The NFL, Congress and Drugs…

The NFL has sought the help of Congress, yes, Congress, the big system in the pretty white building that your tax dollars finance, to help them with their drug policy. It seems that some Minnesota Vikings found a loophole in the NFL’s drug policy and the league has taken it to congressional hearings. Is this really a congressional matter?  One would guess that congress has some big important stuff to do.  Why cant the NFL draft and actualize their own policy. Has it occurred to the NFL that they need to revisit their policy and see why it doesn’t work?

Sports has always been a confusing system in which to draft drug policy. For starters, it is fueled by alcohol. Sporting events are swimming in booze, financed by beer consumption so right away there is a system tolerating drunkenness. Beer and football go together, like peanut butter and jelly or crack and hookers.  The layers of complexity with sports and drugs happens quickly and most policy is standard “just say no” rhetoric.  This culture canonize athletes and then demonize them when they show weakness and human frailty.  It’s easy for us to condemn the likes of Michael Vick without knowing his story, culture, upbringing, etc.  Why do we expect that athletes are above using and that it is something that they can be warned out of doing. An NFL career has a very short shelf life, it makes sense to me that  players will look for every advantage they can find while they still have earning potential. This is a mental health issue, rather than burdening congress with this, shouldn’t the NFL be accountable for their own actions? Why did congress agree to this? Blame, scapegoating and buck passing never gains traction with any chemical misuse issue. That is one of the few absolutes in chemical dependency policy. It doesn’t work in schools, families, communities and it won’t work in the NFL.

Rather than calling congress it would make much more sense to hire a committee, headed by a psychiatrist with specific addiction training, to address these matters. The committee should include a peer. The NFL should have a mental health professional as part of their team, not a performance enhancing “sports psychologist” but a social worker. There should be an intake, a biopsychosocial , with every player, quarterly meetings with the mental health worker. Why is this hard?

Representative Lee Terry (R. Nebraska) says “We will be much harsher on cleaning up the sport than the directors of the league.” Great. More, “tough on crime” ego driven nonsense. Ok, Representative Terry, if you are going to “clean up the sport” start with the beer bottles in the parking lot.

Can Cory Booker Create an Urban Chic Newark?

There was a day when only drug addicts ventured into alphabet city to cop. It was in a state of decay. People were afraid of it and for good reason.  Slowly it inched toward safety and hegemony. Eventually it crossed the river into Brooklyn.  Now Brooklyn has enjoyed a renaissance, there is even a cache with being young and living in Brooklyn, well, parts of it anyway.  Somehow, all the renewed interest in the urban lifestyle escaped Newark. Poor Newark, try as it might it remains the joke of the northeast. Even with young, dynamic, dedicated Cory Booker as mayor, Newark just can’t seem to get condos and Starbucks like many of the other formerly murderously dangerous ‘hoods in the NYC metro area. Or can it? Can Newark be chic? Could the hip skip a weekend in the Hampton’s to go to an event in Newark?

            New Jersey has had legal gaming in Atlantic City for many years. Crime can surround gambling if it is not regulated and gambling can be addictive, so how is it that New Jersey can rationalize this?  Under the Joe urban renewal plan, marijuana would be decriminalized within certain blocks in Newark. A license would be granted by the state and city to dispense Marijuana in it’s various forms. It would be taxed at $20 per $100 with a mission of funneling that money into treatment and recovery related services such as a recovery focused charter school in the Newark school district. This could be a shot in the arm for the city. It would create a sustainable economy and a ripple effect of businesses that could flourish in the city. Maybe even develop an entire complex dedicated to Hemp. Kind of like Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade or river Walk in San Antonio.  For the moment, I will wait for the current New Jersey gubernatorial election to be over and then I will get on this right away. Crazy? I would love to hear feedback.

Give Obama a Chance!

There may have been a time in America when people who held public office approached that as a service position. Trustworthy men who wanted to serve their community. Watergate changed all that, tarnishing the presidency forever.  For us hippy freak drug policy reformers, we have grown so used to living on the fringe, loaded or sober, that words of public officials doesn’t really mean all that much and we are never courted by political candidates as a voting block.  I think it is time we start listening to President Obama.  Candidate Obama clearly stated, “What I won’t be doing is using Justice department resources to circumvent state laws on the medical marijuana issue”

            Yesterday the justice department issued a statement that said, “ It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana.” So in other words, the justice department not only upheld a promise but also issued a public statement that is practical and reasonable. Why shouldn’t a doctor be able to prescribe something that can be helpful to patients? Nobody will ever be able to explain to me why a doctor can prescribe Zanax but not marijuana.

            I would say “baby steps” but I think it’s not quite a step. I think it’s that thing that babies do where they don’t really take a step, where they fall, but you know they are intending to take a step.  As reformers are we so used to being dismissed as pinko subversives, that we are willing to take anything as a victory?  Big or small, it’s a start and WAY more than any other administration has given in decades.

The Battle Continues – Legalizing Marijuana in California

The debate to legalize marijuana in California is on yet again.  The state is saddled with huge budget deficits and proponents of the decriminalization movement argue that it would produce north of a billion dollars annually in tax revenue for the state.  California, land of disenfranchised misfits, has a long tradition of liberal idealism as well as arch conservatism. Remember Regan shut down the Berkeley campus and scolded the kids for acting up. This would seem to a natural reach across the aisle issue, tapping into both republican libertarianism and liberal freedom of choice.  The state already has laws on the books making marijuana “legal for medicinal purposes”. What does that mean in real terms? It means that any pot smoking doctor will write you a prescription for a hang nail, anxiety, back pain, glaucoma, whatever. The downside for some is that it labels you as a user of a substance that is “bad” or at least not approved by the government. Remember it is alcohol that does the most damage to society and the individual. The state is legitimately looking at the issue. Iconic former mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, says,  “People are no longer outraged by the idea of legalization”.  Chong says, “Yea, man!” In an effort to inch toward legalization, the city of Oakland, facing no opposition voted to tax the marijuana dispensaries at the insistence of the owners of the stores themselves. It was an effort to demonstrate that this is an idea that can work. So what happened? There was an economic boom in the neighborhoods and people got high. Of course people would be getting high if the neighborhood remained in urban squalor.

            Let’s say they get this passed. What will that do to the federal law making Marijuana illegal? Will it set up a further war on drugs? Will it turn into more of a civil war? Will California finally succeed? Will people get high and eat Twinkies? Will Californians no longer swirl wine in their glasses and glibly pontificate the virtues of their perfect weather” paradise”. Is it the alcohol lobby that opposes this?  Oh, California, what are we going to do with you?

NYC Needs a Recovery High School

This week Loft 107 hosted a fun dinner to spread the word about establishing a Recovery High School in NY for adolescents battling addiction who need a safe, structured sober environment to attend High School. Dr. Tian Dayton wrote about it on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-tian-dayton/the-growing-problem-of-ad_b_324244.html

Teach Your Parents Well!

It’s a safe bet to say that we’ve all been in school circles and gossiped. Who was what with whom, relationship break-ups, who had a STD, whatever. The funny thing about school gossip is that it doesn’t seem to change all that much as we grow up. Now that I am the parent of a school age child, I have found that the school gossip mills are alive and well, even in adulthood. Much of this seems to go down in the parking lot at drop-off and pickup but it’s there nonetheless. I try my best to be an active participant in the day to day life of my son, which is difficult given the geographic separation and the nature of my work (for those of you who know, try scheduling an addict to do something). In any event, I was not able to attend a recent back to school night at my son’s school. Imagine my surprise when the school gossip machine revealed that there were parents that brought bottles of wine in to the classroom to enjoy at back to school night. Really? How odd!

            I guess this is harmless, there were no children present and I assume everyone is of legal age and it was just wine sipping (according to the Head of the School). However, to me it sends a message, a contradictory message confusing to youth and adding chaos to any system. Dichotomy does not support prevention, so having this kind of thing in a system is really not helping the “just say no” message infused into school systems.  So in other words, “no drinking kids unless you just need to try some Pinot Noir sitting on a tiny chair in a kindergarten class listening to the daily routine of your 5 year old”. The cynic is me takes it one step further: What if you don’t like alcohol but need to unwind after the stresses and pulls of parenthood? “Mind if I smoke some crack or some weed on campus”? Oh, wait, that’s different…..Is it?

            Of course I couldn’t just let this slide, so I inquired as to the rules of our school and specifically how it responds to drugs and alcohol on campus.  In the guidelines, written by the head of the school, for prom night it states “if we determine that someone is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, we will immediately contact you and will ask that you come and pick him or her up.” A decent policy for young prom celebrants. Should this be system wide? Should back to school night also be intoxicant free? I will go with a resounding “yes” on that one.

Intervention – One Man Rehab

Here’s a link to the recent show I co-produced and appeared in on A&E tv;  Intervention- One Man Rehab: http://www.aetv.com/intervention/video/index.jsp?bcpid=1452232410&bclid=42108096001&bctid=42055432001

Me.Want.Now! The Overindulgent Mind of an Addict.

Instant gratification is something that plagues us all.  In a world of texting and instant messaging it is easy to get used to that kind of time and yet it’s not realistic. Delaying gratification is something that all drug addicts in recovery must learn.  They must get used to a pace of life that is slow and frankly, boring to them.  Try as they might, one of the difficulties of sustainable recovery is that NOTHING will ever feel as good as the DOC (drug of choice for you outsiders).  Patience is not the strong suit of any addict. Sometimes I think addicts can me summed up in three words: ME (self centered in the extreme) Want  (addicts are a black hole of want) Now (waiting? Ummm, no). ME.WANT.NOW! Sound like an overindulged child? Yes, I know.

            Even when people have been sober for a while, these characteristics are prevalent.  Often in a subtle way.  In recent months I have paid close attention to Gil Kerlikowske and the office of Drug Czar. I thought that under a new administration, we would have new policies. I wanted this for treatment providers, for families, for addicts, for all of us. I wanted this now. The truth is we have been in this drug war mess since Nixon. Did I really think Gil would change this in a few months? It’s a frustrating situation but he has already come a long way. He has publicly supported recovery high schools, called for an end to the drug war and yesterday in the Miami Herald Gil said, “draconian sentencing laws aren’t helping us win the drug war”.

            So, brick by brick my citizen. Recovery is a long slow process and recovery from the endless drug war won’t be an exception.  Of course I want this changed now. I don’t like waiting and sometimes, without even knowing it, the entitlement of what I want dressed up as being a warrior for the greater good wins. In other words, Thanks Gil, keep up the good work!

Jim Carroll, Author of Basketball Diaries, Dies of Heart Attack

All cultures have their hero’s and 12 steppin’ rehabbers are no different. At any youth oriented program there are obligatory copies of angst driven prose, some indulgent and overly dramatic, some not. What drug addict worth his or her diagnosis hasn’t read “I don’t want to live this life” written by Nancy Spungens mother or “No one here gets out alive” The bio of Jim Morrison? It’s not an accident that lyrics of many artists reflect the insatiable demands of the world that many addicts feel. There are those who say these artists are damaging, glorifying drugs and drug use. I say, they give misfits permission to live.

            For the literate addict, Jim Carroll is the poet laureate.  He is the thinking man’s Henry Rollins. His book “The Basketball Diaries” articulates the feelings of being smart, isolated, unparented, mentally ill and addicted.

            Jim Carroll also had the Jim Carroll band and chronicled his often-troubled life in “people who died”, a cult classic among the disenfranchised youth in rehab. Jim Carroll died today, of a heart attack at the age of 60. Pretty good life span for an IV heroin addict, even if he was in remission from his disease.  Jim Carroll was an articulate guy, he was honest and never tied the complexities of his life with a pretty “just say no” ribbon.  I’m sad to hear that he died but I am happy that he made it as long as he did, one day at a time.

A&E Recovery Rally – Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge

Today was the 2^nd annual recovery rally, sponsored by A & E television network.  A gathering of an estimated 10,000 people walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to celebrate recovery. It was a great public advocacy event bringing together the entire bouquet of humanity a whole range of recovering people, treatment providers and the best part, politicians. Karen Carpenter Palumbo, commissioner of OASAS led the political delegation that included Felix Ortiz, Marty Markowitz and Gil Kerlikowske the drug czar. As critical as I have been at times of Gil, it was an amazing thing to see him participate in the event. He seemed to enjoy the company of actress Kristen Johnston, but more importantly, he came, as did Governor Patterson.  This was a great day in the community-organizing world of treatment and recovery. In the past, the idea that any drug czar would have been there is absurd. Hard to imagine Barry McCaffree marching across the Brooklyn bridge with 1,500 people currently in treatment at Phoenix house. No the war on drugs seldom includes recovering from drug abuse and addiction, politicians don’t like this issue. I have talked to them and the common theme is “addicts don’t vote”. No, no they don’t.

            It is estimated that one addict impacts the lives of 100 people which is why I believe addiction is the #1 public health crisis and should be given the attention for the politicos that it needs. Thanks, Karen, Marty, Felix, Gov Patterson and Gil, (the best drug czar ever)!  It was a great step for addicts, families and communities to show the importance of recovery.