• Medication Pills
    Health Literacy,  News

    The Opioid Crisis: a National Public Health Emergency

    In mid-October, Ex-DEA Agent Joe Ranazzisi appeared on 60 Minutes to expose details of how pharmaceutical lobbyist and the US Congress have worked in conjunction to knowingly derail DEA efforts at curtailing the opioid epidemic. “Rannazzisi accuses the distributors of fueling the opioid epidemic by turning a blind eye to pain pills being diverted to illicit use,” says 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker to the viewing audience. Then, to Rannazzisi, he asks: “You know the implication of what you’re saying, that these big companies knew that they were pumping drugs into American communities that were killing people?” “That’s not an implication,” responds Rannazzisi, “that’s a fact. That’s exactly what they…

  • Addiction
    Health Literacy

    Understanding The Challenges of Cross-Addiction And How To Combat It

    When those struggling with substance abuse indulge in that addiction, their brain releases a ‘feel good’ chemical called dopamine into the synapses. Dopamine signals body that something pleasurable has happened or is about to happen. When the addicts undergo addiction treatment, they often feel a frequent sense of something missing from in their life. That missing thing is usually dopamine. To fill this emptiness, recovering addicts sometimes turn to something else, such as coffee, food, shopping, cigarettes, pills, or anything that mimics their original addiction. It is called cross-addiction In simple terms, cross-addiction means you’ve traded one addiction for another. For example, if you’re working through an alcoholism treatment program,…