San Diego Ex-Mayor's $1 Billion Gambling Problem

" . . . According to documents filed in court by her lawyers, she turned to gambling to deal with the death of her husband in 1994 and of other close friends and family members. “She began to seek an outlet in gambling,” her lawyer wrote. “The pattern fits the syndrome known as grief gambling.” Ms. O’Connor spent hours at video poker, prosecutors said. In 2009 she sold a luxury hotel she owned in Mendocino County, Calif., for $7 million, but she is suing a German bank and three buyers saying they defrauded her. Banks later foreclosed on the hotel — and on several other properties. Prosecutors say that she took $2,088,000 from her husband’s foundation, which was established in 1966, taking all of its assets and leaving it bankrupt. The foundation gave millions of dollars over the years to organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association and San Diego Hospice. As jaw-dropping as the amounts that Ms. O’Connor wagered — and lost — she is far from being on the top of the list of all-time casino losers. Terry Watanabe, a businessman, lost more than $205 million in Las Vegas, including more than $120 million in 2007 alone. The British media mogul Robert Maxwell once lost £1.5 million, about $2.3 million, in less than three minutes at a London casino. Still, to wager a billion dollars over the course of her nine-year gambling spree, Ms. O’Connor would have had to bet the equivalent of more than $300,000 a day, seven days a week. . . . "

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White collar prescription drug addiction epidemic


White collar prescription drug addiction epidemic - CBS News Video
CBS News video: White collar prescription drug addiction epidemic - Real estate executive ...
www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50141201n

Groups take aim at drug addiction | Daily Record | dailyrecord.com
Drug experimentation by youths is not a new concept.
www.dailyrecord.com/.../Groups-take-aim-at-drug-addiction?...

Health Effects of Marijuana | Drug Addiction Treatment
Along with its common popular effects, marijuana use triggers a number of unwanted and potentially dangerous or deadly secondary effects.
www.drugaddictiontreatment.com/.../health-effects-of-marijua...

Defeat Drug Addiction And Become Healthy Again | Webclassy
Time: 22:32. Defeat Drug Addiction And Become Healthy Again. Ignoring a drug problem can have disastrous consequences. Many drug addicts lose their grip ...
www.webclassy.com/.../defeat-drug-addiction-and-become-he...

Gateway Unites Medicine and Therapy to Treat Drug Addiction ...
From Yahoo! News: Individuals in Alcohol and Drug Treatment See Favorable Results with Medication Assisted TherapyCHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2013 ...
news.yahoo.com/gateway-unites-medicine-therapy-treat-drug-...

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Drug Addiction

What is Drug Addiction?
"The National Institute for Drug Abuse estimates that there are more than 1 million opiate addicts in the United States. This is the story of one such addict. ...“Mentally, you don’t really have those focuses on the daily minutia that you usually do in a sober mindset,” he explains. When he didn’t have the pills, he became obsessed with how to get them. When he did have them, he hardly even thought about them. However, he would make sure they would get done, especially after he started shooting up. It became a responsibility almost, like making sure to get to work on time. Only it was making sure to shoot up on time. . . . " Read more at: adamgoldfein.com/what-is-drug-addiction/

Resources:

National Institute on Drug Abuse, Monitoring the Future Study: http://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/monitoring-future/trends-in-prevalence-various-drugs

National Institute on Drug Abuse, Treatment Statistics: http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-statistics

Drug Abuse Recognition Training, Use Statistics: http://drugrecognition.com/Use%20Statistics.htm

Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/2k10Results.htm

The New York Times, For Lesser Crimes, Rethinking Life Behind Bars: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/science/mandatory-prison-sentences-face-growing-skepticism.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Drug War Facts, Prisons & Drug Offenders: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Prisons_and_Drugs

Alter Net, 24-Year-Old Gets 3 Life Terms in Prison for Witnessing a Drug Deal: http://www.alternet.org/story/155794/24-year-old_gets_3_life_terms_in_prison_for_witnessing_a_drug_deal%3A_the_ugly_truth_of_mandatory_drug_sentencing

Rand Drug Policy Research Center: http://www.rand.org/multi/dprc.html

The Huffington Post, How Ending the War on Drugs Could Curb Gun Violence: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emily-crockett/war-on-drugs-gun-violence_b_2624873.html

Pro Con, Should Illegal Drugs Be Legalized? http://aclu.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000730

Debatepedia, War on Drugs: http://dbp.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_War_on_Drugs

Pub Med Health, Drug Dependence: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002490/

Mayo Clinic, Drug Addiction: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-addiction/DS00183

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Trainer says yoga can reduce drug addiction

Upper Darby trainer says yoga can reduce drug addiction
Philadelphia Inquirer
The classes are open to the community, but especially to residents looking for a mental and physical edge to combat drug or alcohol addiction - or any other type ofaddiction. Donations are welcome. "Yoga and kickboxing have been my yin and my yang," ...

Philadelphia Inquirer

Adolescent drug addiction on the rise in Afghanistan
Radio Australia
Dr Mansoor ul Haq, an international consultant with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, says there are many reasons for this rise in addiction among adolescents and the very young in Afghanistan. Correspondent: Kanaha Sabapathy. Speaker: Dr Mansoor ul ...

Do You Have an Alcohol or Drug Problem? - Alcoholism - About.com
Alcohol and drug use can progress into abuse and even addiction so insidiously that sometimes people do not realize that it has become a problem for them and ...
alcoholism.about.com/.../do-you-have-an-alcohol-or-drug-pro...

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Addiction and Recovery Guide

 “Now What? An Insider’s Guide to Addiction and Recovery,” by William Cope Moyers 
" . . . He finally emerged from his drug-induced nadir when he gave up “trying to do it my way” and instead listened to professional therapists and assumed responsibility for his behavior. For the last “18 years and four months, one day at a time,” he said, he has lived drug-free. “Treatment is not the end, it’s the beginning,” he said. “My problem was not drinking or drugs. My problem was learning how to live life without drinking or drugs.” Mr. Moyers acknowledges that treatment is not a magic bullet. Even after a monthlong stay at a highly reputable treatment center like Hazelden in Center City, Minn., where Mr. Moyers is a vice president of public affairs and community relations, the probability of remaining sober and clean a year later is only about 55 percent. (Hazelden also published his book.) “Be wary of any program that claims a 100 percent success rate,” Mr. Moyers warned. “There is no such thing.”. . . “Treatment works to make recovery possible. But recovery is also possible without treatment,” Mr. Moyers said. “There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. What I needed and what worked for me isn’t necessarily what you or your loved one require.”. . . . for an intervention to work, Mr. Moyers said, “the sick person should not be belittled or demeaned.” He also cautioned families to “avoid threats.” He noted that the mind of “the desperate, fearful addict” is subsumed by drugs and alcohol that strip it of logic, empathy and understanding. It “can’t process your threat any better than it can a tearful, emotional plea.”. . . "  (source: New York Times)

Resource Network - Mr. Moyer’s book lists nearly two dozen sources of help for addicts and their families. Among them:
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services www.aa.org;
Narcotics Anonymous World Services www.na.org;
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration treatment finder www.samhsa.gov/treatment/;
Al-Anon Family Groups www.Al-anon.alateen.org;
Nar-Anon Family Groups www.nar-anon.org;
Co-Dependents Anonymous World Fellowship www.coda.org."

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Teen Drug and Alcohol Addiction Support Resources

Teen Drug and Alcohol Addiction Support Resources
PsychCentral.com (blog)
According to the CDC, teen drug and alcohol use is generally in decline. While that may be good news, many of these decreases have only happened in recent years. Teen addiction is still a huge problem in both rural and urban areas today. For many types ...

The Rise Of Prescription Drug Addiction - Unity Recovery Center
The recent years have seen a dramatic spike in the abuse of prescription drugs. While prescriptiondrug abuse has always been an issue lurking beneath the ...
www.unityrehab.com/rehab.../rise-prescription-drug-addiction...

5 of Our Favorite Rappers Who Have Battled Drug Addiction
Vibe
In 2009, the notoriously reclusive rapper opened up to Vibe about how an addiction to pills including methadone nearly cost him his life. "It's no secret I had a drug problem," he said. "If I was to give you a number of Vicodin I would actually take in ...

Vibe

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Effective Addiction Treatment

Effective Addiction Treatment - NYTimes.com: " . . . One such myth is the belief that most addicts need to go to a rehab center. “The truth is that most people recover (1) completely on their own, (2) by attending self-help groups, and/or (3) by seeing a counselor or therapist individually,” she wrote. Contrary to the 30-day stint typical of inpatient rehab, “people with serious substance abuse disorders commonly require care for months or even years,” she wrote. “The short-term fix mentality partially explains why so many people go back to their old habits.” Dr. Mark Willenbring, a former director of treatment and recovery research at the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said in an interview, “You don’t treat a chronic illness for four weeks and then send the patient to a support group. People with a chronic form of addiction need multimodal treatment that is individualized and offered continuously or intermittently for as long as they need it.”. . . "

The Mystery of 'Addiction' continued - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog
By DM
He asks for a dictionary definition of 'addiction' which states that an addict cannot quit. I don't know about 'cannot quit' . I suppose we would all accept that the alleged 'addict' can quit if he is on a desert island, or in a properly run prison, and ...
Mail Online - Peter Hitchens

Addiction Expert: Treatment Providers Can Perpetuate Media ...
Stereotypes about addiction, perpetuated by the media, can be unintentionally reinforced by addiction professionals, according to a New York addiction expert.
www.drugfree.org/.../addiction-expert-treatment-providers-ca...

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Supermodel Sophie Anderton on her drug addiction

'I'm lucky to be alive': Supermodel Sophie Anderton on her drug addiction
Mirror.co.uk
Sophie, who shot to fame when she graced billboards across the UK as the face of Gossard's Wonderbra, says she is lucky to be alive after blowing £400 a day on the Class A drug. Her addiction became so bad that her mum Sue feared every day she would ...

Mirror.co.uk

Holyoke High School mounts Project Purple week to raise awareness of drug ...
MassLive.com
Holyoke High School, home of the Purple Knights, also will be home this week to Project Purple fund-raising and awareness campaign around issues of drug addiction. HOLYOKE -- A fund-raising campaign to raise awareness about drug addiction will be ...

Yoga and Drug Addiction - Anchor West
But as anyone who has succumbed to drug addiction can tell everyone, there is nothing great about living a lifestyle that is centered on acquiring and using ...
www.anchorwest.com/yoga-and-drug-addiction/

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Risk addicts - Gamblers Anonymous

The risk addicts - FT.com: " . . . on any night of the week in London, if you go to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, you will find a City banker turning up in tears over how much money he has just lost. This is according to Martin, a 29-year-old banker, who one night in the winter of 2011 stumbled into such a meeting, distraught at having lost nearly £200,000 playing blackjack online. . . . “Only about 1 per cent of traders with gambling problems ever come forward,” he says. “No one wants to admit it. Partly, it’s pride, but it’s also because everyone’s scared of losing their job.”. . . Their defining trait is a grossly exaggerated confidence that they are going to make money – something that, in a weaker form, may be a good thing in a trader but in this extreme variety is a disaster. “They have an overinflated perception of their ability,” she says. “They are intelligent and socially skilled. They have high expectations of themselves and if they don’t succeed the consequences of that may lead them to take greater risks.”.  . . In general, people who become addicted to gambling fall into one of three camps. For some, it’s genetic. With others, it can come as a result of early childhood trauma. But most trader-gamblers fall into a third category. Bowden-Jones believes they get hooked on gambling because their brains are wired differently: the thrill they get from putting money at risk is irresistibly large. “These young men who become addicted to gambling become wildly aroused by winning – and losing – money.”. . . Read full article at link above. For more information on this subject go to www.gamblingconcern.org; www.cnwl.nhs.uk/cnwl-national-problem-gambling-clinic

Expert warns AFL that players face the perils of drug addiction if not confronted
Herald Sun
Mittiga, who successfully treated former Crows captain Simon Goodwin and ex-Demon Daniel Ward for gambling problems, regularly has players referred to him by the AFL Players' Association for treatment of gambling and drug addiction. Access all Areas.

Cigarette Craving Driven by Brain's Self-Control Circuitry
LiveScience.com
Addiction to cigarettes and other drugs may result from abnormal wiring in the brain's frontal cortex, an area critical for self-control, a new study finds. Drug cravings can be brought on by many factors, such as the sight of drugs, drug availability ...


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Cissy Houston Talks About Whitney Houston's Drug Addiction

Cissy Houston Talks About Whitney Houston's Drug Addiction, Death And ...
Latinos Post
Last year, just a day before the 54th Grammy Awards, the world lost one of the greatest voices in music, multi-platinum selling artist Whitney Houston. February 11, 2013 will mark the one year anniversary of the tragic and untimely death of the iconic ...

Latinos Post

Drug traffic fuels addiction in Sierra Leone
Aljazeera.com
"Whatever [drugs] I'm going to be able to do, I'm going to do. Because I really don't have nothing." Huddled at the end of a narrow alleyway downtown, Hindowa and two friends shared stories ofaddiction and life on the street. "My mother died, my ...

HOOKED: Realities of drug addiction; Addicts struggle to find help, rehabilitation programs - morningjournal.com: ". . . “There just doesn’t seem to be the resources available to help everybody.” The same concerns were raised by local families at a recent meeting of SOLACE, a support group for family members of addicts. “I feel like if I don’t do something, I’m going to be looking at him in his casket,” one father said about his 28-year-old son. Last year, 60 people died from drug overdoses in Lorain County, triple the 22 who died in 2011. Heroin abuse has become a major threat. . . ."

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Researchers use MRI to study drug addiction

Penn researchers use MRI to study drug addiction - Philly.com: "MATTHEW ELLIS started popping painkillers as a teenager and switched to heroin a few years later. It was simple economics, and a common progression among today's opiate addicts - the recreational drug dabbler turned full-time junkie. That's usually when the nightmare takes hold. You start living life one injection at a time. Everything else - career, family, self-respect - is prioritized behind the next little wax-paper bag of dope. "I was hopelessly addicted to heroin," said Ellis, 25, a carpenter's assistant and father of two young boys."


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Treating drug addiction as illness is the way forward

Treating drug addiction as illness is the way forward
The Times (subscription)
The British Medical Association wants a debate about drugs use. It wants doctors' role in “preventing and reducing the harms associated with illicit drug use” to be examined, along with policies to control illicit drug use. We are, apparently, “ideally ...

Replaced DRUG addiction, with GAMBLING addiction, Didn't see that ...
I never thought I could become addicted to gambling. When I was using heavily I remember laughing at the thought of gambling addiction thinking "Wow, I could ...
www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=204007

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alcoholism - Google News

drug addiction - Google News

addiction recovery - Google News