Greetings, from the NA Blog.  We recently had a staff writer attend the 2009 South Florida Rally for Recovery.  Below is a review of the walk and concert.  Enjoy.

“I recently attended the South Florida Rally for Recovery walk and concert, as part of National Recovery Month.  The event started bright and early at about 8:30am.  By 9:00am, a thousand or more people had made their charitable donations of $9.00 to support people in recovery with scholarships and had begun walking.

It was bright and hot that day, but people were in high spirits.  Everyone was smiles, hugs, words of encouragement, and inspirational story sharing.  It felt great to be part of such a worthy event.  As we crossed the Mac Arthur Causeway, cars passed and people inside stared curiously from their air-conditioned compartments.  No matter, we only had best wishes for everyone.

Later we returned to Bayfront were we received tons of free fruit and water to replenish us.  After that, we heard a representative of the Governor’s office award the founders of Intherooms.com (Kenny & RT who helped host the event) with an official document proclaiming September 12, 2009, In the Rooms South Florida Rally for Recovery Day. 

The day was filled with great speakers sharing their experiences of decades in recovery; I wolfed down delicious Arepas and frozen lemonade drink as somber rain clouds made thunderous threats in the distance.  Luckily, the weather held, and we were able to enjoy hours of amazing musical performances.

Honestly, every act rocked Bayfront park equally awesomely, but the headliners were outstanding.  Both Richie Supa, and Eric Burdon and the Animals, played all their best stuff.  There were acoustic sets, hard rocking, dancing masses, and an overall spirit of good clean fun.

I’m truly thankful Miami hosted the South Florida Rally for Recovery as part of National Recovery Month and that I was able to write this review for the NA Blog.  I look forward to attending again next year.”

September 2009 marks National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, which means all active members of recovery fellowships should get involved and show there support for the recovery community as a whole. All month long events will be taking place across the country to try and spread the message that addiction recovery is possible.

One such event is the 2009 South Florida Rally for Recovey. The event is sponsored by the online social-networking recovery site, intherooms.com, and features a charitable walk to raise money for recovery scholarships, recovery expert guest speakers, food and games for the family, and a closing concert featuring classic rock artist Richie Supa and Eric Burdon and the Animals.

If you’re in the South Florida area, you should get involved. The vent will be held September 12 in Downtown Miami, Fl, and will only cost $9.00 to participate. Be sure to check the following link to find out more: Get Involved. The linked page provides detialed information on how to get involved as part of the Rally for Recovey and National Recovery Month, whether as an attendant, volunteer, sponsor, or exhibitor/presenter.

She was found in a Caravan in Norfolk, there is speculation as to why the former Royal Medical Corps Technician would want to take her life. Family and friends say it’s because she was discharged against her will, others say it was the mental strain ‘Post -traumatic stress’ she suffered after serving six years in such war thorn places as Bosnia and kosovo.

St. Pierre, Executive of NORML (The National Organization For The Reform of Marijuana Laws) feels that the more productive issue here deals with Employees, Insurance agencies, Hospitals, and Employers., let’s cut straight to the dollars and cents of the issue. As a tool for saving money and increasing a patients state of well being, medical marijuana should be part of the array of choices doctors, patients, and employers explore.

Advocates of Marijuana legalization champion it as an effective medicine with far ranging benefits such as treating Weight loss, Nausea, Pain, Spasticity, symptoms associated with cancer, AIDS, Cerebal Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, and Arthritis. In addition it has proven to be a cost effective alternative to other pharmaceuticals.

St. Pierre says it’s the hope of advocates that reimbursing patients who use medical marijuana, could help eliminate their use of more costly and potentially addictive drugs. For employers, as payers of health care., if only considered a money saving tool – medical marijuana could very well be a solution.

The year long investigation Code name “Operation Eliminacion” was spear-headed by the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, DEA in Connecticut and New Jersey, and the Colombian National Police, ANTIN Heroin Task Force.

The strategies employed during this covert mission utilized over 40 court ordered wiretaps in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Colombia. The spoils of this investigation yielded, numerous drug presses, Narcotic Trafficking Paraphernalia, and on several occasions sizable amounts of heroin with a total street value of approximately $24 Million.

The ”crème de la crème” revealed during this investigation, was the method these two men used to transport the drugs from colombia to the United states, through Panama & Guatemala – Kidney Beans. The Heroin was Concealed inside packages of Kidney Beans, which were then resealed intheir original Cellophane wrappers.

The NA Blog would like to be the first to announce that IntheRooms.com goes live with National AA Meetings Database this week. For those unfamiliar with IntheRooms, it is one of the most revered recovery social networking websites on the net. Daily, IntheRooms.com helps its 40,000+ members connect with each other across the globe.

As for the National AA Meetings Database, what makes it unique is that it allows anyone to update it regularly, similar to Wikipedia. The idea is to have the most up to date National Database of AA Meetings on the web. As anyone who has looked for fellowship meeting on the net knows, they are constantly being changed, in terms of time, date and location that it makes it very difficult to have them all up to date.

Well, that’s no longer an issue. Now, anyone can go to the IntheRooms.com National AA Meetings Database and update the hours and locations to be absolutely accurate to the present moment. Please be sure to check out the database at:
http://meetings.intherooms.com/wiki/AA_Meetings

The Arizona Star recently polled their readers to find out if they supported the initiative of legalizing marijuana in the state.  Shockingly, the majority were in favor of legal marijuana in the state of Arizona.  However, the periodical made sure to note that the study was not scientific and that it only reflected the opinion of those who participated.

Nonetheless, when asked: “Do you believe marijuana should be legal for recreation purposes?” 84% of readers agreed that it should.  When asked: “How would you view the legalization of marijuana? (In terms of the government’s role)” 53% agreed that it was wise and 39% agreed that it would be a satisfactory means of seeking tax revenue.  Finally, when asked: “What effect do you believe legalizing marijuana would have on drug trafficking and its related violence?” 70% thought it would decrease significantly, while only 9% claimed no effect.

For me, the poll reflects the trend of medical and legal marijuana across the US.  It also makes sense, as the “Baby Boomer” generation is now in full control of the reins.  After all, they were also the generation marked by the “hippie” drug culture.  Still, I conclude that these Arizonians, and many others, are oblivious to the realities of legalizing drugs.  I would argue from the slippery slope premise and say that there is a snowball effect.  Basically, you start with allowing medical marijuana, and then it is all together legal, which eventually leads to the legalization of all drugs.

What kills more people per year, illegal drugs or legal drugs and alcohol?  Answer, legal drugs and alcohol.  Of course, common sense would tell us because it is more readily available when legal and less controlled.

A frightening report from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), known as “The National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment 2009 (NPDTA),” was recently released and reflected an excessive abuse of nonmedical, prescription drug use in the US. The most startling figure, however, was the absorbent amount of youths (12-21) that were included in the results.

The very first sentence of the report reads: “Approximately 6.9 million individuals aged 12 or older were current (past month) nonmedical users of prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs (opioid pain relievers tranquilizers, sedatives, or stimulants) during 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).”

The report goes on to note: “the number of deaths and treatment admissions involving CPDs, particularly prescription opioids, increased significantly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics, unintentional overdose deaths involving prescription opioids increased 114 percent from 2001 (3,994) to 2005 (8,541), the most recent nationwide data available.”

The data is based upon an accumulation of information collected from local law enforcement authorities and public health officials across the US. For the full report of The National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment 2009, please click the following links:
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs33/33775/index.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs33/33775/33775p.pdf

A Harvard psychologist named Gene M. Heyman recently released the book, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, which asserts that addiction isn’t really an illness. However, it really isn’t that surprising as Heyman is just one of the many who have previously posed this opinion.

The facts remain that nearly all health experts agree that addiction is a serious illness, which is not voluntarily chosen. Among such experts that disagree with the logic behind Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, is Norman Miller, professor of medicine at Michigan State University, who says: “These guys – I don’t know, academia, they just kind of take what they want, and they don’t care about the truth, or what the studies show.”

Tony George, the head of addiction psychiatry at the University of Toronto, further expounds upon this point, when he says the following about Gene M. Heyman’s hypothesis in the new book: “Where (Heyman) loses the argument is that there are clearly both biological and environmental or contextual factors involved, but he’s basically saying that the context and the environment are everything and the biology is irrelevant.”

Just recently, The Recovery Network (TRN) website has gone down. Similar to other social networking sites for recovering addicts, the Recovery Network specialized in connecting people and keeping them informed with blogs and news. It also provided online support that connected members to recovery experts. The Recovery Network was actually one of the first among the circle of social networking sites for recovering addicts; its niche and main base was the continent of Europe. It is unknown exactly why the site is down at this point, but insiders are speculating that it has to do with hosting costs.

Nonetheless, there is a viable and readily available solution. Right now, anyone seeking the same kind of social networking website and more can find it free of charge at intherooms.com. IntheRooms is less than a year old and already boosts 40,000+ members whose combined recovery time has recently been marked at 100,000+ years.

IntheRooms features all of the interface capabilities of The Recovery Network and more. It has a blogroll with at least 20+ blogs, a community forum, live chat for all the fellowships that members belong to (NA Chat, AA Chat, GA Chat, etc). The Newsletter is updated weekly. Each member can set up an account that has email and messaging capabilities; they can set up their own discussion groups for any and all interest broad or niche.

At last count, IntheRooms.com had members in every continent (over 100 countries). Their recovery community is considered global, so for any former members of The Recovery Network seeking similar needs again (because the network is down), please come check out IntheRooms.com. Hope this helps out.