The struggles and triumphs of an addict

Coming off anti-anxiety drugs (benzodiazepines) Secrets to Success Thinking about trying to taper off any of the benzodiazepines and worried about the withdrawals, your anxiety and your odds of success? Well, a poorly thought out or overly quick taper can be agonizing but it doesn’t have to go that way – a methodical and patient benzo taper makes things much more manageable. Need some advice on how to make sure your taper goes smoothly? Well here are 11 great tips and strategies to a successful benzodiazepine taper from Professor C Heather Ashton. Oxford educated Professor Ashton is considered a leading expert on benzodiazepine withdrawal based on her experiences running a benzo withdrawal clinic over more than a decade. She is also the author of ‘Benzodiazepines: How They Work and How to Withdraw’ which is now more famously known as The Ashton Manual. 11 Tips for a Successful Benzodiazepine Withdrawal 1. Get Confident You can do it! Millions of people have gone before you

My name is Rev JE Allen. As a young man I was in two very serious  car accidents. I lost a friend in one of these accidents. I suffered a broken neck and spinal injury which led to doctors putting me on heavy narcotic pain killers. I was told I would need the drugs the rest of my life to function. I developed a dependency and then ultimately an addiction to opiates. The drug I was on was no different than heroin when it came to being without. The withdrawals were the same. My life was destroyed and my goals and dreams were dashed. My life centered around drugs for almost 20 years. Then in late 2014 I decided to take my life back. It took a solid year to get over the drug but I did it and never looked back. Since this time I became an ordained Minister and I focus on mainly teen addiction and prevention. I lived this life for 20 years. I have insight as to what addiction truly does to someone and my mission is to save lives. Teens and young adults that I talk to easily open up to me b

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, nicknamed “The Punisher,” has called for the executions of drug users as the latest measure in his unmerciful efforts to cut down crime. “These sons of whores are destroying our children,” Duterte said earlier this month in a profanity-ridden speech in front of a crowd of 500 at a Manila slum, the Guardian reported . “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful,” he said.  Duterte, who has been called the “Trump” of the Philippines for his penchant for profanity, announced his severe crime-fighting measures a day after he was sworn in as president on June 30 with a promise that 100,000 would die in his war on drugs. Before he was president, he was known for cleaning up crime in the Filipino city of Davao, known as the "murder capitol," where he was the mayor for more than two decades. Within the first week of Duterte’s presidency, at least

At least 33 people were hospitalized on Tuesday from an apparent mass drug overdose of synthetic marijuana, in an area of New York City where the drug is said to be used at “epidemic” levels. Authorities said they began receiving calls at around 9.30am of people collapsing near an intersection in Brooklyn that the news website DNAinfo said was known as the “ epicenter ” for synthetic marijuana – or K2 – use. Brooklyn resident Brian Arthur broadcast live on Facebook from the scene, saying it looked like “zombieland” as he panned to images of incapacitated and agitated people being attended to by emergency responders. “I just came home from work and I’m seeing this, like, what the hell?” Arthur said. “Every freaking step they laid out.” One man who was barely able to stand up wandered into the street as emergency medical staff attempted to help him. Close by, another man was frozen like a statue until he started falling slowly forward, only upright because he was leaning into a f

It almost always  nowadays starts in a doctors office after an accident or surgery..

In March, the commander in chief of the War on Drugs stood in front of a crowd of policymakers, advocates and recovering addicts to declare that America has been doing it wrong. Speaking at the National Prescription Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta – focused on an overdose epidemic now killing some 30,000 Americans a year – President Barack Obama declared, "For too long we have viewed the problem of drug abuse ... through the lens of the criminal justice system," creating grave costs: "We end up with jails full of folks who can't function when they get out. We end up with people's lives being shattered." Touting a plan to increase drug-treatment spending by more than $1 billion – the capstone to the administration's effort to double the federal drug-treatment budget – Obama insisted, "This is a straightforward proposition: How do we save lives once people are addicted, so that they have a chance to recover? It doesn't do us much g

                                  America: Addiction by the numbers 1. 21.5 million: The amount of people aged 12 or older in 2014 had a substance use disorder in the past year. 2. 1 in 5: The amount of young adults in 2014 who were users of illicit drugs. 3. 7,800:The daily number of people 12 and over who tried an illicit drug for the first time. 4. Marijuana: The drug most new illicit drug users begin with. Followed by prescription pain relievers and then inhalants. 5. 700 Billion: The amount the abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs costs to our Nation annually in costs related to crime, lost work productivity and health care. 6. 3x: The amount the business of recovery has increased in the last 25 years. 7. 14,000: The amount of addiction treatment facilities. 8. 35 billion: The annual revenue generated by the addiction treatment industry. 9. 11%: The amount of Americans in 2013 who needed treatment for an addiction problem that actually

SAN DIEGO -- California's new law allowing life-ending drugs for the terminally ill has the strictest requirements of any of the five states that permit such prescriptions. The law in the nation's most populous state goes into effect June 9. It was approved following the widely publicized case of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old California woman with terminal brain cancer who moved to Oregon so she could legally end her life in 2014. Dr. Eric Walsh, the Oregon physician who prescribed the medication to Maynard and 19 others, says he believes terminally ill patients should have the option. "When somebody's facing the end of their life shouldn't they be in control? Shouldn't I be able to help them when they're suffering, and the burden of living becomes intolerable to them?" Walsh said. He spoke to CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook for a "60 Minutes" report on Maynard's death and the aid-in-dying movement. Dr. Dan

A fetus was discovered inside a San Antonio woman's purse while she was being arrested for drugs in a park Thursday night. Bernadette Rivera, 32, had several felonies worth of narcotics, including heroin and methamphetamine, on her — reportedly near her private area, sources told KENS-TV. During the search, Rivera openly told officers of the fetus in her purse and explained that she recently had a miscarriage. "Rivera left the hospital with the remains deciding that she would determine” the disposal of them, said San Antonio Police Department Public Information Officer Romana Lopez. Officers discovered decomposing tissue about two inches long inside a small plastic Q-Tip box covered by napkins inside Rivera's purse, San Antonio police reported. The fetus was estimated to be about 8 weeks old. Detectives determined that Rivera's possession of the fetus was not a criminal case and she is only being charged with possession of narcotics. The Medical Examiner's

A poor pup in California was found under the influence of drugs during a recent bust. The dog named Bubba tested positive to having heroin, methamphetamine and nicotine in his system following the incident in March. Bubba was treated for drug addiction and is now doing “excellent,” according to the Tustin Police Department. The dog’s owners were arrested for possession of a large quantity of illegal drugs and paraphernalia and will now add charges of animal cruelty to their rap sheet. Original story at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/california-puppy-tests-positive-heroin-meth-drug-bust-article-1.2646692

Texas dad accused of killing stepson, 3, who wouldn't stop jumping on bed A North Texas man shot and killed his 3-year-old stepson because he was upset the boy was jumping on the bed, authorities said. George Coty Wayman, 18, was arrested on capital murder and criminal trespass charges in the death of the toddler, Dominic Tra’Juan Castro, the   Wichita Falls Times Record News   reported Thursday. He was being held on bail of more than $500,000 . Wayman had scolded the boy for jumping on the bed in a trailer home in Bellevue, a small town near the Oklahoma border, Tuesday afternoon, the paper reported, citing an arrest affidavit . The boy’s mother and other adults were in the trailer at the time, the paper reported. When authorities arrived they were initially told that Dominic was jumping on the bed and that his actions accidentally caused the gun to discharge,   KFDX-TV reported. The authorities said they were eventually told that Wayman pointed the gun at the boy and

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Most Gruesome Terrorist Group In The World? *Gunmen from Islamist group Boko Haram shot or burned to death 59 pupils in a boarding school in northeast Nigeria overnight, a hospital official and security forces said on Tuesday. "Some of the students' bodies were burned to ashes," Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufai said of the attack on the Federal Government college of Buni Yadi, a secondary school in Yobe state, near the state's capital city of Damaturu. Bala Ajiya, an official at the Specialist Hospital Damaturu, told Reuters by phone the death toll had risen to 59...* What else do we know about Boko Haram? The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur makes the case that this is the worst terrorist group. This is off topic from usual posts, but I just wanted to share. As a matter a fact I will be broadening the subjects in my blog from now on. Addiction and drug news will remain the key focus because that is what I am passionate about, but If I'm getting tired of writin

At respected research centers in the United States and other countries, scientists have spent much of their professional lives in drug rehabilitation. It is not because they themselves struggle with addiction. What they are trying to rehabilitate are the drugs. Their focus is on mind-altering compounds that fell far from grace nearly half a century ago, LSD prominent among them. Along with other psychedelics, it was outlawed by the federal government, damned as bearing a high potential for abuse and offering no accepted medical benefit. But in recent years, researchers have sought to rescue hallucinogens from exile by examining their efficacy in treating certain disorders of the mind, and perhaps even in understanding the nature of consciousness and spirituality. The work of these scientists now draws the attention of Retro Report , a series of video documentaries that examine major news stories of the past and their enduring significance. Psychoactive substances, often derive

Pfizer Blocks the Use of Its Drugs in Executions The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced on Friday that it had imposed sweeping controls on the distribution of its products to ensure that none are used in lethal injections, a step that closes off the last remaining open-market source of drugs used in executions. More than 20 American and European drug companies have already adopted such restrictions, citing either moral or business reasons. Nonetheless, the decision from one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers is seen as a milestone. “With Pfizer’s announcement, all F.D.A. -approved manufacturers of any potential execution drug have now blocked their sale for this purpose,” said Maya Foa, who tracks drug companies for Reprieve, a London-based human rights advocacy group. “Executing states must now go underground if they want to get hold of medicines for use in lethal injection.” The obstacles to lethal injection have grown in the last five years as m