High Truths on Drugs and Addiction: Recent Episodes

Dr. Roneet Lev

High Truths on Drugs and Addiction is a podcast hosted by Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency and addiction physician who has served at the White House and practices on the front lines. Each Monday new episodes will feature experts that answer questions from you, our audience. We hope to bring your day a little bit more High Truths.

Brooke Briggance comes from a multi-sector background in health, direct impact programming for children, youth and families, and non-profit work. She comes from lived experience, began her career in healthcare in the Department of Neurology at SUNY Stony Brook in New York, and has experience in administrative leadership and public education advocacy and reform. She served as the Executive Director of an education foundation and has worked as a consultant assisting in projects ranging from school district redesign, community engagement and best practices for non-profits. She currently serves as the Director for the Cypress Resilience Project and the Co-Director of FACES for the Future – both programs at Public Health Institute in Oakland, CA. She is a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist, a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor (Adult, Youth and teen), a Certified Trainer and Specialist in Trauma Informed Systems and Practice. She regularly supports organizations through training, technical assistance and policy design – all with a focus on trauma responsive practices including support for the workforce as they manage toxic stress, cumulative grief and burn-out.

What is compassion in drugs and addiction?

Compassion that avoids consequences for committing a crime is not compassion, it is cruel. Very Cruel – to the victim and the perpetrator.

The Homeless, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, YES on Prop 36, will bring more compassion to Californians through deterrence and bringing back drug courts.

Listen to someone who works with people who have serious addiction that resulted in crimes.

Darren White.

Darren White is the founder of Realized Potential Incorporated (RPI). He oversees the organizations operations and maintains a network of resources of community based organizations serving high risk youth and young adults. Darren White has received countless awards and certifications including Violence Prevention Strategist, National Anger Management Certification, Restorative Justice Circle Award, Father Engagement Specialist, Alive and Free Prescription and the 2011 Civic Pride Award for Distinguished Community Service. Mr. White is also a Certified International Life Coach. Darren networks with other agencies to stay informed about services and resources. He leads the mission of RPI.

Paul Martin

For over two decades, Paul Martin has worked to ameliorate physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. His work has focused largely around child welfare and child rights. He’s holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in philosophical ethics, is a former Anglican pastor, candidate for United States congress, and non profit CEO. In 2023 while on sabbatical in Northern New Mexico, Paul witnessed firsthand the insidious effects of fentanyl and in response launched United Against Fentanyl in 2024.

LA County California

Gary Tsai, M.D. is a physician executive who is the Director of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Control, a division of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. In this role, he is responsible for leading nearly 500 staff with a budget of approximately $460M, overseeing a full spectrum of substance use prevention, harm reduction, and treatment services for the 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. Dr. Tsai also serves on the Board of Directors of NAMI California and is a physician board certified in both general psychiatry and addiction medicine, after completing his medical training at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. Having experienced the stigma and criminalization that often accompanies serious mental illness as the son of a mother with schizophrenia, Dr. Tsai is a passionate advocate for improving our behavioral health systems. In his pursuit of meaningful change, he founded Forgotten Films, a film production company focusing on social issue projects, specializing in behavioral health. Its first film, Voices (www.VoicesDocumentary.com), premiered on public television in May 2015 for Mental Health Awareness Month and was awarded a SAMHSA Voice Award. He is also the award-winning author of Against All Odds: A Practical Guide to Successfully Navigate Psychosis and Behavioral Health Systems (www.AgainstAllOddsToday.com), which was published in July 2022.

The gold standard for workplace drug testing is established by SAMHSA’s Division for Workplace Programs, DWP. This affects 14 million employees. DWP manages the National Laboratory Certification Program and oversees the Drug Testing Advisory Board. Learn all a

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Ronald R. Flegel became the Director of the Division of Workplace Program in May of 2012. He initially joined The Division of Workplace Programs, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in September of 2004 as the Forensic Toxicologist, following his employment with a nationally recognized laboratory, Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute. As the Technical Scientist, his role included method research, development, validation, and regulatory compliance in all aspects of the toxicology operations. His prior position was with a nationally recognized consulting firm, The Walsh Group, P.A. His responsibilities at The Walsh Group included applied research, technology development, formulating new proposals and white papers leading to policy consideration. Prior to this position, he was employed with Quest Diagnostics Incorporated in the Forensic Toxicology Department as Shift Manager/ Section Supervisor in a SAMHSA Certified regulated drug testing laboratory. His responsibilities included overseeing the laboratory certification process including quality control, data certification, method research, method validation, regulatory compliance, performance and developmental review of staff. As a Technologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Department of Pathology, he certified and reviewed chemistry and emergency toxicology data and played a key role in shaping the continuing education program.

As a scientist, Mr. Flegel has worked on a variety of projects and written several technical papers that include cost effective approaches to substance abuse testing, cost efficient screening methodologies, marketing studies for state-of-the-art reagent protocols and instrumental validation procedures. These projects include method validation and reagent protocol development, modifications to reagents for cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness, and several other projects in drug evaluation programs. He has chaired and co-chaired several committees, which strived to improve the overall quality of service in drug and alcohol programs. He is a member of several professional societies including The American College of Toxicology (ACT), Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientist (AAFS), Society of Forensic Toxicology (SOFT) and The American Society of Clinical Pathologist (ASCP).

Mr. Flegel recently testified before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Government Operations on the Federal response to marijuana legalization as it pertains to transportation policy. He has lectured on numerous occasions for professional organizations on topics such as National Laboratory Certification Program, Prescription Drug Abuse, and Programs to Deter Drug Use, Analytical Approaches to Emergency Toxicology and Volatiles: Including Methanol, Ethanol and Isopropanol. Until he became Director, he had overseen the National Laboratory Certification Program as the Government Project Officer within SAMHSA which covers many aspects such as inspection protocols, review of regulatory guidelines, regulatory compliance issues and guidance documents for the laboratory. In 1989, he had the honor of receiving the John C. Failing Award for Bench Medical Technologist of the Year. Mr. Flegel received his Bachelor’s Degree from Northern Michigan University in biology and medical technology and his Master’s Degree from The University of Maryland in Forensic Toxicology. He also completed several rotations at the Poison Control Center and Medical Examiner’s Office in the state of Maryland as well as his Medical Technology Internship at Hurley Medical Center in the department of pathology. Mr. Flegel’s focus has been based on the testing procedures of Forensic Toxicology and Emergency Toxicology and all aspects of regulated testing and certification.

https://www.samhsa.gov/workplace/employer-resources

Matthew Maceira is the Executive Director of Be Bold Street Ministries

He uses his experience as a Dope Dealer to being a Hope Dealer

Matthew survived many acts of brutality as a child and spent 27 years with active addiction, criminality, violence, and other drug world activities. He was wounded 14 times by knives and twice by gunshots. He received freedom and victory from all this through faith in Jesus Christ. Having been saved from a life of crime and the streets, he followed the call to share with all people the good news of a savior who makes his people whole. God led Matthew to found Be Bold Street Ministries.

matt@beboldstreetministries.org

Fox News. Inside one of Oregon’s largest homeless camps with a former drug dealer. Feb 17, 2024. Hannah Lampert.

Amy Ronshausen is the Executive Director of both Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. and Save Our Society From Drugs (S.O.S.), national nonprofit organizations that work prevent substance abuse, increase access to evidence-based treatment, and promote sustained recovery.

Mrs. Ronshausen has dedicated most of her adult life to the work of drug demand reduction. In her sixteen years with Drug Free America Foundation and S.O.S, she has assisted in coordinating successful grassroots advocacy campaigns to promote sound drug policy, analyzed and tracked state and federal drug policy legislation, and trained prevention professionals at local, national and international conferences. Mrs. Ronshausen regularly testifies on issues related to drug demand reduction on the local and global stage.

Prior to coming to DFAF, Mrs. Ronshausen spent three years as a program specialist with the Pinellas County Adult Drug Court, working under four judges. While in drug court, Mrs. Ronshausen linked defendants with treatment providers and monitored their progress through the criminal justice system. Mrs. Ronshausen started her work in drug prevention with Operation PAR, where she started off as a call specialist in their access center and then worked as a juvenile certified GAIN assessor. She also worked as a juvenile counselor for PAR’s Adolescent Recovery Intervention Services and the Juvenile Enhancement Treatment Services and is trained in Motivational Enhancement and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Mrs. Ronshausen volunteers as the Executive Director for the Florida Coalition Alliance, representing over 30 community anti-drug coalitions. She chairs the Marijuana Task Force as part of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, and serves on the Pinellas County Opioid Task Force. Mrs. Ronshausen serves on the board of Informed Families, is an advisory board member for the Foundation for a Drug Free World, a member of the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) and a master trainer for the Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC).

After being reelected in 2022, Mrs. Ronshausen serves as International President of the World Federation Against Drugs, a multilateral community of non-governmental organizations and individuals.

In 2023, Ms. Ronshausen was appointed by Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, to serve as a member of the Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement.

Mrs. Ronshausen received her Bachelors of Arts Degree from University of South Florida.

MarijuanaKnowTheTruth.org

Thomas E. Freese, Ph.D., received his doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in 1995. Dr. Freese is currently the Co-Director of UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs and Co-Director of the SAMHSA-funded Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center (PSATTC, HHS Region 9). Dr. Freese has served as Principal Investigator on numerous projects funded by the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and Department of Health Care Services to train providers in a variety of evidence-based substance use disorder treatment practices (including medications for addiction treatment, SBIRT, contingency management, and motivational interviewing). Dr. Freese has also led several large training and technical assistance projects that assist providers in implementing integrated treatment for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. He has been a featured presenter at conferences and meetings nationally and internationally on the impact and treatment of methamphetamine and opioid dependence. In addition, Dr. Freese has served as the Project Director on a number of studies including research on methamphetamine use. He has worked in the addiction field since 1983, and has developed and conducted trainings in 45 states and internationally, providing training and workshops for clinicians-in-training at the all levels.

Melissa Baldwin is a storyteller at heart. She received her degree in theatre and spent over 20 years performing and teaching. In addition, she immersed herself in various training opportunities around the topic of trauma informed care. Melissa currently oversees kNOw MORE!©, a drama based human trafficking prevention and awareness program developed by the Center for Justice and Reconciliation at Point Loma Nazarene University. This highly relational and interactive curriculum is geared for middle school and high school students and uses the dramatized story of Amanda, a San Diego high school student who is lured into the life of trafficking, to discuss vulnerabilities, red flags and safety. Amanda’s Story – Short Film Version

kNOw More Promotional Video

CDC has several different units working on different diseases and injury prevention, even one dedicated to cannabis.

To learn more about the CDC’s Cannabis Strategy Unit, I reached out to

Douglas Roehler, PhD, MPH

Health Scientist, Division of Overdose Prevention (DOP)

Douglas Roehler, PhD, MPH, serves as a Health Scientist for the Cannabis Strategy Unit in the Division of Overdose Prevention at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. His work has focused on coordinating and implementing CDC’s cannabis strategic plan, expanding cannabis surveillance and research, and building surveillance and prevention capacity for drug-related overdoses.

Prior to joining the Cannabis Strategy Unit, Dr. Roehler served as a Health Scientist on the Overdose Morbidity Team in the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch in the Division of Overdose Prevention. In this role, he provided technical assistance to funded states to build and enhance their nonfatal overdose surveillance systems.

Previously, Dr. Roehler focused on building and improving road safety surveillance systems in low- and middle-income countries, preventing youth violence, and investigating sudden unexpected infant deaths. He earned his PhD and MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Following his doctoral work, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Rush University Medical Center in the Department of Pediatrics. He has published extensively on cannabis, drug overdoses, traffic safety, youth violence, and child injury prevention in peer-reviewed journals, MMWRs, book chapters, and governmental reports, including serving as the lead author of the 2019 Annual Surveillance Report of Drug-related Risks and Outcomes.

Is it just pot and an inconsequential debate on changing the schedule of marijuana or is it much more?

Are we talking about individual rights, marijuana as medicine, public health implications, the integrity of the FDA medication approval process , or the reliability of the USA in keeping international treaties.

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY ON THE SCIENCE AND IMPACT OF CANNABIS

DOCTORS EDUCATING ON MARIJUANA

IASIC is an organization of international experts on cannabis who are guided by medicine and science to provide accurate and honest information that guides decision-making. We recognize that the use of cannabis is potentially harmful, and that policies or practices which enhance or increase the use of cannabis risk serious medical and social consequences.

Check out the IASIC Library.

Eric A. Voth, M.D., FACP

Dr. Voth is a specialist in Internal Medicine, Pain Management, and Addiction Medicine. He serves as the President and Chairman of the Board of the International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis (IASIC). Dr. Voth is a pioneer in the appropriate prescribing of controlled medications and is recognized as an international authority on drug use, drug policy-related issues, pain management, and appropriate prescribing practices.

He also serves as an advisor on alcohol and drug abuse issues to the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, is a former member of the National Advisory Committee for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment of HHS, and is a Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

Dr. Voth has advised Reagan, Clinton, both Bush, and Obama administrations, and has advised or testified for numerous Congressional offices on drug related issues. He has appeared on or consulted to, numerous other radio media, and has been quoted by numerous international print media.

Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Stuyt, MD

Dr. Stuyt is a board-certified Addiction Psychiatrist and has worked in the addiction/behavioral health field since 1990. She was the Medical Director for the Circle Program, a 90-day inpatient treatment program, funded by the state of Colorado, for persons with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse who have failed other levels of treatment from 1999 to 2020. She retired from this position in May 2020 in order to spend more time attempting to educate as many people as possible on the un-intended consequences she has seen from the commercialization of marijuana in Colorado, focusing primarily on the deleterious effects of high potency THC on the developing brain and mental health.

About Bertha Madras, PhD

Current position. Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School (34 years) with office based at McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA; cross-appointment at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Educated at McGill University, Montreal with post-doctoral fellowships, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

Translational Research. Addictive and therapeutic drugs: behavioral, molecular responses. Drug discovery: Novel brain probes, candidate therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders. Drug Policy

Authorship. Author of over 200 scientific manuscripts, articles, book chapters, co-editor of books “The Cell Biology of Addiction”, “Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Nervous System”, “Imaging of the Human Brain in Health and Disease”

Inventions. 19 U.S. and 27 international issued patents, with collaborators

Government service and public policy. Numerous NIH committees and other advisory boards

White House, 2006-2008: Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President, a presidential appointment confirmed unanimously (99-0) by U.S. Senate
White House, 2017: Appointed by the President, as one of six members of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis (Governors C. Christie, C. Baker, R. Cooper, Cong. P. Kennedy, AG P. Bondi). At request of Commission Chair Gov. Christie, she shepherded and wrote major portions of the final Commission report
World Health Organization: Sole author of a commissioned report, “Update of Cannabis and its Medical Use”; co-author of “The Health and Social Effects of Nonmedical Cannabis Use”
S. Department of Justice: Sole expert witness for the U.S. Dept. of Justice in a landmark CA Federal Court decision on marijuana re-, or de-scheduling, which sustained DoJ position
Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Narcotics Panel: Co-author and edited final statement
National Academy of Medicine: Current member, National Academy of Medicine Collaborative on the Opioid Crisis

Educator, Public Service

Course: Developed the first course (ABS elective) on addictions at Harvard Medical School
Course: Developed first NIDA-sponsored international course on “Cell Biology of Addiction” at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Museum exhibition: Project Director, PI of NIDA-sponsored grant for exhibit, CD, play at Museum of Science, Boston “Changing your Mind: Drugs in the Brain”. Disney Corp. licensed the CD.
Presentations: More than 750 public and professional presentations nationally, globally

Recognition

Research Awards: NIH MERIT award, CPDD Innovator Award, Fishman Award, McLean Mendelson award, The Better World Report cited her brain imaging invention as “one of 25 technology transfer innovations (university to industry) that changed the world”
Public Service Awards: NIDA, CADCA, CPDD, Sweden, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry Founders’ Award, others

Her experiences in research, brain biology, education, government and public service offer her a unique perspective on

Is it just pot and an inconsequential debate on changing the schedule of marijuana or is it much more?

Are we talking about individual rights, marijuana as medicine, public health implications, the integrity of the FDA medication approval process , or the reliability of the USA in keeping international treaties.

Heather and Randy Bacchus

Heather Bacchus is a dedicated advocate and mother, whose life was forever changed by the tragic loss of her son, Randy Michael, to suicide as a result of Cannabis Induced Psychosis on July 17th, 2021. Randy’s struggles with marijuana use began at the tender age of 15, eventually leading to a diagnosis of cannabis use disorder by the time he was almost 17. Heather and her husband were deeply shaken by Randy’s passing and embarked on a journey of discovery, delving into the complexities of today’s potent cannabis products and their detrimental effects on the adolescent brain.

Through exploring Randy’s personal videos and journals, they uncovered his battles with marijuana-induced psychosis, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Determined to prevent further tragedies, Heather and her husband founded the non-profit organization, Be Extraordinary, Be You, which empowers youth to embrace their true selves and avoid substance use.

Heather and Randy’s mission is fueled by the profound belief that sharing Randy’s story, grounded in scientific research, can help educate students and parents alike, empowering them to make informed decisions regarding substance use.

In addition to their advocacy work, Heather and Randy are proud parents to three daughters and licensed Realtors in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Heather often emphasizes their commitment to ensuring people find happiness in their homes, believing that a positive home environment, free from drugs, is essential for overall well-being.

Gerard Carroll, MD, is the Program Director for the EMS Fellowship at Cooper University Hospital. He is passionate about utilizing physician field response to translate the bedside, apprenticeship model of medical education into the field. His interests include addiction medicine and the role of urban EMS caring for underserved populations. As an undergraduate at Brandeis University, Dr. Carroll became passionate about Emergency Medical Services, and following graduation became certified as a Paramedic . He worked for nearly a decade in the New York City 911 system and was recognized for his service on the morning of the 9-11 attacks. He then earned his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School where he was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He completed Emergency Medicine Residency at Temple University Hospital and completed a fellowship in Emergency Medical Services at Cooper University Hospital. He is triple board certified in Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medical Services, and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Carroll loves the practice of academic Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services and is not satisfied with the status quo. He believes strongly that EMS is a practice of medicine and as such needs to constantly be refocused on patient outcomes while optimizing its place in the healthcare system. He helped spearhead the movement of addiction medicine into the field by educating paramedics about Opioid Use Disorder and training them to rescue patients in withdrawal with Medication Assisted Therapy using buprenorphine. Dr. Carroll loves the varied practice environments of EM and EMS making academic, rural, prehospital, austere disaster deployment, and even cruise ship medicine a part of his regular medical practice.

The headlines in 2017 was “Iceland knows how to stop teen substance use – but the rest of the world is not listening.”

In 1997 – 40% of Iceland’s adolescents got drunk in the past 30 days, one of the highest teen alcohol problem in the world.

After a national prevention program consistent over 20 years, the trend has been reversed to just 5%.

A side effect of the program also measured decreased tobacco, cannabis, as well as decreased bulling, violence, theft, sexual abuse.

What is Iceland secret?

Inga Dóra SigfúsdóttirInga Dora Sigfusdottir is Professor and Founding Director of the Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis at Reykjavik University, and Research Professor in Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. A sociologist, her research focuses on understanding how biological and social factors interact to influence the development of risky behavior among adolescents, including substance use, suicidal behavior, unprotected sex, self-inflicted harm, and delinquency. Dr. Sigfusdottir has been the Project Director in Iceland for the European School Survey Project of Alcohol and other Drugs and for the European Cities Against Drugs Youth in Europe Project. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a life course study funded by the European Research Council which is investigating the effects of stress on biology, emotion and behavior throughout childhood.

Michelle R. Peace, Ph.D.

Forensic Toxicologist

Dr. Peace received her B.A. in Chemistry from Wittenberg University, a Master of Forensic Science from George Washington University, and her Ph.D. from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

Dr. Peace is a forensic toxicologist and a Full Professor in the FEPAC-accredited Department of Forensic Science at VCU and is one of the founding faculty for the Department. She served as Associate Chair and Chair for nearly a decade. Dr. Peace has also served as a manager in a private forensic drug testing laboratory and has worked as a scientist for Procter & Gamble, where she holds 3 patents.

Dr. Peace has been funded by the National Institute of Justice since 2014 to study the efficacy of electronic cigarettes, particularly as they pertain to substance use and abuse. Her research has highlighted emerging issues of electronic cigarettes as a tool for vaping drugs other than nicotine and has characterized the merging of the cannabis and e-cigarette industries. Her current project is a clinical study to assess the impact of vaping on roadside impairment evaluations for suspected DUI and drug testing.

Dr. Peace is a Past President of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists and is a member of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She is a member of the National Safety Council’s Alcohol, Drugs, and Impairment Division. She was nationally recognized for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring by the Society of Forensic Toxicologists.

Dr. Peace speaks regularly to train law enforcement and probation/parole officers, addiction specialists, attorneys, health system personnel, and primary and secondary education administrators on relevant issues regarding the mechanism of vaping and e-cigarettes as a tool to deliver drugs other than nicotine, as well as the effects of CBD and THC. She has provided testimony and opinions to develop scientifically relevant and robust policy and legislation at the state and federal levels, and she consults with companies and school systems as they re-develop smoking policies to include vaping.

Dr. Peace has testified to the Food and Drug Administration and the Virginia General Assembly regarding issues of quality assurance, public health, and public safety with the emerging cannabis industry. She has been featured in the New York Times, Consumer Reports, and AARP. The American Chemical Society and Discover Magazine featured her and her research in 2018 and 2019 as some of the most timely, interesting, or influential research in the nation.

Jason Graham, MD was appointed Chief Medical Examiner of New York City by Mayor Eric Adams in April 2022. In this role, he oversees investigations into deaths in New York City, and the operation of the largest public DNA laboratory in the nation. He previously served as Acting Chief Medical Examiner since December 2021 and as First Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, the second highest leadership position within OCME, since 2013.

Dr. Graham joined the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in 2006, and later served as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the borough of Manhattan. With a particular focus most recently on the investigation of overdose fatalities, he leads OCME’s response to the opioid epidemic in coordination with local, state and federal partners. Dr. Graham established the OCME Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group in 2016 and currently serves as Chair of the city’s RxStat Overdose Fatality Review Committee led by the OCME since summer 2021.

A native of Tennessee, Dr. Graham graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He then completed general surgery internship and anatomic pathology residency at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta prior to subspecialty fellowship training in forensic pathology at the Emory/Fulton County Medical Examiner program. Dr. Graham is board certified by the American Board of Pathology in both anatomic and forensic pathology. He holds faculty appointment currently as Chair for the Department of Forensic Medicine at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Graham has published in numerous peer-reviewed scientific journals in the areas of forensic science, medicine, and pathology, and he is a member of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the National Association of Medical Examiners.

Rosalie Liccardo Pacula PhD holds the Elizabeth Garrett Chair in Health Policy, Economics & Law at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California and is a Senior Fellow with the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, where she co-directs the RAND-USC Schaeffer Opioid Policy Tools & Information Center of Excellence (OPTIC) in addition to leading numerous National Institute of Health funded studies examining the impact of federal, state and local laws on the supply, demand and access to treatment for intoxicating substances. Previously she spent 21 years at the RAND Corporation, serving as co-director of RAND’s Drug Policy Research Center for 15 of those years, working on drug policy studies for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Commission, and the U.K. Home Office. She served on NIDA’s National Advisory Council Cannabis Policy Workgroup (2017), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA’s) technical advisory committee on preventing cannabis use among youth (2020-present), the World Health Organization’s Technical Expert Committee on Cannabis Use and Cannabis Policy (December 2019-2020), the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on the Review of Specific Programs in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (2021 – present), the CDC’s National Injury Prevention’s Board of Scholarly Counsellors (2021- present), and is currently President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (2019- present). Dr. Pacula is a graduate from the Santa Clara University and received her doctorate in economics from Duke University.

Dr. Roberto Olivardia is a Clinical Psychologist and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School. He maintains a private practice in Lexington, MA where he specializes in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Eating Disorders and issues that face students with learning disabilities. He is on the Professional and Scientific Advisory Boards for Children and Adults with ADHD (CHADD), The Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) and ADDitude Magazine and website. He is also a Featured Expert for Understood.org. He has spoken at numerous conferences, webinars, and podcasts.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4414493/

Zulauf CA, Sprich SE, Safren SA, Wilens TE. The complicated relationship between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and substance use disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2014 Mar;16(3):436. doi: 10.1007/s11920-013-0436-6. PMID: 24526271; PMCID: PMC4414493.

Drugged Driving.

4/20 – the improptu national holiday for marijuana, and we want to bring about marijuana awareness. Marijuana has many side effects and health consequences, but today’s focus is on drugged driving. If you smoke weed for any reason don’t get behind the wheel for at least 4 hours. If you use edibles, wait at least 8 hours. Driving sober means no alcohol or drugs.

Lesley Phillips is an Education & Training Specialist with the Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS) program at UC San Diego. She develops online learning programs for various health-related projects and implements marketing campaigns to expand the reach of TREDS’ traffic safety curriculum. Lesley served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa after she completed her bachelor’s degree at Occidental College. This experience sparked her interest in health education and inspired her to pursue a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Lesley has over 15 years of experience in public health and has a passion for working with people in a variety of settings.

Steer Clear Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Course for High School Students

How does journalism play a role in drugs and addiction?

Eve Simmons is a British writer, journalist and health and wellness editor at DailyMail.com.She is an award-winning health journalist with a dogged determination to sniffing out fake health news – especially when it comes to diet. Formerly the deputy health editor at the Mail on Sunday in the UK, continues to work on vital and entertaining reports on her specialist subjects in the US which include mental health, disability and eating disorders. And she’s not afraid to dress up like a fool and try the latest fitness fad…for the good of journalism.She’s written several in-depth reports on cannabis legalization – most recently covering the Bryn Spejcher manslaughter trial.From 18 year-old who shot his girlfriend’s baby while high on marijuana to stoned babysitter who let TWO toddlers drown: we reveal how cannabis has led to nearly 300 brutal child deathsHow California’s legal cannabis dream became a public health nightmare: It’s a class B drug in the UK – but in the US state it’s led to spiralling addiction, psychotic illnesses and hospitals facing a deluge of poisonings

The brain in neuroplastic – it can be directed towards great achievement as well as disorders. Marijuana can cause synaptic reprogramming of the brain. Learn more from Dr. Kristen Gilliland who is a scientist who watched her own son’s synaptic programming, cannabis use disorder, and tra

Kristen M. Gilliland, Ph.D.

Dr. Kristen Gilliland delivered a TEDx presentation titled Rewiring Revolution: Neuroplasticity’s Impact on Wellbeing in 2018.

She earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She later served as an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. During her professorship at Cal Poly, she taught Organic Chemistry, Neurochemistry, and the Chemistry of Drugs and Poisons. After Kristen’s son was diagnosed with cannabis-induced schizophrenia at the age of 17, Kristen joined the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery at Vanderbilt University (2018) to research new treatments for schizophrenia. Tragically, Kristen lost her son to an accidental overdose in 2019 after his mental health severely declined and he became addicted to opioids and stimulants. Kristen then changed the trajectory of her life to utilize her scientific teaching, presentation, and research skills to educate adolescent-aged children and their parents on mental health challenges and how it can lead to substance use and/or substance use disorder. As the Director of Outreach and Advocacy Programs for the Warren Center, Kristen presents to middle schools, high schools, community centers, and recovery programs across Middle Tennessee. In addition, she has developed an award winning educational documentary aimed for middle school and high school-aged children titled Speaking Through Me which will be released Summer of 2023. The documentary and Kristen’s presentations focus on the developing teenage brain and neuroplasticity, the structural and functional changes that occur in the brain when under repeated stress and anxiety, the impacts of high potency cannabis on the adolescent brain, the neurobiology of addiction, and the dangers and prevalence of fentanyl. Lastly, the documentary and presentations also include methods to combat everyday stressors or adversity and the importance of self-care and self-compassion on the developing adolescent brain.

Every Brain Matters – that is Aubree Adams mantra and purpose.

Aubree Adams is a leading advocate who stands up against the predatory addiction-for-profit marijuana industry. She has a BS in Exercise Science and Health promotion but is most proud of her experience as a mom of two sons and two dogs and as a host mom for youth in recovery. She is the founder and director of Every Brain Matters, a nationally trusted educational resource formed by families with loved ones who have been severely damaged or killed by the effects of marijuana. The stories of these families are featured on the Every Brain Mattes YouTube channel and the It’s Just Pot What’s The Problem?Podcast.

This former Pueblo, Colorado, mom lived at ground zero of the marijuana expansion movement. She has shared her devastating first-hand experience about this public health crisis before the FDA, The National Academy of Science, and in the documentary Chronic State. She has testified in many state governments, asking them to embrace healthy communities and families rather than the expansion of drugs. Aubree has been nationally featured on Fox News and Newsmax along with her op-eds published in USA Today and the Denver Gazette entitled “Standing up to the Threat of Marijuana.”

After finding refuge and recovery for herself and her two sons in Houston, Texas, Aubree formed a group called Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas to unite and educate communities on the impacts of marijuana and warn Texas about THC Hemp products, which were legalized through the 2018 Federal Farm Bill. Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas helped prevent several marijuana bills from advancing during the 2023 legislative session.

Aubree states that families and communities are unprepared for this era of industrialized marijuana that targets youth with flavored candies and vapes that provide a rapid and potent chemical assault to the brain. Families lack the resources to prevent, manage, or recover from a child or loved one addicted or psychotic from cannabis.

Aubree rejects the false narrative that potent marijuana is a harmless expression of personal freedom. Based on the latest scientific evidence and personal stories, she states that THC is a dangerous and addictive drug, and like all drugs of abuse, it can destroy lives.

Peter Komendowski is one of Iowa’s leading advocates for healthy, drug-free communities. In the face of the opioid epidemic, a resurgence of meth use, and a marijuana industry targeting Iowa youth he is a sought-after speaker as an expert in substance abuse prevention and high-risk behavior management.

Peter serves as president of The Partnership for A Healthy Iowa and the Face It Together (PDFI/FIT) coalition, and co-director of the Iowa Digital Literacy & Wellness Project. He succeeded Senator Grassley as Chair of Face It Together Coalition’s healthy communities’ initiative, which still stands to this day as the oldest statewide coalition of substance abuse prevention resources in Iowa.

Peter travels throughout Iowa coordinating projects including the Iowa Media Literacy Project, Take5Iowa, the Drug-Free Workplace Program, Speak Out 4 Kids, the Power of Grandparents, the Blueprint for Healthy Communities, and the Iowa Caring Communities Tour.

He was invited by Mediacom to host the TV series, Children & Drugs: Secrets for Parents, which aired eight episodes in 2013. Building on that success he was invited back to host the TV show Surviving Bad, now in its 10th year on the air.

He is co-founder of the Internationally renowned Iowa Digital Literacy & Wellness Conference, and as a writer and a speaker, has been entertaining audiences of all ages with his observations on “living in the digital world – life at the speed of human.”

He also speaks to children and adults, on topics ranging from “How Substance Abuse, Media and other Addictive Behaviors Impact Your Bottom Line,” “A Mindful Approach to the Media – Knowing the Tricks & Traps,” to “Rebuilding America from the Inside Out.” He has enjoyed a healthy dose of media exposure, has been a TEDx speaker, and is often aired on Iowa radio and TV stations as a subject matter expert on substance abuse, prevention, and youth high risk behaviors.

Additional information is available at www.AHealthyIowa.org

Special Agent in Charge Shelly S. Howe began her law enforcement career in 1999 as a Special Agent with the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Narcotics Enforcement, where she worked with the local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office on numerous federal narcotics investigations.

In 2003, Mrs. Howe began her career as a Special Agent with the DEA in the Minneapolis/St. Paul District Office. In 2012, she was promoted to Group Supervisor of the San Ysidro Resident Office and in 2015 was named as the Resident Agent in Charge. As a supervisor, Mrs. Howe led Special Agents, Task Force Officers, Intelligence Research Specialists and support personnel in support of DEA’s mission.

In 2017, Mrs. Howe was selected to serve as an Inspector for the Office of Professional Responsibility in Arlington, Virginia. In 2018, she was promoted to the Executive Assistant for the Operational Support Division and for the Principal Deputy Administrator of DEA.

In 2019, Mrs. Howe was selected to be the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in the San Diego Field Division. In 2022, Mrs. Howe was promoted to the Senior Executive Service as the Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Field Division. As the Special Agent in Charge, Mrs. Howe is responsible for DEA operations in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

During her law enforcement career, Mrs. Howe has received numerous awards for exceptional service, including City of St. Paul Chief’s Award, Minnesota State Association Narcotics Investigators Group of the Year Award, and the DEA Administrator’s Outstanding Group Achievement Award.

Mrs. Howe holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Mrs. Howe is married with three young children. She enjoys golfing and the outdoor activities San Diego has to offer.

Every Brain Matters

Aubree Adams is a leading advocate who stands up against the predatory addiction-for-profit marijuana industry. She is the founder and director of Every Brain Matters, a nationally trusted educational resource formed by families with loved ones who have been severely damaged or killed by the effects of marijuana. The stories of these families are featured on the Every Brain Mattes YouTube channel and the It’s Just Pot What’s The Problem?Podcast.

This former Pueblo, Colorado, mom lived at ground zero of the marijuana expansion movement. She has shared her devastating first-hand experience about this public health crisis before the FDA, The National Academy of Science, and in the documentary Chronic State. She has testified in many state governments, asking them to embrace healthy communities and families rather than the expansion of drugs. Aubree has been nationally featured on Fox News and Newsmax along with her op-eds published in USA Today and the Denver Gazette entitled “Standing up to the Threat of Marijuana.”

After finding refuge and recovery for herself and her two sons in Houston, Texas, Aubree formed a group called Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas to unite and educate communities on the impacts of marijuana and warn Texas about THC Hemp products, which were legalized through the 2018 Federal Farm Bill. Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas helped prevent several marijuana bills from advancing during the 2023 legislative session.

Aubree states that families and communities are unprepared for this era of industrialized marijuana that targets youth with flavored candies and vapes that provide a rapid and potent chemical assault to the brain. Families lack the resources to prevent, manage, or recover from a child or loved one addicted or psychotic from cannabis.

Aubree rejects the false narrative that potent marijuana is a harmless expression of personal freedom. Based on the latest scientific evidence and personal stories, she states that THC is a dangerous and addictive drug, and like all drugs of abuse, it can destroy lives.

Libby Jones is the Program Director of Global Health Advocacy Incubator, GHAI’s Overdose Prevention Initiative. Libby leads the Initiative’s advocacy efforts, advancing federal policies to reduce the overdose death rate in the United States by expanding access to treatment and promoting harm reduction. Prior to joining GHAI, Libby served as government relations officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts’ substance use prevention and treatment initiative. Libby also has more than 15 years of experience working in the U.S. federal government, having held various positions in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Department of Commerce, Department of Justice.

Libby holds a Masters Degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary.

Rodney Scott served nearly three decades in the United States Border Patrol building vast experience and knowledge in federal law enforcement and border security. Chief Scott assumed command of the United States Border Patrol on February 2, 2020, becoming the 24th Chief. Scott served as Chief during the Trump, and Biden administrations and retired in August 2021.

Chief Scott began his career with the U.S. Border Patrol on May 11, 1992, as a member of Academy Class 252. His first assignment was to the Imperial Beach Station, San Diego Sector as a frontline field agent. As Chief Scott promoted through the ranks, he earned a reputation as an innovative, problem-solving leader. As a result, Chief Scott was asked to take on several leadership and specialized assignments. Following the 9-11 terrorist attacks he served as a principal advisor to the Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on anti-terrorism matters. Chief Scott was later selected as the Deputy Executive Director of the CBP, Office of Anti-terrorism. Chief Scott served as the Director for CBP’s, national Incident Management and Operations Coordination Division which oversaw preparedness, national emergency response and interagency coordination.

Chief Scott was selected to serve as the Chief Patrol Agent for El Centro Sector and the San Diego Sector before being selected as Chief, US Border Patrol. As the national Chief, Scott led over 21,000 personnel and was responsible for securing the vast international borders of the U.S. between the official ports of entry.

After retiring Chief Scott immediately leveraged his vast experience and knowledge in border security to inform and educate politicians and the public about the threats that our nation faces when we choose to leave our international borders unsecured. In November 2021 Chief Scott teamed up with Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) as a Distinguished Senior Fellow on border security and immigration. Through TPPF and direct contacts, Chief Scott continues to work with Congressional leadership, State legislators, civic groups, and media outlets to provide insight and expertise in border security. Chief Scott also serves as an advisor to A1C Partners and DFND. Chief Scott has testified before Congress on several occasions, routinely appears on major news networks and has shared his insights on various podcasts with the likes of Vice President Pence, Dr. Ben Carson and many others.

Border 911

Customs and Border Protection Data

District Attorney Summer Stephan has devoted her life to protecting children and families, providing justice to the most vulnerable, and is a national leader in the fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Summer rose through the ranks fighting for justice in the trenches before San Diego County voters overwhelmingly elected Summer as District Attorney in 2018 and again in 2022. As District Attorney, she leads the second-largest DA’s Office in California, managing a professional staff of 1,000 employees, serving as the People’s Prosecutor for San Diego County and its more than three million residents. Summer leverages her extensive courtroom, management, and leadership experience to set clear public safety priorities in collaboration with law enforcement and the community, keeping San Diego County one of the safest urban regions in the United States. In 2022, Summer was named one of “The Five Best Prosecutors in America,” utilizing evaluation factors of integrity, fidelity to the rule of law, responsible innovations, and community relations.

As a trial prosecutor, she tried more than 100 jury trials, including cases of complex homicides, sexually violent predators, child molestation, sexual assaults, school shooting, and human trafficking-related cases. She served as Chief of the DA’s North County Branch and Chief of the Sex Crimes and Human Trafficking Division, a special victims unit she pioneered.

As the District Attorney, Summer opened a state-of-the-art Family Justice Center in the North County for victims of domestic violence and elder abuse. Summer launched a juvenile diversion program that diverted hundreds of kids away from the school to prison pipeline. Summer fulfilled her commitment to test every rape kit with over 2000 rape kits tested. Her office tripled the prosecutions of hate crimes and doubled down on the prosecution of deadly fentanyl dealers. Summer is implementing innovations to help address the intersection of crime and homelessness.

DA Stephan holds leadership positions in public safety nationally and locally, including serving as a vice-president of the National District Attorneys Association, and co-chair of the National Association of Women Judges Human Trafficking committee. Summer served on the Governor’s Task Force for High-Risk Sex Offenders and Sexually-Violent Predators. She spearheaded the innovative “Know the Price” campaign, which focused on reducing sexual assaults on college campuses. She also led the award-winning “The Ugly Truth” human trafficking awareness campaign as well as the “San Diego Opioid Project,” aimed at reducing opioid and fentanyl overdoses. Summer led a coordinated effort to protect the community from targeted mass violence with a School Threats Task Force that implemented a unified protocol with all 42 school districts in San Diego County. In addition, she began an effective Veterans Treatment model in North County inspired by a heroic Marine Corps veteran.

Summer is the recipient of numerous local, state, and federal awards, including an FBI commendation for organized crime prosecution, outstanding achievement award from the Deputy District Attorneys Association for the complex prosecution for the rape and murder of an elderly woman. She was named an “Angel of Anti-Human Trafficking” and a “Modern Day Abolitionist.” In 2022, she received the Bernard E. Witkin Esq. Award for Excellence in the Practice of Law, for her extraordinary contributions, leadership, and accomplishments as District Attorney. She was selected as the 2017 Southern California District Attorney of the Year by Crime Victims United, was awarded the Pathbreaker Award by Shared Hope International, and received the 2019 Humane Award for her work in fighting animal cruelty.

Summer received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis and her Juris Doctor from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

https://www.sdcda.org/office/meet-da

The Homeless Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act

Is there treatment and hope for people with cannabis use disorder?There is always hope, and there are more treatment options on the horizon.Dr. Meg Haney shares information on AEF0117, an inhibitor of the CB1 receptor.We discuss a young man who struggles with cannabis use disorder and mental health that his parents attribute to high potent THC products. Dr. Margaret (Meg) Haney is a Professor of Neurobiology (in Psychiatry) at the Columbia University Medical Center, where she is the Director of the Cannabis Research Laboratory and Co-Director of the Substance Use Research Center. Her research focuses on human laboratory models of cannabis and cocaine use disorders and the assessment of novel pharmacologic and immunologic approaches to treat these disorders. Her particular interest is to define the factors that contribute to the daily use of drugs. Her publications to date have largely focused on: (1) the positive and negative reinforcing effects of cocaine and cannabis, (2) the effects of medications on cannabis and cocaine self-administration, (3) predictors of cannabis withdrawal and relapse, (4) the potential medical benefits of different cannabinoids, alone and in combination with opioid medications.

Dr. Haney's research has been continuously supported by NIDA since 1999. She is internationally recognized for her expertise, particularly regarding cannabis use disorder. She is an author on more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 12 book chapters, is an Associate Editor for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, an advisory editor for Psychopharmacology, a longstanding participant in NIH review groups, and is a fellow in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and recent past President of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.

Dr. Haney frequently provides media interviews, including television (CNBC, NBC, CBS), newspapers (e.g., NY Times, Wall St. Journal), magazines (e.g., Time, New York Magazine), radio (WNYC, NPR), podcasts (Science Rules! with Bill Nye) and digital media (seeker.com).

Can Marijuana cause Murder?In a landmark case, Bryn Spejcher was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after stabbing her boyfriend Chad O'Meila 108 times. Heidi Swan and Dr. Christy Brown attended the trial and share their observations and perspective.Should Bryn be in jail? Is marijuana induced psychosis a get out of jail card for murder? Should the Marijuana industry and legislatures be in jail for failing to protect the public?Listen and you decide.Heidi Swan

Heidi Swan is the co-author of the only fictional story illustrating the negative mental health impacts of youth marijuana use: "A Night In Jail." She's appeared on Dr. Phil, KCAL, KQED, Fox.com, NBCLA, Epoch Times's California Insider and the radio programs We the People Radio and Bob Enyart. She advocates for legislation to provide consumer protections on THC products. She's spoken for Esquire CLE, the Professional Fiduciary Association of California, Stanford REACH's Teaching Cannabis Awareness, Smart Approaches to Marijuana and many others. She works closely with Every Brain Matters, Johnny's Ambassadors, Parents Opposed to Pot, Moms Strong, Americans Against the Legalization of Marijuana and Parent Action Network.

A former actress, Heidi is thrilled to have been the voice of Jill Valentine in the hit video game, Resident Evil (2002).

Dr. Christy Brown

Dr. Christy Brown is professor emeritus at Mission College in Santa Clara. Her son was a victim of cannabis use disorder and cannabis induced psychosis from marijuana that he obtained from medical marijuana dispensaries. He is currently in recovery. She is the communications director for Mom's Strong, one of the earliest organizations founded to support parents of children who have experienced the adverse effects of marijuana such as cannabis induced psychosis, and to raise awareness of these effects and advocate for policies that protect children and young adults.

Healthy Minds relates to addiction and mental health, it is also an Emmy Award program. Dr. Borenstein shares his insights towards healthy minds.Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., serves as the President & CEO of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the largest private funder of mental health research grants. Dr. Borenstein developed the Emmy-nominated public television program “Healthy Minds,” and serves as host and executive producer of the series. The program, broadcast nationwide, is available online, and focuses on topics in psychiatry in order to educate the public, reduce stigma and offer a message of hope. Dr. Borenstein also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Psychiatric News, the newspaper of the American Psychiatric Association.Dr. Borenstein is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and serves as the Chair of the Section of Psychiatry at the Academy. He also has served as the President of the New York State Psychiatric Association. Dr. Borenstein earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard and his medical degree at New York University.

San Francisco’s drugs and homeless crisis continues to get worse and community members are sounding the alarm. As San Franciscans raise issues of safety, the city has lost 2,859 people to fatal overdose since 2019. Although San Francisco has poured millions of dollars into proposed solutions, our public systems continue to fail the community. Many continue to deny the link between addiction, homelessness, and crime, while others with lived experience are calling for balanced, common-sense strategies.

Steve Adami, MPA, Director, Reentry Division, San Francisco Adult Probation Department

After spending over two decades in and out of jails and prison Steve’s life changed. His recovery and transformation started in a pair of handcuffs. After being released from prison in December 2010, he earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, was inducted into a National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration, and received the Barbra Jordan Award for Academic Excellence from San Francisco State University. In 2014 he was hired by the San Francisco Adult Probation Department as a Reentry Services Coordinator, promoted to a managerial position in 2017, and was appointed the Director of the Reentry Division in 202o. In this role he designed and managed a portfolio of 22 million dollars of reentry and recovery-focused programs, and managed San Francisco’s Reentry Council and Community Corrections Partnership. In May 2023, Steve was appointed the Executive Director of The Way Out, a recovery-focused homeless initiative of The Salvation Army.

https://www.steveadami.com

Destiny Pletsch, MPA, Salvation Army, San Francisco

Destiny is the Deputy Director of Way Out, the Salvation Army’s recovery-focused homeless initiative in San Francisco. With a decade of experience, Destiny has played a pivotal role in designing, implementing, and monitoring a portfolio of services with the Reentry Division of the San Francisco Adult Probation Department. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from San Francisco State University, she combines her expertise with hands-on experience to address the complex challenges of homelessness and create and implement opportunities that help people rebuild their lives

https://mailchi.mp/usw.salvationarmy.org/the-way-out-september-2023-newsletter-12648819

What can we learn from law enforcement and our current drug crisis? Derek Maltz has become a leading spokesperson on behalf of parents whose children died of fentanyl. Listen to what he has learned over a long career in law enforcement.What seems as compassion to people who use drugs can actually be cruelty to victims as well as the person with a substance use disorder.Derek S. Maltz retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) after 28 years of dedicated service and is currently working for PenLink Ltd as the Executive Director, Government Relations. Mr. Maltz is also a National Security, Public Safety Executive who appears on national and local news networks, radio, podcasts, and testifies at U.S. Congress as a subject matter expert. Mr. Maltz works tirelessly to support families around America who lost loved ones to fentanyl poisoning and to educate the public on this escalating public health and security threat.Mr. Maltz was the Special Agent in Charge of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Special Operations Division (SOD) for almost 10 years before he left the federal government. Mr. Maltz also previously held the position as the Chief of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is the oldest and largest drug task force in America.As the Agent in Charge of SOD, SAC Maltz was instrumental in growing SOD from 9 to 30 participating agencies, including personnel from the U.K., Canada, Australia, and the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Mr. Maltz oversaw the operations of approximately 500 SOD personnel and was responsible for an annual budget of $100 million, while incorporating the DOJ’s priority International Organized Crime and Gang Operational Programs into the center. Mr. Maltz played a vital leadership role in developing and implementing DOJ’s and Department of Homeland Security’s nationwide de-confliction program to better synchronize the criminal law enforcement efforts around the world. SOD was responsible for leading the coordination of the high-profile multi-agency efforts that resulted in the capture of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin El Chapo Guzman. Mr. Maltz was also featured on CBS 60 Minutes, NBC, and CNN in response to SOD’s role in the tremendous law enforcement success against the Sinaloa Cartel.SAC Maltz formally established the Counter Narco-Terrorism Operations Center (CNTOC) in January 2007. Since its establishment, the CNTOC successfully coordinated several significant narco-terrorism operations, including the identification of the Lebanese Canadian Bank as a facilitator involved with an international trade-based money laundering scheme supporting Hezbollah, and a subsequent U.S. Treasury Patriot Act 311 action. This was the first time a 311 action was used in this manner in conjunction with law enforcement on a drug case. This unprecedented event ultimately led to a $150 million seizure as part of the Hezbollah drug and money laundering initiative named Project Cassandra. Mr. Maltz appeared several times on Fox News and other networks to discuss this well publicized and impactful worldwide enforcement action against a very significant terror organization. SAC Maltz also enhanced SOD’s Bi-Lateral Global Investigations Unit at SOD from 1 to 5 highly successful field enforcement groups. These proactive investigative groups demonstrated unparalleled success in targeting and prosecuting some of the highest level criminals in the world, such as the arrest and conviction of notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout; the arrest and conviction of arms trafficker and terrorist Monzer Al Kassar, alleged mastermind behind the Achille Lauro hijacking; the capture and conviction of Haji Juma Khan, reputedly Afghanistan’s biggest drug kingpin with ties to the Taliban and the leader of one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the Central Asia Region; the capture and conviction of Afghan heroin kingpin Haji Bagcho; the arrest and conviction of Khan Mohammed on 21 USC 960a charges of narco-terrorism and the arrest and conviction of Global Transnational Criminal Paul Le Roux. As a result of Mr. Maltz’ leadership, he received the Presidential Rank Award for his accomplishments. Mr. Maltz was also the recipient of numerous other prestigious awards for his accomplishments throughout his law enforcement career and has an extensive law enforcement network around the world. Mr. Maltz has been a spokesperson at Congress and on national media networks on a variety of national security topics. Mr. Maltz was also the lead spokesperson for the DEA for over 10 years on the “going dark” issues relating to advanced communications and encryption and was a member of the DOJ’s Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) briefing team on these complex issues impacting law enforcement and public safety. SAC Maltz holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Syracuse University, is married, has three children and is part of a family of exceptional public service.14Mr. Maltz currently work with Border911 team which can be found at Home - BORDER911 . They work as a team to push important facts impacting national security to the public.

Dr. Nora Volkow joins High Truths for the 4th time and 4th Season of High Truths to start the year with analysis of 2023 and hopes for 2024. Listen to see if she agree or not with Dr. Lev's assessments.Nora D. Volkow, M.D., is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lev called her a rock star of medicine.NIDA is the world’s largest funder of scientific research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction.Dr. Volkow's work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a brain disorder. As a research psychiatrist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate how substance use affects brain functions. In particular, her studies have documented how changes in the dopamine system affect the functions of brain regions involved with reward and self-control in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging.Dr. Volkow was born in Mexico and earned her medical degree from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, where she received the Robins Award for best medical student of her generation. Her psychiatric residency was at New York University, where she earned a Laughlin Fellowship from The American College of Psychiatrists as one of 10 outstanding psychiatric residents in the United States.Much of her professional career was spent at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions including Director of Nuclear Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Department, and Associate Laboratory Director for Life Sciences. Dr. Volkow was also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the Medical School at The State University of New York at Stony Brook.Dr. Volkow has published more than 800 peer-reviewed articles, written more than 100 book chapters, manuscripts and articles, co-edited "Neuroscience in the 21st Century" and edited four books on brain imaging for mental and substance use disorders.She received a Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, was a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalist and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Volkow received the International Prize from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research for her pioneering work in brain imaging and addiction science; was awarded the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University; and was inducted into the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) Hall of Fame. She was named one of Time magazine's "Top 100 People Who Shape Our World"; one of "20 People to Watch" by Newsweek magazine; Washingtonian magazine’s "100 Most Powerful Women"; "Innovator of the Year" by U.S. News & World Report; and one of "34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care" by Fortune magazine.

Happy Near Year to 2024. In this Season 4 Introduction Dr. Lev outlines her solution for the overdose crisis. Why are we spending a record billions of dollars on solution and no seeing decrease better results and decreased deaths?Dr. Lev states we are not spending money in the correct proportions to prevent addiction.Dr. Lev presents her outline for solutions based on the historical success of tobacco and the opioid prescription crisis.Don't we wish we were back in the good 'ol days of doctors over prescribing opioids - we had half as many unintentional overdose deaths as we do today. We fixed that problem with safe prescribing initiatives.How would Dr. Lev take on the current addiction crisis? Her 3 step approach takes a wider approach with healthcare.1. Mental Health 2. Trust in Medicine and Science, and 3. Primary Drug Prevention Education

This is a recorded podcast from a live Season 3 High Truths Finale featuring Dr. Bertha Madras, Dr. Kenneth Finn, and Arianna Campbell. These national experts reflected on 2023, gave hopes for 2024, and answered audience questions.Bertha K. Madras, PhD (the honorable)

Bertha Madras is a Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School (36 years), based at McLean Hospital, cross-appointed at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The focus of her career is research (preclinical and human) and public policy. For over four decades, she has investigated addiction biology, neuropsychiatric disorders, with results published in over 200 manuscripts, articles, and co-edited books, “The Cell Biology of Addiction”, and “Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Nervous System” and “Imaging of the Human Brain in Health and Disease”. With collaborators, she holds 19 U.S. and 27 international patents.

Kenneth Finn, MDDr. Finn graduated Medical School from the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston (’90). He completed residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation from the University of Utah (’94), and is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (’95) as well as Pain Medicine (’98), and Pain Management (’00). Practicing medicine in Colorado Springs since 1994, Finn serves on the American Board of Pain Medicine Exam Council (’01), Appeals Committee (’14), and Executive Board (’14). He is the President-Elect of the American Board of Pain Medicine (’20). Finn served on the Colorado Governors Task Force on Amendment 64, Consumer Safety and Social Issues Work Group (’12) and served 4 years on the Colorado Medical Marijuana Scientific Advisory Council (’14-’18). He was an Executive Board member of El Paso County Medical Society (’14-’18) and helped Colorado Medical Society and Colorado Pain Society develop their position statement on cannabis (’18) as well as the El Paso County Board of Health (’14) and Medical Society (’14) on their statements. Finn is a voluntary clinical instructor for the University of Colorado Medical School-Colorado Springs Branch (‘17-’20) and sees pain patients at the Colorado Springs Rehabilitation in Colorado.

Arianna Campbell, PA

Arianna Campbell is an Emergency Department PA with more than 20 years of clinical expertise informing her work. As an APP Lead for US Acute Care Solutions at Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, California, Arianna initiated an innovative program to treat patients with opioid use disorder. Recognized by leaders in addiction medicine and beyond, Arianna became a founding clinician of CA Bridge, a program of the Public Health Institute. She currently serves as Director and Co-Principal Investigator for CA Bridge, dedicated to making 24/7 access to addiction treatment the standard of care in every hospital. Arianna presently serves on Marshall’s Provider Advisory Council and the California Academy of PAs’ Professional Practice Committee. She is a dedicated advocate for harm reduction practices and treating the patient as a whole person.

California Bridge is a program of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California. Their goal is to transform addiction treatment by ensuring that every hospital in California provides 24/7 access to evidence-based care, treating substance use disorder like any other life-threatening condition.

The harms of Pot.Jeff was Army veteran, paratrooper, law enforcement profressonal and avid surfer. He developed chronic pain after injured from a collision in pursuit of a drunk driver. He was convinced to try "natural alternatives" to opioids and used weed. He did not expect the hallucinations and psychosis that is associated with high potency THC. He was convinced the Hell's Angels were following him to kill him. He cycled in and out of depression and sobriety from marijuana, but the brain remembers psychosis. While in cannabis induced psychosis he took a tactical knife and cut his throat.Joe Dokes recalls the death of a warrior and why he is outspoken on the harms of marijuana.Joe Dokes has been involved with marijuana education and enforcement for more than 42 years both as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sergeant and as a marijuana prevention educator. He has presented to cannabis advisory boards, Boards of Supervisors, city councils, water managers, and various state agencies across the U.S. He is co-chair of an anti-drug advocacy and education group focused on Northern California . Joe is recognized as an expert on marijuana in municipal, state, and federal courts. Joe clearly understands the danger high potency marijuana inflicts upon our communities. He believes that the health statement- “primum non nocere” -first do no harm, should should be embodied by all facets of government in regards to all drugs.

Joe holds professional teaching credentials and technical skills in law enforcement and per-hospital emergency care. He has had the opportunity to travel the world on disaster rescue missions realizing how fortunate we are as Americans.

Check out Chemical People and We The People Radio.

Did the United Nations reschedule cannabis? Yes, but it may not be what you think. In 2021 cannabis and cannabis resin was taken off Schedule IV and kept on Schedule I. The United Nations used a difference scheduling system that the United States DEA Schedule. For the United Nations, Schedule IV is even higher and more restrictive than Schedule I. For DEA, Schedule IV is below Schedule III and less restrictive. So the United Nations took cannabis off Schedule IV, but keep it on Schedule I. In essence, the Schedule for cannabis with the United Nations is the same as the United States. John Redman is an internationally recognized speaker and discussion facilitator on drug policy issues -- particularly as they pertain to children. He previously held the position of Director of Drug Demand Reduction for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA’s) of California, He is currently the CEO of Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth. In this capacity he works to help people across industries, nonprofit organizations, faith-based institutions, and educational campuses connect, communicate and collaborate to develop effective drug policy strategies. He is one of the foremost authorities on marijuana policy. He was recently voted the Chair of Drug Policy Futures, an international organization addressing drug policy at the United Nations.

Mr. Redman is passionate about assisting specific communities because, as an expert on national and international drug problems, he understands how action at the local level can be extremely effective.

Other past honors include:

Ambassador of Peace with, the United Nations Middle East Peace Initiative;
Delegate to the United Nations Collaboration on Global Drug;
Director’s Award for Distinguished Service from the President’s, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP);
The President’s Call to Service Award;
Citizen of the Year from the California Narcotics Officers Association;
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration award for outstanding leadership.

Mr. Redman holds a B.A. from Texas A&M University, an M.F.A. from San Diego State University, and a Doctor of Divinity from Sacramento Theological Seminary and Bible College.

People working in cannabis industry have suffered work related injury from second hand smoke effects. Patients suffered malpractice injury when doctors recommend cannabis that exacerbated or created mental illness. Dave Evan discusses the growing cases of cannabis litigation.David G. Evans, Attorney at Law has decades of experience consulting with treatment programs on regulatory, policy and human resource matters. Addiction treatment providers are not immune to lawsuits or regulatory complaints. Providers must review their treatment protocols and workplace policies to ensure compliance and confidentiality. Treatment facilities must sort through the maze of regulations and confidentiality requirements imposed by state and federal law. Mr. Evans can help to keep you within the law and to help you to resolve complaints.

Mr. Evans provides policy guidance on the many issues affecting treatment providers

Treatment protocols and policies and forms
Employee policies and handbooks
Drug and alcohol testing
Human resource matters
Insurance denials for treatment
Compliance with treatment regulations
Governmental policy
Compliance with state treatment professional licensing
Confidentiality of provider records - 42 CFR 2 and HIPAA

Cannabis Industry Victims Educating Litigators (CIVEL)

Kratom, also known as mytragynine is a plant with opioid and stimulant effects. It can be addictive just like opioids are addictive. And yet, the drug is being sold in drinks and supplements.Romulo Torres worked hard to achieve sobriety from alcohol and bought "Feel Free" drink at 7-11. He had no idea the "Fell Free" would bring him back to the shackles of addiction to Kratom complete with full force withdrawal symptoms of severe opioid withdrawal along with psychosis and lapses of consciousness associated with high dose Kratom.Shounak Dharap represents Romulo in a class action suit against the companies that sell Kratom without providing warnings about addiction.Shounak Dharap is a partner at Arns Davis Law and leads the firm’s complex litigation practice area. He litigates a wide range of class action matters in the areas of labor and employment, consumer protection, civil rights, and sexual abuse; as well as personal injury and wrongful death actions. When not litigating, Shounak is a second-term elected trustee on the Palo Alto Unified School Board and a volunteer community mediator for the City of Palo Alto’s mediation program.

LA Times article on Kratom Lawsuit

Kratom Addiction/Withdrawal - NIDA information

Cannabis includes hundreds of different chemical, some of which have promising medicinal value. What does it take to get more cannabis based medications that are FDA approved? Jacquelyn L. Bainbridge, BSPharm , PharmD, , FCCP, MSCS, FAES

Jacquelyn L. Bainbridge, BSPharm, PharmD, FCCP, MSCS, FAES, is a Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she holds joint appointments in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, and the Department of Neurology in the School of Medicine. Dr Bainbridge received her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Colorado in Denver, where she subsequently completed a specialty residency in neurology.Dr Bainbridge is a Multiple Sclerosis Certified Specialist (MSCS) who is actively involved in clinical research in many areas of neurology, including multiple sclerosis (MS), epilepsy, geriatrics, Parkinson’s disease (PD), back pain, cannabis, and psilocybin. Currently, she is working on 3 clinical trials investigating cannabis for the treatment of back pain, PD and autism, sponsored by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and 1 synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) study involving patients with Fragile X syndrome. Dr. Bainbridge is involved in 1 additional clinical trial sponsored by the CDPHE, for back pain in patients not on opiates or on opiates, with a dose reduction using cannabis (CBD and delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)). Dr. Bainbridge is also involved in 2 psilocybin trials 1 involving cancer patients and one involving severe depression. Additionally, Dr. Bainbridge is reporting on post-surgical cancer patients and their endocannabinol response whether they are a cannabis user or not. Dr Bainbridge continues to study the safety and efficacy of antiseizure medications (ASMs) in older adults. She was previously an investigator for several National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded trials researching drugs that may be neuroprotective in PD. Dr. Bainbridge has completed 1 clinical trial using a synthetic CBD product in patients with scleroderma. She has published several articles in professional journals, including Epilepsia, Pharmacotherapy, The International Journal of Multiple Sclerosis Care, and the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. She has reviewed and written several book chapters on MS, epilepsy, migraine, chronic pain, women’s issues, pharmacokinetics, and the practice of pharmacy. Dr Bainbridge is a frequent lecturer on topics of neurologic and pharmacologic interest, including MS, chronic pain disorders, epilepsy, migraine, movement disorders, neuroprotection, restless legs syndrome (RLS), Huntington’s disease and the administration of cannabis for therapeutic intent.Dr Bainbridge is a member of numerous professional organizations, including The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Epilepsy Society(AES), Epilepsy Foundation of America (EFA), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), Colorado Pharmacists Society (CPS), and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). She is the past president of the board of directors for The Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation (RLSF) and The Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado (EFC). Dr. Bainbridge is currently on the Board of Governors for The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), and on the Board of Directors for The Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado and Wyoming Professional Advisory Board and The American Lung Association (ALA). Dr. Bainbridge has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (FCCP), Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society (FAES) and has won several student preceptor and teaching class awards. Dr. Bainbridge has been asked to address the United Nations in Vienna on the safe practice of cannabis use in March of 2023.

MAT is Medication Assisted Treatment. Dr David Deyhimy talk about the FDA approved medications to treat opioid use disorder.David I. Deyhimy, MD, FASAM, is an addiction medicine specialist and anesthesiologist dedicated to helping those suffering from substance use disorder and preventing overdose deaths from opioids. He is the founder and medical director of MYMATCLINIC, specializing in managing opioid use disorder and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). He is the medical director of The Solace Foundation of Orange County, the first non- profit naloxone distribution program in Orange County. He is Chief Medical Advisor for Project Opioid and a medical advisor for healthcare and digital therapeutics companies. A firm believer in medical research and evidence- based substance use disorder treatments, he has helped thousands of patients improve their lives with medical treatments, education, and behavioral change. In his free time, David enjoys spending time and traveling with his wife and two teenage daughters. He is also an avid cyclist and loves to surf and ski whenever possible.

A medical marijuana card does not follow the standard of care for prescribing antibiotics or pain medications. There is no benefit-harm calculation for cannabis cards. A concerned parent calls into High Truths because of the mental health harms cannabis caused his son. Dr. D'Souza is one of the leading scientific experts on cannabis and head of Cannabis Research Center at Yale. He teaches us about cannabis and the brain.Deepak Cyril D’Souza, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine and a staff psychiatrist at VA Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS). He received his medical degree from John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India in 1986 and completed his psychiatric residency at State University of New York Downstate in 1992 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychopharmacology and Neurosciences at Yale University School of Medicine. He then joined the faculty in the Dept. of Psychiatry at Yale and VA Connecticut Healthcare System. He is an active clinician, teacher and researcher, 30 years of experience.

Clinical Administration: He directs the Neuropsychiatry Program at VA Connecticut Healthcare System, the clinical service that cares for veterans with serious mental illnesses including psychotic disorders, mood disorders and personality disorders. He also chairs the Research and Development Committee at VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

Research Administration: He directs the Neurobiological Studies Unit where experimental psychopharmacological studies are conducted. He serves as the Chair of the Research and Development Committee of VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

Education: He is actively involved in teaching residents. In recognition of his contributions as a teacher, he received the Yale Psychiatry resident’s teaching award in 2008. He also directs the VA Schizophrenia Research Fellowship program the training ground for a number of current researchers. He is a mentor for a number of junior faculty who have career awards.

Pathophysiological Research: He directs the Schizophrenia Neuropharmacology Research Group at Yale (SNRGY). Over the last 3 decades, he has employed three approaches to his research. He has conducted experimental psychopharmacological studies with ketamine, amphetamine, THC, nicotine, salvinorin A in healthy human volunteers and patients to evaluate the contributions of various neurotransmitter systems to the pathophysiology of psychosis, cognitive deficits, and reward dysfunction. He also uses in vivoneuroreceptor imaging to study schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder with ligands that bind to synaptic vesicles, muscarinic receptors, CB1 receptors, etc. He is also involved in a consortium to collect fluid biomarkers in schizophrenia.

Treatment Research: In parallel to these studies of pathophysiology, he has conducted phase 1 - 4 clinical trials to develop new treatments schizophrenia, mood disorders and cannabis use disorder. More recently he has been investigating the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds (psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine) in the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions including depression and migraine. His research is funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), VA R&D and several foundations.

His work has been published in the highest impact Psychiatry journals including Molecular Psychiatry, Lancet Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuropsychopharmacology (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qDmD8DsAAAAJ&hl=en). He is a principal editor of the journal Psychopharmacology.

He is involved in public outreach – he serves on the Physicians Advisory Board for Connecticut’s Medical Marijuana Program. He is recognized as a leading expert on the relationship between cannabinoids and psychosis, and has been involved educating the general public about the relationship between cannabis and psychosis.

Cannabis has many different chemicals, namely cannabinoids that have pharmaceutical benefits. Learn about FDA approved cannabinoid research. There is a big difference between medications that are FDA approved and smoking weed.Jennifer Triemstra, MS PhDJennifer L Triemstra, MS, PhD – Associate Medical Director – Cannabinoid Education, US Medical Affairs, Jazz Pharmaceuticals Jennifer, also known as, “Trie”, is an Associate Director in Medical Affairs for Jazz Pharmaceuticals, leading the Cannabinoid Science Education program. Trie has been working in the cannabinoid science space for nearly 7 years and was instrumental in building the content for CannabinoidClinical.com educational website and leads the Cannabinoid Education Working Group. Trie has presented to learners across the United States including scientific and healthcare providers, advocacy groups, medical societies, state government and policy making members, and beyond the US including the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Prior to her current role, Trie was a Medical Science Liaison at Greenwich Biosciences, US subsidiary of GW Pharmaceuticals, providing scientific support to develop an FDA-approved cannabidiol therapy for the treatment of seizures associated with epilepsy. Trie received her Master of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Saint Cloud State University and her PhD in Comparative and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Minnesota, School of Veterinary Medicine. Before graduate school, she spent several years working in academia performing laboratory research focused on neuroendocrinology.

The National Marijuana Initiative strives to dispel misconceptions about marijuana and raise awareness of issues surrounding the drug; so that citizens and policymakers can make well-informed choices regarding marijuana use and regulations.

Some of the services offered include:

Educational presentations on marijuana and the effects of its legalization for law enforcement groups, public forums, community coalitions, and legislators
The NMI Speakers Bureau, which consists of independent subject matter experts who conduct informational presentations about their respective fields
A public resource for valid information and reliable data based upon current research into marijuana and its impacts

Dale Quigley is the Deputy Coordinator of the National Marijuana Initiative for the HIDTA program in the United States. He is responsible for providing information and education on issues surrounding marijuana. Prior to this role, he served at the Rocky Mountain HIDTA in Denver from 2011 – 2016 as the Manager of Intelligence and later oversaw their training program.

Deputy Quigley holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and has been a peace officer in Colorado since 1979. In January 2016, he retired as a Sergeant from the Aurora Police Department. In his experience, Deputy Quigley notes his most rewarding assignments have been related to drug enforcement. He has an extensive background in narcotics investigations and supervising drug units, which includes supervising a gang-oriented drug task force for the FBI.

Recognized as a subject matter expert in several aspects of drug enforcement, he regularly speaks at regional, national, and international drug conferences on the impacts of drug usage. Additionally, he has instructed drug law at the Community College of Aurora (Colorado) and a series of drug enforcement classes for the Rocky Mountain HIDTA program.

Ed Shemelya is the National Marijuana Initiative Coordinator for the HIDTA Program. He has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. He has been speaking on Legalization in America, Understanding Hemp and Marijuana, and Current Affairs in Marijuana since 2013.

There is much overlap between mental health and SUD, substance use disorder.44%, almost half of everyone with a SUD has some form of mental illness.

Eric Gremminger trains behavioral health professionals on using patient reported outcome measures for personalized clinical pathways.Eric Gremminger, ICADC

Eric is CEO and Co-Founder of ERPHealth and a nationally recognized leader in the behavioral health space. Since 2014 Eric has trained behavioral healthcare professionals around the country on how to use patient reported outcome measures to personalized clinical curriculums, and inform policy and procedure. Eric holds a degree in Psychology from Drexel University and is a regular guest lecturer on the topics of recovery and the neurobiology of addiction. Eric received his counselor’s training from Villanova University and is an internationally-certified drug and alcohol counselor as well as a published author.

Eric is a board member for Prevention Plus, an organization focused on promoting healthy, safe and drug-free lifestyles in the state of New Jersey and is a part of the advisory council for National Fentanyl Awareness Day, a federally recognized day dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers of fentanyl.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-gremminger/

https://www.ncqa.org/blog/inside-health-care-87-eric-gremminger-the-tech-push-to-individualized-behavioral-healthcare/

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/nbc10-issue/a-new-approach-to-treating-addiction/2971857/

What is DBT, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy? Dialectical, sounds like diabolical - but it is not. Dialectical means opposite. It is a type of behavioral therapy that aims at changing negative thinking and destructive behaviors into positive outcomes. DBT works for substance use disorder and is a great tool to learn at an early age for everyone, even those without an SUD.Laura Petracek, PhD, LCSW is a certified DBT therapist who, as a recovering addict herself, uses her own experiences with recovery and treatment to help others. Dr. Petracek received her Master of Social Work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has worked in the field of psychotherapy for more than thirty years, twenty-six of which have been spent as a practicing Clinical Psychologist in California. Dr. Petracek is an LGBTQ+ member and ally. She believes that mental illness can feel like you’re in a freefall because you’ve lost control of your mind but emphasizes that it’s okay not to be okay. She is committed to providing the highest quality psychotherapy services, as a psychologist and author, that honor where individuals are on their personal growth journeys. Dr. Petracek is the author of The Anger Workbook for Women and The DBT Workbook for Alcohol and Drug Addiction.

What role does Prehospital Medicine or First Responders have in treating addiction? Is it just naloxone, or is there more?Dr. Gene Hern received his MS in Medical Ethics from UC Berkeley in 1994 and his MD from UCSF in 1996. He did his residency in Emergency Medicine at Highland Hospital in Oakland in 1996 and stayed on as faculty starting in 2000. In 2013, he was named US Emergency Medicine residency director of the year by the Emergency Medicine Residents Association. In 2014, he was honored by his residency director peers with the Micheal Wainscott Program Director Award by the Council of Residency Directors for his dedication to resident education. In 2022, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from CalACEP.

He works as Medical Director for both Public and Private EMS Agencies in California and has been the Medical Director for GMR Contra Costa Operations since 2007. He is board certified in both Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services. As a researcher, he has published 53 peer reviewed articles on topics as varied as racial differences in pre-hospital opiate use to illegal residency interview questions to the creation of Overdose Receiving Centers. He also has authored or co-authored 13 book chapters. His current research centers on the EMS treatment of Opioid Use Disorder and paramedic initiated buprenorphine.

When we want to solve a problem we need to understand it, to map it.We do mapping for COVID, for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis.We need to use the same infectious disease strategies to map, trace, treat and prevent overdoses.Ali Burrell, MPH, is the ODMAP Program Manager at the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (W/B HIDTA). She received her Master's in Public Health with an emphasis in Environmental and Occupational Health from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health. She holds a BS in Public Health, Health Promotion, and Health Behavior from Oregon State University with a Global Health Certificate. Ali has worked in overdose prevention and Veteran suicide prevention program implementation through her work with the CDC Foundation’s Overdose Response Strategy in Virginia and the University of Pittsburgh’s partnership with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Pronouns: She/Her

April Babcock, Founder of Lost Voices of Fentanyl – After losing her son Austen to a fentanyl poisoning April turned her pain into community service and founded Lost Voices of Fentanyl a non-profit organization devoted to illicit fentanyl education, prevention and awareness. It began as a rally outside the Chinese Embassy, but it grew into something more and the Lost Voices of Fentanyl Facebook Discussion group has become a haven providing bereavement support and encouragement for more than 29,000 bereaved families nationwide suffering through the enormous tragedy of illicit fentanyl poisonings. April has become a beacon of hope and a leading advocate in the nation for bereaved families in the fight against illicit fentanyl.

Washington Post - White House RallyLVOF - Facebook

Fentanyl has been used as a chemical weapon in warfare. But we do not have to wait for a drone attack from a foreign county. Today 183 will die of fentanyl that is origination from foreign lands.How do you prepare for a chemical attack?You can't completely prepare. Knowing the high stakes risks and loss of life, we need to prevent such a scenario in the first place.Dr. Gregory Ciottone is recent President of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an Instructor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), and the Founding Director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Fellowship in Disaster Medicine. Dr. Ciottone also serves as the Director of Medical Preparedness for the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University, a joint program of the HSPH and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and sits on the faculty committee for the Harvard University Scholars at Risk program. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the American College of Emergency Physicians.

As a former member of the United States National Disaster Medical System, Dr. Ciottone was Commander of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) Massachusetts-2, one of the first federal teams deployed into Ground Zero responding to the 9/11 attacks. He is a Founding Member of the US Department of Homeland Security and has been a consultant to the White House Medical Unit for the past three administrations.

Dr. Ciottone’s clinical and field experience includes 25 years as a practicing emergency physician and over 500 missions as a flight physician on an aeromedical helicopter service. He has conducted educational programs in more than 30 countries around the world and has served as a disaster response fellowship director for the International Atomic Energy Agency. Dr. Ciottone has written over 150 scholarly works, including his textbook Ciottone’s Disaster Medicine, now in its 3rd edition and considered the leading textbook in the field. He is the 2018 recipient of the American College of Emergency Physicians Disaster Medical Sciences Award, and the 2020 recipient of the American Academy of Disaster Medicine Distinguished Service Award.

CARFENTANIL DRONE ATTACK SIMULATION

The New England Journal of Medicine put out an educational video based on my 2018 Toxidrome Recognition in Chemical Weapons Attack article. The video simulates a Carfentanil drone attack.https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMp2302441

What is the difference between marijuana sold at a dispensary and marijuana used for research?There is a big difference? Listen to the world's leader in marijuana growth for research, Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly.Dr. ElSohly received a B.S. in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and a M.S. in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Pittsburgh. He is board certified by the American Board of Forensic Medicine (BCFM) and the American College of Forensic Examiners (BCFE).Dr. ElSohly holds more than 30 patents dealing with the processing, testing, and detection of drugs of abuse along with other patents dealing with biologically active natural products and compositions for the treatment of cancer and other in the diagnostics area. He has authored over 250 scholarly articles and more than 200 presentations at scientific meetings of professional societies relative to drug discovery, analysis, and metabolism, and many of his articles deal with forensic issues of drugs of abuse. He is constantly presenting his research findings at national and international scientific conferences. He is a member of many scholarly scientific societies and was recognized by The Scientist (April 17, 1995) and Science Watch (January, 1995) as the second most cited author in forensic sciences in the world for the period 1981-1993. Dr. ElSohly is also recognized in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology (October issue, 2004) as being one of the top ten (3rd and 4th) Most Cited Authors and Most Prolific Authors in the journal between 1981 and 2003.

Sandy Schneider, MD, FACEP, is associate executive director and past president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, ACEP. Dr Schneider is also the adjunct professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She remains clinically active as a part-time attending with integrative emergency services at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Previously, she was a chair of the Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine and chair of the Emergency Medicine Foundation. Dr. Schneider is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and board-certified in internal medicine and emergency medicine.

Dr. Schneider was elected to the ACEP Board of Directors in 2004 and again in 2007. She served as the board’s secretary-treasurer before being elected vice president last year. She formerly served on the board of directors of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry, and she is the former president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine and the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Schneider served as the founding chair of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Rochester from 1993-2007. She established a residency training program there in emergency medicine and fellowship programs in pediatric emergency medicine, sports medicine, international emergency medicine and EMS.

Dr. Schneider earned her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh and completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Hospitals of the University of Pittsburgh. She is a board certified in emergency medicine and is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed articles and 35 book chapters.

ACEP is a national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine with more than 28,000 members. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.

Visit www.acep.org for more information.

What are the current drug trends?

Quest Diagnostics published their Health Trends Report on Drug Misuse in America. The showed that 1 in 2 patients are misusing prescription drugs and use of stimulants such as Adderall surged 5-fold over the last decade.

Jeff Gudin completed his residency in Anesthesiology at the Yale University School of Medicine and his fellowship at The Yale Center for Pain Management. While in New Haven, Dr. Gudin also trained in Addiction Medicine and directed a substance abuse treatment center. For the last 18 years, Dr. Gudin has been the Director of Pain Management and Palliative Care at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, a former Mt. Sinai University School of Medicine teaching affiliate in NJ. He remains active in teaching and research, and has lectured internationally on a variety of topics in pain management, palliative care and addiction medicine.

Dr Gudin has dedicated his career to promoting education in pain management. He attends and has presented at the American Pain Society, American Academy of Pain Management, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as many other national venues. Dr Gudin serves as a consultant to state medical boards on challenging cases, as well as to industry on novel analgesic products and risk management associated with opioids. Quest Diagnostics 2022 Health Trends Reports on Drug Misuse in America. The showed that 1 in 2 patients are misusing prescription drugs and use of stimulants such as Adderall surged 5-fold over the last decade.

Kids and Young Adults can make One Choice to protect their growing brain and prevent addiction. More young people are doing just that - making the one choice not to use alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or any drugs until after age 25.

Learn more from One Choice PreventionRobert L. DuPont, MD

Robert L. DuPont, MD

For 50 years, Robert L. DuPont, MD has been a leader in substance use disorder treatment and prevention. He was the first Director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (1973-1978) and the second White House Drug Chief (1973-1977). From 1968-1970 he was Director of Community Services for the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. From 1970-1973, he served as Administrator of the District of Columbia Narcotics Treatment Administration. In 1978 he became the founding President of the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., a non-profit research and policy organization that identifies and promotes powerful new ideas to reduce drug use and addiction.

A graduate of Emory University, Dr. DuPont received an MD degree in 1963 from the Harvard Medical School. He completed his psychiatric training at Harvard and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. DuPont maintains an active practice of psychiatry specializing in addiction and the anxiety disorders and has been Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine since 1980. His most recent book is Chemical Slavery: Understanding Addiction and Stopping the Drug Epidemic.

Caroline DuPont, MD

Dr. DuPont is Vice President of the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. (IBH), a 501(c)3 non-profit research and policy organization located in Rockville, MD. In her role as Vice President, Caroline DuPont, MD focuses on the areas of addiction treatment and prevention. She maintains a private practice specializing in anxiety and addiction.

Formerly she was the founding President and Principal Investigator of DuPont Clinical Research, Inc., where she directed a team that conducted studies of investigational medication for the anxiety and affective disorders.

Dr. DuPont received her MD from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Houston and completed her training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, where for years she held an appointment on the clinical faculty of psychiatry. She is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and by the American Board of Addiction Medicine. She is the co-author of numerous publications and several book chapters on anxiety and addiction.

Who do you go for in medical advice? A certified bud tender or a board certified physician, nurse or pharmacist?

At Cannabis Training University you can get a degree for just $299, much easier and less stressful than 12 year of medical training at a University and Hospital.

Anne Hassel was a true marijuana believer, leaving her job as a physical therapist to enter the Green Rush as a budtender in a Massachusetts medical marijuana dispensary. After a year and a half of selling and consuming toxic, unnatural and harmful high THC products, she experienced heavy metal poisoning, Cannabis Use Disorder, and Cannabis Induced Psychosis. Concerned about the harm to others, especially the youth, she joined preventionists. Anne has testified before national and state authorities and politicians. She appears in the film Smokescreen https://vimeo.com/423459522/769e704993. Anne presented at SAM Summit in 2021 and is included in Dr. Kevin Sabet’s book "Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn't Want You to Know".

Dr Lev talks to Dennis about the normalization of drugs, marijuana, and importance of prevention.

Dennis Prager is co-founder and president of Prager University, one of the most widely viewed video sites in the world, with a billion views a year. He is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host, columnist, and author of ten books, most recently the third volume of his commentary on the first five books of the Bible, The Rational Bible, the best-selling Bible commentary in America since it first appeared.

The Dennis Prager Show Prager U

Quit the Hit - Vaping Cessation Hundreds of thousands of teens are not only addicted to nicotine, but they’re using it as a coping mechanism for dealing with mental health challenges and the overwhelming stresses of post-pandemic life.

Without support and guidance, quitting vaping is an incredibly difficult journey, and we often hear in our research that most teens do not feel like a traditional quitline or quitting service is intended for them. Our quantitative and qualitative research demonstrate that teens perceive quitlines as too formal for their needs. Additionally, they worry about how they may be treated in their friend groups if they try to quit and are not successful.

Rescue Agency, Hopelab, and UCSF examined the quitting journey with these insights in mind and developed a virtual cessation support group for young people called Quit the Hit. Quit the Hit is designed as a vape-first, teen-first social cessation intervention hosted through moderator-led group DMs on Instagram and has helped over 2,000 teens and young adults in 8 different states on their path to quitting.

Web page with more information
Hand out with more information
Video about how Quit the Hit works
Ad promoting Quit the Hit to teen participants

Krysten Isaac, Vice President, Group Management Director, Rescue Agency

Krysten serves as Vice President and Group Management Director at Rescue, overseeing multiple public health programs and teams to promote health equity and behavior change within youth prevention campaigns and behavioral health-driven initiatives across 15 different states. Within the past decade of work in behavior change, she has been instrumental to growing one of the largest youth vaping communications efforts in the country, Behind the Haze, which is now active in over a dozen states and has worked with major players like FDA Center for Tobacco Products, NIDA, American Lung Association, and more. Currently, she oversees Tobacco Control Programs at Rescue along with other campaigns that focus on youth marijuana and substance misuse, vaccination communications, and more.

Brionna Zimmerman, Account Supervisor, Rescue Agency

Brionna serves as an Account Supervisor at Rescue, overseeing youth-centered programs with an emphasis on mentorship, coaching and substance prevention and cessation. She began her work in this area as a Market Manager with Fresh Empire, focusing on at-risk youth in South Carolina, then expanded into Hustle & Strive as a Success Coach, focusing on at-risk youth in Virginia. Brionna is now the Group Facilitator for the Quit The Hit programs across 6 states, virtually supporting teens and young adults through their vape-quitting journey. Brionna is also a high school girls basketball coach, which gives her unique insight into the mentorship and development of teens and young adults.

SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is charged with public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of our nation. This includes drug prevention and treatment programs. Mental health and Addiction health very much overlap. Of the 20 million people who have a SUD about 50% also have mental illness. Of the 47.6 million adults with a mental illness about 20% also have an addiction.

Dr. Lev sits with Dr. Delphin-Rittmon on Zoom in a conversation.

Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D. is currently Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. She previously served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) and served in this role for six years. Prior positions held at DMHAS include Deputy Commissioner, Senior Policy Advisor and Director of the department’s O!ice of Multicultural Healthcare Equity. In her role as Commissioner, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon was committed to promoting recovery oriented, integrated, and culturally responsive services and systems that foster dignity, respect, and meaningful community inclusion.

Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon was an Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University where she served on faculty for the past 20 years. While at Yale Dr. Delphin-Rittmon served as the Director of Cultural Competence and Research Consultation with the Yale University Program for Recovery and Community Health.

In May 2014, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon completed a two-year White House appointment working as a Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While at SAMHSA, she worked on a range of policy initiatives addressing behavioral health equity, workforce development, and healthcare reform.

Through her 20 year career in the behavioral health field Dr. Delphin- Rittmon has extensive experience in the design, evaluation, and administration of mental health, substance use and prevention services and systems and has received several awards for advancing policy in these areas. Most recently, she received the 2019 State Service Award from the National Association of State Drug and Alcohol Directors and the 2016 Mental Health Award for Excellence from the United Nations Committee on Mental Health.

She received her B.A. in Social Science from Hofstra University in 1989, her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University 1992 and 2001, respectively, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical community psychology at Yale University in 2002 RESOURCES

Talk. They Hear You: https://www.samhsa.gov/talk-they-hear-you

Screen4Success: https://www.samhsa.gov/talk-they-hear-you/screen4success

FindTreatment.gov – Millions of Americans have mental and substance use disorders. Find treatment near you

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988

Disaster Distress Helpline – 24/7 crisis counseling for emotional distress related to a disaster. 1-800-985-5990

Natio

MAT Medication Assisted Treatment is key for treating opioid addiction. No one should suffer from opioid withdrawal and everyone with an opioid use disorder should receive treatment with compassion and hope. California Bridge assists in providing MAT 24/7 through the emergency departments.

Arianna Campbell is an Emergency Department PA with more than 20 years of clinical expertise informing her work. As an APP Lead for US Acute Care Solutions at Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, California, Arianna initiated an innovative program to treat patients with opioid use disorder. Recognized by leaders in addiction medicine and beyond, Arianna became a founding clinician of CA Bridge, a program of the Public Health Institute. She currently serves as Director and Co-Principal Investigator for CA Bridge, dedicated to making 24/7 access to addiction treatment the standard of care in every hospital. Arianna presently serves on Marshall’s Provider Advisory Council and the California Academy of PAs’ Professional Practice Committee. She is a dedicated advocate for harm reduction practices and treating the patient as a whole person.

California Bridge is a program of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California. Their goal is to transform addiction treatment by ensuring that every hospital in California provides 24/7 access to evidence-based care, treating substance use disorder like any other life-threatening condition.

Should there be consequences for dealing fentanyl? Should that consequence include secondary murder charges when known counterfeit pills kill people ?

State Senator Thomas J. Umberg is the Chair of the Senate’s Judicary Committee. He is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, former federal criminal prosecutor, four-term state legislator, small business owner, and was the Deputy Drug Czar for President Clinton.

Senator Umberg began his military service at the Korean DMZ and was deployed overseas for three tours – totalling over five years. In additon to his overseas deployments, Colonel Umberg was assigned as a paratrooper with the Army Special Operations Command and the XVIII Airborne Corps.

As a federal and miltary prosecutor, Senator Umberg prosecuted numerous white collar, civil rights, murder, and sexual assault crimes. He successfully tried over 100 cases to verdict or judgment.

Senator Umberg served as Deputy Drug Czar for President Bill Clinton where he was responsible for foreign drug interdiction, counter-drug intelligence, and international drug policy. Umberg has a deep understanding of the strategies and resources we need to stop the current opioid epidemic and to put an end to senseless gun violence in our communities.

Senator Umberg also served three terms in the State Assembly, representing central Orange County. During this time, he worked across party lines, authored 76 laws, and brought more than $563 million in funds to Orange County.

Senator Umberg founded and built a successful veteran-owned small business in Orange County, recognized as one of California’s preeminent boutique law firms by Best Lawyers and The Daily Journal. Senator Umberg knows how to run a business and is a strong advocate for local business owners helping them to cut red tape and streamline unnecessary regulation.

Senator Umberg and his wife, Brigadier General (retired) Robin Umberg, have three children and seven grandchildren.

The CDC published their second and updated version of their Opioid and Pain Guidelines?

Dr. Chou, one the leading authors discusses what is new to the guidelines.

Roger Chou, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, OHSU, and the Pacific Northwest EPC Director. Dr. Chou’s is trained in internal medicine and is internationally recognized as an expert in opioids and pain. Dr. Chou has led over 70 systematic reviews, including numerous reviews on pain, opioids, overdose prevention, and addiction. Dr. Chou has also conducted primary research on opioids. His reviews were used to develop the 2016 CDC opioid guideline and other high-impact guidelines in this area. He served on the Steering Committee for the 2016 CDC guideline, an NIH-convened research task force for low back pain, an NIH work group to inform the Federal Pain Research Strategy, a federal interagency work group on reducing adverse events associated with opioids, and a CDC opioid prescribing estimates workgroup. He served on a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine committee on Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Acute Pain, serves on the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, was Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Back and Neck Group and is now a Senior Editor of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group, and is on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. He also serves as the methodologist for a number of past, and current, World Health Organization guideline development efforts.

How should law enforcement, fire, hazmat, and hospitals respond to exposure to chemicals and drugs.

Should hazmat to sterilize the area where a bag of fentanyl is found?

Should we train for fentanyl exposure like we train for a tornado Diaster?

Is fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction

Do law enforcement officers suffer overdoses or a nociebo reaction? Nociebo is the cousin of Placebo.

Placebo is a sugar pill that makes you feel better, Nociebo is the pill that makes you feel sick.

These are the things I discuss with Sai Oicata.

Sai Oicata is an emergency preparedness planner for the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council and paramedic for the National Disaster Medical System. Inspired by domestic and foreign catastrophic events, her education and career are aimed at strengthening the public safety community and bridging the communication gap in disaster preparedness. Sai holds an undergraduate degree in Emergency Management from the University of Central Florida and actively pursuing an MPH with concentration of Global Disaster Management, Humanitarian Relief and Homeland Security from the University of South Florida. As co-coordinator of the East Central Florida Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), her current projects include a case study in partnership with Harvard Medical School on the pre-hospital and hospital response to sodium nitrite suicides and a law enforcement chemical exposure awareness program focusing on accidental opiate exposure.

How has the landscape changed for Drug Crime? Listen to Monte Stile share his career experience as a federal prosecutor.

Is smoking Hookah safer than marijuana? Sarah, a pharmacy student ask a question. Listen for an answer.

Monte Stile I served my entire professional career as a state and federal prosecutor. As a state prosecutor for the first five years, I started with crimes such as speeding, theft and drunk driving, but within a short time, my cases changed to more serious crimes such as burglaries, robberies, crimes involving the abuse and neglect of children, and many violent crimes including murder.

Some of my most rewarding assignments, as well as some of the most heartbreaking, involved working directly with kids “in the system” for a variety of crimes often influenced by the poor choices of adults in their lives (but sometimes the result of their own life choices despite positive adult influences and many opportunities.) Many of these poor choices, by adults and juveniles, were related to some form of substance abuse. As a result of these experiences, I helped form and run the first full-time drug prosecution unit in Idaho history.

In 1987 I was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho where I supervised the Organized Crime/Drug Enforcement Task Force – a group of agents, analysts and prosecutors who investigated and prosecuted high-level drug trafficking organizations including Los Angeles street gangs, drug cartels, methamphetamine manufacturers, and international drug smugglers and money launderers. Some of these cases involved decades of investigation working with state, federal and foreign law enforcement agencies in pursuit of evidence and witnesses across the United States and foreign countries such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Fiji, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, and various locations in Europe. Because of the nature of my caseload, I was also a sworn Special Deputy United States Marshall for most of my career.

In 1995, I served as Special Counsel to the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys in Washington D.C. where my primary assignments involved domestic terrorism, violent crime, juvenile justice, and narcotics.

As a result of my career experiences, I had the opportunity to teach in many places that included the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, numerous state and regional law enforcement conferences, and five international organized crime seminars where I worked with prosecutors, judges, and police officers from the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Montenegro, and Croatia.

During this same time, I was also a passionate drug educator and speaker for schools, businesses, churches, law enforcement agencies, prevention groups, and other youth and parent organizations. One of my proudest personal and career achievements was the organization and implementation of the statewide "Enough is Enough” anti-drug campaign which produced community coalitions in every area of Idaho.

In 2011, after realizing that three decades of experience provided me with a unique opportunity to prevent much of the pain inflicted upon children, families, and communities because of substance abuse, I left government service in order to devote all of my time as a keynote speaker and trainer at local, state, regional and national conferences relating to drug policy, law enforcement, youth leadership, drug prevention, corporate training, and maintaining safe communities. I am particularly focused on national policies that impact youth substance abuse.

My speakin

Is there hope for severe addiction or substance use disorder? Absolutely, listen to Frank's inspiring story. Frank was a college professor in American Literature when he hit rock Botton due to addiction. He lives through skid row, homelessness, and convicted felon sitting in prison. While incarcerated he won a first place writing competition against 800 submissions. Ken tells his story and demonstrates that we should not be judged just by our lowest lows in our life.Frank Kensaku Saragosa is a San Diego based writer who writes about homelessness, addiction, criminality and incarceration. He is also a recovering crystal meth addict. He taught American Literature at Swarthmore College and Soka University of America, and worked for several years in social services in San Diego. Because of his addiction, he lived unhoused in downtown San Diego for three years, has been in and out of county jail several times, andserved two federal prison terms. He was released from Federal prison most recently in August 2022, six months ago. Work he wrote in prison won the 2022 PEN America Prison Writing Awards in two categories, Fiction and Nonfiction Essay

Union Tribune Article

Pen America

Voices of Hope Video

What are some upcoming innovations for methamphetamine use disorder? Learn from Dr. Brooks Gentry how monoclonal antibodies can be the new MAT for meth.Intervexion TherapeuticsOutlast StudyW. Brooks Gentry, MDDr. Brooks Gentry is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), where he has served as Vice-Chair for Research since 2002, and a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. He is also Chief Medical Officer for InterveXion Therapeutics and Chief Medical Officer for Kuria Therapeutics. Among many leadership roles and service posts on campus, he was Chair of the UAMS Department of Anesthesiology from 2014-2018, and he chaired the UAMS Committee on Clinical Research from 2009 to 2013.Dr. Gentry is retired from clinical medicine but had clinical interests in ambulatory and trauma anesthesiology and practiced in all specialties except for liver transplant, cardiac and pediatric anesthesiology. He has also been active in teaching and advising medical students, residents and graduate students throughout his career. He has received 10 student-selected Red Sash awards for teaching.Since 1998, Dr. Gentry has partnered with Mike Owens, Ph.D., on widely recognized, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded research into the development of therapies for substance use disorders. Dr. Gentry was principal investigator on the first human studies of a chimeric anti-methamphetamine monoclonal antibody medication and has continued to lead three other clinical trials of this medication. Dr. Gentry’s and Dr. Owens’ work also led to the formation of InterveXion Therapeutics LLC, a UAMS BioVentures company working to develop monoclonal antibody and vaccine medications, with Dr. Gentry serving as Chief Medical Officer. In his role as Chief Medical Officer of InterveXion, he has substantial input into the development and performance of the Phase 1 and 2 studies of IXT-m200, and into the interpretation of the results. He interacts the site PIs of the studies, and is involved in many safety and medical decisions regarding these studies.Dr. Gentry served as an Oral Examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology and as Medical Editor for the American Society of Anesthesiologists Self-Education and Evaluation program, a major national continuing medical education program. He has been a reviewer for several publications including the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 scientific papers and two book chapters.Dr. Gentry received a B.A. with distinction in biology from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, in 1984 and his medical degree from UAMS in 1988. He trained in anesthesiology at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he also served as Chief Resident and completed a fellowship in clinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetics before joining the UAMS faculty in 1994.

The National Overdose Prevention Network, NOPN, held a Webinar titled"End of the X Waiver: A New Frontier in Addiction Treatment."Mary Maddux-Gonzalez interviewed Dr. Roneet Lev on the subject. This podcast is a recording of that Webinar with permission by NOPN.Dr. Lev presents the history behind the X-Waiver, the ripple effects predicted from the change in policy, deconstructs stigma, and her hopes for the future.

What does the Bible say about Drug, Alcohol, and Addiction? Are there words of ancient wisdom that apply to our modern times? I asked RabbiRabbi Efrem Goldberg is the Senior Rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue (BRS), a rapidly growing congregation of over 1,000 families in Boca Raton, Florida. BRS is the largest Orthodox Synagogue in the Southeast United States. Rabbi Goldberg's warm and welcoming personality has helped attract people of diverse backgrounds and ages to feel part of the BRS community, reinforcing the BRS credo of 'Valuing Diversity and Celebrating Unity.'

You can follow his podcasts - Behind The Bima and Out of the Shadows: A Jewish Approach to Mental Health

How do we educate our youth on the dangers of fentanyl? Song for Charlie has free educational resources. Listen to a conversation with Ed Ternan, father of Charlie, who pivoted his marketing career to overdose prevention.Ed Ternan’s professional background includes marketing communications, product development and project management. A pragmatic “problem solver,” he has extensive experience building teams and managing strategic partnerships. Since Charlie’s death, he has dedicated himself to informing young people about new risks of self-medication and recreational drug use in the age of synthetic drugs like fentanyl.

Ed and his wife Mary have formed a nonprofit charity called Song for Charlie, where they create and distribute social media campaigns and educational materials. Their programs provide fact-based resources directly to young people in plain language and encourage healthier alternatives for managing stress.

Ed has a BS in Political Science from Santa Clara University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Do all kids try Alcohol? Marijuana? Drugs? What are the social norms?Listen to the developer of the Social Norms Theory, Dr. Wes Perkins, to learn how to use social norms to change risky behavior.Wesley Perkins

WESLEY PERKINS received the B.A. in Sociology from Purdue University, an M.Div. degree from Yale University Divinity School, and the M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University. He is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. In 1993 he was honored with Hobart and William Smith's faculty prize for outstanding scholarship and in 1997 he received the faculty prize for outstanding service to the college community honoring his work to reduce alcohol abuse among students. He is Project Director of theAlcohol Education Projectat Hobart and William Smith, an initiative providing research, educational resources, and strategies to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse throughout the U.S. and internationally. In 1999 and again in 2005 the Project received a national award from the U.S. Department of Education as a Model Prevention Program in Higher Education.Dr. Perkins has published extensive research on alcohol and other drug problems among college students, adolescents, and young-to-middle aged adults in professional journals and is editor of a recent book on The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse. He was a pioneer in work uncovering peer misperceptions of alcohol and other drug norms and developed the theory underlying the social norms approach to prevention. He also conducts research on problems of collegiate children of alcoholics, gender-related aspects of drug use, stress and drinking, religious-ethnic differences in drinking and other drug use, and evaluation studies of secondary school and university environments. He has delivered over 500 guest lectures, keynote addresses, workshops and research presentations for colleges, universities, secondary schools and professional conferences in the United States and internationally. Dr. Perkins has also served as a consultant to schools throughout the United States and to state and national drug abuse agencies and has testified at a Senate hearing on problems of alcohol abuse on campus. In 1999 he received the Outstanding Service Award by the Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse for his significant career contribution to prevention work in higher education at both the local and national level. In 2016 he received the Community Collaboration Award given by Success for Geneva’s Children, a New York organization dedicated to mobilizing the community to improve the lives of Geneva, NY children. The award recognized Dr. Perkins' work over a ten year period preparing multiple data books to enhance the community understanding of local youth health and well-being. Dr Perkins' work has been frequently cited in the press and television news coverage including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, National Public Radio, New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and Time Magazine. His work has also been cited in The Times Educational Supplement in England and the Scotsman and the Herald in Scotland and his research was discussed by members of the Scottish Parliament in a formal Parliament session. He recently completed work as a project director on a project designing, implementing, and demonstrating the significant positive impact of a social norms marketing campaign to reduce alcohol abuse among Airmen age 18-24 at selected U.S. Air Force bases located in the U.S and international settings.

Dr. Perkins' other research interests and publications include studies of family roles and well-being among young adults and comparative studies of social values and religion in Great Britain and the United States. He is also conducting an extensive research project on forgiveness and health in the life course of young and middle-aged adults and research on social norms and bullying among adolescents in the U.S and the U.K

Personal web page: http://people.hws.edu/perkins

Alcohol Project website: http://www.AlcoholEducationProject.org

Youth Health and Safety Project: http://www.YouthHealthSafety.org

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVIBfY35dGw&feature=plcp

Dead on Arrival is a heart wrenching documentary that is raw and real.Listen to Dominic Tierno the producer of the movie on why he made the movie and how it impacted him.Dominic Tierno has told stories through video since he was a child. As he grew into his teenage years, with the rise of social media, he realized he could use video to make an impact. Dominic won his first film festival award at the age of 16 for a motivational film called There Are No Limits (2013). Since then, Dominic has written, shot, directed, and edited 3 documentary films. His most recent is the internationally known Dead On Arrival (2021) which educates youth and parents about fentanyl. Dead On Arrival is currently being shown to millions of people in all 50 states, as well as in multiple Latin American countries.

Dominic aims to bring light to darkness through raw and bold storytelling. His messaging has consistently been successful in effecting heart change in those who encounter it. Dominic’s desire is to use his God-given creative gifts to help set people free, save lives and change the world.

Since 2018, Dominic has owned his own business serving clients in a variety of industries with multimedia content. Dominic has created countless videos used for online marketing, entertainment, and educational purposes, amassing hundreds of millions of views around the globe. He has also served as a creative consultant to individuals and organizations on a mission to find their identities and tell their stories.

After over a decade of experience in various creative fields, Dominic has yet to lose his passion for telling powerful stories through video. His tenacity for excellence in multiple mediums has made him a versatile creative problem-solver. His commitment to glorify God in His work has enabled him to do more than he could have imagined as a young boy with a camera.

California Department of Public Health

Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch

Youth Cannabis Prevention Initiative

Cannabis use among youth is more common than either binge drinking or smoking tobacco
- According to the California Healthy Kids Survey, 16% of 11th graders are current cannabis users.
Today’s youth are in a season of self-discovery, seeking meaning, connections, independence, and learning how to regulate and manage their emotions.
- Youth are increasingly turning to cannabis in this developmental stage to bond with friends and to cope with day-to-day stressors
Under age cannabis use affects two key pillars of mental health:
Social well-being – how youth socialize, bond, and make meaningful connections with others
Emotional well-being – how youth cope with mental health challenges
Cannabis use in youth is associated with:
- Impairments in cognition including memory, learning, and attention
- Increased risk of psychotic, mood, and addictive disorders
- Increased risk of mental health issues
In order to support and encourage local communities and partners to get involved in the campaign, CDPH will be hosting regular webinars – knowledge sharing opportunities to utilize campaign learnings and materials, and will provide other resources.
CDPH will also put together educational toolkits for local communities and partners that provide accurate and actionable materials, such as conversation guides, fact sheets, youth mental health support resources, and more.

Mind Over Marijuana Campaign - campaign for teens from CDPH, California Department of Public HealthLet's Talk Cannabis - campaign tool for parents from CDPH, California Department of Public HealthDr. Halpern-Felsher is a developmental psychologist whose research has focused on cognitive and psychosocial factors involved in adolescents’ and young adults’ health-related decision-making, perceptions of risk and vulnerability, health communication, and risk behavior. Her research has focused on understanding and reducing health risk behaviors such as tobacco use, alcohol and marijuana use, risky driving, and risky sexual behavior. Her research has been instrumental in changing how providers discuss sexual risk with adolescents and has influenced national policies regulating adolescent and young adult tobacco use. As part of the Tobacco Center's of Regulatory Science (TCORS), she is the PI on an NIH/NCI and FDA-funded longitudinal study examining adolescents’ and young adults’ perceptions regarding as well as initiation, continuation, and cessation of current and new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Dr. Halpern-Felsher is also the founder and director of the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, an online curricular aimed at reducing and preventing youth tobacco use. Dr. Halpern-Felsher’s research and committee work have been instrumental in setting policy at the local, state, and national level. In California, Dr. Halpern-Felsher’s research was cited in support of school-based tobacco education initiatives within California’s Tobacco Education Research Oversight Committee’s 2012 Masterplan, and again in their 2017 Masterplan. This Masterplan sets funding priority areas for research, education and intervention for California. Dr. Halpern-Felsher is also collaborating with the California Department of Education to develop, implement and evaluate new school-based tobacco prevention and education materials. At the national level, Dr. Halpern-Felsher’s research was highlighted in the 2012 Surgeon General Report, ”Preventing Tobacco Use among Youth and Young Adults,” and Dr. Halpern-Felsher contributed to the chapter on Clinical interventions: The role of health care providers in the prevention of youth tobacco use. Dr. Halpern-Felsher has been a member of five Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Sciences committees focusing on adolescent and young adult health risk behavior. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine and currently serves on the Council for the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR), and Co-Chairs the SPR Mentoring Committee. In 2007, Dr. Halpern-Felsher became one of the Program Directors for the NIH/NIDDK-funded Short-Term Research Experience for Underrepresented Persons (STEP-UP), High School Program. She has received two NIH 5-year grants to coordinate this program thus far. For this Step-Up Program, Dr. Halpern-Felsher mentors and supervises 22-25 junior and senior high school students each year. These high students are recruited throughout the country, and conduct their 8-10 weeks of research in their hometown. In addition to mentoring high school students, Dr. Halpern-Felsher has been a mentor to over 75 graduate and medical students and postdoctoral fellows.

If Illicit Fentanyl as Weapon of Mass Destruction? Who better to ask than former Assistant Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Andrew Weber. Andy talks about getting to the upstream supply side of illegal fentanyl.Senior Fellow, The Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic WeaponsAndy Weber is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks’ Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons. Mr. Weber has dedicated his professional life to countering nuclear, chemical, and biological threats and to strengthening global health security. Mr. Weber’s decades of U.S. government service included five-and-a-half years as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. He was a driving force behind Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction efforts to remove weapons-grade uranium from Kazakhstan and Georgia and nuclear-capable MiG-29 aircraft from Moldova, to reduce biological weapons threats, and to destroy Libyan and Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles. In addition, he coordinated U.S. leadership of the international Ebola response for the Department of State.Prior to joining the Pentagon as Advisor for Threat Reduction Policy in December 1996, Mr. Weber was posted abroad as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong. Mr. Weber is an independent consultant and a Strategic Advisor for Ginkgo BioWorks. He serves on the Board of Healthcare Ready and the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies International Advisory Council.He taught a course on Force and Diplomacy at the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service for seven years, and was a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Mr. Weber graduated from Cornell University and holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) degree from Georgetown University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His twitter handle is @AndyWeberNCB

Dr. Karl Hill directs the Prevention Science Program and is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, and is co-director of the prevention registry, Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development. Over the last thirty years he has focused on two key questions: What are optimal family, peer, school and community environments that encourage healthy youth and adult development? And How do we work with communities to make this happen? In addition, he has focused on developing and testing interventions to shape these outcomes, and on working with communities to improve youth development and to break intergenerational cycles of problem behaviorincluding addiction and crime.

Institute of Behavioral ScienceOutcomes of Childhood Prevention Intervention Across 2 Generations - JAMA Article

Brain Surgery for Addiction? Listen to Dr. James Mahoney discuss his research on using deep brain stimulation with implanted electrodes that target the pleasure center of the brain to treat addiction.James J. Mahoney, III, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and Clinical Neuropsychologist in the Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry and the Department of Neuroscience at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) and West Virginia University (WVU) School of Medicine. Dr. Mahoney is currently Director of Addictions Research at the RNI and previously served as Chair of the Research Oversight Committee in his primary department. Prior to joining WVU, Dr. Mahoney completed his doctoral training at the University of Houston and completed specialized post-doctoral training in neuropsychology at the University of Virginia. He has accumulated over 20 years of research experience, most of which have focused on the treatment and assessment of substance use disorders. Dr. Mahoney has co-authored 68 peer-reviewed manuscripts (25 first/senior authored), has published several book chapters and a textbook focusing on substance use, and has presented original research findings at several international conferences. Since beginning his position at WVU, Dr. Mahoney has served as co-investigator on several externally funded proposals including a NIDA funded UG3/UH3 award. Dr. Mahoney’s specific areas of research focus includes cognitive sequelae related to substance use as well as the investigation of various forms of neuromodulation, including deep brain stimulation, focused ultrasound, and transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of substance use disorders.

CNN Story Brain Stimulator

Blueprints for healthy youth contain over 100 randomized control evidence based program that at proven to prevent either youth drug use, violence, bullying, or other adverse behaviors. Not only that, primary prevention in youth saves money.Just before the DARE program did not end up being evidence based, does not mean there are not other programs that are successful.Our children are our future, we must be investing in prevention at a young age to protect their brains from drugs.Pamela R. Buckley, PhD, is a senior research associate in the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her expertise is in evidence-based decision-making, i.e., the use of scientific evidence to inform decisions about social programs and policies for youth (ages 0-24 years). Her scholarship focuses on interdisciplinary and applied research to understand what works, for whom and under what circumstances, and in generating reliable evidence concerning responses to educational, health, and social problems. She has been the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on over five million dollars in grants, has had her work supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, and has published in outlets such as American Educational Research Journal, Exceptional Children, Journal of Learning Disabilities, and Prevention Science.

Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development. Providing a registry of Experimentallhy Proven Programs.

The Blueprints mission is to provide a registry of evidence-based interventions that are effective in reducing antisocial behavior and promoting a healthy course of youth development and adult maturity.

Most programs implemented in communities to improve youths’ lives, unfortunately, do not produce the hoped-for effects when rigorously evaluated, or cost more to implement than they produce in benefits. Blueprints promotes only those interventions with the strongest scientific support. It does so by providing a list of interventions certified as Promising, Model or Model Plus that communities can adopt with confidence.

Interventions certified by Blueprints are family, school, and community-based and target all levels of need — from broad prevention programs that promote positive behaviors while decreasing negative behaviors to highly-targeted programs for at-risk children, troubled teens or formerly incarcerated adults that get them back on track.

Drug Testing at School? Is that crazy? Fun? Or smart drug prevention.Angie Ferguson talks about how drug testing is used as a reward and positive experience with Drug Free Clubs of America.Angie Ferguson has made it her mission to protect the futures of teens and young adults from drug and alcohol devastation. As the Executive Director of Drug Free Clubs of America since 2012, she has built collaborations with health care, education, military, business, and community leaders in over 100 communities to combat substance-based threats to adolescents. Under her leadership, Angie and her team have strengthened and expanded their proven prevention program.

DFCA applies a practical strategy to delivering tangible tools, reinforcements, education, and leadership opportunities to students, schools, parents, and community members. Its methods have been independently validated by formally trained social psychologists and its positive outcomes have been identified by PhD level researchers.

Angie and DFCA have been recognized for contributions to the drug prevention industry through the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award, the United States Attorney Community Outreach Award, as a Rotarian Jefferson Award Finalist, and featured in a book titled, Not Far From Me, which won the 2019 Schwartz Prize for outstanding work.

Patty McCarthy, M.S., is the Chief Executive Officer of Faces & Voices of Recovery, a national recovery advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Faces & Voices, she was a senior associate with the Center forSocial Innovation (C4), where she served as a deputy director of SAMHSA’s BRSS TACS initiative. Ms. McCarthy served for a decade as the director of Friends of Recovery-Vermont (FOR-VT), a statewide recovery community organization conducting training, advocacy and public awareness activities. In addition to public policy and education, her work has focused on community mobilizing, peer-based recovery support services, and peer workforce development. Ms. McCarthy has been instrumental in the development of a national accreditation for recovery community organizations and in the development of peer support standards. Ms. McCarthy holds a master’s degree in community counseling and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She has been in long-term recovery from alcohol and drug addiction since 1989.

Death Diaries is what I call the research I did with Dr. Jason Doctor. We reviewed data on every single person who died of an unintentional medical overdose and compared the drugs on autopsy to what was prescribed to the person. This list of medications were diaries that lead to death. The research changed my life as a doctor and how I prescribe medications.Dr. Jason Doctor is an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Faculty at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California. His research program centers on decision-making in healthcare. Dr. Doctor specializes in applying behavioral economic methods within health and medicine and current leads a multi-site federally-funded multi-site cluster randomized clinical trial that evaluates behavioral economic approaches to improve physician adherence to comparatively effective treatments. In other federally-funded research, Dr. Doctor has developed Bayesian decision algorithms to identify errors in blood panels to improve patient diagnosis. He also maintains a research program in understanding preferences for health from a behavioral economic perspective. He has extended the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) preference model to accommodate preference for helping others in medical need (social preferences) and has developed mathematical representations in QALY calculations that accommodate cognitive limitations people have in abiding by rational principles in decision making.JAMA Letter: Effect of Prescriber Notification of Patient's Fatal Overdose on Opioid Prescribing

Is it time to talk about Pre-Addiction? We have pre-diabetes and pre-glaucoma, diagnosis intended to prompt early treatment in order to prevent worse disease. Should we be diagnosing and treating Pre-Addiction?Thomas McLellan, Ph.D. has been a career researcher in addiction treatment and policy for 40 years, working primarily at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) which founded and served as CEO for 25 years.From 2000-2009 he was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. From 2009 to 2011, he was Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) where he formulated President Obama’s National Drug Control Strategy and helped include addiction treatment into the Affordable Care Act. In 2015-2016 he served as Senior Editor on the US Surgeon General’s Report, Facing Addiction.

In his career he has published over 550 articles and chapters on addiction research and was awarded over 150 NIH research grants. He has been among the top ten most cited researchers in the addiction field for 15 years.

Dr. McLellan is the recipient of several distinguished awards including the Lifetime Achievement Awards of the American, Italian, Australian, Egyptian and British Societies of Addiction Medicine; the Robert Wood Johnson Innovator Award; Distinguished Contribution to Addiction Medicine from the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association; and jointly from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse and Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse.

He currently serves on the boards of Indivior LLC (makers of Suboxone) and Recover Together; and lives with his wife Kerry in Sarasota Florida.

Pre-Addiction - A Missing Concept for Treating Substance Use Disorder, Aug 2022

This is a reverse podcast. Typically I am interviewing my guests. In this special episode, I am interviewed by Dr John Bibb on my path to the White House and addiction medicine. I talked about my young years as an emergency physician, having a family, along with failed and successful projects from opioid prescription epidemic to our national drug crisis.

What is the best approach for preventing youth with substance use disorder? Learn from Dr. Sid Puri who reaches kids with SUD in LA County."Prevention begins at birth or before.""It's the end of casual drug use" - because of fentanylDr. Siddarth Puri

Dr. Puri is the Associate Medical Director of Prevention at the division of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (SAPC) at the Los Angeles Department of Public Health and an attending on the addiction consult service at Los Angeles County-USC Hospital. He completed his medical education at UC Davis and his adult psychiatric residency and both his child and adolescent, and addiction psychiatry fellowships at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

How does a retired bald DEA agent reach children about making the right choices when it comes to drugs?Rockwell Herron

Developed “I Choose My Future” a drug prevention presentation for kids. Since 2007 he delivered over 820 presentations in 15 countries to 165,000 kids ages 12 to 22.

Rocky know about drugs from his service as a DEA Special Agent from 1990 to 202. He is the Alcohol and Other Drug Ambassador for San Diego County Office of Education from 2021.

https://www.rockyherron.com

Dr. Lynn Silver talks to High Truths about the history of marijuana legalization and best practices for policies that protect public health.Lynn Silver, MD, MPH, FAAPPediatrician, public health researcher and advocate, Silver is Senior Advisor at the Public Health Institute (PHI) and Clinical Professor at University of California San Francisco. She directs PHI’s Prevention Policy Group, including Getting it Right from the Start, a project of PHI founded in 2017 to support adoption of cannabis policies to better protect youth, public health and equity. Silver is an expert on the use of policy and law to prevent chronic disease, its risk factors and inequitable impact, including unhealthy diet, tobacco, and physical inactivity. She is an NIH supported researcher evaluating chronic disease prevention policy and cannabis regulatory policy. Silver was Assistant Health Commissioner of New York City under Mayor Bloomberg, where she led groundbreaking policy initiatives including the nation’s first trans-fat ban, calorie labeling law, and the National Salt Reduction Initiative. In California, she served as county health officer in Sonoma County, and has contributed to the passage of the first successful U.S. soda taxes in the Bay Area and many local cannabis laws. She serves on the CA Advisory Group for the Proposition 64 cannabis tax revenue, the Board of the Center for Science in the Public Interest and chairs the CA Alliance for Prevention Funding which fights for health equity investments. Silver was previously Visiting Scholar of International Health at the Karolinska Institute, Dean and Associate Professor at University of Brasilia’s School of Health Sciences, and taught at Brazil’s National School of Public Health. She has worked widely on health policy as a researcher, educator, government official, consultant and advocate. She has served as consultant to the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the World Bank, the Low Income Investment Fund, hospitals and foundations. She received her MD and MPH degrees and pediatric training from the Johns Hopkins University. Silver has published widely and was honored to be the recipient of the 2011 Wavemaker Award of the Campaign for Public Health.

SB1097, Cannabis Right to Know Act - Torpedoed by Cannabis Industry Power

A recent publication in JAMA Pediatrics shows that mental health burdens are associated with prenatal cannabis exposure that persists from childhood to early adolescence. These are results from the Longitudinal ABCD (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) study.David Baranger, PhD

I am a Neuroscientist and Postdoc at Washington University in St. Louis. My primary interest is in understanding how neurodevelopment mediates the effects of genetics and stress on the emergence of psychopathology, particularly substance use and depressive disorders. My research also includes work identifying replicable and reliable neural correlates of psychopathology, as well as work studying factors that influence the measurement of common neuroimaging metrics.

As a postdoc I have worked with Dr. Arpana Agrawal, Dr. Anna Manelis, and Dr. Erika Forbes. This work has focused on studying the reliability of neuroimaging measures of reward, identifying novel structural (cortical myelin) correlates of depression, and studying the association of depression with the neurodevelopment of reward function. My current work seeks to understand how genomic risk for substance use and depression influences neurodevelopment and the emergence of psychopathology in developing samples.

I completed my PhD in Neuroscience at Washington University in St Louis, where I worked with Dr. Ryan Bogdan and Dr. Deanna Barch. My dissertation was on the use of neural biomarkers to disentangle the causes and downstream consequences of alcohol use.

Outside of work you can find me playing with my cats, rock climbing, backpacking, and at indie/electronic shows.

Will NIDA get rid of the word "Abuse" and go from National Institute on Drug Abuse to National Institute on Drugs and Addiction?Should people get a prescription to buy a vape pen?What is the science on label for marijuana products?Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA shares her hopes for 2023 and discusses the science behind drug addiction.Nora D. Volkow, M.D., is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. NIDA is the world’s largest funder of research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction.

Dr. Volkow's work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a brain disorder. As a research psychiatrist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate how substance use affects brain functions. In particular, her studies have documented that changes in the dopamine system affect the functions of frontal brain regions involved with reward and self-control in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging.

Dr. Volkow was born in Mexico and earned her medical degree from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, where she received the Robins Award for best medical student of her generation. Her psychiatric residency was at New York University, where she earned a Laughlin Fellowship from The American College of Psychiatrists as one of 10 outstanding psychiatric residents in the United States.

Much of her professional career was spent at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions including Director of Nuclear Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Department, and Associate Director for Life Sciences. Dr. Volkow was also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the Medical School at The State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Dr. Volkow has published more than 800 peer-reviewed articles, written more than 100 book chapters, manuscripts and articles, co-edited "Neuroscience in the 21st Century" and edited four books on brain imaging for mental and addictive disorders.

She received a Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, was a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalist and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Volkow received the International Prize from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research for her pioneering work in brain imaging and addiction science; was awarded the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University; and was inducted into the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) Hall of Fame. She was named one of Time magazine's "Top 100 People Who Shape Our World"; one of "20 People to Watch" by Newsweek magazine; Washingtonian magazine’s "100 Most Powerful Women"; "Innovator of the Year" by U.S. News & World Report; and one of "34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care" by Fortune magazine.

This High Truths podcast is a 2023 monologue as I review accomplishments of 2022 and present hopes for 2023.I welcome in the New Year with blessing of health, happiness and meaning to all.After two full seasons with over 100 guests there is still so much to discuss about drugs and addiction. We have a strong season ahead with High Truths, interesting guests and conversations.Who is wise? One who learns from all people. - Pirke Avot, Ethics of the FathersWe will all get wiser this season learning from various people.

High Truths on Drugs and Addiction presents SEASON FINALE Live Stream of December 9, 2022. Featured experts reflex on 2022 and share High Truths hopes for 2023.Dr. Roneet Lev, podcast host, Emergency and Addiction PhysicianDr. Bertha Madras, Drug Policy Expert, Harvard Medical SchoolDr. Libby Studt, Psychiatrist ColoradoDr. Jessica Ristau, Internal Medicine and Addiction Physician, National Clinical Consultation Center, NCCCIASIC 22 HT Finale Flyer

Can you use less opioids and still have less pain? Orthopedic surgeons use to be #1 in total number of opioid pills prescribed, now there are innovative solutions in decreasing surgical pain.Dr. Scott Sigman is a national and internationally recognized leader in Opioid Sparing Surgery. He is an Orthopedic Surgeon that specializes in the knee and shoulder. He has been in clinical practice for over 25 years and is a leader in professional education, medical device development, and has numerous peer reviewed publications. He is the team physician at UMASS Lowell. He is a member of Governor Bakers Commission to establish a pain management access program in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

He did his sports medicine fellowship at the prestigious Kerlan Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles. His Opioid Sparing leadership propelled him to become a Fellow of the Worlds Society on Sports and Exercise Medicine, and most recently has had the honor of becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

In addition, to his clinical responsibilities Dr. Sigman is the Chief Medical Officer for OrthoLazer Orthopedic Laser Centers. The OrthoLazer franchise was developed to provide an alternative treatment option for acute and chronic pain to help combat the Opioid crisis. Dr. Sigman is also the host of the popular The Ortho Show podcast.

CReDO, Community Response to Drug Overdose, brings together public health, public safety and prevention in order to prevent overdoses.Eva Lee, PhD is Professor and Director of the Center for Operations Research in Medicine and HealthCare at Georgia Institute of Technology, a center established through funds from the National Science Foundation and the Whitaker Foundation. The center focuses on biomedicine, public health, and defense, advancing domains from basic science to translational medical research; intelligent, personalized, quality, and cost-effective delivery; and medical preparedness and protection of critical infrastructures. She is a Distinguished Scholar in Health Systems, Health System Institute at Georgia Tech and Emory University School of Medicine. She previously served as the Senior Health Systems Engineer and Professor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She has also served as Co-Director for ten years for the Center for Health Organization Transformation, an NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center.

Lee's work has included collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on defenses against pandemic and biological weapons, travel to Japan to develop rapid responses to radiation exposure from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the optimization of vaccines and design based on data to how people respond to the vaccines, the early detection of chronic diseases, health disparity, and personalized treatment design for cancer, diabetes and other diseases. Dr. Lee serves as the principal investigator of an online interoperable information exchange and decision support system for mass dispensing, emergency response, and casualty mitigation. The system incorporates disease spread modeling with human behavior and response processes; and offers efficiency and quality assurance in operations and logistics performance. It currently has over 14,000+ public health site users.

Lee partners with business leaders to develop novel transformational strategies in delivery, quality, safety, operations efficiency, information management, change management and organizational learning. Lee’s research focuses on mathematical programming, information technology, game theory, networks, machine learning and computational algorithms for risk assessment, decision making, predictive analytics and knowledge discovery, and systems and performance optimization. She has made major contributions in advances to business operations transformation, biomedicine and clinical research, emergency response and disaster preparedness, and healthcare operations and safety. Her homeland security work has focused on risk assessment and protection of critical infrastructures, including healthcare, supply-chain and logistics, power plants, communication, and finance.

Lee has published over 220 research articles, and 50 government and state reports, and has received patents on innovative medical systems and devices. She is frequently tapped by a variety of health and security policymakers in Washington for her expertise in personalized medicine, chronic diseases, healthcare quality, modeling and decision support, vaccine research and national security/preparedness. She has served on NAE/NAS/IOM, NRC, NBSB, DTRA panel committees related to biological, radiological and chemical incidents, public health and medical preparedness, and healthcare systems innovation. Lee served on the National Preparedness & Response Science Board from 2015 - 2018, a 13-member federal committee that provides advice and guidance to the President of the United States, and the Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Lee has received multiple prestigious analytics and practice excellence awards including INFORMS Franz Edelman award, Daniel H Wagner prize, and the Caterpillar and Innovative Applications in Analytics Award for novel cancer therapeutics, bioterrorism emergency response and mass dispensing for casualty mitigation, personalized disease management, machine learning for best practice discovery, transforming clinical workflow and patient care, vaccine immunity prediction, and reducing hospital acquired conditions. Dr. Lee is an INFORMS Fellow. She was also inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows, the first IE/OR engineer to be nominated and elected for this honor.

Episode from the Vault of High Truths

Drug Consumption Rooms, Injection Facilities, Overdose Prevention Centers, Supervised Injection Facilities, Safe Consumption Facilities, and Harm Reduction Center - these are the various terms used for a medically supervised place to use drugs. What is the science behind these sites?John S. Searles, Ph.D. was the Substance Abuse Research and Policy Analyst and Chair of the State Epidemiological Workgroup for the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs in the Vermont Department of Health. He retired in 2019. He is currently an appointed member of the legislatively mandated Substance Misuse Prevention Advisory Council and serves on the council’s Equity, Prevention, and Policy subcommittees. He has been on the faculty at University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Vermont. He was the Principal or Co-Principal Investigator on several large research grants from the National Institutes of Health. He has co-edited two books (“Children of Alcoholics” and “Alcohol and the Family”) and published over 50 scientific articles in the substance use/abuse field. John earned his doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Daniel Puerta is one of the way too many daily victims of illicit drugs, V.O.I.D. Did Daniel overdose, poisoned, or murdered? Listen to his father Jaime, president of V.O.I.D. who is turning Daniel's memory into action in saving other children.

Jaime Puerta is a United States Marine Corps Veteran, and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Puerta & Associates, Inc.; a small Interpreting business which specializes in furnishing Certified Interpreters to Attorney’s, Doctors and Courts working in the Workman’s Compensation field in the State of California. He resides in Santa Clarita, California, with his wife Claudia. Jaime is also the President of V.O.I.D., "Victims Of Illicit Drugs", a California 501C non-profit dedicated to educating parents and children of the dangers of illicit drug use, and also about the dangers that abound on social media platform. Jaime became involved in the fight against Fentanyl when his only son Daniel passed away due to Fentanyl Poisoning on April 6, 2020.

Once he became involved, he immediately came to the conclusion that it was imperative to bring as many Fentanyl Advocacy and Awareness groups under one umbrella, noting that there is power in numbers; hence, the idea for a coalition came to light.

Jaime is an avid Harley Davidson enthusiast, and rides his motorcycles whenever time permits him to do so.

Jaime is featured in the documentary Dead on Arrival

Sara Whaley worked on a model to make sure opioid settlement dollars are distributed fairly and effectively.

The historic pattern with tobacco has been: Health Claims - Normalize Use - Health Harms - Lawsuits.

Then again with Opioids: Health Claims - Normalize High Dose Use - Health Harms Lawsuits.

Big Pharma will be paying $32 Billion for lying about the harms of chronic and high dose prescription opioids that killed people.

Are lawsuit a deterrent for future public health lies or is lying about public health a good business model?

What have we learned from tobacco settlement dollars that can be applied to opioid settlement dollars?

Is Big Marijuana next to follow the pattern of Health Claims - Normalize Use - Health Harms and Lawsuits Sara Whaley, MSW, MPH, MA

Sara Whaley is research faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is the Program Manager of the Bloomberg Overdose Prevention Initiative. Sara is a member of the team at JHSPH that coordinated the creation of the Principles for The Use of Funds From The Opioid Litigation and is a member of the Working Group that coordinates efforts to support state and local governments in the effective use of litigation dollars. She began her career providing direct service to individuals with behavioral health needs and those who use drugs. She brings this experience to her research and to projects providing technical assistance to state governments and local service providers. Her goal is to use data to inform effective policy that improves the health and well-being of individuals who use drugs and their families

Resources:

www.opioidprinciples.jhsph.edu

https://www.opioidsettlementtracker.com/settlementspending

https://www.nashp.org/how-states-administering-opioid-settlement-funds/

Drug Trends are important for public health and public safety. As a physician if there is a new disease such as COVID or Monkeypox, I need to knew the signs, symptoms and treatment. Similarly if there are new drugs and poisoning I need to be able to make the diagnosis and apply appropriate treatment. That is why find it important to work with law enforcement and our medical examiner who are the first to identify drug trends. Dr. Eric wish tracks drug trends nationally.

Dr. Eric Wish received his Ph.D. in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently completed a NIDA post-doctoral fellowship in psychiatric epidemiology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Washington University School of Medicine. Between 1986 and 1990, Dr. Wish served as a Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Justice in the Department of Justice, where he supervised the development and launching of the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF, later ADAM) program. In 2013, Dr. Wish developed the Community Drug Early Warning System (CDEWS), a new system for detecting emerging drugs by expanded testing of urine specimens obtained from criminal justice drug testing programs. In 2014, Dr. Wish received a 5 year award from NIH/NIDA to establish the Coordinating Center for the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS). As part of NDEWS, he oversaw the Drug Outbreak Testing Service (DOTS) pilot study, which collected and analyzed urine specimens from hospitals and treatment facilities. Also, from 2017-2020, he served as Co-PI of the MPowering the State Initiative’s Opioid Use Disorders Project. As part of the MPower project, Dr. Wish led development of the Emergency Department Drug Surveillance (EDDS) system to track drug toxicology trends using de-identified electronic health records (EHR) from 7 hospitals in Maryland. In 2021 he received funding from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to expand the EDDS system to collect EHRs and urine specimens from five hospitals nationally to monitor urine drug trends and identify emerging drugs being used by drug overdose patients. EDDS is now being further expanded to include 20 additional hospitals across the United States. Dr. Wish has published numerous articles and spoken widely about such issues as synthetic cannabinoids and other new psychoactive substances, recent increases in heroin and fentanyl use, the identification of drug use in offenders, relapse to heroin use by Vietnam veterans, and the validity of self-reports of drug use. Since 1990, Dr. Wish has been Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Tyler's Law, SB 864 is a California Law signed by Governor Newson in September 2022 that would require all hospitals to include fentanyl whenever a urine drug screen is ordered in a hospital setting. Most people who learn about the bill ask, "isn't that already happening?" Surprisingly, no. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that does not show up on routine hospital opiate screens. To detect fentanyl hospitals, need to purchase a specific fentanyl reagent that averages 75 cents a test.

Watch Fox News Story on SB 864

Melissa Melendez was elected to represent California’s 28th Senate District in May 2020

Melissa Melendez represented California’s 67th Assembly District from 2012 to May 2020.

She is a veteran of the United States Navy where she became fluent in Russian and one of the first women approved to fly aboard an EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft overseas. She served her country for ten years in the Navy, during the Cold War, Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. After leaving the Navy, Melissa started her own small business providing transcription services to high-level Pentagon officials. She was elected to serve on the Lake Elsinore City Council in 2008 where she also served as Mayor. Melissa has her Bachelor’s degree in History and Political Studies and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. She lives in Lake Elsinore with her husband Nico, also a Navy veteran, and their five children.

Juli Shamash is mother of Tyler who died of fentanyl after a negative drug screen at an emergency department. After Tyler's death Juli established the Drug Awareness Foundation to provide education and advocacy on drug deaths.

Is vaping helping people quit smoking or creating new smokers? In a simulation model, scientists calculated 3000 years of life gained in smokers who quit through vaping. They also calculated 1,500,000 years of life lost in teens and young adults who started vaping who otherwise would have never smoked.

3000 years gained verses 1.5 million year lost. What a terrible public health choice.

Dr. William Lynch discusses vaping.

William J. Lynch Jr. received his pharmacy degree from Rutgers University and is a practicing clinical pharmacist with Jefferson Health System where he is a member of the Pain Management & Addiction Committee. He serves as Adjunct Faculty at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine. His pharmacy background includes over 35 years of clinical practice at Jefferson and Rowan and also as Adjunct Faculty Clinical Preceptor for Rutgers University, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and Thomas Jefferson University College of Pharmacy. He is a clinical scientific expert member of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, National Marijuana Initiative Speakers Bureau (ONDCP HIDTA NMI) and the International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis (IASIC). He is also a health care professional partner of the Keep Delaware Safe & Healthy Coalition, the State of Delaware Substance Abuse Epidemiological Outcomes Working Group and the Central Virginia Overdose Working Group. Bill serves as an Advisory Board Member with atTAcK addiction and is also a member of the Camden County New Jersey Addiction Awareness Task Force where he serves as the Education and Prevention Committee Co-Chair. He is a certified State of New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Division of Criminal Justice Police Training Commission Instructor. He also serves as the Gloucester Township Police Department SAVE Program Adviser and as a New Jersey State Police Regional Operations Intelligence Center Drug Monitoring Initiative Fusion Center partner and Health and Prevention Sharing Network partner.

Chris lost everything and ended up in jail. There he discovered his love for cooking. He now feeds the "homeless", or who he calls the outside community. Chris's cooking is given for free and with love, with a taste that will challenge Phil's Bar-B-Q. Should you give the outside community money? How should you treat people who live outside? Chris shares his opinion.

Christopher Ibanez is the senior servant and administrator of God’s Kitchen, a mobile van that provides 200 home cooked meals for the outside community that challenges the taste of Phil’s BBQ. Chris refers to what some call the homeless, as his brothers and sisters. Chris has a BS in business management and organizational leadership. He is a recovered addict and author of the book 9:11: The House of Steel, available on Amazon.

Methadone Clinic give methadone, but can they use other medications to treat addiction or assist with other drugs such as methamphetamine? Listen to the conversation with our nation's leader of opioid treatment programs, Mark Parrino.

Mark W. Parrino, MPA President, American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, AATOD

Mr. Parrino has been involved in the delivery of health care and substance abuse treatment since 1974. He received both a Baccalaureate in Psychology (1974) and a Masters in Health Policy, Planning and Administration (1982) from New York University.

Mr. Parrino served as the Director of the Gramercy Park Medical Group, an outpatient methadone treatment program, from 1980 to 1994. He also served as President of the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI).

Mr. Parrino served as the Chair of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) Consensus Panel for State Methadone Treatment Guidelines, the first Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) published for national distribution. Currently, Mr. Parrino is the President of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) and continues to be responsible for the development and implementation of the Association's organizing initiatives. He also serves as the Vice President of the World Federation for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (WFTOD).

Is drug testing important? Does it make a clinical difference? I discuss this question with Drs. Dawson and Passik from Millennium Health.

Millennium Health

Millennium Health is an accredited specialty laboratory with over a decade of experience in medication monitoring and drug testing services, helping clinicians monitor use of prescription medications and illicit drugs and analyzing specimens to find nationwide drug use trends.

Eric Dawson, PharmD

Eric Dawson, PharmD brings a diverse background of over 20 years of clinical experience, research, and education. He has a particular interest in the issues surrounding appropriate opioid prescribing as well the consequences of drug abuse, misuse, and diversion. He is passionate about educating clinicians on the topic and has given many lectures to pharmacists, nurses, and physicians. Dr. Dawson has also authored or coauthored several publications in JAMA, JAMA Network Open, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, etc. on drug use. He earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Auburn University graduating with highest honors. He is also a licensed pharmacist in the state of Alabama.

Steven Passik, PhD After a 25-year career as an academic clinical psychologist working with cancer and non-cancer pain patients and their families, Dr. Steve Passik has now been in industry for nearly 10 years. Having worked at the interface of pain and addiction both clinically and conducting research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University, Dr. Passik came to industry to contribute to safer pain management and improved addiction recognition and treatment.

He initially began working at Millennium Health with an eye toward strengthening the evidence base underpinning urine drug testing in pain and addiction management. He then spent several years in pharma working to help in the development of safer opioid formulations.

He returns now to Millennium Health as VP, Scientific Affairs and Head of Clinical Data Programs, working primarily on expanding work begun at MH using aggregated urine drug testing results from around the country to inform clinicians, policy makers and public health officials on the changing landscape of substance use to help facilitate a data driven approach to this enormous public health problem.

Pamela McColl met the Pied Pipers of Pot and watched them lead Canada, American and a global following of marijuana. Where there warning signs of the medical and societal harms before legalization? Pamela McColl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_McColl

Principal and Publisher, Grafton and Scratch

Pamela's Book

The Pied Pipers of Pot: Protecting Youth from the Marijuana Industry

When the product should not be used according to Pamela's Research

Cannabis should not be used if you:

are under the age of 25
are allergic to any cannabinoid or to smoke
have serious liver, kidney, heart or lung disease
have a personal or family history of serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, or bipolar disorder
are pregnant, are planning to get pregnant, or are breast-feeding
are a man who wishes to start a family
have a history of alcohol or drug abuse or substance dependence

Talk to your health care practitioner if you have any of these conditions. There may be other conditions where this product should not be used, but which are unknown due to limited scientific information.

None

Paramedics are doing more than naloxone for drugs overdoses. They are starting addiction treatment and Suboxone right on the streets. Listen to Martha Waller and Tara Tucker talk about their prehospital Suboxone project. This is a pilot project and there are still kinks to work out before this can be implemented on a wide scale. But Martha and Tara are innovators, think outside the box, and bring hope and solutions to the issue of addiction. Martha Waller, Ph.D.

Dr. Martha Waller is a Senior Program Evaluator I and has been with PIRE since 2003. She received her Ph.D. in Maternal and Child Health with a minor in Epidemiology from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 and her M.A. in Social and Experimental Psychology from New Mexico State University in 1999. Dr. Waller was a Fellow in the Maternal and Child Health-Public Health Leadership Institute (MCH-PHLI). This prestigious Fellowship is a year-long leadership development program targeted to upper-level leaders in State Title V programs, family advocacy, and other organizations that work on behalf of and promote healthy families, particularly the maternal and child health populations in the US and its territories.

Dr. Waller has served as lead evaluator for the New Mexico Office of Substance Abuse Prevention since 2007, evaluating the SAMHSA funded NM SPF SIG, SPE, PFS II, PFS 2015, SPF Rx, and PDO grants and all SAPT Block grant substance abuse prevention programming. She has extensive experience working with communities and state agencies to build capacity around each step of the SPF model including needs assessment, building community readiness and coalition capacity, strategic planning, program implementation, evaluation, cultural competency, and sustainability.

She also leads a grant from the National Center for Responsible Gaming to assess problem gambling among at-risk youth and adults in NM. Most recently, she received a NIDA R21 to evaluate an innovative approach to opioid overdose prevention in Forsyth County, NC where community paramedics create a bridge to MAT immediately following reversal by offering up to seven days of buprenorphine while collaborating with peer navigators to provide motivational interviewing and support until the person is enrolled in MAT. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina also funded Dr. Waller to conduct a similar study in Stanly County, NC.

Dr. Waller has worked on several NIH longitudinal studies using Add Health data examining health behaviors and outcomes among adolescents and young adults, with a particular focus on mental health, substance use, sexual risk taking, and sexual orientation. She led an NIAAA R03 that examined the role of alcohol outlet density on drinking behaviors and intimate partner violence using Add Health.

Finally, Martha led an Indian Health Services grant to provide evaluation training and TA to eleven Tribal HPDP grantees across the county. Her research interests include exploring the effect of environmental characteristics associated with risk behavior and health disparities and environmental-level prevention strategies particularly among adolescent and young adult populations. She enjoys being involved in both research and evaluation opportunities.

Tara Tucker, Paramedic

Tara is a Paramedic and Mental Health Professional, leads Forsyth County’s Opioid Task Force. She has been instrumental in pulling together community partners to work on fighting the opioid epidemic from a variety of angles. Currently, she serves as a Captain with Forsyth County Emergency Services and developed the foundation for their Mob

Rarely is there a new medication that is really new and innovative.

Imagine a drug that deactivate methamphetamine within 2 minutes and excretes it from the body within 2 hours.

CS1103 is that drug.

Listen to this episode from the drug developers at Clear Scientific and learn about this magically innovation. Clear Scientific

Clear Scientific was founded in Cambridge, MA, in 2019. The heart of our mission is saving lives. We are a biopharmaceutical company pioneering novel therapies for life-threatening and debilitating conditions caused by an excess of harmful substances in the body.www.clearsci.com

We are advancing a pipeline of innovative medicines in four therapeutic areas: Overdose caused by methamphetamine, fentanyl and their co-use; Accidental ADHD medication poisoning in children (Adderall and Ritalin); Reversal of neuromuscular blocking agents in anesthesia; Metabolic and neurodegenerative condition-induced CNS dysfunction.

Our pioneering work has produced a first-in-class treatment, CS-1103, for methamphetamine overdose, a critical public health crisis.

Mitch Zakin, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer

35+ years experience developing technologies for life sciences and chemical/biological defense
Former DARPA Program Manager, Visiting Scholar Wyss Institute for Bio-Inspired Engineering at Harvard Med School; Co-Founder Soft Robotics Inc.
, Physical Chemistry, Harvard University; BS, Chemistry CCNY

Winston Henderson, JD, General Counsel

25+ years experience in intellectual property/corporate law and working in technology startups from founding to exit
Work experience Kenyon & Kenyon, Anderson Consulting, Surface Logix, Active member Board of Trustees at Boston Children’s Hospital
JD, Duke University School of Law; BSE, Biomedical Eng & Electrical Engg.

How do you talk to your children about drugs? There is increase normalization and commercialization of drugs, especially marijuana, preying on kids.

If parents don't talk to kids about drugs, they will learn about it from Snap Chat or Drug Dealers. Addiction is a disease on the young brain with serious health harms. Dr. Shannon Murphy is a pediatrician and expert in messaging to children and young adults.

Dr. Shannon Murphy is a pediatrician who currently volunteers her time in drug education. Dr. Murphy received her undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University and her M.D. from Emory School of Medicine. She completed her pediatric training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and subsequently worked as a primary care pediatrician in a community group practice in Alabama. She has served on a Practice Advisory Committee on Adolescent Substance Use for the American Academy of Pediatrics and currently sits on the Board of Directors for National Families in Action (NFIA), a national non-profit substance use prevention organization. Additionally, Dr. Murphy serves on the Expert Physician Council for the International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis (IASIC), an international non-profit organization of doctors educating on marijuana. Dr. Murphy’s primary focus is on adolescent health and well-being. She is actively involved in developing education-based community outreach programs throughout the state with a concentration on marijuana education for teens, parents, and community organizations.

NIDA - is a resource Dr. Murphy referred to.

Where do doctors go for advice if they need help treating patients with addiction?

NCCC is like the National Poison Center but with a focus on drug addiction. NCCC provides free advice from national experts to doctors and clinicians treating patients with addiction. On this podcast hear from the NCCC experts on how doctors give advice to other doctors. NCCC - National Clinician Consultation Center

For 30 years, the National Clinician Consultation Center (NCCC) has offered free, on-demand tele-consultation on HIV and viral hepatitis to health care providers across the U.S. In 2015, with support from the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the NCCC launched a new National Substance Use Warmline (855.300.3595) to address providers’ clinical questions regarding substance use disorder prevention, evaluation, and medical management. The Warmline’s multi-disciplinary team of experienced addiction medicine professionals has provided over 3,000 individually tailored consultations across a broad range of topics, such as novel buprenorphine initiation strategies; alcohol withdrawal management for older adults with complex comorbidities; and pharmacotherapy considerations for pregnant and parenting individuals. The Warmline welcomes calls from any U.S.-affiliated clinician, especially providers working in safety net healthcare systems and rural communities. More information is available at: nccc.ucsf.edu.

Brenda Goldhammer, MPH - NCCC Program Director

Brenda Goldhammer has been working in the HIV/AIDS field for nearly 30 years. She received her Master’s in Public Health from the University of California at Los Angeles where she was awarded the Improving Public Health in Southern California Fellowship for her work with social service providers serving people who are unhoused and the University Fellowship for academic excellence. Before joining the National Clinician Consultation Center, Ms. Goldhammer launched her career with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies as an HIV/AIDS Intervention Specialist. As Program Director for the National Clinician Consultation Center based out of UCSF, she provides operational and strategic leadership including overseeing the program’s technological and infrastructure improvements. She also manages the projects collaborative partnerships and public relations.

Jesse Ristau, MD - NCCC Physician Consultant

Dr. Jesse Ristau completed her M.D. at Boston University Medical Center, Primary Care Internal Medicine residency at UCSF and Primary Care and Addiction Medicine Fellowship at UCSF. Dr. Ristau is now an Assistant Professor on faculty at UCSF Health Division of General Internal Medicine and practices primary care and addiction medicine. She also provides addiction consultation with the UCSF NCCC Substance Use Warmline and clinical care for inpatient and outpatient addiction specialty clinics in San Francisco.

Mishka Terplan, MD MPH FACOG DFASAM - NCCC Physician Consultant

Dr. Mishka Terplan is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and in addiction medicine. His primary clinical, research, public health, and advocacy interests lie along the intersections of reproductive and behavioral health. He is Medical Director at Friends Research Institute and adjunct faculty at the University of California, San Francisco where he is a Substance Use Warmline clinician for the National Clinician Consultation Center. Dr. Terplan has active grant funding and has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles with emphasis on health inequities, discrimination, and a

How many second chances should people get on drug addiction and treatment? Listen to Danny Darko Marciano as he drives to the Grammy's in Las Vegas and judge for yourself and Danny shares his dramatic life journey.

Danny Darko Marciano is a recovered heroin addict and ex-convict turned Children's book author and entertainer. He has been nominated for best new rapper by the San Diego Music Awards in 2019 and now is a member of the Grammys, Los Angeles Recording Academy. Most recently he can be seen on season 3 of Mayans M.C. The Microphone Doctors Pandora Links to Danny's Music

Does marijuana cause mental illness and violence? Alex Berenson published a doctorate type research in his book - Tell Your Children.

Alex is also known for being cancelled by Twitter for his views on the COVID vaccine.

Alex Berenson was born in New York in 1973 and grew up in Englewood, N.J. After graduating from Yale University in 1994 with degrees in history and economics, he joined the Denver Post as a reporter. In 1996, he became one of the first employees at TheStreet.com, the groundbreaking financial news Website.

In 1999, he joined The New York Times. At the Times, he covered everything from the drug industry to Hurricane Katrina; in 2003 and 2004, he served two stints as a correspondent in Iraq, an experience that led him to write The Faithful Spy, his debut novel, which won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel. He left the Times in 2010 to devote himself to writing fiction. But conversations with his wife led him to begin researching the science around cannabis and mental illness, a project that became the book Tell Your Children, published in January 2019.

He has now written twelve John Wells novels and two non-fiction books, The Number and Tell Your Children. Alex lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife, Dr. Jacqueline Berenson, a forensic psychiatrist, and their children.

FDA Label for Marinol, THC

FDA Label for Epidiolex, CBD

Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence

Candy (Candace) Lightner, founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and We Save Lives is recognized nationally and internationally as the moving force behind reshaping the nation's attitude toward drunk driving (as well as drugged and distracted driving).

Recognizing her years of dynamic leadership, the media voted Ms. Lightner as “one of the most influential American citizens of the twentieth century.” People Magazine called her “the Conscience of a Nation” and books have referred to her as the “Mother of Movements.”

She founded MADD after her 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a multiple repeat offending drunk driver. Lightner has been credited with saving more than 400,000 lives. Armed with her anger and passion, she set out to change the system and the prevailing attitude of societal acceptance about the most often committed crime in the country.

The mother turned activist not only led the movement that made drunk driving socially unacceptable, she became a leading victim’s advocate, teaching victims and survivors how to fight for justice in the courtroom.

As MADD's Founding Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board, Lightner masterminded MADD from a small California grass roots organization into an international corporation with 400+ chapters worldwide and an annual budget of more than 12 million dollars. Under her leadership, MADD’s membership base grew to more than two million

What are the environment impacts of cannabis grows? The carbon foot print for tomato grows is 2 kilograms, much different than for cannabis grows is 3600 kilograms.

Cleaning up illegal cannabis grows cost more money than cleaning up an oil spill.

Hear from Dr. Greta Wengert, and ecologist working in California public lands and witnesses the effects of illegal marijuana grows on water theft, damage to wild life, and effects of pesticides.

Dr. Greta Wengert is the Executive Director of Integral Ecology Research Center, a non-profit research organization. Greta earned her B.S. in Natural Resources at Cornell University, her M.S. in Wildlife Ecology at Humboldt State University, and her Ph.D. in Ecology at the University of California Davis, and has over 20 years of ecological research experience throughout California and Oregon. Her research focuses on the relationships among forest vertebrates and how these relationships are impacted by natural and human influences. Since 2012, her research has focused on the environmental impacts from trespass marijuana cultivation centering mainly on direct effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems from the pesticide use and habitat manipulation associated with cultivation. She speaks regularly on this topic to local and nationwide audiences to spread awareness on this growing environmental issue, and to encourage the development and funding sources for solutions to this problem.

What are the leading issues for Hospitals and Heathcare? Is it COVID, medial education, universal healthcare? And what about the over 100,000 people a year who die from drugs? Scott Becker shares his perspective as a national expert in hospital and healthcare affairs.

Scott Becker is a partner in the healthcare department at McGuireWoods. He previously served on the Board of Partners of the firm and chaired the healthcare department for nearly 13 years. Scott is the founder and publisher of Becker’s Hospital Review and Becker’s Healthcare. He represents hospitals and health systems, healthcare companies, surgery center chains, large practices, and private equity funds. Scott is a Harvard law graduate and certified public accountant.

This is a special episode of High Truths featuring the voices of California Cannabis Victims.

These are parents who's children died because of cannabis addiction. They brave the cruelty of people who bully them, judge them, and hit them when they are down. They risk attacks in order to spare other parents from similar tragedy.

May the memory of these children be a blessing and may other children live from their sacrifice.

Learn more at * IASIC * Mom Strong * Every Brain Matters

Daniel Reader, 1995 - 2020

Shane Robinson, 1996 - 2012

Jolo Talay, 1996 - 2018

Trevor Leopold, 2001- 2019

Kevin Bright, 1989 - 2018

Dr. Josh Bloom is an organic chemist who debunks Junk Science in his work with the American Council on Science. Hear what he has to say about opioids and pain, fentanyl, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines, and cannabis. Do Dr. Lev and Dr. Bloom agree or disagree on issues of addiction? You judge.

Dr. Josh Bloom, ACSH's Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science, earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Virginia, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. His career 20+ year first career was drug discovery research at Wyeth. During this time he participated in research in a number of therapeutic areas, including diabetes and obesity, new antibiotics, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis C. His group discovered the novel antibiotic Tygacil®, which was approved by the FDA for use against resistant bacterial infections in 2005. He is the author of 25 patents, and 35 academic papers, including a chapter on new therapies for hepatitis C in Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry, Drug Discovery, and Development, 7th Edition (Wiley, 2010).

Dr. Bloom, who joined the American Council on Science and Health in 2010 as Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, has published more than 75 op-eds in numerous periodicals, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, New Scientist, The New York Post, National Review Online, The Boston Herald, The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, and The New York Daily News. He has also done numerous radio and television shows and podcasts on topics related to drugs, chemicals, and most importantly, the plight of pain patients – the innocent victims of the misguided war on opioid drugs.

He is now recognized as an expert in government opioid policy and was the first journalist to write a nationally published opinion piece about the unintended consequences of a governmental crackdown on prescription pain medications (New York Post, 2013). Since that time he has published more than 20 op-eds in regional and national newspapers on different aspects of the crisis.

He was also the first writer (2016) to study, dissect and ultimately debunk the manipulated statistics used by the CDC to justify its recommendations for opioid prescribing, which have resulted in Draconian requirements for prescribing pain medications as well as government-mandated, involuntary tapering of patients receiving opioid treatment, both of which have caused great harm and needless suffering to chronic pain patients. His 2016 article, "Six Charts Designed to Confuse You," is considered to be the seminal work on CDC deception and has been adopted by patient advocacy groups. It has been sent to governors, senators, and state legislatures.

What does Dr. Profeta tell college kids about drugs? He shows them what it's like for him, as an emergency physician, to tell their parents they died of an overdose. That's the worse horror for a doctor.

Dr. Louis M. Profeta is a nationally recognized, award-winning writer and Emergency Physician at St. Vincent Hospital of Indianapolis. He is clinical instructor of Emergency Medicine at Indiana University and Marian University Schools of Medicine. A graduate of Indiana University and its School of Medicine, Dr. Profeta completed his post-graduate training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a dynamic and sought-after public speaker and writer as well as a frequent guest on TV and radio who has gained critical acclaim for his essays on topics such as his eye-opening look at our national preparedness for influenza pandemics in What Scares Me More than Ebola.

In 2015, 2016 and again in 2017 he was named LinkedIn Top Voice for readership in health care. In 2020 he was recognized by LinkedIn as one of the Top Voices In Health Care related to Covid-19. The Society of Professional Journalism honored his scathingly sarcastic but passionate essay, Your Kid and My Kid Aren’t Playing in the Pros, as one of the best articles on sports in 2014. In 2018 he was honored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for his contributions to online media.

Dr. Profeta's best-selling book, The Patient in Room Nine Says He’s God, continues to earn critical acclaim as a poignant and passionate look at society, God and life through the eyes of an ER doctor. His essay I Know You Love Me--Now Let Me Die has been read more than five million times on LinkedIn, the Huffington Post and NPR and has sparked a whole new debate on end-of-life care. His 2017 essays, When the Lion Kills Your Child , A Sunday Talk on Sex, Drugs, Drinking and Dying with the Frat Boys and I'll Look at Your Facebook Profile Before I tell Your Mother You're Dead, are three of the most read and shared articles ever on LinkedIn, exposing the disastrous consequences of the opiate epidemic, drug and alcohol abuse, and sexual assaults on college campuses. He is quickly becoming one of the most widely read opinion essayists in America.

Dr. Profeta and his wife Sheryl are parents of three gr

Ben Cort

Ben’s passion for recovery, prevention and harm reduction comes from his own struggle with substance abuse. Sober since 6/15/96, Ben has been a part of the recovery movement in almost every way imaginable; from a recipient to a provider to a spokesperson. Cort has a deep understanding of the issues and a personal motivation to see the harmful effects of drug and alcohol abuse minimized.

From non-profits to hospitals to private programs Ben has been a leader inside of many forms of addiction treatment and prevention. From 2017-2020 Ben was a consultant to various treatment programs, state governments, professional and collegiate athletics and labor. He is now CEO of the Foundry Steamboat Springs, an inpatient treatment program for men in the mountains of Colorado.

Ben is a Jr Fellow at the University of Florida inside of their drug policy institute, a board member for NALGAP (National Association of Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender treatment providers and their allies), a Board member at SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) and faculty at numerous institutes. He is a published author (Weed Inc, Simon and Shuster 2017) and his TED talk “Surprising Truths about Legalizing Cannabis” has been viewed over 4 million times.

Dr. Lewis Nelson myth busts alleged fentanyl overdose cases in passive handlers. He explains the nocebo effect, opposite the placebo effect.

It is true that 2 grains of fentanyl can kill, but it have to be 2 grain of pure fentanyl and it has to be consumed. Touching fentanyl does not kill - people who deal drugs as well as healthcare workers touch fentanyl regularly and do not overdose.

"Dose makes the Poison" is the hallmark of medical toxicology.

Lewis S. Nelson, MD is Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, Chief of Service of the University Hospital Emergency Department, and Chief of the Division of Medical Toxicology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, all in Newark, NJ. He is also a Senior Consultant to the New Jersey Poison Information & Education System. He is board certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine. Dr. Nelson is an editor of the medical toxicology textbook Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies and on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the board of the American Board of Emergency Medicine and several other academic organizations and is Past President of American College of Medical Toxicology. Dr. Nelson serves as a long-standing consultant to CDC, DHS, and FDA. Some of his areas of interest include non-opioid pain relief strategies, opioid overdose and management, addiction and withdrawal management, and health policy focused on issues related to medication safety and substance use.

Can the public health solution to drug overdoses follow the public health model for COVID?Can we do contact tracing for overdoses like we do for infectious diseases? Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC director say yes.

Dr. Tom Frieden is a physician trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, public health, and epidemiology. He is former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and former commissioner of the New York City Health Department. Dr. Frieden is currently President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives.

Dr. Frieden began his public health career in New York City confronting the largest outbreak of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis to occur in the US. He was then assigned to India, on loan from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he helped scale up a program for effective tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. Asked to return to New York City to become Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Health Commissioner, he directed efforts to reduce smoking and other leading causes of death that increased life expectancy by 3 years. As Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Frieden oversaw the work that helped end the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic. He now leads Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of the global health organization Vital Strategies, that works with countries to prevent 100 million deaths and to make the world safer from epidemics. During the Covid pandemic, Dr. Frieden has overseen an expansion of Resolve to Save Lives activities including policy and program innovations in the United States, counsel to multilateral institutions, and support for rapid response, health care worker safety, and data-driven decision-making in more than 20 countries.

Dr. Frieden is also Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Asleep at the Switch - Dr. Frieden publication on applying public health strategies to non communicable diseases

The Health Impact Pyramid - Dr. Frieden publication

Dr. Di Forte is world renowned expert in cannabis induced psychosis research and risk factors for schizophrenia.

Dr Marta Di Forti is a Clinical Reader in Psychosis Research at the Dept of Social, Developmental and Genetic Research, Institute of Psychiatry, and Honorary Consultant Adult Psychiatrist, Lambeth EI Community team, South London and Maudsley NHS foundation Trust. She leads the first Cannabis Clinic for patients with Psychotic disorders in UK. She was recently awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrist Researcher of the year prize. In 2020 she was granted a MRC Senior Research Fellowship to expand her research in the role of cannabis use in psychosis and its underlying biology. With her team she showed for the first time that use of high potency types of cannabis e.g. "skunk" carries a higher risk of psychosis than use of traditional types and that it affects rates of Psychotic disorders across Europe. Though it still remains unclear who are those cannabis use most at risk. Her future work aims to investigate the interaction between cannabis use and genes predisposing to schizophrenia, and how cannabis changes the epigenome.

Lancet Article: Daily High Potency (10%) Cannabis Use is associated with nearly 5 fold increased odds of Psychotic Disorder

What's the overlap in mental health and marijuana? Congressman Patrick Kennedy notes that Addiction for Profit Industry in Preying on Vulnerable populations including children.

Former U.S. Representative Patrick J. Kennedy

During his time in Congress, Patrick J. Kennedy was the lead author of the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Federal Parity Law), which requires insurers to cover treatment for mental health and substance use disorders no more restrictively than treatment for illnesses of the body, such as diabetes and cancer. In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a nonprofit that unites advocates, business leaders, and government agencies to advance evidence-based practices, policies, and programming in mental health and addiction. In 2015, Kennedy co-authored the New York Times Bestseller, “A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction,” which details a bold plan for the future of mental health care in America. In 2017, he was appointed to the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

Kennedy is also the founder of DontDenyMe.org, an educational campaign that empowers consumers and providers to understand parity rights and connects them to essential appeals guidance and resources; co-founder of One Mind, an organization that pushes for greater global investment in brain research; co-chair of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Mental Health & Suicide Prevention National Response to COVID-19 (National Response); and co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Behavioral Health Integration Task Force.

Preventing youth from using marijuana is key in preventing drug addiction and psychosis.

Laura Stack has practical and life saving advice for parents and those interested in drug prevention.

Do you have a code word with your kids? The code means come get me wherever I am, no questions asked.

Laura Stack is Johnny Stack’s mom and the Founder & CEO of Johnny’s Ambassadors. In the business world, Laura was better known by her professional moniker, The Productivity Pro®. She is a Hall-of-Fame Speaker and corporate spokesperson for many major brands. Laura is a bestselling author of eight books on productivity and performance topics with a large social media following, and she has given keynote speeches and training seminars to major corporate, association, and government audiences for over 30 years.

On November 20, 2019, Laura suddenly acquired the undesired wisdom of knowing what it’s like to lose one’s child, when her 19-year-old son, Johnny, died by suicide. He became psychotic after dabbing high- potency marijuana concentrates and thought the mob was after him.

Laura’s world took a 180. She filed for and received 501c3 nonprofit status for Johnny’s Ambassadors, Inc., with the mission to educate parents and teens about the dangers of today’s high-THC marijuana on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicide. She wrote the blockbuster book, The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana: Johnny Stack’s Life and Death Story, with 300 pages about what happened. Described as a woman with unstoppable drive and unwavering purpose, Laura hopes to help other parents, grandparents, teachers (and frankly all adults with teens in their lives) by honestly and boldly sharing Johnny’s story of his high-potency marijuana use, psychosis, and suicide.

The devastating loss of her child gives Laura a powerful voice and a platform for change. Laura sees it as her responsibility to share Johnny's warning to prevent other families from having to go through what she did and save other young lives.

Laura’s platform now brings marijuana education, awareness, and prevention curriculum around the U.S. to raise awareness of THC use, mental illness, and suicide. She presents live and virtual keynotes, breakout sessions, and training for parents, teens, schools, healthcare, anti-drug coalitions, community- based prevention organizations, corporate wellness programs, and government agencies.

Laura is the recipient of the Drug-Free America Foundation’s Moxie Award for protecting youth from substances, as well as the Leadership in Advocacy Award from the National Speakers Association. By sharing Johnny’s own warning about marijuana, Laura is determined to start a movement to bring teen marijuana use, mental illness, and suicide into the spotlight and get them to #StopDabbing.

Laura lives with her husband near Denver, Colorado and has two surviving adult children, ages 26 and 20.

“Forge ahead despite your pain and give meaning to your loss.” – Laura Stack

Cannabis use is associated with alarming increase in mental health crisis, especially in youth. High potency THC products are the driving this problem. Dr. Levy sees this in her clinic treating kids with cannabis use disorder.

Sharon Levy, MD, MPH

Sharon Levy, MD, MPH is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician, Addiction Medicine specialist, Director of the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. Over the past 20 years she has evaluated and treated thousands of adolescents with substance use disorders, and she has written extensively on the topic. In 2016 she established the nation’s first accredited Pediatric Addiction Medicine Fellowship training program. She has expertise in the integration of substance use treatment services into pediatric primary care.

Peer support is a blessing for many individuals with substance use disorder. Listen to Dominique's inspiring journey and how he gives back to the community in San Francisco.

Dominique McDowell

Mr. McDowell joined the leadership team to create an innovative Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program to serve those struggling with opioid or alcohol addictions and also Contingency Management Program (CM) for patients struggling with Methamphetamine use . His program has received statewide and national acclaim, and allowed MCHWC to bring important substance use and homelessness services to southern Marin. He is trained as a Relapse Prevention Specialist (RLPS), Gorski-CENAPS, Housing Active Users, is certified by the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP), CASIII-Clinical Supervisor, Substance Abuse Certified Counselor (SUDCCII) and teaches anger management and conflict resolution. Mr. McDowell brings tremendous knowledge, expertise and empathy to this role, as a service provider and recovering individual. Previously, Mr. McDowell was Program Manager of the Marin County Safety Net at Ritter Center, Substance Abuse Counselor at Marin Outpatient Recovery Services, and HIV Counselor with the SF Department of Public Health. Throughout his career, he has worked with high-risk clients in chronic disease management, including HIV and Hepatitis C, and has assisted individuals and families with disparities, such as post-incarceration referrals to treatment. He is committed to a harm reduction model around addiction, I.V. drug use, safe sex and health awareness, and is actively owner of the JustUs sober living home in Marin County (Justussle.com). Mr. McDowell graduated from SF State with a degree in Public Health, specializing in Addiction Studies.

Collaboration yields better results. Breaking silos between public heath and public safety while integrating prevention is key in decrease addiction and the harms from drugs.

San Diego CReDO Task Force, Community Response to Drug Overdose is an example of such collaboration

Drs. Close and Grover have similar solutions in Monetary, California.

Reb Close, MD

Dr. Close is an Attending Emergency Physician, currently in the process of becoming board-certified in addiction medicine in addition to Emergency Medicine and the lead clinical physician for the Monterey County Prescribe Safe Initiative. The Monterey County Prescribe Safe Initiative is a collaborative effort in Monterey County to promote the safe use of prescription drugs, promote safe pain management, reduce overdoses, and address substance use through preventative efforts and treatment. She has been a Regional Director for the California Bridge to Treatment Program since 2019. Dr. Close attended medical school at UCLA, and completed residency in Emergency Medicine at UCLA-Olive View Medical Center in Los Angeles. She has been on staff at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula since 2003.

Prescribe Safe website:

https://www.montagehealth.org/about/prescribe-safe/

Casey Grover MD

Dr. Grover is an Emergency Physician at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. He attended medical school at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at Stanford University. He is currently the physician champion of the Monterey County Prescribe Safe Initiative and is currently in the process of becoming board-certified in addiction medicine in addition to Emergency Medicine. He also serves as Vice Chief of Staff at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

Link to Dr. Grover Podcast: https://anchor.fm/casey-grover/

Thank you High Truth Listeners for making High Truths on Drugs and Addiction #11 in the Top 60 Addiction Podcasts in 2022 according to FeedSpot.

What are ways of treating addiction without medications?

Is addiction treatment different for men vs women? What is toxic masculinity?

Marc Azoulay Marc is a psychotherapist in private practice in Boulder, CO and the past President of the Four Corners Group Psychotherapy Society. He helps clients that have a harmful relationship to their inherent aggression or who are stuck in the pain of their repetition compulsions. Many of his clients struggle with addiction, anxiety, and self-sabotage. Marc helps people uncover and destroy the unconscious barriers that cripple them by using a blend of Modern Psychoanalytic and Contemplative Psychotherapy. His therapeutic style can best be described as irreverent with surprising moments of profound depth. Listen to Marc's podcast, From The Ashes.

marc-azoulay.com

Cannabis can Weed-Whack your DNA. Genotoxicity describes the property of chemical agents that damages genetic information or causes mutations. These mutations can lead to cancer. Listen to Dr. Reece talk about his genetic research.

Thank you High Truth Listeners for making us #11 in 60 Best Addiction Podcast to Follow in 2022 Stuart Reece, MD

Dr. Stuart Reece is a family physician working in Brisbane with a special interest in the medical treatment of drug addiction. He is interested both in the underlying pathophysiology of drug addiction – how drugs work on the body and becomes so destructive to long term health – and also in the treatment of drug addiction including its radical cure. He is one of the Australian pioneers of the use of both implant naltrexone and flumazenil infusions and implants for drug addictive disorders. Dr Reece has written many papers on the pathophysiology of opioid addiction. Dr Reece has a long-standing interest in cannabis dependency particularly as it relates to its neurotoxicity in both the adult and developing human organism, and cannabis genotoxicity, epigenotoxicity and chromosomal toxicity which has downstream effects lasting for multiple generations. For these reasons, Dr Reece has done research on cellular and organismal aging in multiple addictions, and cannabis induced neurotoxicity and genotoxicity as reflected in the incidence of both birth defects and cancer development both in exposed adults, and in the offspring of exposed individuals and subsequent generations. Dr Reece extensively uses advanced space-time statistical analytical techniques and the formal techniques of causal inference to analyze not just associations across space and time simultaneously but also to quantitatively evaluate the evidence for truly causal relationships. Dr. Reece was appointed and now re-appointed a Professor in the School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences at both the University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University in recognition of his many contributions to our understanding of the toxicophysiology and treatment of drug addiction.

Cannabis Exposure and Pediatric Cancers.

Drug Cartels vs Criminal Organizations - who is responsible for fentanyl flooding and killing Americans? Join Luis Chaparro, investigative journalist for an inside scoop of drug labs in Mexico. Luis Chaparro

Luis Chaparro is a freelance journalist working at the border between Texas and Mexico. He specializes in investigative journalism in Latin America criminal organizations, drugs and immigration.

Instagram: @LuisKuryaki

Twitter: LuisKuryaki

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LuisChaparro

Website: https://www.lchaparro.com

Marijuana use is common, normalized and even glamorized. How do we protect our youth and the growing brain from harm?

Aaron Weiner, PhD, ABPP

Aaron Weiner is a board-certified Psychologist and addiction specialist, and speaks nationally on the topics of addiction, behavioral health, and the impact of drug policy on public health. He earned his doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed his fellowship in Addiction Psychology at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. His perspective is informed by years of experience growing and directing addiction service lines for hospitals and healthcare systems, the current state of medical and psychological research, and his own observations in private practice. Dr. Weiner is the President-Elect of the Society of Addiction Psychology, a member of the Physician Speakers Bureau for the National Safety Council, and on the Science Advisory Board for Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Dr. Aaron Weiner’s website.

Dr. Weiner’s article in Newsweek

Mental Health Hygiene article

The cannabis industry is marketing to women with creams, lotions, shampoos, makeup and hair products. How do you know what is safe and what isn't? What are the consumer protections?

What about athletes? Does THC enhance or deter from athletic performance? Is it ergogenic or ergolytic?

Listen to Dr. Lev's conversation with Dr. Bader.

Dr. La Tisha Bader Dr. Bader has worked in the field of mental health and addiction for more than 18 years. She graduated from the University of North Texas in 2007 with a PhD in counseling psychology and specialization in sport psychology, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Chemical Dependency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She is a Licensed Psychologist and Licensed Addiction Counselor, in addition she also a Certified Mental Performance Consultant working with elite athletes and teams.

Dr. Bader has worked in a variety of treatment settings including residential, outpatient, private practice, and Native American health care. She spends time in the sport environment in collegiate athletic departments, working with professional teams, and Olympic athletes. She currently compliments the multi-disciplinary team at Women’s Recovery by serving as the Chief Clinical Officer, advancing treatment for women. In addition, she maintains a private practice offering counseling, consultation, educational presentations, and sport psychology services. She authored a chapter in the evidenced based book, Cannabis in Medicine. She serves on the Speakers Bureau for the National Marijuana Initiative as a subject matter expert on emerging research, addiction and treatment.

Can Public Health and Public Safety overcome suspicion of each other and create a partnership to prevent overdoses? Follow the North Star is the key such partnerships according to Chauncey Parker.

Learn about the ONDCP - CDC Overdose Response Strategy.

Chauncey Parker

Chauncey Parker is the Director of the New York/New Jersey HIDTA, a federally-funded program that invests in federal, state and local law enforcement partnerships designed to build safe and healthy communities. He also serves as Deputy Commissioner for Community Partnerships in the New York City Police Department. A veteran of over 35 years in criminal justice, Mr. Parker began his career in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, serving for five years. Mr. Parker next served for ten years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Parker left the Southern District to serve for five years as the Director of Criminal Justice for New York State and Commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services under Governor George Pataki, where he oversaw all state criminal justice agencies. Mr. Parker is a member of the Board of the Joyful Heart Foundation. He is a graduate of Rollins College and Duke University School of Law.

Is you had Glaucoma, a disease that can make you blind, would you trust eye drops from a pharmacy or marijuana? Would you want to get medical advise from Dr. Google, Dr. Legislator or Dr. Jean Hausheer, a board certified ophthalmologist?

Jean R. Hausheer, MD, FACS

Dr. Hausheer practices comprehensive cataract and refractive eye care in Lawton Oklahoma with a predominantly native American, military, and rural patient base as Clinical Professor Dept of Ophthalmology, with the Dean McGee Eye Institute, affiliated with the University of Oklahoma. She also works as Adjunct Clinical Professor of Rural Health with Oklahoma State University Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine residency programs in Lawton.

She obtained her medical degree from the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine, and Internship and Ophthalmology residency training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota.

Prior to coming to Oklahoma in 2012, Dr. Hausheer was ophthalmology residency program director at the UMKC Department of Ophthalmology where she achieved the academic rank of Professor.

She has served as Executive Editor of the Second and Third Editions of the AAO Basic Techniques in Ophthalmic Surgery textbooks, and in 2018 completed a Master Certificate in Healthcare Management.

She is past president of both the Missouri Society of Ophthalmological Surgeons and the Oklahoma Academy of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Hausheer is past president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, and for two years has served on the Oklahoma Opioid Overdose Fatality Review Commission as appointed by the Oklahoma Attorney General.

She is current president of the Great Plains County Medical Society and has served on the Hearts That Care free medical clinic board of directors in Lawton since 2013.

Publishing this coming summer, Hausheer has co-authored a book chapter on Ocular Conditions and the Endocannabinoid System for the medical textbook, “Cannabis in Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach”.

Currently Dr. Hausheer serves on the Oklahoma Health Care Authority as board member, and chairs Administrative Rules and serves on Pharmacy Advisory Committees to the board.

Since 1994, Dr. Hausheer has served as Oral Board Examiner to the ABO and has also served as written and oral exam writer over the years.

Since April 2020, Dr Hausheer has led the Healthier Oklahoma Coalition COVID 19 Task Force which includes leadership from Oklahoma Hospital Association, Oklahoma State Medical Association, Oklahoma Osteopathic Association, Oklahoma Nurses Association, Oklahoma Academy of Pediatrics, and Oklahoma Academy of Family Medicine. Since early December 2020 she has led statewide weekly hour-long press conferences on COVID 19, which are directed towards the public.

What is the difference between recovery and sobriety? Have many chances should people get for recovery - 2? 3? 27?

Listen to Dr. Lev and Kevin Lee discuss recovery.

Kevin D. Lee

Most of Kevin Lee’s working life has been focused on behavioral health start-ups and those companies have been driven to achieve better outcomes than other providers. During the last 30 years he has founded or co-founded six behavioral health companies including two during 2021, Recovery Club America and InHome Recovery. Recovery Club America serves individuals with mental illness and/or addiction. Recovery Club’s purpose to help each Club Member stay healthy and that is done with a customized “toolkit” for mental fitness and an online community. InHome Recovery provides detoxification services in the homes of the individuals it serves and assists each person in getting into an effective and efficient treatment program that is intended to continue for a year. This addiction treatment model is intended to help individuals have minimum interruption in their lifestyle and achieve better outcomes than residential treatment centers. In 2014, Mr. Lee co-founded JourneyPure, a company that grew through start-ups to operate 15 residential and outpatient facilities for addiction treatment in Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee. JourneyPure earned productive relationships with all major health insurance plans and many large employers as a result of excellent clinical outcomes. Prior to JourneyPure, Mr. Lee co-founded two companies that started 20 psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric units within general hospitals and several freestanding outpatient clinics. He began his career as an accountant with Ernst & Young in Nashville, Tennessee.

https://recoveryclubamerica.com

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM is an addiction physician and the Medical Director of the Division of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. He is the President-Elect of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and gives presentations around the world regarding addiction medicine. He co-chairs the SafeMedLA Medications for Addiction Treatment Action Team and is the Clinical Director of the Treatment Starts Here program through the Center for Clinical Innovation, focused on increasing the delivery of medications for addiction treatment in California’s community health centers. He is a senior researcher at the Friends Research Institute and is a primary investigator on a Tobacco Related Disease Prevention Program-funded project integrating smoking cessation services into community mental health centers and patient-centered medical homes and is the grant lead for three Medications for Addiction Treatment Access Points projects funded by the Sierra Health Foundation supporting access to medications for addiction treatment across Los Angeles County. He is also a co-investigator for several Rand Corporation projects evaluating the integration of substance use disorder and mental health treatment within community health settings. He also serves on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s Addiction Psychiatry Examination Writing Committee. Brian completed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and is an alumnus of the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital Psychiatry Residency Training Program and the New York University Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship.

On the Episode we talk about Emergency Department Drug Surviellance. This shows interesting data from 5 different hospitals across the country.

When Colorado voted to legalize marijuana, did they also mean to legalize high potency THC products that acts more like methamphetamine than marijuana? Listen to Dawn Reinfeld the woman behind Colorado cannabis reform legislation adding consumer protection from the new engineered products.

Dawn Reinfeld

Dawn Reinfeld is the co-founder and Executive Director of Blue Rising and Blue Rising Together. Having grown up in New York, Dawn has lived in Colorado for thirty years. She is an artist by trade and became active in Democratic politics after the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Dawn spent years advocating for gun safety legislation, developing skills in strategy, outreach and organizing. Her interest and commitment to issues surrounding the harms of high potency THC are a direct result of raising two teenagers in Boulder, Colorado and seeing first-hand the harms that this drug was causing for our youth. Through her role at Blue Rising Together, Dawn has spent the past two years advocating for and crafting legislation to address the loopholes in Colorado’s framework of cannabis regulations. These efforts ultimately resulted in the passage of HB21-1317, which the Denver Post called, “the most sweeping regulatory bill for the cannabis industry since legalization.”

Do we still have a war on drugs? Listen to a conversation with Former DEA director, Uttam Dhillon.

Uttam Dhillon is a principal of Michael Best Consulting LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in drug-related and law enforcement issues. He is also a member of the board of directors of Opioid Clinical Management, Inc. and a member of the board of advisors of DisposeRx, Inc., and Gatekeeper Innovation, Inc., companies dedicated to reducing drug addiction and drug overdose deaths.

Mr. Dhillon served as the fifteenth director of INTERPOL Washington—the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB)—until January 2021. As Director, Mr. Dhillon acted as the official U.S. representative to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), the world’s largest police organization, and its 194 member countries. From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Dhillon served as the Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration where he led a workforce of over 15,000 and oversaw a budget of $3.2 billion. Mr. Dhillon was responsible for DEA’s enforcement, intelligence, administration, and regulatory activities worldwide.

Mr. Dhillon has also served as Deputy Counsel and Deputy Assistant to the President, as an Associate Deputy Attorney General, and as a federal prosecutor. In 2006, Mr. Dhillon was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate as the first Director of the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Dhillon has significant Congressional experience including serving as Chief Oversight Counsel for the House Financial Services Committee, Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director for the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, and Senior Investigative Counsel for the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.

dcconsult.us Newsweek article: Congress must act on fentanyl. Feb 11, 2022

Psychosis. A Night In Jail is inspired by Heidi's brother's true life story of homelessness, drug addiction, and schizophrenia. He went to jail 18 times. Heidi talks with Dr. Lev about psychosis.

Heidi Anderson-Swan is the co-author of A Night In Jail. Adapted as a novella, film and play, this gritty Young Adult fictional story is the first to illustrates Cannabis - Induced Psychosis (a diagnosis in the DSM-5). A Night In Jail is inspired by her brother’s true life as a homeless drug addict with schizophrenia who went to jail eighteen times.

With advocates from MomsStrong.org, and led by long-time Schizophrenia Researcher, Dr. Christine Miller, Heidi met with the Drug Advisors for then-Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Dianne Feinstein.

As a consultant, she worked with Los Angeles Defense Attorney, Bob Schwartz.

In partnership with Behavioral Health Services (a contractor with Los Angeles County Substance Abuse Prevention and Control), she co - sponsored in-person and virtual events utilizing the film and play, A Night In Jail.

As a speaker, Heidi has presented for the 2nd Annual Teaching Cannabis Awareness and Prevention Virtual Conference (co - chaired by Stanford’s Bonnie Halpern), Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Alcoholics and Substance Abuse Providers of New York State, NAMI in Long Beach and Solano County, and many other organizations.

As a board member of Parents Opposed to Pot, she has been interviewed by Fox.com. NBC-LA interviewed Heidi and Kirk about their short film and its goal to prevent homelessness.

Heidi is also on the Advisory Board of Johnny’s Ambassadors.

A NIGHT IN JAIL: A story about drugs and mental illness, inspired by true events

Take off the "Beer Goggles" when thinking about Drugged Driving. Driving while impaired is illegal whether it is from alcohol or any other drugs.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration drug use among fatally injured drivers who were tested fro drugs rose fro 25% in 2007 to 42% in 2016, and marijuana presence doubled in that time frame.

Marijuana users were about 25% more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers with no marijuana use.

Jennifer Cifaldi

Jennifer Cifaldi has served as the Illinois Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor since 2016 and is employed by the Univ. of Illinois, Springfield through a grant provided by the Illinois Department of Transportation. She is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on impaired driving. She has served on the Lifesaver’s Speaker Proposal Committee and Drug Recognition Expert Conference Speaker Proposal Committee. She has presented several times at these and other national conferences. She also serves on the Speaker’s Bureau for the National Marijuana Initiative and has trained thousands of officers, prosecutors, probation officers, victim advocates, and judges both in her state of Illinois and nationwide.

From 1996-2016, Jennifer served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Adams County States Attorney’s Office prosecuting tens of thousands of impaired driving cases. In 2007, Jennifer developed a DUI No-Refusal search warrant model that has now been adopted as the standard for law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices across Illinois. She authored a manual on how to implement a “No-Refusal” program for prosecutors. She has conducted numerous training sessions on the topic for law enforcement personnel, as well as other prosecutors. Additionally, she is a regular instructor at Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement programs and at Drug Recognition Expert schools. During her time in the State’s Attorneys Office, she presented to thousands of high school students at assemblies during prom and homecoming and was a regular instructor in the driver’s education programs in her area.

In the spring of 2018, with support from the Buffett Foundation, Jennifer implemented the Illinois Law Enforcement Phlebotomy Program (ILEPP). She assembled a team of Drug Recognition Experts and academia from Macon County, Illinois, and they traveled to Phoenix, Arizona to attend the forensic phlebotomy training that Arizona has been utilizing for nearly 25 years. The Illinois officers have been successfully performing their own venipunctures at their departments since that time. Jennifer has worked with Richland Community College to assist them in developing the curriculum and has instructed at the forensic phlebotomy course currently offered. She served as the interim Illinois State Phlebotomy Coordinator from 2018-2020. She also drafted the ILEPP standards and procedures. There are now over 25 officers in Illinois who are part of the ILEPP. This training allows officers to perform blood draws on impaired drivers in a safe and efficient manner and alleviates the need to involve hospitals in their investigations.

In 2016, Jennifer was the recipient of the National Traffic Safety Prosecutor of the Year award presented to her by the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators. She was also the recipient of the MADD Hero award in 2011 for her work on prosecuting DUI cases. And in 2014, she was awarded the 2014 Murphy Leadership award for her vision, execution, and relentless effort to eliminate impaired driving and underage drinking. Additionally, she serves on the Illinois Impaired Driving Task Force Committee and the Illinois Traffic Records Coordinating Committee.

Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Law and Society from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana in 1993 and her Juris Doctorate from Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana in 1996. She also was an Adjunct Professor at Hannibal LaGrang

High potency THC is associated with psychosis and schizophrenia. Why are we not following the science?

Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Stuyt, MD

Dr. Stuyt is a board-certified Addiction Psychiatrist and has worked in the addiction/behavioral health field since 1990. She was the Medical Director for the Circle Program, a 90-day inpatient treatment program, funded by the state of Colorado, for persons with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse who have failed other levels of treatment from 1999 to 2020. She retired from this position in May 2020 in order to spend more time attempting to educate as many people as possible on the un-intended consequences she has seen from the commercialization of marijuana in Colorado, focusing primarily on the deleterious effects of high potency THC on the developing brain and mental health.

What is the relationship of cannabis/ marijuana with psychosis and schizophrenia? Learn from the father of schizophrenia research, Professor Sir Robin Murray.

Sir Robin Murray, FMedSci FRS

Professor Sir Robin Murray is a Professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is ranked as one of the most influential researchers in psychiatry by Thomson Reuters’ Science Watch and 3rd in schizophrenia research. He is one of only 5 psychiatrists ever elected as Royal Society Fellows. In 2011, he was awarded a Knighthood for services to medicine. He has won most of the major prizes in psychiatry and has been honored with awards from countries throughout the world including the USA, Germany, Finland, Italy, Brazil and Denmark. In 2005, he was chosen as one of the top role models in medicine by the British Medical Association.

Murray is the recipient of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) Lifetime Achievement Award for 2020. His work challenged the prevailing view of schizophrenia as an adult-onset brain disease, instead demonstrating that it is in part a neurodevelopmental disorder fueled by insults to the brain during early life. He has identified that environmental and social factors are of great importance in determining susceptibility to psychosis. He found that migrants to the United Kingdom have a much greater incidence of psychosis than their counterparts back home, which appears largely due to social adversity. Robin also identified an increased risk of schizophrenia following heavy use of cannabis, particularly in adolescence, and often speaks publicly about this.

He currently researches the molecular effects of THC, the main psychotogenic ingredient of cannabis, and another component known as CBD, which appears to partly block the effects of THC; the high THC/CBD ratio in modern skunk cannabis carries more risk than traditional marijuana. Robin is now most interested in the interaction between predisposing genes and environmental factors in causing psychosis. He treats patients within the National Psychosis Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Professor Sir Robin Murray graduated in medicine at University of Glasgow in 1968 and began his training in psychiatry in 1972 at the Maudsley Hospital in London. He started researching at the IoP in 1975 where he has, for the most part, remained ever since.

Rachel L. Levine, M.D.

Admiral, U.S. Public Health Service

Assistant Secretary for Health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Admiral Rachel L. Levine serves as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She fights every day to improve the health and well-being of all Americans. She’s working to help our nation overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and build a stronger foundation for a healthier future – one in which every American can attain their full health potential. ADM Levine’s storied career, first, as a physician in academic medicine focused on the intersection between mental and physical health, treating children, adolescents, and young adults. Then as Pennsylvania’s Physician General and later as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health, she addressed COVID-19, the opioid crisis, behavioral health and other public health challenges.

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH)

HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy 2021

Listen to Dr. Nora Volkow’s discussion with Dr. Roneet Lev on the gold standard for addiction, substance use disorder treatment, innovations in drug treatment, naloxone, emergency treatment, stigma, decriminalization, marijuana, and more. This podcast includes Dr. Nora Volkow keynote presentation at the Western Regional Opioid & Stimulant Summit of November 2021.

Nora D. Volkow, M.D., is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. NIDA is the world’s largest funder of research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction.

Dr. Volkow’s work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a brain disorder. As a research psychiatrist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate how substance use affects brain functions. In particular, her studies have documented that changes in the dopamine system affect the functions of frontal brain regions involved with reward and self-control in addiction. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and aging.

Dr. Volkow was born in Mexico and earned her medical degree from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, where she received the Robins Award for best medical student of her generation. Her psychiatric residency was at New York University, where she earned a Laughlin Fellowship from The American College of Psychiatrists as one of 10 outstanding psychiatric residents in the United States.

Much of her professional career was spent at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions including Director of Nuclear Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Department, and Associate Director for Life Sciences. Dr. Volkow was also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the Medical School at The State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Dr. Volkow has published more than 800 peer-reviewed articles, written more than 100 book chapters, manuscripts and articles, co-edited “Neuroscience in the 21st Century” and edited four books on brain imaging for mental and addictive disorders.

She received a Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, was a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalist and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Volkow received the International Prize from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research for her pioneering work in brain imaging and addiction science; was awarded the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University; and was inducted into the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) Hall of Fame. She was named one of Time magazine’s “Top 100 People Who Shape Our World”; one of “20 People to Watch” by Newsweek magazine; Washingtonian magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women”; “Innovator of the Year” by U.S. News & World Report; and one of “34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care” by Fortune magazine.

Welcome to 2022 and Season 2 of High Truths on Drugs and Addiction. I wish you all a healthy and happy new year.

Listen and learn why I am jealous of diarrhea.

I will list the top 10 accomplishments of 2022, Failures, and Hope for the future.

Here are links to:

International Academy on Science and Impact of Cannabis

Fentanyl Testing Tool

Emergency Department Drug Surveillance

Here are 6 reasons I envy infectious diseases:

1: Mapping

2: Treatment

3: Contact tracing and Friend treatment

4: Removing the source of disease

5: Recuperation Hotels

6: Primary prevention, or Vaccines

Welcome to the High Truths on Drugs and Addiction Season Finale.

This High Truths finale is dedicated to you and to answering your questions.

The CDC announced that our predicted 12-month overdose rate has exceeded 100,000 people. That’s like an airplane a day falling out of the sky. More people 18 to 45 year old died of fentanyl then died of COVID. And while fentanyl is the driver of deaths, I have not met a single patient that used fentanyl that did not start out priming their brain at a young age with marijuana. Not one.

Listen to our esteemed experts as they share High Truths Highlights of 2021 and Hopes for 2022.

Dr. Bertha Madras is a professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School and former Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, ONDCP. She has numerous scientific publications, courses, patents, and awards. I followed Dr. Madras’s service at ONDCP and she has been an invaluable mentor.

Dr. Ken Finn practices pain medicine in Colorado, he is the editor of the first medical textbook on Cannabis in Medicine, is President of the American Board of Pain Medicine, and is my colleague as Vice President of IASIC, the International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis.

Joe Eberstein is a certified prevention specialist and member of SAMHSA region 9 Prevention Technology Transfer Center. He is the program manager for the San Diego Marijuana Prevention Initiative and is my colleague at CCR, Center for Community Research.

The Western States are experiencing a greater problem with methamphetamines than with opioids. What are some treatment options for stimulant use disorder? Listen to Dr. Sokolowska who works on this issue for the FDA.

Marta Sokolowska, PhD

Marta Sokolowska, Ph.D., joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2018 as Associate Director for Controlled Substances at the Center for Drug Development and Research. She provides strategic leadership in development and implementation of policies related to controlled substances including advising on all matters related to domestic and international drug scheduling.

Dr. Sokolowska is a recognized expert in drug abuse potential assessment and scheduling strategies. Throughout her career she has focused on facilitating initiatives to improve public health by advancing the science of assessing abuse liability. Her past leadership roles include serving as Vice President of Medical and External Affairs at Depomed Inc. and Head of Medical Affairs and the Center for Abuse Prevention and Evaluation at Grunenthal USA.

Dr. Sokolowska earned her doctoral degree in psychology from McMaster University in Canada.

Learning Points:

Clinical Trials.gov – This is the website to look up drugs or devices that are waiting for FDA approval
GPA does not improve by using stimulants for people who do not have a clinical diagnosis of ADHD
Stimulant misuse often translates to polysubstance misuse.
An FDA box warning is a warning that appears formatted inside a box at the top of a prescription package insert. It is the strongest warning that the FDA requires, and signifies that medical studies indicate that the drug carries serious or even life-threatening adverse effects.
There are 4 steps in New Drug Development according to the FDA. The process can take 10 years.
1. Discovery and Development – in the lab
2. Preclinical Research – animal testing
3. Clinical Research – human testing
4. FDA Review – approve or not approve
5. FDA Post-Market Safety Monitoring

This podcast was recorded in February 2021.

CDC announced 100,000 overdoses in the past 12 months – an airplane a day falling out of the sky. What is it like for first responders who arrive at a death scene? Team 10 leader Ed Byrne has responded to 400 deaths since recording this episode. He also assisted in the HBO documentary, Crime of the Century.

Since recording this episode, Senator Melissa Melendez, California, will sponsor the Fentanyl Bill Dr. Lev wrote that will include fentanyl in all drug screens when ordered in a hospital.

Edward Byrne

Edward Byrne is a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations, currently assigned to the San Diego Office and is a member of Narcotics Task Force (NTF) Team 10 that is tasked with investigating opioid overdose deaths in San Diego county. He has expert experience working border cases involving fentanyl and 4ANPP, the immediate precursor to fentanyl, and works in partnership with other agencies, including U.S. Postal Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and local police departments regarding fentanyl investigations.

Special Agent Byrne is involved in federal investigations related to the emerging international trends of the illicit manufacturing and smuggling of fentanyl and it’s analogues.

HBO Special. Crime of the Century.

Get ready to have your jaw drop when you learn about babies who overdose on drugs. Babies and kids under 5 are getting into the adult drug supply of marijuana gummy bears as well as fentanyl. Learn more from child abuse specialist, Dr. Natalie Laub.

Natalie Laub MD, MHSP

Dr. Natalie Laub is an attending Physician at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego where she is the Program Director for Child Abuse Pediatrics. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCLA.

Dr. Natalie Laub is an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego and serves as the fellowship director for the Child Abuse Pediatrics fellowship program. She completed residency in Boston and her child abuse fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia before she finally left the east coast for sunny San Diego. Her research interests include improving systems of care to better identify child abuse victims, illicit ingestions in children, and physician wellbeing.

Addiction Medicine intersects with all aspects of medicine from primary care, pediatrics, OBGYN, surgery, cardiology, gastroenterology, and of course, emergency medicine. Building up the addiction medicine workforce and integrating key aspects of addiction medicine into medical education is important.

Anthony P. Albanese, MD

Dr. Albanese is a gastroenterologist, hepatologist and addiction medicine specialist who has over 25 years of experience in clinical medicine and medical education. He works with VA medical centers and their university affiliates to enhance interprofessional faculty education and develop, expand, and enhance Graduate Medical Education (GME) in accordance with the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability (VACAA) and MISSION Act initiatives. Dr. Albanese is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and is Chief of the Hepatology Division for the VA Northern California Healthcare System based in Sacramento. He is President of the California Society of Addiction Medicine and Chairman of the State Chapters Council for the American Society of Addiction. Albanese attended Oral Roberts University for undergraduate and medical school training. He trained in internal medicine in New York at St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital and continued for gastrointestinal and addiction medicine fellowship. He obtained further training in hepatology at the University of Miami.

ASAM, American Society of Addiction Medicine

High Truths on Drugs and Addiction Episode #48 High Truths on Drugs and Addiction with Dr. Ilse Wiechers on Benzodiazepines

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Is Marijuana use associated with psychosis and schizophrenia or does marijuana actually causes schizophrenia? What about Suicide? Dr. Christine Miller has meticulously studied the medical literature and the Bradford Hill criteria. The Bradford Hill criteria is the standard used to prove causation. This methodology was used to prove tobacco smoking causes various health effects. This interview was recorded November, 2020.

Christine L. Miller, Ph.D.

Christine L. Miller received her B.S. degree in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Neuroscience Training Program at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Her academic career with the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University, was devoted to researching neurobiological mechanisms that underlie psychotic disorders. Now retired from academia, she volunteers her time as a science advisor for Smart Approaches to Marijuana www.learnaboutsam.org and Moms Strong www.momsstrong.org, educating the general public and legislators about the causal link between marijuana use and serious mental health impacts, including psychosis and suicide. Dr. Miller has continued to author scientific papers and reviews, most recently book chapters entitled “The Impacts of Marijuana on Mental Health”, published by Oxford University Press in 2018 and “Marijuana and Suicide: Case-control Studies, Population Data, and Potential Neurochemical Mechanisms”, published by Springer Press in 2020.

Dr. Miller reviewed the Bradford-Hill Criteria for epidemiological causation verses association as it related to marijuana and psychosis.

A strong association
A dose-response relationship
Timing of the association
Administration of THC in the clinic
Drug-seeking behavior risk does not seem to explain the impact
Quitting the habit resolves psychosis (in 50%)
Plausible biological mechanism

You can find more details on the Bradford Hills Criteria on the IASIC website library under Psychosis, the International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis.

Dr. Miller’s Marijuana Psychosis Facts:

5x risk chronic psychotic disorder for heavy marijuana users
7 x increase risk suicide attempt in Caucasians who begin using in teens
Recovery of a psychotic break from marijuana occurs 50% of the time compared to recovery other drugs 70% – 95% recovery
Risk of violence in any drug induced psychosis is 9-fold increase compared to those with psychosis has nothing to do with drugs
- Violence risk is 18-fold from marijuana induced psychosis compared to controls
Psychotic individual who are not using drugs and taking medication are very unlikely to commit violence

Dr. Miller is honored by the introduction in this podcast, but wishes to make clear her knowledge is based on the meticulous work of renowned epidemiologists, for which she can take no c

Methamphetamine, a potent stimulant, is rampant on the West Coast of the United States and part of the trifecta of homelessness, mental health and methamphetamine use. Dr. Richard Rawson is one of the nation’s experts on research and treatment for stimulant use disorder.

Richard A. Rawson, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and a Research Professor at the Vermont Center for Behavior and Health at the University of Vermont. He received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Vermont in 1974. Dr. Rawson conducted numerous clinical trials on pharmacological and psychosocial/behavioral addiction treatments for the treatment of individuals with cocaine and methamphetamine disorders. He has conducted numerous treatment service evaluations including an evaluation of the Vermont Hub and Spoke treatment network. He was a member of the Federal Methamphetamine Advisory Group to Attorney General Janet Reno (1996-2000) and has represented the US at numerous international meetings on methamphetamine. He has led addiction research and training projects for the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the U.S. State Department, exporting science-based knowledge to many parts of the world. Dr. Rawson has published 3 books, 40 book chapters, and over 250 peer-reviewed articles and has conducted over 1,000 workshops, paper presentations, and training sessions.

Contingency Management Mobile Applications

DynamiCare
reSET
WEconnect

Contingency Management Resources

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network online course Contingency Management for Healthcare Settings (https://attcnetwork.org/centers/northwest-attc/news/new-online-course-contingency-management-healthcare-settings).
The Motivational Incentives Suite—a collection of tools and other resources to help organizations understand and implement CM (http://www.bettertxoutcomes.org/bettertxoutcomes/).
The ATTC Network’s guidance on the founding principles of CM (https://attcnetwork.org/centers/network-coordinating-office/contingency-management-part-2-founding-principles).

The Least of Us

About Sam Quinones

Sam Quinones is a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist and author of four books of narrative nonfiction. His latest book is The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth.

In The Least of Us (published October 2021), Quinones chronicles the emergence of a drug-trafficking world producing massive supplies of dope cheaper and deadlier than ever, marketing to the population of addicts created by the nation’s opioid epidemic, as the backdrop to tales of Americans’ quiet attempts to recover community through simple acts of helping the vulnerable.

The Least of Us follows his landmark Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic (Bloomsbury, 2015), which ignited awareness of the epidemic that has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of lives, and become deadliest drug scourge in the nation’s history.

Dreamland won a National Book Critics Circle award for the Best Nonfiction Book of 2015.

It was also selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Amazon.com, Slate.com, the Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Entertainment Weekly, Audible, and in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Business by Nobel economics laureate, Prof. Angus Deaton, of Princeton University.

In 2019, Dreamland was selected as one the Best 10 True-Crime Books of all time based on lists, surveys, and ratings of more than 90 million Goodread readers.A Young Adult version of Dreamland was released in July of 2019.

His first two highly acclaimed books grew from his 10 years living and working as a freelance writer in Mexico (1994-2004).

True Tales From Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx was released in 2001. It is a cult classic of a book from Mexico’s vital margins – stories of drag queens and Oaxacan Indian basketball players, popsicle makers and telenovela stars, migrants, farm workers, a narcosaint, a slain drug balladeer, a slum boss, and a doomed tough guy.

In 2007, he came out with Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration. In it, Quinones narrates the saga of the Henry Ford of Velvet Painting, and of how an opera scene emerged in Tijuana, and how a Zacatecan taco empire formed in Chicago. He tells the tale of the Tomato King, of a high-school soccer season in Kansas, and of Mexican corruption in a small LA County town. Threading through the book are three tales of a modern Mexican Huck Finn. Quinones ends the collection in a chapter called “Leaving Mexico” with his harrowing tangle with the Narco-Mennonites of Chihuahua.

Sam Quinones is formerly a reporter with the L.A. Times, where he worked for 10 years (2004-2014). He is a veteran reporter on immigration, gangs, drug trafficking, the border.

Contact him at

The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth

Dr. Kolodny chats with Dr. Lev about the Opioid Lawsuits. They say people who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat history. The history for tobacco, opioids, vaping and marijuana follows a pattern:

Health claims
Normalization of use
Disaster is finally recognized
Lawsuits

Andrew Kolodny, M D

Dr. Kolodny previously served as Chief Medical Officer for Phoenix House, a national non profit addiction treatment agency and Chair of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Kolodny has a long-standing interest in public health. He began his career working for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the Office of the Executive Deputy Commissioner. For New York City, he helped develop and implement multiple programs to improve the health of New Yorkers and save lives, including city-wide buprenorphine programs, naloxone overdose prevention programs and emergency room-based screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) programs for drug and alcohol misuse.

Dr. Kolodny’s testimony before for the United States Congress is available here.

Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. May 14, 2014

America’s Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Use

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. January 17, 2018

Unintended Consequences: Medicaid and the Opioid Epidemic

Committee on Energy & Commerce, Subcommittee on Health, U.S. House of Representatives. February 28, 2018

Combatting the Opioid Crisis

See the listing of Dr. Kolodny’s publications on PubMed

here.

Awards and Honors

University of Chicago Leon I. Goldberg Award (2019)

Patrick Foley

Patrick Foley has over 20 years of experience in the addiction treatment field. Patrick currently works for McAllister Institute, serving people with various dependency issues. Mr. Foley is a coaching consultant and a frequent speaker and subject matter expert regarding adolescent dependence promoting solution-based goals that navigate clients through the recovery process. Patrick is certified by CCAPP as licensed treatment professional.

McAlister Institute

What is a popped lung? It is called called a pneumothorax and a collapse of a lung – like a popped balloon.

Is a serious and potentially life threatened problem because the lung is not working causing lack of oxygen. It can even progress to a tension pneumothorax which is a restriction on the heart preventing it from beating normally.

Chris’s Chest X-ray

Chris came to the emergency department with chest pain on August 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. He was taken straight to the COVID section of the emergency department as medical staff dressed in helmets, masks and gowns treated him for possible COVID. His chest x-ray told a different story. His diagnosis was pneumothorax from marijuana use. Anxiety and isolation during the pandemic increased his marijuana use by smoking with a bong and by vaping.

The right side of the X-ray picture is Chris’s normal left lung. It has white hazy marking throughout the properly inflated lung going from top to bottom of the rib cage. Think of the lung as a balloon that is inflated. The left side of the X-ray represents Chris’s right collapsed lung. The balloon has popped. The dark, blacker area is air with no lung. The white hazy part of the lung close to the midline and away from the outer rib cage is the collapsed, deflated balloon. The collapsed lung takes up only a small section of the total chest area and does not expand throughout the entire field as it should.

It not uncommon to suffer pulmonary barotrauma associated with deep inhalation and holding the breath while using marijuana. It happens with vaping, inhaling a joint or bong.

Chris was treated with a chest tube that reinflated his lung. He has not smoked since this happened to him. Chris is an intelligent high functioning young man who read about harms of smoking during a pulmonary pandemic but also read about possible immune benefit of marijuana. He admits to having an addiction and reading sources that supported his habit.

Thank you Chris for bravery in sharing your story. You will be educating others about the reality of marijuana use.

Learn more about pulmonary issues with cannabis in the IASIC library, the International Academy on Science and Impact of Cannabis.

What is the role of faith in treatment and prevention of addiction? Bishop Jethro James give advice for all religions.

Bishop Jethro C. James, Jr.

Bishop Jethro C. James, Jr., Senior Pastor of Paradise Baptist Church, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, the eldest of seven children to the late Jethro Sr. and Mary James. Most of his childhood years were spent in Powhatan, Virginia where he attended the public-school system before returning to Paterson, NJ with his family. He continued his education in Paterson, graduating from John F. Kennedy High School and furthered his education at Bergen Community College and Rutgers University earning a certificate in Labor Studies. He attended the Lamb’s School of Ministry in Brooklyn, New York and Christian Bible Institute of New Jersey where he received a Doctor of Divinity Degree. Gifted to serve the church community as mentor and advisor to pastors and congregations, alike he was consecrated to the office of Bishop on April 17, 2010. He was affirmed as a Bishop in the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International on April 23, 2014, under the leadership of Bishop Paul S. Morton, International Presiding Bishop. He currently serves the Fellowship as the New Jersey State Director of Social Action under the leadership of Bishop Rudy V. Carlton, Regional Bishop Kenneth L. Robinson, Presiding Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III and Founder, Bishop Paul S. Morton.

Bishop James is President of the Newark/North Jersey Committee of Clergy. He is also a member of several civic and fraternal organizations and is very active within the community. He serves as a chaplain for New Jersey State Police Departments and has been appointed by the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey to serve a member of the Attorney Legal Ethics Committee. In addition, he serves as chairperson of the Human Services Advisory Council of Essex County, chairperson of appropriations committee of FEMA, Community Advisor to the State of New Jersey Office of Homeland Security, along with a host of other affiliations. He is certified by the State of New Jersey as a Social Worker. An eloquent informed speaker Bishop James is often sought to address political and civic organizations nationwide. Bishop James served as a member or the Law & Justice Transition Team for Governor Phil Murphy and a Senior Advisor for NJ R.A.M.P. (Responsible Approached To Marijuana Policy).

In June 2006, after thirty-eight years of dedicated service, Bishop James retired from Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) in Newark. Prior to his retirement, Bishop James was an Urban Development Executive, responsible for the urban centers from Paterson to Camden.

Bishop James is married Dr. Kim Yancey James. They are the proud parents of a son, Terrill, a daughter, Danielle and chosen daughter, Tanisha. They are also the grandparents of a 2 granddaughters, Taylor Jewel and Sofia-Jo and 2 grandsons; Isaiah Nathaniel and Micah Elisha.

Many people have heard about the risk of your BRAIN on drugs, but what about your SKIN on drugs? Your skin, your epidermis is the largest organ of your body and is about 20 square feet. Dr. Antley is a dermatopathologist and talks to High Truth about whether marijuana products can help acne or harmful to the skin.

Catherine Antley, M.D.

Catherine Antley, M.D. graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Duke University Medical Center and fellowship in dermatopathology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and in Dermatopathology and is a Fellow of the American Society of Dermatopathology. For 20 years she has served as laboratory director of Vermont Dermatopathology, a woman owned, independent dermatopathology lab serving VT, NY, and NH. She has a strong interest in public health and prevention and exploring the impact of policy on addiction and health care costs. She has co-authored a number of Vermont Medical Society resolutions on cannabis and recently organized and led a delegation of 10 Vermonters to Iceland to learn about their 20 year history bringing down the country’s high addiction rates using their successful, science based prevention model. She recently contributed a chapter “Cannabis in Dermatology” to the textbook “Cannabis in Medicine, an Evidence Based Approach” edited by Dr. Ken Finn and published by Springer Nature.

Cannabis in Medicine: An Evidence Based Review

Cannabis in Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach

If you go the emergency department with a broken arm, you will get an x-ray, a cast, and be referred to see an orthopedic specialist. If you have a serious heart problem you will be referred to a cardiologist. What happens if you come to the hospital with endocarditis – an infection of the heart caused by drug use? You will see a heart specialist, an infectious disease doctor, but will you see a specialist who can help treat the cause of the problem – the addiction? Addiction Medicine specialty care should be available just like a pain specialist or palliative care specialist.

Dr. Timothy Brennan is one of the pioneers who is out to make addiction medicine specialty medical care more available in America.

Timothy K. Brennan MD, MPH

Dr. Brennan is the Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospitals. He is also the Director of the Fellowship in Addiction Medicine Program at the Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai. Dr. Brennan has spoken at local, state, national and international levels about addiction policy issues, particularly as related to young adults. He is the co-editor of Lippincott’s “Essentials of Addiction Medicine”, and was appointed by Governor Cuomo to serve on the Medical Review Board at the New York State Justice Center.

He is a frequent contributor in the media regarding addiction issues and has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and NPR. Dr. Brennan volunteers as a member of the Adolescent Advisory Panel at the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

Dr. Brennan completed his Fellowship in Addiction Medicine at The Addiction Institute, a Fellowship in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School, and a Residency in Pediatrics at New York Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical College. He also completed an intern year in Internal Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital. He received a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and a combined MD/MPH from Tulane University School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

He is Board Certified in Pediatrics by the American Board of Pediatrics and Board Certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine.

The American College of Academic Addiction Medicine – ACAAM

Additional Information on Dr. Brennan

https://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/timothy-k-brennan

The ASAM Essentials of Addiction Medicine

In this episode we bring together two individual retired men who live in different parts of the United States, but have a common story. They are both fathers to adult children who struggle with addiction. They both have suffered with strained relationships that comes with the disease of addiction, and after many years of pain, they are finally at a good place. Both these fathers requested to stay anonymous because they did not want to rock the boat with the good relationship they have with their kids. Yet they wanted to speak out and thereby help other parents who are in the same difficult situation.

What is going on with Oregon Drug Laws? The state of Oregon made history, the first state in the United States to decriminalize the possession of all hard drugs on November 2020. Marijuana was legalized in Oregon since 2014.

Is this a good idea, a bad idea, or a yet to be determined social experiment?

Oregon Measure 110, a ballot initiative funded by the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group that promotes drug normalization, and passed with more than 58% of the vote. Possession of heroin, cocaine, meth, ecstasy or other drugs is no longer a criminal offense in Oregon. Possession may be a civil, not a criminal violation that may result in a fine or court ordered therapy, but not jail.

People in Oregon can carry small amounts of drugs. What is a small amount? Less than 1g of heroin, less than 2 g of meth, less than 40 pills of oxycodone. You can judge if you think that is small or large.

Was I duped by Big Pharma? Early in my career I was told “You and your colleagues are undertreating pain.” When I served as Vice Chair of on the California Medical Association Council on Legislation, we passed laws that mandated pain education for doctors and eliminated specialized prescription pads for potent opioids. But then it became ridiculous. In 2013, I counted 20% of all my emergency patients were there to get opioids. I was one of the first physicians to resist this trend, and when I did, I was accused of lacking compassion. I realized that well intentioned physicians simply did not face mothers who lost their son or daughter from a prescription by doctors who thought they were being compassionate.

Gerald Posner’s book Pharma uncovers the history of the pharmaceutical industry and the reasons behind distrust.

About Gerald Posner

The author of thirteen acclaimed books, including New York Times nonfiction bestsellers Case Closed, Why America Slept and God’s Bankers. Posner was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. “A merciless pit bull of an investigator” concluded the Chicago Tribune. The New York Times said his latest book (2020), PHARMA, was “a withering and encyclopedic indictment of a drug industry that often seems to prioritize profits over patients…[it] reads like a pharmaceutical version of cops and robbers.”

From Law to Writing Posner was one of the youngest attorneys (23) ever hired by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. A Political Science major, he was a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a national debating champion. At Hastings Law School, he was an Honors Graduate and was the Law Review’s Associate Executive Editor. He was a litigation associate at the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore before leaving in 1981 to co-found Posner & Ferrara, a New York public interest law firm. Several years of a pro bono legal representation on behalf of surviving twins of Nazi experiments at the Auschwitz death camp led him to coauthor his first book in 1986, MENGELE: The Complete Story, a bestselling and critically acclaimed biography of the infamous Nazi “Angel of Death,” Dr. Josef Mengele. Read a profile on Gerald on how the Mengele book led to him to leave the law. Publishers Weekly explains how he changed from being a Wall Street lawyer to a bestselling nonfiction author. In the past, he was a regular panelist on the H

Mengele: The Complete Story

Can you have less pain, less opioids, and faster and better recovery after surgery? Absolutely! ERAS, Enhanced Recovery After Surgery optimizes care before, during and after surgery in terms. Learn about ERAS from the President of ERAS USA.

Dr Mike Scott MB ChB FRCP FRCA FFICM

Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Hospital of the University of PennsylvaniaDivision Chief Surgical & Neuroscience Critical Care Medicine

Medical Director, PENN E-LERT Telemedicine ICU Program

University of Pennsylvania

Biography

Dr. Mike Scott undertook his undergraduate medical training in the UK and Postgraduate training in the UK and Australia. He trained in internal medicine before doing anesthesiology and critical care medicine and has Fellowships with the Royal College of Physician’s, Royal College of Anaesthetists and Faculty for Intensive Care Medicine.

He was one of the first clinicians to adopt Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) principles in 2001 at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford UK and has championed it ever since. He was appointed a National Clinical Advisor in Enhanced Recovery for NHS Improvement in 2012. Mike has a keen research interest and has been investigator / Chief Investigator for multiple studies in analgesia, haemodynamic monitoring, fluid therapy and the stress response for surgery within an ERAS Protocol. He advocates opioid sparing analgesia and hemodynamic monitoring including bedside ultrasound as a standard of care. He was lead author of the Perioperative Quality Initiative for opioid sparing analgesia and recently co-author of the international multidisciplinary consensus statement on the prevention of opioid-related harm in adult surgical patients.

Dr. Scott is President of ERAS USA and co-author for some of the ERAS Society Consensus Guidelines, Chair of the ERAS Education Committee and is on the ERAS Society Executive Committee. Mike has lectured extensively around the world and has published clinical trials, editorials and review papers. He is Senior Editor for Anesthesia and Analgesia.

Dr. Scott moved to the USA from the UK at the end of 2016 to take up the position of Medical Director for Clinical Effectiveness and Division Chief of Critical Care medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, Virginia.

He moved to take up the position of Division Chief at the University of Pennsylvania at the beginning of 2020 just in time for the COVID pandemic!

ERAS Resources

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery
Statement on prevention of opioid-related harm in surgery from international multidisciplinary healthcare professionals.

Glenn Ignazio lived his dream of being a decorated air force pilot and it all came crashing down after a terrible accident. He became addicted to opioids, lost his beloved career, faced divorce, and dealt with the pain of friends dying from suicide. He seemingly lost everything as he was learning to walk again. What is the secret to his resiliency? Glenn explains Failing Forward.

About Glenn Ignazio

Glenn Ignazio is a military expert and public speaker, with experience in technology solutions for intelligence, defense, and Special Operations. His background as a Retired Air Force Special Operations commander and Defense Intelligence Technology innovator has made him a sought-after public speaker, media contributor, and inspiring storyteller.

Glenn is best known for his experience translating complex technology into tactical operations that strategically position critical solutions for commercial, defense, and government organizations. This reputation has led to professional expert and advisory engagements with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for C4ISR, members of the UAE Royal Family, and defense agencies throughout Europe and Asia.

He has used various sensor and unmanned systems in security operations that included the protection of borders, ports, economic exclusion zones, and critical infrastructures. Further, he has conducted anti-piracy and counter-smuggling operations across the globe, including detecting, deterring, and preventing the illicit movement of weapons, drugs, trafficked humans, and technology.

In addition to his advanced technological expertise, Glenn has also conducted numerous civilian and combat rescues. Among these lifesaving rescues, Glenn personally negotiated a hostage release of a senior executive in the Middle East. He is also highly decorated with Air Medals, Air Force Commendation Medals, Special Operations Citations, and received United States Congressional Recognition for Combat Operations.

In 2022, Glenn will release a book where he chronicles the lessons of resilience, from high to low moments of his personal and professional life.

You can follow Glenn in Instagram: @theglennig and Facebook: @glennignazio, or on his website:https://www.glennignazio.com/

Perhaps 100 young people may be prescribed opioid pain killers for extracts wisdom teeth or a broken bone and only a handful may feel a strong pull of addiction after a single pill. The problem is we do not know who that vulnerable handful is. That is why prevention of exposure is important. It does not mean prohibition of opioids, but it does mean innovations in pain management that avoid opioids when possible.

The opioid epidemic has a silver lining. It engaged the medical community in solution. All medical specialties have been activated in the issue of addiction and pain. And the medical community is rallying – with solutions and innovation in managing pain better with less addiction.

Alexis M. LaPietra, DO, FACEP

Dr. Alexis LaPietra is System Chief for Pain Management and Addiction Medicine as well as the Fellowship Director of the Emergency Medicine Pain Management Fellowship and Emergency Medicine Addiction Medicine Fellowship at St Joseph’s Health in NJ. She created the St Joseph’s Health Alternatives to Opioids (ALTO SM) program and founded the Pain Management/Addiction Medicine Section of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). She has been involved in multiple national educational initiatives with ACEP and is the current Chair for the PACED (Pain and Addiction Care in the ED) Accreditation Program.

In 2016 she received the Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award from G.W. University Center for Healthcare Innovation as well as the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians Practice Innovation Award. Dr. LaPietra’s work has been highlighted in The Annals of Emergency Medicine, NPR, NBC, The New York Times, Fox News, and CNN. Her work was the basis for the “ALTO in the ED Act,” part of the legislation included in the H.R.6- SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act signed into law by President Trump in October 2018.

Drug testing became a standard after a landmark even in 1981 when a marine warfare jet slammed into the USS Nimitz’s flight deck. Autopsies on 6 out of 14 crew men showed evidence of heavy marijuana use. This led to President Ronald Regent issue Executive Order #12564 instituting a Zero Tolerance policy for federal employees. Jo McGuire joins Dr. Lev in discussing the nuances of work place drug testing that exist today.

Jo McGuire

Jo McGuire is a known advocate for safe and drug free workplaces, families, and communities with over ten years of experience in the drug and alcohol testing industry. She was appointed to serve on the Taxation, Banking & Civil Law workgroup for the Governor’s Task Force to regulate Amendment 64 in Colorado due to her expertise in the field of workplace drug and alcohol testing and represented the industry during the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Agreements. As a recognized subject matter expert, Jo is a highly requested national conference speaker, writer, and public policy advisor.

5 minutes of courage

National Drug & Alcohol Screening Association, NDASA

Smoke free policies are aimed at protecting the non-smoker. What are the effects of secondhand marijuana smoke? Learn fro High Truths expert, Dr. Paula Gordon.

Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D.

Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. is an educator, writer, analyst, researcher, speaker, consultant, and independent contractor. She has taught at many institutions including the California State University System, the George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Richmond. Her current teaching includes the Auburn University Center for Governmental Services and Eastern Kentucky University. Visit her websites at GordonHomeland.com, GordonPublicAdministration.com, GordonDrugAbusePrevention.comand GordonCancerTheory.com. Her newest website, GordonHumankind.com, includes a two-part copy of her dissertation, “Public Administration in the Public Interest” and a newly updated piece entitled “Wishes for the Family of Humankind”. The latter is also posted on the newly launched Global Futures Intelligence Systems website of The Millennium Project in the Global Ethics section at https://themp.org/challengegroup/15/resources/.

Dr. Gordon has taught a wide variety of courses at many different institutions of higher learning throughout the nation. Topics have included Homeland Security Policy; Leadership in Challenging and Catastrophic Situations; Planning and Preparedness for Homeland Security and Emergency Management Post 9/11 and Post Katrina; Some Key Challenges Facing Homeland Security and Emergency Management Post 9–11 and Post Katrina; Critical Infrastructure; Management and Organizational Behavior; Leading Organizational Change; Women and Leadership; Organization Development Theory; Policy and Complex Global Challenges; Marketing and Business Ethics; Public Administration; Public Policy Analysis; Management Decisions: Tools and Judgment; Organization, Management, and Leadership; Managerial Communication; Strategic Planning; Project Management; Group Dynamics; Unleashing Creativity; Problem Solving; and Organizational Health; and Service-Oriented Marketing and Business Practices.

Full Bio: http://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.paula.d.gordon

pgordon@starpower.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordonpaula/

http://GordonPublicAdministration.com

http://GordonHomeland.com

http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com

http://GordonHumankind.com (including “Wishes for the Family of Humankind”)

Doctoral Dissertation: Public Administration in the Public Interest

http://GordonPublicAdministration.com

Drugged Driving is a national problem – both from legal and illegal drugs. Listen to High Truths Expert Dr. Phillip Drum discuss the problem with Dr. Lev.

Phillip A Drum, PharmD, FCSHP

Phillip A Drum, Pharm, D., FCSHP received his doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of California – San Francisco. He is a 30+ year licensed pharmacist who has had a wide range of experiences – from community pharmacy practice, a residency in Hospital Pharmacy, practice as a hospital-based Oncology pharmacist, Pharmacy Administration work as a Clinical Coordinator and later a Regional Manager and leader of regional pharmacy training and patient safety programs. He has been active in Pharmacy Associations and has spoken state-wide and nationally on various pharmaceutical topics. As a result of a family tragedy, he has been active in research on driving and marijuana and educating the public over the dangers of marijuana in society.

Lecture Link: Marijuana Impaired Driving – What the Data Shows

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=n+american+cannabis+summit+2019+driving&docid=608026602150367093∣=43064431A6100B05AC3443064431A6100B05AC34&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

Learning Points

Properly trained law enforcement agents (DRE – drug recognition experts) can detect marijuana impairment at the roadside
States with legalized marijuana use have resulted in increased traffic collisions
FDA placed warning on THC and CBD products – do not drive while taking medication
April 20, (4/20) – has 12% increased fatalities than other days, and is also Hitler’s Birthday
Drunk driving occurs late at night when bars are closed, and streets are empty
Marijuana impaired driving occurs before and after work during high traffic

There are thousands of publications each year, but the American Heart Association (AHA) publication stands out – it is special – a landmark article. The AHA has made a bold move in highlighting and sticking to the science when it comes to protecting the heart from marijuana.

American Heart Association Statement: Medical Marijuana, Recreational Cannabis and Cardiovascular Health. A Scientific Statement.

Robert Lee Page II, PharmD, MSPH

Robert Page is a Professor in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Physical/Rehabilitative Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver, Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine (Aurora), and the clinical pharmacy specialist for the Division of Cardiology Section of Advanced Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation. He is also the Clinical Lead for the Colorado Evidenced Based Drug Utilization Program.

Dr. Page received his bachelor’s of science degree in biology and chemistry from Furman University (Greenville, SC); bachelor’s of science in pharmacy and Pharm.D. degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC; Charleston); Masters of Science in Public Health with an epidemiology focus from the University of Colorado School of Medicine (Denver); and specialty residency in pharmacotherapy with a focus in cardiology from MUSC. He is a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist with added qualifications in cardiology, a Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist, and a Fellow of the following organizations: the Heart Failure Society of America, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the American Heart Association (Council on Clinical Cardiology), the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Dr Page has served on numerous AHA, HFSA, and ACC committees and is past chair of the Clinical Pharmacology Subcommittee of the Council on Clinical Cardiology, and has been an external reviewer for several ACCF/AHA cardiovascular management guidelines. Dr. Page has 20 years of clinical expertise in the management of patients with heart failure in both the outpatient and inpatient setting. He has published over 200 peer reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters in the management of patients with cardiovascular disease.

What does law enforcement do beside arrest people for drugs? You will be surprised about the collaboration of law enforcement with the medical community, drug treatment, and drug prevention. Listen to Dr. Lev talk with High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Director David King.

DAVID L. KING

Director of San Diego – Imperial Valley HIDTA

David King is the Director of San Diego – Imperial Valley HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas). He brings more than 25 years of experience in law enforcement including positions with the California Department of Justice – Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and Bureau of Investigations.

David was born in Philadelphia, PA to a family who values public service as his father, Dr. David O. King, served three terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. David grew up in Reno, NV, and then he moved to California where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of San Diego. After graduating from the San Diego County Sherriff’s Academy, he worked as a Senior Police Officer for the San Diego Harbor Police Department. He was honored as the San Diego County Peace Officer of the Year in 1995.

In 1997 he became a Special Agent for California Department of Justice (DOJ) – Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) and was assigned to the San Diego Regional Office Special Operations Unit and DEA Group Four Clandestine Laboratory Program. He also served as a Field Training Officer. David was a California Narcotic Officer’s Association (CNOA) Region Chairman from 1999 to 2000 and is a lifetime member of the CNOA.

As a Special Agent Supervisor-Task Force Commander for California DOJ – BNE, from 2001 to 2005, David served on several HIDTA initiatives including being a Task Force Commander for ICE San Diego Maritime Task Force and Task Force Commander for the BNE San Diego Regional Office Clandestine Laboratory Program. He worked with local police departments, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) on major cases.

From 2005 to 2010 David held several positions for California Department of Justice – Bureau of Investigations including Executive Director Imperial Valley Drug Coalition, Law Enforcement Coordination Center, Special Agent in Charge. He led the HIDTA initiative, directing the planning and implementation of a counterdrug strategy for 19 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies operating along the southwest border. In this capacity he delivered high level briefings to executive level law enforcement personnel and public officials from U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate, and the California State Assembly. David graduated from the FBI National Academy (240th) Session.

As the Senior Special Agent in Charge (SSAC) for the California DOJ, BNE Riverside Regional Office from 2010 to 2012, David directed daily operations and 10 narcotic/gang task forces located in Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial Counties. He also had executive oversight for a HIDTA initiative, Inland Crackdown Allied Task Force (INCA), comprised of special agents from DOJ/BNE, HSI, DEA, CHP, and local law enforcement investigators. The team was awarded the California Attorney General’s Award of Excellence for INCA in 2012.

From 2012 to 2017 David served as the Executive Director of L.A. IMPACT, the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, which is the nation’s lar

Are safe injection sites good for public health? What is the line between harm reduction and drug normalization? Do people who inject drugs or use drugs prefer to go to a site or do they prefer use in the comforts of their residence wherever that is? Do safe injection sites decrease deaths? Do they connect people to treatment? Listen to Tom Wolf, a man with lived experience in injecting drugs, living on the streets, and a true understanding of what addiction is and what is takes to recover.

Thomas Wolf

Tom Wolf is a formerly homeless recovering Heroin addict from San Francisco. In 2018, he spent 6 months homeless on the streets of the Tenderloin neighborhood struggling with Heroin and Fentanyl addiction. Thomas was arrested 6 times for holding drugs for street-level drug dealers and other offenses and went to jail before going to a 6-month inpatient treatment program where he found recovery. He is now an advocate for drug policy reform and recovery in San Francisco and beyond. Thomas is very active on social media and his story has been featured in local, national, and international news including CNN and the New York Times. You can find out more about Thomas at www.tomwolf.org

Follow him on Twitter @MyTwolffamily

What is the aftermath of the COVID pandemic in terms of damage from drugs? What is the science behind helpful or harmful effects of marijuana? What are the strategies in treating methamphetamine use disorder? What is universal prevention in terms of protection from addiction. Learn all this and more from a key national leader, Dr. Wilson Compton.

Dr. Wilson Compton

Dr. Wilson M. Compton serves as the Deputy Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction related to preventing drug abuse, treating addiction and addressing the serious health consequences of drug abuse, including related HIV/AIDS and other health conditions. In his current role, Dr. Compton’s responsibilities include working with the Director to provide scientific leadership in the development, implementation, and management of NIDA’s research portfolio in order to improve the prevention and treatment of drug abuse and addiction.

Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Compton served as the Director of NIDA’s Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research from 2002 until 2013. In this leadership role, he oversaw the scientific direction of a complex public health research program of national and international scope addressing: 1) the extent and spread of drugs of abuse, 2) how to prevent drug abuse, and 3) how to implement drug abuse prevention and treatment services as effectively as possible. Of note, since 2010 he has led the development of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study (PATH), a large scale longitudinal population study with 45,971 baseline participants ages 12 and older. Jointly sponsored by NIDA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), PATH includes prospective data collection using both surveys and biological assessments to inform the development of tobacco regulations in the United States.

Before joining NIDA, Dr. Compton was a tenured faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Master in Psychiatric Epidemiology Program at Washington University in Saint Louis, as well as Medical Director of Addiction Services at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Saint Louis. Dr. Compton received his undergraduate education from Amherst College. He attended medical school and completed his residency training in psychiatry at Washington University.

During his career, Dr. Compton has achieved multiple scientific accomplishments: he was selected to serve as a member of the DSM-5 Revision Task Force; is the author of more than 200 publications including widely-cited papers drawing attention to the opioid crisis in the U.S.; and is an invited speaker at multiple high-impact venues, including multiple presentations to federal judges in presentations sponsored by the Federal Judicial Center. These judicial presentations have focused on how the science of addiction may improve policy and practices related to persons with addiction within the criminal justice system. Dr. Compton is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Alpha Omega Alpha medical education honor society. Dr. Compton is also the recipient of multiple awards, including the Senior Scholar Health Services Research Award from the American Psychiatric Association in 2008 and the Paul Hoch Award from the American Psychopathological Association in 2010. The FDA selected him to receive the Leveraging Collaboration A

Addiction is a treatable disease, but how can people differential between quality care and fraud? Dr. Rosenthal dispels the truth on quality treatment.

Mitchell S. Rosenthal, MD

Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D., the founder of Phoenix House, one of the nation’s leading non-profit substance abuse treatment organizations, is president of the Rosenthal Center for Addiction Studies. The Center plays an increasingly significant role in the treatment field, providing a valuable platform for advocacy and the formulation of public policy. Its surveys, investigations, publications, and substantial presence on the Internet provides critical information on substance abuse issues to policymakers, healthcare professionals as well as families and individuals coping with addiction.

Dr. Rosenthal has served as a White House advisor on drug abuse, a special consultant to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, chairman of the New York State Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, and president of the American Association of Psychoanalytic Physicians. He is a lecturer in psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Rosenthal is a psychiatrist whose research, clinical skills, and advocacy have produced model treatment protocols, widely replicated throughout the country and abroad. His pioneering efforts in substance abuse treatment date from his work at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, California (1965-1967), where he formed the first service-sponsored therapeutic community for the treatment of addiction. As deputy commissioner of New York City’s Addiction Services Agency, he created the Phoenix House citywide network of treatment facilities in 1967. In 1972, he resigned his city post to become president of the now independent Phoenix House Foundation and oversee the national expansion of its treatment and prevention services over the following three and a half decades.

Dr. Rosenthal earned his B.A. from Lafayette College and his M.D. from the State University of New York’s Downstate Medical Center. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, deputy chair of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, and serves on the board of the Partnership for Drug Free Kids and Delancey Street Foundation.

The pain of stigma comes out as Gary Mendell, CEO of Shatterproof talks about his son Brian. It is now his life mission to make a difference, and Shatterproof is doing just that. Shatterproof, under Gary’s leadership shows that words matter. For example, addiction is not just a chronic disease of the brain – it is a treatable chronic disease of the brain. Treatment gives hope. But how do we balance stigma as a stool for prevention – “don’t smoke” “drugs are bad” while we eliminate the stigma against a human being with a problem? Listen to Dr. Lev and Gary discuss this issue.

Gary Mendell, Founder and CEO, Shatterproof

Gary Mendell is the founder and CEO of Shatterproof, a national nonprofit dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States. After losing his son Brian to addiction in 2011, Gary founded Shatterproof to spare other families the tragedy his had suffered.

Since founding Shatterproof, Mr. Mendell has been recognized as a national leader in the addiction space, working to transform how opioid and substance use disorders are treated. His priorities include advocating for state and federal policy change, ending the harmful stigma of addiction, and supporting and educating our communities.

Mr. Mendell has testified in front of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis and his opinions are frequently reflected in the media. He also serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, is a member of the National Quality Forum’s Technical Expert Panel for Opioid and Opioid Use Disorder, and is an advisory member of The Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Before Shatterproof, Mr. Mendell spent decades as an entrepreneur. He founded HEI Hotels & Resorts, a multi-billion-dollar company that oversees a portfolio of approximately 70 first class hotels.

Mr. Mendell received his B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and his MBA with distinction from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Shatterproof.orgLearning Points:

Ending the stigma of addiction

Education – that addiction is a treatable disease
Appropriate Language – make an impact on attitude
Policy changes

This episode starts with a game – Fact or Fiction on Medical Marijuana. Test your knowledge and then listen further to learn from Dr. Kevin Sabet whether the “war” or “battle” on marijuana legalization is lost, and what that means.

KEVIN A. SABET, PHD

Dr. Kevin Sabet is an affiliate of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and the Medical School at Yale University, and dubbed by NBC News as the “prodigy of drug politics,” author, consultant, and advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations, Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for 25 years. He is currently the President and CEO of SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), a non-profit organization he founded with Congressman Patrick Kennedy and David Frum. His latest book, Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know, is distributed by Simon & Schuster. He is the only person appointed by Republican and Democrats to work at the White House drug office, and he is a columnist for Newsweek. He received his doctorate from Oxford University.

This is most stimulating episode of High Truths. Seriously! We will be talking about a brain stimulator. While it is not approved for use in addiction, is can help insomnia and depression. Not every problem needs a drug as a solution. It is refreshing to learn about alternatives.

Charles “Chip” Fisher

Founder Fisher Wallace Laboratories

Charles Avery Fisher, known as Chip, is a lifelong New Yorker. He earned his BA from Harvard University, and started his career with IBM’s Data Processing Division, winning the Top Salesman award in under two years. He later founded and sold several companies before establishing Fisher Wallace Laboratories with the late Martin Wallace, PhD.

Chip serves on the board of the Avery Fisher Artists Programs and Virtual Music Academy. Over the years he has been active in many nonprofits including being one of the founding board members for City Harvest.

In late 2006, entrepreneur Chip Fisher joined Dr. Martin Wallace, PhD, CCN, CAd to purchase the patents of an FDA-sanctioned medical device that treats depression, anxiety and insomnia that produces a small dose of alternating current, of the same voltage level as a mobile home phone.

Developed by NASA engineer Dr. Saul Liss in 1990s, reviewed and approved by the FDA at the time, the Fisher Wallace Cranial Stimulator is used to increase levels of dopamine, serotonin and also lowers cortisol, the stress hormone, without the use of pharmaceutical drugs.

Peer reviewed studies have been published in noted medical journals and research has been conducted at some of the country’s top medical schools and hospitals, including Harvard Medical School, Columbia Medical School, Mass. General Hospital, NYU Medical Center, NYC’s Mount Sinai Medical Center (Beth Israel Hosp.), and the University of Maryland.

Fisher Wallace has been well-positioned to take advantage of the movement away from pharmaceuticals as the only option for treating mental health symptoms. Treatment of depression, anxiety and insomnia across the board has seen great advancements in non-pharmacological methods. Many individuals are either not suited for pharmaceutical drugs for reasons of health, age, or ideology.

In addition, drugs have significant side effects and for many, are not the treatment of choice given effective alternatives. Treatment with the Fisher Wallace Stimulator has no noteworthy side-effects, is a mobile and an at-home treatment, requires 20 min sessions up to twice a day, and has results showing great effectiveness for more than 70% of those who use it.

Fisher Wallace Stimulator

Fisherwallace.com

Circadia.info

For every 1 adult who maybe stops smoking cigarettes by vaping, 80 new adolescents will take up vaping who would otherwise never have started. Let’s ban tobacco, but bring on vaping. These are frankly stupid health policies.

Listen to what Aaron Byzak has to say on the manner. A man who defeated the odds of a 9 on adverse childhood event (ACE) score to become a very successful man.

Aaron Byzak joined Tri-City Medical Center as the Chief External Affairs Officer in May 2018. In this role, Aaron is responsible for the medical center and healthcare district’s marketing, communications, government affairs, and community engagement activities.

For more than two decades, Aaron has served in positions of progressive leadership in Emergency Medical Services, health policy, healthcare management, and consulting. He has received numerous best practice awards and national recognition for his leadership and work in healthcare, public health, advocacy, and communications including four Emmy Awards. Aaron was recognized by the Health Care Communicators of San Diego County with the Communicator of the Year Award in 2017 and was chosen for the San Diego Business Journal’s 500 Most Influential list in 2019 and 2020.

A well-known advocate in the area of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) prevention, Aaron has served on the board of directors for the North Coastal Prevention Coalition (NCPC) since 2003, including eight years as president. A national leader in the development of innovative drug prevention programs, practices, and policies, NCPC earned the 2008 Got Outcomes! Coalition of Excellence/National Coalition of the Year from Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and two National Exemplary Awards (2010, 2018) from the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD).

Aaron was the founding chair of the Rx Abuse Task Force of San Diego County, is the recipient of the Red Ribbon Week Campaign/Drug Enforcement Administration’s Excellence in Prevention Advocacy Award in 2015, and was recognized in 2013 by the Alcohol Policy Panel of San Diego County for his leadership.

Aaron is also founder and chief advocate of Hazel’s Army, a community advocacy and education group that in 2014 helped pass the most comprehensive assisted living reform agenda in California’s history.

He earned his Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management and Policy from

UC Irvine’s Merage School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science from Chapman University. Additionally, Aaron earned certificates in leadership from Cornell University and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He is Board Certified in Healthcare Management as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). Aaron resides in Vista with his family.

Overdose deaths are escalating in the United States as our country is under attacked by illicit fentanyl. How do we get to the source of the killer drugs and prevent the devastation?

James Rauh is the founder of Families Against Fentanyl (FAF), a national nonprofit organization with a mission to have illicit fentanyl declared a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Following the death of his son Tom from fentanyl poisoning in 2015, James started Families Against Fentanyl to compel new, innovative actions by the federal government to combat the rise in illicit fentanyl across the United States and its concerning potential to be used as a chemical weapon. A longtime businessman in the plastics industry, Mr. Rauh brings his deep understanding of science and chemistry to his work at FAF. A resident of Akron, Ohio, he has been profiled on 60 Minutes and featured in numerous media outlets including The Hill, RealClearHealth, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and more. Visit familiesagainstfentanyl.org for more info.

What can you community do TODAY to help with the fentanyl crisis? All hospital in America, all of them, should be including fentanyl as part of a urine drug screen. If a provider wants to test for THC, PCP or Methamphetamine, they should be just as concerned about fentanyl. A positive change would change the diagnosis and the treatment. Check out the Fentanyl Testing Tool Kit to learn how to bring fentanyl testing to your community.

Fentanyl Testing Tool Kit

https://www.sandiegorxabusetaskforce.org/fentanyl-toolkit

Alcohol Use Disorder remains the largest cause of substance use disorder in our country. Sadly, the COVID pandemic has exacerbated the problem. There are science based dietary guidelines for alcohol consumption with definitions on how much is one drink. Test yourself to find out if you are a High Risk drinker by using the ReThinking Drinking calculators. Listen to Dr. George Koob, the leading scientist in the world on alcohol as he explains the pandemic effects on alcoholism as well as innovative solutions.

George F. Koob, Ph.D., is an internationally-recognized expert on alcohol and stress, and the neurobiology of alcohol and drug addiction. He is the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), where he provides leadership in the national effort to reduce the public health burden associated with alcohol misuse. As NIAAA Director, Dr. Koob oversees a broad portfolio of alcohol research ranging from basic science to epidemiology, diagnostics, prevention, and treatment.

Dr. Koob earned his doctorate in Behavioral Physiology from Johns Hopkins University in 1972. Prior to taking the helm at NIAAA, he served as Professor and Chair of the Scripps’ Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders and Director of the Alcohol Research Center at the Scripps Research Institute. Early in his career, Dr. Koob conducted research in the Department of Neurophysiology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and in the Arthur Vining Davis Center for Behavioral Neurobiology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology and the MRC Neuropharmacology Unit at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Koob began his career investigating the neurobiology of emotion, particularly how the brain processes reward and stress. He subsequently applied basic research on emotions, including on the anatomical and neurochemical underpinnings of emotional function, to alcohol and drug addiction, significantly broadening knowledge of the adaptations within reward and stress neurocircuits that lead to addiction. This work has advanced our understanding of the physiological effects of alcohol and other substance use and why some people transition from use to misuse to addiction, while others do not. Dr. Koob has authored more than 650 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is a co-author of The Neurobiology of Addiction, a comprehensive textbook reviewing the most critical neurobiology of addiction research conducted over the past 50 years.

Dr. Koob is the recipient of many prestigious honors and awards for his research, mentorship, and international scientific collaboration. In 2018 Dr. Koob received the E.M. Jellinek Memorial Award for his outstanding contributions to understanding the behavioral course of addiction. In 2017 Dr. Koob was elected to the National Academy of Medicine(

Some people say that it is inevitable that kids use drugs. They are wrong. Be inspired by Rebekah Jin and learn from Angela Ampomah how nation wide youth are taught resiliency and making good choices about drugs.

Angela Ampomah, MPH is currently the Youth Leadership Associate and is responsible for interacting with youth in managing and developing CADCA’s youth trainers to ensure efficiency from the initial planning to onsite implementation of training. Angela has her Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in public policy. Angela has over 3 years of experience working with AmeriCorps as a Corps Member. She assisted with early literacy initiatives with children in Jamaica Queens, NY. She graduated from St. John’s University with a B.A in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. While in NY, she volunteered at the Grand Central Food Program, Coalition for The Homeless for the duration of her undergraduate career. She is involved in youth public health initiatives back in her native country of Accra, Ghana where she educates and empowers them to grow their communities to become a safe place to live and grow in.

http://youth.cadca.org

Rebekah Jin is a Chicago native and will be a senior at Adlai E. Stevenson High School this fall. Rebekah has been involved in substance abuse prevention work since middle school, and has since been a four year member of her coalition. Her freshman year of high school, she began working on marijuana policy with other members of her coalition where they presented their work at press conferences in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois. For two years, Rebekah presented and spoke on the harmful implications of marijuana usage to groups such as youth, law enforcement, lawmakers, village boards, and others in the Chicagoland area. As the topic of recreational marijuana legalization became a priority for Illinois legislators, Rebekah continued to educate people on marijuana’s harmful implications towards the youth in her state. In 2019, Rebekah served as a leader for events such as youth conferences, summits, and lobbying in Springfield, IL, Illinois. This past year, Rebekah was a director of over forty of her coalition’s middle school members. The group this year has spread awareness of substance abuse at middle schools through postcards, focus groups, health class presentations, and a Red Ribbon Week campaign. Rebekah will be the Vice President of her coalition’s high school club, Catalyst, this fall and is involved in other activities at Stevenson such as varsity field hockey, the Freshman Mentor Program, National Honor Society, and Spanish Honor Society.

CADCA

CADCA represent over 5,000 community coalitions that involve individuals from key sectors including schools, law enforcement, youth, parents, healthcare, media and more. CADCA has members in every US state and territory and in more than 30 countries around the world. The CADCA coalition model emphasizes the power of community coalitions to prevent substance misuse through collaborative community efforts.

Alcohol is part of the culture in Latin America, but the countries suffer harm due to alcohol. CADCA works with Peru, Brazil, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic to prevent alcohol addiction and subsequent health effects. The pandemic has increased alcohol access and use in Latin Youth. Learn about CADCA’s effort with expert Eric Siervo.

ERIC SIERVO, M.ED.

Vice President, International Programs

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)

Siervo serves as the vice president of the International Department at CADCA where he oversees, directs, supervises and monitors quality standards for the daily operations of CADCA’s training programs to develop community coalitions in foreign countries. During his 13 years of service at CADCA, he has been responsible for the development, administration, and implementation of CADCA’s international training delivery systems and international operations leading to the establishment of over 300 community coalitions in 28 countries on 5 continents in 7 languages with the active participation of more than 11,500 trained volunteers. Mr. Siervo is also CADCA’s main point of contact for national governments, state department personnel, international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Prior to joining the CADCA staff, Mr. Siervo served as a board member for the National Capital Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking (NCCPUD) and was a volunteer member of the D.C. Tobacco Coalition in the District of Columbia. He also served the National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention (LCAT) in the capacity of Program Director. Prior to his public health career on substance use and misuse, he earned a Master’s degree in International Education from Framingham State University and a Undergraduate degree in International Relations with a Minor in Business from the University of Mobile.

CADCA represent over 5,000 community coalitions that involve individuals from key sectors including schools, law enforcement, youth, parents, healthcare, media and more. CADCA has members in every US state and territory and in more than 30 countries around the world. The CADCA coalition model emphasizes the power of community coalitions to prevent substance misuse through collaborative community efforts.

Tobacco prevention has a proven public health strategy called also known as the “Vaccine”. It includes (1) Price increases (2) Smoke Free Policies (3) Media Campaigns, and (4) Cessation Access. Learn more from CADCA’s expert Andrew Romero.

ANDREW ROMERO, M.ED.

Director, GHEA (Geographic Health Equity Alliance)

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

Andrew Romero is the Director of the Geographic Health Equity Alliance (GHEA) at CADCA, a CDC funded National Network which works closely with state Departments of Health to reduce tobacco- and cancer-related health inequities. In this role, Andrew’s work is focused around preventing tobacco and e-cigarette use in Southeastern and Midwestern states, as well as in rural communities across the US. Prior to leading GHEA, he served as Director of Health Policy at the Florida Department of Health in Alachua County, where he led a team with a long list of Policy, Systems, and Environmental (PSE) Change accomplishments. In both his professional and volunteer life, Andrew is passionate about giving others the tools to do their very best work. After serving as an executive of a young professional leadership and advocacy non-profit for 7 years, he likes to volunteer his time as a mentor, helping other non-profits improve through better management and leadership practices. He also currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the City of Alexandria Public Health Advisory Commission.

CADCA represent over 5,000 community coalitions that involve individuals from key sectors including schools, law enforcement, youth, parents, healthcare, media and more. CADCA has members in every US state and territory and in more than 30 countries around the world. The CADCA coalition model emphasizes the power of community coalitions to prevent substance misuse through collaborative community efforts.

Dr. Joy Wanner-Sweeney

Deputy Director, Training, TA, and Outreach

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

Dr. Joy Wanner-Sweeney serves as the deputy director of the Training, Technical Assistance, and Outreach Department at CADCA where she oversees, directs, supervises and monitors quality standards for the daily operations of CADCA’s training programs to develop community coalitions in the United States. During her years of service at CADCA, she is responsible for the development, administration, and implementation of CADCA’s training delivery systems, coalition development, and outreach throughout the United States. Her work contributes to the support of over 5000 community coalitions in all 50 states and US territories with the active participation of more than 15,000 trained volunteers. Dr. Sweeney also serves CADCA as the Opioid Response Network liaison for training, workforce development, and unique population education.

Prior to joining the CADCA staff, Dr. Sweeney served as the CEO/Executive Director of the Council for Drug Free Youth (CDFY) which served seven counties throughout central Missouri. She also served as the chairperson of the statewide organization that provides education regarding the unintended consequences of marijuana legalization, the treasurer of Tobacco Free Missouri, Capital Region Medical Center Board of Governors, as well as several other boards. Joy was elected and served on the Jefferson City Public School Board, including one year as President. She also owned and operated a small business for over twenty years. Dr. Sweeney has presented at conferences throughout the nation on drug prevention, addiction, mental health, and the societal impact of substance misuse, including alcohol, tobacco, opioids, and marijuana. Prior to her public health career on substance use and misuse, she earned a Doctoral degree in Organization Management from Capella University an MBA from American Intercontinental University and an Undergraduate degree in Business Administration.

CADCAis a nonprofit organization that is committed to creating safe, healthy and drug-free communities globally.

CADCA 20th Annual Mid-Year Training Institute

Countdown to Mid-Year, Virtual

July 11 – 15, 2021

Enjoy world renowned prevention training!

CRISIS – watch trailer

NICHOLAS JARECKI (Director/Producer/Screenwriter) is a best-selling author, screenwriter and award-winning director who has produced five films. Crisis is his second picture as writer/director. His last movie, Arbitrage, was made for $13 million and went on to gross over $52 million in international theatrical and simultaneous video on demand rentals, making it the highest grossing ‘‘Day and Date’’ independent film in cinema history. Arbitrage received many

accolades and earned a “Best Actor” nomination for its star Richard Gere at the Golden Globes®. The National Board of Review named it one of its Top 10 Independent Films of 2012.

At 16 Jarecki was hired as a technical consultant on the 1995 film Hackers, where his job was to consult with the actors and director about computer hacking. Jarecki took an interest in filmmaking on the set of Hackers, recalling, “I kept noticing that there was this guy that the actors seemed to really look up to and respect, so I asked, ‘Who’s that?’ and they told me he was the director. Then I knew it was clear what I wanted to do.”

At 19 Jarecki graduated from New York University and went on to try directing music videos to get noticed in the film community. After no one expressed interest in his video services he decided to interview his favorite directors to see how they got their start. A literary agent introduced by a family friend liked the idea and got Jarecki a $50,000 advance from Doubleday to write the 2001 book Breaking In: How 20 Film Directors Got Their Start.

CRISIS – ON DIGITAL AND ON DEMAND MARCH 5th

“Intense and ti

Robert L. DuPont, MD

For 50 years, Robert L. DuPont, MD has been a leader in drug abuse prevention and treatment. He was the first Director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (1973-1978) and the second White House Drug Chief (1973-1977). From 1968-1970 he was Director of Community Services for the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. From 1970-1973, he served as Administrator of the District of Columbia Narcotics Treatment Administration. In 1978 he became the founding President of the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., a non-profit research and policy organization that identifies and promotes powerful new ideas to reduce drug use and addiction. A graduate of Emory University, Dr. DuPont received an MD degree in 1963 from the Harvard Medical School. He completed his psychiatric training at Harvard and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. DuPont maintains an active practice of psychiatry specializing in addiction and the anxiety disorders and has been Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine since 1980.

He is the author of Chemical Slavery: Understanding Addiction and Stopping the Drug Epidemic published in 2018.

For more about Dr. DuPont’s work and the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. visit www.IBHinc.org, www.StopDruggedDriving.org, and www.OneChoicePrevention.org.

It can be confusing…. parents tell kids not to use drugs, but we also teach that we should not stigmatize drugs… are sending mixed messages? Listen to the discussion between Dr. Lev and Harvard Professor and former ONDCP Deputy Director Dr. Bertha Madras, expert in the addicted brain.

About Dr. Bertha Madras

Current position. Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School (34 years) with office based at McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA; cross-appointment at the Massachusetts General Hospital.Educated atMcGill University, Montreal with post-doctoral fellowships, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

Translational Research. Addictive and therapeutic drugs: behavioral, molecular responses. Drug discovery: Novel brain probes, candidate therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders. Drug Policy

Authorship. Author of over 200 scientific manuscripts, articles, book chapters, co-editor of books “The Cell Biology of Addiction”, “Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Nervous System”, “Imaging of the Human Brain in Health and Disease”

Inventions. 19 U.S. and 27 international issued patents, with collaborators

Government service and public policy. Numerous NIH committees and other advisory boards

White House, 2006-2008: Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President, a presidential appointment confirmed unanimously (99-0) by U.S. Senate
White House, 2017: Appointed by the President, as one of six members of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis (Governors C. Christie, C. Baker, R. Cooper, Cong. P. Kennedy, AG P. Bondi). At request of Commission Chair Gov. Christie, she shepherded and wrote major portions of the final Commission report
World Health Organization: Sole author of a commissioned report, “Update of Cannabis and its Medical Use”; co-author of “The Health and Social Effects of Nonmedical Cannabis Use”
U.S. Department of Justice: Sole expert witness for the U.S. Dept. of Justice in a landmark CA Federal Court decision on marijuana re-, or de-scheduling, which sustained DoJ position
Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Narcotics Panel: Co-author and edited final statement
National Academy of Medicine:Current member, National Academy of Medicine Collaborative on the Opioid Crisis

Educator, Public Service

Course: Developed the first course (ABS elective) on addictions at Harvard Medical School
Course: Developed first NIDA-sponsored international course on “Cell Biology of Addiction” at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Museum exhibition: Project Director, PI of NIDA-sponsored grant for exhibit, CD, play at Museum of Science, Boston “Changing your Mind: Drugs in the Brain”. Disney Corp. licensed the CD.
Presentations: More than 750 public and professional presentations nationally, globally

Recognition

Research Awards: NIH MERIT award, CPDD Innovator Award, Fishman Award, McLean Mendelson award, The Better World Report cited her brain imaging invention as “one of 25 technology transfer innovations (university to industry) that changed the world”
Public Service Awards: NIDA, CADCA, CPDD, Sweden, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry Founder

What is scomiting? Dr. Jeff LaPoint explains scomiting, also known as cannabis hyperemesis syndrome. LaPoint is an emergency physician and toxicologist. He practices at Kaiser Hospital in San Diego and is the Director of the Division of Medical Toxicology. He extensive publications on Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome in peer reviewed research and medical textbooks.

LaPoint went to medical school at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona and is emergency medicine training at Upstate University Hospital. He trained as a fellow at the New York Poison Control Center at Bellevue Hospital.

Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome: Public Health Implications and a Novel Model Treatment Guideline. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2018.

A Kaiser doctor gives a marijuana “medical prescription” to a young man with history of depression and PTSD. As a drugged driver he kills 1 person and injures 5 others. Is the doctor liable? The courts dismissed the case and the poor young man ended his life in suicide.

Edward Wood

Ed Wood founded DUID Victim Voices after the death of his 33-year old son Brian at the hands of two drug impaired drivers on marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin. He has a B.S. in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and an MBA from University of Colorado and became the founding CEO of COBE BCT. Mr. Wood has worked with victims, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, clinicians, drug recognition experts, law enforcement officers, toxicologists, legislators, state officials, and an international list of researchers and other specialists in his quest to increase public knowledge about DUID. Mr. Wood has four peer-reviewed publications and wrote the 2017 law requiring Colorado to begin collecting and reporting data on drug-impaired driving.

www.duidvictimvoices.org

Don’t get behind the wheel of a car after ½ – 1 joint of 10 mg edible.

Myth – Marijuana does not impairs driving ability.

Marijuana’s ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) impairs driving skills in a dose-related manner. The more one consumes, the greater the effect.

THC causes a decline in motor performance resulting in delayed reaction times and a reduced ability to stay in one’s own driving lane. Cognitive functions decline which reduces one’s ability to maintain sustained attention to driving conditions, leads to poor decision-making, impulse control and memory.[i],[ii]

The adverse effects of THC on driving safety have been proven with controlled laboratory experiments[iii], driving simulators[iv],[v] and real-world driving experiments[vi].

Myth – Driving under the influence of marijuana is safe because drivers go more slowly and avoid risky situations.

This myth is supported by a scene from Cheech and Chong’s movie “Up in Smoke,’ but little else. Subjects in some driving simulator studies were fairly self-aware of their impairment smoking marijuana and drove more slowly. But those users were much less successful in compensating for their impairment under emergency driving conditions. Researchers concluded that simulator studies were only able to show how marijuana users were able to drive after using the drug, rather than how they actually drove in the real world[vii].

Both the California State Patrol and the Colorado State Patrol have repor

March and Ash is a legal recreational marijuana dispensary in San Diego. Dr. Lev takes a field trip with eye opening conversations. Is this the apple store or a pot shop? The difference is the heavy security, two ATM machines and shoppers leave with little bags instead of big boxes. Is the store manager practicing medicine? Would you want your doctor to be high on these drugs while treating you?

Medical Examiner Dr. Steven C. Campman is San Diego County’s Chief Deputy Medical Examiner. He earned his B.S. in Biology from Loyola Marymount University in 1987; graduated from Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, in 1992, and then completed residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, in 1997. Following fellowship training in Forensic Pathology with the Northern California Forensic Pathology Group at the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office in 1998, he went to work for the US Air Force and was stationed at the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, in Washington DC, as Associate, then Deputy and Chief Deputy Medical Examiner for Medicolegal Operations and Investigations, until he went to work for the County in 2001 (later continuing to serve in the Air Force Reserve as a Regional Medical Examiner until he retired). He is Board Certified in Anatomical/Clinical, and Forensic Pathology, continues to regularly perform autopsies while managing the Pathology Division of the Medical Examiner’s Department, and testifies regularly in CA Superior Court.

Learning Points:

Deaths due to drug overdoses and drug toxicity are preventable deaths.
Drugs taken not from a pharmacy – should be considered deadly.
A Medical Examiner is a medical doctor and a coroner is a law enforcement professional. Most of the United States has coroners.
Death Certificates are not always accurate. There is an art and education in completing these correctly.
Most people do not obtain an autopsy upon deaths. Only about 10% or less of deaths are investigated.
Association of death are not typically included in a cause of death. For example, a person who died in a car collision while intoxicated on alcohol and drugs will have a cause of death listed a accident due to blunt force trauma.
Fentanyl deaths have more than doubled in San Diego in the past year. Fentanyl deaths can happen fast. Fentanyl has been found in fake pills, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and even vaping products.
Hospitals should include fentanyl in urine drugs testing in an automatic and universal manner.
This episode was recorded at the end of October when COVID did not attack California. Since then, California has led the nation in COVID deaths.

Dr. Lev continued her visit at March and Ash marijuana store. After meeting Terry the store manager in Part 1, she meets sits with the store owner in Part 2.

Brett, the owner tells stories of people who died after using marijuana, kids who need marijuana for pain, and teens who develop terrible addiction. Learn about the initiatives that are important to the legal marijuana industry.

Listen to the conversation and ask yourself if marijuana is really a medicine. Compare the ethics of a marijuana store that sells what is legal if people ask for it – to physicians who practice in hospitals and clinics and must balance risks and benefits before recommending a medicine or prescription. It would be malpractice to recommend or prescribe any medication that is known to harm someone, even if it is legal.

The question posed to High Truths and Dr. Lev is “why do people use drugs?” To answer this question Dr. Lev interviews Robert, a young man who struggled with a deadly addiction to intravenous drugs while living on the streets.

Be inspired by Robert’s journey from homeless and deadly. heroin addiction to becoming a straight A student in computer science.

From Robert:

My name is Robert. I was born in Spokane, Washington in 1988. I have three siblings; two older sisters and a twin brother who I consider my best friend. I grew up in in a rural area outside of my hometown, and my first job was at a ranch supply store. After high school, I worked as an automotive mechanic and battled several addictions. I’ve been to three different treatment centers, but only graduated from one. Late December of last year, I had a major infection caused by self-injection that required a total of six surgeries that kept me in the hospital for three months. Those surgeries left me with major scarring on my left arm, but they were also the final motivation I needed to put my life back together. I’m now a thirty-two year old freshman at Mesa College, studying to become a computer scientist. I have now been sober for 305 days as of this writing, and I’ve never been happier in my entire life.

Visit: HighTruths.com

Joe Eberstein

Joe Eberstein works for the Center for Community Research Inc. and expert on prevention of drugs and addiction. He is the Program Manager for the San Diego County Marijuana Prevention Initiative (MPI). He is a California Certified Prevention Specialist with over 12 years working in the field in both San Diego and Los Angeles counties. He is a featured speaker and subject matter expert regarding youth marijuana use and vaping. His role includes raising awareness about the public health effects of marijuana and vaping on youth and developing regional prevention campaigns to reduce use. He is a member of SAMSHA region 9 Prevention Technology Transfer Center and the California Department of Health Care Services – Prop 64 Advisory group.

How to Talk To Your Kids About Drugs if you did drugs yours – Partnership Drug Free.org

Secretary Ben Carson

17th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

On March 2nd, 2017, Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D., was sworn in as the 17th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

For nearly 30 years, Secretary Carson served as Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, a position he assumed when he was just 33 years old, becoming the youngest major division director in the hospital’s history. In 1987, he successfully performed the first separation of craniopagus twins conjoined at the back of the head. He also performed the first fully successful separation of type-2 vertical craniopagus twins in 1997 in South Africa.

Dr. Carson received dozens of honors and awards in recognition of his achievements including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He is also a recipient of the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Dr. Carson authored nine books, four of which he co-wrote with his wife Candy. The U.S. News Media Group and Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership named him among “America’s Best Leaders” in 2008.

Dr. Carson and his wife co-founded the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. The Fund is currently operating in 50 states and the District of Columbia, and has recognized more than 7,300 scholars, awarded more than $7.3 million in scholarships, and installed more than 150 Ben Carson Reading Rooms around the country.

Born in Detroit to a single mother with a 3rd grade education who worked multiple jobs to support their family, Secretary Carson was raised to love reading and education. He graduated from Yale University and earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School. He and his wife are the proud parents of three adult sons and three grandchildren.

Top Messages from Secretary Carson

In many high-cost areas of our country, especially along the West Coast, the severe shortage of affordable housing is manifesting itself on our streets.
It is impossible to serve those needs at all, if we do not put Housing First. A man will not beat addiction from a gutter, he will not get psychiatric help underneath a bridge, and he will not find a steady job without a steady address.
But, it’s not simply Housing First—it’s Housing First, Second, and Third.
- First, we make sure a person gets permanent place to stay.
- Second, we must diagnose what left this unfortunate individual without a home.
- Third, once we figure out what went wrong, we start putting things right. For each diagnosis, there will be a different prescription.
You can read all we’ve been able to accomplish at HUD by going to HUD.gov and click

For more information visit: HighTruths.com

Ken P. Finn, M.D.

Dr. Finn graduated Medical School from the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston (’90). He completed residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation from the University of Utah (’94), and is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (’95) as well as Pain Medicine (’98), and Pain Management (’00). Practicing medicine in Colorado Springs since 1994, Finn serves on the American Board of Pain Medicine Exam Council (’01), Appeals Committee (’14), and Executive Board (’14). He is the President-Elect of the American Board of Pain Medicine (’20). Finn served on the Colorado Governors Task Force on Amendment 64, Consumer Safety and Social Issues Work Group (’12) and served 4 years on the Colorado Medical Marijuana Scientific Advisory Council (’14-’18). He was an Executive Board member of El Paso County Medical Society (’14-’18) and helped Colorado Medical Society and Colorado Pain Society develop their position statement on cannabis (’18) as well as the El Paso County Board of Health (’14) and Medical Society (’14) on their statements. Finn is a voluntary clinical instructor for the University of Colorado Medical School-Colorado Springs Branch (‘17-’20) and sees pain patients at the Colorado Springs Rehabilitation in Colorado.

https://www.amazon.com/Cannabis-Medicine-Evidence-Based-Kenneth-Finn/dp/3030459675

Cannabis in Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach

ONDCP Director Carroll discusses the issues of addiction.

For more information visit: Hightruths.com

James “Jim” Carroll

Director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy

The Honorable James W. “Jim” Carroll was sworn in as the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on January 31, 2019 following a unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate. Mr. Carroll previously served as the Acting Director and Deputy Director of ONDCP from February 2018 to January 2019. His strategic vision for the organization is best summarized in two words: “Be Relentless.” It’s the advice President Trump gave Director Carroll when he nominated him to lead ONDCP, and the North Star that drives his vision in support of the organization’s mission to stop the flow of illegal drugs in the United States and connect those suffering from substance use disorder with the tools they need to be put on the path to recovery.

Under the leadership of President Trump and Director Carroll, the United States saw its first annual decrease in overdose deaths for the first time in 30 years; the amount of drugs seized by law enforcement at our Nation’s borders stands at all-time highs; and record Federal grants have been awarded in support of drug interdiction and public health programs.

In his role as “Drug Czar,” Director Carroll serves as the principal advisor to the President of the United States on drug policy and oversees a passionate staff of approximately 100 professionals. He oversees a budget of more than $35 billion and coordinates the activities and related funding of sixteen Federal government agencies and departments to reduce the supply of and demand for illicit substances.

Prior to joining the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Director Carroll served as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House. Previously in the Administration, Mr. Carroll served as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and as Deputy Assistant and Senior Counsel to the President. Before joining the Trump Administration, Mr. Carroll served as Washington Counsel at the Ford Motor Company and as General Counsel of the Ford Motor Company Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm that supports non-profit organizations and initiatives.

This is Director Carroll’s second time serving the American people in support of the President of the United States. During the George W. Bush Administration, Mr. Carroll held several positions including Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Carroll began his career as a state prosecutor in Virginia after earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from the George Mason University School of Law.

For more information visit: HighTruths.Com

Welcome to High Truths on Drugs and Addiction.

In this introductory episode Dr. Lev gives an overview of High Truths, a new – fact filled – informative – podcast.

I am your host, Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency and addiction doctor who has served at the White House and still practices on the front lines.

Every Monday staring January 2021 we will bring you unique episodes with nationally renowned experts to answer a question from you – our listeners

On High Truths we will answer questions such as is there enough marijuana research?

A toxicologist will answer what is scromiting?

And join me as I takes a field trip to a marijuana dispensary for the first time. Would you want me to be your emergency doctor after using those products?

Come visit us on High Truths.com to submit a question, challenge yourself with a quiz, or download a free prescription for naloxone.

How common is addiction? According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health 165 million people – or over 60% of Americans age 12 and older have used some type of addictive substance in the past month – substances such as any illegal drug along with alcohol, tobacco and kratom. The top three drugs were alcohol, tobacco and marijuana – in that order.

We will be talking about all types of drugs -opioids – including prescriptions, heroin and fentanyl; Non opioid prescriptions that can be abused such as benzodiazepines and sleep aids; stimulants and marijuana.

I want YOU decipher fact from fiction and come to your own conclusions about drug use.

Who should listen to High Truths?

Health policy professionals will be interested in a broad education from the various experts who talk on High Truths.
Medical professionals will be listening to learn science and evidence-based medicine as well as hear from patient experiences. We have an amazing line up of experts.
Parents will be listening to learn about what to say to their kids. Should parents be honest with their experimentation with drugs when they were young? How early should you talk to kids about drugs?
Young Adults may listen to decide if experimenting with drugs is worth the risk.
Seniors may be wondering if drugs such as marijuana and CBD are a good health choice.
People who use drugs will enjoy High Truths and find hope and strength to overcome their chronic relapsing brain disorder and get treatment from compassionate providers and without stigma.

My personal Mission

The mission of High Truths is to unite medical health, mental health and addiction. I aim to practice good medicine in the hospital and promote smart health policy for our nation.

I am an emergency and addiction physician who continues to practice medicine. I started with advocating for my community in San Diego, to helping communities across our country. I thought – if only I can get to Washington – I can fix the drug problem.

They say be careful what you wish for.

I became the first chief medical officer for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.&