ALCOHOLISM - Sober Solutions

Month Long Crackdown Headed by Joe Arpaio

August 23, 2017 By Staff

A Month Long Crackdown Headed by Joe Arpaio on Smuggling Turned up 4 Million Dollars in Drugs, Among Other Things

October was the month. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, applauded by many for his tough treatment of criminals in the area, decided October would lead the way in a month long investigation on drug smuggling. This month long crackdown headed by Joe Arpaio did not disappoint to say the least. Arpaio called the investigation “Operation Borderline”. He used deputies, volunteer posse members, and aircraft during the investigation to collect as much intel and offenders as possible. Joe is very resourceful when it comes to the resources he is given.
[Read more…]

5 High Functioning Alcoholic Celebrities

August 23, 2017 By Staff

5 Celebrities Admit to Being High Functioning Alcoholic Celebrities

What is a high functioning alcoholic? How are they different from being just a regular alcoholic? A high functioning alcoholic is someone that can drink just as much as an alcoholic, but appears to be in control of their life. High functioning alcoholics maintain jobs, their finances, and other aspects that alcoholics usually cannot maintain. In the end most of these high functioning alcoholics meet their maker, either by finally getting caught with a DUI, a divorce, or even worse death.

Channing Tatum

In June of 2014 34 year old actor, Channing Tatum, revealed to GQ magazine that he has a love for wine and bourbon. Channing claims, ”There’s probably a tendency to escape. ” He states that he probably is a high functioning alcoholic stating, â€œI equate it to creativity, and I definitely equate it to having a good time.” Equating alcohol to bringing out creativity and having a good time does lean towards an alcoholic attitude. You should be able to have fun and be creative without alcohol. Channing states that since having a little girl, he has been drinking less. Hopefully, his new family lifestyle will help to keep this talented actor away from destructive alcoholic behavior.

Stephen King

Stephen King is also one of the high functioning alcoholic celebrities that make the list. Stephen, the world famous writer, struggled with depression and used alcohol and drugs as an escape. He often wrote about the struggles of alcoholism in his books. His most famous alcoholic character was Jack Torrence in the famous film, The Shinning. After a family intervention in 1987, Stephen realized that he needed to change. He has been sober since the intervention, but frequently talks about his struggles.

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck is known for many roles in his acting career, most notably, Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. In 2001, Ben entered rehab for alcoholism. Benâ€™s alcohol abuse did not seem to have much of an effect on his career, which puts him in the high functioning alcoholic celebrity category. Ben was able to perform his job with no major hiccups along the way, to the outsiderâ€™s view. After rehab, Ben was able to put things into perspective and now leads a private family lifestyle.

Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox is also in the category for high functioning alcoholic celebrities. Michael is best known for his roles in Back to the Future and Teen Wolf, among many other roles. Michael claims, like many others, he used alcohol as an escape from dealing with his Parkinsonâ€™s diagnosis. With his family by his side, Michael was able to give up drinking and confront his disease. Michael to this day still promotes awareness for Parkinsonâ€™s disease and refuses to let it get him down. He is a prime example of not letting illness or an addiction define who you are.

Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis, best known for her role in the classic horror film, Halloween, also suffered used alcohol and pain killers as an escape. This actress, who has been in countless movies, claims she got addicted to pain killers after cosmetic surgery. She also claimed that abusing alcohol and pain killers helped to take the pressure off of her to constantly look perfect. She now is sober and is an advocate for self acceptance.

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro DUI Arrest

August 23, 2017 By Staff

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro DUI Arrest and Booked

New York City Police were patrolling for drunk drivers early Thursday morning and boy did they catch one. Police spotted a 2014 yellow Chevy Corvette swerving in and out of the lane he was driving in, on 10th Avenue. When the arresting offcier pulled him over, he realized it was the Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro.

Buddy Valastro is the owner of Carlo’s Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey. Besides being the owner of this well known bake shop, he is also known as the Cake Boss. The Cake Boss is a reality show on the network TLC, where Buddy, known as the Cake Boss, along with his team make extreme cakes and pastries for clients.

The Cake Boss reeked of alcohol when he was pulled over, according to the police. His eyes were blood shot and watery and is face appeared to be flushed. Buddy failed the breathalyzer test and was unsteady on his feet. According to reports, his blood alcohol level was.08. New reports surfaced the next day stating that his blood alcohol level was .09. It is still unclear as to why there was a discrepancy in his blood alcohol level. It was also reported that Buddy was yelling at the police screaming, “You can’t arrest me! I’m the Cake Boss!” Clearly, that was not the case. Even the Cake Boss can get arrested for driving under the influence. Buddy also kept trying to explain that he is a good guy and shouldn’t get arrested. After Buddy stated that he could not be arrested, he implied that they should just call a cab for him and let him go.

A close friend of the family stated that the Cake Boss seemed to be under a lot of stress and that possibly someone in his family may have recently passed away. Another factor could be that Buddy just opened up another bakery in Marlton, on top of his other 5 bakeries in New Jersey and one in Las Vegas. Could Buddy be spreading himself too thin?

When reporters asked customers at the bake shop about the Cake Boss Buddy Valastro DUI arrest, most did not seemed bothered by it and plan to keep coming back for his pastries. “I was kind of surprised by the whole thing,” stated Mary DePinto, a frequent customer of the bake shop. “If he’s guilty of it, then he should be charged.â€ She continued, â€œJust because you’re a celebrity, doesn’t mean you should get away with anything.” Others state that it did not effect them, so why care. Would they still be saying that if Buddy had accidentally hit and killed one of their loved ones? I am sure they would not be buying anymore pastries from there if that was the case.

Late on Thursday, Buddy released a statement regarding this situation. “To all my family, friends, fans and supporters, please know that I want to share and explain to you what happened today and I look forward to doing so at a later date.” He stated that he appreciated all the support he received as well.

How to Get Help for Someone on Drugs

August 23, 2017 By Staff

How to Get Help for Someone on Drugs: The Essential Steps

The first step to help a drug addict is understanding that addiction is a chronic brain disease. A common myth about addiction is that you can quit at anytime, that it is all about willpower. Some people believe that if you are strong enough, you can quit. While having a strong attitude about quitting helps, it is much more complex than that. Addiction is a brain disease and needs to be treated as one. So before you try to force your loved one into quitting, that the time to learn about the disease. Forcing an addict into quitting is never a good outcome. While tough love can be administered by stopping your loved one from enabling you into providing them with a place to live, giving them food, and even giving them money, forcing an addict to quit will be met with an extreme amount of resistance.
[Read more…]

Muncie Indiana Drug Bust

August 23, 2017 By Staff

Muncie Indiana Drug Bust Leads to $30,000 Drug Seizure

On November 10th, 2014, Muncie Indiana Police Department made a substantial drug bust. This Muncie Indiana drug bust lead to police confiscating over $30,000 in drugs and making an important connection between states. Scott O’Dell of the Muncie Police Department’s narcotics unit stated that their drug bust was completed based on a four-month investigation. This investigation was on “a crew from Detroit dealing out of hotels,” stated Scott O’Dell.

This Detroit crew is crossing the boarder into Indiana, in the east central area, and selling their drugs. Among the drugs confiscated were, $15,000 worth of heroin and around $15,000 of marijuana and prescription drugs. Handguns, one of them believed to be used in an attempted shooting in Muncie on Saturday, as well as a large amount of cash were also found and confiscated.
[Read more…]

92,000 Opioid Overdoses Prescribed by Doctors

August 23, 2017 By Staff

Emergency Rooms Report that in a Year, 92,000 Opioid Overdoses Prescribed By Doctors Occurred

92,000 drug overdoses in a year, that sounds like a low amount, that is until you hear the details. The 92,000 Opioid Overdoses were from doctor prescribed drugs. Opioid drugs are powerful painkillers that have, forms of morphine, methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone. The most commonly known opioids are OxyContin and Vicodin. Patients who are in an extreme level of pain are given these drugs as a short term relief. Patients that take these types of opioids for an extended period, they can develop a tolerance for them, which then requires the patient to take higher and higher doses of the drugs. This is a recipe for an overdose. Patients who have taken too much of these drugs, will have an overload in their systems may lose consciousness or even stop breathing.

Not only is it easy to become tolerant to these drugs, it is also easy to become addicted to these powerful painkillers. This leads to patients taking the opioids for a longer period of time and also makes it difficult to stop taking them. The addictive nature of these prescription drugs is alarming. A study conducted back in 2010, showed that 68% or emergency patients who overdosed on opioids were prescribed by doctors.

While the fact that we had 92,000 opioid overdoses in a year is alarming, the cost that this epidemic puts on the country is outrageous. The cost of treating just the people who overdose on prescribed drugs is around $1.4 billion each year. This number does not include overdoses due to illegal drugs or the people stealing prescription drugs. Among the patients that became hospitalized, the average stay was 3.8 days. The average cost came to $29,497 for 3.8 days. For patients who were released without being admitted, the average cost was around $3,640. Altogether, the cost of treating both groups tallied up to a significant amount of money. In 2011, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared these alarming amount of overdoses an epidemic. With this epidemic on hand, researchers found that deaths from prescribed opioid overdoses surpassed deaths due to car accidents.

Doctors are now using a system to monitor if their patients are seeking additional prescriptions elsewhere, but that has not stopped some patients from abusing their prescriptions. Dr. Cesar Aristeiguieta, who maintains an emergency room in Houston, stated that doctors prescribed more painkillers out of a desire to relieve their patientsâ€™ suffering and also in response to pressure from medical boards and health policymakers. Dr. Aristeiguieta stated, â€œNow we are seeing people can obtain narcotics easier than street drugs,â€ he continued, â€œand for free or low cost with insurance.â€ His statement is very true, as he concludes, â€œItâ€™s no wonder weâ€™re in the situation weâ€™re in.â€ With this epidemic spiraling out of control, it is going to take multiple companies, hospitals, doctors, and law enforcements to diminish this difficult situation.