Waismann Method®

Waismann Method® Opioid Treatment Specialists have been providing rapid detox since 1998. Although they are recognized as a rapid detox center, they also provide a number of medically assisted detox options in a private room of a full service, accredited hospital. On the first day of treatment, patients undergo a comprehensive medical assessment, which often includes blood work, EKG, stress test and any other recommended examinations based on the health needs of each patient. Patients also receive IV fluids, vitamins, and electrolytes to stabilize nutrients in the body before, during and after the detox process. On the second day, those who receive rapid detox are transferred to the ICU. Patients remain in the hospital overnight or until they are physically stable. Then they are discharged and transferred to Domus Retreat, a private recovery center where guests receive around-the-clock aftercare and support during the physical and emotional adjustment period.Since Waismann Method® is primarily a medically assisted detoxification, it differs from the typical rehabs that are reviewed in this section of The Fix. Because of this, the following alumni-provided details mainly describe the aftercare component of treatment, which takes place at Domus Retreat. For more information about Waismann Method’s medically assisted detox, please see their website.Waismann Method® specifically treats patients who are dependent on opioids. The alumni who took our survey report a variety of opioid drugs of choice and patterns of abuse as well as variation in length of treatment. Some clients arrived dependent on heroin or methadone while others reported an addiction to Oxycontin, for example. One patient who was “addicted to prescription pills for 7 years,” stayed about two weeks in treatment, while another who had been addicted to methadone was home in less than a week. This is not a long-term facility.When asked why they chose Waismann Method®, the vast majority of respondents placed quality of treatment and privacy above all else. While undergoing the detox process in the hospital, patients do not interact with one another. Once they have completed detox and move on to the Domus Retreat, there is some interaction with other residents. For the most part, other patients were “respectful and helpful. There was a feeling we were all getting our lives back and so we could appreciate each other’s experience.”Accommodations at the retreat were very highly rated by former clients. Rooms were described as “big, private and clean,” all with televisions, internet access, and private bathrooms. There is a private chef and maid service. Clients do not do any chores.Treatment at the retreat is “centered around physical recovery along with emotional recovery.” To that end, clients avail themselves of any of a number of services including individualized psychotherapy, massage, acupuncture, and yoga. There are no group therapy sessions and no 12-step meetings. Those looking to stay fit can choose from an array of activities such as “basketball, swimming, Jacuzzi, exercise equipment...things to keep you occupied.” There is also art therapy and Tai Chi. Unlike typical treatment centers, there is not a lot of structure and scheduling. Clients are free to choose how they spend their days. There are no restrictions on phone, internet, or TV but “You are encouraged to not do too much work so this can be a respite.”All meals are prepared to order for each client by a private chef. The menu consists of “very healthy meals (fresh salads and smoothies, for example) along with immense flexibility in our choices.” If clients have any specific requests, dietary restrictions, or food allergies, accommodations are made. Clients described the food as “healthy,” “gourmet,” and “delicious.” Favorites were steak and vegetables for dinner as well as fish, chicken and pesto pasta. “It was like dining out all the time,” said one client who “Couldn’t have been happier.” When a client didn’t like a particular item, they would request something different for the following day.Patients spoke highly of the staff, describing them as “always friendly and respectful.” When asked how infractions are handled, one person described staff as “very accessible,” and that they “explain the rules in a way that helps you feel safe and helps with relaxation.” Additionally, “The staff was open to the patients’ input and they helped us understand the thinking behind each decision.” Most clients felt infractions were rare or non-existent. “Everybody seemed civil and well taken care of.” For example, one alum who was smoking near the house “was asked politely to move further away.”For the most part, clients gave high marks to medical personnel, both in hospital during the detox and at the retreat which has full-time nurses in residence as well as a visiting physician who is also on call. Doctors and nurses were described by one client as “compassionate, respectful, and humane.” While one alum felt the doctor should have been more attentive in the period post-detox, another described him as “extremely helpful and knowledgeable and he never treated me like an addict but instead like a patient with respect and kindness.” This sentiment was echoed by others who appreciated the medical approach to their addiction. One client described it as “different than a rehab. I was treated like a medical patient and received therapy.” When asked what was most memorable about treatment at Waismann Method®, there was a variety of responses. Many clients appreciated being in a place that offered an alternative to 12-step programs. Several people gained insight from the one-on-one psychotherapy, which was “Very helpful - I gained a real understanding of some of my concerns.“ Another alum recalled “Being treated with such respect and empathy while going through such a rough time in my life.” Another was grateful for the speed with which they were able to detox from opioids, appreciating “How good I felt, and how fast I recovered.” One person did not have a good experience and said that withdrawal symptoms remained after the procedure.The alumni who took our survey have been doing well since treatment, with some reporting multiple years clean. Their parting sentiments were overwhelmingly positive, with comments such as: “Very satisfied and happy. Getting off methadone maintenance can be difficult but it is possible.” “Excellent experience. Top level care which minimized my discomfort and helped me get better quickly.”

Unacceptable

Even if they’ve only dipped their toes into Alcoholics Anonymous, recovering alcoholics and addicts are familiar with one of the organization’s go-to passages: the Serenity Prayer.God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things I can,and wisdom to know the difference.True to its first line, the recitation’s overarching message is that most matters are beyond our control. The vast majority of items within our power to change are internal: our thinking, our actions, our sobriety. Many of us, myself included, are recovering control freaks accustomed to banging our heads against the wall in vain attempts to get the world around us, including its inhabitants, to bend to our will. In sobriety, we learn that placing outsized expectations on others invariably leads to disappointment and resentment.As someone who is decidedly not a “God person,” I have found the Serenity Prayer refreshingly non-religious and spiritually simple. Its first word aside, the passage logically dissects the overwhelming majority of situations into two columns: those that I can do something about, and those that I can’t and must therefore, however begrudgingly, accept. All that is required of me is an honest assessment of which column any given matter occupies.This binary system has helped successfully steer me through nearly nine years of sobriety and all the marital, financial, interpersonal and attitudinal progress it has made possible. For someone who lacks a traditional God, it has been... well, a godsend.Until now. Until COVID-19.A Delicate DanceAfter three months of house confinement, Americans are beginning to reemerge and reengage. Vaccine or no vaccine, the reopening was inevitable because the opposite was unworkable: if we didn’t start returning to some semblance of business as usual, there wouldn’t be an economy to return to. Unemployment figures exceeding 40 million simply aren’t sustainable. Zero income is not an outcome and, while many of us can work effectively from home, most can’t make a living from their laptops.So here we are, restrictions easing, preparing to head back out into the world. Successfully reopening the economy will require a critical mass of people to perform a delicate dance of mask-wearing and social distancing. And already, the Serenity Prayer's well-founded advice of limiting our expectations of others runs into a stubborn contradiction: it is one thing when the actions of others merely threaten to impinge upon our spiritual well-being; it is quite another when those actions threaten our very lives.Expert simulations have shown that if 80 percent of the population wore masks, infection rates would plunge by more than 90 percent; a study published by the World Health Organization on June 1 aligns with these findings.Americans' response has been... mixed. A USA Today poll found that 84% of Americans have worn masks in public, while other surveys put the total closer to two-thirds - figures that, unsurprisingly, include a gap according to political leanings. The protracted nature of our efforts is an additional hurdle, as many are understandably fed up with treating every excursion like a germ gauntlet; even in epicenters like New York, there are signs of citizens waning on safe practices, prompting warnings from government officials.My daily life reflects these concerns. Each day, I go into my empty office (my colleagues are currently working from home; I have a visual disability, and the customized setup at my office makes working there far easier). While offices are mostly empty, the building manager has taken the opportunity to undergo a renovation. The number of workers wearing masks? Close to zero.A few weeks back I got into the elevator. Then a worker – sans mask – got on with me.I got off the elevator, shaking my head. The displeasure on his bare face was evident. Apparently my self-preservation had offended him.This isn't a spiritual inconvenience; it's a potentially life-and-death health issue. The two choices I had were physically endangering myself and my family, or offending someone. I chose the latter, because the former is simply unacceptable.It is a microcosm of what recovering alcoholics everywhere now face. In exercising the courage to change what we can – in my case, proximity to someone who refuses to abide by the simple recommendations of health officials – we will inevitably do something else we are taught to avoid: cause friction and conflict with those around us.With COVID-19, we are living through a crisis that is both all-permeating and all-important. Efforts to mitigate the spread of a deadly, highly contagious disease have touched every single American and stretched into every corner of the economy and society at large. Everyone has been forced to react to it as best they deem fit.Therein lies the rub: something all-encompassing and lethal has been foisted upon society without warning, causing a widely disparate set of perceived best practices to combat it. Many of us are on the same page – wearing face masks, socially distancing – but many are not. And considering the stakes, the majority of responsible citizens are ill-advised to tolerate the significant minority of those literally throwing caution to the wind around their bare faces.In this fashion, COVID-19 has drawn a red line between recovering alcoholics and the crucial tenet of acceptance espoused by the Serenity Prayer.An Inconvenient Lack of TruthI feel comfortable sharing exactly none of what I just wrote in a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. Why? Because AA is a strictly apolitical organization attempting to navigate a society in which indisputable facts have become politicized.Until COVID-19, this was manageable, because topics whose facts have been tainted by politics – climate change is a prime example – are easily avoided. They don’t directly factor into our day-to-day recovery.In stark contrast, the coronavirus pandemic has affected everything. It saturates every aspect of our lives, including AA. For example, we aren’t meeting on Zoom because of climate change, or the #MeToo Movement, or Donald Trump’s latest Tweet. And even if we were, it wouldn’t trickle down into essentially every action every person takes.But such is COVID’s cascading impact: an unprecedented health crisis has caused an unprecedented recovery conundrum – and one that we can’t even talk about as a group, no less. Unfortunately, a sizable subset of society seemingly doesn’t believe in simple science; and AA, of course, is simply a subset of society. The problem is societal, and we are part of society.Regardless, even if I could share this in AA, it wouldn’t change the current contradictions of applying my recovery’s teachings in the outside world. That guy is still getting on that elevator without a mask, AA or no AA. I cannot choose to just stand there, and a proselytizing conversation only invites further conflict and confrontation. My only answer – the least bad option – is abrupt, unsettling, silent avoidance.In this fashion, COVID-19 has made recovery more brusque, curt, cold. I cannot convert the maskless masses, nor can I abide them. I did not recover from a progressive, incurable and potentially fatal disease, alcoholism, only to succumb to another.

Is the Time of the No-Knock Drug Raid Coming to an End?

In the mass protests over out-of-control and racially biased law enforcement ignited by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, Floyd’s name isn’t the only one being chanted by the crowds. There’s also Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia jogger gunned down by white vigilantes. There’s Rayshard Brooks, the Atlanta man who was shot and killed by police after he fell asleep in his car in a Wendy’s drive-through lane and got into a tussle with the officers when they tried to arrest him.And then there’s Breonna Taylor. The 26-year-old Black EMT and Louisville resident was killed near midnight on March 13, as police executed a no-knock drug search warrant at her apartment, waking Taylor and her boyfriend. The police opened fire after they were met by gunfire from Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. As the circumstances of her death emerged, she has become the face of the burgeoning movement to radically restrict the police resort to no-knock warrants, which could just as aptly be referred to as home invasion warrants.That’s what it must have felt like to Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker. Although Louisville police claimed they knocked and announced their presence, they were operating with a no-knock warrant; the police claim that they knocked is disputed by Walker and Taylor’s relatives. Walker said he and Taylor were in bed together when the door crashed in and he thought someone was breaking into their home. In his statement after the incident, Walker said he fired in self-defense. (Here is that fraught zone where the war on drugs encounters the Second Amendment.)Walker’s single shot wounded one officer, who returned fire along with two other officers. Breonna Taylor was hit by at least eight bullets and died at the scene. Walker was charged with attempted murder (although those charges have now been dropped). No drugs were found at the apartment. To make matters even worse, the drug suspect the police were looking for was already in custody when police raided Taylor’s apartment.“They executed this innocent woman because they botched the search warrant execution,” attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the Taylor family in a lawsuit filed over the killing, told the New York Times. “They had the main person that they were trying to get in their custody, so why use a battering ram to bust her door down and then go in there and execute her?”Outrage over the killing of Breonna Taylor quietly festered as the country hunkered down amidst the coronavirus pandemic, but when the killing of George Floyd finally galvanized protests against police brutality, the pain and anger over Taylor’s killing became a rallying cry not just in Louisville but also across the country. And it’s bringing a laser-like focus on a practice more akin to raiding terrorist hideouts in the Middle East than to serving and protecting American citizens, which in turn is leading to a renewed focus on the role of the drug war in all of this.The war on drugs provided the impetus for no-knock raids from the beginning, and the courts were all too willing to help. The 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Ker v. California, which gave constitutional imprimatur to forcible police entries, was a drug case where the possibility that evidence could be destroyed carried the day for the cops. When the Supreme Court revisited and refined its no-knock doctrine in the 1990s, the impetus once again was enforcing drug prohibition.In a case involving small-scale sales of marijuana and meth to an informant, the court ruled in 1995 in Wilson v. Arkansas that police must generally “knock and announce” before kicking in a door with a search warrant, although it allowed for exceptions as per Ker. In another small-time drug sales case in 1997, Richards v. Wisconsin, the court held that police needed to demonstrate “a reasonable suspicion” that announcing their presence before bashing in the door would be dangerous or allow for the destruction of evidence for a no-knock warrant to be permitted.Those rulings left “reasonable suspicion” up to state and local judges, and while little national or even state data exists on the rates at which judges rejected no-knock warrant requests, a couple of local studies suggest they essentially acted as rubber stamps. A recent PBS NewsHour report cited a Denver Post analysis of no-knock warrant requests from Denver police in 2000, a year after Mexican citizen Ismael Mena was killed in a no-knock drug raid. The cops got 158 out of 163 requests approved. Similarly, a Washington Post analysis of no-knock warrant requests by police in Little Rock, Arkansas, between 2016 and 2018 showed that the cops got approvals for 103 out of 105 no-knock warrants from judges.Police resort to no-knock raids has gone through the roof in recent decades, according to a 2007 study done by Peter Kraska, a professor at the School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. He found that while the number of no-knock warrants or announce-and-enter raids served during SWAT team deployments had grown to about 1,500 annually in the early 1980s, that figure skyrocketed to about 40,000 a year by the turn of the century as the drug war deepened. Kraska estimated the number of such raids to be about 45,000 by 2010.The raids are mainly for drugs. A 2014 ACLU report investigating SWAT teams doing no-knock raids found that 62 percent of them were for drugs. In at least a third of those raids, no drugs were found. In nearly another third of those raids, it’s not known if any drugs were seized because police did not report that information.And such raids can be deadly—both for their targets and for the officers undertaking them. According to a 2017 New York Times report, between 2010 and 2016 alone, at least 13 police officers lost their lives during such raids, but so did more than six times as many civilians. The New York Times report put the civilian death toll at 81, with many more injured or wounded. These include cases of people who were completely innocent like the 19-month-old baby “Bou Bou” Bounkham Phonesavanh, who was severely burned by a flash-bang grenade thrown by a Georgia SWAT officer in a 2014 no-knock raid.But now, with the widespread public outcry over the unjust killing of Breonna Taylor, no-knock raids are being challenged like never before. The Democratic congressional response to the upheaval has been the rolling out of the Justice in Policing Act, which directly targets the practice. As the Democrats put it, the bill “[b]ans no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level and conditions law enforcement funding for state and local governments banning no-knock warrants at the local and state level.”Kentucky’s libertarian-leaning U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R) introduced the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act on June 11, “to prohibit no-knock warrants.” The bill would mandate that federal law enforcement officers must announce their presence and purpose before executing a search warrant, and it would condition federal aid to law enforcement agencies to ensure they follow the same rules.“After talking with Breonna Taylor’s family, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s long past time to get rid of no-knock warrants. This bill will effectively end no-knock raids in the United States,” said a statement from Sen. Paul’s office.Meanwhile, even his Republican colleagues are climbing on the no no-knock bandwagon, although to a more limited degree than the Democrats. The just-introduced Justice Act, largely crafted by the GOP’s sole Black senator, Tim Scott of South Carolina, wouldn’t ban no-knock raids but would increase federal reporting requirements for no-knock raids and use of force. It would also increase penalties for false police reports.It’s unclear whether any of these bills will pass or whether compromise legislation will emerge, and it’s unclear just how strong any language on no-knock raids will end up being. What is clear is that Congress finally has the issue squarely in its sights.But law enforcement is largely a state and local matter, and it’s going to be up to state legislatures, governors, city councils and mayors to address the issue at the local level. Louisville’s city council has already unanimously banned no-knock raids. Only two other states—Florida and Oregon—have banned no-knock raids, but this is likely to change, given the anger against police misconduct. In fact, this is something that should have happened a long time ago.Source: Independent Media InstituteThis article was produced by Drug Reporter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

The Danger of Justified Anger

I will never forget the day I learned how to let go of justified anger. I had just gotten sober and attended an AA meeting, where they were reading out of 12 Steps and 12 Traditions. I was listening but not fully until I heard these words from Step 6, “Self Righteous anger can be very enjoyable.” In a perverse way we allow people to annoy us because it brings a comfortable feeling of superiority. We proclaim our own righteousness by criticizing them instead of taking the time to help them understand why and how they’ve annoyed us. I sat up straight and dove into the reading eager to learn more about it.My first addiction was resentment. I hated my father, who was a narcissistic, alcoholic republican. All of my memories were clouded with intense loathing for him and making him wrong. It was my driving force for most of my life. The reason I turned to alcohol. I was putting him in the wrong, but I was killing myself with my self righteousness. I couldn't live another moment with the anger inside me.I had tried everything I could think of to let go of the anger. I went to therapy, read every single self help book on forgiveness, wrote him letters, some I sent, others I burned. I had (on the advice of a guru) written his name on a balloon and let it go. The only thing that that accomplished was hating the guru. I had been to shamans and psychics. I felt alone. Nobody I knew had the level of resentment I had. I was dying. My justified anger was killing me.I went to see Abraham Hicks. He said to “lay new pipes” to not dig out the clogged pipe but to lay a new one so you can go with the flow. I was willing to try it. It sounded great in theory but there was a darkness in me I just couldn’t let go of. Then I discovered the Law of Attraction. It states that when you are indulging in self righteous anger you are blocking the path of Deliberate Creation. Deliberate Creation is a principle that enhances the manifestation process by helping you to eliminate the resistance whilst boosting your Law of Attraction powers to attract good things into your life. I immediately connected with that. I wanted to learn how to go from one to the other. I would do it in a heartbeat. No questions asked. I read all that I could about Deliberate Creation but It didn’t give me the steps to change. It just told me to change and I was left disappointed and frustrated once again.I went to a hypnotist who had been successful in getting me to quit smoking in one session. I did four sessions on letting go of self righteousness, but nothing changed. I was just succeeding in getting angrier.So on that day when I read about justified anger and self righteousness in the 12 and 12 and that it causes excessive misery in our lives, tears flowed down my face. Finally, I had a direction. I had a recipe. A book that was written before I was born, before my mother was born had all the answers.The first thing I had to do was admit to myself that I preferred to hang on to self righteousness. I had to admit that it was an addiction in itself. I had an ineffectual behavior and that I was getting a “hit” out of being right and making someone else wrong. That I was continually choosing to be a willing victim of my very own justified anger.I was asked, “Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? I had to let go of the anger I had towards my father. Not for his benefit. For my peace of mind. Was I pardoning anything? No way in hell never. But I did what the book told me to do. I became “entirely willing to aim toward perfection.” I had my sponsor, I had the recipe, and I had the willingness. We seek progress not perfection in AA. I do not need to be perfect to experience unconditional love. No one does. It is free for all of us at any time. But striving for perfection keeps me doing the right thing. Not for anyone else but me. Doing the right thing gives me peace of mind. The right thing is never justified anger, it is deliberate, intentional creation from a place of love.I have a sponsor that helps me “unclog the pipe.” I asked my sponsor how I can be of service at this difficult time. She said, “Don’t silently scorn. Don’t make anyone wrong. Stay right sized. Don’t think I am better or worse than anyone. Take action from a place of love and change. What I am, is what I will see. To wholeheartedly be the change I seek to see.”Since I let go of justified anger and self righteous behavior I have now been able to practice Deliberate Creation. I can accomplish so much more and I produce quality work. I open myself up to creative energy and give myself over fully to the process.Getting in touch with my higher power and using that to take action instead of self righteous anger has completely changed my life for the better. Living from my heart is how I live today. It prevents me from a slip up of drinking, but more importantly, a slip up of emotional drunkenness.

People with Opioid Use Disorder Deserve Medical Treatment

Opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder are physical conditions. Although people might start abusing opioids or alcohol to numb physical, psychological, or emotional pain, the use of these substances leads to a physical dependence, in which the brain and body require more of the substance just to avoid becoming sick. People dealing with these conditions deserve access to high quality medical detox, but many people who need this service don’t get it.Before you choose a treatment program for you or your loved one, it’s important to understand medical detox. For people who are dependent on opioids or alcohol, medical detox provides a fast and effective way to address dependency. With dependency behind them, the person can go on to address any underlying causes of their substance abuse, like physical or psychological pain. Because of this, medical detox is an important first step to living life without drugs or alcohol.Is medical detox the same as medication-assisted treatment?It’s easy to confuse medical detox and medication-assisted treatment, but they’re actually completely different. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is often used to treat opioid use disorder. While MAT is effective and can reduce the risk of relapse, it comes with a major downside to your health and wellbeing: it involves continuously taking opioid medications.The medications used for MAT, including suboxone and methadone, are themselves opioids. Sure, they’re much less harmful than street opioids like heroin or fentanyl. But the fact remains that if you’re on MAT, you’re still dependent on opioids.At Waismann Method® Opioid Treatment Specialists, we believe that everyone deserves the chance to live without using opioids or alcohol — even in prescribed circumstances. That’s why we offer medical detox that treats the dependency on drugs or alcohol entirely. We deliver medically-assisted detox in a hospital that allows you to get off opioids for good.After detoxing you from opioids, we use naltrexone (also known as vivitrol) to help control any cravings. Unlike suboxone or methadone, naltrexone doesn’t have any opioids, so you cannot become dependent on it. In fact, this medication blocks the brain’s opioid receptors, eliminating cravings without introducing new habits or dependencies.Addressing dependency once and for allMany people want to live their lives with as few medications as possible. Even if you are dependent on opioids or alcohol, living life without ongoing medications could be a possibility for you. More people with opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder need to be aware that medically-assisted detox is an option that they should explore. We believe that this is the most effective treatment for opioid use disorder. So, what exactly is medically-assisted detox? Waismann Method® Opioid Treatment Specialists provide the medical detox treatment in a full service, JCAHO-accredited hospital, in a private room, which many people find safer and more comfortable than a rehab or an outpatient detox facility. Once there, you’ll meet with one of our doctors, discussing your health history and any underlying medical conditions that you’re dealing with. Then, we’ll discuss the best medically-assisted detox option for you, including rapid detox and anesthesia-assisted rapid detoxification.During all decisions, your safety is a priority. That’s why all care is delivered under the watch of a quadruple board-certified medical director, Michael H. Lowenstein, M.D, and why there are different detox options available.Patients usually spend one to two nights in the hospital depending on which detox procedure they receive along with their individual health needs. As part of our treatment, you complete your detox at our private recovery center, Domus Retreat, for post-procedure care and continued support. There, we will work with you to give recommendations about how best to treat any underlying factors that contributed to your substance abuse, whether that was trauma, physical pain, or untreated psychological conditions.Dignity in detoxDetox is often the biggest barrier to getting help. People are afraid of having to physically suffer through the withdrawals with minimal support. Opting for medically-assisted detox allows you to get over that first hurdle comfortably so that you can begin building your new, opioid-free life.

The Murder of George Floyd Is Normal in an Abnormal Society

There is no need to wonder why George Floyd (age 46) was murdered in broad daylight in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020. The script of his death is written deep in the ugly drama of U.S. history.I Can’t Breathe 2020Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee sat on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. After that time, George Floyd was dead. From the moment Chauvin put his body on an unarmed man, George Floyd said—eleven times—I can’t breathe.Scientists who study human respiration say that untrained people can hold their breath from between thirty seconds and two minutes; anything more than that results in a process that leads eventually to death.I Can’t Breathe 2014Officer Daniel Pantaleo slammed Eric Garner onto the New York City sidewalk just minutes after Garner had helped resolve a dispute on the street. Pantaleo pushed Garner’s face onto the pavement, and Garner said—eleven times—I can’t breathe.Garner lost consciousness, did not receive medical care in the ambulance, and was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the hospital. He died, effectively, of suffocation.DismayedBoth Floyd and Garner were African American; both were men who struggled to make a living in a harsh economic environment.The UN Human Rights head Michelle Bachelet wrote a powerful statement in response to the death of George Floyd: “This is the latest in a long line of killings of unarmed African Americans by U.S. police officers and members of the public. I am dismayed to have to add George Floyd’s name to that of Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and many other unarmed African Americans who have died over the years at the hands of the police—as well as people such as Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin who were killed by armed members of the public.”Each year in the United States, more than a thousand people are killed by the police; African Americans are three times more likely to be killed by the police than whites, and African Americans who are killed by police are more likely to be unarmed than whites. Most of these killings are not associated with serious crime. Astoundingly, 99 percent of the officers who kill a civilian are not charged with a crime.Permanent Depression“The Depression,” the poet Langston Hughes wrote of the 1930s, “brought everybody down a peg or two.” It was different for African Americans, for they “had but few pegs to fall.”Garner was accused of selling loose cigarettes on the street, violating excise tax laws to make a few dollars; Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Even if these accusations could have been proved, neither were earth-shattering crimes; if they had gone to court, neither would have earned these men death sentences. They were killed after being accused of minor infringements.When Hughes wrote those words, Lino Rivera, a 16-year-old Afro-Puerto Rican boy, had been arrested for shoplifting a 10-cent penknife. A crowd gathered when the police went to arrest him, a rumor spread that he had been killed, and Harlem rose up in anger. A government report later showed that the protests were “spontaneous” and that the causes of the unrest were “the injustices of discrimination in employment, the aggressions of the police, and racial segregation.” This report could have been written last week. It suggests a permanent Depression.System Cannot Be ReformedHistorically, police aggression has come before any unrest. In 1967, unrest in Detroit spurred the U.S. government to study the causes, which they assumed would be communist instigators and an inflammatory press. The riots, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission) said, “were not caused by, nor were they the consequences of, any organized plan or ‘conspiracy.’”Instead, the Kerner Commission said that the cause of the unrest was structural racism. “What white Americans have never fully understood,” the report noted, “is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.” By “ghetto” the report’s authors meant the atrocious class inequalities in the United States that had—because of the history of enslavement—been marked by race.Rather than address the deep inequalities in society, the American government chose to heavily arm police officers and send them to discipline populations in distress with their dangerous weapons. The commission proposed instead “a policy which combines ghetto enrichment with programs designed to encourage integration… into the society outside the ghetto.”Nothing came of that report, as nothing has come of any of the reports that stretch backward 150 years. Rather than genuinely invest in the well-being of people, the American government—whether governed by Republicans or Democrats—cut back on social programs and cut back on welfare spending; it allowed firms to erode wages and it allowed them to diminish working conditions. What was terrible in 1968 only became worse for the working-class Black population.The financial crisis of 2008 stole from African American households’ savings that had been accumulated through generations of work. By 2013, Pew Research found that the net worth of white households was 13 times greater than African American households; this was the largest such gap since 1989, and it is a gap that has only widened. Now, with the global pandemic striking the United States particularly hard, data shows that the disease has struck African Americans and other people of color the most. Some of this is because it is African Americans and other people of color who often have the most dangerous frontline jobs.If Eric Garner and George Floyd earned a minimum wage of $25 for decent work, would they need to be in a position where a belligerent police officer would accuse them of selling loose cigarettes or of passing a counterfeit bill?They Are NormalSociety in the United States has been broken by the mechanisms of high rates of economic inequality, high rates of poverty, impossible entry into robust educational systems, and remarkable warlike conditions put in place to manage populations no longer seen as the citizenry but as criminals.Such processes corrode a civilization. The names of Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice… and now George Floyd are only the names of the present moment, written in thick ink on cardboard signs across the United States at the many, many protests that continue to take place. The taste of desperation lingers in these protests, along with the anger at the system, and the outrage seems to have no outlet.Donald Trump is an exaggeration of the normal course of history in the United States. He takes the ugliness to the utmost limit, bringing in the army, sniffing around for the legal possibility of the mass detention of demonstrators. His is a politics of violence. It does not last long. It is hard to beat the urge for justice out of an entire people.As you read this, somewhere in the United States, another person will be killed—another poor person whom the police deem to be a threat. Tomorrow another will be killed; and then another. These deaths are normal for the system. Outrage against this system is a logical, and moral, response. This article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Reprinted with permission.Source: Independent Media Institute

Zoom Is an Ineffective Substitute

Last night, I and the other residents of my recovery house saw a man vigorously performing a scatological act on himself. A bathtub was involved. While it’s going to be a long time before I contemplate a bath, it was just another night of Zoom bombing during an online meeting during this pandemic. Forgive me, but it seems our country, and the larger world, is unraveling at the seams. I often contemplate if we’re living in the end times. The Romans had their day in the sun, and this may be the end of ours. I’d say this pessimistic line of thinking is a consequence of the years I’ve lost to addiction, but I’ve always been this way. My mind is like a jaguar on a treadmill, always moving rapidly but not really getting anywhere.Maybe my bleak outlook has something to do with the fact that my compatriots and I attempting to scramble out from the cloud of addiction have been unwillingly deprived of our only method for not imploding. The absence of physical meetings has had an enervating effect on my psyche.. We have been relegated to the internet because of an aggressive bat virus. Bureaucratic mouthpieces have told us that meeting in the flesh would put lives at risk. While that’s not exactly false, it is frustrating.[1] The program, which I reluctantly adhere to because I have no alternative[2] has been deemed non-essential by our government. This action, specifically the government declaring something superfluous for the greater good, strikes me as ludicrous. Tons of Americans, tons of humans, are reliant on abstinence programs to stay among the living. What about our greater good? These abstinence programs are effective in no small part because they garner a sense of community and camaraderie. That in-person contact and discussion, and in a sense shared misery, is mystifyingly powerful. Speaking candidly, I haven’t quite bought into the actual meat and potatoes or concrete sharing portion of these meetings. But I now realize how much I cherish the small talk and cigarettes before and after meetings.[3] A massive portion of the country, the world even, suffers from the disease. That other pandemic, COVID, has tyrannically forced us on to the internet and deprived us of that person-to-person contact, that fortifying sense of community, that is essential to our survival. Governors, and the government, should certainly contemplate the consequences of classifying our haphazard panacea as non-essential. The act of classifying physical meetings as non-essential is only made more aggravating upon considering that cannabis dispensaries were initially deemed essential in California. Recreational cannabis users often claim that it is critical medicine they need to subsist. It should be abundantly apparent to any non-troglodytic governor that meetings should be similarly classified.The wrench, being COVID, pelted into the machine, being physical meetings, is not the only pernicious issue we face related to this new normal.[4]  Zoom bombing has, well, bombed us. That’s precisely how the aforementioned bathtub scene invaded my field of vision. But Zoom bombing goes further than the briefly obscene and crosses into dangerously hazardous territory when these bombers (sadistic teenagers, sad-sack individuals, or I can’t even contemplate the other possibilities that would drive someone to bomb a 12-step meeting) begin harassing meeting attendees through their microphones. I’ve witnessed some truly disturbing hectoring; the kind that could jeopardize already tenuous sobriety during these arduous times. Female attendees are importuned to display their bosoms, traumatic share notwithstanding. Attendees are denigrated for their appearance. F-bombs are flying. I’ve witnessed attendees get heckled to the point of tears and flee the session. Are they OK? I have no idea. But I’m sure the bombers lived to bomb another day. My peers have countless other examples. The puerility is breathtaking, if not surprising Enough already. Governors, I implore you to lift restrictions on our supposed non-essential meetings. Meetings can meet social-distancing guidelines and take other precautions. They're certainly safer than church choirs.I realize that security measures can be put in place within Zoom to prevent bombing, but they are often at the expense of the recovering alcoholic and drug addict. Most large-scale meetings now disable the chat feature of the Zoom call to prevent a steady stream of obscenities and racial epithets from our bomber buddies. As a result, attendees are unable to share their phone numbers quickly and easily, if they’re so inclined. Zoom meeting chairs also now password lock their meetings. This safeguard prevents people who desperately need that camaraderie – possibly to stay alive – from easily accessing meetings. If you’re flirting with rock bottom, you’re probably incapable of fumbling with numbers and words and special characters.[5] Meetings can also be hosted on Skype or other video chat services, but Zoom is by far the most ubiquitous platform currently available. Yes, some preventative measures are marginally effective. The “waiting room” feature in a Zoom call doesn’t prohibit access to meetings, a Zoom host can restrict access to the screen-sharing feature, which prevents hormonal adolescents from punishing us alcoholics and addicts with indecorous videos.[6] But these are all band-aids, inadequate remedies to a paramount dilemma that ignore the heart of the issue. The solution to absurdity is not implementing a proportional amount of absurdity; asking those in the program to forego meetings is exactly that..[1] From this point on, read anything that is in bolded text in a facetious “Krusty the Clown” voice.[2] Well I do have an alternative, but been there, done that..[3] I’ll concede and recognize that I need the core/big book-oriented sharing portion of the meeting to stay in this thing. I would still be watching tv in my underwear pounding Budweiser if it weren’t for the spiritual principles of the program..[4] Ideally, COVID made visible wouldn’t take the form of a wrench. It would probably be a soiled adult diaper, but that wouldn’t be feasible within the context of the metaphor, as it wouldn’t break the machine. Instead, it would probably just rip the adult diaper to shreds and regurgitate it as a sort of fecal firework..[5] This frustrating phenomenon happens at an alarming frequency. At least, at a much higher rate than it should. Too often the password for the meeting is simply absent from intergroup websites, is outdated, or can only be accessed by emailing the chair of the group, and often the email is conspicuously omitted from the page. It’s ridiculous to require someone who could quite likely be fresh off a relapse to dive through an absurd number of virtual hoops..[6] It’s a sad reality that many meeting chairs are technologically inept. Please don’t come at me with ageism daggers out. These hosts are kind, benevolent souls who can’t contemplate, let alone combat, a Zoom bombing in real time. I refer you to Grandpa Simpson trying to fix the family TV in season 7, episode 14.