Free Republic

“Clean and sober is one of the biggest damn mistakes this country ever made…We all need to self medicate periodically” - Gavin Newsom, explaining his plan to self medicate California out of our addiction epidemic.

Scientists have uncovered a mysterious network of brain connections that is linked to ... schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, addiction, OCD and anxiety — that share this underlying circuitry... Some "nodes" in the circuit have been linked to psychiatric disorders in the past, while others...are instead linked to key aspects of cognitive function, like selective attention and sensory processing... The team pinpointed brain regions where gray matter had atrophied, or shrunk, in the context of psychiatric disorders. [T]he disorders still had something in common: the tangled network of wires that runs between all these pockets of atrophy in the brain. The...

SAN FRANCISCO – Providing drug users with syringes and pipes for public health purposes keeps addicts "in a state of bondage," a dealer-turned-activist told Fox News. The city has established more than 20 harm reduction centers... "They should restart rethinking their policies here because this harm reduction site, it just doesn't work," Ricci Wynne, a drug abstinence advocate and former drug dealer, told Fox News. The homeless in San Francisco "don't need more syringes, they don't need crack pipes, they don't need tinfoil."....

A popular Starbucks coffee variety allegedly contains undeclared potassium — potentially harming clueless customers who believe they’re chugging pure java, The Post has learned. A complaint filed late last month with the North Carolina Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Division claims Starbucks Dark French Roast Coffee “significantly exceeds” levels of the essential nutrient found in other unadulterated beans sold on supermarket and retail shelves. Independent laboratory testing found 13% more potassium in Starbucks’ dark roast compared to its house blend as well as Dunkin’ Donuts’ and Lavazza’s dark roast varieties, according to the complaint.

Matthew Perry’s battle with addiction didn’t only nearly cost him his life — it came with a staggering price tag, too. “I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober,” the “Friends” star admitted to The New York Times in an interview about his upcoming memoir detailing his harrowing near-death struggle. By the time he almost died at the age of just 49, Perry also realized he had spent more than half his life in treatment centers or sober living facilities, he said. His life as “a drug addict” — which he insists in the book is proof...

a drug used to treat addiction could be what millions of long Covid sufferers around the world need to finally address their symptoms. Naltrexone is a generic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat both alcohol and opioid addicts. But in small trials it has been able to relieve long Covid patients of lingering ailments like brain fog and fatigue that last months after the initial infection. The drug - sold under the brand name Revia - is now being touted as a crucial piece of the puzzle of long Covid that has stumped experts for over...

As drug legalization groups and the cannabis industry lobby to legalize cannabis across the United States, with initiatives to legalize marijuana on the November ballot in five more states, many experts warn this will only increase the physical and mental harm from the unregulated, high-potency cannabis. President of the American Board of Pain Medicine and a vice president of the International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis, Dr. Ken Finn, said high potency cannabis use is being linked to poisonings in young children, as well as psychosis and schizophrenia in an increasing number of regular users. “A lot...

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man was arrested and accused of using an excavator to crush a woman’s truck after she failed to find enough money to buy drugs, authorities said. According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, 36-year-old Richard Hamilton, of Englewood, was “laughing hysterically” as he used the bucket of an excavator to smash the woman’s Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck on Sunday. Deputies said the incident began on Saturday night when Hamilton drove the woman to several gas stations around town — all while demanding she find money for drugs. Hamilton became “increasingly agitated” after the woman...

The DEA has already seized brightly-colored fentanyl in 18 states so far this month, a a new trend the agency says drug traffickers are capitalizing on to drive young people to the deadly drug. Fentanyl, a powerful opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, was responsible for 71,238 of the record 107,000 fatal drug overdoses in the United States last year, according to the CDC. The new brightly-colored fentanyl – which can come in pills, powder, and blocks that look like sidewalk chalk – is not more potent than the traditional form, but could be more attractive to young...

In yet another report that illustrates the dangers pot poses to the young, developing brain, a new British study finds teenagers are much more likely than adults to develop an addiction to marijuana. "We found that teenagers are three and a half times more likely to have severe cannabis use disorder, which is essentially cannabis addiction," said lead researcher Will Lawn, a lecturer in addiction psychology with King's College London. "That's a very important harm which teenagers should be informed of." However, marijuana use did not appear to cause any other harms to the teenage brain, his team found. "Teenagers...

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may help people being treated for opioid addiction reduce their methadone dose and better manage pain and withdrawal symptoms. The research team recruited participants enrolled in a local opioid treatment program to test the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment that involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized environment. The first paper showed that those who had received hyperbaric oxygen therapy as part of a planned methadone taper were able to maintain a significantly larger dose reduction of 4.3 mg three months after the study, as compared to 0.25 mg in participants who did not receive...

Visitors to the Chicago zoo showing the 415lb Amare pictures and videos through the glass wall has made him dismissive to other male gorillas A teenage gorilla in a Chicago zoo has been getting too much screen time, according to zoo officials. Amare, a 415-pound gorilla at Chicago’s Lincoln Park zoo, has been staring a little too frequently at the screens of cellphones from visitors who show him pictures and videos through the glass wall – including selfies, family photos, pet videos and even footage of Amare himself. He has apparently become so distracted as a result that last week,...

A federal judge has denied a defense bid to have Ed Buck’s convictions for providing the drugs that killed two men in his West Hollywood apartment overturned on the grounds that the government used evidence of the defendant’s sexual fetishes to unfairly prejudice the jury, according to court papers obtained Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder heard arguments Monday and took the matter under submission, saying she needed time to examine some of the defense arguments before ruling on the acquittal motion. Her written ruling was filed later that day. Sentencing is scheduled for April 14. Buck faces between 20...

In Philadelphia, the animal tranquilizer xylazine has infiltrated the opioid supply, and it's been linked to horrific wounds and amputations. Manisha Krishnan By Manisha Krishnan TORONTO, CA March 22, 2022, 7:00am Drug Users Are Losing Their Fingers and Toes After Shooting ‘Tranq Dope’ PHILADELPHIA — Bill’s hands are so disfigured that he can no longer fit gloves over them. About two months ago, his right ring finger was amputated. In a matter of weeks, he could lose the middle finger on his left hand, which was swollen with a large, maroon-colored sore covering the knuckle when VICE News met him...

Medical marijuana fails to improve symptoms of pain, anxiety, and depression — while increasing the risk that patients will develop an addiction to cannabis, a new study warns. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital add that up to one in five users may develop cannabis use disorder (CUD). The findings come from a review of medical marijuana card holders in the United States. A growing number of states now allow the use and sale of medical marijuana to help alleviate the symptoms of conditions including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and the side-effects from chemotherapy. “There have been many claims about the benefits...

When Chad Sabora started working in harm reduction, he worked out of his car on the streets of St. Louis, Mo. Sabora's beat-up sedan was a familiar sight in neighborhoods frequented by people who use drugs. Sabora, an attorney and former prosecutor in Chicago, had been in recovery for years and experienced addiction firsthand. Based on decades of research and his own experience, he knew sterile syringes prevented infectious disease transmission, naloxone saves lives by reversing overdoses, and that a well-timed pep-talk or caring gesture could profoundly help someone in the throes of addiction. He took a boots-on-the ground approach...

Anonymous alleged “U.S. and congressional officials” told the Wall Street Journal this week President Joe Biden is planning to remove the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a nearly 60-year-old terrorist organization responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, from America’s list of designated foreign terrorist groups. The FARC, a communist group, has been responsible for a wide variety of human rights atrocities in Colombia since its founding in 1964 that include mass killings, kidnappings, child rape, forced abortions, the use of child soldiers, and one of the world’s most lucrative drug trafficking operations. The government of then-President Juan Manuel...

Since 2014, state and local governments have filed thousands of lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies they blame for causing the "opioid crisis" by exaggerating the benefits and minimizing the risks of prescription pain medication. The theory underlying these cases is pretty straightforward: Drug manufacturers lied, and people died. Two recent rulings -- one by a California judge, the other by the Oklahoma Supreme Court -- show how misleading this widely accepted narrative is. Both decisions recognize that undertreatment of pain is a real problem, and that bona fide patients rarely become addicted to prescription opioids, let alone die as a result....

After I found Diet Coke in 1982, I drank at the very least three to 4 12-ounce cans almost each day for the following 4 a long time, regardless of the place on the planet I used to be. I used to be the one that prevented sure airways as a result of they solely served Pepsi. Who purchased out a complete retailer’s stock in New Delhi as a result of she feared she won’t encounter one other soda in the remainder of the nation. Who stashed cans in her room when she visited her dad and mom, like an...

Joe Biden admitted to a battle with addiction in newly released text messages to his son Hunter, the Daily Mail revealed. Five members of the Biden clan have spent time in rehab for drug and alcohol abuse. Hunter Biden has struggled with alcohol and crack addictions Hallie, Beau’s widow (and Hunter’s girlfriend) struggled with a crack problem Joe’s daughter Ashley has struggled with alcohol and had to seek treatment Joe’s slimy brother Frank has battled alcohol addiction and was ordered by a judge to go to rehab after a drunk driving offense in 2004 Joe’s niece Caroline Biden was also...