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  • U2’s Adam Clayton Talks Alcoholism: You Lose Your Sense Of Yourself

    U2’s Adam Clayton Talks Alcoholism: You Lose Your Sense Of Yourself

    “I was kind of very unhappy, so I drank and I drugged and I got myself in tabloid newspapers,” Clayton said.

    Adam Clayton spoke frankly about the remarkable success he’s enjoyed as the bassist for U2, as well as how that time in the spotlight was complicated by his struggles with alcohol.

    Clayton’s comments came as part of his appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show, a popular talk program on Ireland’s RTÉ One channel, and touched on how the band’s rise to fame impacted his own mental health and dependency issues.

    “You lose your sense of yourself,” said the 59-year-old musician. “I was kind of very unhappy, so I drank and I drugged and I got myself in tabloid newspapers.”

    Clayton added that while sobriety was hard fought, he’s glad to have made the choice to pursue it. “The alternative would have been a lot worse,” he noted.

    Tiernan, a popular actor, comedian and radio host in Ireland, has drawn praise from viewers and critics alike for his candid conversations with his guests, many of whom have discussed difficult personal issues during their appearances. Clayton’s conversation with Tiernan touched on a wide range of issues related to fame and dependency. In regard to the roots of addiction, Clayton said that he believed it to be a mix of family problems and childhood trauma.

    “Once you have that in your DNA, you don’t feel comfortable,” he said. “You feel restless, you feel questioning, you feel irritable and you don’t know what to believe. Once you have that programming, it’s really hard to undo it, and I think that’s what I went out into the world with.”

    After founding U2 as a teenager with Paul Hewson (Bono), David Evans (The Edge) and Larry Mullins, Jr., Clayton said that their rise to international acclaim within just a few short years left him unmoored. “Success went to my head,” he told Tiernan. “I think that if you get everything your heart desires by the time we were 20 – anyone I’ve ever met who’s experienced success and fame in that way in those years, it takes them a long time to recover from it. And that sounds like a complain, but that’s just what happens.”

    Clayton said that he dealt with the attention through alcohol and drugs, which earned headlines in Ireland and abroad. “I embarrassed kind of everyone I knew, and myself,” he said.

    But an experience in Australia during the Zoo TV tour in 1993 brought the impact of his actions into sharp focus for Clayton. After consuming two glasses of wine, Clayton said that he lost a period of three days, during which he missed a crucial day of recording with the band at a stadium appearance. “I had let the guys down, the three guys who had stood by me since the age of 16 and 17,” he recalled. “It was not a great place to be, and if ever there was a moment of realization, where you wake up and go, ‘I have a problem and it’s bigger than me, and I need some help,’ that was it.”

    Clayton said that gaining sobriety was a challenge – “It was a struggle, but I’m really glad I had the struggle” – and staying sober has its own set of difficulties. “I still have to really work quite hard at keeping my sanity on and off the road,” he said. “Drinking can take me to bad places. My thinking is not always reliable. And it’s great having three other guys who can check you sometimes, and we check each other.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Self-Described "El Chapo Of Opioids" Doctor Accused Of Drug Crimes

    Self-Described "El Chapo Of Opioids" Doctor Accused Of Drug Crimes

    The former New Jersey doctor stands accused of a number of charges including prescribing oxycodone over a text message.

    Former North Jersey family medicine doctor Robert Delagente is being charged with distribution of controlled substances and obstruction of justice after years of allegedly calling himself the “Candy Man” and the “El Chapo of Opioids.”

    Federal prosecutors are charging Delagente with improperly prescribing drugs such as oxycodone, Percocet, and Tylenol with codeine, failing to monitor his patients for addiction, and agreeing to prescribe oxycodone, the generic form of OxyContin, to one patient over a text message.

    “I’m literally sticking my neck out and can lose my medical license or [be] arrested for what I just did,” Delagente allegedly texted.

    Furthermore, he’s been accused of altering patient medical records after law enforcement began seeking to gain access to them following other allegations of misconduct. According to federal court documents obtained by NorthJersey.com, he also once referred to an opioid prescription for one of his patients as “oral heroin.”

    These allegations come as part of a widespread crackdown on doctors who failed to follow the law when prescribing controlled substances such as opioids. In addition to going after the manufacturers of drugs like OxyContin, prosecutors are shutting down “pill mills” where doctors allegedly excessively prescribe addictive drugs to patients while enjoying perks provided to them by manufacturers like Purdue Pharma.

    Last month, 60 people were charged in a crackdown, including 31 doctors. These individuals are accused of prescribing millions of pills in the space of only a couple of years. Some allegedly wrote unnecessary prescriptions for Facebook friends, left blank prescription pads for staff to fill out, and even exchanged sex for prescriptions of oxycodone and fentanyl. One doctor operating in Dayton, Ohio stands accused of giving out 1.75 million pills in the space of just two years.

    These charges were part of a single operation by the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force, which was launched by the Trump administration in 2018.

    Opioid addiction and overdose deaths have disproportionately affected the Appalachian Region of the U.S., leading the federal government to take targeted action in the area.

    “The opioid crisis is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region,” said Attorney General William Barr of the charges.

    Back in New Jersey, Dr. Delagente faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million for the distribution of controlled dangerous substances and another 20 years and $250,000 for obstruction of justice. His attorney has not responded to requests for comment.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Tramadol Carries Addiction Risks Too, Study Finds

    Tramadol Carries Addiction Risks Too, Study Finds

    A new study has found that tramadol, a less powerful opioid painkiller, carries the same risks of addiction as other opioids.

    As doctors have become more vigilant about the addiction risks of opioids like oxycodone and morphine, they have turned to tramadol, perceived as less powerful and thus safer. However, a new study has found that tramadol carries the same risk of addiction as other opioids, CBC reports.

    “What we know now is there really is no safe opioid, and tramadol is not a safe alternative,” lead study author Cornelius Thiels told CBC. “Tramadol essentially has a similar risk of long-term dependence or long-term opioid use compared to other opioids.”

    Thiels led a team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic who examined whether people who were prescribed tramadol were still filling opioids prescriptions more than 90 days after surgery. Long-term use of opioids is associated with a vastly increased risk of addiction.

    The study, published in the British Medical Journal, concluded, “People receiving tramadol alone after surgery had similar to somewhat higher risks of prolonged opioid use compared with those receiving other short acting opioids. Federal governing bodies should consider reclassifying tramadol, and providers should use as much caution when prescribing tramadol in the setting of acute pain as for other short acting opioids.”

    “We found that people who got tramadol were just as likely as people who got hydrocodone or oxycodone to continue using opioids past the point where their surgery pain would have been expected to be resolved,” Molly Jeffery, one of the researchers, said.

    Tramadol is classified differently by the federal government, but study authors call for this to change.

    “We found that tramadol, a drug that is scheduled at a lower risk level than other common short acting opioids (Schedule IV versus Schedule II for hydrocodone and oxycodone), has a similar or somewhat greater risk of prolonged opioid use after surgery,” they wrote. “Although all factors related to the safety of a drug must be considered, from the standpoint of opioid dependence, the Drug Enforcement Administration and FDA should consider rescheduling tramadol to a level that better reflects its risks of prolonged use.”

    The study is important since use of tramadol has increased in recent years.

    “Tramadol has seen a surge in use in the past few years, likely due to its perceived benefits, including what physicians may consider a favorable side effects profile and the widespread assumption that it is safer and less addictive than other short acting opioids,” study authors wrote. “As a result, tramadol is now among the most commonly prescribed opioids in the US, and it is frequently used by surgeons for the treatment of postoperative acute pain.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lena Dunham Celebrates Birthday With Recovery House Fundraiser

    Lena Dunham Celebrates Birthday With Recovery House Fundraiser

    Dunham also took to Instagram to urge her followers to donate toward an LA-based recovery home for women.

    Lena Dunham — who opened up this year about her struggles with addiction — hosted a birthday party fundraiser for The Friendly House, a recovery home for women struggling with substance use disorder.

    “Today, rather than presents, I’d love for you to donate to Friendly House, which is dedicated to helping women navigate the journey through addiction to recovery. It’s a journey I know first hand can only be attempted with love and support, which is why I have started a scholarship fund for women who are determined to recover but don’t have the financial means to begin,” Dunham wrote on Instagram.

    She continued, “It brings me such joy to think of how together we can directly affect so many women who have forgotten that they matter.”

    Dunham said that in the past she has shied away from celebrating her birthday, but after achieving one year of sobriety in April she was ready to be in the spotlight.

    “I may own a birthday bitch hat, but IRL I’m no big birthday bitch. For someone who loves both attention and presents, I’ve sure cancelled a lotta bday parties at the last minute,” she wrote. “I used to think there was something a bit unseemly about an adult leaning into their birthday, until I realized I was actually just jealous of the confidence and self-love it takes to say ‘it’s my day, people!’ I often felt I was making up for some original sin and that the nicest thing I could do for others on my birthday was make myself as unobtrusive as possible (it never worked and I usually either barfed or cried.)”

    She went on, “But this year is different. This year I’m… wait for it… happy. And so grateful for where I am, who I am, and everyone who has helped me on my journey to health & sobriety. 32 was good to me, and for 33 I wanted to say a big old thank you.”

    Dunham spoke about her addiction to anxiety medications on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert in November.

    “It stopped being, ‘I take one when I fly,’ and it started being like, ‘I take one when I’m awake,’” she said. She realized that her medications were no longer helping her, and that she had become dependent on them.

    “I still feel like my brain is recalibrating itself to experience anxiety,” she said at the time. “I just feel, literally, on my knees grateful every day.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Overdose-Resistant Bathrooms Are Coming To Boston

    Overdose-Resistant Bathrooms Are Coming To Boston

    The new system can alert employees to possible overdose cases and allow them to take action before it’s too late.

    A Boston-based contractor is currently developing and implementing a system to detect overdose in bathrooms so that employees at common locations for drug use can be alerted to an overdose and intervene, according to Filter.

    The technology, which detects if a person in a single-occupancy bathroom has fallen to the floor and laid unmoving for an extended period of time, could save lives—if companies agree to adopt it.

    As the opioid epidemic rages on in the U.S., people without a safe place to use drugs have come to use public bathrooms in fast food restaurants, coffee shops, convenience stores, homeless shelters and health clinics for this purpose.

    Particularly as fentanyl contamination becomes more common, overdose cases are spiking. Busy employees are unable to keep track of how long every customer has been in the bathroom and some find themselves dealing with overdose deaths on a regular basis.

    This new system, created by John King, can alert employees to a possible overdose and allow them to take action before it’s too late. The technology has already been tested at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and has been incredibly successful, according to Chief Medical Officer Jessie Gaeta.

    “We have about five overdoses a week in our facility, and since we installed John’s system none have been fatal,” said Gaeta.

    A similar system created by the Brave Cooperative in Vancouver, BC, goes a step further by using radar to calculate the breathing rates of individuals using the bathroom. This could be even more effective than King’s system due to the fact that opioid overdose can cause seizures or spasms during unconsciousness, which might render an anti-movement detector useless. 

    While health clinics and other non-profit organizations have been eager to adopt systems like King’s, selling them to for-profit businesses may be more difficult due to fears of litigation if the system fails. 

    “We live in a litigious society,” says King. “If someone goes into a bathroom with an expectation of being revived if they overdose and they die… well, businesses are afraid of being sued.”

    However, the threat of being sued may be preferable to the costs of regularly finding bodies in customer bathrooms.

    Massachusetts General Hospital Substance Use Disorders Initiative Director Sarah Wakeman believes that the ability to effectively intervene and save lives could reduce that trauma.

    “There’s definitely secondary trauma to witnessing overdoses and seeing people near death,” she said to The Atlantic. “I think it’s much more traumatizing to find someone dead in the bathroom and not be able to help them.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "Halt and Catch Fire" Star Lisa Sheridan’s Cause Of Death Revealed

    "Halt and Catch Fire" Star Lisa Sheridan’s Cause Of Death Revealed

    The 44-year-old actress passed away in February.

    Halt and Catch Fire actress Lisa Sheridan died on February 25, 2019, and the autopsy report has revealed that her cause of death was chronic alcoholism.

    Radar Online recently published the 44-year-old actress’s autopsy report. Although the manner of her death was said to be “natural” in the report, it also stated that the actress had a “reported history of benzodiazepine abuse.”

    Benzodiazepines are typically used to treat anxiety and are known to be extremely addictive.

    Although no date was given, the report noted that Sheridan had a “remote brain injury” due to a fall. Her lungs were labeled “hyperinflated” and she had a cyst on her right ovary.

    The mixture of benzos and alcohol is a particularly dangerous combination that can cause an overdose. Benzodiazepines sedate the pill taker through an increase in the brain neurotransmitter GABA. If taken with alcohol, this can slowly and ultimately stop breathing.

    A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the amount of women overdosing on benzodiazepines has increased by a staggering 830% since 1999.

    Sheridan’s manager, Mitch Clem, released a statement soon after the actress was found in her residence. “We all loved Lisa very much and are devastated by the loss we all feel. She passed away Monday morning, at home, in her apartment in New Orleans. We are waiting for a coroners [sic] report on cause of death.”

    Baywatch actress Donna D’Errico, who worked with Sheridan on the 2015 film Only God, posted a Facebook tribute to the actress.

    “I just received news that my dear friend, actress Lisa Sheridan, has passed away. She was found Monday morning. I am sitting here stunned. Lisa and I filmed a movie together 5 years ago and became very close on set and remained close friends after filming ended. It’s so rare to find kind, gentle souls like hers in this industry, this city…even this world. Truly one of the most genuinely sweet and gentle people I’ve ever come across in my life…Everyone who knew her loved and adored her. Goodbye and goodnight sweet angel…I will miss you terribly.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mitch McConnell Slammed Over "Cocaine Mitch" Shirts

    Mitch McConnell Slammed Over "Cocaine Mitch" Shirts

    Critics of the Cocaine Mitch swag didn’t appreciate the playful reference to the drug in the midst of the addiction epidemic.

    Ahead of his run for re-election in 2020, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is capitalizing on a defamatory nickname given to him by a political opponent—“Cocaine Mitch”—to raise money for his campaign.

    His campaign website is selling stickers and t-shirts depicting a faceless McConnell dusted with cocaine residue. The back of the t-shirt is labeled “CARTEL MEMBER.”

    McConnell has raised more than $30,000 from the t-shirt sales, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. Apparently the senator’s humor was not lost on some.

    “Senator McConnell proves every election cycle that having a sense of humor is the most valuable and least abundant commodity in politics,” said Josh Holmes of the Team Mitch campaign. “He managed to turn a slanderous attack on his family into an online movement of his supporters.”

    The nickname originated in a political campaign promoting Don Blankenship’s run for U.S. Senate in 2018. “One of my goals as a U.S. senator will be to ditch Cocaine Mitch,” he said in a campaign ad. “When you’re voting for me, you’re voting for the sake of the kids.”

    Blankenship, a Republican and former coal CEO from West Virginia, was referring to a cocaine bust from 2014 aboard a shipping vessel operated by the father of McConnell’s wife, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. The Nation reported at the time that the Colombian Coast Guard seized approximately 90 pounds of cocaine from the ship.

    “His father-in-law who founded and owns a large Chinese shipping company has given Mitch and his wife millions of dollars over the years,” Blankenship’s campaign explained in a statement. “The company was implicated recently in smuggling cocaine from Colombia to Europe, hidden aboard a company ship carrying foreign coal was $7 million of cocaine and that is why we’ve deemed him Cocaine Mitch.”

    While McConnell has reaped a significant profit from the bizarre nickname, Trump adviser Lynne Patton is not amused. “I think depending on what day it is, whether or not Mitch McConnell is a friend of the president, but as somebody who has personally struggled with cocaine addiction, I don’t think that that is funny or appropriate,” said Patton, a senior official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “And I wouldn’t endorse that on any side of the aisle.”

    Patton and other critics of peddling Cocaine Mitch swag did not appreciate the playful reference to the drug in the midst of our addiction and overdose epidemic.

    “It’s almost like making drugs cool, and they’re not,” said Patton, speaking with Bold TV. “Not to sound like Nancy Reagan, but drugs are not cool, just so you know.”

    She suggested that Trump would not find the humor in it either. “The president himself, he lost his brother to alcohol addiction and he’s never had a drink in his life.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • 1,000-Year-Old Psychedelic Drug Kit Discovered By Archaeologists

    1,000-Year-Old Psychedelic Drug Kit Discovered By Archaeologists

    The “ritual bundle” contained ayahuasca ingredients and traces of cocaine.

    An ancient ritual bundle recovered in Bolivia shows that people having been using psychoactive drugs for millennia. 

    The bundle contained harmine and dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the two primary ingredients of ayahuasca, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ayahuasca, which causes people to hallucinate and vomit, has become a popular drug with spiritual adventurers who extol its supposed health benefits. 

    “Our findings support the idea that people have been using these powerful plants for at least 1,000 years, combining them to go on a psychedelic journey, and that ayahuasca use may have roots in antiquity,” said archaeologist Melanie Miller, of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the team of researchers who analyzed the bundle. 

    “This is the first evidence of ancient South Americans potentially combining different medicinal plants to produce a powerful substance like ayahuasca,” Miller said. 

    In addition to the ingredients in ayahuasca, the bundle also contained traces of cocaine. The bundle, which was made from three fox snouts sewn together, contained spatulas and spoons for snorting drugs. Miller said that it was likely used by a shaman or someone who worked with medicinal plants. The team believes the pouch is from the Tiwanaku, a pre-Inca civilization that “dominated the southern Andean highlands from about 550 to 950 A.D.”

    Miller said the pouch was “the most amazing artifact I’ve had the privilege to work with.”

    She said, “A lot of these plants, if consumed in the wrong dosage, could be very poisonous, so, whoever owned this bundle would need to have had great knowledge and skills about how to use these plants, and how and where to procure them.”

    Miller said that the properties that make ayahuasca popular today likely made it important to the ancients. 

    “The tryptamine DMT produces strong, vivid hallucinations that can last from minutes to an hour, but combined with harmine, you can have prolonged out-of-body altered states of consciousness with altered perceptions of time and of the self,” she said.

    The bundle was initially found in a cave site by archeologists from Bolivia and Pennsylvania State University. Those archeologists contacted Miller to help identify the contents of the bundle and to assist with the final excavation. Because of the altitude where the bundle was found it was in good condition. 

    “We were amazed to see the incredible preservation of these compounds in this ritual bundle,” said Miller. “I feel very lucky to have been a part of this research.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Experimental Brain Implant To Curb Addiction Being Tested In China

    Experimental Brain Implant To Curb Addiction Being Tested In China

    Doctors in China have already completed multiple case studies on this treatment with varied results. 

    Researchers in China have been testing deep brain stimulation (DBS) on human subjects as a possible way to treat addiction, including to opioids, according to a report by the Associated Press.

    The process includes drilling holes into the skull in order to place electrodes in the brain that electrically stimulate the nucleus accumbens, which scientists believe are involved in addiction, in a fashion similar to a pacemaker.

    DBS has been used successfully to treat movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, but results in the treatment of addiction have been mixed. Due to the complex nature of addiction disorders and ethical restrictions on such a radical therapy, as well as the high costs, human trials on DBS for addiction have been slow to come to the U.S.

    Two large-scale trials conducted five years ago in the U.S. for the treatment of depression failed, causing researchers to essentially start over in regards to their understanding of DBS for mental illness.

    “We’ve had a reset in the field,” said UCLA neurosurgeon Dr. Nader Pouratian. Despite the urgency around finding effective treatments for opioid addiction as overdose death rates have skyrocketed in recent years, Pouratian believes testing DBS treatment for the disorder should only be green-lit “if we can move forward in ethical, well-informed, well-designed studies.”

    In China, where ethical standards for medical testing are not as strict as they are in the U.S., doctors have already completed multiple case studies on this treatment with varied results. One patient fatally overdosed on heroin three months after receiving the brain implant. Others have remained sober for years.

    The AP report focuses on “Yan,” a young Chinese man who has been struggling with meth addiction for years and has relapsed multiple times after stints in rehab. When given the option, he jumped at the chance to receive the DBS surgery. He had already lost his job and his family to his addiction and feels that he has weak willpower.

    After getting the brain implant, doctors inserted a battery into Yan’s chest to power the device. With the press of a button, his doctor has been able to change his mood from happy to agitated and back. 

    “This machine is pretty magical,” Yan says. “He adjusts it to make you happy and you’re happy, to make you nervous and you’re nervous. It controls your happiness, anger, grief and joy.”

    Yan has been sober for six months after the surgery and reported being able to refuse drugs when offered. 

    Back in the U.S., the FDA has green-lit a single small human trial testing the use of DBS for opioid addiction, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in June at the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.

    “People are dying,” said the leader of the study Dr. Ali Rezai. “Their lives are devastated. It’s a brain issue. We need to explore all options.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Inside Mexico’s Plan To Decriminalize Drugs

    Inside Mexico’s Plan To Decriminalize Drugs

    President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s wants the country to treat drug use as a health issue rather than a crime. 

    Mexico’s president has given his firm endorsement of decriminalizing drugs, Forbes reported.

    President Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently unveiled his National Development Plan for 2019-2024, which includes a plan for decriminalizing all drugs including heroin and cocaine.

    The president unequivocally acknowledged the failure of the “war on drugs,” and the need for a wholly different approach. By decriminalizing drugs, it would be treated as a health issue rather than a crime.

    “The only real possibility of reducing the levels of drug consumption is to lift the ban on those that are currently illegal, and redirect the resources currently destined to combat their transfer and apply them in programs—massive, but personalized—of reinsertion and detoxification,” Obrador said in his policy statement.

    Arrests would be replaced by “enforced medical treatments,” Forbes reported.

    When the drug war was escalated under former President Felipe Calderón, violence escalated as well. In 2006, Calderón deployed 6,500 soldiers to fight drug traffickers. This resulted in an estimated 150,000 deaths attributed to organized gang killings, according to a 2018 report by the Congressional Research Service.

    Neither drug trafficking nor drug use have declined over the past decade but instead have risen to record levels, according to a report by the International Drug Policy Consortium.

    “Public safety strategies applied by previous administrations have been catastrophic: far from resolving or mitigating the catastrophe has sharpened it,” said Obrador.

    The war on drugs approach is “unsustainable” for many reasons, said the president. It is bad for public safety and for public health. “Worse still, the prohibitionist model inevitably criminalizes consumers and reduces their odds of social reintegration and rehabilitation.”

    It is “conceivable” that legislation will be drafted to make Obrador’s proposal a reality in the coming year, according to Marijuana Moment.

    While Obrador’s plan may seem “radical,” Mexico would not be the first country to decriminalize drugs. Nor would it be the first time the country attempted to reform its drug policy in this manner.

    In 2009, under Calderón, Mexico decriminalized small amounts of drugs including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.

    However, the policy “achieved little in practice,” according to a 2014 report from the Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law. Why? The maximum limits for personal use set by the law were too small to make a real difference—5 grams was the legal limit for marijuana, half a gram for cocaine, 50 milligrams for heroin, 40 mg for meth and 0.015 mg for LSD. The policy resulted in “little more than quasi-decriminalization,” Talking Drugs reported at the time.

    Mexico, one gateway for illegal drugs destined for the U.S., has seen firsthand the brutal violence associated with the lucrative drug market that the U.S. offers. As a result, the country is finally acknowledging the need to break the status quo. 

    The past several Mexican presidents—Enrique Peña Nieto, Vicente Fox and even Calderón—have acknowledged the failure of the war on drugs. 

    View the original article at thefix.com