About a year ago, my husband Chris and I made one of the biggest decisions of our lives. We decided to leave our super-awesome (yet incredibly expensive) life in Brooklyn to move to a small beach town in Delaware. Yup, Delaware.
Daily Candid News /
The Discovery House
Why Luxe Hideaways Won’t Cure Scott Disick: An Expert Weighs In
March 18, 2015
Scott Disick voluntarily checked himself into a rehab clinic in Costa Rica for his addiction issues where he was treated with a controversial drug called Ibogaine.
But will it work?
Dr. Walter Thomas, the consulting medical expert for The Discovery House Treatment Center in Los Angeles explained what Ibogaine is and the dangers of treating addition with another addictive drug.
“Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in plants of the Apocynaceae family and has been banned in the United States since 1960,” he tells the DailyCandidNews.
Dr. Thomas goes on to explain that, “various other psychedelic treatments have been tried for addiction and are being studied. However, it is important to understand the real and significant issues in the science of addiction and treatment.
“Firstly, we would always want to avoid medication that has addiction potential in the treatment of addiction because of the physiological impairment in the Dopaminergic Mesolyombic system, an example of this is when Dr Sigmund Freud used cocaine to treat opioid addiction with disastrous result. Remember, what drives addiction is a biological and inherited brain disease(broken pleasure center). Secondly, the search for Hedonic tone, in other words emotional well-being that is not normally present with addictive illness.
When treatment professionals turn away from addictive science they inadvertently become codependent professionals in treating mental illnesses with addictive substances as is happening in this center in Costa Rica and elsewhere.
Principle of recovery treatment is to release natural reward systems in the brain through non-chemical means, in other words recovery behavior and spiritual emotional growth.
In recovery you develop a menu of natural safe and reliable sources of normal emotional well-being, unlike the disease of addiction where you go from lows to highs through the artificial release of massive doses of neurotransmitter resulting in highs that are not sustainable, insatiable and create the vicious addictive cycle with progression of the addictive brain chemistry”
Monsters & Critics /
The Discovery House
Why Luxe Hideaway Rehabs Won’t Cure Scott Disick
March 18, 2015
In Touch Weekly is reporting that Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ cast member Scott Disick, Kourtney Kardashian’s partner, voluntarily checked himself into a posh rehab clinic in Costa Rica for his addiction issues where he was treated with with a controversial drug called Ibogaine.
Dr. Walter Thomas, the consulting medical expert for The Discovery House Treatment Centerin Los Angeles, explained what Ibogaine is and the dangers of treating addition with another addictive drug. Yesterday we interviewed Dr. Thomas about the dangers of “dabbing.”
“Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in plants of the Apocynaceae family and has been banned in the United States since 1960.”
Dr. Thomas goes on to explain that, “various other psychedelic treatments have been tried for addiction and are being studied. However, it is important to understand the real and significant issues in the science of addiction and treatment;
“Firstly, we would always want to avoid medication that has addiction potential in the treatment of addiction because of the physiological impairment in the Dopaminergic Mesolyombic system, an example of this is when Dr Sigmund Freud used cocaine to treat opioid addiction with disastrous result. Remember, what drives addiction is a biological and inherited brain disease(broken pleasure center). Secondly, the search for Hedonic tone, in other words emotional well-being that is not normally present with addictive illness.
When treatment professionals turn away from addictive science they inadvertently become codependent professionals in treating mental illnesses with addictive substances as is happening in this center in Costa Rica and elsewhere.
Principle of recovery treatment is to release natural reward systems in the brain through non-chemical means, in other words recovery behavior and spiritual emotional growth.
In recovery you develop a menu of natural safe and reliable sources of normal emotional well-being, unlike the disease of addiction where you go from lows to highs through the artificial release of massive doses of neurotransmitter resulting in highs that are not sustainable, insatiable and create the vicious addictive cycle with progression of the addictive brain chemistry”
Leave it to some overachievers to take a natural herb and make it nearly lethal. There are many people under physician’s care who smoke (or ingest) dried marijuana plant to alleviate stress, pain and neurological disorders. Of course, there are those who feel all marijuana in any form is to be avoided.
If you are unaware, Butane hash oil (BHO)–aka dab, dabs, dabbing, honey oil, wax, oil, shatter, or budder–is a potent marijuana/hash oil concentrate that can exceed 80% THC content. Most educators, parents and even some law enforcement are playing catch-up on this substance that anyone can easily tuck into a vaporizer and puff away with little to no trace of tell-tale skunk-y odor. It’s seriously potent drug, meaning one hit can get you stoned out of your gourd.
“BHO has been gaining in popularity in the past three years,” High Times senior editor Bobby Black told Wired. “It’s been done for decades, but it was only done by a few people and it was very underground. Even at High Times we didn’t really talk about it or cover it because it was so rare.”
The user will inhale a heated up “dab” of this amber looking goo and inhale the vapor from a pen like looking tool called a vaporizer for a high.
It is in the making of this portable concentrate that the danger begins. Explosions, immolation, surface burns and toxic chemical exposure are some of these dilemmas the home distiller and user faces. The main solvent that extracts the active chemical compounds of the plant, butane, has all sorts of dodgy “grades” even in containers that claim it is a purified product. An editorial in High Times magazine claims that only butane that is “quadruple-refined or better” is suitable for ingestion. But know that there are no standards for purity verification. Adding more to this dirty process, the actual pot plant may have been treated with chemicals or have fungus or other contaminants that will also be part of this concentrated muck.
Like Meth labs set up in trailers and homes, hidden away until someone hears the big boom, these BHO homebrewers too face all the same risks using these highly flammable materials. Especially if they are doing it stoned themselves.
The vapor emitted from this final product is reported to be up to five times stronger than just smoking marijuana, and is described as the free-basing of marijuana.
Dr. Walter Thomas, the Medical Consultant of The Discovery House a respected residential inpatient drug and alcohol treatment center in Southern California, weighed in on this breaking story.
“Marijuana, like any drug can be addictive and once someone gets swept up into the drug culture, the chances of substance abuse – especially to those who are genetically inclined to addiction – increase. Dabbing presents health dangers beyond smoking marijuana. The potent vapors that are inhaled — up to 80% pure THC compared to 18% for a joint — are highly psychoactive. The intense high can make people actually lose consciousness with all the unintended consequences that presents.”
The impurities also concerned Dr. Thomas. “There are also the risks of inhaling trace elements of butane that have not been removed from the finished product, and this is especially true of the homemade varieties …which makes up the vast majority available. Other contaminants like pesticides, used to grow the marijuana, may not be removed during the extraction process.”
In the end, children and teenagers are still not finished developing, and drug use remaps the brain and intellectual capacity. Dr. Thomas added, “Any heavy use of a drug, be it alcohol or marijuana, is especially dangerous to youth. The human brain is still developing through the teen years until the age of 21 and studies have shown that high levels of THC can inhibit the development of cognitive function and overall brain structure volume.
“Making the product itself can be extremely dangerous because of the explosive nature of butane,” Dr. Thomas noted the inherent physical dangers of the process too. “Lastly, inhaling butane hash oil is very unhealthy and both claims of it curing addiction and relieving all kinds of addiction withdrawal are totally false. In fact, we have no cure for the disease known as addiction.”
‘Dabs’ are a much more powerful form of marijuana that critics say can be dangerous to users.
The legalization of medical and even recreational marijuana in some states has given rise to a sort of “I told you so” attitude among some users. (more…)
Testimonials Read More
Your professionalism and hard work really were quite apparent in your work on this project.
LaserVision
Arlene and her team are a no nonsense, hardworking, leave-no-stoneunturned bunch. They do it all, and at warp speed. No baloney or false promises, just results, guaranteed to get your phone ringing o the hook, re you are prepared for it, definitely beyond your wildest dreams.
Founder, Beneveda Medical Group
Your work in publicizing our grand opening of Galpin Aston Martin’s Club Aston was nothing short of sensational! Who would have dreamed that the event would be televised around the world. The quality of your work and that of your staff, your timeliness and attentiveness, set a standard that others should strive to emulate.
