Checking-In: Academic Cheating, Food Addictions & How To Survive a Mass Shooting

Our Friday host Piya Chattopadhyay joined Anna Maria in studio to check in on what you've had to say about stories on The Current.

Food Addictions: New research suggests that five percent of Canadians are actually addicted to food. It's a controversial diagnosis, but for those who identify as a food addict - the impact is all too real.

Yesterday we heard from Mike Mackinnon who calls himself a recovering food addict. And his story rang true for one listener in Victoria who wrote:

" Mike Mackinnon told my story. I consider myself a food addict. I have the physical symptoms of withdrawal if I do not get my drug within a certain time ... and I also have the mental obsession and the compulsion. I feel shame, remorse and self hate. It has destroyed my marriage and come between me and anything I want to do in my life".

A listener in Hamilton, Ontario says she too is similarly addicted and is taking part in a recovery program. She writes:

"Food addiction is incredibly real. Obsessive eating of sugar, wheat and flour ruled my life and nearly drove me to suicide. I have a true illness. It is exactly like alcohol for the alcoholic".

Dave Maybee is an acupuncturist who works with addiction patients. He writes from Antigonish, Nova Scotia:

" In my experience, addictions of all kinds require an emotional/psychological element. If we don't approach treatment from that perspective the addiction syndrome takes hold in another form".

This tweet came from Kate in Toronto who says:

"Food addiction is somewhat of a misnomer: compulsive eating, yes".

Abe Oudshoorn posted this:

" I side with the researcher/psychiatrist: much caution is needed before adding conditions such as food addiction to the DSM".

And here's one more from Patrick Allen who says:

" This is really a control and pain remediation issue. I don't buy the 'blame' wheat or sugar arguments".

André Marin: On Tuesday we heard from Ontario Ombudsman André Marin. At the top of his agenda is his investigation into the directives given to police on how to de-escalate potentially explosive situations. This after the death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim in Toronto. He was tasered and shot dead by police in July - when he began acting erratically on a Toronto streetcar.

Mr. Marin's question of how police can better deal with such situations prompted a response from Nancy McNaughton. She's the associate director for the University of Toronto's Standardized Patient Program. She wrote to tell us that her program is making inroads into training police officers to deal with mental health concerns.

Nancy McNaughton's letter piqued our interest so we invited her to tell us more.

Outing Gay Politicians: Anti-gay legislation in Russia has been in the news with the upcoming Olympics in Sochi.

Another bill could deny child custody to gay parents. Elena Kostyuchenko is an LGBT activist and journalist in Moscow. She has threatened to "out" any closeted gay politician who votes in favour of the bill. Tuesday on The Current, we weighed the ethics of outing politicians.

Our guest Gregory T. Angelo, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans, a group dedicated to advancing the interests of the LGBT community within the U.S. Republican Party prompted James Kennedy of Niagara Falls, Ontario to send this:

" I couldn't agree more with Gregory. Ultimately it boils down to respect for one another. We needn't stoop to bullying to get our message across".

Tracy Ford pushed back with this:

" It is absolutely incumbent on the press and activists to "out" LGBT politicians. To stay closeted, LGBT politicians go beyond basic hypocrisy - they place themselves in conflict of interest".

Here's what we heard on Twitter. Someone whose handle is possiblyagirl tweeted this:

" It's dangerous to shame LGBT people who aren't out. LGBT people need the freedom to make the best choices to protect their own safety".

And here's one more from Brenda Cossman who says:

"I'm against outing in an American context. But when at risk of going to jail and losing kids, Russian LGBT activists should do whatever".

And we received an email from Michael Phair who writes that he was openly gay when he was an Edmonton City Councillor.

" I was disappointed that on today's program both persons interviewed about 'outing' in Russia were from the US and not from Canada. Politicians who speak against LGBTQ people and are LGBTQ themselves should be outed. Being out makes a huge difference politically and to the public".

And on that point - we here at The Current do put a priority on getting Canadian voices and perspectives on our program. And as with with all our segments, we did try for this conversation, but time constraints made it impossible this time.

Cheran, Mexico: The drug war between rival drug cartels and the authorities ravaged the Mexican community of Cheran. And just over two years ago, residents decided to make a change. The indigenous people fought back and drove out the cartels... as well as the local police and Municipal politicians.

And now Cheran operates successfully as a recognized semi-autonomous indigenous community. Cheran now has its own security force called the Rondo Communitaria. And Monday on The Current, we heard from one of its leaders who goes by the name Coyote.

The story of Cheran appears to be a good news story for Mexico. But after it aired, Xavier Ortiz sent this caution. He writes from Calgary:

" What's happening in Cheran is almost the same as what happened where I was born - in Colombia. A summary of events is as follows: Drug dealers take control of small towns. Drug dealers abuse people in the towns, rape women, steal land and property. Villages start creating self-defense groups. Self-defense groups become armed. Drug dealers are expelled from towns by self-defense groups. Peace arrives for some years. Self-defense groups do not give up arms. Self-defense groups require money to continue being operational. Self-defense groups become drug dealers. Abuses to people start again. Maybe Mexico might learn something from our experience and avoid a traumatic and costly end. And now on to this".

Surviving a Mass Shooting: Earlier this week, a mass shooting took place in a US Naval Yard in Washington, DC., killing 13 people including the gunman.

People who study such events call them active shooter incidents and sadly, in the United States, it amounts to a growing body of research.

But the work is leading to a better understanding of how people caught in a mass shooting can survive. Last spring, Pete Blair, the Director of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University and the author of Active Shooter: Events and Response. He completed a study of every active shooter incident in the United States between 2000 and 2010. He was is San Marcus, Texas.

Academic Cheating: Well many of us have likely done something unfair but research out of the University of Guelph suggests a majority of Canadian university students admit to cheating.

On Monday we heard how educators use technology to push back on cheating. A site called turnitin.com puts student papers through a massive database that looks for similarities to published papers or previously submitted essays.

To that, Joanne Lalula of Montreal added this:

" I'm not proud of it, but as a multilingual student, I was able to get around Turnitin.com. I found papers in other languages and translated them. The system could never pick it up. I only did this on occasion. Can you blame us, though? School is so expensive and the pressure to do well is strong".

On Facebook, Elizabeth Pollack had this to say:

" There is one way to fight student culture such as this: if you're caught cheating or plagiarizing, you automatically fail".

And Steffen Christensen tweeted this:

"The issue with cheating at university is that it is viewed as a sort of "victimless crime".

There are lots of ways to join the discussion.

Tweet us @thecurrentcbc. Find us on Facebook. Or email us from our website. You can call us toll free at 1 877 287 7366. And if you missed anything on The Current, grab a podcast.

This segment was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar.

Last Word - 30 Seconds by Scared Weird Little Guys

Some of our listeners got a kick out of yesterday's Last Word, a song by the Australian band, Scared Weird Little Guys. Some were surprised it was so short. The Weirdies have much shorter songs than that, and since we don't have much time, here they are again with today's Last Word -- Thirty Seconds.