Proud to be a Person in Long Term Recvoery

I recently watched a ground-breaking documentary called The Anonymous People. It's all about people who have recovered from alcohol and/or drug addiction using their voting power to not only de-stigmatize addiction but to create a ground roots movement, made up of people in recovery (including family and friends as this is a family disease), to demand that governments begin treating addiction as a disease rather than (the misconception) that it is a crime.

I am proud to say I am a person of long-term recovery. I recovered from this "seemingly hopeless condition of mind and body" (Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, 1939) January 7, 2005. My recovery started that day by going to a meeting attended by people in similar circumstances as me. I was taught a certain set of principles and traditions that I adopted into my life that have seen me through to this day.

Part of the problem that people facing addictions and/or mental health issues is a lack of service for those who want to get help. Before I attended treatment I was on a waiting list for almost two months. Luckily I was able to make it until then but for thousands, millions, of others that does not happen. The average waiting list for a publicly funded residential treatment centre is three to six months. The sad part about that is that when a person with an addiction finally decides to get help the motivational window for that decision does not stay open long. It lasts maybe a couple of days (if the person is lucky) to only a few hours. Once that decision is made we must offer help right away.

In the years I have been recovered I have met thousands of people who have put this disease into remission. People in recovery cross a wide spectrum of society for addiction is not prejudicial  to whom it strikes. My fellow recovered alcoholics/addicts are made up of teachers, doctors, lawyers, police officers, firefighters, counsellors, factory workers, mechanics, plumbers, etc. etc. Black people, white people, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim. Gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual. Right wingers, left wingers and people in the centre of politics. I'd bet that the recovered community is made up of the most diverse set of voters than any other community in Ontario or even Canada.

The current trend in treating addiction is something called harm reduction. As I wrote in a previous blog (http://onedaveatatime.blogspot.ca/2013/01/killing-people-slowly.html?spref=bl) harm reduction is just another way for people active in their addiction to die more slowly. It originates from the idea that a person in addiction has a choice in the matter and can control their addiction. Talking from personal experience let me tell you that that idea is bullshit. I could not control my drinking/drugging through will power. Asking an addict to do that would be like me asking you to control your diarrhea through will power. It can't be done. Addiction is a disease and must be treated like one. There are a set of tools that can be taught to a person active in their addiction to help them put this disease into remission. I keep saying remission because there is no cure.

Our current health care practices seem to be reactionary rather than proactive. We should be treating the disease before the person breaks the law or ends up on a gurney in one of our ERs. In the long run this would not only save money for our health care system but our social services system as well.

Don't get me wrong I am not absolving alcoholics/addicts from the responsibility for their actions while in their addiction. If they broke the law they must face the consequences. If they lost trust from family members they must earn it back. The first way to do that is by taking responsibility for  treating the disease itself and that is by seeking help. But asking that person to wait three to six months for that help may be signing their death warrant.

If you are a recovered alcoholic/addict or a friend/family member of one I urge you to sign the following petition to get help where it is needed.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-for-more-funding-for-residential/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=button

Those of us in recovery fought the battle of our lives now let's fight the next battle so for our future brethren. 
Dave the Dude