Heard First in A.A.: “Letting Go” is Good for Your Health
… and more recovery advocacy news, issues & musings
Curation with occasional commentary by Jeremiah Gardner
NOTE: This was originally published for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive our advocacy emails, subscribe today.
📕 READ: In another example of science validating the wisdom of Alcoholics Anonymous, a new study found that “letting go” of anger and resentments—and forgiving others — is good for health.
📕 READ: In related news, isolation — i.e. loneliness — is bad for health.
📕 READ: Here’s a study validating something else legions of people in recovery can already attest to: Exercise May Help People Cut Back on Drugs and Alcohol.
📺 WATCH: We are so grateful to Hockey Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr, his wife Lisa, and all the stars who came out for the 3rd annual “Grant Fuhr Celebrity Golf Invitational” benefitting the Betty Ford Center.
📕 READ: Variety highlighted that sober star Macklemore will be part of Mobilize Recovery 2023. Yay! So will we!
📺 WATCH or 🔊 LISTEN: On the wonderful Rich Roll podcast, actor Rainn Wilson (from The Office) sounds a call I’ve made myself: “We Need A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION.” Who knew he wrote a whole book about it?!
📕 READ: If you’re watching Survivor Season 44, I hope you’re rooting for recovery advocate and counselor Carolyn Wiger from Minnesota! Some say she’s the most interesting Survivor player in the show’s history.
📺 WATCH: Lady A’s Charles Kelley and his wife Cassie Kelley shared about their path to sobriety in an exclusive interview with CBS.
📕 READ: Netflix announced a new six-part series, Painkiller, about the origins of the opioid crisis and the Sackler dynasty, based on the book “Pain Killer” by Barry Meier and the New Yorker magazine article “The Family That Built an Empire of Pain” by Patrick Radden Keefe. The “scripted” series will debut Aug. 10.
📺 WATCH: My first music hero James Taylor talked about his 40 years of recovery on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
🔊 LISTEN: Journalist and “Heart of the Matter” podcast host Elizabeth Vargas interviews actress Dedee Pfeiffer, who discusses recovery as a time of rebirth, mentions her keynote speaking role at the Betty Ford Center’s 40th anniversary, and recalls how she helped her sister — actress Michelle Pfeiffer — prepare for her role as Betty Ford in Showtime’s The First Lady.
📕 READ: From my talented colleague Tori Utley: ‘A living, breathing, screaming invitation to believe better things’.
🔊 LISTEN: Our friend — journalist and recovery advocate Neil Scott in Seattle — recently re-discovered the long-lost recording of an interview he did with Betty Ford at her home in the summer of 1982. It was for a cover story published in Alcoholism magazine that October, the month the Betty Ford Center opened.
🤔 DID YOU KNOW? The Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School (my master’s degree alma mater) has introduced a pilot Alternative Admission Pathways opportunity for prospective students who do not have a bachelor’s degree. Check it out and share.
📕 READ: Minnesota is a step closer to becoming the 23rd state to commercialize marijuana. Legal pot is more potent than ever — and still largely unregulated. Will Minnesota learn from others’ mistakes?
📕 READ: Almost a third of schizophrenia cases in young men are triggered by cannabis use, according to a new study — highlighting the need to proactively screen for, prevent, and treat cannabis use disorder especially among young people.
📕 READ: According to the annual economic report from MJDaily, Americans already spend more on legal marijuana than chocolate or craft beer.
📕 READ: The rate of overdose deaths due to fentanyl rose by 279% from 2016 to 2021 in the U.S., according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
📕 READ: Bipartisan support now exists for a once-radical approach to drugs: reducing harm. German Lopez at the New York Times declares it is significant part of “America’s New Drug Policy.”
📕 READ: A trio of West Coast doctors is reporting a buprenorphine breakthrough thanks to an unlikely-seeming medication: ketamine.
📺 WATCH: Nice speaker series for National Fentanyl Awareness Day.
📕 READ: As billions of opioid settlement dollars flow to state and local governments, the federal government is mostly quiet on crucial spending decisions across the country.
📕 READ: Narcan vending machines are becoming more common.
📕 READ: With Narcan, affordability is the key factor in access.
📝 REGISTER TO JOIN US: We can’t wait for the Faces & Voices of Recovery annual Recovery Leadership Summit and America Honors Recovery gala. Sign up, and we’ll see you there in DC!
🤔 DID YOU KNOW? Sobriety is good for your skin, too.
📺 WATCH: A New York Times opinion video makes the public health case for raising alcohol taxes. Recovery advocates continue to push for an alcohol tax hike in Oregon, which hasn’t raised the tax since 1977!
📕 READ: Hard to believe this is a first, but JetBlue is making a first-of-its-kind onboard change: offering nonalcoholic beer on all domestic flights.
📕 READ: A 36-year-old man with an addiction to alcohol has become the first person in China to receive a surgically implanted chip designed to remove his craving for a drink.
📕 READ: Alcohol consumption increased substantially across the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the impact was far greatest among American Indian and Alaska Native populations, according to a study.
📕 READ: Teenage girls come up with Alexa skill to help people struggling with alcohol use.
📕 READ: Sober tourism is a growing trend.
📕 READ: Recent studies have found that too many pilots are avoiding health care, particularly when it comes to mental health care, due to fear they’ll lose their jobs.
📕 READ: Young Australians are drinking less. Why so sober-curious?
📺 WATCH: The film we screened in December at the Betty Ford Center — by our friend, director Debra Gonsher Vinik — has been renamed and re-edited into two parts for airing this month and in September on ABC stations across America. Check listings here, and watch the trailer.
📺 WATCH: We got a preview of it last fall, and now it’s open: Minneapolis Fire Station 14 is now a “safe station” where people struggling with addiction can access recovery resources.
📕 READ: Oregon’s new behavioral health director says the state is at a turning point.
📕 READ: The Oregonian praised some legislative steps to improve the state’s addiction treatment and recovery system but criticized the lack of a strategy to help teens.
📺 WATCH: Highly Favored is a new Twin Cities magazine by and for people who have experienced substance use issues.
📕 READ: Hazelden Betty Ford has a new chief legal, advocacy and compliance officer — my boss Emily Piper!
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Jeremiah Gardner is director of communications and public affairs for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
