I will be doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) tomorrow at 3 pm EST on Reddit.
Check out reddit.com/r/iama, and ask me a question.
Archives for September 2016
Tough Times Feed America’s Opioid Epidemic: What You Need To Know
The Heroin Epidemic in Huntington, W. VA
CNN.com recently published a story called, “In America’s drug death capital: How heroin is scarring the next generation,” Wayne Drash and Max Blau, who reported the story, write intelligently about the heroin epidemic in Huntington, West Virginia. They tell the story the way it should be told.
The Painful Later Years of Frances Passik
Steven D. Passik’s mom (Fran) and dad (Ike), and their granddaughter, Sofia (Steven’s daughter). That picture was taken almost exactly 22 years ago.
Steven D. Passik, Ph.D., is a Pennsylvania-based pain psychologist. I’m proud to call him a friend. He is a giant in the field of pain medicine, but that doesn’t make his family members immune to the problems that other chronic patients face.
Steve lost his mother on September 14, 2016. He’s given me permission to share her story here.
The Painful Later Years of Frances Passik
Born 1/10/32
Died 9/14/16
3 Reasons the New CDC Guidelines May Contribute to the Cost of Addiction
In the September 13 issue of Vice, Maia Szalavitz challenges the myth that the U.S. can solve the opioid crisis by reducing the supply. According to her biography published in Wikipedia, “[Szalavitz] has been awarded the American Psychological Association’s Division 50 Award for Contributions to the Addictions, the Media Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the Drug Policy Alliance‘s 2005 Edward M. Brecher Award for Achievement.”
Szalavitz is an informed and highly accomplished neuroscience journalist who applies common sense to the opioid epidemic. She says, “If America really wants to reduce the death toll from its opioid crisis, we need to focus on reducing demand, not supply.”
This is The Reason Heroin Gave One Woman a Second Chance at Life
Detective Justin Albauer, who works for the Martin County Sheriff’s Department in Florida, pulled over Brianna Byrnes’s car in August 2015. That is a day that Byrnes will always remember.
A Second Chance At Life
In a poignant CNN story, we can read about what happened. Detective Albauer arrested Byrnes. She served time in jail, and a second chance at life emerged.
Brianna had two bags of heroin in her car when she was stopped. She says the heroin was there to allow her to get through the night without experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Brianna was like most people who become dependent on heroin, in that her main focus was to avoid withdrawal rather than to get high.
September Is Pain Awareness Month: How YOU Can Help Now
According to the American Chronic Pain Association’s web site, “The month of September has been declared Pain Awareness Month. Pain Awareness Month is a time when various organizations work to raise public awareness of issues in the area of pain and pain management.”
September Is Pain Awareness Month
The American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA) doesn’t boast about it, but Pain Awareness Month actually came about because of its efforts. It started in 2001 when the ACPA brought together a coalition of groups under the banner Partners for Understanding Pain to create the first Pain Awareness Month.