| Man shares burden for addicts
My name is Edward Fortson and my mission has been to assist people who need help to recover from drug addiction. In July of 2000 God burdened my heart to help establish a Christian Rehabilitation Center in Northeast Arkansas. I researched different organizations and toured a facilities in Tuscumbia, Ala. called Restoration Ranch. This center was a division of Mission Teens, Inc. which operated nine different centers across the country. At the time I believed that establishing a center was what I was being led to do. In December of that same year I started to actually work with the people who needed to go into the centers. I worked with a young woman in jail and helped her get into a center. I had a lot to learn and no clear guidance or handbook on how to do this. I have learned about centers, the jail systems, court systems and even the prison systems.
OPP get lesson on youth gambling
The Ontario Provincial Police received a lesson in a youth gambling Monday, bringing the lesser known addiction to light.
Through the YMCA's youth gambling program, more children and adults who work with children are learning about the dangers and frequency of children and youth becoming addicted to gambling away money and other items of value.
"We don't tell them gambling is bad, because it can be fun, just that there are ways to do it safely," said YMCA youth outreach worker Stacy Allaire. .
Ravenel has court date today
COLUMBIA — Suspended state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel is scheduled to make his first court appearance on a federal cocaine charge here today, two days after he was released from a 30-day stay at a rehabilitation program in Arizona. Ravenel's attorneys entered a not-guilty plea for the 44-year-old multimillionaire developer earlier this month, but Ravenel did not appear in court at the time. U.S. Magistrate Joseph McCrorey ordered Ravenel to appear in court within 48 hours of being released from treatment at the Sierra Tucson Center in Catalina, north of Tucson. It is a psychiatric hospital specializing in addiction and behavioral disorder treatment. He was released Sunday. Ravenel is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute less than 500 grams of cocaine. Prosecutors have said Ravenel shared the cocaine with friends and did not sell the drug.
Treatment improves, but availability doesn't
The good news about treatment for heroin and opiate addiction is that there are new drugs to help the user and better understanding of addiction than ever before, said Dr. Allan Ebert, a Flint doctor and expert on substance abuse treatment. The bad news is that those who want treatment but who don't have private health insurance or who are uninsured face waiting lists or shortened stays in programs, given the lack of funding by the state Legislature, officials say. Payments for heroin users who receive methadone were also cut in the spring. What should a person do to try to get help for heroin or other substance abuse addiction? Those without health insurance can contact the Intake Assessment and Referral Center (IARC) at 235-9555 for a free assessment.
Finding a place in the world
In Cape Girardeau County, people in desperate circumstances can find temporary housing at the Revival Center in Jackson and both Vision House and the Safe House for Women in Cape Girardeau. Although the 43-room Revival Center does not limit how long someone can stay, little else exists to help people in this situation make the transition into owning or even renting a house. The wait for federal housing assistance in Cape Girardeau County has been decreasing but is still at least a year and a half, according to Bill Tucker, who is in charge of housing for the East Missouri Action Agency. Right now the agency is attempting to find Section 8 housing for families who applied in January 2006. Nearly 1,000 families or individuals are on the waiting list. But if a project called Magnolia Place is funded and the city of Cape Girardeau approves, nine families struggling to find a place in the world could be living in new houses only four months later.
IBNLive Chat: 'Cut the guilt, talk about sex in family'
Dr Madhumati Singh, a renowned clinical psychologist and currently a senior psychologist at Samvedna Psychological Center, has been practicing for 18 years. Her areas of specialisation include teenage adjustment, rehabilitation, family therapy, marriage counselling, de-addiction, adolescent sexuality and inter-personal problems. In a live chat on IBNlive on Thursday, Dr Singh exchanged her views on sex education in India. Here is the full transcript of the chat: Naren: Is sex education so important? (Not that I am against it). We never had any formal sex education but learnt it through friends, magazines etc. Why all this hue and cry about sex education? Dr Madhumati Singh: No hue and cry. Just talking about it and trying to form an objective platform without guilt and shame and of course keeping all our Indian culture in mind.
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