The Big News

We start this Veterans Day edition by recognizing the incalculable contributions of our friends and family who have served in the U.S. military. Thank you all.

Hazelden Betty Ford psychologist Don Elverd (pictured) always comes to mind this time of year. He served in the Army’s 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment in Vietnam and was injured in an August 1968 battle that took the lives and scarred the spirits of many of his fellow soldiers. Don received help after the war and has been paying it forward ever since by helping fellow veterans overcome substance use and mental health issues. He is among the subjects in a superb 18-minute mini documentary, I Will Go Back Tonight, which is a must-see for anyone concerned about PTSD, substance use and the related health problems faced by too many of our veterans. Today, we also extend gratitude to the helping professionals who care for our veterans and acknowledge that much more action nationally is needed, as this widow’s story attests.

Don will help facilitate a Veterans and Military Appreciation Retreat we’re hosting this week. Minnesota readers: please pass along the opportunity to any veterans you know.

One other timely note involving Don … he serves on the advisory committee for a new online resource called CLOUD (the Curated Library about Opioid Use for Decision-makers). CLOUD was developed by the Center for Evidence-based Policy, which is housed within Oregon Health & Science University, in partnership with the National Governors Association and the Milbank Memorial Fund. It strives to be a centralized repository of information to assist policymakers, nonprofits working in addiction treatment and public health, payers, health systems, medical providers and consumers. Check it out at OpioidLibrary.org.

The startup that invented the groundbreaking Juul e-cigarette had a central goal during its development: captivating users with the first hit. How? By adding organic acids to nicotine, which allowed for a unique combination of smooth taste and potency. It should have been no surprise when early evidence came in to show teens were getting hooked on vaping. Perhaps even less surprising: according to a Reuters investigation, the company ignored the evidence. Juul Labs is not ignoring the evidence now, announcing last week that it would stop selling mint-flavored pods—its most popular flavor—in the U.S.

After earlier speculation, the CDC identified Friday that vitamin E acetate, an ingredient sometimes added to marijuana-based products, is indeed a “very strong culprit” in the mysterious national outbreak of 2,051 vaping-related lung illnesses and 40 deaths. The agency, however, left open the possibility that other chemicals or toxins from vaping fluids or devices could also be causing the severe respiratory ailments, which Mayo Clinic researchers have likened to the chemical burns suffered by WWI soldiers attacked with mustard gas.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: It’s not just addiction that runs in families; recovery can run in families, too. That’s the message our colleague Jerry Moe sent in a Houston Chronicle piece last week. Jerry, who directs our national Children’s Program, has been busy lately, following the announcement of Sesame Workshop’s new initiative tackling parental addiction, for which he was a key consultant. The spotlight remained bright last week as Jerry and others around the country reflected on Sesame Street’s 50^th anniversary.

In February 2018, we collaborated with the Association of Flight Attendants in writing a letter urging the Federal Aviation Administration to require that naloxone be included in the emergency medical kits carried by all passenger airlines. Since then, several Members of Congress and many recovery advocates have echoed that call. It took awhile, but the FAA finally agreed!

This week’s featured media is a sneak-peek episode of the talk show Second Opinion, which will be released to 250 public TV stations on Thursday. Filmed in Rochester, N.Y., it features our own William C. Moyers, two doctors and a certified peer recovery specialist in a lively discussion about the best ways to help people after an overdose, and related topics.

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Treatment Industry Issues and Reforms HuffPost reached out to Hazelden Betty Ford thinking we were the standard-bearer for 28-day treatment, but Chief Medical Officer Marvin D. Seppala, M.D., explained that the four-week residential model is a thing of the past for us.

Our treatment includes individualized lengths of engagement, with some patients staying for up to two years across multiple levels of care. Learn more →

North Carolina’s governor signed a bill this week changing the name of the state’s Substance Abuse Professional Practice Board to the less stigmatizing Addictions Specialist Professional Practice Board.

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan introduced legislation to standardize substance use disorder training to ensure that all prescribers of controlled medications possess baseline knowledge in evidence-based addiction prevention and treatment.

Learn more about the soon-to-launch Telehealth Recovery Network in this webinar recording and these slides.

A year after it started, the Mobile SUDS (Substance Use Disorder Support) program in the Twin Cities is seeing some good results.

Paul Manafort’s former son-in-law is going to prison for a series of fraud schemes, including a sober home scam in California.  

Cannabis In an op-ed published last week in the Star Tribune, our CEO writes, “If kids are vaping (they are), and the vapes include marijuana (they often do), inconsistencies in the public discourse about the impact of legalization and our collective response to the vaping crisis must end.” Read more  →

Americans now think marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol, tobacco or e-cigarettes, according to new polling results.

Superstar rapper Drake announced the launch of his new cannabis company and some are concerned he may circumvent advertising laws by promoting cannabis on social media.

In Illinois, officials want to grant more licenses to grow and sell marijuana in areas where there have been the most marijuana arrests – a sort of economic atonement for the “War on Drugs.” Will pot shops help or harm these neighborhoods, though?  

Chicago’s acting health commissioner is concerned cannabis use by young people is going to surge.

Opioids The third and final episode in Twin Cities Public Television’s new docuseries The Opioid Fix, produced in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, aired last night.

It includes Hazelden Betty Ford contributions throughout. Though TPT left out explanation of what comprehensive opioid addiction treatment entails—missing an opportunity to educate about the role of medications, therapy and peer support in combination—the episode does focus on the resulting promise and possibility of recovery. We are grateful to have been involved and encourage you to take in the entire series. Watch online →

A Washington Post investigation found that from 2006 to 2012, Walgreens bought 13 billion pills, dominating America’s retail opioid market. Could there be implications in the pending opioid lawsuits?

A Boston researcher says he has seen a small but growing number of liver injuries related to the opioid-like herbal product kratom.

Researchers are beginning a new clinical trial involving the use brain-embedded technology to potentially curb opioid addiction.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a comprehensive road map to guide research and development that scientists say is needed to address the opioid crisis.

Alcohol

Alcohol breath tests—a bedrock of the criminal justice system—are often unreliable, a New York Times investigation found. Learn more →

Americans drink an average amount for developed countries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. See which country’s residents drink the most.

A new paper looks at why some places induce alcohol cravings.

After opening up their taps for fans this year, SEC football schools are bringing in a lot cash from alcohol sales. Looks like basketball is next.

Researchers have found some samples of the popular health drink kombucha contained alcohol levels on par with beer or cider.

Health Care Reform and Parity

Starting in January 2021, all commercial health plans in California must reimburse for telehealth services at parity with face-to-face services, thanks to new legislation signed by the governor. Learn more →

Privately insured people suffering from addiction or mental health conditions pay more out-of-pocket for care and are more likely to see out-of-network providers than people with chronic physical health conditions, according to a new study.

Two days into this year’s open enrollment period, more than 177,000 people selected health insurance plans using Healthcare.gov.

A doctor and professor says insurance companies shouldn’t be practicing medicine.

Even this insurance lawyer says, “While substance use disorder does not discriminate with regard to who is susceptible to the disorder, recovery does discriminate. The disparate treatment by health insurance companies of substance use disorder treatment claims is just one way in which people are denied the opportunity to get well and recover.”

Americans pay the most for health care, by far, out of all developed countries. But we don't have much to show for it in terms of health outcomes or access to care, according to a new report.

Telehealth pods that look like phone booths are here. Will people use them?

Advocate Spotlight Variety magazine published a special issue featuring prominent entertainment figures—Jamie Lee Curtis, Elton John, Danny Trejo and others—sharing how they navigate a sober life.

The online version includes some nice videos, too. Learn more →

Tucker Carlson of Fox News also plans to put the spotlight on recovery in a new series of interviews called Discovering Sobriety. His first interviewee: Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath.

Our friend Christopher Tait from the band Electric Six—and founder of Passenger Recovery—shares his story with The Ties That Bind Us.

Writer and actress Lena Dunham talks recovery. So does our friend, actress Mackenzie Phillips.

A mom whose overdose was captured in a “viral” photo celebrated three years of sobriety.

Actor Ewan McGregor says sobriety influenced his decision to take a new role.

Nice profile of people who overcame prison and addiction to become doctorate-level researchers. The Washington Post Magazine also published excellent essays by formerly incarcerated Americans, including our friend and fellow advocate Christopher Poulos.

In his new book, Donald Trump Jr. shares why he gave up alcohol.

Miscellaneous Musings If you like Hazelfest, you’ll love Resolution 2020: A Zero Proof New Year’s Eve with HALEY and Lydia Liza.

Presented by Hazelden Betty Ford and Dissonance at The Parkway Theater in Minneapolis, this will be the season’s most buzzed-about booze-free holiday party. Learn more & get tickets →

• The U.S. House passed a bill to fund treatment courts for veterans who come in contact with the justice system and have substance use and/or mental health disorders. It heads now to the Senate.
• North Dakota First Lady Kathryn Burgum, who serves on our board, is hosting her state’s annual Recovery Reinvented event It will be livestreamed at RecoveryReinvented.com starting at 9 a.m. CST, and our own Nick Motu will be there!
• Off-label naltrexone to treat meth addiction? NPR takes a closer look.
• Arrests for drugs increased again last year.
• An editorial in the medical journal The Lancet calls on the medical community to fight for the rights of people with substance use problems.
• Today is the anniversary of the start of Bill W.’s last drinking episode. It would last about a month before he checked into Towns Hospital for the fourth and final time. By the way, we received William H. Schaberg’s new Writing the Big Book this week and it’s 700+ pages!
• New CDC data reinforce what we know about the links between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and later development of many of the country's leading causes of death.
• Virginia is expanding collegiate recovery programs at eight schools.
• Check out profiles of Kelly and Zac, who like this writer, are proud alums of the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies.
• The head of mental health services at the University of Pennsylvania died by suicide. It’s a tragic reminder of how important self-care is for advocates and professionals working in the mental health and substance use fields, and how we're all vulnerable.
• The CDC released disturbing new data on the rise in youth suicide rates.
• A first-of-its kind study at a treatment center in Texas will examine the link between a plant-based diet and addiction recovery.
• Millennials have a higher rate of chronic health conditions than Gen-Xers did at the same age, and that could be bad news for the economy.
• Our organization said goodbye to longtime colleague David Paul Johnson, who passed away in late October. He was beloved by many.
• One of our Patient Care Network members in Eau Claire, Wis., is hosting a presentation Nov. 20 by our colleague Jessica Wong on Parenting Teens in a Digital Age.
• William White is taking a routine break from his must-read blog, making it a good time to sift through past posts you may have missed.  
• Thank you for reading. What do you think? Send us a note anytime, and have a great week!