Are Incidents of Co-Occurring Disorders Increasing?

A treatment center in Arizona called High Standards Recovery seems to be seeing an increase in co-occurring disorders, according to this article. An individual is said to have co-occurring disorders when they are suffering from a drug or alcohol addiction and a mental health issue (severe depression, anxiety disorders, etc) at the same time. The complex nature of both of these types of illnesses makes it difficult to successfully treat each issue separately. Instead, success is much more likely when they can be treated together.

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Get Answers to Your Prescription Drug Questions

Do you have a question about prescription or over-the-counter drug abuse? Wondering why these medications are dangerous when misused, what populations are most likely to misuse them, or how to treat this type of problem? Submit a question to Recovery Month’s Ask the Expert – H. Westley Clark, the Director at the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). He’ll be answering them in the next Road to Recovery program. Click here to submit your questions, and select Road to Recovery as the question type.

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Impact of Health Care Reform on Addiction Services

Ever since the United States Congress passed the Health Care Reform bill, I’ve been curious what the impact of the bill will be on alcohol/substance abuse treatment and prevention services. Slowly, more information is becoming available on this matter.

According to the Legal Action Center, all of the new plans that are created “will be required to cover mental health and substance use disorder services.” Specifically,

• Addiction and mental health benefits will be provided in the same manner as all other basic medical care.
• A national prevention council will be created with the leadership of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
• There will be a new fund for public health and prevention that will distribute $15 billion over the course of 10 years in order to promote prevention in homes, schools and workplaces.

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Rochester Billboards Warn ‘Stop Drug Use, Or End Up Here’

Shawn Hemphill, owner of Memories Funeral Home in Rochester, NY, has decided to embark on an interesting new series of advertisements. Five new billboards in Rochester read “STOP the GUNS, DRUGS & VIOLENCE or be our next guest” or a similar message in either English or Spanish. Check it out here.

I think these billboards are great and am going to keep an eye out for them while driving around the city. People never believe that these behaviors can get them or their friends/family killed. Start thinking about your actions and decide if you want yourself or one of your family members to be Mr. Hemphill’s next customers.

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Talking to Kids About Drug Use

Talking to your children about using drugs is never going to be easy, but parents who may have experimented or struggled with addiction face a particularly difficult situation with this topic. Do you tell the truth about what you did? If so, do you answer all of their questions or place boundaries? It is a hard place to be in and if a parent doesn’t prepare themselves for the conversation before hand, it can go badly. This website has some suggestions for parents who used drugs to have more successful discussions with their kids.

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The Entertainment Industry’s Voice for Road Safety

Last week I heard a radio advertisement for an organization that I’d never heard of. RADD used to stand for Recording Artists, Actors and Athletes Against Drunk Driving but now goes by “The Entertainment Industry’s Voice for Road Safety” and has been around longer than I’ve been alive.

Some of the people who have supported this group include the Black Eyed Peas, Reba McEntire, Gavin DeGraw, Paul McCartney and countless others. The group targets teens and young adults to promote safe and sober driving, using designated drivers, and wearing seat belts, hoping to encourage people to make “responsible behavior the norm.”

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Stories of Recovery

I mentioned the “I Am Recovery” project on Tuesday so I thought I’d give you all more information about the program. It’s an initiative here in New York that shares the stories of individuals living successfully through recovery. Check out the site to read the stories of others for inspiration to keep going or share you own story to help others in their moments of weakness.

Here is the site!

Look at pictures from the 2nd annual National Recovery Rally.

Get added to their mailing list here.

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Local Prescription Drug Bust

Two individuals associated with the Rochester Raiders indoor football team were arrested this week in connection to a 6-month long drug investigation, including the team’s medical director and a linebacker. At least one other individual was arrested in the initial bust that spanned five local counties and involved some degree of undercover police work.

The team’s owner pointed out to the D&C that this investigation was not focused on the team and it is unfortunate that two of their associates were involved in this scandal. He also said that he had not heard about the investigation until yesterday right around the time the arrests were made.

In the end, over 170 prescription pads, five doctor’s DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) ID numbers, and several thousand dollars were seized. At a press conference this morning, they said that as many as a dozen more arrests are expected as the investigation continues–including at least one other Raiders player. Check out the following news stories to learn more:

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Rochester Homepage

The Livingston County News

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OASAS Grant Supports Recovery Programs

On Monday, OASAS announced a new $60,00 grant that will seek to mobilize organizations across the state to support recovery from alcohol, drugs and gambling addictions. The organization that was awarded the grant is called FOR-NY (Friends of Recovery-NY) and they plan on using it to conduct outreach to increase the number of individuals currently in recovery, conduct trainings to help professionals be more successful when working with those in recovery, and several other initiatives.

See the press release here.

Participate in the “I Am Recovery” project by clicking here.

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A Connecticut City Has New Housing Program

Earlier this month a program was announced in New Haven, Connecticut that will provide a limited amount of public housing to ex-offenders. One article about this new program highlights the life of Joe Burgeson, 55 years old, who has managed to stay clean for over a year now since his last stint in jail.

Burgeson says he is doing his best to stay away from drugs, alcohol, and stealing but that having a secure roof over his head would go a long way in helping him stay clean. Currently he sleeps in a shed. The social worker he has been in contact with for the last year says she is impressed by his ability to stay clean for this long while also struggling to find work and a place to call home.

Individuals coming out of jail face a number of hurdles in order to lead a ‘normal’ life and this program will definitely help a few of them reach their goals with more ease. To read more about the New Haven program, go here.

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