Recovery Advocacy News, Issues & Miscellaneous Musings (March 2023)
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: The RAND Corporation published a new 600-page report on America’s staggering opioid crisis, calling it, “arguably the most comprehensive analysis of opioids in 21st century America.”
📕 READ: Each St. Patrick’s Day in recent years, it seems more people are partying sober!
📕 READ: Good point here — making Narcan available over the counter may be a no-brainer, but until prices come down, the impact is likely to be limited.
📕 READ: Calling it malpractice, recovery advocate Ryan Hampton blasted the DEA’s new federal telemedicine guidelines that will roll back access to buprenorphine over telehealth. Having special restrictions on access to addiction medications but not medications for other conditions, does indeed seem out of step with the spirit of parity.
📕 READ: As a diabetes medication gains more attention, a surprising side effect has emerged: in some people, it appears to curb the desire to drink.
📕 READ: John Shinholser, one of the greats in recovery advocacy nationally, announced he is retiring as president of the recovery community organization he co-founded in Virginia, The McShin Foundation.
📕 READ: Congrats to our friend, Dr. Jonathan Lofgren, and all of the new inductees to the Online Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment and Recovery Hall of Fame!
📕 READ: Congrats to pro golfer Chris Kirk for winning the Honda Classic. Kirk walked away from golf in 2019 to address substance use & mental health challenges. Now he’s a champion again. “I’m so grateful for my sobriety … my family … for everyone.”
📕 READ: As a U.S. senator, Joe Biden argued that the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy should be elevated to a Cabinet-level position. Twenty years later, some — including former Congressman Patrick Kennedy — are calling on the President to heed his own past advice.
📕 READ: A half century after the U.S. began shuttering or downsizing state psychiatric institutions, many mayors are changing course on psychiatric commitments, saying it’s inhumane to leave people languishing without mental health treatment — even if it is involuntary.
📕 READ: From prisoners to professionals — a graduation ceremony at a state prison in California was held for 20 men trained to become alcohol and drug counselors. Very cool!
📕 READ: In a new blog post, Dr. Kevin Doyle — president and CEO of the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School — discusses the stages of change as they relate to recovery from substance use and mental health disorders, with our friends from Lyra Health.
📺 WATCH: New movie alert — God’s Time is a New York comedy about two best friends in recovery who grow concerned when, at a meeting, the woman they’re infatuated with reveals her plan to murder her ex-boyfriend. The film, which hit theaters just a couple weeks ago, was directed by Daniel Antebi, who is in recovery himself.
📕 READ: Oklahoma voters rejected a measure to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Elsewhere, Hazelden Betty Ford continues to argue for robust guardrails to protect youth.
📕 READ: Alcohol taxes reduce drinking and therefore are good for public health. They’re also technically regressive — like every consumption tax, they take a larger percentage of income from lower income people. Great piece here by journalist Ted Alcorn weighing the pros and cons.
📕 READ: In Georgia, opioid distributors were cleared of liability to Georgia families hurt by addiction. A lot to consider in this case, which illustrates the enormous challenges that victims of the opioid crisis have had in getting direct compensation from the pharmaceutical industry.
📕 READ: The Massachusetts operator of a chain of addiction treatment clinics has been charged in federal court with millions of dollars of health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and obstruction.
🔊 LISTEN: Do you speak Spanish? Do you have friends, loved ones or people you serve who speak Spanish? Check out these episodes of Hazelden Betty Ford’s Let’s Talk podcast: Protecting Our Families and Communities from Addiction (Spanish) and How to Help Someone Who’s Addicted (Spanish).
📺 WATCH: “You can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside,” said Lady Gaga, reflecting on connection and healing ahead of her powerful performance of “Hold My Hand” at the 2023 Oscars.
📕 READ: Want to reduce binge drinking among teens? Try taxing e-cigarettes. New research also found that a tax on electronic cigarettes reduced drunken-driving fatalities for teenagers.
📕 READ: New York and Washington among more states weighing a lower legal threshold for driving while intoxicated.
📕 READ: In the country of Latvia, drunk drivers’ cars are being donated to Ukraine’s war effort.
👀 SPOTTED AT SXSW: Great to see North Dakota First Lady and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Trustee Kathryn Burgum together with our friend Dr. Lipi Roy on a panel at the annual South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. They were joined by NIDA Deputy Director Dr. Wilson Compton and Pear Therapeutics’ Yuri Maricich. The group discussed the urgent need to reduce stigma, increase education about substance use disorders, and improve access to evidence-based treatment and harm-reduction tools.
📕 READ: Great to see the Family Support Services for Addiction Act reintroduced in Congress. Time to get it across the finish line in 2023.
📕 READ: The New York Times devoted nearly all of its Feb. 26 Sunday Opinion section to a deep-dive piece written by a journalist who spent a year observing a nonprofit’s harm reduction efforts in New York City.
📕 READ: Apparently, Black Out Rage Gallons (BORG) are now the latest dumb, dangerous thing on TikTok and college campuses.
📕 READ: Among the legions of people giving up alcohol is billionaire Marc Andreessen.
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Jeremiah Gardner is director of communications and public affairs for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
