Weekend • Dec. 15-17, 2017 • Vol. 5., No. 20
For Treatment Industry & Recovery Community
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Real Live Testimony
VIDEO
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Examining Concerns Of Patient Brokering And Addiction Treatment Fraud
VIDEO
December 12, 2017 - The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, at 10:15 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled “Examining Concerns of Patient Brokering and Addiction Treatment Fraud.”
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Rehab is a lonely place for a gay man like me
Dec. 11, 2017 - After an excruciating eight-year battle with alcohol, I went to rehab. My rehab was a small place, and to my knowledge I was the only out gay man there. My sexuality and its relationship to my alcoholism were overlooked by my counsellors. One exception was when weekly men’s and women’s groups were established.
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Art Imitates Life ... and Death
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Addiction stories on screen and stage are at an all-time HIGH
Dec. 7, 2017 - The opioid crisis is fueling a rise in Hollywood movies based on substance abuse. Actress Chloe Sevigny vowed she would never play a heroin addict because she didn’t want to glamorize hard drugs. Yet she can currently be seen playing Mary Shannon, a mother addicted to heroin, cocaine and alcohol ... at the Pershing Square Signature Center in Manhattan’s Times Sq...
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OUTRAGEOUS & HORRIFYING
VIDEO
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How Addicts Are Lured Into Sex Trafficking By Fraudulent Treatment Centers
VIDEO
November 30, 2017 - Addicts who are lured in from around the country seeking treatment are getting caught in a vicious cycle of predatory scams and violent abuse … A multi-million dollar industry has emerged in the Sunshine state, funneling in victims to exploit for insurance fraud - many of whom are then sold for sex.
CONTINUED @ NBC YouTube.com
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No, they just love the feeling?
VIDEO
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Do people choose to become opioid addicts?
VIDEO
Dec. 8, 2017 - And I don’t know of any alcoholics and addicts who regained long-term recovery by choosing to exercise greater control over their lives. Instead, the recovering alcoholics and addicts that I have come into contact with subscribed to the Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous’ 12-step recovery program, the very first words of which read: “We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol/drugs, that our lives had become unmanageable.” Note that the words refer to “we” and not “I.”
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A Tale of Two Drug Wars
Dec. 8, 2017 - Since the Rockefeller drug laws of the 1970s initiated the legislative genesis of mandatory minimums, the U.S. government has spent almost a half-century criminalizing an entire subset of the population—and, despite the lessons learned in modern opioid treatment, the federal approach to drug abuse reflects those tired racial elements. In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” in drug cases—in other words, low-level drug offenses, like marijuana.
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Nov. 7, 2017 In the Matter of TONMOY SHARMA
Nov. 7, 2017 - WHEREFORE, Complainant requests the Respondent Tonmoy Sharma be prohibited for the remainder of Respondent Tonmoy Sharma’s life, from employment in, or presence in, and from contact with clients of, any facility licensed by the Department or certified by a licensed foster family agency and from holding the position of member of the board of directors, executive director, or officer of the licensee of any facility licensed by the Department.
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In Praise of Dr. Sharma
VIDEO
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Pat Kelly on Tonmoy Sharma Sovereign Health CEO
VIDEO
June 7, 2016 -
In this video, certified interventionist, Pat Kelly, CATC and CIP, discusses and reviews the vision for long-term drug and alcohol addiction treatment and care that she shares with Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, CEO, Sovereign Health. She characterizes Dr. Sharma as an intelligent man with an excellent philosophy and foresight on understanding what patients need. She believes that Sovereign Health is one of the best places for treatment”
CONTINUED @ Youtube
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What About Cats and Rats?
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Pet Friendly Rehab Opening
Dec. 9, 2017 - Rehabsthatallowpets.com new affiliate is now offering private luxury rooms. What’s a next, private room for the animals only? No, but close. The treatment center looks upon the patient that comes with their needed companion whether it be dog, cat or some other animal, as a patient that will stay and get the treatment needed to start on their journey towards a sober life. In addition, clients with pets tend to stay longer, and in general pose many less problems and issues.
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‘Support Recovery’ License Plate Bill Advances in State Assembly
Dec. 10, 2017 - TRENTON, NJ — Legislation to create a special “Support Recovery” license plate to provide housing assistance to individuals who have completed substance abuse treatment has been approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee ... “P.I.C.K. Awareness believes that ‘Support Recovery’ license plates will bring a sorely needed sustainable funding model to fill the gap of recovery support services to help break the cycle of addiction,” said DeStefano, whose daughter is in recovery from drug addiction.
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How I crashed some of the most iconic A-list events in history
Dec. 9, 2017 - Craig Schmell has attended Hollywood movie premieres, sang with Michael Jackson at the Grammys and rubbed elbows with Jack Nicholson courtside at an NBA game. And he wasn’t invited to a single one of those places ... The next night, at the ceremony, “An announcement was made that all performers should get onstage” — to join Dion for a group rendition of “Runaround Sue” — “so, I went up there. At first, I stood in back with Liza Minnelli, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.”..
CONTINUED @ NYPost.com
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Fergie Was Hallucinating on a Daily Basis
December 6, 2017 -
Fergie
has candidly opened up about her lowest point during her battle with addiction to crystal meth. However, the rock-bottom moment was also a learning experience.
CONTINUED @ People
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DEA Raided Doctor’s Office for Prescribing High Doses of Painkillers
Dec. 7, 2017 - Tennant’s record is not spotless, however: in 1997 he was fined $625,000 by the federal government in a case related to the methadone programs he ran at the time for failing to comply… in the early 00s, he was convicted of insurance fraud, which meant that his medical license was probationary for four years.
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Supplements Claiming to Ease Opioid Addiction Come Under Scrutiny
Dec. 8, 2017 - Because dietary supplements are regulated differently than food and drugs, these products do not require clinical trials before entering the market ... “Though the benefits of some of these have been documented, the advantages of others are unproven,” the website says.
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Where One or More are Gathered...
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State enlists ex-addicts to help drug crisis
December 4, 2017 - Experts say recovering addicts can connect with people battling addiction in ways that clinicians can’t. The shared experience gives these recovery specialists a better chance to gain trust.
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Wisconsin has plan to drug test food stamp recipients
Dec. 5, 2017 - Florida had a drug test requirement for food stamp recipients that a federal appeals court blocked in 2014, finding it violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.
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Education for Body and Mind
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Opioids on the Quad
Oct. 30, 2017 - Seven students from colleges in the Philadelphia area — including the University of Pennsylvania, Temple and Villanova — live, eat and socialize here, where they can abstain without temptation.
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Inmates die, others sickened. Smuggled drugs the culprit
Dec. 7, 2017 - Miami-Dade homicide bureau will investigate, as they do with all deaths at jails. Investigators will also focus on who smuggled the illegal drugs into the jail.
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Medical Pot Is Our Best Hope to Fight the Opioid Epidemic
Dec. 8, 2017 - Last year, a pharmaceutical company called Insys Therapeutics gave half a million dollars to the campaign to stop marijuana legalization in Arizona.
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FDA Approves Injectable Opioid for America’s Drug Crisis
Dec. 2, 2017 - Individor, a London-based pharmaceuticals group, are the creators of the newly approved injectable product called Sublocade.
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What is AYAHUASCA? VIDEO
Nov. 29, 2017 - ...it has come into vogue as a treatment or psychological tool by visitors from other countries. This centuries-old brew is now attracting attention as scientists study its potentially benefical effects.
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Lil Peep Od’d on Fentanyl, Xanax & Many Other Drugs
Dec. 8, 2917 - As we reported, the 21-year-old rapper was found dead on his tour bus during a stop in Tucson, Arizona. He was unresponsive and they could not revive him.
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Stayed Too Long at the Fair
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Owner faces drug-treatment charges
Dec. 8, 201 - John Michael Skeffington was worried this year as he saw people in the sober-home industry charged with patient brokering and insurance fraud, he reportedly told a federal confidential witness. He was worried he might be next. To hide his involvement in sending unnecessary, expensive and fraudulent urine samples of insured treatment-center patients to labs, he thought he could change his bookkeeping on the kickbacks he made:
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Video series to show path to recovery for opioid users
VIDEO
December 9, 2017 - One way to reduce the stigma of drug abuse and send a message there are successful pathways to recovery is putting a human face on the illness. Actually, many human faces ... Every other Monday for a year, one of these success stories will be featured on videos posted on the social media and websites of FOA Families of Addicts...
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Recovering addict gives hundreds of coats, hot meals to those in need
VIDEO
Dec. 8, 2017 - Wanda Lopez grew tired of seeing children shivering at the bus stops. She set aside a couple thousand dollars and purchased hundreds of brand-new coats. With the help of local organizations, she assembled 250 hot meals, 200 turkeys and boxes of canned food, and put it all out on display Friday in a North Charleston parking lot ... Lopez worried the frigid rain would keep people away. But within hours, all of the food and most of the clothes were gone.
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‘I orgasmed 50 times a day’: Secret world of sex addiction
Dec. 10, 2017 - “I engage in high-risk and detrimental sexual behaviours that I have trouble controlling,” she said, adding that her urges were “intermittent” but had a “serious impact” on her wellbeing and relationships with family, friends and her current and former partners. “I often feel deep shame as a result, yet I cannot control these actions,” she admitted ... Scientists are still divided over whether sex addiction is really a clinical disorder — and if it is, how it can be accurately identified and treated...
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Temptations Strengthen Resolve
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He Wanted to Stay Sober. So He Surrounded Himself With Drinkers.
Dec. 8, 2017 - Each night, after closing time at the Manhattan restaurant where Michael McGarry works, his colleagues wind down with whiskey sours and pale ales. Mr. McGarry takes a different drink, usually an espresso or a sparkling water ... Being around alcohol is unavoidable, Mr. McGarry said, and so he believes it is critical for him to confront that head-on. If he sees alcohol as taboo, he said, he gives it more power. Having seen friends relapse, go to jail or die of a drug overdose, he knows what he risks if he does not address his issues directly ... “I should be dead, probably a hundred times over,” he said. “And I’m not.”
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March 6, 2017 - Opioid Advocacy Group Secretly Funded by Pharmaceutical Company
March 6, 2017 - the Boston Globe has revealed that Advocates for Opioid Recovery, a new advocacy group which includes as paid spokespeople former congressmen Newt Gingrich and Patrick Kennedy, is being secretly backed by a drug company that is pushing for more government funding and insurance coverage of the kinds of treatments that company produces ... Braeburn disclosed a $900,000 charitable pledge to Advocates for Opioid Recovery, making the donation through the private equity fund that owns Braeburn. That same fund invests in CleanSlate Addiction Treatment Centers, where Kennedy is a board member.
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When Pain is Not Just in Your Head
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‘Opiophobia’ Has Left Africa in Agony
Dec. 4, 2017 - KAMPALA, Uganda — Pain is only the latest woe in John Bizimungu’s life ... Now, at 75 and on crutches, he sits at home hoping customers will drop by. But at least the searing pain from the cancer that has twisted his right foot is under control ... Mr. Bizimungu’s morphine is an opioid, closely related to the painkillers now killing 60,000 Americans a year…
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‘Budtender! ’Los Angeles’s Power
Brokers of Pot Crank Up the Kook
Dec. 9, 2017 - Carli Jo Bidlingmaier was talking to a group of 20-somethings in a living room in the Bel-Air neighborhood here, weeks before the wildfires. She was explaining that consuming marijuana allows a woman to awaken her “yoni,” a Sanskrit term for vagina favored by Hollywood bohemians.
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You can always get to a meeting @INTHEROOMS
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Sponsors get
THANKED
from the stage
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