Tag: News

Cavaliers’ J.R. Smith Bans Alcohol From His House

The famously hard-partying NBA player surprised fans with his social media announcement.

J.R. Smith of the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that alcohol is no longer allowed in his house on an Instagram post. The announcement might come as a surprise to many fans as Smith has something of a reputation for partying hard.

After a 2016 Cavalier title run, a shirtless drinking binge earned Smith an unofficial title as the NBA’s Hennessy god.

Snapping a photo of emptied liquor bottles atop what is presumably his home bar for his post, he set some new ground rules for anyone visiting his abode:

“To all who decides to step foot in my house from here on out!!!! IT WILL BE 0 ALCOHOL AT MY HOUSE! You want to drink take that shit back where you came! But in MY HOUSE! NO MORE ALCOHOL! #Thanks! Don’t speak about it BE ABOUT IT!”

Smith’s decision to turn a new leaf may stem from the fact that he just finished the worst season he’s had in his 15-year career. His time with the Cavaliers is ending, so team management is looking for potential trade partners. Some speculate Smith’s new no-booze rule is a move to show he’s focused on basketball and athletics, not partying and Hennessy.

The NBA has taken steps to encourage mental wellness with their initiative called Mind Health. In May of last year, the league produced a 30-second TV spot to be broadcast during the NBA playoffs.

“Everyone walks around with something that you can’t see,” Love says in the PSA. “The best thing I did was to come out and say, ‘Hey look, I need some help.’”

Besides outreach urging viewers to communicate openly about their mental health, the NBA also released guided meditation videos called Headspace that helps athletes take care of their head space before competition. The Cleveland Cavaliers own Kevin Love revealed that he works with Mind Health because he’s suffered from panic attacks himself.

“If you’re suffering silently like I was, then you know how it can feel like nobody really gets it,” Love wrote. “Partly, I want to do it for me, but mostly, I want to do it because people don’t talk about mental health enough. And men and boys are probably the farthest behind.”

View the original article at thefix.com

30 April 2019
Virtual Reality Could Be Used To Treat Stubborn Depression Symptoms

One research team is on a mission to treat one of the most difficult and overlooked parts of depression to treat using virtual reality.

Researchers are currently testing virtual reality programs on depression patients with the idea that going through positive experiences, even virtually, and focusing on the positive aspects of the experience could effectively treat anhedonia.

This symptom, characterized by a lack of interest in anything and an inability to feel pleasure, is one of the most difficult parts of depression to treat and is often overlooked, according to University of California psychiatry researcher Michelle Craske.

“Most treatments, up until now, have done an OK job at reducing negative [symptoms of depression], but a very poor job at helping patients become more positive,” said Craske to STAT.

Using virtual reality, Crask and her colleagues guide patients through dives into coral reefs and tours through Venice, instructing them to report every pleasurable detail. This approach, called positive affect therapy, trains patients to pay more attention to what makes them feel good and hopefully amplifies feelings of pleasure and joy.

Thanks to the development of virtual reality technology, it’s possible to bring all kinds of incredible experiences into one office or into people’s homes. Patients can return to their favorite experiences and explore what makes them happy without spending a ton of money.

“Mental health and the environment are inseparable,” said University of Oxford psychologist Dr. Daniel Freeman. “The brilliant thing about virtual reality is that you can provide simulations in the environment and have people repeatedly go into them.”

Research on this therapy is still in preliminary stages, but the early results of Craske’s work look promising. In fact, Craske’s team is looking to work with virtual reality companies specifically to develop a program that adapts to patient mood indicators.

“If, for example, a patient smiles at a VR character who waves and says hello, that character might walk over and strike up a friendly conversation.”

Virtual reality is currently being tested for possible application in all steps of mental health treatment, including the earliest ones.

According to an article in WIRED earlier this year, researchers are exploring whether this new technology could be used to better diagnose mental and neurological conditions such as depression, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s.

“With some psychiatric disorders, for example OCD or panic disorder, patients usually experience their symptoms in their personal environment or in crowded places, and not in the clinician’s room,” said University of Amsterdam’s Department of Psychiatry researcher Dr. Martine van Bennekom. “With VR it is possible to immerse patients in an exterior environment while the clinician can observe symptoms and interview the patients about these symptoms and underlying thoughts.”

View the original article at thefix.com

30 April 2019
Feuding Politicians Challenge Each Other To Drug Tests In 'Pissing Contest'

An online squabble turned ugly when allegations of drug use were brought up.

Two U.S. politicians got into an argument in the comments section of a political blog and ended up challenging each other to drug tests in what some are calling a literal pissing contest.

Bridgeport City Councilman Ernest Newton and Board of Education member Maria Pereira, both Connecticut Democrats, began the argument about budget figures in the comments of the local blog Only in Bridgeport (OIB) before it started turning ugly.

The internet fight turned to the topic of drugs when Newton took a shot at Pereira’s mental health. “Please remember to take your med”s [sic],” he wrote. Pereira turned the thinly veiled insult around by going after Newton’s history of addiction.

“Ernie, I promise I will continue to take any and all prescribed medicine,” she replied. “In turn, please ensure you take anything you need that may have to be swallowed, snorted, inhaled, or injected.”

In 1997, Newton confessed to his fellow legislators in the Connecticut General Assembly that he had been through rehab for his addiction to crack cocaine. The disorder was active in Newton’s life for four years while he served as a Connecticut state congressman.

In the online argument, Newton hit back by accusing Pereira of overdosing on some kind of medication, landing her in a psychiatric ward. Pereira vehemently denied these claims and issued a challenge.

“I’ll tell you what, Ernie,” she wrote. “I will gladly pay for both you and I to take a drug test with the understanding the results, whatever they may be, will be released to OIB. I have absolutely nothing to worry about. Will you agree to take a drug test I pay for on the condition the results are released to OIB?”

Newton did agree, telling her to name the time and place. Pereira named the local AFC Urgent Care as the place for an observed 10-panel urine drug test.

Both Newton’s and Pereira’s results came back negative.

The test results did not put an end to the feud, however.

Pereira accused Newton of faking his results when he posted that they came back negative in the comments rather than submitting a photo of the results to Only in Bridgeport like she had wanted. Newton then questioned why Pereira’s results took longer than his to come back and accused her of foul play. He also accused her of racism, saying that she “wouldn’t have challenged a white person” to a drug test contest and that she’s “just like Donald Trump.”

The online fight apparently ended on April 15 after citizen commenters began questioning why the two were engaging in an unproductive fight, with one calling it “embarrassing to the city.”

View the original article at thefix.com

30 April 2019
Moby on Sobriety: "We Can't Hold On to Crazy, Magical Thinking"

A new memoir by music producer and artist Moby looks back on the highs and lows of his substance use.

In his new book, Then It Fell Apart, producer/DJ and music artist Moby reflects on his rise to stardom in the early 2000s while struggling with destructive dependencies on alcohol and drugs.

Moby (born Richard Melville Hall) has been sober for the past 11 years, during which he’s continued to create new music—most recently Long Ambients 2 (2019), his follow-up to 2016’s Long Ambients 1: Calm Sleep—and oversee several ventures outside recording, including a nonprofit vegan restaurant.

The new book—which picks up where his previous memoir Porcelain (2016) left off—details his attempts “to fix childhood trauma with egregiously bad and clueless adult decisions. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work.”

That early trauma—which included sexual abuse and his father’s suicide—was only exacerbated by his ascent to fame with albums like 1999’s Play and 2002’s 18. Though his music had made him globally famous, Moby reports in Apart that he was plagued by loneliness and panic attacks, which he began experiencing after using LSD as a teenager.

“My belief, before I got sober, was that fame was going to fix my feelings of inadequacy,” he told San Francisco’s KQED. When that didn’t work, he turned to drugs, alcohol and sex. “I longed for things to work in that way,” he recalled. “I wanted to be fixed by these unhealthy external things.” But as he discovered, the combination only added to his internal misery.

In 2002, Moby sought to gain sobriety and insight into the reasons for his personal struggles. He finally stopped using in 2008, and has remained clean since then. Of his journey, Moby said, “Part of sobriety—and a degree of spiritual fitness—is that we can’t in adulthood, hold onto crazy, magical thinking.”

Then It Fell Apart ends just before Moby became sober; he told KQED that he’s saving that part of his story for a third volume, which will focus less on recovery and more on his pursuit of spiritual integrity. “I’m not a Christian, but my life is geared towards God, understanding God, trying to do God’s will,” he said. “Keeping in mind, I have no idea who or what God is.”

He’s also learned to enjoy his time just outside the glare of the celebrity spotlight. “It’s really nice to just accept age, accept hair loss, accept diminishing commercial viability,” he explains. “Accepting these things and trying to learn from them is a lot more enjoyable and a lot healthier than angrily fighting entropy.”

View the original article at thefix.com

30 April 2019
Unwanted Sexting Linked To Mental Distress

A new study found that men had more adverse effects when they got unwanted sexts even though women receive more.

Getting unwanted sexual pictures messaged over texts or dating apps has become so common that it’s joked about and laughed at, but new research shows that receiving unwanted “sexts” can contribute to depression and other mental health effects.

The Australian study, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, found that engaging in coerced or non-consensual sexts contributed to youth ages 18-21 feeling worse.

“Receiving unwanted sexts, or sexting under coercion, was associated with higher depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, and lower self-esteem, and these two sexting experiences were independent predictors of psychological distress,” study authors wrote.

Interestingly, the researchers found that men seemed to have more adverse effects when they got unwanted sexts, although females were more likely to receive unwanted messages.

“The relationship between these sexting behaviors with poor mental health was moderated by gender, with poorer outcomes for males receiving unwanted sexts,” researchers wrote. “This is contrary to popular belief that females are more adversely impacted than males by sexting activity. However, it is important to note that both genders were adversely affected with regard to depression, anxiety, stress, and self-esteem when sending a sext under coercion.”

While previous studies have linked all sexting with poorer mental health outcomes, this study was careful to separate consensual sexual exchanges with unwanted or coerced ones.

“Our results showed no association between receiving or sending sexts overall,” researchers wrote.

Researchers said that their findings about the impact of sexting could have widespread implications.

“When receiving or sending unwanted but consensual sexts, respondents reported higher depression, anxiety, and stress, and lower self-esteem,” researchers wrote. “Another significant finding was that receiving unwanted sexts and sending sexts under pressure were independent predictors of poorer mental health. This suggests that they affect mental health in unique ways, and that there is an additive impact for these two sexting phenomena on mental health.”

They said that unwanted sexting can be a risk factor for intimate violence under certain circumstances.

“This finding is important as the nature of this sexting behavior has been likened to intimate partner violence,” they wrote.

“That is, the findings of our study may shed light on why some researchers conceptualize sexting as simply a normative sexual behavior, while others see it as a potential risk behavior, including for sexual violence. Indeed, our findings indicate that both can be true. Sexting behaviors can range from consensual sexting as a normative behavior exploring one’s sexuality to non-consensual sexting which is associated with negative mental health outcomes and more closely resembles a form of intimate partner violence.”

View the original article at thefix.com

30 April 2019
Marijuana Could Disqualify Immigrants From US Citizenship

Any association with marijuana could be considered an issue in establishing “good moral character,” which is a requirement for citizenship.

Immigrants who are found to have any involvement with marijuana—from possession and distribution, to medical marijuana use, to working in a cannabis company—could bar immigrants from earning citizenship, even in states where marijuana is legal.

New guidelines issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services (USCIS) state that any violation of the Controlled Substances Act could be considered as an undermining factor in establishing “good moral character” (GMC), which is a requirement for citizenship.

Though medical marijuana is legal in 33 states and the District of Columbia, and recreational marijuana is legal for adults in 10 states and D.C., marijuana remains a Schedule I drug, and as such, remains prohibited by federal law.

The new guidelines (released on April 19) were issued as clarification for the USCIS Policy Manual about how an arrest for any involvement in marijuana-related activity could upend an immigrant’s efforts towards citizenship.

USCIS stated in the memo that a “violation of federal controlled substance law, including for marijuana, established by a conviction or admission, is generally a bar to establishing GMC for naturalization even where the conduct would not be a violation of state law.”

USCIS policy defines good moral character as behavior that “measures up to the standards of average citizens in which the applicant resides.”

A naturalization officer would determine an applicant’s GMC according to his or her record, statements provided during the application, and oral testimony from an interview.

Applicants for naturalization who are found to have violated the federal law through “marijuana-related activities” may be considered to lack GMC. Such activities include possession, distribution, cultivation or manufacture of marijuana, regardless of its legal status in a state.

As CBS News noted, even jobs associated with the cannabis industry or use of medical marijuana could be denoted as a violation.

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is required to adjudicate cases based on federal law,” said USCIS spokesperson Jessica Collins to CBS News. “Individuals who commit federal controlled substance violations face potential immigration consequences under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which applies to all foreign nationals regardless of the state or jurisdiction in which they reside.”

The exception to this policy is if the violation is a single offense for simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana.

View the original article at thefix.com

30 April 2019
Darryl Strawberry Encourages Fan To Stay Sober

The former baseball star has been sober since 2003.

A fan approached former Mets right-fielder Darryl Strawberry in a sports bar Saturday to share that they had been sober for a year, according to a Page Six source. Strawberry, who is also in recovery, encouraged the fan, saying: “Always remember to do it for yourself.”

Darryl Strawberry enjoyed a long and decorated baseball career, helping get the Mets to the World Series in 1986 and being voted to the All-Star game eight times in a row. However, both his career and personal life were hampered by multiple addictions that led to legal troubles. He also had an extended battle with colon cancer throughout the 1990s.

Now 57, Strawberry has been outspoken about his addiction issues. He was suspended from playing baseball three times for using cocaine and had a hard time in recovery, repeatedly relapsing and breaking his probation until he was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2002.

“Drug addiction is very powerful,” Strawberry said, according to AL.com. “Drugs have been around sports forever and players have done them forever. I wasn’t the first one… there were a lot of other players who did them too. We were high-profile and there was more recognition on us because of the fall of who we were—such great talents at such a young age.”

In 2017, a book detailing the life of the former slugger—Don’t Give Up On Me: Shedding Light on Addiction with Darryl Strawberry—was released.

According to Sports Illustrated, the text reveals that Strawberry also struggled with sex addiction, sometimes having sex between innings during his baseball games.

“I would go between innings, and stuff like that and run back and have a little party going on,” he said while promoting the book on The Dr. Oz Show. “You know, I thought it was pretty cool. That was just the addiction, the drive.”

Today, Strawberry has embraced his faith and serves as a minister when he’s not touring the U.S. to speak on the issue of addiction disorders. He also runs a foundation for autistic children, The Darryl Strawberry Foundation, with his wife, Tracy. The two met at a drug recovery convention and married in 2006.

Plus, he opened the Darryl Strawberry Recovery Center in St. Cloud, Florida in 2014. The former Yankee defended shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who was being accused of steroid abuse, by pointing out that steroids can be addictive.

“You can get addicted to steroids just like any other drug,” Strawberry said. “A drug is a drug, and it’s unfortunate drugs have been around sports forever. Look at some of the great players in the Hall of Fame. Who are they kidding? In their time and era, they did drugs. Greenies and amphetamines are drugs, too.”

View the original article at thefix.com

26 April 2019
Should Big Pharma Cover The Costs Of The Opioid Crisis?

A new poll revealed that 70% of Americans believe drug companies should cover the cost of naloxone and addiction treatment.

More than half of Americans believe that drug companies should be held liable for their role in fueling the national opioid epidemic, according to a new poll by NPR and the global market research firm Ipsos.

Drug companies like Purdue Pharma (the maker of OxyContin), Johnson & Johnson and McKesson are facing more than 1,600 civil lawsuits filed by city, state and county officials across the United States.

These companies are accused of putting profits over public health—whether they aggressively marketed opioids without regard to the risk of addiction or failed to report unusually large amounts of opioids going to pharmacies.

The poll found that 1 in 3 Americans have been affected by the opioid epidemic. “One in three have been personally affected in some say, either by knowing someone who has overdosed or by knowing someone with an opioid addiction,” said Mallory Newall, lead Ipsos researcher on the survey.

And 57% of Americans believe that the drug companies should be held responsible for their role in exacerbating the drug crisis.

“It’s something, no matter your age, your gender, no matter where you live, your party affiliation, that people believe in large numbers,” said Newall.

Even more people than that—70%—said they believe the drug companies should cover the cost of naloxone, the opioid overdose-reversing drug, as well as addiction treatment.

On Tuesday (April 23), a drug distributor and two former executives were hit with drug-trafficking charges.

“This prosecution is the first of its kind: Executives of a pharmaceutical distributor and the distributor itself have been charged with drug trafficking—trafficking the same drugs that are fueling the opioid epidemic that is ravaging this country,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman at a news conference.

Rochester Drug Cooperative, one of the 10 largest drug distributors in the U.S., allegedly ignored suspicious activity from pharmacy clients who ordered excessive amounts of opioids. According to the indictment, under the direction of former CEO Laurence Doud III, who retired in 2017, the company became “the knight in shining armor” for pharmacies that could not get business elsewhere.

Doud and other top Rochester executives “made the deliberate decision” to turn a blind eye to red flags or alert federal regulators that clients were ordering opioids to distribute for non-medical use, AP News reported.

Doud has surrendered to New York authorities and is awaiting arraignment on two counts of conspiracy related to drug trafficking. If convicted, Doud faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

View the original article at thefix.com

26 April 2019
Jack Osbourne Celebrates 16 Years Of Sobriety

The son of heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne took to Instagram to celebrate his sober milestone.

Jack Osbourne, son of legendary metal madman Ozzy Osbourne, and his sister Kelly, have been open about inheriting the struggle of addiction from the family genes. Now Jack has hit social media to celebrate 16 years of sobriety.

On his Instagram, Osbourne posted the image of an overcast blue sky, with the following stats:

Twelve Steps

You’ve been sober for: 16.00 Years, 192.00 Months, 5,845 Days, 140,263 Hours.

Osbourne, who also lives with MS, wrote, “By far this has not only the toughest year of my life, but also the toughest year of my recovery. I have learned so many things about myself. Some good, some not so good. But I continued to do it sober even in the face of legit pain and sadness.”

Osbourne went through a divorce from Lisa Stelly, his wife of seven years, had to adjust to raising three young girls as a single dad, and had to be there “for my family when they have needed support at the post.” (Papa Ozzy recently had a bout with pneumonia and has canceled all concert appearances for the year.)

Jack went to rehab at the age of 17 for an OxyContin addiction, and as he continued in his Instagram post, “If at 17 someone told me where I’d be at 33 with 16 years of continual sobriety, I would have laughed and told you to fuck off. Even though this last year of sobriety was filled with so much pain it all led to some fantastic personal growth.

“I would love to tell you I managed this by being some kind of spiritual giant who roams the halls of recovery meetings, but it’s not the cast,” Osbourne continues. “I’m here writing this today sober because of the friends in my life who showed up for me when I needed support the most. I will be grateful for all you did.”

Looking back on going in to rehab at 17, Osbourne told Blabbermouth, “I took myself out of the picture for a second and I looked around at every single person in the room, at who they were, how old they were and what they had going on in their lives. A lot of them were near 30, unemployed, living off their parents. They were heroin addicts, they were the world’s biggest couch potatoes. And it was like, ‘I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want my life to be controlled by a drug…I was really loaded and I just sat on my mom’s bed and said, ‘I am going to go pack my bags, I’m in, I’m ready to go. I want to go, I need to go.”

View the original article at thefix.com

26 April 2019
1 in 12 Americans Have Alcohol Use Disorder

Seven times more Americans deal with alcohol use disorder than opioid use disorder.

The opioid crisis fills our newsfeeds day after day, but at the same time Americans are grappling with the addictive nature of another, totally legal substance: alcohol.

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, 17.6 million Americans—1 in 12—have alcohol use disorder. Despite its prevalence, few people realize how widespread alcoholism is. In addition to people with alcohol use disorder, even more Americans report problematic drinking habits.

“Varying degrees exist, from mild to severe, depending on the number of symptoms a person experiences. But a powerful craving for alcohol, despite its consequences, is common across that spectrum,” Linda Searing wrote for The Washington Post.

This means that 7 times more Americans deal with alcohol use disorder than deal with opioid use disorder, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.

In addition, more people are dying from alcohol-related causes: 88,000 Americans perish each year from alcohol-related causes, compared with 72,000 who die from opioid overdoses (although opioid overdose rate is likely underreported, research has shown). That makes alcohol use the third-leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the United States.

Like opioid addiction, alcoholism is also increasing. Last November, USA Today reported that between 2007 and 2017 the death rate from alcohol increased 24%. Among women, the death rate increased a staggering 85%.

“The story is that no one has noticed this,” said Max Griswold, who compiled data on the trend for the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. “It hasn’t really been researched before.”

Psychologist Benjamin Miller said that because alcohol is legal and socially accepted, people aren’t as wary of its dangers.

“Culturally, we’ve made it acceptable to drink but not to go out and shoot up heroin,” Miller said. “A lot of people will read this and say ‘What’s the problem?’”

In addition to alcohol’s health effects, abusing alcohol can also have secondary effects on loved ones living with or around people with alcohol use disorder.

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence estimates that half of American adults have a close loved one with alcohol use disorder, while 10% of children live with at least one parent who is an alcoholic.

“Parental alcohol use disorders put children at greater risk of experiencing abuse or neglect and developing mood disorders,” Pew Trusts writes.

View the original article at thefix.com

26 April 2019