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  • Steve-O Discusses Bam Margera's Recent Relapse

    Steve-O Discusses Bam Margera's Recent Relapse

    Margera was allegedly seven months sober prior to cracking open a beer following a traumatizing mugging, but Steve-O doesn’t buy it.

    Jackass alum, Steve-O, sat down for an interview with TooFab where he weighed in on a recent Instagram post by former Jackass co-star, Bam Margera.

    In a recent post, Margera shared that he had been robbed of $500 during a taxi ride from the airport to Cartagena, Colombia. He then cracks open a bottle of Club Colombia beer with one hand, though the latter part seems to have been removed.

    Bam’s act was significant as it marked the end of seven months of sobriety, which came hard won after being charged with a DUI in January and being sent to rehab by the courts.

    However, Steve-O seems to believe that Margera had already broken his sobriety prior to the robbery. “I guess. I don’t know that that’s the case, but perhaps,” Steve-O said in regards to the alleged seven-month timeframe.

    Steve-O was at first hesitant to expand on what he meant by the statement, but ended up explaining himself.

    “I mean, I don’t know. And I don’t want him to [feel like] I’m attacking him or calling him out, I just think that there were signs that, if he hadn’t already drank, it was evident that he was going to,” Steve-O explained. “The signs were there. I think if you’re a sober alcoholic that you kind of can tell.”

    Steve-O seemed to believe Margera wasn’t ready for sobriety.

    “When people are on the path, sort of doing the things that sober people do, it’s evident,” he exanded. “It’s evident that he’s not been ready or willing to do the simple things that sober people do that make our lives really great. It’s sad, and I wish that I could somehow force him to want to do these things and get healthy and have a great life, but it doesn’t work that way. You can’t push people into it.”

    Speaking with 10 years of sobriety, Steve-O said that even if Margera resorted to drinking because of the robbery, it’s still a poor decision.

    “Let’s say he did get drunk because of being robbed—we call that the philosophy of a man who having a headache hits himself in the head with a hammer so that he cannot feel the ache,” Steve-O explained. “Way to go. Now you got two problems.”

    Margera has long struggled with alcoholism. He recently tried to get healthy by taking a long trip and isolating himself, but ended up falling off the wagon.

    “I think the catalyst was when I stepped on a scale after a fucking drinking bender and I was 230 pounds. So I flew myself to Estonia, to the middle of the fucking woods in a log cabin for six months. I was on a full-blown Rocky Balboa mission to hike and bike and get myself in shape just to be able to skate,” Margera said.

    However, in January Margera got the DUI that landed him in rehab.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ben Affleck Heads Back To Rehab

    Ben Affleck Heads Back To Rehab

    Days after Affleck entered rehab, news broke that he and actress Jennifer Garner reached a settlement in their divorce.

    Justice League star Ben Affleck headed back to rehab last week in his ongoing battle with alcoholism, as he continues “working incredibly hard” to stay sober.

    “Addiction is not something that goes away,” a source close the actor told People. “Every day is a battle for recovering addicts, they are fighting for their sobriety and to lead healthy, balanced lives every day.”

    Over the past year, the Los Angeles-based actor had been in and out of rehab and spotted visiting various outpatient treatment centers. 

    “He has been attending countless meetings, has continued to work with sober coaches and does his best to follow through with the things that will help him maintain his health,” the source told People.

    It’s been a rough time for the Argo director; just days after he entered rehab, news broke that Affleck and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner reached a settlement in their divorce.

    The couple separated three years ago, and Garner filed for divorce last spring, according to Us Weekly. On Wednesday, she stepped in and drove Affleck to treatment, according to reports.

    Earlier this month, Affleck and Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus broke off their relationship, a move one source close to the couple attributed to Affleck’s downward spiral. 

    “It was very hard for her to break up with Ben, but she knew he wasn’t getting better and that it was time for her to step aside,” a source told People. “She was trying to stay as close to him as possible so that he would stay on the right path, but ultimately it just wasn’t possible. She knew she had to let him hit bottom.” 

    Affleck’s path to sobriety started in 2001, when Charlie Sheen drove him to a 30-day rehab program. Last spring, he went to treatment again, and later posted about it on Facebook.

    “I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be,” he wrote. “I want my kids to know there is no shame in getting help when you need it, and to be a source of strength for anyone out there who needs help but is afraid to take the first step.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Legal Sports Betting in West Virginia Raises Concerns Among Advocates

    Legal Sports Betting in West Virginia Raises Concerns Among Advocates

    “Gambling addiction is a bigger issue than people realize in this state,” said one recovery advocate.

    The March 2018 passage of a sports betting bill in West Virginia has many residents and lawmakers excited over the prospect of a 10% tax on gross gaming revenue, but for recovery advocates across the state, the bill has escalated concerns about the dangers of gambling dependency.

    A feature in The Dominion Post, a commercial daily newspaper in Morgantown, West Virginia, highlighted concerns from mental health advocates and educators, who want the public to understand that gambling dependency carries a set of risks like any other addictive behavior, and can lead to financial and personal problems.

    The feature also detailed various forms of assistance, including a West Virginia-based helpline and support groups, as tools for those struggling with gambling dependency.

    The West Virginia Sports Lottery Wagering Act was fast-tracked through the state House and Senate and passed on March 9, 2018 without the signature of Governor Jim Justice, who eschewed public calls to veto the bill.

    The passage of the bill allows the state’s five gaming facilities to provide access to sports betting; the facilities paid $100,000 each for the right to allow betting, and according to Legal Sports Report, were expected to generate at least $5 million in total first-year tax revenue.

    The measure, which was actively opposed by the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, made West Virginia the sixth state in the nation to pass a sports betting bill, after Nevada, Delaware, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

    For health and dependency advocates, the passage is also cause for alarm. “Gambling addiction is a bigger issue than people realize in this state,” said Sheila Morgan, director of communications and marketing for the Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia, to The Dominion Post.

    The network, which was established in 2000, provides no-cost assistance to those who believe that their gambling may have reached problematic levels. Network agents assess callers and can schedule a free appointment with a dependency counselor; future appointments are at cost, but those with financial hardships can be covered by the Help Network itself.

    The Dominion Post noted that the network has received more than 2,000 calls alone from Monongalia County, where the newspaper is located.

    Network clients are also encouraged to find and attend support group meetings, which have shown promise in providing help to those with gambling dependency.

    “The treatment of choice for addiction is group therapy,” said Robert Edmundson, clinical social worker and associate professor at West Virginia University. “Only in groups can you really be with other people who you can relate with and identify with.”

    Mental health professionals like Edmundson take a close look at an individual’s behavior when assessing the possibility of a gambling problem.

    “People will often gamble money they don’t have,” he noted. “The cornerstone and behavior that crosses all addiction is loss of control. You’re no longer in charge, it is.”

    Moran said that the Gamblers Help Network is currently focusing its efforts on reaching young people and, in particular, college students, for which gambling can be an issue.

    Earlier this year, LendEDU surveyed 886 Americans that can legally bet and are above the age of 21. The main focus of this survey was to determine the impact legalized sports wagering has on bettors. You can view the full report here: https://lendedu.com/blog/money-behind-legal-sports-betting/

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Colleges Improve Efforts To Accommodate Students In Recovery

    Colleges Improve Efforts To Accommodate Students In Recovery

    Around 300 schools offer recovery support services in the US.

    As the demand rises for student recovery services, some colleges are making a real effort to provide a sober-friendly environment for students who choose to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

    “Students shouldn’t have to choose between their recovery and their education,” said Alexandre Laudet, a researcher at the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc.

    Roughly 20% of college students meet the criteria for alcohol use disorder, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Illicit drug use is rising as well, according to 2016 data.

    According to the Association of Recovery in Higher Education, some 300 schools offer recovery support services in the US.

    Some features of college recovery programs include addiction counseling, support groups, community check-ins, on-campus 12-step meetings, and service work opportunities, Yes Magazine reports.

    Substance-free social activities are a popular feature of these programs; ensuring that sober students don’t miss out on the fun.

    Some colleges offer sober bowling, canoeing, laser tag, hiking, movies. The University of Houston’s recovery program includes a mountain climbing trip, and the University of Oregon organizes sober watch parties for sports fans.

    These programs will often have applicants sign a code of conduct, promising to “abstain from all substances, adhere to safe behaviors, and hold other members of the community accountable,” according to Yes.

    The results of a survey published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment showed the many positive outcomes of college recovery programs—including low relapse rates, higher-than-average GPAs, and a higher likelihood that students will stay in school and graduate.

    According to the survey, up to 95% of participating students were able to sustain their sobriety while attending school.

    “It was the life preserver I needed when I was drowning. I feel like I’m supported there,” said one engineering student at the University of Michigan. “There are people who would do anything to help me and know how to help me. It’s a safe space for us no matter what’s happening in our lives.”

    One college recovery program of note is the one at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Its recovery housing program was established in 1988, one of the first of its kind. It is among the more established college recovery programs in the country, alongside Texas Tech and Augsburg University.

    The state of New Jersey has gone farther to promote recovery support in higher education; in 2015 the state legislature passed a law requiring four-year public colleges and universities to provide recovery housing.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Are Opioid Prescription Regulations Actually Working?

    Are Opioid Prescription Regulations Actually Working?

    New studies explored whether medical professionals are adhering to stricter opioid prescribing rules and regulations.

    While rules and regulations are often made in the interest of public safety, that doesn’t mean they are always followed hard and fast. 

    Such is the case with certain rules regarding opioid prescriptions, according to the Boston Globe. The paper states that according to the results of two studies published Wednesday (August 22) in the journal JAMA Surgery, “such well-intentioned efforts sometimes don’t have the desired effect.”

    The first study concluded that after one rule made it more difficult to refill the painkiller hydrocodone, surgeons began prescribing more of the medication right after surgery instead. 

    Meanwhile, the second study examined a regulation which required surgeons to check a database before prescribing opioids, the idea being that the database would alert them to patients at risk of opioid misuse.

    However, the study found that the procedure took up surgeons’ time but did not affect their prescribing practices in one New Hampshire hospital. 

    According to the Globe, both the studies were limited in terms of geographic area and only studying surgeon’s prescribing behaviors.

    Dr. Michael Barnett, a Harvard health-services researcher who studies opioid prescribing, tells the Globe that the results point to a bigger problem.

    “Clinician behavior is harder to predict, when you put these kinds of limits on it, than we’d like to think,” he said. “Regardless of the law you put in place, physicians are going to respond to what patients need… We need to ask a harder question: How do we influence health care decisions?”

    Prescribing practices have been under scrutiny for a number of years. In 2014, the Globe states, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) changed hydrocodone from a Schedule III to a Schedule II drug, meaning patients would not be able to refill it over the phone.

    After that went into effect, researchers at the University of Michigan chose to study the effects on post-surgery prescribing. They looked at prescriptions for 21,955 patients who had had elective surgery in 75 Michigan hospitals from 2012 to 2015. Study authors found that prescription refills decreased, but the number of pills a patient left the hospital with increased.

    According to study author Dr. Michael Englesbe, the idea seemed to be that if doctors gave patients more prescriptions, they would be more likely to have the necessary pain relief and not seek more medication.

    However, Englesbe says, previous research indicates that “the number of pills you give someone has no relationship to their likelihood of calling for a refill. The more pills you give a patient, the more they take, and they don’t rate their pain care any better. It’s counterintuitive.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dan Bigg, The Godfather Of Harm Reduction, Has Passed Away

    Dan Bigg, The Godfather Of Harm Reduction, Has Passed Away

    Bigg, who co-founded the largest community-based naloxone distribution network in the country, was 59 years old. 

    On Tuesday, the harm reduction community lost a godfather. Dan Bigg, co-founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, died suddenly at home at 59 years old.

    Bigg started his journey to harm reduction in the mid-1980s working at the Illinois Health Association’s Drug Addiction AIDS Project. He was frustrated at the growing rate of HIV infection among people who injected drugs and how stigma often forced people with HIV out of their 12-step recovery programs, alienating them from support systems.

    Along with a few other people, he put together an HIV information and support group composed of active and former drug users. In time, the support group didn’t seem like enough. Bigg wanted to do more. So in 1992 he co-founded the Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA), a place where former and active drug users and people with HIV could find community and health resources.

    One of Chicago Recovery Alliance’s first programs was a syringe exchange, which was against Illinois law at the time. But laws never stopped Bigg. By teaming up with public health researchers, CRA was able to start distributing sterile syringes to help prevent the spread of HIV. But that exchange was just the beginning.

    In 1996, Bigg’s dear friend and co-founder of CRA, John Szyler, died of a heroin overdose. In his grief, Bigg launched a new initiative, one that would eventually be replicated across the country and save tens of thousands of lives—the first community-based naloxone distribution program.

    At the time, naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdose, was only available in ambulances and emergency room departments. Bigg put forth the novel and controversial idea to put naloxone into the hands of people who need it most—active drug users. He began working with medical doctors to figure out a distribution model that would be as hassle-free as possible for people who use drugs and their loved ones.

    The program was met with criticism from those who said that active drug users were not capable of utilizing naloxone properly, or that giving them access to a life-saving drug would encourage risky behavior. To these people, Bigg gave the middle finger. Any positive change as a person defines it for him or herself, was his philosophy. A life saved was certainly positive change.

    The CRA would become the largest community-based naloxone distribution network in the country and soon be replicated in dozens of other states.

    Bigg was honored with the Norman E. Zinberg Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in 2015 and won numerous other awards. But he was not a man for frills or recognition. He continued the work tirelessly up until the day he died because he believed it was the right thing to do.

    The harm reduction community honors him. The people saved with community-based naloxone owe him their lives. The world has lost a legend.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Trump To Jeff Sessions: Sue Drug Companies For Opioid Crisis Role

    Trump To Jeff Sessions: Sue Drug Companies For Opioid Crisis Role

    The Attorney General said he would take action on Trump’s requests. 

    President Donald Trump has instructed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a federal lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies in Mexico and China, claiming that they have played a role in the US opioid epidemic.

    Last week, according to the New York Post, the president threw blame at China and Mexico for their roles in the opioid epidemic, claiming the countries had manufactured some of the illegal opioids coming into the United States.

    “In China, you have some pretty big companies sending that garbage and killing our people. It’s almost like a form of warfare. I’d like you to do what you can legally,” Trump said to Sessions.

    Fox News reports that Trump’s remarks came during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Aug. 16. Fox notes it was somewhat unusual that Trump asked for a new “major” lawsuit to be filed, rather than asking Sessions to join existing lawsuits filed by various US states. 

    “I’d also like to ask you to bring a major lawsuit against the drug companies on opioids,” Trump stated at the meeting, according to Fox. “Some states have done it, but I’d like a lawsuit to be brought against these companies that are really sending opioids at a level that — it really shouldn’t be happening. … People go into a hospital with a broken arm, they come out, they’re a drug addict.”

    Sessions said he would take action on Trump’s requests. 

    “We absolutely will,” Sessions said at the meeting. “We are returning indictments now against distributors from China; we’ve identified certain companies that are moving drugs from China, fentanyl in particular. We have confronted China about it … Most of it is going to Mexico and then crossing the border, unlawfully, from Mexico.”

    As of now, more than 25 US states have filed more than 1,000 lawsuits against opioid distributors and manufacturers.

    Last week, New York filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, stating the manufacturer of the painkiller OxyContin has mislead medical professionals and patients about the dangers of the medication. Massachusetts also filed a lawsuit against the company in June, accusing the company of a “web of illegal deceit.” 

    According to recent estimates, overall overdose deaths in the US in 2017 were about 72,000 — an increase of 6,000 from 2016’s estimates.

    However, preliminary 2018 data implies that the “numbers may be trending downward in the wake of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb the epidemic.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kirstie Alley Talks Cocaine Addiction on "Celebrity Big Brother"

    Kirstie Alley Talks Cocaine Addiction on "Celebrity Big Brother"

    “I went through the ’60s and most of the ’70s – I never did drugs. And then I did coke and it was all over for, like four years.”

    Actress Kirstie Alley spoke frankly about her cocaine addiction while appearing on the UK edition of the popular reality series Celebrity Big Brother.

    In a candid conversation with three of her “housemates,” Alley discussed the divorce from her first husband, Bob Alley, which she said led to her dependency on the drug, as well as an incident involving cocaine use while babysitting a niece and nephew which she claimed was her motivation for ending that dependency.

    Alley, who has often spoken about her past drug use, told the Big Brother that cocaine use “just kills your soul, somehow.”

    Alley, who is appearing on the 22nd edition of Celebrity Big Brother, told her cast mates that she began using cocaine prior to her film and television stardom, when she was living in Wichita, Kansas and divorced from her first husband, Bob Alley in the late 1970s.

    “I did drugs for about four years,” she said. “I went through the ’60s and most of the ’70s – I never did drugs. And then I did coke and it was all over for, like four years.”

    Alley added that after using cocaine, she told herself that she would “do this every day for the rest of my life,” which prompted Ben Jardine – a UK TV personality known for his appearance on Married At First Sight – to ask if that was how the drug affected those who use it.

    Alley noted that while everyone’s reaction to cocaine was different, the overall response to the drug was “horrible.” She added that after a period of two-and-a-half years of constant use, “it just snagged my soul. It just kills your soul, somehow.”

    When asked by housemate and television personality Sally Morgan if there was an incident that she would consider her lowest point during her dependency, Alley said that she found herself using cocaine while babysitting her young niece and nephew. 

    “I thought, ‘My God, I’m [upstairs] snorting coke and then coming down and taking care of these babies. This is horrible,” said Alley. She called her sister to retrieve her children before facing an unpleasant fact: “I just went, ‘You’ve lost your soul, totally. “I’d stepped over the line. Now the cray [sic] was running me, instead of me running wild.”

    When asked by Morgan if she’d ever used cocaine again, Alley declared, “No, and I’ve never wanted to, which is good.”

    In previous interviews, Alley has said that the end of her first marriage was the launching pad for her cocaine dependency. She told Howard Stern in 2013 that after her divorce from Bob Alley, she began spending time with a friend whom she claimed had a “lot of druggie friends,” which led to her first experience with cocaine. 

    “I had heard that cocaine made you peppy and happy, and I was sort of depressed because I had gotten a divorce,” she told Stern. “So I thought, ‘I’m gonna try this.’”

    Casual use soon led to dependency and instability; as she told Entertainment Tonight, “I thought I was going to overdose almost every time… I would do so much at a time that I would snort the coke and I would sit there, I would take my pulse, thinking, ‘I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dying.’”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Nerve Stimulation Help Depression?

    Can Nerve Stimulation Help Depression?

    Researchers discovered that using vagus nerve stimulators to treat depression changed patients’ quality of life.

    A new study has shown that nerve stimulation can improve quality of life for depression patients, even if their symptoms aren’t totally alleviated. 

    “When evaluating patients with treatment-resistant depression, we need to focus more on their overall well-being,” lead author Charles R. Conway, MD, a Washington University professor of psychiatry, told Science Daily. “A lot of patients are on as many as three, four or five antidepressant medications, and they are just barely getting by. But when you add a vagus nerve stimulator, it really can make a big difference in people’s everyday lives.”

    For the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, researchers followed about 600 patients who were being treated for depression. Some continued “treatment as usual,” which could include medication, electro-convulsive therapy, talk therapy or a combination of these.

    The researchers compared these individuals with 328 people who continued with their usual treatment, but were also given vagus nerve stimulators, which are implanted in the neck or chest and deliver regular, mild pulses of electricity to the brain. 

    Comparing 14 measurements including relationships, physical health and ability to work, researchers found that people with the stimulators had a better quality of life. 

    “On about 10 of the 14 measures, those with vagus nerve stimulators did better,” Conway said. “For a person to be considered to have responded to a depression therapy, he or she needs to experience a 50% percent decline in his or her standard depression score. But we noticed, anecdotally, that some patients with stimulators reported they were feeling much better even though their scores were only dropping 34 to 40%.”

    This suggests that the nerve stimulation can improve life for people with depression, even if it doesn’t put the depression into remission. Study participant Charles Donovan was hospitalized for depression multiple times and found treatments ineffective until he got a vagus nerve stimulator. 

    “Before the stimulator, I never wanted to leave my home,” he said. “It was stressful to go to the grocery store. I couldn’t concentrate to sit and watch a movie with friends. But after I got the stimulator, my concentration gradually returned. I could do things like read a book, read the newspaper, watch a show on television. Those things improved my quality of life.”

    Conway said that stimulating the vagus nerve might enable people to concentrate better, which makes their day-to-day lives better.

    “It improves alertness, and that can reduce anxiety,” he said. “And when a person feels more alert and more energetic and has a better capacity to carry out a daily routine, anxiety and depression levels decline.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • St. Louis Pushes To Expand Medication-Assisted Treatment For The Uninsured

    St. Louis Pushes To Expand Medication-Assisted Treatment For The Uninsured

    The city’s current healthcare program for the poor and uninsured does not cover mental health or addiction services.

    St. Louis officials are asking a federal agency to expand access to medication-assisted treatment under a program that provides healthcare services to uninsured individuals in the city.

    The Gateway to Better Health program, which is federally funded, serves uninsured St. Louis County residents who are living below the poverty line by providing basic health services at community health centers.

    Currently the program does not cover mental health or addiction services, but officials are asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to allow the program to cover medication-assisted treatment with Suboxone and naltrexone.

    “We’re the first to admit there are major gaps, and one of our major gaps is mental health and substance abuse services,” Robert Freund, CEO of the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, which operates and monitors the program, told KBIA, Missouri’s NPR affiliate. “It’s only gotten worse as the opioid crisis has really escalated here in our region.”

    The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reroute about $2 million currently allotted to the Gateway to Better Health program in order to allow community health centers to distribute Suboxone or naltrexone to people with opioid use disorder. The program would also require $750,000 in local matching funds, which has not been secured yet. 

    The program is also seeking approval to offer counseling, psychological testing and medication-assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder. 

    Freund said that if the community health centers are better able to serve people with substance use disorders, it would cut down on demand at clinics that only treat addiction, many of which are overwhelmed. 

    “We can increase access and decrease the burden on our substance abuse providers,” he said.

    Integrating care for substance use into a larger community center also allows people to seek help without judgement, said Kendra Holmes, the vice president of Affinia Healthcare, which operates community health centers in St. Louis.

    “I think it really helps with the stigma,” Holmes said. “Because you really don’t know what the patient is coming here for. If it were a separate entity, if we called it ‘Affinia Substance Abuse Center,’ there would be a stigma.”

    Affinia Healthcare currently has two providers trained to provide substance abuse treatment, who are paid for with grant money. Holmes said if the federal government approves the changes, Affinia would be able to offer addiction treatment services at more clinics. 

    Freund acknowledged that the requested changes “would be very limited in nature but still very helpful.”

    “We’re under no illusions this would solve our access issue for substance abuse in the eastern region,” he said. “However, it’s a start and it would help.”

    View the original article at thefix.com