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The A&E Network Rally for Recovery

A&E Network, in partnership with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) is searching for Recovery Delegates from each of the 50 states (and Washington, DC) to participate in the “Recovery Rally” in New York City on Saturday, September 27, 2008. The “Recovery Rally” is a national celebration that will bring together thousands of people in recovery and recovery supporters from across the country to form a human chain - a living symbol of recovery - across the Brooklyn Bridge. ~ Recovery Delegate Application

What follows below is part of my application to become a delegate for Alabama at this event. Wish me luck!

My story follows the predictable path of many alcoholics; Problematic drinking in my early teens, binge drinking as a young adult, and the inevitable crash to rock bottom. At first, quitting alcohol wasn’t my problem, I excelled at quitting. I quit school, relationships, jobs, and opportunities… I became very good at it. Of course I had a lot of practice since I quit drinking almost everyday but always returning to the bottle for that last bit of “inspiration”. Eventually though I even quit “quitting” and concentrated on just feeding my disease figuring if it didn’t kill me that I would end it all myself.

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I found this rehash of an older story about using marijuana as a substitute for alcohol in Cannazine, “the daily zine for the cannabis scene”. While I have always considered marijuana the lesser evil when compared with alcohol, still I see no great benefits to society from it's use nor any reason to push for legalization.

I think it is rather humorous all of the elaborate schemes and creative uses the pro-pot lobby promotes in the efforts toward legalization, but even a hemp sweater makes more sense than treating alcoholism by getting high. Been there, done that, and all I ended up was a chilled out drunk that was just a little bit more open to trying other drugs.

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Sixteen year-old Kayla Preuss of Highland, California died from head injuries after losing control of her vehicle and crashing on I-10. Phone records suggest that moments before the fatal accident she was sending a text message that may have been a contributing factor in her death. Fox News ran the following headline:

Girl in Fatal Wreck Sent Text Message Moments Before Crash

Her mother also went on the record warning others of the dangers of DWT, driving while texting.

Preuss' mother Kelly said she hopes the accident will make other people think before texting and driving. ~ Fox

Oh, by the way, did I mention she was also DRUNK!

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Recovery doesn’t just happen because one stops drinking and using drugs; especially in the beginning, it takes diligent hard work and sacrifice. I think this may be the hardest lesson we have to learn as alcoholics and addicts new to sobriety, that even though now sober we continue to think function, and make decisions with a "diseased" brain. Quitting is the easy part, it’s staying sober that is the real trick.

Those in AA say to change people, places, and things. A therapist might say it also requires cognitive behavioral training. A pastor might say that it takes faith and finding one's spirituality. And they would all be right. One has to proactively work a recovery program, consciously setting aside time and resources not only to stay clean and sober, but to maintain a healthy and progressive mindset.

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A group of scientists from the University of Bristol has published a paper on the effects of acute alcohol consumption on ratings of attractiveness of facial stimuli in the August 2008 edition of the Oxford Journal of Alcohol and Alcoholism. In layman’s terms, they were studying the phenomenon of the beer goggle effect.

While there was certainly no surprising information generated by this seemingly already self evident study, I did find it interesting to see that alcohol didn’t only increase the perception of attractiveness of the opposite sex, but also of members of the same sex regardless of sexual orientation.

Attractiveness ratings were higher in the alcohol compared to the placebo group… but there was no evidence that this differed between males and females or was selective for opposite-sex faces.

Another behavior that was observed was the fact that men tended to retain the beer goggle effect longer, but only when looking at women. I chalk this up to that fact that study was conducted on college aged males, and let’s be honest; with this group even farm animals aren’t safe after a hard night’s drinking.

Since its Friday, I have amassed a few humorous beer goggle videos posted below the fold (ribaldry warning). I do however feel obliged to be a killjoy first by pointing out that while a funny subject , the loss of inhibition and resulting actions are the cause of much misery including infidelity, STD’s, unplanned pregnancy, and sometimes just plain old fashioned shame and embarrassment. Stay safe and stay sober this weekend, now on to the videos.

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I drink coffee almost 24/7 and according to a recent Vanderbilt University study I am not alone as far as recovering alcoholics go in my penchant for a good cup of joe. The study states that almost ninety percent of all recovering alcoholics drink coffee, and usually in larger amounts than the rest of the population of which a little over half also imbibe coffee.

All one has to do is take in the clutter of coffee cups at AA meetings to see truth in the study’s numbers. Everything from the well traveled travel mugs of the old timers to ubiquitous styrofoam cups of the newcomers with their oft chewed brims will grace the table of almost any type of recovery meeting. Dr. Peter Martin, a VU professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, thinks there may be a link between coffee and successful sobriety.

"This study leads us to believe that there may be something in coffee that may facilitate the abstinence of alcohol,"… adding that identifying such a component could lead to the creation of a medication to treat alcoholism. ~ WBIR.com

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The ever diligent unofficial TDA researcher AnnaZ sent me this piece of modern internet art I like to call, Google Earth’s "Drunk Boy in Road". Yeah it doesn’t quite have that ageless quality of Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” or power of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave”, but for me it is a very moving piece. It reminds me of a much younger TDA, maybe around fourteen, that pulled a very similar stunt. In fact, it was probably the very point in my life in which alcohol began to steer the direction of my future.

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The UK Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) was set up in 1964 to make payments to those unlucky enough to become a victim of violent crime. A recent rape victim has had her compensation slashed because apparently the CICA deemed her intoxication may have played a part in provoking the incident. Doesn't it sound like the CICA is implying that she was asking for it?

Her case is not unique, in at least 14 cases this year payments have been reduced to rape victims apparently because CICA must have also found part of the problem due to their drinking. Even though the CICA denies that it place blame on the victims, the wording of their own compensation statement seems to contradict this statement.

The issue came to light after one rape victim, referred to only as Helen, received a letter from the CICA saying her compensation was being cut from £11,000 to £8,250. It said: 'The evidence that we have shows that your excessive consumption of alcohol was a contributing factor in the incident'. ~ DailyMail

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Prescription drug abuse is rampant with pain killing medications like Oxycontin and Vicodin (opioids) primarily being responsible for a surge in addictions. Most states have realized the problem with these medications and have implemented opioid regulations and increased scrutiny of pain management prescriptions. These actions have made a definite impact on the supply of diverted medicine on the market yet the number of addicts continues to grow. So what is an addict supposed to do?

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Aware of my advocacy efforts with methadone and medically assisted recovery for opioid addiction, JamezD of the Island Recovery Centers asked about my stance on Buprenorphine.

There's certainly some history around this (there always is)
that we're simply not aware of, but our addiction docs
seem to think that "Bup" is a superior approach to dealing
with opioid dependence… ~ Misleading on Methadone

Both drugs are used in treatment of heroin and pain killer addictions. Methadone and Buprenorphine work in a similar fashion but are usually administered and dosed differently to block opioid receptors in the brain to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Neither of the drugs produces the meteoric euphoric high that accompanies heroin and pain killer opioids and in fact cancel out the high of other opioid drugs taken during treatment. I feel Suboxone® is a superior form of Buprenorphine because of the additive naloxone which prevents misuse and abuse by injection and intranasal ingestion (snorting).

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