Addiction Doesn't Discriminate - Especially not Against Attorneys

Addiction does not discriminate, it impacts professionals, students, the famous and the unemployed alike. That is why it came as no shock that Los Angeles criminal defense attorney was arrested last week on drug charges.

The lawyer, who is now suspended from practicing law, is 49-year-old Kenneth Roger Markman. He was first arrested in October of 2011 after a failed attempt at smuggling balloons of heroin and meth into a jail holding facility in downtown Los Angeles. He was reportedly trying to smuggle the drugs to a client who had a court appearance that day.

A month after that incident, Markman was at a courthouse in Lancaster, CA after security officers found drug paraphernalia and two small bags of cocaine in his wallet. Despite his attempt to grab his wallet and  leave the building, he was arrested.  Last week he faced sentencing for these incidences - to which he pleaded no contest. His sentencing includes one year in county jail and one year in a residential addiction treatment program as part of three years of supervised probation.

The State Bar of California has suspended Marksman’s license pending a decision on whether he will be allowed to continue to practice law. The fact that his license isn’t revoked all together is in part due to the high incidences of lawyers today being treated for alcoholism and addiction. The American Bar Association estimates 15% to 20% of lawyers suffer from substance abuse and chemical dependency.

Born out of the growing number of attorneys who need addiction treatment are programs and policies that help them regain their careers after getting sober. This has allowed those convicted, like Markman, have a second chance and has incentivized lawyers who need help to come forward without the gripping fear that they will ruin their careers. Similar programs exist for medical professionals and airline pilots - all of whom deserve a second chance at life and career once they get sober.

If you are an impaired professional and need addiction treatment, Harmony has specialized treatment programs that can help.

Opioid Abuse on the Rise in Colorado

A recent survey from SAMHSA suggests that opioid abuse is on the rise in Western states including Colorado.

About 5 years ago, painkiller addiction reigned in Southern and Appalachian states. The abuse of opiates like OxyContin was well known as “hillbilly heroin” from the high percentage of southerners abusing it. But today states like Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Idaho have among the highest rates of opioid abuse.

For example, according to SAMHSA, as many as 6.5% of Oregon residents abuse opioids and deaths from overdoses climbed 172% between 2004 and 2011. Southern states like Kentucky have seen a reduction in painkiller abuse at 4.5% ranking it at 31 in 2011 compared to 6 in 2009. Many attribute this to policies that were enacted following statistics of opioid abuse. When the statistics were high in the South, there were several efforts made to curb abuse such as creating state task forces to crack down on prescribing privileges of physicians and the enforcement of harsher penalties for illegal possession and using false prescriptions.

The growing rate of opiate abuse in the West is attributed to a greater supply of prescription painkillers from drug trafficking rings and lenient prescribing rights for doctors who operate “pill mills” with limited restrictions. Recent articles have covered incidences of doctors in Nevada and Southern California who are recklessly prescribing large quantities of oxycodone.

The drugs are then transported to neighboring states like Colorado - a state that has seen its fair share of prescription drug overdoses and is working to curb them. For example, Colorado addiction treatment centers have stepped up their specialized programs for those addicted to opioids and the Colorado School of Public Health has created an online course to train prescribers statewide. The course gives healthcare providers guidelines on pain management. According to Alfred Gilchrist, the CEO of the Colorado Medical Society, “The goal of this private-public initiative is to help improve practice, address the epidemic of opioid prescription-associated health problems and improve care.” The course includes training on assessing risk for addiction, using the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) to stop those who engage in “doctor shopping” and other risk reduction practices.

If you or a loved one is struggling with opioid addiction and are seeking addiction treatment for painkillers, Harmony Colorado has affordable addiction treatment programs for men and women suffering from prescription addiction.

Russell Brand Shares A Tool to Avoid Relapse

Relapse prevention is an essential component of recovery and there are endless tools that help addicts avoid a relapse. One such tool is picking up the phone, often referred to as the “50 pound phone” because it is hard to make a phone call when we are feeling our worst.

Even those who are in their double digits - 10 years or more - of sobriety occasionally struggle, as expressed recently by Russell Brand in a blog post he wrote about relapse. "The last time I thought about taking heroin was yesterday," he wrote on his website, russellbrand.tv. But, recognizing his thought was fleeting and that the promises of recovery outweigh the ill fated reality of active abuse of drugs and alcohol, Brand says he picked up the phone: "Even as I spin this beautifully dreaded web I am reaching for my phone. I call someone not a doctor or a sage not a mystic or a physician, just a bloke like me, another alcoholic, who I know knows how I feel."

Just picking up the phone and calling someone to talk about triggers (in Brand’s case it was bad news from a woman) can help immeasurably because fellows in recovery have been through similar situations and sentiments. That is why in 12 step meetings people often say, “I have a sponsor and my sponsor has a sponsor” because somewhere, someone has had the same experience and can share how they got through it - sans alcohol or drugs.

Often in active addiction people struggle with what is coined “terminal uniqueness,” thinking that no one has walked in their shoes and experienced what they have. When they get sober and share what they thought of as unique experiences, they realize they are far from being alone, and that their sponsor - or their sponsor’s sponsor - has experienced the same thing and can shed light on how they overcame it.

Making a phone call a fellow in recovery is one of the most powerful tools to avoid relapse because, as Brand says, "the price of this [recovery from addiction] is constant vigilance because the disease of addiction is not rational." Therefore, staying in one’s own head, filled with triggers and temptations may not serve up a rational answer - but someone on the other end of the phone line can provide some rationality to help us stay sober.

Here at Harmony Foundation, we understand the potential for relapse, which is why we have crafted a special program called Recommitment to Recovery aimed at helping those who have relapsed get back on track. Picking up the phone is just one of the many tools we instill in our clients in our relapse prevention programs.

Drug Testing Those on Unemployment and Welfare

Should welfare recipients be submitted to drug tests? 

There has been much controversy over this question in recent weeks as Indiana passed House Bill 1483 that will make welfare recipients take drug tests and lose benefits if they don’t stick to a recommended course of treatment.

The idea of drug testing recipients of government benefits grew out of a nation-wide trend seen among those trying to hire the unemployed. “They said they had potential employees that would come and apply and couldn’t pass the drug test,” said South Carolina state Sen. Harvey Peeler. After hearing several variations on this same theme, he introduced a bill that suspended unemployment checks to those who failed the drugs tests they had to take to get a job.

Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah passed similar laws in 2011 and 2012 that require drug testing and screening for those applying for or receiving public assistance. Each state’s laws vary in their enforcement and requirements from laws that just ask recipients about their drug use to laws that test everyone before they get benefits.

The Indiana bill would require TANF recipients to take a drug screening test and those with a propensity for drug abuse would be required to get randomly drug tested. Those who fail the drug test would keep their TANF benefits, but would have to enter a drug treatment program - for which they pay for out of their own pockets. The treatment programs could be anything from a local Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) to an inpatient drug rehab, after which, according to the bill, “Those in treatment who test clean on two consecutive drug tests would continue to receive benefits. If they are unable to stay off drugs for four months, he said they would lose benefits for three months. Then they could reapply and could, if a drug test showed they were no longer using narcotics, get benefits again.”

The Rep. who wrote the bill, Jud McMillin says it will be one that helps drug abusers while protecting tax dollars. But opponents of the bill raise concerns such as how children will be impacted if their parent loses benefits and how much the bill and the enforcement of it will cost. For example, an Indianapolis Democrat recalled a law Florida passed in 2011 that tested 4,086 people, only finding 2.6% positive, which ending up costing the state more to conduct than was saved by denying benefits. Other opponents call the bill discriminatory saying it inherently assumes the poor have substance abuse problems.

Drug abuse does not discriminate, as it is a disease of the rich and the poor, the welfare recipient and the millionaire. However, many studies in the US and overseas have linked the idle time, boredom, depression and lethargy that arise during periods of unemployment with drug abuse. Denying benefits to those that find themselves in this predicament may be beneficial if combined with corresponding policies to help them find treatment and stay sober. However, this would cost taxpayers and bring the entire debate back full circle to the starting point from which it began - over how to save taxpayer dollars. In short, the bill and any corresponding policies have a long way to go, but the bottom line is that those who are penalized for their addiction, be in loss of benefits, job loss or loss of friends need effective addiction treatment to get better and recover their losses.