Addiction Recovery, Hope and Purpose

Friends funny dance on the beach under sunset sunlight

It’s nearly July already, and hopefully your summer is going smoothly. Perhaps you are finding yourself with some extra free time that will allow you to get outside a bit more than usual. One of the greatest parts about summers in Recovery is that you are afforded an opportunity to spend time with your higher power outdoors. Free from the constant noise of our technologically wired homes and apartments. Going to the beach or taking hikes with your addiction recovery peers is a wonderful opportunity to be grateful. I had one peer who was addicted to pornography from websites similar to https://www.nu-bay.com/ and he tells me getting away from technology has helped him in developing a healthier relationship between the two.

Even if you have not accrued years of clean and sober time, you are still able to appreciate the few gifts that recovery has afforded you. Just a couple months in the program can give you a new sense of purpose. Accompanied by the calm that comes from not having to worry about your next fix or drink. As you surely know, figuring out how you will afford your drug of choice or get away with it one more day is a great comfort.

In active addiction, we all spent an exorbitant amount of time and energy manipulating people and our surroundings. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, day in and day out. It could drive anyone to the brink of despair. An uphill battle that required all your attention and energy, just to wake up the next day and start the process all over. Perhaps over the course of your travels you came across Albert Camus’ “The Myth of Sysiphus?” Even if you haven’t, one need only read the first paragraph to spot the lot of the addict and alcoholic in Sysiphus:

“The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.”

Addiction Recovery is Hope and Purpose

While Camus’ short essay veers off into the theatre of philosophical absurdity, in the end Sisyphus finds himself happy with the task that the gods gave him. “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.”

The illustration of pushing the boulder is apt. In many ways, active addiction is a futile endeavor towards self-destruction. There aren’t any merits to slow suicide. A repetitive series of actions that strips you of your identity and casts you down to a living underworld. At some point, you no longer have the strength to push the boulder of addiction. One must either pivot towards recovery, or else. Conversely, addiction recovery is a series of repetitive movements that allows one to move, slowly, into the sunshine of the spirit. At times, you may feel like daily meetings and coffee sessions with your sponsor are both tedious and mundane. But, like the addiction boulder, the recovery boulder must be elevated each day. The difference is that your recovery is not futile, and your actions have purpose—saving your life.

The point, albeit in a somewhat roundabout way (no pun intended), is that there are ways to break up the monotony, and actually strengthen your relationship with your higher power. After you get to your daily meetings, take some time to embrace nature and all that is the natural world. Each day, try making a point to elevate your program to new heights, through prayer and meditation, perhaps. By doing so, the days where you find yourself struggling, may be fewer and farther between.

Independence Day Recovery

Next Tuesday is the 4th of July. A day that can be difficult for those who are working a program of recovery. Especially those of you who are new. Please make a point of having a plan in place. Avoid risky situations that might precipitate relapse. There will be meetings every hour of the day, and there isn’t a reason why you can’t go to several. There is a good chance that recovery BBQs will be going on, too. Try to attend, it is possible to have a lot fun in recovery. We are not a glum lot. Whether you have 24 hours or 24 years, we at 10 Acre Ranch wish everyone in recovery, a safe and sober Independence Day.

U-47700: China Bans Four Synthetic Drugs

Synthetic Marijuana Synthetic Drugs

When talking about synthetic drugs, one of two things should come to mind: Dangerous chemicals used to make bath salts or synthetic cannabis; or powerful opioids such as fentanyl, carfentanil, and U-47700. Regardless of which we are talking about, they all have two things in common. They are deadly and are made in China.

To be sure, it is a fact that the United States makes up a small percentage of the world population. We also have safeguards in place providing oversight to protect people from dangerous substances and that we have more oversight than most countries. Yet, the people of America have the highest demand for drugs, especially opioids. Americans use the clear majority of the world’s prescription opioid supply, a problem of epidemic proportions. The problem has grown arms in recent years, with addicts branching out to illicit opioids like heroin.

But they are not just doing heroin. In many cases, the powerful opioid analgesic fentanyl is introduced to batches of heroin. In other cases, an even more deadly animal tranquilizer known as carfentanil is present in heroin. Over the last year there has been talk about another designer opioid, dubbed U-47700. Also, known as “Pink.” And like fentanyl, is made in laboratories in China to be sold to drug cartels an ocean away.

Reining In China’s U-47700

Until recently, China was doing little to combat the flood of synthetic drugs being made within its borders. Due to pressure from foreign governments, like our own, China is finally making efforts to curb the problem. They have already banned a number of chemicals that were being used to make synthetic marijuana. Now, they are going after synthetic opioids, like U-47700. Pressure from America has led to China agreeing to ban U-47700, Stat News reports. This follows the DEA’s move last year to add Pink to the list of Schedule I controlled substances. Drugs that have no accepted medical use and “a high potential for abuse.”

As of July 1, 2017, four compounds will be added to China’s list of controlled substances, according to the article. Including:

  • U-47700
  • MT-45
  • PMMA
  • 4,4′-DMARbe

While this is promising news, we are still faced with the reality that chemists will be quick to alter the formula. Allowing them to skirt the bans put in place by both American and Chinese officials. A trend that Yu Haibin, a division director at the Ministry of Public Security’s Narcotics Control Bureau, realizes fully.

“My feeling is that it’s just like a race and I will never catch up with the criminals,” Yu told a news conference. “Actually, we just want to make a breakthrough in dealing with this.”

Playing With Fire

If you are buying compounds like U-47700 over the internet, please be advised that there is no telling how chemists will alter the formula. Nor the side effects that will result from such a change. Synthetic drugs are highly unpredictable. They are addictive and can be deadly.

If you feel that you might be addicted to synthetic drugs, please contact 10 Acre ranch today. We can help you break the cycle of addiction and set you on the path of recovery.

Heroin Vaccine Shows Promise for Addiction

heroin spoon syringe

Alcohol and substance use disorders have no known cure. There is not a pill you can take that will rid you of addiction. There are programs that you can work that will enable you to abstain from use for long periods of time without the need of relapse. And if such programs are worked with vigilance and honesty, people can refrain from use for the rest of their lives.

There are, however, drugs that people can take to assist in abstaining from drug and alcohol use. Such as Antabuse, Acamprosate, Naltrexone and Buprenorphine. However, they will only mitigate the risk of a relapse. Antabuse will make alcoholics sick when they drink. Regarding buprenorphine, more commonly known as Suboxone, users are still taking a partial agonist opioid receptor modulator. Which causes euphoria. The point is that these drugs are not intended to cure addiction. They are meant to help people get on the road to recovery. And stay the course.

In the field of addiction medicine, we could easily argue that at no other time in our history has a vaccine for addiction been more needed. People are dying in scores every day of the week from opioid overdoses. Those who seek treatment for opioid use disorder have especially high relapse rates. And there is no indication that the reality we all find ourselves living in today is going to change. At least not anytime soon. Nevertheless, addiction researchers continue to search in earnest for one.

Heroin Vaccine On The Horizon

As we mentioned earlier, relapse rates among opioid addicts are particularly high. Thus, and so, the need to mitigate the risk of relapse without the use of other opioids like Methadone and Suboxone is great. Fortunately, researchers have been working on a vaccine that would block the euphoric feelings caused by opioid use, Live Science reports. By blocking the high, the vaccine will reduce people’s chance of becoming addicted in the first place and prevent those already addicted from relapsing.

“The vaccine sequesters the psychoactive molecules that heroin produces and prevents distribution to the brain,” said study first-author, Paul Bremer, a graduate student at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI).”It essentially uses your body’s own natural defense to neutralize the drug.”

Rather than cure addiction, the vaccine mimics part of the heroin molecule, according to the article. Conditioning the immune system to treat heroin molecules as foreign bodies. Disabling heroin’s ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, and thus preventing the high. Trials on monkeys have proven successful, the next step is clinical trials. If the vaccine works on humans, it could have huge implications for the future of opioid addiction in America. The researchers at TSRI are talking with biotech companies to develop a human clinical trial.

“I hope the vaccine will be useful in conjunction with other drugs,” said study leader Kim Janda, a chemistry professor at TSRI. “While there are treatments out there already, I think we need to look at other ways of fighting this problem. This could be another piece of the puzzle.”

Opioid Addiction Treatment

It will be some time before opioid users can rely on any vaccine. In the meantime, addiction treatment is the only real course of action for those whose lives have been turned upside down from opioid use. If you are an adult male who’s addicted to opioids, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today. Our center has helped a significant number of people with opioid use disorder break the cycle of addiction, and begin the life-saving journey of recovery.

Addiction Recovery: A Social Model

photo of a group during therapy session addiction recovery

If you are new to addiction recovery there is a good chance that you have been scratching your head about many things. Which is more than common. You may be trying to understand how the program works. when nothing else that you tried in the past helped. Looking around the rooms you see scores of people, many of whom with smiles on their face—when you can hardly find anything to be happy about. Our hope is that you do not become discouraged, how you are feeling will in time pass and before you know it early recovery will be long behind you.

It is of the utmost importance that you try your hardest to not overthink the program, to not harp on things that seem to make little sense. Or in some cases, illogical. We assure you that everything you see and hear is part of the formula which has been used to save lives for nearly a century. The keystone of the entire program is spirituality, which manifests itself via the group’s connection. You speak and are heard. Others speak and you listen. And together, we work the problem of “self.”

People often say that Albert Einstein would not have been able to recover from addiction by way of programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, et al. They also say that you can’t be too unintelligent to recover, but you can be too smart. Given the fact that most addicts and alcoholics are above average intelligence, the former platitude presents some problems if you let it. The point is; however, that if your best thinking brought you to your knees and in need of the rooms of recovery, then it might be a good time to take suggestions and follow directions.

Hit the Ground of Recovery, Running

On the onset of your introduction to the program it is likely that you will still be a bit foggy. Years of substance use and abuse takes its toll on cognitive function and how you respond to new surroundings. For the first couple weeks, whether in treatment or at a 12-Step meeting, it is vital that one gives their body and mind time to flush the lingering chemicals from their system. After a couple weeks, you may still feel a little down about the loss of your good friend Jim Beam, but you will be in a much better position to be an active participant in the community of recovery.

At such time, you will have probably heard a multitude of people share their story, you may have even shared some of yours. There is a good chance that someone has shared some things about recovery that resonated with you. That may be the first person that you want to approach to discuss sponsorship. Working with another alcoholic or addict is paramount to achieving long-term sobriety. A sponsor is someone who has worked all the steps, and can in turn help you work them. They are essentially, among other things, a guide.

Sponsors also have a role in calling you on you. They will see when you may be slipping or are in a place that seems unhealthy. Giving you a chance to correct course before something bad happens, specifically relapse. Just as someone else calls them out when they appear to be risking their recovery. Together, we provide support for others, just as they provide it to you. When times are hard, and they will be, you always have someone to talk to about your feelings. Without fear of judgment. We implore you to not put off finding a sponsor. We know that you can find a million reasons to not ask someone to sponsor you, and that’s OK. But all you need to do is find one good reason, and the journey of working the steps begins and the gifts that come along with it will surely follow.

The Social Model of Addiction Recovery

Just as 12-Step programs rely heavily on community, so too does effective addiction treatment. At 10 Acre Ranch, our male clients not only go to groups and meetings together, they share a living space. As a result, our clients always have someone they can turn to for a hand, if they are feeling anxious or depressed about their life. Just like what members of AA or NA do for each other in their day to day lives.

The social model of recovery puts people in the ideal position to never leave anything in their program to chance. There is always the fail safe known as the fellowship. Whenever you find yourself in doubt about something, or going to make a life-changing decision, the hand of recovery will always be there.

If you are still out there in active addiction, please contact us today. The longer you put recovery off—the worse it gets.

Binge Drinking Among Young Adults Increases

Binge Drinking Among Young Adults

It is probably fair to say that drinking alcohol socially is an American pastime. Or, at the very least, involved in many activities that Americans take part in. Teenagers and young adults across America congregate every weekend to imbibe at parties and sporting events. For a lot of people, a ball game would not be a the same without a cold beer. While in many cases, drinking alcohol can be a benign, or relatively harmless, experience there is a significant number of young adults who consume alcohol in far from healthy ways.

Alcohol and the use of the substance is pervasive in the United States. It can be purchased at grocery stores, restaurants, sporting events and concerts. Just to name a few vendors. It can become easy to forget that liquor can severely disrupt the course of one’s life, wreaking havoc on people’s health. For a substance that is so addictive, with an impact on the body which kills far more people every year than any other substance, (including the deadly opioid narcotics which have been in the spotlight for nearly two decades)—it is hard to understand why prevention and treatment efforts are not emphasized more.

Sadly, and because young people are not generally given all the facts about the dangers of alcohol consumption, unhealthy relationships with liquor often develop. It is quite common for young men and women to “binge drink” alcohol on regular basis. That is, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when men consume 5 or more drinks, and when women consume 4 or more drinks—over a 2-hour period.

Binge Drinking Among Young Adults

The National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) funded a study that looked at binge drinking and high-intensity (10+, 15+ drinks per occasion) drinking among U.S.12th graders and young adults from 2005 to 2015, Newswise reports. The findings indicated that binge and high-intensity drinking was highest for young adults aged 21/22 to 25/26, increasing the highest among people in their late twenties. The research was published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Both binge drinking and high-intensity alcohol consumption can cause serious harm to one’s health, and is a sure path to dependence and/or addiction. It is absolutely vital that these trends are acknowledged and that prevention experts and addiction treatment professionals respond accordingly with efforts to educate young people about the inherent risks of these methods of consumption. Setting the long-term health effects aside for the moment, people who engage in binge drinking are at greater risk of traumatic accidents and alcohol poisoning—which are often deadly.

Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment

Young adults are often unaware of the potential harm of the aforementioned manners of drinking alcohol. They are usually drinking that way among their peers, and justify the behavior as something that everyone is doing. Sure, some people binge drink socially in the early twenties and don’t progress to alcoholism, but that is not the case for others.

When such people seek help by way of addiction treatment, one that utilizes the social model, much emphasis is placed on adopting healthy ways of living surrounded by peers working towards the same goal. Recovery is a process, but over time one learns how to have fun with others without the social lubricant that is alcohol.

If you are young adult male, or have a loved one who is, and has formed an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today. We connect young men together in a safe environment and teach them how to live a life in recovery, and form healthy relationships with their peers, without alcohol or any other mind-altering substances.

Addiction Signs On Facebook

iphone 6 with facebook login display Social Media

In today’s world, practically everyone uses social media of some kind. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to name a few. Even people who dislike Facebook (no pun intended) tend to at least scroll through their timeline, from time to time. After all, social media can be a great tool for keeping in touch or checking in with friends all over the world. Given the fact that people will share anything from wedding announcements to what they plan to have for breakfast tomorrow, it stands to reason that they will also reveal their emotional state, whether knowingly or not. In some cases, your friends may be constantly posting about partying with drugs and alcohol or that they have been isolating a lot lately. Both of which may be signs of dis-ease.

Over the last year, Facebook announced that they have begun “spidering” their platform with an algorithm to help identify troubled users in order to determine people who may be a risk to others or themselves. The goal is to identify troubled users, potentially open the door for intervention before something tragic happens. Many people who are struggling with mental illness, like addiction or depression, are usually pretty guarded as to talking about it. This is generally out of fear of judgment or social stigma. Both of which can deter people from seeking the help they need. Which is why there is an inherent value in “combing” social media for users in distress, who may be subtly crying out for help.

Spotting Substance Abuse on Facebook

At the Addiction Recovery Research Center in Roanoke, Virginia, a team of researchers may have found a way to identify users struggling with addiction by looking at social media messages, MIT Technology Review reports. The findings come from mining millions of “status updates,” looking for various keywords that were associated with substance use.

The researchers also looked at myPersonality, a project on Facebook which more than 4 million users participated, according to the article. The project involved a series of psychometric tests.

“Our best models achieved 86% for predicting tobacco use, 81% for alcohol use and 84% for drug use, all of which significantly outperformed existing methods,” say researcher Warren Bickel and co. “We believe social media is a promising platform for both studying SUD-related human behaviors as well as engaging the public for substance abuse prevention and screening.”

Getting Help for Addiction

Sometimes you personally can spot signs of trouble among your Facebook friends. If you think that your friend is struggling with drugs or alcohol, you might try to encourage them to seek help in a compassionate way. Ignoring the signs, or passing it off as just a little too much partying could have disastrous consequences. We can all have a hand in looking out for our friends and loved ones, just showing that you care can be immensely important.

If they intimate that they need help, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today. We can help them break the cycle of addiction, and learn how to live a life in recovery.