Below is my next Letter from the Editor for my magazine; which is a recovery magazine. I've taken out the contact info that will be in it to keep it within the Hub guidelines, but I would like to know what you guys (whom I assume, the majority of which are people with no drug or alcohol problems)think of the idea - and the concept - of changing the way we've been ingrained to think that 'Lock them up & throw away the key' is the only answer.
Thanks!
Charlie
Friday afternoon, I got a call from my friend Terence Gorski. If you don�t know of him, just Google his name. Terry is a living pioneer in addiction treatment. The U.S. Govt. calls his model of treatment one of the three most effective addiction treatment & relapse prevention models in the world. If you or someone you know has gone through a rehab, they probably used his model & work books. Terry has come home and now lives in S. Fla. He�s taken the position of Director of Relapse Prevention Services at Challenges Treatment Center. Challenges was the first facility In the country certified as a �Gorski Center of Excellence.� He�s still running CENAPS; the company that implements his treatment model in recovery facilities, distributes his work books, and handles the bookings for his counselor training classes and speaking engagements.
�Charlie, I�m here & I finally got settled in!� He said when I answered my phone. �You ready to show me Joy�s House (a new sober house for women I opened in Sept.) and then go see Tom Hanks� �Angels & Demon�? (We�d been planning to see it since he decided to move here.)
�Terry, its Friday afternoon.� I said, �This issue is almost done and all technical at this point, but I was going to do some work on the next issue. Hmm... Work or a movie, work or a movie ... let me think about it ... (3 second pause here) Hell yes! Let�s go!�
We went to the mall, had lunch at Johnny Rockets and then saw the movie. Over a lunch of burgers, fries & onion rings, we talked about everything from the economy to the real meaning of living life in recovery; including rigorous honesty. Terry told me that his workbooks were copied a lot and he wasn�t sure what to do about it. Someone would buy one book, and then make a bunch of copies; bootlegged more than the most popular movie or song.
I told him I understood about copying (although I gave it a different name); a few months ago I�d been sent copies of a new �recovery lifestyle� magazine�s first issue by some friends. It called itself �The only magazine written for & about the recovery community.� I told Terry that It�s all in the JOURNEY has been called �The only magazine written by, for & about the recovery community� for almost two years.
�Hell, Terry, they even copied (although I gave it a different name here, too) our winding road logo I have going through It�s all in the JOURNEY�S name on every magazine cover, business card, letterhead, my website, everywhere! - on their magazine�s name. And this magazine was started by someone who helped start Counselor magazine!
We both agreed that everybody in the recovery community is doing what they can (whatever they can, in some cases, it seems) to hold on and make it through these rough times.
And they need to hold on.
Because with Obama as President, Gorski & I both believe that �Yes, we can!� will finally change the national mentality - and funding - from the �War on Drugs� lock them up & throw away the key; to realizing that Treatment Saves.
Treatment Saves:
Lives � People who are not using, are not going to waste their lives away in a numb haze, or a prison cell, let alone die from an OD because,
Treatment Saves:
Human dignity, self respect & self esteem � People in recovery are no longer ashamed, afraid, hurt, angry or embarrassed. Believe me, we do not use to feel good; but to not feel. Treatment helps us walk through that which we�ve avoided (at all costs) facing. And realizing that we are not that person any longer, our confidence, esteem & self respect come back. As do our families because,
Treatment Saves:
Families � People in recovery have a spiritual awakening and a conscious contact with their Higher Power, and it shows. Sons, daughters, mothers & fathers have reunited when the addicted family member gets clean. Maybe cautiously at first, but with each change noticed, and noted, hope returns. But most important of all? The �Bottom Line� as they say in business, and what holds especially true in these economic times? We won�t be adding 100�s of billions of dollars to our country�s deficit because,
Treatment Saves:
Money � The United States is giving Mexico $1.4 billion to aid in their �war on drugs� (That�s $1,400,000,000 dollars, my friends). And the truth of the matter is that we are the major consumers of Mexico�s drugs. Add to that the economic cost of drug abuse in America in loss of productivity, the cost of incarceration and (especially) health care costs - The National Drug Control Policy estimated it at $181 billion in 2002 and increasing every year (That�s $181,000,000,000 dollars, my friends) - and the �War on Drugs� seems like an expensive failure.
Can we try something else besides the �War on Drugs�? Like...say, Treatment Saves?
Yes we can!
I was in active addiction for over 20 years; spending 10 of them in prison, and the other 10 in detoxes, hospitals and doing what I needed to do, to get what I needed to get. My father wouldn�t speak to me & I HATED God, life & most of all, myself.
I finally gave up; having to sell my house to pay for treatment, and I�ve been sober just over 3 years now. In those 3 years, I�ve bought a car, bought a house, and started a magazine that employs 3 people. And I pay taxes now (That was a new experience!). In other words, I am contributing to society now; not taking from it.
Treatment Saves:
Is going to be the name of a new PAC (Political Action Committee) that I and some friends, are considering starting. The recovery community numbers in the millions in the U.S. We are such a large, untapped political force that, if unified, could create real changes (Excuse me, Mr. Congressman? Treatment Saves has a few 100,000 voters ready to vote for you if you�ll approve more treatment funding for those who sincerely want help, but don�t a house to sell.)
Can we do this? Can we come together and be a force a change for good? As someone once said during another campaign no one believed it possible: �YES WE CAN!�
But we can�t do it without you.
peace
