The News Tribune Tacoma, WA
M. Alexander Otto
November 2nd, 2007
The first study comparing a new addiction treatment, Prometa, to a placebo was released Thursday by Hythiam, the Santa Monica, Calif., company that owns the rights to Prometa. In the 30-day study, 67 meth-addicted subjects got Prometa, and 67 got a placebo. Meth cravings dropped in both groups, but dropped more in the Prometa group. A combined-craving score dropped 31.1 points in the group that got Prometa, and 20.9 points in the placebo group, a statistically significant difference, according to a Hythiam press release.
However, the difference in the two group’s self-reported meth use…

This is just too good!!!

Wow. These old educational movies are so weird!?!

Singer Kelly Clarkson sings her new single, “Sober” live on ABC…

Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, (founding members of Blind Faith) play “Can’t Find My Way Home” (release 1969) at the Highclere Castle, in Hampshire, UK (May 2007).

Lyrics, for those who would like to know!

Come down off your throne
And leave your body alone
Somebody must change
You are the reason
I’ve been waiting so long
Somebody holds the key
Well, I’m near the end and I just ain’t got the time
Well, I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home

Come down on your own
And leave your money at home
Somebody must change
You are the reason
I’ve been waiting all these years
Somebody holds the key
I’m near the end, and…

Blogger, In Repair, describes her experience on the road to recovery…
“…Stumbling after Christ and “in repair” — i’m not together, but i’m getting there…
Nothing is worth more than this day — Goethe”

Thursday, December 20, 2007
Fence Sitting

During the meetings, I have heard on more than one occasion you are to take what you want and leave the rest.
The meeting on Tuesday night was rough because not only am in recovery for my alcohol dependency, I still have a difficult time with the “it is a sickness” part and I am trying to reconcile that within myself. I had a shitful childhood…

Take a look at this site, Right Turn, dedicated to sobriety through music, musicians and safe and sober live performances…

Treatment for Creative People on the Road to Recovery

Right Turn is a non-profit organization founded in March of 2003 by Addictions Specialist Woody Giessmann with a vision of providing innovative programming, individual support, rehabilitation services and ongoing encouragement to New England artists and entertainers (and their families) who’ve been affected by alcoholism, addiction, and psychiatric issues.
…we understand that artists and entertainers are a population that is typically isolated and unlikely to enter into traditional treatment facilities, we have developed a unique…

Thursday, October 4, 2007
You’d think by now that everyone knew. Yet I was active in A.A. and its meetings for two or three years before I ever heard mention of the founding. Finally, I learned that the date was June 10, 1935 - the date that Dr. Bob had his last drink. But that didn’t satisfy today’s historians. They tinkered with dates and concluded that Dr. Bob didn’t have his last drink on June 10th, that the medical convention to which he went in Atlantic City never occurred when AAs said it did, and that A.A. was founded on some…

Since 1996, photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally has documented the families in her Brooklyn neighborhood, quietly witnessing their struggle with poverty, social institutions, and the illicit drug trade. Having inspired the likes of Eugene Richards and Thomas Roma, Brooklyn provides an inexhaustible muse, and Kenneally comes to the familiar ground with a fresh perspective. Her poignant, psychological photographs span generations, tracing the same people she sees everyday on her street. With her camera, Kenneally narrates their tale of both hope and despair as she explores how her subjects empower themselves in a lost culture of drugs and prison. Money, Power, Respect:…

Check out more of The Raw File’s Brenda Ann Kenneally at her website. There are some slideshows and commentaries that are just amazing!

Brenda Ann Kenneally: Biography

Money, Power, Respect: Real Life Stories from the Hip-Hop Generation
Soros Criminal Justice Media Fellow Brenda Ann Kenneally attended the University of Miami, where she earned a B.S. in sociology and photojournalism, and New York University, where she received an M.A. in studio art.

Kenneally has been documenting the causes, effects, and economy of the use and sale of illegal drugs in her Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. The mother of an eight-year-old, Kenneally has focused on how…

This is Part II of the story of Tata and Angel. Angel is now in jail and speaks of her experience after Tata died in the hospital…

Tata met Angel in a drug rehab after she had been arrested for dealing to support her habit. She had a long record of drug related charges, so the two-year treatment program came with a high alternative sentence of 5-10 years if she failed to complete it. Tata’s joy at having found true love at last had similar conditions. When Angel’s terminal diagnosis got him an early release from the program, Tata decided to…

The Raw File was created to produce and distribute socially reflective media that will provoke discussion. It is their hope that these conversations will intersect the lines of race and class, private and professional. Here they have put together a gripping and painful bio about two drug addicts and their love for each other…

Tata was already a fifteen -year veteran of the United States War on Drugs when she traded a decade of freedom to fight with her husband during the final days of his battle with liver cancer. Tata and Angel, met in a court mandated drug program. The rehab…

MINDFUL RECOVERY – A Spiritual Path to Healing from Addiction

By Thomas and Beverly Bien

Reviewed by Ginger Bauler

The title of this gem of a book is misleading. When one reads the title, one assumes that this is some sort of guide to recovery via Eastern Philosophy. Although the book does focus on processes more common to those already familiar with meditation, the authors have combined the practices of Buddhism with Western science and psychology in such a way that the reader is comfortable and at ease with the language of this journey. And the quest is universal – we are all…

Check out this excerpt from xdogotogodx a.k.a. Dog to God (I think!) and helping a lost newcomer at an A.A. meeting…

Thursday, December 13, 2007

I was in a meeting last night and had a newcomer approach me afterward, saying he thought he was in the wrong meeting. Well, he was. Wrong addiction. He was - as most newcomers - disoriented, and scared, and unsure of himself. He stumbled out the words about how to find the right place for him.

This meeting happened to be at a large rehab facility that has a lot of meetings. Fortunately, I get around to a wide…

Looks like a captivating read, The Discovering Alcoholic gives us some insight and points out some worthy quotes…

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Thu, 12/06/2007
I ran across an interesting interview today with John O’Dowd, author of Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story. It’s a biography of Barabara Payton, a 50’s A-movie starlet that at the top of her game plunged into alcoholic abyss from which she never returned. In little more than a decade she went from starring on the silver screen with the likes of Gregory Peck to the life of an alcoholic prostitute dead at the young age of 37.

While it may…

This is an insane story! A total MUST read. Sails of Oblivion comes to us from Melbourne, Australia.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Land of the Free
An interesting story has come to light thanks to my friend the lustrous Emely McCord, pictured below.

Just two weeks ago, her sister Annie was travelling in Canada with her boyfriend Jim. They had crossed the border from the States and were attempting to return when they ran into a little strife.

Since they looked like a couple of unscrubbed, long-haired hopheads, the border cops singled them out. Because of her dual citizenship [Aust/US], Annie was partially protected, but…

Join Together is working hard in advancing alcohol and drug policy, prevention and treatment through online campaigns, partnerships with other organizations, direct technical assistance and the development of research-based policy proposals to help professionals and activists throughout the country work for more effective policies.

Provide Treatment vs. Incarceration

Many crimes are rooted in alcohol and drug addictions. Yet, too often, nonviolent offenders are simply sent to jail and not treated for the addiction problems that led them there.

When we release individual with untreated addictions back into communities, they usually return to their friends, their habits, and their crimes.

More than half of those in…

A recent article in The Daily Mail covers the story of Amy Winehouses’ recent drug and alcohol binging. Blogger, The Discovering Alcoholic, has a very interesting and informative site with many captivating entries, such as this one…

Amy Winehouse: Cool, Creative, and Coping?
Tue, 12/04/07

I wish singer Amy Winehouse the best of luck, I really do. I will however use her addicted plight as a chance to highlight the myth that the substance abuse of artists such as Winehouse and others is part of a creative process or that it is “necessary to dull a finer sensibility.” This picture along with the corresponding story…

Parker L is, “a 50 year old recovering alcoholic artist. Since I had my moment of clarity a few 24 hours ago I cannot stop drawing and creating things out of found objects. Outsider/visionary in the truest sense of the word.”

Check out some of his artwork…

Well, here it is, December 14th and I haven’t bought one Christmas present - know what? With the exception of a 6 year old girl, I’m not planning on purchasing any presents this year. And this is not a “Bah! Humbug!” response to the over commercialization of the holidays, although it would be very appropriate, indeed.

It is, however, a choice I have made slowly, over each year of sobriety, to focus on things other than “things” to make this season “bright.” When I was drinking and drugging, Christmas was a time of endless parties (great reasons to imbibe in whatever…