Recovery Advocacy News, Issues and Musings (July 2023)
Curation with occasional commentary by Jeremiah Gardner
NOTE: This was published for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive our advocacy emails, subscribe today.
🎉 NOW AVAILABLE: Check out and download the 2023 Recovery Month Toolkit in English and/or Spanish.
📕 READ: We observe BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month each July. The goal is to promote cultural competence in counseling among clinicians serving marginalized, oppressed, and disenfranchised people. Eliminating minority stigma, bias, and mental health misdiagnoses is within our reach.
📕 READ: People profiled the 40-year friendship and convergent advocacy of First Ladies Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford. The formidable duo recognized early on that substance use disorders and other mental health conditions ought to be part of the same conversation. Their collaboration was a great demonstration of nonpartisanship and breaking down silos.
📕 READ: U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Dr. Rahul Gupta are also bringing together the national conversations on substance use and mental health, particularly among youth.
📢 BIG NEWS: The Administration issued proposed rules this week that would strengthen regulations governing enforcement of the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act — the law aimed at ending discrimination in the coverage of mental health and substance use conditions. The intent of the new rules is to make it easier to hold insurers accountable for violations of the law. Hazelden Betty Ford applauds the move and will be among those submitting comments urging swift finalization and implementation.The Kennedy Forum’s founder and lead author of the Federal Parity Act, former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, remarked:
“There has not been a greater opportunity to expand access to mental health and substance use care, since I authored the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act with my late colleague Representative Jim Ramstad and stood in the oval office while President George W. Bush signed the legislation into law.”
📕 READ: In America the Stoned, a comprehensive look at the normalization of marijuana use, a person in recovery from cannabis use disorder says, “For most casual users, it’s harmless, but the legalization era will also leave a trail of ruined lives.” That seems an almost certain prediction because it’s already happening. But these are also lives that can be reclaimed and restored with professional help and community-based support. Though the risks of cannabis use have been wildly downplayed and distorted, let’s be clear about the hope of recovery.
📕 READ: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has prioritized addiction treatment and wants the city, for the first time, to help pay for it. She wants to use city funds to supplement county-administered Medi-Cal reimbursements so that providers can once again offer residential programs that last at least 180 days.
📕 REFERENCE: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has issued a new TIP (Treatment Improvement Protocol) — №64 — devoted to integrating peer support services into addiction treatment settings.
📕 READ: White House officials meet with drug manufacturers to discuss increasing access and affordability of FDA-approved overdose reversal medications.
🔊 LISTEN: Are you a fan of Smartless, the wildly popular podcast series hosted by actors and real-life friends Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes? Bateman and Arnett are both openly sober and in recovery, and one of many great episodes — the 100th — featured guest Bradley Cooper, who discusses gratitude for his own sobriety.
📕 READ: Congrats to Cynthia Garcia Magallanes, the new executive director of Minnesota Recovery Connection! And thanks to outgoing leader Wendy Jones, who is moving on to serve as the executive director of a new nonprofit she helped to found, the Minnesota Alliance of Recovery Community Organizations.
🔊 LISTEN: This is a can’t-miss episode of The Rich Roll podcast — a monologue on his inspiring recovery journey, with lessons for us all.
📕 READ: FDA creates path for psychedelic medication trials.
📕 READ: Fentanyl is dominating headlines, but there’s a more comprehensive drug problem happening.
🔊 LISTEN: I’m late to the game on this one, but Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, hosts his own podcast, House Calls, in which he and guests explore how they navigate the messiness and uncertainties of life to find meaning and joy. Very recovery-esque I must say!
📕 READ: A study from the University of Vermont investigated a link between blue eyes and alcoholism. Hmm…
📕 READ: While heavy drinkers can tolerate a certain amount of alcohol better than light or moderate drinkers, the concept of “holding your liquor” is more nuanced than commonly believed, according to new research from the University of Chicago.
📕 READ: Alcohol is a major factor in gun violence. Why is it ignored?
📕 READ: Xylazine appears to worsen the life-threatening effects of opioids in rats, according to a new NIH study.
Want more content like this curated and sent directly to your Inbox? SUBSCRIBE to Hazelden Betty Ford’s monthly Advocacy Update.
Jeremiah Gardner is director of communications and public affairs for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
