Recovering folks issue calendar with their faces

For the 35 years that Jim Fischer was addicted to alcohol and drugs, he committed a handful of nonviolent crimes to pay for his addictions.

"My face has been out there for years … in front of judges," said the 53-year-old Mount Clemens resident, who was 15 when he began drinking and doing heroin and cocaine.

"Now, it's out in a positive light. I'm not that guy anymore.

"I'm not afraid to stand up."

Fischer, who has been in recovery for three years, is among a dozen local recovering substance abusers featured in a new calendar aimed at de-stigmatizing their struggle.

The grass-roots recovery advocacy group Greater Macomb Project Vox teamed up with St. Joseph's Healthcare to distribute the 5,000 or so free Faces of Recovery calendars to area businesses and treatment centers to help shed the stigma of addiction.

Read the full story in the Detroit News.

He wanted to see Lindsay Lohan

Battle Creek, MI: A 76-year-old man who told Battle Creek police he was a local pastor was ticketed for reckless driving about 9 a.m. Sunday. Police said they stopped the man after he ran three red lights, forced another car off the road and was driving at 70 mph on Dickman Road.

The police sergeant who stopped the car said the driver told him he was a clergyman "and he was late for a meeting at Alcoholics Anonymous and had to get to church because God was waiting for him." More.

Deer hunters in woods bag meth labs

Deer hunters this season are again finding meth labs and the garbage of abandoned meth labs in the woods of Michigan, Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and other states. But at least in some areas, the number of labs is down from past years. "Due to a new law that bans sales of pseudoephedrine off the shelf, we have seen an extreme reduction in meth labs," says Rod Slings of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' law enforcement bureau. Source.

Sleep complaints may predict relapse

Alcoholics new in recovery who complain of sleep problems are more likely to relapse, a new study suggests. Published in the December issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, the study assesses a variety of sleep issues related to alcohol. Deirdre A. Conroy, the corresponding author who conducted the research while a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, says that treatment professionals should listen to recovering alcoholics' problematic sleep narratives as red flags for relapse. The reasons for the link are not entirely understood. More.

Laser treatment for nicotine addiction?

EAST LANSING, MI: Peggy McElroy 58, quit smoking two and a half years ago with the help of the BreakFree laser treatment. The treatment, available in about 75 clinics around the United States, still is being studied. Smokers who want to take part pay around $350. It's not covered by health insurance, but some employers negotiate discounts for their workers, and some people have been allowed to pay with health-care spending accounts.

The laser is applied to pressure points on the body, including the ears, hands and head, said John Hagerty Jr., a Lansing-based laser therapist. It's similar to acupuncture and releases endorphins to help quitters beat nicotine withdrawal.Potential quitters also get counseling.

"You also have to address the nutritional needs and the behavioral side, to prepare them to deal with the stressors in their life without smoking," Hagerty said. More.

Suburban mom shoots heroin into 12-year old

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — A 25-year-old woman told a judge she injected heroin into her 12-year-old nephew and gave him and her 15-year-old niece heroin and cocaine in her mother's suburban Detroit home. Source.

Students Against Drunk Driving

East Lansing, MI: There's a new chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving on the Michigan State University campus, but it wasn't established by any mothers.

Amy Gnotek, MSU senior, knows all too well the damage drunk drivers cause. She's lost two high school friends, an aunt and uncle in separate drunk driving accidents. That's why she's organized Spartans Against Drunk Driving: "It's just hard, and I know it's touched a lot of lives a lot of families." Source.

Amy says the 40,000 students at her school are known for partying. East Lansing Police Chief Tom Wibert agrees. The department has reached a 15-year high on the number of drunk driving arrests, and now he's helping these students work on prevention.

Go, Amy!

What if Teens Tell Their Own Stories?

Parents don't get much traction shaking their index fingers at kids about the dangers of drugs. Teens notoriously tune out when parents go into preaching mode. But what if addicted teens told their own stories? That was the strategy behind a town hall meeting in Oakland MI (Detroit area) organized by the Save Our Youth Task Force. Here's a report, source. No data yet on how well it worked, but the concept has plausibility.