THERE IS LIFE AFTER ADDICTION. MOST PEOPLE RECOVER
By Brian Mann, NPR, January, 2022
“The U.S. faces an unprecedented surge of drug deaths, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting another grim milestone this week. In a single 12-month period, fatal overdoses claimed 101,623 lives. But researchers and drug policy experts say the grim toll obscures an important and hopeful fact: Most Americans who experience alcohol and drug addiction survive. They recover and go on to live full and healthy lives.”
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MONITORING THE FUTURE 2021 SURVEY RESULTS
By National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA), December , 2021
Monitoring the Future is an annual drug use survey of eighth, 10th and 12th grade students conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
From February through June 2021, the Monitoring the Future investigators collected 32,260 surveys from students enrolled across 319 public and private schools in the United States.
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COHASSET POLICE DEPARTMENT TO SEEK SUMMONS FOR HOMEOWNER UNDER SOCIAL HOST LAW
Press Release, Tom Zuppa, Cohasset Police Department, December 2021
“Police Chief William Quigley reports the Cohasset Police Department will seek a summons for a local woman following a party in her home where underage drinking occurred.”
“During a subsequent investigation, Cohasset Police received information that the homeowner was aware of the party and that alcohol was present, and that attendees were under the legal drinking age.”
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JIMMY HAYES’ FAMILY HOPES HIS STORY ‘CAN SAVE SOMEONE’S LIFE’ AFTER FENTANYL CONTRIBUTED TO FORMER NHL PLAYER’S SUDDEN DEATH
By Emily Kaplan, ESPN, October 2021
“Former NHL player Jimmy Hayes had cocaine and fentanyl in his system when he died, his family told The Boston Globe on Sunday. Hayes was found dead at his home in the Boston suburbs on Aug. 23, the day after celebrating his son’s second birthday. He was 31.”
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HOW ONE WOMAN CREATED A NETWORK TO SUPPORT THE FAMILIES OF THOSE STRUGGLING WITH ADDICTION
By Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Nadia Kounang, CNN, October 2021
“Out of her own experience, Peterson founded Learn to Cope in 2004. At first, it was simply a safe place bound together by a few strangers with a shared common pain, invisible to the rest of society. Now, it is a national organization with 11,000 members and growing, providing support to the families of those with loved ones addicted to drugs and alcohol.”
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ADDICTION INCREASES CHANCES OF COVID BREAKTHROUGH CASE, STUDY CLAIMS
By Brenda Alexander Yahoo News, October 2021
“It’s widely known that certain underlying health conditions increase one’s chances of fighting a bad case of COVID-19; People with asthma, diabetes, obesity or those who’ve have had certain cancers are more at-risk for serious complications from the virus. But a new report reveals that those who struggle with substance use are also at a greater risk for breakthrough coronavirus cases.”
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HINGHAM HEALTHCARE CAMPUS PROPOSED ‘TO HELP SAVE LIVES’ OF INDIVIDUALS STRUGGLING WITH SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER
By Carol Britton Meyer, The Hingham Anchor, August, 2021
“Residential drug and alcohol detox and rehabilitation, intensive out-patient services, and sober living would be provided at the campus, serving both individuals with private and MassHealth insurance.”
“The 460-bed healthcare campus would include intensive in- and out-patient treatment, separate chemical dependency treatment and juvenile treatment facilities off George Washington Boulevard, and other services together on one site.”
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ELLE FANNING & JOURNALIST JESSICA WAPNER INVESTIGATE THE DANGERS OF DIET CULTURE WITH THE PODCAST ONE CLICK
By Justine Goode, Vanity Fair, May 2021
“One Click is an adaptation of journalist Jessica Wapner’s article “The Deadly Internet Diet Drug That Cooks People Alive,” which was published in the Daily Beast in January 2020. “The very first thing that stood out to me when I first learned about DNP was the heat,” said Wapner, former science editor of Newsweek. When she began investigating 2,4-dinitrophenol, or DNP—a chemical once used in WWI–era explosives that can now be found online sold as a diet drug—she learned that ingesting DNP essentially turned people’s bodies into furnaces. As victims heated up to dangerously high internal temperatures, they would lose weight before dying, having been more or less boiled from the inside. Wapner’s investigation traced the history of DNP, marketed as a miracle weight-loss drug since the early 20th century, through its recent resurgence and a related increase in gruesome deaths amongst young people in the United States and United Kingdom.”
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BAKER-POLITO ADMINISTRATION AWARDS $3.8 MILLION TO 31 SUBSTANCE USE PREVENTION PROGRAMS ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH
Press Release from MA Department of Public Health, April 2021
“The Commonwealth continues to invest in and support evidence-based initiatives that address the very serious issue of substance use among our young people,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “These awards build on the Administration’s commitment to expand pathways to substance use prevention programs at all levels in every area of the state.”
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A LONG STRANGE TRIP TO THE MAINSTREAM FOR PSYCHEDELICS
By Renee Loth, The Boston Globe March 2021
“Massachusetts General Hospital wouldn’t seem like a natural fit for a center devoted to mind- altering drugs. The Harvard-affiliated medical behemoth is the very definition of establishment. But this week, MGH launched the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics to study the potential of psilocybin and other psychoactive drugs to treat conditions such as depression, addiction, trauma, and more. Forget the beads and bellbottoms: The new center at MGH signifies that the field of psychedelic therapy has arrived.”
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STRATEGIES TO PREVENT ALCOHOL & TOBACCO USE
By Keep Connected, Family Engagement Program by Search Institute
“Many factors influence why kids do and don’t use alcohol and tobacco. As parents, we can’t control all of them. However, there are many things we do that can make a major difference. These ideas and activities focus on tapping into—and building on—your family’s strengths in order to prevent alcohol and tobacco use in teenagers and young people. Keep Connected focuses on building relationships and strengths to prevent alcohol or tobacco use among young people.”
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A.A. TO ZOOM, SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT GOES ONLINE
By Matt Richtel, The New York Times, November 2020
“Though online rehab rose as an emergency stopgap measure, people in the field say it is likely to become a permanent part of the way substance abuse is treated. Being able to find a meeting to log into 24/7 has welcome advantages for people who lack transportation, are ill, juggling parenting or work challenges that make an in-person meeting tough on a given day and may help keep them more seamlessly connected to a support network. Online meetings can also be a good steppingstone for people just starting rehab.”
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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: CHALLENGES FOR SUBSTANCE-USE PATIENTS
By Henry Schwan, Milford Daily News, August 2020
“Some say the pandemic hurts treatment and recovery services. Others see a possible silver lining – improved care in the long run.”
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CRISIS HOTLINE CALL VOLUME SPIKES, STRAINING SOCIAL WORKERS
By Suzanne Hirt, USA Today, June 2020
“Thousands of anxious, stressed, isolated and uncertain callers are flooding helplines nationwide. They are teenagers and senior citizens. They have lost jobs, homes and relatives. Some express suicidal thoughts or fears that their positive COVID-19 test is a death sentence. Others reach out in the throes of a panic attack.”
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A NEW ADDICTION CRISIS: TREATMENT CENTERS FACE FINANCIAL COLLAPSE
By Yuki Noguchi, NPR, June 2020
“Consumption of drugs and alcohol has increased in the U.S. during the pandemic, creating an anticipated need for treatment in coming months and years. But, at the same time, there are now a host of financial challenges that threaten the existence of most addiction treatment centers in the country.”
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JOB LOSS, SUICIDE & SUBSTANCE ABUSE: A WATERSHED MOMENT
By Karen Staglin, Forbes, June 2020
“While it is difficult to underestimate the financial stress of unemployment, there are a number of serious mental health externalities that can manifest when an employee is left, unexpectedly and involuntarily, without work.”
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PANDEMIC DISRUPTS ILLEGAL DRUG TRADE, UPENDING BOTH PRODUCTS & PROFITS
By Brian Mann, All Things Considered, NPR, May 2020
“Amid today’s pandemic, drug traffickers are already adapting. The U.N. found more local women working in Afghanistan’s poppy fields, for example, replacing workers who couldn’t travel. Cartels appear to be shifting from air and land transport to shipments by sea to bring product from Mexico into the U.S.”
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VIRTUAL TRAINING SERIES: HOW TO HELP
By Plymouth Youth Development Collaborative & Brockton Area Prevention Collaborative, May 2020
This at your own pace VIRTUAL training includes information on how to recognize substance use disorders, how to address substance use disorders, and some resources that might be helpful to someone that is trying to help.
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CORONAVIRUS CRISIS COULD INCREASE USERS’ DRUG HABITS-REPORT
By The Guardian, May 2020
“For some casual users of cannabis or cocaine, the lockdown will probably prove to be a mental health crisis point that leads them to take drugs more frequently.”
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VIRTUAL SOCIAL SERVICES AVAILABLE
Update from Cohasset Police Department, April 2020
Cohasset Police Department has compiled a list of virtual social services available to help with social wellbeing.
CLICK HERE for a virtual social services list with links.
WALSH’S COUNSEL FOR ADDICTS — AND THE REST OF US: ONE DAY AT A TIME
By Adrian Walker, The Boston Globe, March 2020
“With the coronavirus continuing to shut down public life as we’ve known it, Mayor Martin J. Walsh has been gradually testing out a new message.”
“It’s directed at those who — like Walsh, and for that matter, me — are in recovery, and it comes up in every one of his public briefings: one day at a time.”
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PROPOSED CUTS TO SUBSTANCE USE PREVENTION FUNDING
The President’s Budget Request (PBR) has proposed large cuts and changes to federally funded substance use prevention programs. It is critical that your members of Congress hear from you to ensure that these proposed cuts do not become a reality.
Please CLICK HERE for more information and to send a letter to your members of the House and Senate.
As always, your support for continued funding of Safe Harbor is appreciated, as our programs are essential to the developing generations, especially here in Cohasset.
‘THE ONLY THING MISSING ARE THE HUGS’: HOW PEOPLE FIGHT ADDICTION AMID CORONAVIRUS SOCIAL DISTANCING
By Jayne O’Donnell, USA TODAY, March 2020
“Congregating in church basements and other often-cramped quarters with people in recovery from addiction has long been key to staying sober for many. But the coronavirus means the meetings, hand-holding and close connection that come with the process present new risks.
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