Brother Blur's Addiction  

addiction workplace

Discussions of addiction, recovery and lifestyles

Discussions of addiction, recovery and lifestyles

HBO, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), has produced a multi-platform campaign to educate Americans about advancements in the understanding of addiction and effective new treatments. Their campaign is built around a 90-minute show, Addiction that is part of a 14-part series that will air during a free HBO preview weekend, kicking off with a March 15 broadcast of Addiction at 9 p.m. ET.

HBO’s Addiction has six themes. One is insurance discrimination. Our nation is in dire need of a health care system that fully addresses the medical needs and social supports for people struggling with or newly in recovery from addiction. Insurance companies typically impose higher co-payments, deductibles and more restrictive visit limits for mental health and substance use/addiction coverage then they do for other healthcare, resulting in tragic losses of life. Faces & Voices of Recovery’s Addiction Recovery Equity Campaign seeks to change those restrictive policies

HBO is talking about addiction. How does that fit into your work?

• The HBO show portrays the reality of addiction and the hope of new pathways to recovery.
• I am here as an advocate for Changed Life Ltd to talk about what’s keeping too many of our friends and neighbors from achieving long-term recovery.
• Insurance discrimination, highlighted in the show, denies people with addiction the same insurance protection as people with other health issues.
• As a result of this discrimination, many are unable to get the treatment and recovery support services necessary to achieve long-term recovery.
• While there are many pathways to recovery, treatment and recovery support services should not be denied to those with addiction to drugs or alcohol.
• My hope is that individuals like those portrayed in the documentary will receive help to get better just like millions of Americans and realize the benefits of long-term recovery.

As a recovery advocate, we are talk show is going to highlight the themes stress by HBO - in the long run we hope that people will take away from the HBO  the following

• Addiction is an honest and eye-opening portrayal of people who are affected by addiction. I hope people will come away from the documentary asking the question “What’s the next step and how can we help people with addiction get the help they need?”
• The next step is long-term recovery. I am in long-term recovery which means I have not used alcohol (or other drugs) for (number) years. There are millions of other Americans just like me who have done the same.
• If you are a family member: The next step is long-term recovery. My [son/daughter/husband/wife] is in long-term recovery which means that he/she has not used alcohol (or other drugs) for x number years. There are millions of other Americans just like them who have done the same.
• Everyone has a stake in making sure that when someone needs treatment, help and support that they can get it.

This our show will be raising a number of issues related to addiction and its treatment. How do you think we should solve these problems? Is one type of treatment better than another?

• Addiction and treatment are complicated issues and there are many pathways people can take to achieve long-term recovery.
• We must ensure that appropriate recovery support services and treatments are available to people who need them, when they need them.
• It is crucial, therefore, that we stop insurance discrimination, which denies people with addiction from getting the same protection as people with other health issues.
• I am living proof that people can recover from addiction and make a better life for themselves and their families, but I would not have been able to do it without help and support.

Please come and visit - your support is need!

This show's theme is to request "guidance so we would not look stupid!!"

The Addict's Prayer for Guidance

This show suffered some technical difficulties - we were unable to engage any phone visitors. It forced me to demonstrate my ability to function under the stress of looking stupid!! Ironically I take away the lesson that our show - life - goes on even if we suffer technical difficulties. Listen to the show archive to see how well I bore up under the stress.

HBO companion Booklet

NIDA Releases Companion Guide to HBO's 'Addiction' Series
February 14, 2007 The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has released a layman's guide to alcohol and other drug addiction to complement the new HBO documentary series "Addiction ," which premieres in Washington, D.C., this week.

"Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction" is a 30-page booklet that provides an overview of the science supporting the concept of addiction as a brain disease. Information on prevention and treatment also is included.

"Thanks to science, our views and our responses to drug abuse have changed dramatically, but many people today still do not understand why people become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug abuse," said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow. "This booklet aims to fill that knowledge gap by providing scientific information about the disease of drug addiction in language that is easily understandable to the public."

An online version of the booklet is posted at the NIDA website; PDF and print copies also are available.

Quote for Today

Stupidity does not stand in the way of wisdom, for the disguise of the wise is to avow unknowing

Looking Stupid or what?

The Bush administration's new National Drug Control Strategy ranks prescription-drug misuse right below marijuana use as the nation's biggest drug problem and sets a goal of cutting abuse of prescription medications by 15 percent in the next three years, the New York Times reported Feb. 10.

The document, released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) late last week, calls on states to adopt prescription-drug monitoring programs to combat abuse.

Drug czar John Walters touted a 23-percent decline in illicit-drug use since 2001 but also called for increased drug-testing in schools, saying the U.S. would "look stupid in five or ten years if we don't do this."

Critics responded that the raw number of drug users was less important than whether the overall harm from drug use and prohibition declined -- which they say has not.

Marijuana cost us how much

An analysis of data from the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) indicates that it is costing American taxpayers about $1 billion annually to incarcerate people for marijuana offenses, AlterNet reported Feb. 10.

DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics said in a new report ("Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004") that 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates locked up for drug crimes are marijuana offenders, amounting to about 33,655 state inmates and 10,785 federal inmates. When correlated with DOJ prison spending data, the totals show that the price tag for incarcerating marijuana offenders tops $1 billion annually.

The report said that the non-prison costs of marijuana prosecution in the U.S. amounts to another $8 billion. The FBI recently reported that 786,545 people were arrested on marijuana charges in 2005; about 88 percent were charged only with possession. The FBI figures were an all-time high even though reports say that marijuana consumption in the U.S. is declining.

Drug Dealers in whose neighborhood

Drug traffickers are buying suburban homes -- often in new neighborhoods that offer the cloak of anonymity -- and setting up indoor marijuana-growing operations to avoid detection by police, USA Today reported Feb. 7.

Elaborate hydroponic growing systems have been discovered in dozens of suburban homes in the Sacramento, Calif., area. An organized-crime group based in San Francisco's Chinatown is suspected of running the grow operation. "They're purchasing homes and plunking down marijuana factories smack dab in the middle of our residential neighborhoods," said Gordon Taylor, a DEA agent in Sacramento. "Our theory is they're picking newer neighborhoods because of the relative anonymity. They know the neighbors don't know each other as well as they would in established neighborhoods."

Similar suburban grow operations have been uncovered in Merrillville, Ind.; Westminster, Md.; Kankakee County, Ill., Derry, N.H., Bellevue, Wash., and St. Lucie County, Fla.

Criminal groups are paying up to $750,000 for suburban houses, usually with no money down. The homes are gutted, with all space used for growing marijuana. Utility meters are bypassed to avoid detection due to high utility usage. Some growers even put out trash cans regularly and hire gardeners to tend the property to keep nosy neighbors off the scent.

Responding to technical difficulties

Responding to technical difficulties I refocused the show. I proceeded to discuss my underlying beliefs and hopes for building community. The refocusing also included statements of out reach and invitation to those who are currently listening or will listen to the archive.

Echoing the Voice of Howard Thurman

Introduction to my intellectual and spiritual guide - Howard Thurman. Professor Thurman was the first dean of Rankin Memorial Chapel, Howard University and Professor at Boston University. What his contribution to my approach and sensibilities are is mystical interpretation of Christianity. In fact, all the prayers and meditations I compose are based in those same sensibilities.