News, Views and Issues in Recovery Advocacy
This was originally published for Hazelden Betty Ford’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive our advocacy emails, subscribe today.
📺 WATCH: Two minutes of hope from Hazelden Betty Ford Vice President William C. Moyers, who spoke recently at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta — a talk featured New Year’s Eve on the front page of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution
INVITATION: Share YOUR recovery story. We love to do Q&As with people in recovery and include them in Hazelden Betty Ford’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. Interested? Know someone? Reach out to us here.
📕 READ: The New York Times asked 1,320 therapists around the country how their patients — and they, themselves — are coping with the pandemic. What they heard was a lot of worry about mental health in America. Here’s why. The Times published an interesting reflection as well.
🔊 LISTEN: An important truth to share far and wide: While addiction is deadlier than ever, research shows most Americans recover.
📕 READ: A federal judge overturned Purdue Pharma’s $4.5 billion opioid settlement, ruling that the Sackler family could not receive protection from civil lawsuits. The company is appealing in hopes of keeping the settlement intact but may be forced to renegotiate — in which case there is also some fear that a new deal exclude direct payouts to victims of the opioid crisis.
📺 WATCH: Hazelden Betty Ford President and CEO Dr. Joseph Lee joined MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle to discuss the origins, devastating impact and ongoing risks of the potent opioid fentanyl. Afterward, Dr. Lee added this on LinkedIn: “Isolation is in my opinion a big factor in overdoses recently. Many of those who need help with addiction rely on their supportive networks to get into treatment i.e. “how are you…I’ve been worried about you…it’s great to see you…” In addition to medications for opioid use disorder and treatment, community is critical for recovery. People heal together and suffer alone.”
📈 INFOGRAPHIC: Counterfeit pills are riskier than ever before.
📕 READ: Our colleague Lauren Fish sends kudos, via the Chicago Tribune, to the Chicago Department of Public Health for its work distributing free fentanyl test strips.
📕 READ: A new national poll shows encouraging signs of reduced stigma around farmer mental health. And a JAMA report looking at the broader population shows stigma related to depression is declining but not the stigma surrounding other conditions, including alcohol use disorder.
📕 READ: NYC will install public health vending machines to increase access to naloxone and clean needles.
📕 READ: Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller shares how he stayed healthy and sober during his time off due to injury. He’s back on the field now, and ready for the playoffs!
📕 READ: Hazelden Betty Ford’s ongoing collaborative work in Kentucky included recently bringing in recovery advocates to speak to women in jail.
📕 READ: Faces & Voices of Recovery announced it is assuming responsibility for International Recovery Day, an annual global event held every Sept. 30 since 2019. Learn more.
📕 READ: Take a look inside NYC’s supervised injection sites . Will they bolster overdose prevention efforts in other cities?
📕 READ: The dean of our Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies has been promoted. Kevin Doyle, EdD, will now serve as the school’s president and CEO.
🔊 LISTEN: Speaking of Dr. Doyle, he participated in a podcast talking about the need to reform so-called barrier crimes which too often treat people in recovery as unworthy of employment.
📺 WATCH: On the heels of Minnesota Gophers football coach PJ Fleck doing so, Hazelden Betty Ford President and CEO Dr. Joseph Lee will connect with BARR Center Founder and Executive Director Angela Jerabek in what will be the second video in BARR Center’s excellent new Leading with Culture series. In the video that premieres Thursday, Jan. 20, Dr. Lee and Jerabek will discuss prevention, their personal leadership journeys, and how our two organizations have partnered for the past decade to support young people and ensure they are not just surviving, but thriving.
📕 READ: Researchers looking at opioid use disorder treatment in hospitals reached this conclusion: “Just as it is unacceptable for major hospitals to be without specialist services such as cardiologists . . it should be considered unacceptable to be w/o addiction services amid an expanding overdose crisis.” Amen!
📕 READ: Congrats to Judas Priest’s Rob Halford on 36 years of recovery!
📕 READ: The quest for effective, safe addiction vaccines continues …
📕 READ: Lured by America’s push toward legalized cannabis, cartels have abandoned many decades-old marijuana farms in Mexico, moving their operations to Northern California where they can blend in seamlessly alongside legitimate grows, according to this report. Same story in Oregon.
📕 READ: Most national insiders doubt a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill will succeed in 2022, according to this report. And a new national Emerson College poll found that 62% of registered voters do not support legalizing marijuana when presented with other, non-legalization policy options.
🤔Hmm: This report says cannabis may “miraculously” be able to block COVID-19.
📕 READ: Opioid prescriptions dispensed by retail pharmacies declined by 21% from 2008 to 2018.
🔊 LISTEN: Our former colleague Dr. Marv Seppala contributed to a recent episode (“The Enforcer”) of The Comeback, “an immersive, cinematic documentary series about meteoric success, devastating falls and inspirational comebacks — all told by the people who lived them.” His expertise is peppered throughout the 36-minute episode: he appears around 5:55, at 17 min, at 28 min, and again at 31:15, speaking to the neurobiology of addiction and the importance of love and a strong support system.
📕 READ: If you didn’t catch the release last summer of Dopamine Nation, the book by our friend Dr. Anna Lembke from Stanford, a new article on the Institute for Family Studies website explores her intriguing premise: that too much access to pleasure is actually causing more pain, making us all more vulnerable to addiction, and making the wisdom of recovery more relevant to everyone.
📕 READ: A New York Times editorial board members argues for the Medicaid Re-Entry Act, which would allow states to cover people with health insurance as they transition out of incarceration.
📕 READ: The NFL is launching a program designed to educate fans who choose to engage in sports betting to do so responsibly.
📕 READ: Historian and deep-thinking recovery advocate William White reflects on attraction v. promotion in recovery support services and how best to link people to help.
🧠 RECOVERY ALMANAC: Four years ago this week, Facing Addiction and the National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence announced an agreement to merge. While the historic merger was short-lived, the merged organization folding 17 months later, both organizations’ legacies continue to influence recovery advocacy today.
