February 18th, 2013
McCready Makes Number Three: “Celebrity Rehab” To Blame For Singer’s Suicide?
Popular 90’s country singer Mindy McCready took her life Sunday with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Yellow tape sectioned off the porch of McCready’s Herber Springs, Arkansas home, the same spot where her boyfriend, David Wilson, reportedly took his own life last month. Country stars ...
January 24th, 2013
The Helper Therapy Principle in action
Researchers at Helping Others Live Sober, a federally-funded non-profit dedicated to helping addicts stay sober, have found that the proverbial Golden Rule applies just as well to addiction recovery as it does to any other facet of our lives. They have conducted several longitudinal studies ...
January 16th, 2013
Seattle Hip-Hop Artist Commits Suicide
“God…please forgive me” were the final words posted on Twitter by Seattle rapper Freddy E before his tragic death. After a series of harrowing tweets, the 22 year-old, born Frederick Eugene Buhl, took his own life with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on January 5th. The rapper ...
January 15th, 2013
The Manchurian Candidate
How far would you go to cure your addiction? Would you sell all of your earthly possessions? Would you devote the rest of your life to charitable pursuits? Or would you prefer to have a hole drilled into your skull in order to allow a long electrode deep into your brain where an electrical ...
January 3rd, 2013
Colorado Cannabis Clubs: There and Back Again
Colorado’s recently passed Amendment 64, which decriminalized marijuana use and possession, has seen a number of businesses spring up in hopes of capitalizing on the new marijuana economy, although it still remains illegal to purchase the substance for non-medical purposes. Two such businesses, ...
December 20th, 2012
Django Unchained: Quentin Tarantino, America’s Drug War, and Slavery
While doing press for his new film, Django Unchained, Director Quentin Tarantino spoke with George Stroumboulopoulos where he compared America’s Drug War and prison system to modern-day slavery. In the interview Tarantino says, among other things: “This whole thing of this ‘war on ...
December 13th, 2012
U.S. Marijuana Legalization has Murky Influence at Home and Abroad
The recent decriminalization of marijuana possession in both Colorado and Washington state has left in its political wake more confusion than clarity, which almost seems appropriate for any legislation regarding weed. Nobody really knows how the federal government will react and even local law ...
December 4th, 2012
D.A.R.E. to Dismiss
America’s most (in)famous anti-drug non-profit has been advocating “Drug Abuse Resistance Education” to students since the early 1980s, but–possibly in light of recent reports that participation in the program does not decrease drug use–has decided to drop ...
November 26th, 2012
New Jersey Ban on Synthetic Pot
Synthetic Marijuana has now been officially classified as a Schedule 1 Controlled Dangerous Substance in the state of New Jersey. 1 Synthetic marijuana, which can still be found in convenience stores around the country under the such brand names as K2, Spice, Mr. Smiley, and Black Mamba, has ...
November 21st, 2012
Holiday Words Of Wisdom
The holiday season (mid-November to early January) is perhaps the hardest emotional time for Americans. The recession, complicated family dynamics, and many other reasons cause a tidal wave of depression throughout the nation, but for those battling addiction, the holidays are unbearable. ...
November 19th, 2012
Secrets of a Gay Mormon Felon
Kimball Allen began writing what would become his one-man, one-act play, Secrets of a Gay Mormon Felon, while detoxing in a jail cell, suffering from addictions to alcohol, drugs, and shopping. Haunted by a traumatic event in his childhood and excommunicated from his Mormon upbringing, Kimball ...
November 7th, 2012
Marijuana (Almost) Legalized in Washington State
Marijuana “legalization”. Tuesday’s major election saw President Obama into a second term, setting the tone for the nation’s next four years. But for Washington State residents, Tuesday also saw the passage of Initiative 502, a controversial law that in the next year or so is set to challenge ...
November 2nd, 2012
Surviving Natural Disasters
Natural disasters are harrowing reminders that, though humans have a great influence on our planet, we live in a world that is largely beyond our control. In an instant, the buildings and roads that carry us through our day-to-day lives rupture and collapse; the homes we fill with memory and ...
October 26th, 2012
Synthetic Drug Use On The Rise
Bath salts were only the first wave. Many new kinds of synthetic or designer drugs have begun to hit the markets. And they are becoming commonplace in the club and party scene. They are made by taking the basic structure of more popular street drugs, and replacing one chemical strand with ...
October 11th, 2012
Strange Addictions: Something Wacky This Way Comes
By now I’m sure we are all familiar with the standard list of things people find themselves addicted to – drugs, alcohol, gambling and so on. We have even come to accept new avenues for addiction, like tattooing, texting, and bodybuilding, without too much scrutiny. But with the rise of ...
October 4th, 2012
Romney was on Adderall for the First Presidential Debate
And possibly a few other substances as well as adderall. Without a leak from campaign headquarters, we can’t be sure. But Romney was not himself last night. The debate was an hour and a half of red eyes, sharp hand and body movements, quick “humorous” quips, repetitive numbering, speaking over ...
