Posts Tagged ‘assistance in recovery’
Methadone Deaths on Wyoming Reservations
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
On the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, families are mourning the deaths of three girls from methadone overdoses. CNN posted this interesting and terrible article this morning, talking about the tragic deaths of girls ages 13, 14 and 15. The three girls were sleeping over on a night just before starting a new semester of high school- and never made it home. On a reservation that has seen its share of drug and alcohol-related deaths, the loss of three young teenagers really struck home.
The coroner ruled the deaths homicides- but it was not readily apparent where the drugs came from.The FBI got involved almost immediately following the deaths, as they do when felonies occur on reservations. As a result, not much is known about the case itself. Two teenage boys have been arrested in conjunction with the deaths, but no other details are really known at this time. In a culture that acknowledges a distrust of law enforcement, nearly 24 hours passed before authorities were contacted about the deaths.
A difficult situation for the families on this reservation; one can only hope that, through this tragic loss, the people on the reservation can be more aware of the dangers of drug use and abuse. Through this, more help may be available- at least we can hope so. A difficult and tragic situation like this, along with it being brought into the public eye, may actually result in some change.
If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, please contact us directly at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, adolescent addiction, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drug deaths, mental illness, methadone, methadone overdose, overdose, pain addiction, pain killers, prescription drug abuse, substance abuse, Treatment
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New York State adds stronger drunk driving laws
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
As reported by the Associated Press yesterday (via the New York Times), New York State legislators agreed on tougher drunk driving laws.Basically, the law has created a stiffer penalty for those who drive under the influence with a child in the car, turning the DUI from a misdemeanor to a felony. The agreement will also cause offenders to have a breathalyzer installed in their car to stop offenders from starting a car while under the influence. Although some additional details have to be worked out, officials from both sides said that the any differences would be settled quickly. The law will be named after 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed when a station wagon full of children driven by a mother accused of drunken driving crashed in Manhattan on Oct. 11.
Her father, Lenny Rosado, had this to say: “Today I consider this a very glorious day and very victorious day for me. For my family, and for my daughter … this is what is going to save lives in her honor.Everyone who takes a drink and gets behind the wheel, is going to think twice about driving whether there are children in the car or outside of the car and taking a life, that my daughter’s name and her death will make a difference.”
On the heels of Diane Schuler, the mother who drove the wrong way down the Taconic State Thruway in New York earlier this year and killed multiple children, this law is a long time coming. We can only hope that those who choose to drink and drive are apprehended and given the help that they need. What we have found interesting in the past is that car insurance companies tend to give more “points,” or items that raise individuals’ insurance rates, to speeding tickets over DUIs. This needs to change. Driving under the influence is one of the most dangerous activities out there- one can only hope people learn to simply call a cab when necessary. Should drinking and driving be something a family member engages in, it’s the family’s responsibility to hold him or her accountable.
For help for yourself or a loved one, please call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, alcoholism, assistance in recovery, drug addiction, DUI, hazelden, intervention, recovery, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse
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The Genetic Link to Addiction
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
An article on CNNMoney.com today spoke about the genetic link to addiction. Although widely acknowledged throughout the addiction treatment community, it’s nice to see additional research showing the link between addiction and genetics. According to Dr. David Goldman, the director of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said that according to the massive study they completed of addiction in twins, addiction ranks “among the most heritable of mental illnesses.”
Dr. Goldman also said that social cues and environment obviously contribute to addiction, a valid point. Someone with the “alcoholic gene” who is never exposed to alcohol may never lead themselves down a destructive path. After all, genetics load the gun, and environment pulls the trigger.
“What’s interesting,” Goldman says, “is that the more addictive the substance, the stronger the role of heredity in causing an addiction to it.” Therefore, if someone is using crack cocaine or opiates and has the genetic predisposition towards addiction, the greater the chance of getting hooked. Other environmental things, such as abuse or other instances of trauma, can severely influence the nature of addiction.
Dr. David Oslin, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania, had this to say about the study, “It reinforces for the patients that they are not just a bad person or lack will power. It resonates with the notion that their brain may work a little differently than other people’s and that this really is an illness they can treat like any other.”
As a family member or a loved one, be sure to be aware of the genetic triggers in your family- if a parent struggles with alcoholism, be sure to be aware of your genetic history and approach your drinking carefully. After all, there’s only so much one can do after addiction has taken hold.
Be sure to check out our new Wikipedia page, located here.
For any questions or help with yourself or a loved one, call us directly at 877-320-0247.
Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, alcoholism, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, cnn, genetics, gentetics of addiction, intervention, recovery, recovery assistance, substance abuse
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Recovery Assistance, and why it works
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
As was just announced yesterday, we at Assistance in Recovery recently celebrated our 500th Recovery Assistance Program (or RAP) participant. This is a huge step forward in the recovery world; after 60-plus years of people seeking treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, we’ve finally seen a change in how addiction in the long term is being managed. When people first started attending residential treatment centers, they generally would enter a 28 or 30 day program, followed by either outpatient or simply 12-step groups. Nowadays, with the expanding of extended care and sober living homes, we’ve been able to drastically improve the levels of care for clients in need of long term treatment.
But what happens when a client gets out of the safe haven of a treatment center? Besides themselves, and potentially their 12-step groups, there has been very little accountability. We at AiR have developed an amazing solution to this through our Recovery Assistance Program. With clients and families getting an individual case manager who can help the recovering person stay on track, it takes away the need for a family to be the “sober police.” A client can communicate directly with their case manager, ideally providing a safe person for both the family and the recovering individual to speak with when troubles arise. With an intensive collateral contact, featuring connections and support with therapists, psychiatrists, outpatient services, sober living homes and 12 step sponsors, as well as toxicology screenings, we are able to provide a recovering person with that level of accountability, and success, that they wouldn’t get just returning home.
Our goal is to improve treatment outcomes; with the introduction of Recovery Assistance, we’ve been able to see rates of recovery around 84%…a truly amazing figure. We can help guide families through that treacherous time of trying to find resources for their loved one, and help the recovering individual get through the minefield that is early recovery. 500 people have come through our doors so far; with millions of other addicts out there, we can only hope for the number to increase, and seeing more and more people achieve long-term recovery.
For questions about our Recovery Assistance Program, or any of our additional services (including intervention), please call us directly at 877-320-0247.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, alcoholism, assistance in recovery, intervention, pain addiction, prescription drug abuse, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
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AiR's CEO on CNN Thursday, October 1st at 7:30 ET
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
AiR’s founder and CEO, Andrew Wainwright, will discuss tonight’s wire story
“In 16 states, drug deaths overtake traffic fatalities.” Experts said the
startling shift reflects two opposite trends: Driving is becoming safer,
and the legal and illegal use of powerful prescription painkillers is on
the rise.
CNN’s American Morning host, John Roberts, will be talking with Andrew
about AiR’s take on why drug deaths might be on the rise ““ the CDC
points to the increase in abuse of prescription medication, something he’s
talked with CNN’s American Morning about before ““ and what can be done
about it. Why are so many people abusing Rx drugs? What can be done to stop
it.
Check local listings
Tags: air, amercian morning, assistance in recovery, cnn, drug deaths, prescription drug abuse
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Heroin for Heroin Addicts?
Monday, September 28th, 2009
An interesting post in Time Magazine today touched on a new British trial, over the last four years, of providing free daily heroin injections as a method to wean them off the drugs. Since the results of the trial were positive (i.e. lower street drug use, lower crime rate among participates, etc.), officials are talking about making this a permanent addition of state-funded heroin clinics for the drug addicts in the U.K.
A quote from John Strang, one of the researchers with the National Addiction Centre (who helped lead the project): “It’s a less than perfect treatment, but for entrenched addicts, it gives them the first steps toward getting their life together. Some make a virtually complete recovery, but others, we get them from a bad place to a less bad place.” According to the research, those treated with heroin had better results than those treated with methadone. However, Paul Hayes, head of the National Treatment Agency, stressed in the Guardian this month that the services would be available to only a “very small proportion” of the nearly 200,000 heroin addicts in treatment.
So, government, if this works so well, why is it only available to a very small population? Shouldn’t this be the course of treatment for everyone? Obviously not. By giving drug addicts more drugs, aren’t we simply condoning and encouraging their habit? Why not fund a comprehensive, state-funded detoxification program followed by residential treatment? And harm reduction, in the long run is, in the words of our CEO Andrew Wainwright, simply a “band-aid on a bullet wound.” With addiction being a disease, and a malady of the physical, social and spiritual, simply medicating the addict’s “need” for the drug will not create a long term solution. We need to be moving people into comprehensive treatment, not helping them sustain their addiction.
For more information on heroin addiction and getting your loved one help, please call us at 877-320-0247.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, air, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcoholism, andrew wainwright, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drugs, heroin, heroin addiction, intervention, legal heroin, Legalization of Drugs, mental health, substance abuse, Treatment
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Legalization?
Friday, September 18th, 2009
As we’ve talked about before on the blog, some of the most dangerous substances of abuse are already legal- pain medication, alcohol and cigarettes are in the mainstream and on the rise. As a matter of fact, a recent study in the British medical journal Lancet stated that one in 25 deaths around the world is now alcohol-related- making alcohol just as dangerous as tobacco was ten years ago. These numbers are dangerous, and that’s talking about LEGAL substances!
Now what about marijuana? There has been a lot of controversy lately about drug policy, and it’s been all over the news. Colorado has decriminalized marijuana possessionof under an ounce to now a petty crime, or a ticketable offense. In California and other states, marijuana has been deemed a valuable medical resource, and now with Mexico decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of even harder drugs (such as cocaine and heroin), it seems as though it’s only a matter of time before this becomes a huge issue in the US. As we know, there has already been talk about California legalizing marijuana and taxing it to try and rescue themselves from a crippling budget deficit (although that idea has been shot down as of now).
We at AiR are from the stance that keeping drugs illegal prevents widespread abuse- easier access will create more problems, not less. However, as it’s obvious to us, the current U.S. structure of the “War on Drugs” isn’t working either. Our CEO, Andrew Wainwright, talked about this on CNN a few months ago. We need complete policy reform on this subject- basically, without an overhaul, we’ll be seeing an unnecessary amount of drug addicts go to prison and not get the help that they need, creating a cycle of addiction and imprisonment- none of which is good for our society as a whole. With reforms, we can create a route that pushes drug addicts into treatment and drug pushers into jail- the way the war should be fought. The addicts on the street, currently penned up in prisons and NOT getting help, aren’t the real problem here. By providing a viable solution for those addicts, we can help the drug market get smaller.
For more information about this topic, or for help for you or a loved one, please contact us at 877-320-0247.
Tags: addiction, andrew wainwright, assistance in recovery, california drug policy, chemical dependency, intervention, Legalization of Drugs, marijuana, marijuana legalization, pain addiction, pain killers, substance abuse
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Our trip to Cape Cod
Monday, September 14th, 2009
Jim Geckler, our Executive Director and COO, attended the 2009 Cape Cod Symposium this past weekend in Cape Cod. A few interesting things caught his eye, and we thought it would be appropriate to share them! Besides having a great time enjoying the whale-watching cruise sponsored by Foundation House, Mountainside Treatment Center, Westbridge, Webster Place and McLean Hospital, Jim also had the opportunity to connect with professionals from all over the East Coast and around the country. Here are some of the interesting things he saw:
1. We were very impressed to see a new LGBT program opening at Brattleboro Retreat in Brattleboro, VT. Having a specialized program to help this group of individuals get well can only be a benefit. They also offer a program for uniformed service professionals, which can provide additional support to a population who deals with quite a bit of trauma.
2. Jim was very impressed to see Jane Mintz of Field Model Intervention and Peter Lazar of Promises Treatment Center present on the importance of aftercare in the treatment field. We were also happy to hear them speak very highly of our Recovery Assistance Program, the leading aftercare support program in the addiction field.
3. John O’Neill of Menninger Clinic in Houston gave one of our favorite presentations of the conference, talking about technology and attachment disorders. An interesting point- do Blackberry’s and Facebook make us closer? Or actually further apart? A very intriguing topic, and we can’t wait to see more research on this topic.
We look forward to continuing our work with these premier programs. For more information about Assistance In Recovery or any of the programs mentioned here, please call us at 877-320-0247.
Tags: air, assistance in recovery, brattleboro retreat, cape cod symposium, foundation house, Jane Mintz, jim gecker, McLean Hospital, Menninger Clinic, mountainside, Promises Treatment Center, Westbridge
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The Problem with Pills
Friday, September 11th, 2009
After reading a couple of articles, one from the New York Daily News focusing on prescription sleep medication and another from Salon Magazine talking about the new book “This is Your Country on Drugs,” it was obvious that we needed to address the growing pill problem in America. We’ve talked before about pain killer addiction on the blog, especially addressing Michael Jackson and DJ AM’s recent passings. What we haven’t addressed is the problem in households across the country- that some of the most dangerous drugs in our world are kept in our medicine cabinets, accessible by even the most innocent children. This is a particularly hard problem to combat, as most of the drugs are prescribed legally.
Recently, a survey of 1,300 school nurses participated in a survey conducted by the National Association of School Nurses showed that an amazing 78 percent cited prescription drug abuse as a growing problem. According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, more than 2.1 MILLION teens abused prescription drugs in the past year- a startling figure. When we look at access to these drugs, it seems that it’s becoming easier for our kids to get their hands on these pills. We need to do something about it- be sure to talk to kids about the dangers of these pills- they can be deadly on even their first use. And just because they’ve been legally prescribed, it doesn’t make them any less dangerous OR addictive. As we just saw with DJ AM, even being prescribed pain medication for a reason can lead to addiction, and even death.
If you or your family member is struggling with a pill addiction, be sure to contact us today at 877-320-0247. We will be there to walk you through the process of getting help. For more information on prescription drug addiction, be sure to click on our main site and call us for additional information. We’re here to help.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, hazelden, intervention, Legalization of Drugs, michael jackson drug abuse, prescription pill addiction, vicodin addiction
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Grace After Fire and AiR
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
One of the great things we at AiR get to do is work with struggling families to help them find the right direction; however, we also get to work in avenues that can truly help a very selective population, our veterans. We have partnered with Grace After Fire, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing addiction treatment and trauma treatment for women veterans. With more and more women in the military reporting instances of severe mental and emotional trauma, even more resources are needed- especially ones not currently available via government resources. With a long and detailed history of Vietnam veterans suffering large instances of trauma, one would think we’d be better prepared for our returning soldiers. Alas, that is not the case. However, Grace After Fire is there to help bridge the gap in resources, and we’re excited to be a part of their cause.
One of the founding board members, Tia Christopher, provided a great testimony at the Veteran’s Affairs Committee meeting, and a video can be seen here. Women veterans can also find resources and help via their community message board, available here.
Issac Skelton, the publications director for the Drug Policy Alliance, puts our veterans’ addiction and trauma problem into focus in this editorial in the New York Times. The main point that he focuses on is this, that “…thousands of returning veterans who cope through self-medication are risking addiction, arrest and jail time.” He wrote this in response to another New York Times article that spoke directly about the problem of returning veterans and healthcare- that the Walter Reed Hospital and its neglected outpatient programs weren’t the main problem- they were only a symptom of a broken system. We need the resources available to provide the best care possible for our returning heroes.
We strongly encourage any family to get help, but we especially want to put resources in the hands of families of veterans. Should you, or someone you love, be struggling with their transition back into the civilian world, please call us at 877-320-0247 for assistance. With the help of organizations such as Grace After Fire, we can help put a healing hand out for the veterans that really need us.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, Grace After Fire, intervention, prescription drug abuse, recovery, recovery assistance, substance abuse, trauma and addiction, Treatment, veterans, veterans and trauma
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