Leslie Glass's Blog, page 418
November 28, 2017
New Yorkers Ready To Legal Marijuana
Legalize it, New Yorkers are telling their legislators.
The majority of the Empire State said it’s time for lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing marijuana, with 62 percent of residents surveyed voting in favor of the move, according to new poll results released on Monday from the Marijuana Policy Project Foundation and the Drug Policy Alliance.
A bill to legalize cannabis was first introduced in 2013 and has been amended twice, but still hasn’t picked up traction in the state legislature. And Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to throw his support behind the bill, saying he opposes recreational weed. But advocates are hoping the latest poll results will show lawmakers their constituents just want to be able to take a hit without getting hit with an arrest.
“It was a really encouraging result from our perspective, seeing that New Yorkers are fed up with prohibition,” Melissa Moore, deputy state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, told Newsweek.
Supporters of legalization argue it will bring positive social and economic changes to the state, including helping erase its $4.1 billion budget deficit, a strategy of taxation that 60 percent of voters supported.
“New York could generate a large amount of revenue from a legalized, taxed and regulated model as we’re seeing in other states,” said state Senator Liz Krueger, who introduced the bill to legalize.
The majority of New York residents support the legalization of marijuana, according to new poll results. Reuters
She isn’t wrong in thinking so—eight states and Washington, D.C., have legalized weed and are reaping the economic benefits. Colorado has pulled in more than $205 million in revenue from marijuana sales this year, and has generated nearly $600 million since it legalized pot in 2014, according to state data.
Greenlighting recreational marijuana would also eliminate arrests that disproportionately target minorities. Some 800,000 people have been arrested for having small quantities of pot in New York in the last two decades, with more than 700,000 of those arrests happening in New York City. The vast majority of arrests, 85 percent, involved blacks and Latinos.
Last year, New York City announced it would move away from marijuana arrests and issue tickets instead, but police have still arrested 9,968 people on marijuana possession charges through June this year, New York Police Department records show.
As part of the bill, legalizing weed would come with the concealment of low-level arrests on criminal records, which will open up opportunities for people who have difficulty getting jobs because of their past, according to Moore.
“It attempts to right the wrongs of prohibition, it would heal the records of those who have arrests,” she said.
Some in the state are already using weed legally—medical marijuana was given the go-ahead in 2014, and the state announced this year it is going to grow the number of dispensaries from five to 10 by 2018.
Hearings on the bill to finally legitimize pot will take place this spring, and advocates are hopeful it will pass now that lawmakers, especially in the Republican-controlled Senate, are presented with evidence it would be good for the state’s wallet.
“We make the argument based on marijuana prohibition being enormously costly. For the Republicans, it definitely resonates a little more,” said Moore. “All of the things people were concerned about haven’t panned out in terms of fears. The sky hasn’t fallen.”
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Study finds commonality in 61 percent of opioid deaths
What a press release calls the “largest study of opioid deaths” was published Tuesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers started with 13,089 adults who were under age 65, in the Medicaid program, and died of an opioid overdose between the years 2001 and 2007.
A review of their medical histories and filled prescriptions resulted in a couple of big takeaways. As Bloomberg puts it, the numbers confirm “America’s opioid epidemic began at the pharmacy.” The researchers found about two-thirds (61.5 percent) of those who died had been diagnosed with non-cancer chronic pain and prescribed an opioid.
Many had also been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, and lead investigator Dr. Mark Olfson sees two lessons in that. First, that there’s an opportunity for “clinical intervention,” whereby clinics that treat chronic pain or mental health issues could pair those services with substance abuse treatment.
Second, this group was more likely to have filled prescriptions for both opioids and anti-anxiety benzodiazepines; the combination promotes respiratory depression, “the unusually slow and shallow breathing that is the primary cause of death in most fatal opioid overdoses,” says Olfson.
Doctors should avoid prescribing the two together.
This article originally appeared on Newser: Study finds commonality in 61 percent of opioid deaths
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VA Covers For Dangerous Docs
The Department of Veterans Affairs is under fire for possibly putting lives at risk after a government watchdog report revealed that it failed to report 90 percent of potentially dangerous medical providers in recent years.
According to the Government of Accountability Office (GAO) report, which was released on Monday, the VA is required to report providers to a national database designed to prevent them from crossing state lines and endangering other patients. However, based on a sampling of 148 providers at five unidentified VA hospitals who required review, officials had only reported nine health care workers since 2014, and none had been reported to state licensing boards.
The GAO noted that much of the failed reporting came as a result of confusion about VA policies and responsibilities, as well as months or years-long delays in the review process. For instance, in cases involving 16 providers, the process was not started until after more than three months had passed.
Service chiefs were not made aware of the reviews for up to 13 months after the incidents, during which three of the providers had an additional “concerning episode of care.” The report also noted a lack of knowledge regarding required documentation of medical care.
“At one facility, we found that officials failed to report six providers to the (national database) because the officials were unaware that they had been delegated responsibility for … reporting,” the GAO said.
One case involved a doctor who resigned while under review for misconduct, but was not reported to a state licensing board. The doctor was later hired at a non-VA facility within the same state, only to be disciplined for the same unreported misconduct that had prompted the initial review.
“Until Veterans Health Administration (VHA) strengthens its oversight of these processes, veterans may be at increased risk of receiving unsafe care through the VA health care system,” the report said.
A hearing on the GAO findings lead by the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, while the VA has pledged to increase oversight of reporting by regional officials.
The report follows a USA Today investigation that alleged years of misconduct and mistakes by health care workers that went overlooked or unreported by the VA. The VA has about 150 hospitals nationwide.
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Tens Of Thousands Dying From $30B Fake Drugs Trade
LONDON – One in 10 drugs sold in developing countries is fake or substandard, leading to tens of thousands of deaths, many of them of African children given ineffective treatments for pneumonia and malaria, health officials said on Tuesday.
In a major review of the problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that bogus drugs are a growing threat as increased pharmaceutical trade, including Internet sales, open the door to sometimes toxic products.
Some pharmacists in Africa, for example, say that they are compelled to buy from the cheapest but not necessarily the safest suppliers to compete with illegal street traders.
Fake drugs could contain incorrect doses, wrong ingredients or no active ingredients at all. At the same time, a worrying number of authorized medicines fail to meet quality standards because of improper storage and other issues.
The scale of the problem is hard to quantify precisely, but a WHO pooled analysis of 100 studies from 2007 to 2016, covering more than 48,000 samples, showed 10.5 percent of drugs in low and middle-income countries to be fake or substandard.
With pharmaceutical sales in such countries running at nearly $300 billion a year, this implies that trade in fake medicines is a $30 billion business.
The human toll is enormous, according to a team from the University of Edinburgh, which was commissioned by the WHO to study the impact of fake drugs.
They calculated that up to 72,000 deaths from childhood pneumonia could be attributed to the use of antibiotics with reduced activity, increasing to 169,000 deaths if drugs had no activity.
Poor-quality drugs also add to the danger of antibiotic resistance, threatening to undermine the power of life-saving medicines in future.
Another group from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated that 116,000 additional deaths from malaria could be caused each year by bad antimalarials in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Substandard and falsified medicines particularly affect the most vulnerable communities,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “This is unacceptable.”
Since 2013 the WHO has received 1,500 reports of fake and low-quality products, with antimalarials and antibiotics the most commonly reported categories. However, the problem extends to everything from cancer drugs to contraceptive pills.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 42 percent of all the reports. There was no global reporting of this data before 2013.
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November 27, 2017
Substance Abuse Grief Is It Different
Is substance abuse grief different from other kinds of grief? Does grief differ if it’s the death of a child, a breakup of a romantic relationship, a child leaving home, a death of a pet, or the grief of a mental illness or substance use disorder. What we know is that grief is grief – no matter what the loss, grief just is. The pain may be more overwhelming for some losses (for how does one survive and eventually thrive after a child dies), but comparative pain is not helpful. How can you even compare what you go through with someone else as we all have different ways to feel our pain and sorrow?
How Loss from Substance Abuse Grief Is The Same
What we do know that there can be significant grief regarding a family system embroiled in a loved one’s substance use disorder. So while there are many commonalities of grief, there are also some differences in the processes.
What Is the Same About Grief From A Substance Use Loss
grief is grief is grief
some losses may be more difficult than others
we grieve in different ways (sadness, screaming, anger outbursts, doing activities, laughing, remembering, etc.)
grief is different for different age ranges
there are no five stages of grief – this is outdated information
some coping skills are different than others and work better than others – this may vary due to what is lost
there is no such thing as comparative pain (i.e, “My pain is so much worse than yours” – no one knows exactly how someone may be suffering)
many people may be affected by the loss
there is no right or wrong way to grieve as long as it’s healthy
people react differently to loss
we must balance the feelings of the grief with other aspects of our lives
we need to deal with each loss as it comes, otherwise, grief piles up and becomes overwhelming and unmanageable
we tend to learn to be more compassion and accepting when we suffer our own losses
time does not heal all wounds – it merely aids in adjusting to the loss
What Is Different About A Loss From Substance Use
the response to the family’s loss regarding substance use may be disregarded as not being a true loss (i.e, “He’s just drinking so what’s the problem?”)
you may be blamed for the addict’s use ( you’re a bad spouse or mom) so how do your grieve if you’re the perceived problem
you may also be more likely to minimize your own grief as you think it’s not as important as other losses (comparative pain)
you may be so wrapped up in the children’s losses that you minimize your own
you may find it more difficult to find supports and resources to help you through your losses (i.e, there are many support groups for deaths but not for other losses)
As you can see, there are more commonalities than differences in the grief process. As you explore the differences, you can find that there is help. Grief is a natural process and in allowing yourself to feel the pain, sorrow, anger, joy, acceptance, calmness, rage, and all other feelings of bereavement, you can find ways.
For a free and safe resource to find mental health professionals near you.
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Enabling A Child In Self Destruction Can Destroy You
Enabling only makes things worse. It’s one of the most difficult things for a parent to learn. One of the most difficult situations for a parent is to not rescue a child, even an adult child, from the behaviors that may be taking them down a slope of self destruction such as using drugs and alcohol. As parents we want to save our children from heartbreak, trauma, and consequences. But as parents, we also must understand that rescuing a child from the damaging consequences of drug and alcohol use not only doesn’t help the child, but enables them to continue to use without having to go through natural consequences. And if there are no consequences, then why would an addicted child want to quit?
Enabling Meaning Continuing Use
I remember many years ago when I was first working in addiction treatment and I asked a group of teenagers with SUDs (substance use disorders) what they would do about using if they had no consequences. Every one of them said that they loved to use and would continue to do so if they had no repercussions from their use and a few said they would continue to use once they got out of treatment even though they had already had a number of consequences (minor in possession, kicked out of school, dealing charges, family consequences, forced into treatment, etc.). This tells the power of the addiction – the incredible draw that it has.
Consequences Of Enabling (allowing SUD behavior without consequence)
helping them to continue down the path of addiction instead of working towards recovery
risking the marriage/partnership if the partner doesn’t want to continue the enabling
risking the relationship with the other children as you continue to place all of your efforts on the addicted child
acting-out behaviors from the other children who may be neglected due to the above situation
continuing to spend money you don’t have towards treatment for a child who won’t stop using
for an adult child, not honoring what that’s child’s family members request such as stopping giving him/her/they money that they then use on drugs
enabling means that you also don’t trust your child to do the right thing
meddling in things that aren’t about you
ignoring other people in your life as you are so determined to fix the problem with your child
ignoring what the treatment provider suggests regarding consequences and enabling
destroying your own health through your unhealthy behaviors
not getting the help you need such as going to Codependency Anonymous or Al-Anon
feeling that everyone except the addict is against you (which may be true because you are handling the situation poorly)
not being able to grieve the loss regarding the child and the addiction as you try to control the situation and your feelings
still losing the child no matter what you do
So What’s A parent To Do
educate yourself about addictions, consequences, and enabling
set boundaries and keep to them – no means no
stop enabling – allow the natural consequences of the addiction to reign down on the addict
quit blaming yourself for the addict’s behavior – it is always his/her/they choice whether to use or not
stop making excuses for the user
stop bailing them out financially, legally, or emotionally
focus on the health of the rest of your family
focus on your own health – both physical and emotional
seek help for yourself through 12 step meetings or other support groups and/or therapy
develop and utilize healthy coping skills
get involved in leisure/fun activities both alone and with family and friends
participate in spiritual activities such as religion, spiritual groups, having fun with the rest of the family, doing creative works, etc.
While these suggestions may seem trite to you, especially as you understand you may lose the addict to the disease including the possibility of death, you can only heal yourself and help those around you who want your support in a healthy manner. How difficult it is to let go of the loved one for fear may be a huge factor for you. But by enabling an addict, you need to understand that you are aiding them in the self-destructive path – you are not helping. And finally, allow yourself to feel the horror, the sadness, the fear, and all other feelings related to the grief that you are going through, for you will grieve.
For a safe and free resource to find recovery professionals near you.
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Inhalants Terminology
Nitrous Oxide
Laughing Gas
Whippets
Hippie Crack
Buzz Bomb
Amyl Nitrate
Poppers
Boppers
Ames
Amies
Amys
Pearls
Isobutyl Nitrate
Poppers
Quicksilver
Rush
Snappers
Thrust
Locker Room
Aroma of Men
Bullet
Bolt
Climax
Hardware
Use & Users:
Using inhalants
Bagging,
Glading
Huffing
Snorting
Inhalant User
Airhead
Bagger
Huffer
Cracker – Tool used to open a canister of nitrous oxide
Links
• NIDA Inhalants Infofax
• NIDA Inhalant Abuse Research Report
• ONDCP Inhalant Fact Sheet
• DEA Inhalants Info
Courtesy The University of Maryland
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Excuses That Keep You Caged
We’re often beating ourselves up over something that has happened in the past, believing that there is something wrong with our ‘gut’ or our intuition. If only we could use a magic wand to break free from our excuse for anything and everything that makes us unhappy. But, would we choose relationships in which we are loved and valued for who we are, not who we would be thirty pounds lighter or thirty pounds heavier? We would choose freedom … free of the addiction that is driving our life, freedom from an often all-consuming grief, freedom to choose the path that fulfills us?
Do You See Yourself As A Victim
Instead, we see ourselves as magnets for whatever ails us. The slope gets slippery over time when our thoughts become our beliefs. When we see ourselves not as ourselves, but as how others have defined us – we compromise our desires and shield ourselves.
Some Excuses We Use
Some use money as an excuse – “I can’t afford” and “It’s too expensive” become the go-to lines whenever a conversation leans toward action.
Others excuse themselves with food. Their lives seem out of their control, so they grasp at something they can control. If weight gain is their issue, they subconsciously sabotage themselves with emotional eating which can easily spiral out of control and become lifestyle diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes are diagnosed.
Still others self-medicate. Alcohol, prescription, OTC and recreational drugs are their panacea for what ails. They are coping with life, but there is always something that comes up that drives them deeper into the haze. Combined with the physical and psychological aspects of an addiction, their bodies crave the antidote that will cure the demons in the present moment. The draw is all-consuming.
We Look To Others For A Call To Action
Regardless the excuse we use, we’re all looking for someone to give us a reason to change. We want to trust, to lose weight, to quit an addiction. Instead, we yield to societal definitions that keep us in our place – we are poor, broke, obese, and addicts. We readily adopt these labels and wait patiently for someone to to notice our pain and inspire our recovery. This is being outer directed. What if we reversed that pattern?
What if we showed up for ourselves, instead of waiting for someone else to do it for us? If we recognized our own intuition and let that guide us. If we trusted ourselves to know what was in our best interest, and if we let other people do the same for themselves without any judgement. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate freedom.
For a free and safe resource to find recovery professionals near you.
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10 Tips For Managing Chronic Pain
While acute pain is short lasting, such as the pain from an appendicitis or a broken leg, chronic pain is pain that is ongoing. Fibromyalgia, low back pain, pain from an old injury are some examples of chronic pain. Most people recover from acute pain, often using short-term pain medications. More problematic, however, is how to cope with chronic pain. I have it, so I’ve been working on this myself.
Accept That Chronic Pain May Inevitable But Suffering Is Optional
Everyone has pain but not everyone responds to pain in the same manner. If you have chronic pain you know it is going to be there but how you deal with this pain is the difference. If you choose to moan, complain, and focus on suffering, then you will get just that – suffering.
Learn What Ails You
Learn about your pain condition for education is power. More importantly, learn coping skills specific for pain and learn how others cope.
Follow Healthy Living Basics Every Day
This means getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, exercising as suggested by your physician/s, not using drugs and alcohol to cope, and taking care of your hygiene.
Distract Yourself
Distraction skills help you to get your mind away from the pain; these are our healthy coping skills. Immerse yourself in a good book, go for a walk with the kids or dog, play with the cat, play music, sing and dance, write in a journal, write poetry, color or draw, do a household task, call a friend, go out to lunch, meditate, attend a book club, and any other activities that help you go beyond the pain.
Talk To Others/Find Support
Recognize that you are not alone. Be social because pain may increase with isolation as you focus on the pain. Talk to your family and friends but be careful not to overburden them with your stories of pain. Have them help you distract yourself by talking about anything other than your pain. Find a pain support group. Listen to others’ to see how they cope. Talk to your spiritual leader. Find a therapist that specializes in pain management so you can deal with the emotions of pain.
Spend Time Alone
Being social and talking to others does not mean that you shouldn’t be alone. Spending time alone can help 1. process your pain, 2. to let go of your suffering, and 3. find individual things you can do to feel better. This is the time to meditate, read a good book, read about ways to heal, listen to books on tape, watch a good movie, soak in the tub, sing in the shower, or take a class or go back to school.
Find A Spiritual Practice
This may be new for you, or encompass different approaches. For some, spiritual practice is attending a religious service. For others, it may be a spiritual group, meditating, doing creative activities, praying, playing, being in nature, writing in a journal, learning about others’ beliefs, and learning how past and present mystics have coped with their own pain through spiritual or religious practices.
Focus On Gratitude
Whether this is part of a spiritual practice or not, focusing on gratitude for what you have and not what you want can be healing for this helps in the acceptance of what you are going through. No, you may not be grateful for the pain, (although for many people, going through struggles and coming out on the other side with more compassion and love is valuable), but you can examine the other things that are going well in your life.
Learn How To Let Go
This is similar to #1, but learning to not be defined by your pain is a tremendous value. In this manner, the refrain is: “I have pain but I am not my pain.”
If You Need Medications, Find Pain Doctor To Work With You
For some, the use of narcotics is needed. If so, learn to work with the medication and with the medical provider to help you cope with the severity of the pain, and thereby, freeing up ways to use other healthy coping skills.
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5 Characteristics of Healthy Families
We so often read about dysfunctional families that we may believe that there is no such thing as healthy families. But healthy families aren’t a myth – they really do exist. Your family may be one of them, but if not, you can learn how to help your family go from unhealthy to healthy. Also realize that most families have some healthy and some unhealthy traits – no family is perfect. And we really don’t want a perfect family for if the family has never suffered from any imperfections, it will be hard for children to adjust to an imperfect world. So take heart – your mistakes can be beneficial!
Healthy Families Have These Characteristics
Open/Honest/Respectful Communication
For a family to communicate at the highest level, it needs to be open and honest in the talks, family members need to be respectful of each other, and listening (not just hearing) to what is being said are basic skills. This needs to take place in any communication and family meetings can be an excellent way of addressing more significant issues. Everyone must have a voice in the conversation, even the family cat!
Acceptance of Each Other
Healthy families accept each other as individuals and as part of the family system. This acceptance indicates that the family will abide by you throughout good and bad times. While behavior may not be accepted (i.e., such as drinking and drugging) the person is always accepted. This leads to #3.
Love And Compassion
Each person needs to validate each other through love and compassion no matter what the trial or tribulation. As above, the behavior may not be accepted, but the love is always there (even when we want to throttle someone).
Collaboration And Involvement
Families that work together and play together are healthier than those who don’t. This involvement is significant for bonding both on an individual level and on the family level. Eating meals together, being involved in the kids’ school and after-school events, taking the children to work to show them what the jobs are like, having friends visit, visiting with other relatives, and doing leisure activities such playing Pokemon Go, taking walks together, or playing board games are invaluable for healthy living.
Healthy Coping Skills
Because life is not always easy or simple, a family has both individual and family coping skills to use when dealing with the difficult times. These coping skills can be in these 5 areas:
physical: taking care of the basics such as healthy meals, enough sleep, exercise, and hygiene, and basic safety;
emotional: being able to feel feelings and talk about them with the family, journal, cry or laugh, talk to a teacher or counselor at school, go for family therapy, write/draw/dance/sing and participate in other creative emotional outlets, jog/walk/exercise out the feelings;
intellectual: read, write, have deep discussions with family members or others, study, learn, teach; do puzzles or healthy video games, do creative activities;
social/relational: having time with family and others together while also having alone time for we need to also have a relationship with self such as reading, meditating, writing, or doing yoga or tai chi;
spiritual: having a sense of communion with a higher essence, being with others including the family, taking walks in nature, having fun, being creative, going to a religious ceremony or spiritual event, reading religious/spiritual books, meditating, prayer, being alone.
All of these are healthy family characteristics. Look back over these. You may find your family in the middle. Look over them again. You may find new ideas for a healthier family.
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