develop opioid use disorder,” he said. “We also hope that in turn these novel products may also help pave the way for the development of future products that build on the latest technologies.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 June 2018
Older Americans Among "The Unseen" In The Opioid Epidemic

Opioid misuse nearly doubled for Americans older than 50 over a 12-year span.

The focus of the opioid crisis tends to be on younger generations. But this could be problematic, as, according to the Washington Post, older generations are increasingly at risk to develop opioid use disorders.

This is backed up by information from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which states that from 2002 to 2014, opioid misuse decreased in younger age groups, especially in those age 18-25.

However, in Americans older than 50, use just about doubled.

On Wednesday, May 23, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a session to discuss opioid use by the elderly population.

“Older Americans are among those unseen in this epidemic,” Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania said, according to the Post. “In 2016, one in three people with a Medicare prescription drug plan received an opioid prescription. This puts baby boomers and our oldest generation at great risk.”

Medicare can be problematic in situations such as this, because it funds opioids for patients, but it does not assist with care or medication that can be used to combat the opioid crisis, the Post notes.

William B. Stauffer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Recovery Organizations Alliance, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, spoke at the hearing and said one in three older Americans that have Medicare are prescribed opioids.

“However, while Medicare pays for opioid painkillers, Medicare does not pay for drug and alcohol treatment in most instances, nor does it pay for all of the medications that are used to help people in the treatment and recovery process,” he said, according to the Post. “Methadone, specifically, is a medication that is not covered by Medicare to treat opioid use conditions.”

Gary Cantrell, a deputy inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, addressed Medicare Part D (prescription medication) beneficiaries, according to the Post.

In 2016, Cantrell says, about 500,000 people “received high amounts of opioids” and nearly 20% of those are at “serious risk of opioid misuse or overdose.”

For the elderly population, problematic use of opioids often starts with prescriptions rather than street drugs.

“Older adults are at high risk for medication misuse due to conditions like pain, sleep disorders/insomnia, and anxiety that commonly occur in this population,” Stauffer said, according to the Post. “They are more likely to receive prescriptions for psychoactive medications with misuse potential, such as opioid analgesics for pain and central nervous system depressants like benzodiazepines for sleep disorders and anxiety.”

Apart from abuse, there are other risks associated with opioid use in older populations, too. The Post states that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) pointed out at the hearing that, “Older adults taking opioids are also four to five times more likely to fall than those taking nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs.”

Opioid misuse in seniors becomes even more dangerous because doctors can have a harder time recognizing the signs, Collins says.

“Regrettably,” Collins said, according to the Post, “health-care providers sometimes miss substance abuse among older adults, as the symptoms can be similar to depression or dementia.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 June 2018
Store That Sold Hemp Chews, CBD Oils For Pets Shuttered By E-Commerce Site

“We all know that it’s completely asinine that CBD is a controlled substance at all. It doesn’t even get you high, and it absolutely has medical value.”

A couple of months ago, Shopify shuttered the account of Treatibles, a company that sells popular hemp chews and CBD oils for pets, claiming the company sold products in jurisdictions where marijuana is illegal.

Treatibles, which is based out of San Francisco, was founded by Julianna Carella. As Carella tells The Daily Beast, she began creating hemp products (which have the medical benefits of cannabis and extremely low amounts of THC) when she found out her clients were feeding the company’s marijuana products to their sick pets, which can be dangerous.

Carella thought she could sell her hemp pet products across state lines and in Canada because they contained less than 0.3% THC, until Shopify closed down her account this April.

As Carella explains, “The biggest problem with Shopify cutting us off like that is that suddenly it made it impossible for our customers to purchase the product, when, in many cases, they need it for their animals’ health and well-being. Many of our customers are using this product to help eliminate seizures.”

The head of corporate communications for Shopify told The Daily Beast in response: “We investigate material reported to us and take action if it violates the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). In Canada, only licensed producers are authorized to produce and sell cannabis for medical purposes.”

With marijuana slowly becoming legal, there is still a lot of misinformation about feeding cannabis treats to your pets. Some people who take medical marijuana think they can give it to their cats and dogs, but THC can be harmful to them.

A 2012 study showed that many pets living in Colorado suffered from marijuana toxicity after medical marijuana became legal, and last year, the ASPCA’s poison control line saw a sizable increase in handling pets who ate marijuana.

While CBD oil has reportedly had positive effects in treating epilepsy in kids and pets, it is still considered a Schedule I drug, which Carella finds absurd.

“We all know that it’s completely asinine that CBD is a controlled substance at all,” she says. “It doesn’t even get you high, and it absolutely has medical value. We’re not out there getting teenagers stoned. We’re getting dogs with seizures to stop having seizures. We’re getting cats with high anxiety to stop freaking out on anybody who comes to the door. We’re doing nothing but good for these animals.”

There’s still hope on the horizon for Carella and Treatibles. Marijuana should become legal in Canada soon, and the Hemp Farming Act is trying to take hemp off the Schedule I list as well.

View the original article at thefix.com

2 June 2018