Hey Frem - what do ya' think ? by rue

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Hey Frem - what do ya' think ?

POSTED BY: RUE
UPDATED: Saturday, April 18, 2009 18:56
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 3:54 PM

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/15/addiction.cold.turkey.pill/index.
html

With anti-addiction pill, 'no urge, no craving'

By Caleb Hellerman
CNN Senior Medical Producer

CENTRAL FALLS, Rhode Island (CNN) -- A no-frills bar called Goober's, just north of Providence, Rhode Island, is probably the last place you'd expect to find a debate over cutting-edge addiction therapy. But this is where Walter Kent, a retired mechanic, spends his Fridays. He helps in the kitchen and hangs out in the bar, catching up with old friends.

Most addiction specialists would call this playing with fire, or worse. That's because for more than 30 years, Kent was a hard-core alcoholic. His drinks of choice were Heineken beer and Jacob Ginger brandy, but anything with alcohol would do.

"It's like a little kid wanting a piece of candy. You see it, you want the taste of it." He closes his eyes and sniffs the air, remembering the feeling. "You can be by yourself, and all of a sudden get even a hint of alcohol, just the smell of it, and say, 'Oh, I need a drink.' That sensation is not something you can get rid of."

But today, Kent isn't tempted in the least. He says the credit goes to a prescription medication -- a pill called naltrexone. It's part of a new generation of anti-addiction drugs that may turn the world of rehab on its head.

Dr. Mark Willenbring, who oversees scientific research at the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, says alcoholism has reached a point similar to one depression reached 30 years ago -- when the development of Prozac and other antidepressants took mental health care out of the asylum and put it in homes and doctors' offices.

"There will be a 'Prozac moment,' " Willenbring says, "when primary care doctors start handling functional alcoholics."

• A study led by Dr. Bankole Johnson of the University of Virginia found that topiramate (Topamax) -- already used to treat epilepsy and migraines -- reduced the number of days on which alcoholics drank heavily, by 25 percent more than among alcoholics who got just therapy.

• A federally funded study known as COMBINE compared cognitive-behavioral therapy alone with therapy along with naltrexone. Patients receiving both were more likely to stay abstinent and drank less if they did relapse.

These findings highlight what's become increasingly clear: Addiction is a brain disease, not just a failure of willpower. Naltrexone and topiramate have slightly different mechanisms, but both seem to block the release of brain chemicals that are linked to pleasure and excitement. Unlike earlier drugs used to treat alcoholics, neither is addictive or carries significant side effects. It does appear that each might work better in certain subgroups -- topiramate for repeat relapsers, and naltrexone in people with a strong family history of alcoholism.

It goes on - see the link.

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:55 PM

FREMDFIRMA

It's interesting, but I hope they don't fall back on the idiotic and counterproductive methodology they've resorted to for other disorders.

Medication is best used for symptom abatement during a comprehensive theraputic regime aimed at restoring ones ability to function independantly rather than simply swapping out one kind of addiction for another - which is what I fear might happen if Big Pharma gets their hooks into this, yanno ?

It does sound promising, I'll give it that - I just don't have a lotta faith in the medical establishments will and ability to use it properly.

Breaking a mental cycle or suppressing a symptom that prevents therapy from working or "sticking" in some cases is what medication is best used FOR, and when handling an addiction, suppressing the psycho-bio cravings while treating the compulsive behavior would be one hell of an advantage, sure.

I wanna see a little more long term research and dig into the study and testing methodologies before I put any real stock in it, cause the last one of these "miracle cures" was Gardasil, and look how that turned out ?

So, tenatively hopeful, but skeptical as well.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 5:11 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

Thanks. I was curious what you thought.

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Friday, April 17, 2009 4:10 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090417/us_time/08599189108200

Hey Frem - I don't know how long the link will be up - but here's another one for you.

Oddly enough, the public schools come across as being the not-quite-so-bad-guys.

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Friday, April 17, 2009 11:33 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
Mount Bachelor's Lifesteps appear to share these tactics and philosophy. Several of its top employees formerly worked at a now defunct chain of troubled-teen programs known as CEDU, which was founded by former Synanon members. "The process of breaking kids down is very much integrated into the therapeutic milieu," says Kat Whitehead, executive director of the Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth, an expert on such abuse, who has testified before Congress on the topic. "Unfortunately, that seems to be very common, at least in the private facilities."

Prettymuch says it all, this place was yet another part of thewhole Synanon/WWASP/CEDU/Lifestep/etc cult we've been slowly strangling to death and poisoning with sunshine and accountability.

We do need to put a safety net underneath students who can be helped via therapy and what have you, so they don't fall through, and better that it's part of the unfortunately abysmal public education system rather than closed-doors, secretive, for-profit stuff, most (but not all) of which is bitterly destructive rather than theraputic.

Problem with that is that in my experience, the few rare times it's been tried, it's been so halfassed as to be disastrous, but that was back in a time where awareness and acceptance of these kinds of problems was all but non-existent, and the folks assigned to it had no clue what they were doing.

And then there were OTHER problems....

Phoenix was a second chance subsystem within certain schools, but while never publicly admitted, wound up by means and methods I never did find out, receiving a certain amount of funding from certain darker corners of the US Military, who used their influence via one William Archibald Haroth, to foster an environment as hostile as possible, and then use it as a recruiting ground for potential black-baggers.

Which, of course, gives you quite enough to put two and two together, but I'd be amazed if anyone *hadn't* figured at least that much out by now, just by virtue of various discussions and their content here.

What we need most in these programs is oversight and accountability, and we're workin on that, obviously - although HR 911 is still lingering, ignored, in the senate, and the Rethugs are howling a fit about it passing the house cause so many of the fuckers have their fat fingers deep in the juicy pie of Synanons profit box...

This isn't a matter of not knowing what to do anymore, it's more a matter of puttin it together in a way that would WORK, and keeping undue influences with no theraputic purpose, and often nefarious ones, out of it.

But Synanon has to die first, to cut off their tremendous financial and political influence, or we'd just be changing the venue of the abuse, instead of replacing it with functional theraputic models.

And so, we finish the job - root and branch, those assholes are mine, and I'll have em, and THAT, M'lady, will clear the deck for establishing how this is SUPPOSED to work as a sub-system of public education, while we go after domino two and clean up our legal and social systems regarding how we treat our youth, and public school reforms are indeed part of that.

Here's to hopin I get to see THAT domino tip over as well.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

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Saturday, April 18, 2009 5:55 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Oh yes, I said I was gonna name names, right ?

From 1971-1973, the US Government was partially financing Synanon/Seed both openly and via MKSearch.

NIDA, especially via Robert DuPont, shelled at least seven figures into it, and D. Santarelli threw at least six into it via LEAA, well AFTER Sam Ervin took it to em.

Rick Helms wiped the files (most of em) back in 1973 and about a year later Senator Sam Ervin tore them a new one thanks to being fed information from certain elements in opposition to this practice pre-dating my involvement (my mentors, if you would) titled "Individual Rights and the Federal Role in Behavior Modification" - it's very interesting reading, especially as involved continued unofficial and political support of Synanon/Seed/Straight despite official denials.

Of course, the involvement of Art Baker, Robert & Narvin Lichfield, Mel & Betty Sembler, Ken Kay, along with Mitt Romney is pretty well known by now, but Bill Colby did continue some discreet support well into the 1980's, and let's throw out some of the other board of directors and let folk crossref them as they like, such as Leon Sellers and Jim Hartz, and certain folk in the medical establishment like Don Ian Macdonald, George Ross and Richard H. Schwartz.

Macdonald's daughter had her hooks into Congressman Michael Bilirakis, who bent the ear of George Bush Sr into adopting as public policy the Syanon/Seed/Straight "anti-drug" methodology despite massive evidence that it not only did not work, but had other more nefarious purposes.

This gave ole boy Bush a wedge against his buddy Reagan, since it was an open secret ole Nancy had a few substance abuse problems and Ronnie was desperate to resolve that problem.

And of course, the black bag boys were ALL about investing in this sorta thing, Cord Meyer, Helms, and Nixon were very interested in this stuff to counter the supposed use of such programs by "the reds" and this continued till Frank Church bombed the shit out of it via the Church Committee - directly opposed by none other than Don Rumsfeld and Georgie Bush Sr, who wound up in charge of the CIA and continued to secretly fund the bastards.

Once again, I am outta time, very busy for the time being, but I wanted to give you some insight into the size, scope and scale of what it really is we're trying to kill, and most importantly the REASON, cause as long as this horror exists, there's always gonna be SOME govgoon who sees this low hanging and easily plucked fruit as a route to power, and all too often they are entirely correct.

And it's innocent kids who suffer for it, with real problems going unaddressed or resulting in abuse against them instead of treatment.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

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Saturday, April 18, 2009 6:56 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Quick addendum to the above, while I got a moment of time for it.

Georgie senior KNEW their "treatment model" was bullshit from the start, but given what his job was at the time - that wasn't what interested him in the first place, it was thier ability to provide disposable "throwaway" assets and as a bonus, feed his craving for little boys on the side.

Apparently he shared or spilled some bit of this to Georgie junior, which is how and where Jeffie Gannon enters the picture.

Even PN couldn't cook a tale as twisted as this if he tried, and yet 95% or more of this shit is documented fact, just spread out and mostly ignored despite its extremely relevant political impact.

By the mid-90's most of their funding came via the private sector, eventually distilling to several feeder systems which provided intake and assessment as well as marketing while remaining at a comfortable level of deniability, and one by one they've been hacked off at the knees, and now with Pathway Family Centers in full implosion, these assholes are looking for Government money again.

Ergo, a certain level of quiet chaos and disorder going on behind the public eye.

NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN.

-Frem

Q: Why can't these assholes do this crap at a decent hour like normal folk ?

A: Cause they're NOT normal folk, nor decent by any stretch of the word.

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