Funding one epidemic at the expense of another

The Issues

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Drug Trends

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Press Room

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Make a difference

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The Big News

On last night’s episode of the docuseries “What’s Eating America

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” on MSNBC, award-winning chef and TV personality Andrew Zimmern visited our own William C. Moyers at Hazelden Betty Ford in St. Paul. The two friends reflected on their lives in recovery as Zimmern explored America’s addiction crisis through the lens of food. A longtime recovery advocate, Zimmern closed the show powerfully, saying: “If there’s something that the sober world can teach everyone else, it’s that ‘dignity and respect,’ when it’s sprinkled onto human beings, is the most powerful drug that we possess.” Watch clips and find access to full episodes on the show’s website

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Federal health officials are transferring millions of dollars

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from substance use and mental health programs, among other accounts, to help combat the coronavirus threat.

Some criticized a Wisconsin police department for this attempt at a joke

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on social media: “WARNING: If you have recently purchased Meth, it may be contaminated with the Corona Virus. Please take it to the Merrill Police Department and we will test it for free.”

The U.S. House passed legislation to ban the manufacture and sale of flavored e-cigarette liquids and tobacco

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, including menthol cigarettes. Aimed primarily at curbing youth vaping, which has now ensnared some 5 million teenagers, the bill also prohibits the online sale of all e-cigarettes. It goes further than steps announced by the President last month, and its fate is uncertain in the Senate. Opponents worry it will lead to over-policing, especially in black communities. Debate also included a rebuffed attempt to ban flavored marijuana vapes

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, with dialogue reflecting the disjointed state of America’s cannabis policies.

We’ve been told that opioid deaths in the U.S. have been undercounted, but new research tells us how much, finding that an additional 99,000 Americans died

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of opioid-related causes from 1999 to 2016—raising the national death toll by about 28 percent, to 453,300 during that period.

Shortly after a judge’s final ruling

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cleared the way legally, Safehouse held a press conference last week to announce imminent plans to open the nation’s first medically supervised safe injection site for drug users in South Philadelphia. But surprised South Philadelphians objected

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and a day later, the plans to open this week were put on hold

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A new study

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suggests health-care providers may be going too far in steering people with opioid use disorder away from the anti-anxiety meds known as benzodiazepines. The study found that benzodiazepines keep some people engaged with their buprenorphine treatment longer, which is generally a benefit. However, when benzodiazepines and opioids are mixed, the risk of overdose is much greater. Experts we spoke with said the risks still far outweigh the any benefits. What do you think?

For much of the 20th century, medical progress seemed limitless. But, today, many areas of public health are unraveling

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. One expert says we need to invest more in prevention – “safe housing, good schools, living wages, clean air and water.”

Ohio officials are working together to agree ahead of time how they will divvy up proceeds from a potential settlement in the national opioid litigation. Their proposed plan called “One Ohio” calls for cities getting 30% of any settlement funds in cash, the state getting 15%, and 55% going to a new nonprofit foundation that would support opioid-related research and education. This story

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in the Washington Post includes no other details about the referenced nonprofit, but does provide a helpful summary of the mammoth legal case. With a trial scheduled to start next month in New York, a settlement still remains elusive, though.

Read more →

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This week’s featured media is a podcast called For the People, which in a recent episode discussed “Shatterproof Just Five

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,” a new educational resource for families that Hazelden Betty Ford is using to increase awareness, reduce stigma, and share information about addiction prevention and treatment. Listen here, starting at the 43:05 mark

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Share: Tweet

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| Facebook

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| LinkedIn

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Treatment Industry Issues and Reforms

The latest in Vox’s Rehab Racket series profiles Brianna Jaynes, who wanted help for addiction treatment but ended up caught in the “Florida shuffle.”

She told reporter German Lopez, “I was using my insurance card as a hotel key.” Learn more →

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It doesn’t include or reference any news we haven’t reported here before, but this commentary

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by Axios—a popular publication for D.C. insiders and policy wonks—says “addiction treatment in the U.S. is critically necessary yet deeply flawed.”

A federal judge says that a sober home suing the city of Costa Mesa, California, cannot assume everyone it serves is disabled by addiction and entitled to federal disability protections. Impairment, if it is to be a disability, must be shown to have a major impact on life

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, according to the tentative ruling.

Cannabis

The numbers of American seniors over age 65 who now smoke marijuana or use edibles increased two-fold between 2015 and 2018, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Learn more →

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Epidiolex

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, a treatment for epilepsy, is the first FDA-approved medication made from a substance in cannabis, and it's starting to take off, with sales hitting almost $300 million in 2019.

Support for marijuana legalization has, by many accounts, been declining a bit in Minnesota, with a recent poll

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finding that only the very slightest majority—51%—now support it. In an op-ed published Friday, our friends at Smart Approaches to Marijuana said the word legalization may also have different meanings for those who express support, asking: “Do the people in support of legalization actually want it for sale? Or do they not want people to be punished unjustly for possession?”

Opioids

The opioid epidemic has so overburdened America’s autopsy system that it threatens to collapse. Learn more →

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After suffering a heroin overdose, an Arizona politician has ended his bid

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for Congress.

An Indiana county prosecutor is encouraging police officers to use the administration of naloxone (the opioid overdose reversal medicine) as “probable cause

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” to search for evidence of felony drug possession. He says he wants to get more people into drug courts and the county’s heroin protocol program, which jails drug defendants, confines them to 90 days of treatment and surveils them through probation. “I’ve seen firsthand the power of interventions and treatments in saving lives. Through monitoring, supervision, and threat of legal action, the justice system can provide leverage to encourage drug abusers to enter and remain in treatment.” The Indiana Naloxone Project, on the other hand, says, “No one should have to incur a coerced felony charge in order to access treatment,” noting that such approaches also discourage people from calling 911 for help. In a tweet

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, former ONDCP Director Michael Botticelli called it “perhaps one of the most dangerous and ill-informed responses to the epidemic.”

Meanwhile, in the span of about six months, four students who attended opioid overdose prevention sessions at Columbia University saved the lives

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of four people they had previously never met.

McKesson and two other opioid distributors sweetened an $18 billion settlement offer by proposing to also set up a $1 billion fund to cover the legal fees

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for the 2,000-plus states, cities and counties that are suing them. They said the fund will free up more of the $18 billion for treatment and other services. But why not just offer an $19 billion settlement? Said one law professor: “Having the defendants pay some of the governments’ legal fees makes it look like they are trying to pay off the plaintiffs’ lawyers for less vigorous representation of their clients.”

Legal fees continued to be a point of contention

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in opioid settlement talks late last week.

The pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt, which sells generic oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, reached a $1.6 billion settlement

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with 47 states and U.S. territories and lawyers representing thousands of local governments to settle liabilities stemming from the opioid addiction crisis. It will file for bankruptcy as part of the deal.

As part of its bankruptcy case, OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma has launched an expansive $24 million ad campaign

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to direct people to a website

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where people harmed by the powerful opioid can file claims against the company through June 30.

Francis McGovern

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, one of the architects of the novel “negotiation class” that was crafted in an effort to seek a nationwide deal in the national opioid litigation, has died.

The U.S. House Bipartisan Opioid Task Force released its agenda

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for this legislative session.

Alcohol

Just as tobacco advertising causes teen smoking, exposure to alcohol ads causes teens to drink, according to a new analysis led by NYU School of Global Public Health and NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Learn more →

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FDA-approved medications for alcohol use disorder aren't as effective as those for opioid use disorder, but they can still help and are underutilized, according to this new meta-analysis

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. Our ongoing research with Mayo Clinic aims to make one of the medications—acamprosate—more effective by helping us know in advance who will respond to it

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New research shows a family history of alcoholism affects more than your desire to drink. It also changes how your brain transitions from one task to the next

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—going, say, from cooking breakfast to thinking about a work deadline.

A bartender describes the struggle of serving people

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who appear to have a drinking problem.

Baltimore’s hospitality industry is embracing the spirit-free cocktail trend

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Agents with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission are cracking down on businesses selling alcohol to minors this Spring Break

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Health Care Reform and Parity

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear a third major case on the Affordable Care Act. Arguments will most likely be in the fall, with a decision landing in the spring or summer of 2021. Learn more →

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Even many supporters of Medicare for All are unsure how it would work

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, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll.

Advocate Spotlight

Pro hockey player Bobby Ryan took a leave in November to get treatment for alcohol use disorder.

In his first game back with the Ottawa Senators, he wiped away tears after scoring an emotional hat trick and earning a standing ovation! Learn more →

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American Idol last night spotlighted the story of another inspiring contestant who is overcoming addiction, dubbing Dillon James a spiritual cowboy

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. Yet another contestant, Shannon Gibbons

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, shared her story of recovering from severe depression.

They fell in love helping and advocating for substance users. But, as a person on parole, he experienced obstacles to medical care and ultimately died of opioid overdose, afraid to help himself

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A.A. produced a new video of young voices sharing about their drinking and sobriety

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, underscoring the message that it is never too early to seek help and recovery.

Wall Street Journal readers reacted to the story of a man who lost two sons to drug addiction by sending in their own stories. Many described their personal experiences loving—and trying to help—a relative addicted to opioids. Here is a sampling of the responses

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Twin Cities musician and former Hazelfest performer Lydia Liza

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talks about her journey to recovery in a new public television feature.

More than 200 people attended the Love Recovery Gala

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, a first at Minnesota State University in Mankato.

A recent college graduate recounts how on-campus recovery supports

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played a pivotal role in helping him stay sober, have fun and get an education.

On Friday, we supported Minnesota Recovery Connection’s annual Recovery Advocacy Seminar by moderating a discussion with a new generation of advocates. Our friend and former colleague Jordan Hansen was there and captured this key insight

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in a Twitter thread. Another friend and fellow advocate Marc Johnigan gave a great keynote highlighting the extra barriers to recovery faced by black Americans. Check out videos from the day on MRC’s Facebook page

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Miscellaneous Musings

Several states have removed the question inquiring about mental health on a questionnaire law students must fill out before they are deemed able to take the bar and become lawyers, saying it discourages students from seeking help. But, according to Insider—which cites our 2016 study with the American Bar Association finding high rates of depression, anxiety and drinking in the legal profession—38 states still ask the question. Learn more →

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A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would provide funding for financial rewards

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to incentivize people addicted to meth to stay off drugs.

Adolescents who are bullied about their weight or body shape may be more likely to use alcohol or marijuana than those who are not bullied, according to new research

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published by the American Psychological Association.

A new report encourages health-care providers to periodically assess patients—especially seniors over the age of 65—for signs of social isolation, calling loneliness a serious public health threat

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Check out the new state-by-state mental health rankings

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A coalition of 39 states is investigating Juul’s marketing

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of e-cigarette products, suspicious it has been targeting youth.

William White remains on a break from his blog, so this week we share his collection of fascinating addiction history briefs

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Thank you for reading. What do you think? Send us a note anytime, and have a great week!

Photo Highlights

Our own Jen Remnick and Emily Piper visited California legislators last week to talk about prevention solutions for schools.

William C. Moyers spoke at a private event for the recovery community organization Twin Cities Recovery Project.

This writer moderated a panel for Minnesota Recovery Connection’s annual Recovery Advocacy Seminar at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. Our graduate school also tabled at the event.

During last night’s episode of “What’s Eating America” on MSNBC, our William C. Moyers and celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern reflected on recovery while visiting Hazelden Betty Ford in St. Paul.

(L to R) John Magnuson, this writer, Tim Rabolt, Patrice Salmeri and Michael Durchslag celebrated youth recovery at last week’s PEASE Academy Winter Festival in MN.

At last week’s Complex Trauma and the Family Conference in Camarillo, California, our own Jerry Moe led a workshop on helping children who have families affected by addiction.

Our own Joelle Jacobson and Jerry McDonald, host of our Awareness Hour

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speaker series, also attended the Complex Trauma and the Family Conference in Camarillo.

We are excited and grateful to commemorate throughout 2020 our first decade of serving Naples, Florida

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, and the surrounding community.

Please share questions, thoughts and ideas. Plus, follow us on Twitter

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for daily updates.

Jeremiah Gardner

Director, Communications and Public Affairs

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mailto:[email protected]

1-651-213-4231

tel:1-651-213-4231

LinkedIn

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ISSUES WE CARE ABOUT

Industry Reform

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| Fighting Addiction Stigma

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| Opioid Epidemic

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| Access to Treatment

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| Marijuana Education

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| Criminal Justice Reform

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| Alcohol Prevention

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Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

15251 Pleasant Valley Rd.

PO Box 11 RW19

Center City, MN 55012-0011