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Holiday Family Coping Strategies: Know How & When to Draw The Line

The Holidays are HERE and when families get together there is joy and struggle. We want things to be perfect, loving, happy. But, sometimes old buttons get pushed, painful patterns of communication come to the surface, again, and feelings get triggered that lead to the “excuse” to cope by drinking or using another substance. There’s an old saying that our parents install our emotional buttons and our children and close loved ones push them. I think of emotional buttons that get pushed as opportunities for healing. Yeah.

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Should We Legalize Marijuana? No. Why Pot is NOT a Nothing Drug

Should we legalize marijuana? I say no. Decriminalize, yes. I should be upfront and say I have a skewed bias because I have been working as an addiction counselor since 1985.

I know, pot affects people differently so if your experience is that it enhances reality, fine. At the age of 20 I smoked daily for a year and it was the most unproductive, wasted, sleepy year of my life. I was able to take care of my son, clean the house and nap a lot. I remember the realization that sluggishness was not how I wanted to live each day, quit and felt mentally clear. But it took awhile!…

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Does Smoking Pot Effect Your IQ?

Does smoking pot affect your IQ? Yes, if you start smoking under the age of 18. A study from New Zealand’s University of Otago of 1,000 people IQ tested and followed from 18 to 34 showed that people who smoked and became dependent by 18 had an average drop of 8 points.  Unfortunately, quitting didn’t remove the problem researchers reported.  (Modesto Bee, Tue. 28, 2012)  

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The Heart-Break of Addiction

Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle had a heartbreaking letter written by Ricci & Vernae Graham’s about the loss of their son Malcolm to an opioid overdose. The Graham’s son is

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