Addiction

Nine months and nine days after she pushed beyond the alcohol and crack cocaine that consumed a decade of her life, April Steele is doing homework online for a college she never expected to attend. Steele does not own a computer. Her world is still far from stable. So she spends six hours a day at the Philadelphia Recovery Community Center, where people a few years ahead on the same journey teach her the software, invite her to Friday game nights (with cola, not coke) and Thursday movies ( Clean and Sober )

HOUSE. 8 and 9 p.m. Monday, Fox 29. I DISCOVERED MY mother's addiction to Fox's "House" when she was dying of cancer. An insatiable reader her whole life, she'd never had much use for television, making a pointed exception for "Lost," which she watched until all the time shifts in the fifth season took its toll on her chemo-fogged brain. So when I started spending as much time as I could with her in the final 14 months of her life, I was surprised to find she'd added USA's back-to-back "House" reruns to her routine.

I commend Gov. Rendell's declaration making Sept. 27 "Family Day," and his encouragement that parents talk to their children about drug and alcohol abuse. I'd like to offer a suggestion. Given the direction he is taking Pennsylvania, he might want to encourage parents to speak to their children about gambling addiction, too. As the fastest growing addiction among teens, and one not as easily detected as substance abuse (no slurred speech or dilated pupils), parent will need to speak clearly and firmly about the dangers posed from slot machines and other gambling.

RE THE MAY 18 letter from Karen (Majewski) Waldsmit: I am a certified addiction counselor and about to complete a graduate-studies program. I have worked on inpatient psychiatric, detox and residential units and am currently working in an outpatient methadone program. I take issue with the statement in the letter that "there is an addictive gene"! Several studies since Blum and Noble's identification of the "common thread" have failed to replicate their findings. This misconception of an identified gene to explain this behavior fosters a perspective that exaggerates the significance of genetic research in addiction and ignores caveats and qualifications.

I had my first cigarette when I was about 10. My mother smoked Kents and my father smoked Camels, so it had to have been one of those. My parents knew, of course. They didn't approve, but they knew. But smoking was no big deal in the '50s. Besides, they had other things on their minds, such as feeding four hungry boys, making sure our homework was done and dragging us kicking and screaming out of bed and off to school each morning (always with a breakfast of hot oatmeal whether we wanted the stuff or not)

Adolescents may be more vulnerable to drug addiction than either young children or adults because their brains respond more intensely to stimulants, according to research in mice published this month. The researchers measured the molecular impact of two addictive psychostimulants - cocaine and amphetamine - on the brains of mice of varying ages. The study is potentially important because addiction often begins in adolescence and because therapeutic use of stimulants as a treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is increasing, said Michelle Ehrlich, a professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University, who led the study.

On the surface, Lisa Germano's Lullaby for Liquid Pig (Ineffable/Artist Direct), appears to be a concept album about alcoholism. Lyrics about wine, buzzes and "liquid pigs" float in and out of a woozy melodic haze, and songs such as "Dream Glasses Off" and "From a Shell" feel like the sonic equivalent of a lonely, drunken saunter home in the early-morning fog. But the 45-year-old Germano, who gained fame as a violinist in John Mellencamp's band in...

I am an addict. Though I have heard or read thousands of confessions, sordid histories and tales of redemption over the years, I never expected to hear myself say those four words: I am an addict. One thing I can say for my addiction - it's not a lonely one. It is among the most pervasive, insidious, destructive habits in the world, and chances are that if you're reading this article, you are close to someone with this problem. I became a user at 16. This is when most Americans pick up the habit, although it can strike a person at anytime in his or her adult life.

It's time to take a long, hard look at your TV viewing habits. Why? Because there are some new and disturbing findings about what prolonged TV-watching can do to your health and to the environment. We'll get to that data in a minute. First, are you a TV addict? Before you answer, remember that denial is the primary attribute of addiction. I can't tell you how many people loftily say to me, "I only watch the History Channel" or "I only watch PBS. " Yet, I've found over and over again that if you hide in the bushes outside these people's houses and peek in their windows at night, you'll see them absorbed in Wipeout or Operation Repo or Swamp Wars . Here are 10 simple questions to determine if you're a TV addict.

In Rick Pine's third-story office are inspirational messages painted by his mother on slate fragments. The familiar Serenity Prayer, which asks God for "courage to change the things I can," is propped near his desk in the Bensalem manor that for 40 years has served as headquarters of the Livengrin Foundation, a substance-abuse treatment center. For Pine, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit center, inspiration comes from reaching out each day to those whose lives are controlled by alcohol or drugs.

HOUSE. 8 and 9 p.m. Monday, Fox 29. I DISCOVERED MY mother's addiction to Fox's "House" when she was dying of cancer. An insatiable reader her whole life, she'd never had much use for television, making a pointed exception for "Lost," which she watched until all the time shifts in the fifth season took its toll on her chemo-fogged brain. So when I started spending as much time as I could with her in the final 14 months of her life, I was surprised to find she'd added USA's back-to-back "House" reruns to her routine.

My life just changed in a good way. In fact, in a great way. By gummi vitamins. Let me explain. I'm supposed to take a multivitamin, B complex, calcium, CoQ10, and Crestor. But the only thing I take is Crestor. Why? because I don't like taking pills, or I forget, and pills suck. That would be a medical term. So imagine my delight when I'm cruising the aisles in the food store, and I see a massive jug of gummi vitamins. I don't mean gummy, like my pie crust.

The Inquirer is presenting a daily profile of participants in the May 6 Blue Cross Broad Street Run, considered the country's most popular 10-miler, with 40,000 people. See full coverage at www.philly.com/broadstreetrun. By Michael Vitez Inquirer Staff Writer Cynthia Lockett was a beloved and pampered child, a straight-A student, champion speller, and the lead soprano in her grade-school choir. Then an uncle abused her, repeatedly, from ages 8 to 14. And at 14, she found out that she was adopted.

In a compact conference room in Westmont, four men and three women talk about not killing themselves. They are members of Suicide Anonymous, a '12-Step' group for people seeking recovery from an addiction to self-destruction. "I long for death," a gray-bearded man says quietly, as several people nod around the table. This weekly gathering at the Starting Point counseling center, and another at Hampton Behavioral Health Center in Westampton, are among only five regularly scheduled SA meetings in the United States.

Determined to overcome a cocaine addiction that had propelled him into a downward spiral of unemployment, sex work, and life one step off the street, Erik Leiff contacted dozens of treatment programs. In person, when he explained who he was - a trans man, having medically transitioned from his birth gender to the only one he could live with - office workers giggled and pointed: "It's like, 'Look at the freak.' " On the phone, all said he would be housed with women. "If you saw me, that would have been ridiculous.

A jilted male fruit fly will try to drown his sorrows in drink if given the chance, according to a University of California study released today. And no, the scientists weren't just curious to see a bunch of drunken drosophila. Rather, they hope the finding sheds light on human addiction. Researchers say male fruit flies rejected by females are much more likely to imbibe than, "sexually satisfied" male fruit flies, according a summary of the study. The study identified a molecule called neuropeptide F as a trigger connecting sexual rejection to excessive drinking.

CHICAGO - Morphine and similar powerful painkillers are sometimes prescribed to recent war veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress along with physical pain, and the consequences can be tragic, a government study suggests. These vets are at high risk for drug and alcohol abuse, but they are two times more likely to get prescriptions for addictive painkillers than vets with only physical pain, according to the study, billed as the first national examination of the problem. Subsequent suicides, other self-inflicted injuries, and drug and alcohol overdoses were all more common in vets with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Soooo, here at the Shore, we're waiting for the ball to drop. The Revel Ball, that is. It's not easy to shroud something in mystery that's visible for miles, but here you have it. Is it a giant golf ball resting on a (horizontal) tee? Is it a skee ball? Does it move? Does it light up? (It better.) Why isn't it pictured in original renderings of the monster and monsterly anticipated new casino resort that's about a month away from bringing me Jose Garces Guapos Tacos and Amada - I mean, opening at the northeastern end of the Boardwalk?

A former Philadelphia police officer who stole a debit card from a prisoner was sentenced by a federal judge to three years probation today. Charles Jacoby III, 31, worked as a patrol officer and cell block attendant in the 22nd police district. Jacoby, of Burholme in the far Northeast, was supposed to safeguard personal items taken from those he recently arrested or prisoners he guarded. Instead, prosecutors said the 10-year veteran stole their debit and credit cards and used them to buy things for himself.

Calling addiction a treatable disease, Gov. Christie said Thursday that he would mandate treatment for nonviolent criminals with drug dependence, a program that would take at least a year to start. In the meantime, Christie would offer yearlong drug treatment to 1,000 to 1,500 low-level offenders now in prison. "I believe that this will be, if we do it the right way, one of the lasting legacies of this administration," Christie said at a news conference at the Rescue Mission of Trenton.