Tag: News

Jada Pinkett Smith Gets Candid About Father's Addiction Struggles

“Once he did get sober, he was really a gentle soul. Now that I’m older, I have so much more compassion in knowing what he had gone through,” said Jada Pinkett Smith about her late father.

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith opened up last week with tough memories about her father and his struggle with addiction before his 2010 death from a drug overdose, according to USA Today.

Joined by her mother, daughter and half-brother Caleeb, Pinkett Smith delved into the “shared source of pain” during her Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk, which drew more than 5 million views in less than a week.

“He told me at 7, ‘I can’t be your father. I’m a criminal, I’m an addict and that’s just what it is,’” the 47-year-old Matrix actress said. Growing up, she said, Robsol Pinkett Jr.’s addiction was a source of resentment for the rest of the family.

“We had that feeling like we had to be responsible for him,” Pinkett Smith said, “but he never had to be responsible for us, and that was a hard pill for me to swallow.”

For years, the family weathered his abusive behavior, even when at times he was “typically drunk,” Pinkett Smith said. Eventually, though, he sobered up.

“Once he did get sober, he was really a gentle soul,” she said. “Now that I’m older, I have so much more compassion in knowing what he had gone through.”

Then, just before his death, the actress and her father got in a fight.

“The most difficult part of him dying like that is because he and I had had a horrendous fight when I found out that he relapsed,” she said. “I was like, ‘I don’t owe you nothing. You didn’t do shit for me, you didn’t do shit for Caleeb. I don’t owe you nothing.’ It was one of those.”

It was only after he died that Pinkett Smith and her siblings were able to find forgiveness.

“I had the most startling realization that Rob’s life wasn’t about him being my father,” she said. “Rob’s life was about Rob being on his journey, and it just so happened along the way that he gave me life.”

It was an “aha” moment, she said.

“I realized he was not born to be my dad,” she explained. “That wasn’t the only thing he was here to do. He’s a person first, with his own journey.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 December 2018
Joe Kennedy III Advocates For Federal Marijuana Legalization

Representative Joe Kennedy III detailed his support for federal marijuana legalization in a recent op-ed.

Representative Joe Kennedy III voiced his support for removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and legalizing it at the national level.

Kennedy, a Democrat and the US Representative for Massachusetts’ 4th congressional district, penned an op-ed for the health and life sciences magazine Stat in late November that outlined his advocacy for legalization, which he based on the growing number of states with legalization initiatives – including his own home state – and the health benefits attributed to marijuana.

Due to the federal government’s apparent inability to reconcile these advancements with its stance on legality, Kennedy opined that it should “cede its responsibility – and authority – to thoughtfully regulate marijuana.”

Kennedy’s position is an about-face from previous statements made on legalization, most notably on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where his support of cannabis prohibition put him at odds with the majority of his party.

He addressed his reticence in the Stat piece, where he noted that his work with the mental health and addiction communities had made him “skeptical” of marijuana’s alleged benefits. “I’ve heard repeatedly from mental health advocates on the frontlines who have grave concerns about what access to marijuana might do for those prone to abuse,” he explained.

But Kennedy said that he had also listened to those supporting cannabis legalization, primarily for health reasons, like “the parent whose epileptic child needs marijuana to calm her seizures, [or] the veteran whose trauma it eases [or] the black teen arrested for smoking a joint while his white friends did the same with impunity,” he wrote.

Through research and conversations with individuals on both sides of the legalization argument, Kennedy said that he had reached the conclusion that “our federal policy on marijuana is badly broken, benefiting neither the elderly man suffering from cancer whom marijuana may help nor the young woman prone to substance abuse disorder whom it may harm.”

He also noted the negative impact that prohibition has on the economy, citing marijuana businesses forced to implement cash-only transactions due to banks’ reluctance to work with them over federal regulation, and the loss of career and housing opportunities due to restrictions on jobs with and leasing to marijuana retailers.

“Given the rapid pace of state-level legalization and liberation, I believe we must implement strong, clear and fair federal guidelines,” wrote Kennedy. “To do that requires us to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and legalize it at the federal level.”

Though he has advocated for legalization, Kennedy also noted that his concerns about the public health issues associated with marijuana remain. But by making cannabis legal at the federal level, he said that health and addiction advocates will have their “best chance” to make sure that tax resources are directed towards consumer safety and treatment through federal regulation.

“Legalization is not a cure-all,” he concluded. “But [it] would guide states choose to move forward with strong and cearly national standards meant to ensure that all Americans are protected fully and equally.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 December 2018
Cannabis Lab Loses License After Falsifying Results

The move has created something of a bottleneck as Sequoia Analytical Labs was one of only four cannabis testing labs in Sacramento.

A Sacramento cannabis testing lab, Sequoia Analytical Labs, has lost its license after a surprise inspection by state regulators. The lab, it turns out, had been falsifying data, with 22 out of a required 66 pesticide tests having made-up data.

According to Sequoia Analytical Labs’ general manager, Steven Dutra, state regulators came in on a surprise inspection of the facility and found that some of the lab equipment was faulty. The lab’s director, Marc Foster, knew that the equipment was faulty and said as much to the inspectors when asked where the data had come from.

“When they asked the lab director where his data came from, he honestly told them, ‘I faked it,’” said Dutra.

Foster was fired and the lab lost is license. The impact of the faulty equipment goes back about five months, with around 700 samples passing through without actually being tested. Despite this, Dutra says that the risks these 700 samples pose to consumers is slim, considering only 3% of the product ever fail the pesticide tests. And if anything has happened, it probably would have already happened by now.

“Much of the product is just gone and probably already consumed,” Dutra concluded.

As of now, no recalls have been put out by any regulatory body as a result of the incident.

“Basically, everything is being taken care of by the state,” said Tommy Pawloski, dispensary manager at Sacramento’s All About Wellness. “If there is a problem, the state will let us know.”

While the lab’s shutdown was necessary, the move has created something of a bottleneck as Sequoia Analytical Labs was one of only four testing labs in Sacramento. There are only 44 such labs serving the entire state of California. With one less lab in play, the industry could be looking at a shortage of products on the shelves.

“The shortage of labs has really created a bottleneck in the supply chain across the state,” commented Joe Devlin, head of cannabis policy and enforcement in Sacramento.

Sequoia Analytical Labs has since hired a replacement for Foster and hopes to get its license back by January 1st.

View the original article at thefix.com

10 December 2018
How The CDC's Opioid Prescribing Guideline Hurts Chronic Pain Patients

“Conflating the misuse of opioids with their legitimate medical use, and treating all opioids alike is stigmatizing patients for whom opioid painkillers are necessary and medically appropriate,” writes one expert.

The heavy-handed misapplication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s opioid-prescribing guideline is hurting legitimate pain patients, according to a STAT News opinion piece penned last week by two health law attorneys and a doctor.

“The CDC guideline and its progeny of laws and policies have created chaos and confusion in the medical community,” the experts wrote in their Dec. 6 essay.

“Conflating the misuse of opioids with their legitimate medical use, and treating all opioids – illegal or prescription – alike is stigmatizing patients for whom opioid painkillers are necessary and medically appropriate.”

The guideline, published in early 2016, suggests restrictions on the daily dosage of painkillers, though the suggestions are not intended to apply to existing long-term pain patients.

And in theory, the CDC guidelines aren’t mandatory – they’re simply guidelines. But insurance companies, lawmakers and pharmacies have relied on them to craft sweeping policies, the authors wrote, effectively treating long-term pain patients as suspected drug addicts.

That’s despite the fact that – even as overdose deaths continue to rise – opioid prescribing is on the downswing and currently is at an 18-year low.

Some research shows that most people who abuse painkillers don’t get them from doctors. And, most people who are prescribed painkillers don’t become addicted, even if they become physically dependent.

Even so, the authors wrote, doctors are reportedly dropping patients for fear of blowback as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and state medical boards continue using those guidelines to identify suspected over-prescribers.

“Some physicians are telling their patients that changes in the law are the reason they are tapering them to a preset dosage of opioids or off of opioids altogether,” the experts wrote. “Yet the specific dosage thresholds in the CDC guideline were never intended to apply to patients currently taking opioids. Indeed, nothing in the current legal or regulatory environment justifies forcibly tapering a patient off of opioids who is doing well, and there is no solid evidence to support such a practice.”

This isn’t a new complaint; it’s a problem previously documented by reporters and researchers. But now the American Medical Association is weighing in; at their most recent interim meeting, the physicians group approved resolutions striking out against the spate of laws and mandated restrictions imposing blanket limitations on prescribers.

The resolutions won’t change outside policy, but they represent a formal effort to push back against the mandates of lawmakers, pharmacies and insurers.

“The resolutions underscore that dosage guidance is just that – guidance – and that doses higher than those recommended by the CDC may be necessary and appropriate for some patients,” the authors wrote.

“Epidemics instill fear, but physicians have a responsibility to rise above fear and advance the interests of their patients. The AMA’s action in advocating for patients and for the right of physicians to practice individualized care is an important effort in beginning to rebalance the scales in the joint goals of reducing pain and opioid addiction.”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 December 2018
Gucci Mane Says Prison Saved His Life from Drugs

Gucci Mane says that being put away helped him clear his head and beat drug addiction.

When Gucci Mane was put in jail five years ago on charges of firearm possession as a felon, he took that time to get his head on straight and get clean from drugs.

“I think I would have been dead, probably,” he said on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 radio podcast.

Though he’s committed to staying sober and free of drug use, he knows the world isn’t getting clean any time soon.

“It’s never gonna go nowhere,” he said in the podcast interview. “It’s going to always be like that. Drugs gonna always be a part of society. It’s going [to] always be people fighting. It’s going to always be death. It’s just, you know, just what it is. It’s always going to be a part of music. Think about all these rock n roll stars before these hip-hop stars.”

The rapper has always been open about and proud of his sobriety. When he was released from his three-year prison sentence in mid-2016, he decided to clean up his act in more ways than one: He was done with being a repeat offender and he was done with drugs. The album he released then, Everybody Looking, was the first music he made sober.

“I felt like I couldn’t make music sober, I couldn’t enjoy my money sober. Why would I wanna go to a club and couldn’t smoke or drink? I felt like sex wouldn’t be good sober. I associated everything with being high,” he told The New York Times in an interview then. “In hindsight I see it for what it was: I was a drug addict.”

He committed himself to sobriety to keep himself healthy and out of trouble.

“To ensure that I don’t come back into this prison, I’m just gonna be totally sober,” he revealed on an ESPN interview. “I don’t have any time to make any more mistakes. I want to jump every hurdle that’s in front of me. And it takes me [having] a clearer mind. I know my weaknesses. And being sober, it’s like a big strength for me.”

Gucci Mane just released his newest album, Evil Genius, on Friday. His Glacier Boyz project, on which he is collaborating with Lil Yachty and Migos, is set to release this coming spring.

View the original article at thefix.com

10 December 2018
"Top Model" Alum Jael Strauss Promoted Sobriety Before Cancer Death

Jael Strauss, an advocate for recovery and sobriety, passed away from breast cancer earlier this month.

Former America’s Next Top Model contestant Jael Strauss, who had been candid about her recovery from meth addiction and her sobriety, died on Tuesday, nearly two months after she was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer.

On Oct. 4, Strauss announced her diagnosis in a Facebook post.

“On October 2nd I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. It has aggressively spread throughout my body and is incurable. With treatment it may prolong my life longer than the ‘few months’ doctors said I could make it,” she wrote. “I don’t want to die. I need another one of those miracles that I got back in 2013.”

The 2013 miracle was her recovery from meth addiction. In August she posted on Instagram celebrating five years of sobriety.

“Today I have 5 years sober,” she wrote. “Good God! I know a few things to be true: Miracles are real, Recovery is possible for everyone no matter how far gone you think you are, We are never too broken to be put back together, Service work feels better than the greatest high, Sobriety makes you weirder not normal and I’d be dead if it weren’t for all the love and forgiveness I’ve been showered with by my friends and family.”

After getting sober, Strauss dove into supporting other people in recovery, volunteering with the Solstice Recovery Foundation in Texas, according to TMZ. She often organized fundraisers for people who could not afford treatment, an effort that was returned this fall when people from her recovery community organized a fundraiser to help Strauss cover the cost of her treatments.

Strauss appeared on America’s Next Top Model in 2007. Following her stint on the show, she became addicted to meth. In 2012, she appeared on The Dr. Phil Show as part of an intervention, which she later said was exploitative.

“First of all, I was interventioned, meaning I did not have a choice. I do feel that The Dr. Phil Show exploited me and has done that to other people and their addictions,” she said in 2016. However, she said the silver lining was that her appearance on the show might have helped other people who were grappling with addiction.

“I have an inner conflict, because I know that my story has helped so many people. The number one important thing in my life is to help other people, so I wouldn’t change that, but it was not voluntary,” she said.

At the time, Strauss said she had found a lot of joy in sobriety.

“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life,” she said. “This journey was very unexpected. I’ve been sober for three years and three months now. Not a drink, not a pill, not a joint, not a line, nothing. It’s really amazing. It’s a huge miracle to still be breathing after what I was up to and I’m so grateful. Whatever path and twists and turns I had to take to get here, I don’t regret any of them.”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 December 2018
Trump Calls For China To Use Death Penalty For Fentanyl "Pushers"

“If China cracks down on this ‘horror drug,’ using the death penalty for [fentanyl] distributors and pushers, the results will be incredible!” Trump said on Twitter.

President Trump said that one of the highlights of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is that fentanyl will now be classified as a controlled substance in China, meaning that people who manufacture and distribute the drug could face the death penalty.

“One of the very exciting things to come out of my meeting with President Xi of China is his promise to me to criminalize the sale of deadly fentanyl coming into the United States. It will now be considered a ‘controlled substance.’ This could be a game changer on what is […] considered to be the worst and most dangerous, addictive and deadly substance of them all,” Trump tweeted, according to CNN.”Last year over 77,000 people died from Fentanyl. If China cracks down on this ‘horror drug,’ using the Death Penalty for distributors and pushers, the results will be incredible!”

A release from The White House called the reclassification of fentanyl “a wonderful humanitarian gesture.”

“President Xi… has agreed to designate Fentanyl as a Controlled Substance, meaning that people selling Fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China’s maximum penalty under the law,” the release said.

In China, the maximum penalty is death, CNN reported.

President Trump has in the past praised capital punishment for people who traffic and sell drugs.

“He often jokes about killing drug dealers… He’ll say, ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them,’” a senior White House official said in February.

Another source confirmed that.

“[Trump] says that a lot,” the source said. “He says, ‘When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty.’”

While he was campaigning, Trump told a crowd in New Hampshire, a state that has been heavily affected by opioid abuse, that the death penalty should be considered.

“If we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we are wasting our time,” he said. “And that toughness includes the death penalty.”

Trump justified this position by saying dealers “will kill thousands of people during their lifetime” but won’t be punished for these deaths. He said the death penalty would only be used against the “big pushers, the ones who are really killing people.”

Trump has also congratulated Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for his anti-drug campaign that involved killing thousands of people.

“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump said to Duterte in a phone call in 2017. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 December 2018
Thailand To Review Medical Marijuana, Kratom Legalization Proposal

The kratom/marijuana legalization bill has received substantial support from the National Legislative Assembly and the Thai public.

Lawmakers in Thailand have unanimously accepted an initiative to review a bill that would legalize the production, import and export of marijuana and the herbal supplement kratom for medical use.

The amendment, proposed by members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), would revise the country’s Narcotics Act and allow patients to access medical marijuana and kratom for therapy and grant access to the Red Cross and medical professionals. The initiative must go before another panel of lawmakers for review, but support for legalization has already netted widespread approval among the Thai population, according to the NLA’s digital forum.

The amendment bill, proposed by 44 members of the NLA, provides guidelines for medical use of marijuana and kratom, which under the current Narcotics Acts are listed as Category V drugs and illegal to consume, possess, produce, distribute, import and export, with imprisonment and/or substantial financial penalties levied against those convicted of such charges.

As High Times noted, marijuana and kratom would be made available to approved patients as treatment and could be obtained from the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, the Red Cross, local administrative agencies, and medical professionals and ministries. Individuals who have a record of previous narcotics-related charges may not partake in the program, according to the Bangkok Post. Production sites and grow programs would be overseen by Thailand’s public health minister and the Office of the Narcotics Board.

The amendment bill has to date received substantial support from the NLA and the Thai public. An initial read received 145 votes of support from NLA members while a public hearing on the NLA’s digital platform saw 99.03% of participants approve the bill’s provisions. Health care professionals and legal academics have also lobbied in support of revising the Narcotics Act in favor of providing Thai citizens with the alleged medical benefits of both substances.

“The Narcotics Act was drafted and first enforced in 1985, so we can see it’s not only out of date, but also restricts people’s rights too much, especially considering the enormous benefits in healthcare that could come from medical cannabis and kratom,” said Paisal Limstit of Thammasat University’s Faculty of Law.

The NLA must now establish a 29-member panel to review the bill; the process, according to the Bangkok Post, takes approximately 60 days.

Should the bill pass into law, the Thai government will face an uphill battle with the marijuana that is currently available in the country. Laboratory tests on marijuana seized by police revealed the presence of pesticides and heavy metals, which the Department of Medical Sciences determined was not suitable for consumption, medical or otherwise.

View the original article at thefix.com

8 December 2018
How Does Recreational Marijuana Use Affect Your Sex Life?

A new report found that cannabis use can affect your sex life in a variety of unexpected ways.

Changes to marijuana policy are sweeping through the country, but experts say that legalizing weed could have unintended consequences where Americans least expect them: in the bedroom.

According to a report by The Verge, cannabis use can lead to people having more sex and using contraceptives less often, so much that legalization has increased the birth rate by about 16 births a year per 10,000 women of childbearing age. It can also change the quality of the sex people are having, although whether pot will make your experience better or worse is a toss-up.

“It’s not like the more, the better,” said gynecologist Melanie Bone, who prescribes medical marijuana for patients who have low libido or trouble orgasming. “Maybe some amount will relax you and make you more open to sensations and less inhibited with your body, but if you get super stoned, you’re not going to be able to concentrate.”

Lubes infused with cannabis claim to increase pleasure, but Bone said that is open to debate.

“For many of the lubes, is it more hype or more true response?” she said. “The only way to know is to study it,” something that is difficult to do because of the on-going federal prohibition on pot.

One study found that for men, cannabis use is linked with difficulty climaxing, and another study found that it can lower sperm quality. However, another study found that marijuana use is associated with more sexual partners and that it doesn’t seem to affect sexual functioning.

Michael Eisenberg, a urologist at Stanford University, found that women who use marijuana have 34% more sex than women who don’t smoke, and men who use pot saw their sex life expand 22%. Although people who use marijuana might just have more sex than people who don’t, researchers still found an increase tied to use.

“The interesting thing about the study is that we also were able to look at all different demographic groups, based on race and ethnicity, marital status, and education level,” Eisenberg said. “And across all groups, you saw the same relationship, so it’s not like this association is being driven by one particular group.”

In addition, a working paper published last month found that more and riskier sex associated with cannabis use is driving up birth rates.

“Our novel results reveal that birth rates increased after the passage of a [medical marijuana] law corresponding to increased frequency of sexual intercourse, decreased purchase of condoms and suggestive evidence on decreased condom use during sex,” the authors wrote. “More sex and less contraceptive use may be attributed to behavioral responses such as increased attention to the immediate hedonic effects of sexual contact, delayed discounting and ignoring costs associated with risky sex.”

View the original article at thefix.com

7 December 2018
In-School Services Offered To Students Impacted By Opioid Addiction

More than 50 schools in Massachusetts offer in-school counseling services to students with parents who are battling opioid addiction.

Maddy Nadeau’s childhood was less than ideal. Her mother often could not care for her, leaving her older sister to do the job when she came home from elementary school.

Maddy is one of many children affected by a parent’s substance use disorder, according to NPR.

Luckily, her school is taking steps to help her overcome the trauma of such a childhood. In October, Congress allowed for $50 million annually for five years to be allotted to mental health services in schools for children affected by the opioid epidemic.

The girls eventually entered a foster home, which led to an adoption. Sarah Nadeau, their adoptive mother, told NPR both girls struggled with depression and anxiety, as well as performance in school. Maddy had a hard time especially, as she was exposed to opioids while in utero.

“That makes it very difficult for her brain to settle down enough to do more than one task at a time,” Nadeau told NPR.

Counselors at schools such as Maddy’s are employed by Gosnold, which is a substance use disorder treatment provider in Massachusetts. According to NPR, more and more schools are starting to screen and treat students who are considered at risk for opioid use disorder, as well as offer mental health services for those who have been affected by it.

“Schools have more kids who cannot access the learning environment,” Sharon Hoover, co-director of The National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told NPR. 

According to Hoover, having such services in schools is proving effective. ”This is considered a preferable model of care,” she said. “The kids show up for treatment services because they’re not relying on a family member to take them somewhere in the community.”

Though the services are new, data demonstrates counseling for at-risk students leads to fewer absences and better academic performance. Massachusetts schools using Gosnold counselors say their students are performing better academically and emotionally. Sarah Nadeau says this is the case for her girls.

“Their day runs smoother. They can get out their anxiety while they’re in school instead of bottling it up, and then go back to class and continue learning,” she told NPR.

Each participating school pays Gosnold for the counselors, and students’ insurance covers the individual sessions. If a student does not have insurance or it will not cover the cost, Gosnold absorbs that cost. Currently, more than 50 schools in Massachusetts offer such services.

“I wish that more schools offered it because the epidemic is everywhere,” says Sarah Nadeau. “For a lot of these kids, school is the only place that is stable. They get their lunch here, they get their education here, so why not give them their support while they’re here at the school?”

View the original article at thefix.com

7 December 2018