Tag: News

Jonathan Rhys Meyers Apologizes For Airline Incident: Alcohol Doesn't Suit Me

Meyers revealed that his recent, highly-publicized inflight trouble was the result of a lapse in his sobriety.

Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers issued a statement in the wake of a verbal altercation with his wife during a flight that appears to have been fueled by alcohol consumption.

The Tudors actor, who has a history of substance-related issues, apologized for the incident, which culminated in his detainment by police at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on July 8, 2018.

Meyers, who had allegedly been drinking prior to the incident with his wife, and according to media reports, attempted to smoke an e-cigarette in the plane’s bathroom, but was stopped by a flight attendant.

Meyers’ wife, Mara, also issued a statement on Instagram in which she thanked the public for their “compassion on this ongoing battle with addiction we are in (sic).”

According to TMZ, sources reported that Meyers had been drinking on the flight from Miami to Los Angeles, which prompted an argument with his wife that was allegedly “laced with profanities” and proved upsetting to other passengers.

Meyers then left his seat for the plane’s bathroom while smoking the e-cigarette, which is a federal violation onboard a flight.

Meyers reportedly stopped smoking after being asked by the flight attendant; upon landing, Meyers was detained by law enforcement, which also contacted the FBI over the vaping incident.

Both the argument and the smoking issues appear to have been settled without charges against Meyers.

Speaking on Larry King Now, Meyers took responsibility for the incident, which he said was prompted by a series of challenges including travel fatigue—Meyers and his wife had been aboard a flight from Peru prior to the departure from Miami, and were traveling with their one-year-old son, Wolf, who was teething.

Meyers also claimed that the airline had “given away their tickets” prior to departure, which added to the stress.

Upon boarding the American Airlines flight, Meyers said that he “very stupidly decided to order a drink,” which he said “doesn’t suit me and I had been sober for a long time.”

The drink also sparked the argument with his wife, after which he said he “felt that mistake and got upset” before taking out the e-cigarette.

Meyers added that he was upset by his behavior towards his wife and its impact on the other passengers, to whom he apologized. He also noted that the Los Angeles police had been “incredibly kind” to him during their conversation after the flight.

In her Instagram post, Mara Meyers said that the incident was a result of “anger issues” that the couple had actually traveled to South America to address through holistic work. She said that the situation was “out of his character,” and that Meyers was feeling “sorry for any remote disrespect afforded to me, attendants, onlookers or officers.”

She concluded by thanking readers for their compassion during what she called her husband’s “ongoing battle” with addiction.

Meyers, whose credits include Velvet Goldmine, Match Point and an Emmy-nominated turn as Elvis Presley in the 2005 miniseries Elvis, has sought help through rehabilitation on several occasions since 2007, including a recent stint in 2017.

View the original article at thefix.com

24 July 2018
"Vikings" Actor Alexander Ludwig Opens Up About Addiction Struggle

“I’ve struggled with addiction for a long part of my life and I went to rehab at one point, came out, and it was the greatest thing I ever did in my life.”

While promoting the History Channel series Vikings at Comic-Con 2018, Canadian actor Alexander Ludwig addressed his recovery in a candid interview.

Ludwig, who opened up about his struggle with addiction in a new awareness campaign, shared with ET Canada that he’s learned a lot while working through is recovery.

“I’ve struggled with addiction for a long part of my life and I went to rehab at one point, came out, and it was the greatest thing I ever did in my life,” he said. “One thing that comes with addiction is realizing that it really doesn’t just start with you. Even though I’m fighting it, my whole family, my loved ones, are living with it too.”

Ludwig’s story is featured on the Instagram account @BiteTheBulletStories, a collection of stories of hardship, determination, and survival.

Ludwig chose to share his experience with addiction. “With the help of family, friends and my love [girlfriend Kristy Dawn Dinsmore] I was able to see I had an addiction,” Ludwig said in the Instagram post. “I chose to fight it and I went to rehab. I bite the bullet for the addict who still suffers, I bite the bullet for the loved ones who try to help to no avail.”

Ludwig’s girlfriend, actress Kristy Dawn Dinsmore, was there with him through it all, he said.

Dinsmore also had a story to tell, about seeing her mother sick for three years before she passed away when she was 9 years old. Dinsmore said at the time she was at a crossroads, but the selfless love of her surrounding community compelled her to go down a “path of gratitude instead of the seductive path of self-loathing.”

She said in her Instagram post, ”I could have succumbed to being a victim, or I could choose to accept that some things are out of my control. When I finally accepted the things I couldn’t change, I was able to take the appropriate steps towards changing what I could.”

“With [Alexander’s] struggle with addiction I’ve undergone some of the toughest times since my mother died and I’ve had to be as resilient as ever to help him through this. Our willingness to be vulnerable and open gives birth to a space within where we ultimately grow,” said Dinsmore, who has appeared on Supernatural and recently the TV series Loudermilk.

Ludwig said that by sharing with Dinsmore, he wants to let people know that they’re not alone and it’s important to talk about what’s within.

“A lot of people live in toxic shame,” he said. “There’s no shame in getting help for things that you need.”

View the original article at thefix.com

24 July 2018
Is Law Enforcement More Effective Thanks to Legal Marijuana?

Researchers examined the impact weed legalization has had on crime trends.

While marijuana legalization remains a contentious issue for many throughout the U.S., Washington and Colorado may have proven that in some aspects it is positive.

According to The Washington Post, researchers at Washington State University have concluded that legal pot has “produced some demonstrable and persistent benefit” to police departments.

“Our models show no negative effects of legalization and, instead, indicate that crime clearance rates for at least some types of crime are increasing faster in states that legalized than in those that did not,” researchers said.

Police departments in states where weed has been legalized have apparently been able to focus on other, more serious types of crime, rather than getting bogged down with “low-level marijuana enforcement.”

The Post describes “crime clearance” as when authorities have “identified and arrested a suspect and referred him to the judicial system for prosecution.”

Using available FBI data, the Washington State researchers analyzed the clearance rates in both Colorado and Washington between the years 2010 and 2015. In order to see what impact weed legalization had on crime trends, researchers looked at clearance rates after November 2012 in Colorado and December 2012 for Washington (when weed, respectively, became legal).

The Post did, however, note that both states’ “recreational markets” did not open until 2014. Both states experienced falling clearance rates before weed legalization, showing that “the decline stabilized in Colorado and began to reverse itself in Colorado,” with the Post adding that “no similar shift happened in the country as a whole.”

It wasn’t until legalization that those numbers took a sudden shift in the other direction.

Still, while researchers say the data can’t conclusively prove that legalization was the primary influence on those crime clearance rates, there were no other demonstrable changes in policing strategies during that same time. Instead, researchers can only say that legalization had a “plausible” impact on clearance rates.

Property-crime clearance rates showed a “dramatic reversal” in Colorado after weed became legal. Researchers also noticed that the clearance rates of other types of crime, such as burglary and motor-vehicle theft, spiked soon after legalization. By contrast, researchers said, national trends remained essentially flat.

“While there were both immediate and longer term differences between states which legalized and the rest of the country in terms of crime clearance rates,” the authors said, “the long-term differences are much more pronounced, especially in Colorado.”

In some ways, that’s all the proof that legalization advocates need to hear when it comes to the efficacy of how police departments use their resources.

“Our results suggest that, just as marijuana legalization proponents argued, the legalization of marijuana influence police outcomes, which in the context of this article is modeled as improvements in clearance rates,” researchers said.

Additionally, researchers found no other crimes in Colorado or Washington upon which legalization seemed to have a negative impact on clearance rates, suggesting that the case for legalizing weed is, from a law enforcement perspective, as remarkable as it is promising.

View the original article at thefix.com

24 July 2018
Steven Tyler On Addiction: I Hurt My Family, I Hurt My Band

“I went down the worst path. I went down the rabbit hole. I went chasing Alice.”

In a new interview, Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler revealed that his drug use got to a point where nothing mattered more.

“I have an addictive personality so I found certain drugs I loved and didn’t stop to the point of hurting my children, hurting my life, hurting my family, and hurting my band,” he said in a new interview with OBJECTified. “There was a point where I didn’t have a band and I didn’t care.”

The 70-year-old rock star, who’s said he “snorted half of Peru” in his career, was once one-half of the “Toxic Twins” with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, a nickname earned for their rampant drug use.

“I went down the worst path. I went down the rabbit hole. I went chasing Alice,” said Tyler. “I think rock stars… I felt like I had an obligation to keep that alive. I certainly had my way with women and women had their way with me.”

Tyler once boasted that over his career, he “easily” blew $5 or $6 million on drugs. “I gotta tell you, if it wasn’t for cocaine, I don’t think the band would have played every state in the United States nine times in seven years. Because there was no MTV back then, Peruvian marching powder, it was like, ‘Iowa, three in a row?’ Give me that,” he said on Ellen in 2012.

But, he added, “It’s what we did, but you know there is no end to that. It’s death, jail, or insanity.”

In 2009, Tyler entered his eighth rehab stint, after relapsing on pain medication after more than a decade of sobriety. But he’s been very open and active in his recovery.

In February, he was a special guest at a drug court graduation in Maui. “You’re my heroes here today because you have come from somewhere that I lived myself,” he told the graduates. “To come out through the wormhole like you’re doing today is a true beyond-belief miracle. I’m so proud of you, each and every one.”

By talking about recovery, and reflecting on his past, Tyler has a platform to inspire others to value sobriety as well.

“I want to be in touch with what it means to be in this band and stand for something in the rock and roll community or you fall for anything,” said Tyler. “I don’t want to do drugs anymore for that reason… That place lost me my kids, a marriage, a band, a lot of things and it’s for real. That’s how dangerous that is. So, I take it serious.”

View the original article at thefix.com

24 July 2018
Purdue Pharma Knew About Oxy Misuse Early On, Report Finds

The report also alleges that in 1999 company officials learned of a call to a pharmacy describing “OxyContin as the hottest thing on the street—forget Vicodin.”

Purdue Pharma reportedly knew that the opioid pill OxyContin was being snorted and sold on the street as early as 1999, just three years after the medication’s release.

However, the company reportedly kept quiet about this knowledge and continued marketing the drug as a safer pain-relief pill.

The New York Times obtained a confidential Justice Department report that was compiled in the early 2000s, leading up to Purdue’s settlement with the federal government in 2007.

Purdue executives have testified in Congress that they did now know that the product was being abused until the United States attorney in Maine issued a warning in 2000.

“Everyone was taken by surprise by what happened,” Purdue’s top medical officer, Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim, testified in 2001. “We launched OxyContin in 1996, and for the first four years on the market, we did not hear of any particular problem.”

However, the Justice Department report shows that this is not true.

“We have in fact picked up references to abuse of our opioid products on the internet,” Purdue Pharma’s general counsel, Howard R. Udell, wrote in early 1999 to another company official.

The report also alleges that in 1999 company officials learned of a call to a pharmacy describing “OxyContin as the hottest thing on the street—forget Vicodin.”

Federal prosecutors also found the words “street value,” “crush,” or “snort” in 117 internal notes that recorded meetings between Purdue representatives and doctors before 2000.

The report’s findings were so alarming that prosecutors recommended that felony charges be brought against three of Purdue’s executives. However, Justice Department officials under George W. Bush did not support that and ended up brokering a settlement in 2007 that avoided felony criminal charges and allowed Purdue to continue selling OxyContin.

Now, some people see this as a missed opportunity.

“It would have been a turning point,” said Terrance Woodworth, a former Drug Enforcement Administration official who investigated Purdue Pharma in the early 2000s. “It would have sent a message to the entire drug industry.”

However, another former DEA official told The New York Times that U.S. Attorney John Brownlee ultimately felt that accepting a deal would be best because Purdue had so many resources available to aid in its defense, including the expertise of Rudy Giuliani, who helped craft the deal for Purdue.

“He told me he was outgunned,” Joseph Rannazzisi said.

Brownlee has said that he felt the deal reached in 2007 was appropriate, but that he thought it would trigger tighter oversight of Purdue, something that did not happen.

“I didn’t feel as a lawyer I could be in a position to bar anyone from getting OxyContin. Faced with that decision, I was just simply not prepared to take it off the market. I didn’t feel like that was my role,” he said. “My role was to address prior criminal conduct. Hold them accountable. Fine them. Make sure the public knew what they did.”

View the original article at thefix.com

24 July 2018
Liver Disease On The Rise, Especially Among Young Adults

A new study found that cirrhosis-related deaths in the US increased 65% between 1999 and 2016.

According to a new study, alcohol is to blame for an increase in fatal cirrhosis cases in young adults in recent years.

Researchers at the University of Michigan discovered that between 2009 and 2016, those in the 25 to 34 age group saw greater than a 10% increase in deaths as a result of cirrhosis.

According to USA Today, cirrhosis is an “irreversible scarring of the liver.” Researchers claim the cases were “driven entirely” by liver disease due to excessive alcohol consumption.

Additionally, the study found that overall cirrhosis-related deaths in the US increased 65% between 1999 and 2016. Researchers came to this conclusion through examining public data on deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Elliot Tapper, the study’s lead author and a liver specialist at the University of Michigan, tells the Washington Post that those who consume multiple drinks per night or have numerous nights of binge drinking are more at risk for life-threatening cirrhosis. He also states that women tend to be more susceptible to liver damage.

Tapper adds that if those with an alcohol-related disease cease drinking, it’s possible the liver could repair itself.

“Many other organs have the ability to regenerate to some degree, but none have the same capacity as the liver,” he told the Post.

Jessica Mellinger, a clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan, tells the Post that the beginning stages of cirrhosis involve yellowing skin, jaundice and a swollen abdominal area. She adds that patients often say the symptoms came on “all of a sudden.” Down the line, the disease can lead to brain injury, severe bleeding and kidney failure.

In addition to the rise in cirrhosis among younger age groups, the study also found that men are twice as likely as women to die from liver cancer.

Additionally, race and geographical location played a role. Researchers found that whites, Native Americans and Hispanic Americans are seeing increasing rates of cirrhosis, as are those in Kentucky, Arkansas and New Mexico.

Another report earlier this month is also in line with these findings. According to US News, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report stating that age-adjusted rates for cancer of the liver rose from 2000 through 2016 for men and women, and that it moved from the ninth leading cause of death in 2000, to the sixth in 2016.

View the original article at thefix.com

23 July 2018
FDA Warns Of Synthetic Marijuana Laced With Rat Poison

The warning comes amid a wave of synthetic marijuana overdoses.

The FDA warned this week about the ongoing danger of synthetic cannabis laced with rat poison, floating concerns that the tainted drug could pose a threat to the nation’s blood supply.

Poisoned supplies of the drug have already accounted for several deaths and sent hundreds of users to the hospital this year with severe bleeding or seizures, officials said.

Concern about contaminated drug stashes comes amid an ongoing effort to stamp out the use of the cannabis copycat often sold illegally in convenient stores and corner markets. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised a red flag about the risks of rat poison-laced supplies earlier this year.

“Despite our efforts, certain entities continue to bypass state and federal drug laws by making and distributing these products – often marked or labeled as ‘not for human consumption’ – and changing the structure of the synthetic chemicals to try to skirt legal requirements,” the FDA wrote in its release.

But the real danger in recent months, the agency said, is that K2 makers have begun adding in brodifacoum – an anticoagulant used in rat poison – in an effort to prolong the high.

Adding that chemical can pose other health risks, including severe bleeding. Hundreds of users across 10 Midwestern states have been hospitalized in recent months as a result of complications stemming from the presence of brodifacoum, the agency said.

“Today, we’re joining together to send a strong warning to anyone who may use synthetic marijuana products that these products can be especially dangerous as a result of the seemingly deliberate use of brodifacoum in these illegal products,” the agency wrote in a release Thursday.

Aside from the risk to users, the agency also highlighted the threat to the blood supply.

“The FDA has received several reports of donors who used synthetic cannabinoids contaminated with brodifacoum. Because of its long half-life, the bleeding risk from brodifacoum, which prevents vitamin K from being reused within the body, can persist for weeks,” the agency wrote.

“Given the known and unknown risks associated with these synthetic cannabinoid products, the FDA urges individuals to avoid using them, especially since there’s no way of telling which synthetic marijuana products have been contaminated with the powerful anticoagulant brodifacoum.”

The agency vowed to continue monitoring the situation, along with the CDC and DEA.

View the original article at thefix.com

23 July 2018
"Biggest Loser" Weight-Loss Drug Allegations Investigated By NBC

“People were passing out in Dr. H’s office at the finale weigh-in. On my season, five people had to be rushed to the hospital,” one contestant claimed.

Contestants on the NBC’s weight-loss reality show, The Biggest Loser, allege that they were given drugs and medications intended to help with weight loss by health experts on the show’s staff.

In the show, a cast of overweight contestants are challenged to lose as much weight as possible over the length of the show’s season. The person who loses the highest percentage of weight wins money.

However, several of the shows’ contestants revealed that they were told to abstain from eating and take pills to lose weight—and keep how they lost the weight a secret.

“‘Take this drug, it’ll really help you,’” Joelle Gwynn said, repeating to The New York Post what one of the show’s assistants allegedly said to her.

Gwynn claims the assistant, as well as her boss, trainer Bob Harper, were handing out Adderall and “yellow jackets,” a weight loss drug containing ephedra that does not have FDA approval.

Gwynn reported it to “the sports medicine guy,” but alleges she was encouraged to take them by the show’s doctors.

“Dr. H gave us some lame explanation of why they got added to our regimen and that it was up to us to take them,” she said.

Another contestant, Suzanne Mendonca, said the doctor encouraged contestants to fight dehydration by using teaspoons of baking soda.

The doctor in question, Dr. Robert Huizenga, sued The New York Post for defamation in 2016. He says the claims are untrue and are hurting his reputation.

“Contestants are told at the start of the show that there is zero tolerance for any weight-loss drugs,” Dr. Huizenga said.

However, the show has not continued since these accusations were leveled in 2016. Lawyers at The New York Post are looking into the connection between these accusations and whether they were the reason the show came to an end.

“It is simply not plausible that NBC canceled a television show that ran for 17 seasons and that was, at one point, one of NBC’s highest-rated programs—all without a single individual sending a single email,” wrote New York Post attorney Steven Mintz to the New York federal judge.

The contestants have an idea of why the show ended.

“People were passing out in Dr. H’s office at the finale weigh-in,” Season 2’s Suzanne Mendonca said to the Post in 2016. “On my season, five people had to be rushed to the hospital. He knew exactly what we were doing and never tried to stop it.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “NBCUniversal is the recipient of a subpoena exploring what it knows about Biggest Loser drug use, medical concerns, compensation and cancellation. Over the past two months, the two sides have been fighting over what documents must be produced.”

An NBC spokesman says the network is unable to comment on ongoing legal matters.

View the original article at thefix.com

23 July 2018
Destiny’s Child Singer Michelle Williams Details Seeking Mental Health Treatment

Williams revealed that she had sought help on Instagram and pledged to “proudly, happily and healthily” lead by example as an advocate for mental health.

After releasing a statement on social media about her own mental health journey and her pledge to help others in her situation, Williams received a massive show of support.

Michelle Williams, former member of the popular girl group Destiny’s Child, released a statement on Instagram about her struggle with mental health last Tuesday after which she received a showing of support from fans, friends, family and famous peers.

“For years I have dedicated myself to increasing awareness of mental health and empowering people to recognize when it’s time to seek help, support and guidance from those that love and care for your wellbeing,” she posted on Instagram. “I recently listened to the same advice I have given to thousands around the world and sought help from a great team of healthcare professionals.”

She also pledged to help others who may find themselves in the same situation as she did.

“Today I proudly, happily and healthily stand here as someone who will continue to always lead by example as I tirelessly advocate for the betterment of those in need,” Williams wrote. “If you change your mind, you can change your life.”

Her loved ones cheered her on in their responses in the comments section.

“Michelle My Belle, I’m soo proud of you! You have given unselfishly of your time and support to so many and i know that you will be the best example of self-care which we all need. Keep being a warrior and an advocate for you. I love and support you with all my being,” wrote Tina Knowles-Lawson, mother to fellow Destiny’s Child alumni Beyoncé. “Sending you much love and encouragement… yes to your strength and bravery.”

Lawson was not the only member of Beyoncé’s family to reach out. Solange Knowles was sure to add her own response.

“Love u so Michelle! Really proud of you. Sending u all the love in the world,” Knowles wrote.

Musical peer and collaborator Missy Elliott sent her well wishes, too.

“Sending up Prayers for u,” commented Missy Elliott on the post. “You know we serve a Mighty God & just know that you are covered and your test will be a testimony… I’m inspired by your courage… May God give u a peace of mind/ Strength/& Happiness… we love u sis.”

Williams admitted she struggled with depression in a 2017 interview, saying she had struggled with mental health since she was 13.

“I’m in one of the top-selling female groups of all time, suffering with depression,” she revealed on The Talk. “When I disclosed it to our manager [Mathew Knowles] at the time, bless his heart, he was like, ‘You all just signed a multi-million dollar deal. You’re about to go on tour. What do you have to be depressed about?’”

She relented on the words of her manager, but eventually found herself in a dark place, contemplating suicide. But in speaking publicly about her struggles, she hopes to “normalize” the discussion of mental health and reduce the stigma of seeking treatment for it.

View the original article at thefix.com

23 July 2018
Overdose Risks During Pregnancy Examined In New Study

The study revealed the need for better addiction recovery support for pregnant women with substance use disorder.

A new study has found that the risk of overdose drops in pregnant women but increases after giving birth.

The study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, looked at women giving birth in Massachusetts. In doing so, researchers found a greater number of women with opioid use disorder than had been found in other states.

Researchers also discovered that during pregnancy, opioid overdose events went down, the third trimester resulting in the lowest amount. However, after birth, that number rose and became especially high from 6 to 12 months after delivery.

“Our findings suggest we need to develop extended and long-term services to support women and families impacted by substance use disorder,” said Davida Schiff, a pediatrician at MassGeneral Hospital for Children and the lead author of the paper, according to Science Daily. “We need additional research to determine the best ways to improve retention in treatment and adherence to medication therapy after delivery, and we need to enhance our medical and public health infrastructure to provide support to women in achieving long-term recovery.”

In many states, opioid overdoses have been “major contributors to pregnancy-associated deaths.” In pregnant women, estimates of opioid use disorder range from .4 to .8%, and up to 2% in all women that fall into the reproductive age category.

Pregnancy can drive a woman to seek treatment, Science Daily notes. Often, such treatment includes therapy and potentially medications like methadone or buprenorphine.

Researchers chose to study a Department of Public Health dataset, which included nearly 178,000 deliveries of an infant 20 or more gestational weeks to Massachusetts women between Jan. 1, 2012 and Sept. 30, 2014. Of those, 4,154 women were found to have likelihood of opioid use disorder within a year before giving birth.

Additionally, of the women in the dataset, 184 experienced what researchers refer to as an opioid overdose event in the year preceding or following delivery. Such an event means the woman faced admission to a heath care facility for an overdose or death as a result of an overdose.

Those who experienced an overdose event were “more likely to be younger, single, unemployed, less educated and less likely to have received adequate prenatal care,” Science Daily reported. They were more likely “to have evidence of homelessness or a diagnosis of anxiety or depression.”

Co-author and Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health Monica Bhare says that this research is vital in gaining a bigger picture of who is most at risk.

“These findings help expand the lens from which we view the epidemic and allow us to tailor our policies and programs in ways that will increase opportunities for treatment and recovery for these women and their children,” she said.

View the original article at thefix.com

21 July 2018