Author: The Fix

Brandon Lee, Former TV Anchor, Details Surviving Addiction

“My parents never drank, I never saw my parents use drugs. So the question I got was, how did someone like you end up using drugs?” Lee said.

Brandon Lee is a two-time Emmy-winning news anchor who has been in recovery for nearly a decade. He has bravely come forward about his addiction and surviving sexual abuse in his memoir Mascara Boy, and in a CNN interview, Lee spoke out about why he went public about his addictions and trauma, and how he hopes it can help others.

Lee was a TV anchor in Phoenix, New York and Atlanta. He grew up in the affluent community of Orange County, raised by teatotaling parents. Lee told AZ Central, “From the outside world, it looked like I had everything. My parents never drank, I never saw my parents use drugs. So the question I got was, how did someone like you end up using drugs?”

It took many years for Lee to deal with it in therapy, but he was sexually abused for years by both his piano teacher and his soccer coach. “That trauma untreated came out sideways,” he told CNN. “There was a lot of early childhood trauma I needed to address.”

Escaping With Cocaine

Lee started using cocaine at the age of 15, and he explains, “When I was given the opportunity to try a drug like cocaine to escape, I kept chasing that feeling. I kept chasing that escape.”

Once he became an adult, Lee became a successful TV reporter, and he hid his addictions well from the public. “When I was a reporter here in Los Angeles, I was living that double life. I wanted the public to see me as this Emmy-winning news reporter doing a professional job. When the 10 o’clock news was over with that’s when I went to the slums of LA and started using hardcore drugs.”

Lee’s drug abuse finally culminated in an overdose, and the person he was partying with called 911. He wound up on life support, and a kind nurse gave him 10 dollars to take a cab to go to an AA meeting. Lee made the meeting, “and I have been sober ever since that day on February 22, 2010.”

After Lee got sober, he did a documentary on the opioid crisis in Arizona “to try and break the stereotype of what the public perception of a drug addict is.”

Lee then saw the internet troll comments in response to his report, and it broke his heart. He got on the phone to his sponsor, and said, “I’m eight years sober and it’s time for me to break my anonymity.”

“I needed to let the viewers know that the people that they were ripping in my documentary, that I used to be that junkie about a decade ago,” Lee told CNN. “Do they think of me that way? Do they think of me as trash and scum? The most important message we can get out there is that addiction does not discriminate.”

View the original article at thefix.com

1 August 2019
Teens Hospitalized For Vaping-Related Breathing Problems

The teens were experiencing shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea and diarrhea, among other symptoms.

Eight teenagers in Wisconsin were hospitalized in July with breathing issues that doctors believe are related to their use of e-cigarettes, or vapes.

The teens were admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, which held a press conference about the cases. The hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Michael Gutzeit, spoke about the teens.

“We suspect that these injuries were caused by vaping,” he said, according to CNN Health.

The teens were experiencing shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea and diarrhea, among other symptoms. When they underwent chest X-rays, doctors found that the teens had swollen and inflamed lungs.

“The severity of health condition has varied, with some patients needing assistance in order to breathe,” Gutzeit said. He noted that the teens are all improving, but the conditions were concerning given that vaping is so popular among young people.

Vaping Risks

Many teenagers believe that vapes are relatively harmless. However, the “e-liquids” that is being vaporized contain nicotine, chemicals and sometimes heavy metals that can be harmful. Gutzeit said it is important that teenagers and their parents understand and talk about the risks of vaping.

“It’s very important for teens and parents to understand more about vaping. Talk to each other. Understand the risks of vaping,” he said.

While teen cigarette use continues to decline, vaping is becoming more popular. Research shows that 20% of high schoolers and 5% of middle schoolers use e-cigarettes. The rate of vape use increased by more than 900% between 2011 and 2015, research has found.

Recently, the e-cigarette company Juul, which controls 70% of the U.S. market for e-cigarettes, hired a pediatrician and researcher as its executive medical officer. The company claimed that the appointment of Dr. Mark Rubinstein was a way to ensure that young people are not using vapes, but some are worried that the company has ulterior motives.

“Even if you believe in harm reduction, to go work for a tobacco company… to me goes against everything that anybody doing control should believe in,” Stanford University professor Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, who trained Rubinstein during his time at UCSF, told Kaiser Health News.

Opponents of e-cigarettes say that since their popularity has been rising so quickly, it’s imperative that the public understand the health risks of vapes, particularly for young people.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 August 2019
Former NYPD Officer Shares Recovery Journey

“If life was fair, I’d be dead 10 times over. I don’t know how I’m walking and talking or even alive,” the former NYPD officer told CNN.

The New York Police Department is grappling with what Police Commissioner James O’Neill has called a “mental health crisis,” after the department lost a seventh officer this year to suicide this past Sunday (July 28).

Law enforcement officers are not immune to substance abuse, but rather are more vulnerable to using drugs and alcohol to cope with the day-to-day conflicts they come across.

Mark Restivo, a former NYPD police officer, has lived to tell his story. The 39-year-old chronicled his problem with prescription opioid abuse and his tenure as a New York City cop to CNN.

History Of Addiction

Restivo has lived with some form of problematic drug or alcohol use since he was young. He had his first shot of vodka when he was 14. “Looking back, I was an alcoholic… I just continued to go in, and I never really stopped,” he said.

At age 22, he was prescribed Vicodin after a root canal. “It kind of felt like my first drink,” he told CNN. “It was something that’s supposed to numb the pain and relax you, but it had the opposite effect on me. It was almost like speed for me. I was taking them quite frequently… as prescribed at first, and then once every six hours and then six every hour.”

He joined the NYPD in 2008 at the age of 28. “By that time, I had built up a tolerance,” he wrote for the New York Post. “Every day, I was taking anywhere from 50 to 70 Vicodins, 10 milligrams each—not to get high, but just keep from feeling sick.”

Restivo quit “cold turkey” on his first day of police academy, putting himself through painful withdrawals so he could get through training.

Just a year later in 2009, Restivo suffered injuries while chasing suspects in a subway station. “I got thrown down a flight of stairs, and I busted up my knee and my back.” Several surgeries and many doses of prescribed opioids later, in 2012, Restivo was forced to retire due to his injuries.

Drug Dealing In Retirement

Upon retiring from the NYPD, Restivo turned to selling and using. “I had to feed my habit as best I could. I was constantly buying and selling and using pills. I went from a police officer to a drug dealer within a matter of months. I abused Adderall, cocaine, oxycodone, methadone and Suboxone.”

“There were many moments where I was internally struggling with what I was doing,” he said. “I knew that I needed to stop this. I just did not know how to… If life was fair, I’d be dead 10 times over. I don’t know how I’m walking and talking or even alive.”

His police training helped him be a better drug dealer, avoiding detection and flashing his ID to get drugs.

He finally entered a treatment program in 2013 at the urging of his ex-wife. “She did for me what I was not able to do for myself.”

Restivo has now been sober for almost six years.

He’s now using his experience and recovery journey to inspire others.

“I like to share that I was a police officer. It could be anybody. There’s no face to this addiction,” said Restivo.

View the original article at thefix.com

31 July 2019
Comedians Talk Depression, Anxiety At Just For Laughs Festival

Comedians discussed making people laugh while dealing with depression and anxiety during a panel at the Just for Laughs Festival.

Stand-up comics tackled serious issues at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, Canada, where a panel discussed mental health and addiction-related issues among comedy professionals.

The panel members—which included Byron Bowers (The Chi), Felicity Ward (The Inbetweeners 2), and Keith and Kenny Lucas (Lady Dynamite)—spoke on July 26 about working for laughs while balancing depression and anxiety, as well as the toll that this can take, as evidenced by the deaths of top performers like Robin Williams and Brody Stevens.

The panel also focused on the support that comics have received from their peers and the industry as a whole, as well as the continued need for comics to speak honestly about their issues.

The Mask Of Depression

Whether comedians are, like many creative individuals, more prone to mental health issues remains an ambiguous area of research. Clinical psychologist Deborah Serani, who authored the book Living With Depression, told ABC News that many comedians turn to humor as a “counter phobic” response to their inner turmoil.

“They often wear what we call ‘the mask of depression,’” she said. “But behind that mask, there is a terrible struggle going on.”

Whether that condition is fact for comics remains a topic of debate, but for the comics on the Just for Laughs panel, the push and pull of depression and anxiety and laughter can be overwhelming.

Courtney Gilmour, who won the 2017 Festival’s Homegrown Comics Competition, said that she battled both while also contending with career success. “I felt so guilty,” she said. “Who am I, to get what I’ve wanted my whole life, and I feel sad?”

For some comics, the stand-up stage allows them a venue to put those feelings into words that can also be beneficial to their careers. “I don’t go to therapy,” said Bowers, who stars in the upcoming film Honey Boy. “I fill a room with people and talk about these things, and sometimes it’s funny and sometimes, it’s fearful.”

UK comic/actress Felicity Ward also noted that the comedy world can provide a safer haven and greater understanding for those with mental health issues than other social or work situations. “With lots of regular jobs, if you turn up and say, ‘I’m off my meds today,’ they’ll say we don’t want to know or we don’t have a plan for that,” she said. “If you turn up for a gig and you say, ‘I’m off my meds,’ they’re cool, and say you’re on in three minutes.”

Solomon Georgio, a writer and actor who appeared on HBO’s 2 Dope Queens, described the situation faced by comics with mental health issues as “a mental juggling act,” but added that patience and self-compassion can provide a positive response. “If I drop theball, I don’t say f— anymore,” he said. “You don’t have to take it all on. You can set something down and be okay.”

View the original article at thefix.com

31 July 2019
Device To Automatically Stop Opioid Overdoses In Development

The groundbreaking device would deliver naloxone throughout the body in the event of an overdose.

Researchers at Purdue University are working on developing a device that can be injected under a person’s skin that will automatically deploy in the event of an overdose, delivering the opioid-blocking drug, naloxone, into their system.

With this in place, a person’s life could be saved even if they overdose while alone, without anyone to call 911 or administer Narcan—the common naloxone-based nasal spray.

According to Fast Company, the device holding the drug is being designed to be as simple as possible. The tiny capsule is plugged at one end with material that will melt when the metal touching it becomes hot, releasing the drug. This will require an additional device, about the size of a golf ball, that is worn on the arm just outside of the capsule and monitors the wearer’s vitals.

How It Will Work

During an opioid overdose, the victim’s heart rate and breathing slow to dangerous levels. If this happens, the device would activate a strong magnetic field, heating up the metal touching the plug. The naloxone released into the body will block the opioid receptors in the brain, stopping the drug’s ability to affect the body, and saving the victim’s life.

“The antidote is always going to be with you,” said Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue, Hyowon “Hugh” Lee.

This device is still in the development stage, and it will be at least a few years before it is made available to the public. It needs to be thoroughly tested and gain FDA approval. “If you assume the device is working and it doesn’t, it would be truly problematic,” Lee pointed out.

However, Lee also believes that the device could be further improved and developed into something like a smartwatch, with the capsule injected in the wrist. It could also be used to administer other medications to people with life-threatening conditions such as severe allergies. Someone suffering a dangerous allergic reaction could have the device automatically administer a dose of epinephrine, eliminating the need for these individuals to carry EpiPens or rely on others to inject them.

“People with allergies need epinephrine right away. This setup might remove the need for an epi pen,” Lee said.

More High-Tech Solutions

Purdue isn’t the only institution responding to the opioid crisis with high-tech solutions. A contractor from Boston recently began deploying a system he developed to create overdose-resistant bathrooms. John King’s invention can alert employees of convenience stores, coffee shops, and other establishments with single-use bathrooms if a person has fallen to the floor and hasn’t stood up for several seconds.

This system has already allowed employees to respond quickly to overdose cases, ensuring that naloxone can be administered soon enough to save lives.

View the original article at thefix.com

31 July 2019
12-Step Program For Muslims Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Millati Islami, which follows a similar format to other 12-step programs, was established in September 1989 at a mosque in Baltimore.

Last Saturday (July 27), Millati Islami World Services—a 12-step program for Muslims—celebrated its 30th anniversary in Camden, New Jersey, home to the program’s longest-running chapter in the region.

“Millati Islami is a fellowship of men and women, joined together on the ‘Path of Peace.’ We share our experiences, strengths, and hopes while recovering from our active addiction to mind and mood altering substances,” according to the official website of Millati Islami World Services. “We look to Allah (G-D) to guide us on Millati Islami (the Path of Peace). While recovering, we strive to be rightly guided Muslims, submitted our will and services to Allah.”

There’s no shortage of heated debate about the role of religion in 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Some choose to define their “higher power” as God from the Christian or Catholic religion. For those who don’t subscribe to any religion, secular meetings are available.

However, one religious group that isn’t often discussed in the recovery realm is Muslims. The Quran advises one to avoid intoxicants like drugs and alcohol. It’s not hard to understand why there would be a stigma against Muslims who struggle with substance abuse.

“We are a part of this society, and we suffer the good and the bad that comes with the society,” said Ameen Abdur-Rasheed. “And I believe that within the past 10 years, the stigma for Muslims of being an addict or an alcoholic is diminishing because it is so widespread in many of our families.”

Abdur-Rasheed held recovery meetings for Muslims in West Philadelphia back in 2007, but the lack of attendance meant that he was not able to maintain the group.

All Are Welcome

Millati Islami, which follows a similar format to other 12-step programs, was established in September 1989 at a mosque in Baltimore, Maryland. By adapting Islamic principles to the 12 steps, Muslims are provided a program that they can relate to. Nonetheless, they make a point of welcoming all people to the program.

“We are in the business of saving lives and that’s why we try to encourage everybody of any status in life of any faith to come,” said Stephanie Adams, who is the secretary of the Camden chapter of Millati Islami.

Adams joined the fellowship a decade ago. “Now Millati Islami has been there for me in some hard times,” she told WHYY. “It helped me through depression, it helped me through heartbreak. The most help I received from Millati Islami was in the last four years because it teaches you that there is nothing that can ever make you go back to using.”

View the original article at thefix.com

31 July 2019
Opioids After Childbirth Put Women At Risk For Chronic Use

Researchers found that 27% of women who had vaginal deliveries filled an opioid prescription.

About 1 in 50 women who are given an opioid prescription right before or after giving birth will go on to use opioids persistently in the first year postpartum, according to recent research.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, looked at opioid use around the time of childbirth. Using data from more than 308,000 births that took place between 2008 and 2016, researchers found that 27% of women who had vaginal deliveries filled an opioid prescription, as did 75.7% of women who had a cesarean. Of those women, 1.7% of those with vaginal deliveries and 2.2% of those who had cesareans went on to fill prescriptions for opioids at least two more times during the year after birth.

The researchers said that the similarities in rates of persistent use indicated that the opioids themselves—not the pain from childbirth—put people at risk of persistent use.

The data “makes us think that there’s something inherent to the prescription rather than what women are going through that’s driving persistent use,” lead researcher and OB-GYN from the University of Michigan, Alex Peahl, told STAT News.

The rates are also similar to the rates of persistent opioid use among other populations that receive a first-time opioid prescriptions, including people getting their wisdom teeth removed.

Unnecessary Opioids

The researchers said that doctors could help reduce the frequency of persistent use by avoiding prescribing unnecessary opioids to people who have recently delivered.

“These results suggest that maternity care clinicians can potentially decrease new persistent opioid use among women after either vaginal or cesarean delivery through judicious opioid prescribing,” the study authors wrote.

Marian Jarlenski, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, said that providers need to be aware that they can change a patients’ long-term health by not offering opioids that aren’t needed.

“This study shows that there continues to be a chance to really intervene on the prevention side,” she said.

Although 2% may seem small, given how many women give birth each year, it’s a rather significant figure.

“It’s of course a topic that is on many people’s minds because pregnancy is one of the most common reasons why a lot of young women without any sort of health conditions come into contact with the health care system,” said Brigham and Women’s Hospital epidemiologist Rishi Desai, who was not involved with the study.

1 in 300 Women

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists estimates that one in 300 women who give birth by cesarian will develop persistent opioid use. Their guidelines for post-birth care include using opioids and alternative pain management techniques.

View the original article at thefix.com

31 July 2019
FDA Rolls Out Anti-Vaping PSAs Aimed At Young Viewers

The anti-vaping PSAs will run on TV networks with younger viewers such as TeenNick and ESPN, as well as on social media and music streaming sites.

A new television advertising campaign by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aims to educate young people about the potential dangers of e-cigarette use and “vaping.”

In an announcement on July 22, the FDA kicked off a new set of “The Real Cost” public service announcements, which hope to highlight the increased potential for e-cigarette users to transition to traditional cigarettes.

The new ads will run on television networks that appeal to younger audiences like TeenNick and ESPN, as well as on social media and music streaming sites.

The Real Cost ads feature popular street magician Julius Dein. In the two spots, Dein transforms a young observer’s e-cigarette into a cigarette before his eyes. The intent is to underscore statistics that show that young people who use e-cigarettes are more prone to trying conventional cigarettes.

Teen Vaping Epidemic

The FDA noted in its announcement that this likelihood of transitioning to tobacco products is particularly alarming due to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which show that in 2018, more than 3.6 million middle and high school students in the United States had used an e-cigarette product within the last 30 days. Those numbers reflect an increase of 1.5 million students from data provided in 2017, as well as increases in both the frequency of e-cigarette use and the number of flavored vape products.

Scholastic Joins The Cause

The campaign will also encompass prevention messages on posters to be distributed through the children’s publishing and education company Scholastic to all public and private high schools in the United States. The posters will deliver messages that highlight the potentially toxic contents of vaping products, which can include lead, nickel and chromium, which can pose serious health risks including increased risk of cancer.

The Real Cost TV spots are part of a larger, nearly $60 million public education campaign that was launched in September 2018 with advertising on digital and social media sites and posters in high schools across the nation that targeted about 10.7 million young people ages 12-17. As Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, MD, noted, “The new ads, as part of our youth campaign, highlight one of the many alarming aspects of youth e-cigarette use—that, according to emerging science, teens who vape are more likely to start smoking cigarettes, putting them at risk of a lifetime of addiction to smoking and related disease.”

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Juul, one of the leading manufacturers of e-cigarette products, said, “We share these concerns about youth vaping, which is why we have taken the most aggressive actions of anyone in the industry to combat youth usage.”

These efforts have included support for legislation that would raise the legal smoking age to 21 and the closure of Juul’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the United States.

View the original article at thefix.com

30 July 2019
Consulting Firm Urged Johnson & Johnson, Purdue To Sell More Opioids

The firm urged Johnson & Johnson to “get more patients on higher doses of opioids” and find techniques “for keeping patients on opioids longer.”

The well-known consulting firm McKinsey & Company urged Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma to sell more of their opioid products, according to recent reports.

McKinsey & Company urged Johnson & Johnson to “get more patients on higher doses of opioids” and find techniques “for keeping patients on opioids longer,” according to reporting by The New York Times. High doses of opioids and long-term use are both associated with increased risk of dependency and misuse.

The information was revealed as part of opioid trials in Oklahoma, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

During the Oklahoma trial, the state argued that Johnson & Johnson used misleading and irresponsible marketing for its fentanyl patch, Duragesic, at the urging of McKinsey & Company consultants.

Powerpoint Tells All

The state showed a Powerpoint presentation that McKinsey consultants made for Johnson & Johnson executives in 2002, which questioned whether the company was marketing opioids enough.

“Are we properly targeting and influencing prescription behavior in pain clinics?” one slide read.

The presentation recommended specifically marketing opioids to doctors who worked with patients in long-term care and those who treated elderly people with back pain.

In the Massachusetts case, the state presented documents including a 2013 report from McKinsey with recommendations for Purdue to “turbocharge” sales of OxyContin, which was already linked to opioid addiction at that point. The consulting firm even recommended that Purdue begin a mail order system in order to avoid pharmacies, which were beginning to clamp down on opioid prescriptions at that time. In addition, the firm called on Purdue to target doctors with more sales meetings.

Stepping Back

McKinsey & Company said in a statement that it no longer provides consulting services related to opioids.

“Our historical work for clients in this industry was designed to support the legal prescription and use of out clients’ products. Opioids have had a devastating impact on our communities, however, and we are no longer advising clients on any opioid-specific business on a global basis,” the statement said.

The consulting firm said that the presentation prepared for Johnson & Johnson was “designed to support the legal use of a patch that was then widely understood to be less susceptible to abuse.”

Testifying at the Oklahoma trial, Johnson & Johnson representative Kimberly Deem-Eshleman said that the blunt language about marketing was “McKinsey’s words,” not those of Johnson & Johnson. However, she confirmed that the company did not terminate its relationship with McKinsey over the recommendations. In fact, the companies still work together today for “different projects.”

View the original article at thefix.com

30 July 2019
New York Officially Decriminalizes Marijuana

The penalty for possessing up to two ounces of marijuana is now reduced to a violation punishable by a fine.

The state of New York has further decriminalized the use of marijuana.

According to the Drug Policy Alliance, back in 1977, New York decriminalized having up to 25 grams of marijuana.

On Monday (July 29) New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that will further decriminalize possession of up to two ounces of marijuana. The new law will take effect in 30 days.

By signing the bill, Cuomo has reduced the penalty for possessing up to two ounces of marijuana to a violation punishable by a fine.

Another part of the law will establish a process allowing people with “certain marijuana convictions” to have their records expunged.

Communities of Color

“Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by laws governing marijuana for far too long, and today we are ending this injustice once and for all,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement. “By providing individuals who have suffered the consequences of an unfair marijuana conviction with a path to have their records expunged and by reducing draconian penalties, we are taking a critical step forward in addressing a broken and discriminatory criminal justice process.”

Currently more than half of U.S. states have passed laws to allow the use of marijuana in some capacity.

In June, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that legalizes cannabis in the state for those 21 and older. The legislation also provides relief for “roughly 770,000” people in Illinois with marijuana-related offenses on their criminal records through an expungement process.

Social Equity Programs

Illinois went a step further to ensure what many consider a righteous approach to legalization, by including a “social equity program” to help former marijuana “offenders” get a leg up in the marijuana industry.

“Marijuana possession gives those convicted a criminal record that will follow them throughout their lives, potentially limiting their access to education, affecting their ability to obtain employment leading to a potential inability to provide for their families,” said New York state Senator Jamaal T. Bailey. “The creation of a mechanism for expungement… is a step in the right direction in finally ending the heavy-handed war on drugs that has decimated communities of color.”

View the original article at thefix.com

30 July 2019