Month: September 2019

Top Neuroscientist Explains How Big Pharma’s Adderall Is Essentially Crystal Meth

By David Rainoshek, MA: For More Info, Go Here…

Anyone who’s ever been given one of their friend’s Adderall knows the powerful effects brought on by this tiny unintimidating pink pill. Increased energy, enhanced ability to focus and concentrate, and a euphoric sense of being are the most common effects of this drug.

Coincidentally, increased energy, enhanced ability to focus and concentrate, and a euphoric sense of being — are also the most common effects of crystal meth.

So, why are these effects so similar? Because the drugs are nearly identical in their chemical structure.

Hart admitted that he too believed that methamphetamine was far more dangerous than d-amphetamine, despite the fact that the chemical structure of the two drugs is nearly identical. However, after thoroughly researching the evidence, Hart shattered this belief.

To back up his claims, Hart and his team conducted a study of 13 men who regularly use methamphetamine. During the double-blind study, the men were given a hit of methamphetamine, of d-amphetamine, or of placebo. According to the study:

When It Comes to Bereavement Leave, the U.S. Is Unspeakably Cruel

BY JULIANNE TVETEN: For More Info, Go Here…

In the wake of her husband’s death, Christensen says she was given three days’ paid bereavement leave, per her contract under the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE), with Good Friday, a paid holiday, following on March 30. She estimates she missed two additional days that weren’t covered by paid leave; each of these days resulted in disciplinary “points.” Reaching a certain number of points, she explains, would be grounds for firing. Christensen says she returned to work the following Wednesday, after seven days off.

“I was very close to losing my job,” she tells In These Times. “When things like this happen, you would like to take some time off. There’s so much stuff that you have to do. I would’ve liked to have taken more time off, but [Freudenberg-NOK] told me that I could not, unless I wanted to use the Family and Medical Leave Act,” she says.

Christensen hoped, as an employee of over 30 years, she could devise an alternative with Freudenberg-NOK, in the form of unpaid personal leave of approximately three days. The company had given unpaid leave previously to grieving employees, she says. To Christensen’s surprise, she recounts, the company denied her request, explaining that a broken water heater would warrant such leave, but her husband’s sudden illness and death wouldn’t.

CMS: Hundreds of Medicare Advantage Plans Preparing to Roll Out New Home Care Benefits in 2020

By Bailey Bryant: For More Info, Go Here…

As more Medicare Advantage (MA) plans prepare to roll out new home care benefits in 2020, premiums are expected to drop 23% next year, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.

The news comes as more and more entrants continue to break into the market — and as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) prepares to give MA plans the most flexibility they’ve ever had in terms of covering non-medical in-home supplemental benefits.

Specifically, there will be about 1,200 more Medicare Advantage plans operating in 2020 than in 2018, the Trump administration said in a press release. Many of the new MA players were lured in by the promise of increased flexibility, according to Patrick Phillips, CEO of Cavulus.

The Growing Problem of Pharmacy Deserts

By Fred Gebhart: For More Info, Go Here…

Pharmacy deserts, areas with low access to prescription medications, are a challenge. There could be nearly 100 million Americans without good access to pharmacies, but pharmacists are not rushing to fill the gap.

A few independent pharmacists are expanding their existing community practices with telepharmacies, either independently or in cooperation with medical clinics or retailers such as grocery and hardware stores, Federally Qualified Health Centers, hospitals, and other provider groups. That leaves pharmacy deserts as a tremendous opportunity.

“There are a number of options, all of them lesser than community pharmacy,” says Anthony Ciaccia, director of government and public affairs for the Ohio Pharmacists Association. Ohio is seeing a surge in pharmacy deserts as unprofitable rural pharmacies close.

Pretty Amazing: Two Disabled Activist Memoirs

By Sonya Huber: For More Info, Go Here…

It might seem like a coincidence: two books released in the same season with “pretty” in the title by disability activists. But the reasons are far more than skin deep. Both authors were told how attractive they were, with the implication or outright statement added that this beauty was wasted on a disabled person. Both Keah Brown and Nadia LaSpina write against the incorrect and cruel assumption that a disabled life is not a full, vibrant, and beautiful life. Both Brown and LaSpina vocally resist being, as Brown writes, “anyone’s worst-case scenario.”

ngd- excellent essay…

ADA Title II: Access to Health Care in Detention and Correctional Facilities

From ADA in Focus: For More Info, Go Here…

Title II of the ADA covers the criminal justice systems of state and local governments, just as it covers all other state and local government programs and activities. When an individual is detained or incarcerated, however, a unique relationship is formed. When a person is taken into custody, the public agency takes on a greater responsibility for that individual’s health and safety.

Prisoners lose many freedoms and rights, but they still have certain civil rights, including the right to be free from disability discrimination and to have access to the facilities, programs, and services that are available to similar prisoners without disabilities.

Additionally, all inmates have the constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. This constitutional right may be violated when prisoners are purposefully subjected to brutal treatment, when prison operators demonstrate deliberate indifference to serious illnesses or injuries, or when prison conditions are so poor that prisoners’ lives or health are seriously threatened.

The public duty to ensure reasonable health, well-being, and safety extends to ensuring that vulnerable individuals, including those with disabilities, are protected from abuse, assault, or self-injury.

Many studies and statistics have indicated that the percentage of individuals who have disabilities is much higher in jails, detention centers, and prisons than it is in the general population. There are undoubtedly many reasons for this, but for the operators of these kinds of facilities, it often means meeting a high level of need for a wide variety of health care services and personal assistance, medications, special diets, assistive devices, and medical supplies.

Additionally, these needs often trigger or overlap other general ADA requirements, such as the obligations to provide accessible facilities, to make reasonable modifications in policies and practices, or to provide auxiliary aids and services to communicate effectively with inmates who have vision, hearing, or speech disabilities. For example:

  • Inmates who are deaf may need sign language interpreter services to make sure communication is effective during medical assessments, treatments, counseling sessions, etc.
  • Inmates with psychiatric disabilities may need alternate approaches (e.g., de-escalation techniques, treatment, medication) to avoid ineffective or damaging punishments (e.g., use of force, seclusion) and address disability-related behaviors that may be negative but are not dangerous or threatening.
  • Inmates with mobility disabilities may need equal access to facilities, ranging from toilets and showers to recreational spaces, in order to maintain health and avoid medical complications or secondary conditions.

P&A and CIL Invitation: Virtual Roundtable on Involuntary Institutionalizations Before, During, & After Disasters

From ACL: For More Info, Go Here…

ngd- 4 virtual roundtables STARTING TOMORROW, so register now…

The National Council On Disability (NCD) and the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) invite you to an upcoming Virtual Roundtable Series on Involuntary Institutionalizations Before, During & After Disasters/Emergencies.

This series seeks input from representatives from Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and Protection & Advocacy (P&A) agencies on collaborative approaches that address involuntary institutionalizations throughout disasters. Inspired by the recently released NCD report, Preserving Our Freedom: Ending Institutionalization of People with Disabilities During and After Disasters, conversations will focus on collective next steps for P&As and CILs.

REGISTER for one of four virtual roundtable discussions about prevention, advocacy, monitoring/investigations, community integration/re-entry, and follow up resources/services. We encourage participants to share their perspectives and suggested strategies for how we can best coordinate our efforts moving forward.

Roundtable Dates & Times

  • September 30, 2019, 3:00-4:00 PM ET
  • October 1, 2019, 1:00-2:00 PM ET
  • October 3, 2019, 10:00-11:00 AM ET
  • October 3, 2019, 4:00-5:00 PM ET

Questions and additional considerations:

Justine “Justice” Shorter, Disaster Protection Advisor
National Disability Rights Network
Justine.Shorter@NDRN.org
202.880.2435

Cleverly Faked Website Targets US Veterans

By Sarah Coble: For More Info, Go Here…

American military veterans on the hunt for a new job are the latest group to be targeted by bold new threat group Tortoiseshell.

The group, which was discovered earlier this month by researchers at Symantec, has been active since July 2018, primarily targeting IT providers in Saudi Arabia with a mix of customized and “common or garden” malware.

New intelligence published yesterday by Cisco Talos reveals that Tortoiseshell has refocused its criminal campaign to strike at targets in the United States. Talos discovered that team Tortoiseshell was behind a malicious website that has been cleverly crafted to resemble a legitimate recruitment site for US military veterans.

Users of the site hxxp://hiremilitaryheroes[.]com were prompted to download an app that in reality was a malware downloader that deployed malware and spyware.

Warren Mercer, technical leader at Cisco Talos, told Infosecurity Magazine that the nature of the attack indicated that Tortoiseshell was hoping to ensnare active military personnel in addition to former servicemen.

“As it seems they were targeting HR/recruitment efforts, it’s possible they hoped to attack current military servicemen as well as current veterans.”

Budget fight looms over changes in Medicaid mental health in Michigan

By Ted Roelofs: For More Info, Go Here…

Mental health advocates are pressing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to veto budget provisions they say could “irreparably damage” care for 300,000 low-income people in Michigan with serious mental illness or developmental disabilities.

While overshadowed by other budget showdowns, their warnings are the latest in a long-simmering skirmish over who should manage care for these individuals.

Under a plan first proposed by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder in 2016, Michigan was to privatize its $2.4 billion public mental health system by turning over state funding to Medicaid physical health plans as part of a plan to integrate physical and mental-health services for low-income patients.

Proponents said that merger would save millions of dollars while improving care. Critics said the switch would leave care for mentally ill and disabled in the wrong hands.

Three regional pilot programs to test that proposal have been pushed back twice, the latest extending launch of the pilots to October 2020.

Mark Reinstein, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association in Michigan, a mental health advocacy group, contends that new language in the GOP-approved budget could accelerate a move to put mental health care under 11 mostly for-profit health plans that provide Medicaid physical health care.

“Our system has a lot of problems as it is now,” Reinstein told Bridge. “But this is one of the few things that could make a troubled system even worse. It’s about as bad an idea as I’ve ever seen.”

The GOP legislature on Tuesday approved a $59 billion budget for the 2020 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. After calling the budget “a mess,” Whitmer is expected to veto portions of the budget.

Reinstein is urging Whitmer to either veto the entire budget boilerplate authorizing potential merger of physical and mental health care or new language added to it in the new budget.

Walmart’s Mental Health Clinics Could Be a Game Changer

By Keren Landman: For More Info, Go Here…

Amid the clatter of shopping carts outside the Dallas, Georgia, Walmart, Erica Rowell crinkled her nose as she glanced toward the other end of the store. There, past a Subway restaurant, a nail salon, a veterinary center, and an ocean of checkout lanes, stood Walmart Health, a clinic offering primary care, dentistry, and mental health services — the first and only one in the United States.

While the clinic offerings are still in early testing stages, if the services are spread to more stores it could mean more accessible and affordable mental health care for rural Americans — and potentially normalize it in places where seeking care is often a source of shame.

In rural regions of the United States, the consequences of untreated mental illness are dire: A recent analysis published in JAMA Network Open revealed that suicide rates are higher, and rising more quickly, in rural than urban counties, and people living in rural areas are hospitalized for mental health issues at higher rates than residents of metro areas.

Experts attribute this in part to the expense of mental health care and the stigma associated with it, which together cause many rural Americans to avoid or delay seeking care for mental health symptoms. Rural dwellers with severe mental illness are more likely to self-pay for care than their urban counterparts, and likely to have higher out-of-pocket costs for health care in general. Studies in men, women, and children suggest that gender stereotypes, a cultural expectancy of self-reliance, and concern about stigma all contribute to rural residents’ reluctance to seek treatment for mental health issues.

There’s also a vacuum of rural mental health providers, which limits early and adequate treatment. The majority of government-defined mental health professional shortage areas are in rural counties. Non-metropolitan counties have one third to one half the psychiatrist and psychologist supply of urban counties, and 75% of more sparsely populated rural counties lack a psychiatrist.

What rural counties often do have is Walmart.