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Addictions & Answers: Is your

friendly GP a friendly dope
pusher too?
ADDICTIONS & ANSWERS
Friday, July 30th 2010, 4:00 AM
Like Be the first of your friends to like this.
BILL: “Are celebrities like Lindsay Lohan,
Tiger Woods, and his alleged mistress
Rachel Uchitel sleepwalking their way into
trouble with the prescription sleeping pill
Ambien?” a recent CBS online report
asked. You know, Dave, my first thought
was, Oh, well—just more movie star
dopiness. But when I talked to Keith
Humphreys, Professor of Psychiatry at
Stanford, he said the problem goes far
beyond our wayward celebrities.
“Prescription abuse is exploding in a way it
hasn't since the 1970s when ERs were full
of people addicted to Valium,” said
Humphreys, who is also a Research
Scientist for the VA. “A lot of people think
that if a doctor can prescribe something, it
must be safe. Those people are wrong.”
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Garbage removal, street
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NYC sanitation boss.

DR. DAVE: Even when used exactly as

Russell Brand likely in t he
recommended, Ambien can be habit-
doghouse for t weeting
forming. Lindsay Lohan felt she needed it so much, she persuaded the authorities to
THIS pic
give her the drug while serving out her jail sentence. And the CBS report you mention has
Tiger Woods supposedly asking Rachel Uchitel would it be possible for her to get them The funnyman posted this photo
“some more” Ambien. Her alleged reply was, "OK, but we need to talk about this. I don't of wife Katy Perry with no make-
know how to deal with us possibly being addicted to prescription meds." up on and quickly deleted it.

BILL: Does it have any known side-effects? What is she 'do-ing?!

Kardashian sports braids
DR. DAVE: According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, they include Reality TV starlet is
loss of memory, hallucinations, depression and thoughts of suicide. Bill, people on photographed wearing tight
Ambien are known to have made phone calls, had sex and even driven their cars while cornrows. VOTE: Hot or not?
partially asleep. Plus: you often find them mixing Ambien with other medications. In La
Lohan’s case, she checked into jail with a scrip for an abusable stimulant drug, Adderall,
for her Attention Deficit Disorder . What she needs to focus her attention on in a jail cell is The most notorious
beyond me—but I am sure she will enjoy the little boost of feel-good stimulation to wake Twitt er moment s of 2010
up from her Ambien-induced sleep haze. Demi Moore tweeting of pics
herself in a bikini was a
BILL: These people are young, talented, good looking and lacking for nothing that money milestone in stupidity.
can buy. If they need medication for the pains of life, that says to me there is something
missing from their life – an understanding of its spiritual dimension.
Mom, daughter accused of
DR. DAVE: Are you about to surprise me, Bill, by advocating some kind of Go-To-Church- molesting same teen boy
On-Sunday religious position? for 3 y ears
Police say the pair did it without
BILL: Doc, I’ve seen formal religious belief help too many addicts to deny its power. My knowing about each other’s
friend, Barbara, puts it like this: "AA has given me the God of my understanding and for relationship with him.
me, it is the Forgiving Catholic God I grew up with and abandoned. By returning to my
faith, I am allowed a greater understanding of my sobriety." But you know, Dave, I too
believe in G.O.D.—the Group of Drunks I meet at any AA meeting. My own spiritual values
begin with truth, beauty and family; and continue on through friendship, books, romance,
going through rehab, playing baseball well, doing volunteer work, the Zen of golf or
tennis, the beauty of a tree or child, taking care of a sick cat. All these are not only fun, but
may in time become sources of the passionate transfiguration we seek in religion or
drugs, which reminds me, I left out my own personal favorite high - skiing.

DR. DAVE: Vernon Johnson, founder of St. Mary’s in Minnesota, and a minister himself—

BILL;-- and also the program developer for the Scripps McDonald rehab that you ran in
San Diego, where you and I met--

nydailynews.com/…/2010-07-30_addic… 1/3
1/1/2011 Addictions & Answers: Is your friendly …
DR.DAVE: Johnson said that the most profound pain left when the substance, gambling,
sex or binge eating is gone, is the lack of emotional supportive connections to others.

BILL: I know that I got my own life back through working AA’s 12 Steps -- going back in
sobriety to apologize and make whatever amends I could to the people I hurt.

DR. DAVE: These reconstructive acts are practical -- they relieve the emotional pain that
otherwise can lead to relapse. But in time the process becomes so spiritually profound
that “before this amends process is half-way through,” says AA’s Big Book, “the
recovering person will find their God.”

BILL: Or G.O.D.

DR. DAVE: My hope is that physicians reading us will come to understand no prescription
they can write can deliver the emotional peace and balance the addict is looking for.

BILL: And for any adventurous docs, or just plain readers who want to learn more, just
click: The Promises . BEST OF NYDN.COM
Dr. David Moore is a licensed psychologist and chemical dependency professional who John Mellencamp & wife
is a graduate school faculty memb er at Argosy University’s Seattle Campus. Bill Manville split after 18 y ears
is a Book of the Month novelist; he teaches “Writing To Get Pub lished” at
The Grammy-winning singer, 59,
http://www.writers.com/manville.html His most recent non-fiction work, “Cool, Hip &
and former supermodel Elaine
Sob er,” is availab le at online b ookstores.
Irwin have two sons.
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3 comments | See All Comments » To comment, Register or Log In not cooperating with probe into
[Discussion guidelines] X-rated photos sent to TV host.
Mona Lisa
4:46:30 PM You have done a great disservice by only presenting one side of the Gone, but not forgotten:
Jul 30, 2010 picture when it comes to addictions and prescribed medications. Those we lost in 2010
Your story fails to mention that over half of people with addictions IN MEMORIAM - Remembering
have co-occurring mental illnesses which require careful treatment the iconic personalities who
with medications. One of the most horrible aspects of AA and other 12 passed away this year.
step programs is the idea that these people only need to work steps
in order to get better. Sometimes such people are even told they
aren't "really sober" if they take their medications. I was in AA for The most outrageous
several years and know of several people who killed themselves or moment s of 2010
relapsed after going off their medications with encouragement from PHOTOS: Smoking babies,
other AA members. bedbugs and Katy Perry flashing
Report Offensive Post Elmo... what a year!

anonobserver
MORE FROM DR. DAVID MOORE
12:14:09 PM MonaLisa, excellent point. Anyone who doubts the point should
AND BILL MANVILLE
Jul 31, 2010 Google "midtown group" aa It will bring up information, including
articles from Time and The Washington Post about an AA group
which urged people to go off medication for depression, etc. Several Addictions & Answers: Drinking meds for
nearly killed themselves. Also, I think the columnist's comments are alcoholics -- denial in a bottle?
contradictory because AA (lots of family members have gone through Addictions & Answers: 'I'm ashamed of my
it) keeps claiming it's not a religious organization and that sponsors addiction to porn'
aren't supposed to tell people what to do. Addictions & Answers: Miley Cyrus, party drugs
and other teen terrors
Report Offensive Post
Addictions & Answers: Can you really be

nydailynews.com/…/2010-07-30_addic… 2/3
1/1/2011 Addictions & Answers: Is your friendly …
addicted to love?
anonobserver Addictions & Answers: Narcotics Anonymous
12:18:06 PM Many people drink and use other drugs to self medicate because of took my daughter away
Jul 31, 2010 trauma. Trauma causes physical reactions and changes within the
body. And it really messes with the sleep cycle because the body is
often on high alert even when there's no danger. PIlls might help MORE FROM HEALT H
some people, religion might help some people. But what's probably
most effective is addressing the trauma with a good therapist and Don't let 2010 hangover into 2011
figuring out coping skills. But that can be difficult to do with both the Addictions & Answers: Drinking meds for
stigma of seeking help from a therapist and the cost. I'm not making alcoholics -- denial in a bottle?
excuses for Lohan, but it seems there was a pretty bad family City death rate falls to lowest level ever
situation growing up. I remember reports of the police being called in
Scientists beg: Please don't take medical advice
at one time. And that's only what made the news. I'm guessing there
from these people
was some violence and that family and she's dealing with the
aftermath of trauma. I think there should be a mutlifaceted approach Get ready to be GROSSED out: 7 places where
to dealing with trauma. Try the non-drug methods first such as germs love to lurk
meditation, yoga, relaxation imagery, etc. Then if they

Report Offensive Post MOST POPULAR

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