| Internet Gambling Deserves a New Chance
The neighbors won't spot you at the virtual casino. Solid citizens with no previous criminal record commit outrageous crimes when addicted to gambling. The rate of divorce, spousal and child abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, bankruptcy, and suicide rises disproportionately high with gambling addiction. The WTO ruling claims foreign interests should have access to all American homes, because some states allow people to bet on horse races via the Internet. That makes as much sense as allowing foreign heroin and cocaine producers to offer drugs over the Internet simply because some pharmacies sell codeine cough syrup. Considering the implications for the U.S., this is not a slippery slope; it is a cliff. This is not a "conservative moral issue." Disdain for Internet gambling crosses all party lines and interests.
Consulting life's experiences: Drug rehabilitation counselor draws on ...
It is hard to find many individuals who will say their job saved their life, but Marvin Horn, drug rehabilitation counselor at Russellville's Freedom House, credits his workplace for just that.
A self-proclaimed alcoholic, Horn was not shy to tell The Courier how Freedom House not only helped him to beat his own addictions, but has also provided him with a fulfilling career.
Horn first entered treatment at Freedom House in January 1985 and has now been involved with the rehabilitation center for more than 20 years. At age 43, he enrolled at Arkansas Tech University, where he received a bachelor's degree in rehabilitation. Horn has also done some graduate work at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in rehabilitation science.
When asked to describe what he does at Freedom House, Horn quickly explained his job in one sentence.
G-listers kick for camera as viewers agonize
Pinsky is serious business, unlike egomaniacs who try to set up TV treatments of Britney Spears. So this seems like real rehab, even if some G-Listers come across as if they mostly want to mainline TV again. "Why are you here?" Pinsky asks ex-famous wrestler and recovering binge-alcoholic Chyna. "I don't know," she says after a lengthy pause of brain doodling. "Does that sound totally stupid?" Yes. If you're not used to seeing addicts go through withdrawal, watching "Rehab" could serve as a small shock. Here's the lead singer of Crazy Town, Seth "Shifty" Binzer, pulling a crack pipe out of his sock: "This is probably why I'm gonna die." And there's Jeff Conaway, in a wheelchair and looking unrecognizable from his vibrant roles as Bobby from "Taxi" and Kenickie from "Grease." He snorts drugs and does $1,000 worth of Xanax and OxyContin until he crashes hard off the dope: "Life is pain, and pain is hell." Once all these losers sober up, they start getting cranky.
A Drug to End Drug Addiction
What if science made a pill to protect us from addiction keeping us from smoking cigarettes, getting fat or abusing drugs and alcohol? According to encouraging results from several lines of study, it seems that day may be closer than we thought. Researchers in labs around the world are now developing vaccines (not a pill, but an injection) to inoculate people against dangerously addictive substances such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Within "one to 10 years, and closer to one year," says Dr. Frank Vocci, director of treatment research and development at the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), scientists may produce a vaccine against cocaine one of the more promising areas of research that can potentially help millions of addicts, two million in the U.S. alone. .
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