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The Huffington Post / Uncategorized Whistling Over the Cliff November 20, 2012

Whistling Over the Cliff

There’s been much talk about compromise among the bickering, partisan Washington camps as the nation blithely heads toward the fiscal cliff. President Obama’s reelection may have only slightly budged the equation of power on Capitol Hill, though, so nobody should presume that it will cease to malfunction anytime soon. There is an equation, however, that can raise revenue, without raising taxes and which has served as the foundation of bipartisan agreement before: whistleblowers.

Thanks to the False Claims Act, the federal government has powerful tools that have enabled it to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue. Also known as “Lincoln’s Law,” the False Claims Act was the Great Emancipator’s answer to the rampant corruption among unscrupulous defense contractors during the Civil War.

What made the False Claims Act unique though was the all-important quit tam provision, which permitted private citizens to sue on behalf of the government and get paid a percentage of the recovery. (Qui tam is an abbreviated form of the Latin legal phrase qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, or “He who brings a case on behalf of our lord the King, as well as for himself.”) In a sense, the False Claims Act fights fire with fire by harnessing the profit incentives of ordinary Americans to corral the profit-at-any-cost impulses of cheats.

Fast forward a century later to 1986 when two lawmakers from across the aisle — conservative Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and liberal Congressman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) — collaborated in reviving the act that had lain somewhat dormant for decades. President Ronald Reagan signed the act’s new provisions into law, and it has been a powerful tool in the Justice Department’s arsenal once again since.

Recent legislation, including the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, have also bolstered whistleblower protections. Moreover Congress has created a tax whistleblower regime, as well as a securities fraud whistleblower regime, which was established as part of Dodd Frank.

So as it turns out, whistleblowing has a proud history in America of making the government significant sums of money in a very bipartisan fashion.

So, everybody should and does embrace whistleblowers right? Well, not so fast. Unfortunately, there are those who challenge the whole notion of deputized, private citizens pursuing fraudsters for profit.

I happen to have a unique perspective on this topic because I am a multi-time successful federal whistleblower. I am also a felon — I had a pathological gambling addiction that led me to engage in a white collar crime to service my addiction. So, in my life, I have been both a rule breaker and a rule follower. I understand that good people can make bad decisions and do bad things. What I have a difficult time understanding, however, is the vastly different reactions from friends and associates to my felony versus my whistleblowing.

Before I went to prison, I was featured on TV’s Dateline NBC about my crime and gambling addiction. Harper Collins published my memoir. People were fascinated — even impressed — by the huge sums of money I squandered. To the contrary, the general reaction to my whistleblowing on health care fraud has been silence, even scorn.

Somebody else who knows exactly what I’m referring to is Bradley Birkenfeld, who, like me, served time in prison for his own misdeeds. He recently received a reward of $100 million for his work in exposing the biggest tax fraud in history. Hero? The Wall Street Journal lambasted him in an article headlined “From Snitch To Rich.” The New York Post called him the “$40M Snitch.”

Our nation still faces multi-trillion dollar deficits and is on the road to insolvency. Now would be a good time to look at how fraud and greed in the mortgage, financial and health care industries, among others, not only helped create the last financial crisis, but cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year still.

This is not a partisan issue. It is not about capitalism versus socialism, rich versus poor. It is about combining the rule of law with fiscal sanity. Hopefully, we can all agree on that.

Minimally, at least both sides can pretend to get along and universally embrace whistleblowing. Like Lester Siegel’s character remarked in the hit movie, Argo: “If I’m going to make a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit.”

Original Article

Raskin - MSN / Uncategorized Dangerous teen fads of 2012 November 20, 2012

Dangerous teen fads of 2012

From taking death-defying walks high above the ground to ingesting potentially lethal substances in dangerous ways to riding atop speeding vehicles, some teens will stop at nothing for a thrill. Beyond simple fun and games, the following potentially deadly teen antics made the news in 2012.

Pill Parties

This new version of Russian Roulette begins with teens raiding their parent’s medicine cabinets for whatever prescription and over-the-counter pills they can find. They bring the pills to the party and mix them together into shot glasses or other cups and take them all at once, to see the effect. The combinations may include Oxycontin, Percocet, Valium and Xanax. “The dangers are tremendous,” says Raskin. “In addition to seizures, respiratory depression, and death, one could be allergic to a pill and go into shock, or it could be the combination of one or more pills with alcohol that could lead to additive effects and death.” Numerous recent news reports link pill parties to teens suffering from irreparable organ damage and even death.

Purple Drank

This slang term refers to a recreational drug popularized by the hip-hop community. Ingredients vary but typically contain a combination of prescription-strength cough syrup containing promethazine (an antihistamine) and codeine (an opiate), along with Sprite, 7-Up or grape soda and purple Jolly Rancher candies. “The combination can slow respiration,” says Dr. Damon Raskin, a board-certified internist specializing in addiction detoxification at the Cliffside Malibu Treatment Center in Malibu, Calif. “If teens combine it with another central nervous system depressant like alcohol they could pass out or stop breathing.” Raskin says teens often get the cough medicine from their parents’ medicine cabinet. Pauviera Linson, a 14-year-old girl from St. Paul, Minn., is believed to have died from drinking the mixture in August of this year, according to news reports.

Drinking hand sanitizer

As a potent source of alcohol, hand sanitizer enables teens to get a quick buzz — and it can be lethal. “Hand sanitizer is 60 percent alcohol,” says Raskin. “So instead of taking a few shots of tequila or going through the hassle of finding other alcohol, teens have to ingest only a small amount of hand sanitizer to get drunk.” Some inventive teens even find a way to separate the alcohol from the rest of the chemicals and end up with pure alcohol. Since hand sanitizer is readily available in grocery stores, their parents don’t usually catch on, says Raskin. “Teens can easily get alcohol poisoning this way. They should get to the ER and into a rehab program if they show an alcohol dependency.”

Synthetic marijuana

Also known as Spice, Skunk, Yucatan Fire and Moon Rocks, synthetic marijuana refers to a wide variety of herbal mixtures containing psychoactive ingredients from a number of different plants, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It ranks second only to marijuana in usage among high school seniors. “It contains the active ingredients of marijuana synthesized from other chemicals so you get a similar high,” says Raskin. Spice used to be widely available and sold in gas stations and head shops, but it’s now banned and deemed as illegal as marijuana itself, so it’s harder to obtain. “We don’t know exactly what’s in it, so we don’t understand the full dangers, but we know that teens can get into a car accident as if they’re drunk or stoned on the real marijuana,” says Raskin.

Salt and ice challenge

As a practice that makes rubbing salt into an open wound sound like child’s play, the salt and ice challenge creates true frostbite, says Dr. Debra Jaliman, a New York-based dermatologist and the author of Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist (St. Martin’s Press, 2012). The challenge involves wetting the skin, putting salt on it and then applying an ice cube with pressure that creates a burning sensation. Adding salt to ice lowers the temperature of the skin, making it colder than the normal freezing temperature of water, 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The mixture causes frostbite by soaking up heat from the surrounding skin cells. “It does terrible damage to the skin and is very painful,” says Jaliman. “It causes frostbite and second degree cold burns with blistering, possible scarring and potentially a secondary infection from the opening in the skin.”

Cinnamon challenge

This harmful teen challenge involves placing a spoonful of cinnamon in the mouth and trying to swallow it without water. “To ingest a spoonful of cinnamon in one attempt is dangerous because the cinnamon doesn’t dissolve in water or your mouth, for that matter,” says Dr. Stanley Wu, the assistant medical director of Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital Level I Trauma Center in Houston. “Normally the saliva in your mouth mixes with what’s in your mouth so you can swallow it.” Trying to swallow cinnamon this way can lead to coughing and vomiting. This can then cause aspiration or inhalation of the cinnamon, which often results in irritation, infection and, in some cases, permanent lung damage and collapse, says Wu.

Vodka eyeballing

Pouring a shot of vodka directly into the eye, a practice known as vodka eyeballing, is not only an inefficient way to get drunk but could cause serious eye damage and even blindness, says Dr. Ivan R. Schwab, a cornea specialist, professor of ophthalmology at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine and a clinical correspondent with the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “Pouring vodka directly into his eye risks damaging the surface epithelial cells – often causing pain and infection. More seriously, it’s rare but ‘eyeballing’ can also lead to permanent vision damage by killing endothelial cells in deeper layers of the eye’s cornea.” Eyeballers do not even get the quick high they seek because of the small volume of vodka absorbed by the conjunctiva and cornea, says Schwab.

Car surfing

“Surfing” while standing on the roof or hood of a car while a buddy drives at 40 mph can land a teen in the hospital with irreversible injuries, says Dr. Babak Sarani, an associate professor of surgery and the director of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “In some cases they fall off the car and the car runs over them.” Head injuries are the most common result Sarani sees in the trauma unit, although other car-surfing teens with less serious injuries end up in the emergency room. “Speed combined with the injury makes it worse,” says Sarani, who sees approximately one type a month during the warmer months when the activity becomes more popular. Injuries can be devastating and involve serious brain injuries, far beyond a concussion, says Sarani. Most victims range in age from 16 years old up to their early 20s.

Butt chugging

This disturbing act of ingesting alcohol through the rectum is also known as an alcohol enema. The teen “chugs” the alcohol through a tube or hose in an effort to get intoxicated quickly and efficiently. Several dangers exist, says Dr. Morris Silver, a gastroenterologist at Tri-City Regional Medical Center in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. “The physical act can cause local and long-term damage to the sphincter with a risk of infection.” In addition, Silver says, the method increases the risk of toxicity versus ingesting the alcohol orally, since the stomach normally breaks down some of the alcohol. Butt chugging also eliminates the body’s natural reaction to copious amounts of alcohol. “You’re likely get sick before you reach lethal limits if you drink it,” says Silver. Plus, the lack of alcohol on the breath may delay treatment.

Skywalking

Originating in Russia, skywalking refers to an act where teens scale high buildings and structures without safety equipment and then photograph themselves at the pinnacle. Clearly not for those with a fear of heights, the craze took off when19-year-old Russian student and photographer Marat Dupri began climbing onto rooftops to capture sky-high views. This past April, a gust of wind swept five skywalking teens to their death as they attempted to climb in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. “Teenagers are constantly finding new ways to test limits within themselves and their environment, often experimenting with risky activities,” says Dr. Dean Leav, a licensed psychologist specializing in children and teens in Orange County, Calif. This one could easily have a deadly outcome.

Original Article

Dr. Damon Raskin

Monsters and Critics / Cliffside Malibu Stephanie Bongiovi’s drug incident deeply upsetting, says addiction expert November 15, 2012

Stephanie Bongiovi’s drug incident deeply upsetting, says addiction expert

Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, the 19-year-old daughter of Jon Bon Jovi, allegedly overdosed on heroin this week and was subsequently arrested at her college in Upstate New York.

Police found Stephanie unresponsive after it was reported she had taken the drug. When medical personnel arrived on the scene, they found Bongiovi was still alive. A search of her room uncovered a “small quantity” of heroin as well as marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Stephanie is the eldest child of four, and Bon Jovi’s only daughter.

Frequent guest commentator to Monsters and Critics, Richard Taite, founder and CEO of Cliffside Malibu Treatment Center, took the Bon Jovi family story to heart.

Taite, a father himself, doesn’t want to see this happen in any family. Cliffside Malibu is a residential rehabilitation facility that is a gentle, quiet place where those in recovery from addiction find a profound connection with the human spirit and nature serving as a healing backdrop. Richard Taite’s own beginning was not as idyllic. A recovered addict himself, his life lessons accrued and his team of the best in medicine make the spot in Malibu unlike any other recovery center.

“As a father of a daughter myself, I can honestly say that it is an absolute blessing that this nineteen year old girl was arrested. What most laypeople and, unfortunately, professionals in the treatment industry don’t know is that heroin, specifically, has its own set of complications. What feels the best for a heroin addict who is doing it intravenously is to get as close to death as humanly possible without actually dying. That’s the goal. That’s where the euphoric state is, right there on that edge, which is why there are typically no old heroin addicts. They either get well or they die. If that was my daughter, my only daughter at that, and the oldest of my four children, setting an example for the other three, I would seek immediate help for her. And by immediate, I mean yesterday.”

Bongiovi was arrested under charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and criminally using drug paraphernalia. A 21-year-old male was also charged with possession.

She was released from custody and is reportedly recovering has been ordered to appear in court at a later date.

Cliffside Malibu

Original Article

Raskin - Test Country / Cliffside Malibu Cliffside Malibu Doctor Explains in an Exclusive Interview Why There’s No Such Thing as “Safe” Substance to Abuse November 15, 2012

Novemeber 15, 2012

Cliffside Malibu Doctor Explains in an Exclusive Interview Why There’s No Such Thing as “Safe” Substance to Abuse

What better way to understand substance abuse and treatment than to get first-hand account from professionals who deal with drug addicts. They know the symptoms and they can tell with preciseness how addiction could damage life and relationships.

Hence, when TestCountry got the chance to interview Dr. Damon Raskin, a board certified internist working at Cliffside Malibu, one of the first questions we had to ask is how dangerous prescription drugs and other illegal drugs are for people.

Dr. Raskin cited some of the substances that we need to be paying close attention to, such as alcohol, prescription medicines, and synthetic drugs. He describes prescription drugs “extremely dangerous” and synthetic drugs like bath salts and Smiles “frightening” for their potency and toxicity. The consequences that are associated with these and other commonly abused drugs, as well as the changing drug abuse trends, are enough to remind people the kind of harm they could get into when they consider experimenting and abusing banned substances.

“Mixing different types of drugs is like playing Russian roulette. Even a relatively small amount of alcohol, opioids and central nervous system depressants can cause accidental overdose and death,” Dr. Raskin said.

Before joining Cliffside Malibu, Dr. Raskin was a consultant at a rehab center in Southern California. For 10 years, he has specialized in addiction detoxification. At Cliffside Malibu he works closely with patients who are going through detoxification. He believes that the detox process can be very dangerous and he stresses it is important that the addict doesn’t stop using suddenly since abrupt withdrawal can be as harmful as the actual addiction.

To read the full text of Dr. Raskin’s interview, please visit Cliffside Malibu Treatment Center Exclusive Interview About Prescription Drug Abuse.

Cliffside Malibu

Dr. Damon Raskin

Orignal Article

Monsters and Critics / Uncategorized Jon Bon Jovi’s daughter OD’s on heroin, top addiction specialist speaks out November 14, 2012

November 14, 2012

Jon Bon Jovi’s daughter OD’s on heroin, top addiction specialist speaks out

Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi’s 19-year-old daughter, was arrested at her college in Upstate New York early this morning after allegedly overdosing on heroin, reported by TMZ.

The Kirkland Police Department went to a dorm room at Hamilton College after someone reported that Stephanie had allegedly overdosed on heroin and was unresponsive.

TMZ reports that Stephanie is alive and now she is arrested for possession of a “small quantity” of heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

A trial date has been set.

Stephanie is the oldest of four children for rocker Jon Bon Jovi and his wife Dorothea Hurley.

Medical and addiction expert, residential rehabilitation facility Cliffside Malibu’s internist Dr. Damon Raskin, is a frequent contributor and spoke to Monsters and Critics about this frightening story of a teenager with a seemingly loving, well-off family.

He tells Monsters and Critics, “This incident is another stark reminder of the dangers of opiates, not just heroine but presciption narcotics as well. This epidemic encompasses all ages and all levels of society, but there is hope. Watching for the warning signs in loved ones such as changes in behavior, new sets of friends, and lack of achievement in school and social functioning are clear red flags that there could be a problem. Treatment should start with a thorough medical evaluation, and the best chance of recovery is an inpatient residential program, such as the one at Cliffside Malibu. There are even new medical treatments to help patients detox more comfortably than in the past, and also new treatments to help the patient prevent relapse.”

Dr Damon Raskin, M.D is a board certified internist. For 10 years Dr. Raskin has specialized in working in addiction detoxification. Dr. Raskin has been interviewed for national and local media on all topics related to addiction and can be reached at

Cliffside Malibu

Dr. Damon Raskin

Original Article