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Board of Directors Caroline Stewart, LCSW President John Wead Vice President Lisa Overton Secretary Chuck Ries Treasurer Anita Fisher Seth Groff Mary Jo Grubbs Philip Liburd Rev. Dennis Malone Julia Negron (LA Chapter) Anita Simons Susan Thornton-Zetino Teen Ambassadors: Maria Overton Caitlin Burns Advisory Board Dr. David Bergman Psychiatrist Dr. Claudio Cabrejos Psychiatrist Ken Cilch Pres. CRASH Inc. Judge Robert Coates San Diego Superior Court Margaret Dooley Sammuli ACLU San Diego Steven E. Feldman Attorney at Law Dr. Ken Khoury Psychiatrist Valerie Lemke P.R.Consultant Sylvia Liwerant PATH Co-Founder Mick Meagher Attorney at Law John de Miranda, Ed.M. FAVOR Reg. Bd. Member Dr. Rodrigo Munoz Psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Pevney Addiction Medicine Dr. Jerry Rand Retired Executive Director Gretchen Burns Bergman A New PATH A New PATH Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing Vol XXXXVIIII February 2013 Executive Director’s Message by Gretchen Burns Bergman Postcard from the President by Caroline Stewart Dear PATH family, It seems that it has been a long while since I last checked in with you. I trust that your holidays were enjoyable with little drama. It was great to see so many of you at the Bergman PATH Holiday Party. Thanks to Gretchen and Dave for their abiding support of PATH and their warm welcome to all of us in their beautiful home….I hope that many of you participated in the Moms United Empty Chair Photo project. I know that the holidays are often painful for us at our home because our son with addictive illness does not sit down at the holiday table with our extended family. However, it was a treasure to have him spend the night at our own home for Christmas Eve…..Following the holidays, PATH held its annual advisory board dinner and meeting where we were so proud to review our many successes of 2012 with our partner advisory friends. Thank you to Drs. Khoury, Bergman, Rand and Pevney for sharing your clinical wisdom with the board as to how we might improve the PATH mission. Thank you Valerie Lemke for helping us with our public relations effort…..2013 promises to be another awesome year for PATH: Only a few days into 2013 and John Wead, Gretchen and I were attending the annual Nonprofit Governance Conference at the University of San Diego Joan Kroc Center for Peace Studies. We appreciate the Alliance Healthcare Foundation for sponsoring us to attend. It was a treat for all of us to reconnect with non-profit friends from a variety of sectors. I ran into Jim Hay, MD, board president of CPPPH (California for Public Protection and Physician Health) which I also call home. Please read my article in this newsletter about how California physicians are tragically deprived of the clinical services they need (with horrific challenges to their ability to practice medicine) when they suffer from addictive illness and co-occurring disorders…Mark your calendars for February 4th and hop on Freeway 5 to LA to join PATH for the film screening of Raw Opium at the California Endowment offices. This is a very important Moms United to End the War on Drugs joint effort with LA PATH and Drug Policy Alliance, featuring a film that captures the horror of the war on drugs….This Spring, on Friday April 26th, PATH will celebrate our 14th birthday with twin celebratory events: an afternoon panel discussing the importance of art and music therapy in the treatment of persons with addictive illness followed in the evening by a concert featuring the folksinger Charles Imes and various local artists, as well as the Southwestern Community College Concert Choir. Continued on page 3 Breaking Through the Shackles of Shame Coming into 2013, I’m filled with a sense of anxious excitement and cautious optimism. The results of our failed punitive prohibitionist policies of the last 40 years are so disastrous that I feel we’ve arrived at some kind of a tipping point. When the devastation, the loss of lives and liberties, and the collateral damage of the war on drugs is heaped so high, this mountain of lies and injustice must come crashing down. Then, through the rubble, we will acknowledge the undeniable need for change, and find the strength and honesty to create life-affirming, restorative policies. There have been many indications in the past few years to support the thinking that the time has come for a new direction. Several Latin American leaders are now joining forces to speak out for an end to drug prohibition that has so decimated their people, due to the violence and corruption promoted by the illegal drug market. They are speaking out for decriminalization. President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala began last year by calling for a debate on alternatives to the war on drugs. Many other leaders gave their support, including the presidents of Costa Rica, Ecuador and Columbia. Uruguay has submitted a proposal to legalize marijuana under government-controlled regulation and sale. In Mexico over 60,000 people have died due to drug war violence in the past 5 years, and drug cartels make 60% of their profits from marijuana alone. Last summer PATH and our Moms United campaign participated in the Caravan for Peace with Justice & Dignity, a group of families from Mexico that traveled from Tijuana to Washington D.C. to call for a change in bi-national drug war policies. As parents we were able to connect and share our struggles, outrage and grief, as this war has torn apart families on both sides of the border. Mothers joining together throughout the world could be a strong force in leading us out of the chaos, in order to protect and preserve our families. The concept that it is always darkest before the dawn can be applied to the epidemic of accidental overdose deaths that we are witnessing. Overdose deaths are now the second leading cause of accidental deaths in the nation. California just became the 10th state to enact a 911 Good Samaritan law, protecting a person from arrest or prosecution if they witness an overdose and call for help, which is a necessary response to an overwhelmingly tragic problem. 1 Continued on page 3 February 2013 A New PATH 2013 Committees Please help us move forward with our goals by joining one of our committees: ¨ Executive (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer) ¨ Finance and Fundraising ¨ Membership ¨ PR/Publicity ¨ Education & Recovery ¨ Legislative & Prison Reform Contact us at 619-670-1184 or [email protected] to join a committee. PATH Welcomes Your Involvement! PATH holds semi-annual educational speaker meetings and seminars. We invite you to attend and to get more involved in our many projects to reduce the stigma of the disease of addiction and to increase substance abuse treatment options. Our Board of Directors meets monthly on the second Wednesday of each month at 6pm. Please let us know if you are interested in attending or if you would like to serve as a member of the Board of Directors or PATH Ambassadors: 619-670-1184 or [email protected]. Resource Information: SUPPORT A NEW PATH BY PURCHASING AD SPACE A New PATH: 619-670-1184 AA Hotline: 619-265-8762 Alanon, Alateen: 619-296-2666 Naranon: 858-492-8720 NA Hotline: 619-584-1007 Central Public Defender: 619-338-4700 Juvenile Hall: 858-694-4500 Las Colinas Jail (women): 619-258-3176 Mental Health Assoc.: 619-543-0412 Probation: 619-515-8202 SD County Jail (men): 619-615-2808 SD Superior Court Central: 619-531-4420 Teen Drug Screen, Palmerado E.D., 858-694-8497 SD County Alcohol & Drug Service Info. & Referral: 619-692-5727 A New PATH appreciates your support! We continue to expand and our newsletter now goes out to over 3600 people! Consider purchasing an ad for our January edition. $60 - business card $250 - 1/2 page Our next printing deadline is May 24,2013. Make checks payable to: A New PATH, 2527 Doubletree Road, Spring Valley, CA 91978. Phone/Fax: 619-670-1184, Email: [email protected]. Thanks for all of your support! A New PATH newsletter is published quarterly by the Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing nonprofit organization. PARENT SURVIVAL KITS AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH WITH SPANISH TRANSLATIONS Who do you turn to for help when a loved one has a substance abuse problem? Where do you go for information when your substance abusing family member gets arrested? We have created, a brochure of information to help parents navigate the criminal justice system. It includes information on when to intervene, warning signs of relapse, court related phone numbers, and the judicial process. If you would like a copy, please send $1 for mailing. Gretchen Burns Bergman - Managing Editor Kathy Rezaiy- Editor A New PATH 2527 Doubletree Road Spring Valley, CA 91978 Phone (619) 670-1184 E-mail [email protected] Check our website at www.anewpathsite.org © 2013 A New PATH. No portion of this newsletter may be reprinted without the written consent of A New PATH. PATH is endorsed by Þ San Diego Psychiatric Society Þ Mental Health America in San Diego County Þ NAMI San Diego Þ Jewish Family Services Þ Families to Amend California’s Three-Strikes Þ The San Diego District Attorney’s Office Þ Join Together/Demand Treatment Þ Drug Policy Alliance Network A Newlterna s S tive our ces www.facesandvoicesof recovery.org Help A New PATH reduce Stigma and Celebrate Recovery! In order to celebrate the “silver lining” of sobriety, and to show your support of loved ones in recovery, or your pride in your own recovery, we invite you to join us in wearing “PATH to RECOVERY” silver cause bracelets Order them through the PATH office by emailing: [email protected] and we will mail them to you right away. Please purchase 3 for $10, so that you can wear one and give the others to friends in recovery, or you can purchase one for $5. Wear these bracelets so that others can appreciate the growing number of people taking pride in recovery! www.anewpathsite.org www.jointogether.org www.narconews.com www.drcnet.org www.reconsider.org www.drugpolicy.org www.sdchip.org www.centerforce.org You can help support A New PATH when you shop! Please register your Ralphs club card online at Help us to Celebrate Recovery by ordering your PATH to Recovery magnetic “R” ribbons and placing them on your cars and refrigerators, or anywhere visible to help to reduce the stigma and show the world that you support Recovery from addictive illness. They are Available through the PATH office for $2 each or 3 for $5. A New PATH $125 - 1/4 page $500 - full page www.ralphs.com/ Using A New PATH and NPO # “90278” and every time you shop and swipe your card/ PATH will automatically earn a rebate. You can also contribute to New PATH through Food 4 Less: www.food4less.net 2 Please call the PATH office if you need helphelp in setting this up at: 619-670-1184. thank you for your ongoing support ! February 2013 Continued from page 1 Postcard from the Prez Please join us at Liberty Station for both of these wonderful events. If you have any art items to donate for a silent auction for this event, please contact me. Gretchen and the Moms United crew are off to New York City this Spring to continue to promote PATH’s most fervent belief that the drug war is a threat to our families and communities. Please read Gretchen’s article about the Moms United efforts in this newsletter. I look forward to seeing many of you in the following months as we work side by side to promote therapeutic justice for persons with addictive illness. Happy New Year. Caroline NY Times Welcomes Lower Recidivism Among Parolees. A New York Times (12/29/12, A18, Subscription Publication) editorial welcomed efforts by several states that "have cut recidivism by giving newly released inmates access to drug treatment or mental health care, focusing parole supervision on the riskiest offenders, and developing a system of community-based sanctions that sends only troubled or repeat offenders back to prison." Data from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics "suggest that the reforms are already cutting the numbers of parolees who are bounced back to prison for minor infractions." The Times continued, "States that are serious about reducing recidivism need to do away with the thousands of laws and regulations that punish ex-offenders by making it difficult for them to find jobs, homes and basic work credentials like driver's and occupational licenses." Now Receive Your Quarterly Newsletter Electronically You can now opt-in to receive the A New PATH Newsletter via your email. If you enjoy reading our Newsletter on paper DO NOTHING. However, if you wish to receive the Newsletter electronically, simply send us an email [[email protected]]. Type “OPT-IN Newsletter” in the Subject Line. Current and all previous PATH Newsletters can be read on our website: http://www.anewpathsite.org/newsletters1.html Thank you! Ask your friends to donate to PATH for your birthday! Go to http://www.causes.com/ click on “find a cause.” at the top of the page. Type in “a new path” then click on the magnifying glass. You will be taken to a new screen where A New PATH is at the top of the list. Be careful to click on A New PATH. Once on the New PATH screen, you can donate, or join the cause. There are links to set up a birthday wish so your friends can donate to A New PATH on your birthday other holidays. You can click on “members” to see who some (or all) of the 539 members are. There is also a place where you can leave a comment. Joining the Cause is separate from being a group member or liking A New PATH’s page on Facebook. You can do one, 2 or all 3 of these. But to donate money, the Cause is the way! Lisa Overton Please help Support our cause by Purchasing: - 2013 Faces of Recovery Calendar now on sale for $5! -”Givin’ Somethin’ Back” CDS by Rap Artist Pierre Alexander ($10) - Decade of Dedication CD of Southwestern Choir $10 - The Best of Chuck Negron or Holiday CD - $10 - Silver “PATH to Recovery” cause bracelets - 3 for $10 - Strut for Sobriety T-Shirts $15 (Men’L,Women’s Med. - An Inch from the Heart books of Found Poetry available for $20 each. -”R”PATH to Recovery magnetic car stickers:3 for $5. - A New PATH white T-shirts & tanks with emerald studs & stone designed by Kathy Rezaiy: $20 - Children of Drug War paper back with chapter authored by Gretchen Burns Bergman: $30 - Signed Paperback Book: One- Way Ticket, by Rita Lowenthal: $10 - Signed paperback book: Discovering Me, Discovering Joy, by Vivian Eisencher: $10 - Gourmet coffee - order at PATH.cupgives.com Order through PATH office: 619-670-1184 or email: [email protected]. If you would like us to mail any of these items, please add $5 The views of the authors of this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of A New PATH A New PATH Continued from page 1 Executive Director’s Message The probable reason that this crisis is at a tipping point is that it doesn’t just happen in families that grapple with addictive illness, but it is happening across the spectrum with seniors mixing prescription drugs, teens going into parents medicine cabinets to experiment, college students partying, and people behind bars using drugs in a desperate attempt to deal with being caged due to drug problems. In California we finally passed a bill to reform our draconian 3-strikes law that ensnared so many non-violent drug offenders in prison for decades. And, the big news in drug reform last year came with Colorado and Washington state legalizing marijuana. This change is a long time in coming and follows our efforts to pass Prop 19 in California. But, the greatest forward momentum is that people, media and politicians, are actually talking about legalizing marijuana without snickering and judgment. None of these changes would have occurred without breaking through the layers of ignorance and the shackles of stigma. Much of the work of A New PATH is to speak out honestly about our personal stories of pain and addiction in our families in order to challenge untruths, reject shame and blame, and illustrate the true nature of addictive illness. We shine a ray of light through the maze of anger and prejudice that leads toward compassionate understanding and healthoriented solutions. PATH will turn 14 this April, and over these years we have been a constant and growing voice calling for therapeutic justice. Through our national Moms United to End the War on Drugs campaign, we have gained strength in numbers, and mothers are rising up, reclaiming their inherent rights to nurture, and demanding change. We now have Moms United representatives in 17 states, and we are uniting with “Cops, Clergy, Students & Docs” to lead the way toward new, non-judgmental, science-based approaches to dealing with society’s problems with drug use and addiction. Together we will end the violence, mass incarceration and overdose deaths that are a result of pointless prohibitionist policies. What will life look like if we achieve our goals? I believe that without policies that promote prejudice, and over-reliance on criminal justice to solve our public health problems, we will be able to significantly reduce the harms associated with drug use. We will be freed to see people who are trapped in the vicious cycle of addiction as we would our own sons and daughters, who deserve help in overcoming their demons of drug dependence, and in reducing their significant roadblocks to recovery. To see past the scare tactics of the prison industrial complex about how our world would disintegrate into widespread drug use and depravity, we have only to look at the experience of Portugal, a country that decriminalized drugs in 2001. Studies show that teen drug use and HIV infections decreased, and adult drug use remained consistent with other European countries. Furthermore, other crime rates did not rise, and the prison population and its associated costs decreased. Recently I spoke to a woman who had worked in the drug courts 13 years ago when PATH was young and advocating for mandated treatment in lieu of incarceration. She said that at the time we were viewed as being pretty radical in our thinking, but that now history has proven us to be right. Now people from all walks of life are coming to the same viewpoint. She validated our work as being visionary. I’m very proud, not just that we created A New PATH, but that we had the courage and fortitude to continue this journey and this urgent calling. The tide may be turning, but now is not a time to relax or retreat. It takes resolve and determination to break through all of the shackles of stigma. They are bound tightly, creating powerlessness and exquisite pain. We must remain vigilant and strong in our actions and advocacy in order to bring to reality the kind of tolerance and tomorrows we envision for all of our children. 3 February 2013 Why I am working with California Public Protection and Physician Health Just as the repeal of alcohol Prohibition began in the late 1920s with individual states repealing their own prohibition laws, and ultimately culminated with repeal of federal Prohibition, so Washington and Colorado have initiated a political process that will resonate nationally. The transformation in public opinion over the past six years, not just in these two states but nationwide, has been nothing short of remarkable. As recently as 2006, Gallup's polling found 36% of Americans in favor of legalizing marijuana use and 60% opposed. By late 2011, that 36% in favor had jumped to 50% and the opposition has fallen to 46%. What Washington and Colorado did tonight, other states are sure to replicate in years to come. Not all will succeed, as Oregon apparently did not tonight, but the dominoes of marijuana prohibition are poised to topple. It would be a mistake to describe these victories as "propot." Millions of Americans who have no particular affinity for marijuana have decided that it makes no sense to keep spending billions of dollars trying to enforce an unenforceable prohibition when state and local governments could be taking in comparable amounts by taxing and regulating marijuana. They know that legalizing marijuana will deprive criminal organizations in Mexico and this country of profits and power, and enable police and prosecutors to focus resources on serious crimes. They are convinced that arresting 750,000 people each year for possessing a small amount of marijuana is costly, cruel and unjust. And they rightfully believe that young people will fare better with responsible regulations rather than ineffective prohibitions. To put this in global perspective, even as the federal government persists with its failed drug war strategy, the United States has now emerged as the global leader in promoting more sensible policies with respect to marijuana. Ethan Nadelmann is the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. Caroline Ridout Stewart, MA, MSW, LCSW - November 2012 – as seen in CPPPH Communications I am a woman who wears many hats. I am first and foremost a dedicated mother with an adult son who suffers from a co-occurring disorder. I am, secondly, president of the board of a small non-profit (A New PATH: Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing) that advocates for legislative policies promoting harm reduction and for more treatment dollars to be made available for individuals who suffer from addictive illness. I am a busy full-time psychotherapist who works all day long in a busy urban psychiatric clinic as part of a team training psychiatry residents. I am also a member of the board of California Public Protection and Physician Health (CPPPH), a non-profit working tirelessly to create a medically-informed, confidential program for physicians who suffer from addictive illness, psychiatric illness or loss of cognitive functioning. Finally, I am a patient who wants to be able to depend upon the good judgment and wisdom of my own doctors. One year ago, I was asked by James Hay, MD, then President of the California Medical Association, to join the CPPPH board. As one viscerally aware of the impact of addictive and psychiatric illness on the patients themselves, on their families and certainly on the communities in which they live and work, I knew the importance of this work. But even so, why would such a busy lady want to join another board? My motivation comes from my own personal experience. Our California doctors suffering from addictive or psychiatric illness are not so different from my own son who has on many occasions been literally “kicked to the curb.” My “relapsing” son has been put out on the street from his residential drug and alcohol program with his prescriptive black garbage bags in homage to his despicable character. He has been given no recourse, no discharge plan, no transitional shepherding towards recovery. The same holds for our docs. We do not want them to be stripped of their medical licenses and put out on the street.. But that can happen. And it is more likely to happen in states where there is no organized, structured physician health program. When I share this information with my friends and colleagues (even those in the trenches of hospital medicine), they are almost always shocked and even a little argumentative. “No,” they say. “This cannot be. Doctors have as much right as anyone else to get sick.” The bottom line is that physicians are simply human beings with the same biological vulnerability to mental health and addiction problems as anyone else. I imagine that my own beloved physicians may have suffered from a variety of ailments over the years (perhaps arthritis or heart disease) and have, as have their own patients, occasionally required time home on the mend or even in hospital for aggressive care. As a patient and as a community member, I would never want my own medical providers to be denied the help needed to recover from a disease or worse to be forced to go underground with a disease for fear of loss of their profession. So that is why I see it as a huge honor to stand up and fight for our California physicians and for the same humane, clinically-informed treatment for addictive and psychiatric illness that they would demand for their own patients. We on the CPPPH board will never give up advocating for those who have spent their whole lives devoted to the health and well-being of others. We hold to the admonition: before all else, do no harm. Certainly our beloved physicians are worthy of this same respect and care. Screening of Documentary “Raw Opium” On Monday Feb. 4, 2013 The LA Chapter of A New PATH, The Drug Policy Alliance & A New PATH’s Mom’s United to End the War on Drugs Campaign sponsored an afternoon of Documentary Film viewing along with a panel discussion on the 40 years of failed drug policy at the California Endowment, LA. “Raw Opium” chronicles a commodity that has tremendous power - both to ease pain and destroy lives. The opium poppy is the raw material for heroin, fueling a vast criminal trade larger than the economies of many countries. We saw how a flower plays a pivotal role not just in the lives of people who grow, manufacture and use it, but also in the political instability of an increasingly interconnected and turbulent world. The film explores the history, science and politics of the opium trade by following opium's voyage around the world, including the disparate worlds of an opium master in Southeast Asia, a UN drug enforcement officer on the border of Afghanistan hunting down the smugglers of central Asia, a former Indian government drug czar who encounters the opium farmers of northern India, and a Vancouver heroin user struggling to kick the habit. Washington State and Colorado will lead the way towards sensible drug laws. By Ethan Nadelmann – USA today - 11/7/2012 Washington State and Colorado made history tonight by becoming the first states in the United States - to approve the legal regulation of marijuana. These victories likely represent the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in this country and many others as well. A New PATH After the screening, a panel discussion was moderated by PATH LA Director John Whitaker with panelists: Dr. David B. Bergman, Hanna Dershowitz, Diane Goldstein, Caroline Stewart, L.C.S.W., and Meghan Ralston. 4 February 2013 Letter to Editor Submission to U-T S.D. – 1/10/12 By Lisa E. Overton Gov. Brown's challenge of prison oversight by the Federal government reminds me of a street hustler shuffling cards. (Brown challenges court oversight of Calif. Prisons, Jan. 8) Moving inmates from the state to the county, or worse yet, out of state, doesn't reduce the prison population at all. A redistribution of the population is not a reduction of the population, regardless of the accounting procedure used. Why doesn't the governor work on measures to actually reduce the prison population? Solutions to prison overcrowding include releasing elderly prisoners: Many studies show that people over the age of 50 rarely commit new crimes. We need sentencing reform, such as removing mandatory minimums from sentences, increasing good time credits and releasing the inmates who are eligible under Prop. 36, the 3-strikes reform bill. Instead of building more jails, why not spend the money on educating and offering mental illness and substance abuse treatment to inmates? Teach people parenting and job-seeking skills. Offer classes in how to handle stress and problems, instead of adding stress and problems to people who have already made at least one serious error in judgment to get locked up in the first place. No, Governor, overcrowding and inadequate health care are not a “distant memory” in California’s prisons. Simply moving the problem from one building to another does not fix the problem. Lisa Overton Calvert Congratulations to our PATH Board Secretary Lisa Overton, who married John Calvert, on Jan. 14, 2013. We wish them much happiness! EL RINCON DE CLAUDIO EL ESTRES Y EL USO DEL ALCOHOL Y DROGAS Escuchamos frequentemente la palabra “estres”. Por estres, justificamos muchas de nuestras acciones, es frequente escuchar alguien que usa drogas y alcohol decir que las uso porque “tenia mucho estres”. Pero, que es el estres? Es una palabra dificil de definir, la misma situacion o actividad que puede significar estres para un individuo puede que no lo sea para otro. Definimos estres en forma general a cualquier situacion que produzca un cambio fisico y/o mental en el individuo. Los cambios fisicos son los denominados cambios de “lucha o huida”, en referencia a que nos preparamos fisicamente para afrontar la nueva situacion como si vamos a pelear o salir huyendo de esta, tales como aumento de la frequencia cardiaca, aumento de la circulacion y presion sanguinea, aumento de la frequencia respiratoria, sudoracion, pupilas dilatadas, el flujo de sangre se concentra en los musculos, etc. Los cambios mentales pueden ser inconcientes o concientes. Los inconcientes se denominan “ mecanismos de defensa” tales como negacion, repression, proyeccion, etc; estos nos ayudan en forma inconciente a manejar periodos de estres. Los concientes incluyen prepararnos para el estres, como planificacion, entrenamiento, dedicar mas tiempo a la nueva actividad, etc. Consecuencias negativas del estres incluyen ansiedad, depression y otros. Es normal sentirse un poco ansioso con una situacion nueva, pero esta ansiedad no nos debe inmovilizar sino mas bien motivarnos de una manera adequada, si progresa se podria convertir en un desorden de ansiedad o en una Depresion mayor. Como controlamos el estres? El uso del alcohol y drogas solo produce mas dano fisico y mental, y no controlamos el estres mas bien tiene consecuencias catastroficas al no estar en un estado fisco y mental balanceado. Ejercicio, dieta balanceada, Yoga, meditacion, periodos de descanso, hobbies y actividades de placer son algunas de las actividades que nos ayudan a controlar el estres. CLAUDIO CABREJOS MD MPH AMERICAN BOARD OF ADDICTION PSYCHIATRY Faces of Recovery Calendar There is nothing more beautiful than a person in recovery…the light of life shining in their eyes and beaming hope for a fulfilling future. A New PATH Our Tenth edition features 12 people who have shared their life stories in order to help others to understand and experience both the devastation of the disease and the miraculous reality of recovery. is grateful for support from 2013 Calendars are now on sale for $5. To order: [email protected] Tamara Mooney Specializing in Curly Hair We Want and Need Your donation of a Car…Van…R.V….Travel Trailer… 5th Wheel…Truck…or Off-Road Vehicle Some restrictions apply Tasha’s Beauty Studio 1616 West Lewis St. San Diego, CA 92103 Appts: 619-421-0985 Cell: 619-227-0529 [email protected] A New PATH Take Advantage of Your Tax Deduction Therapeutic Justice For Substance Related Crimes 5 Please call our Toll Free Number Today to Arrange Your Free Pickup! 1-866-538-7366 YOUAUTODONATE.com February 2013 us one evening, then kick him to the curb the next day with no warning or transitional care for any of us. We were simply a peripheral adjunct in our son’s life, requiring no support and left to cope as best we could. Where was the therapeutic plan? The new path? Again, we cannot have it both ways. If we pride ourselves in our medically-informed approach to people who misuse drugs and alcohol, how can we with good conscience embrace archaic philosophies of needing to hit bottom to recover? It seems there are a few reasons why programs throw our children out. They need the bed for healthier patients who have a better chance of recovery. (Oh, the irony: the precious bed is reserved for the healthier client, not the sickest). They need to give the bed to a better-funded client. They need to extract the malignant patient because he or she might contaminate others. They need the patient to ‘learn a lesson,’ ‘hit bottom’ or ‘come back when you’re ready.’ We do not throw dogs onto the street if they are ill or behave badly. What’s clear to me is that for many of our addicted children, no moral lessons are learned, there is no coming back when they are motivated, nothing is gained from hitting bottom. Many simply go away and die, relieving programs of any medical obligation to save lives. If I waved my magic wand, residential programs would have “step up” and “step down” units like Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Leaving the protective environment of a program would not be permitted unless the person left against medical advice. Currently, there is no medical advice not to leave because so-called providers want difficult patients to go if they aren’t improving. Providers have succumbed to their counter-transference yearnings for compliant, validating patients who get better quickly and gratify them with long-term sobriety. In the best of all worlds, my son’s residential program would have put him in an intensive, wrap-around program following his relapse. They would have invited his father and me to join in a clinical meeting to explore ways to re-integrate him into the residential community or place him in more restrictive care. Every residential program would offer this. Relapse would not be viewed as a moral failing or another bed coming open for a worthier client. It is sad that even the most informed clinical providers have ambivalence and intrusive doubt as to whether addiction really is a disease or a moral failing. It’s time for the high-minded medical rhetoric to stop. We and our vulnerable children can’t take the seduction any longer. We are worn thin with the do-gooder stance. Still Crazy After All These Years: A Mother’s View of Harm Reduction By Caroline Ridout Stewart, LCSW – 10/30/12 Permit me to set the record straight. For more than 15 years, my son has suffered from addictive illness. He uses a variety of street drugs and has been in residential treatment numerous times. To put it mildly, he’s not a saint. Yet, when he’s sober, he is kind to dogs, loves growing flowers and watching “Forest Gump” over and over. He has the capacity for humor and the ability to walk in another man’s shoes. That’s called empathy. When using, he stands, a lost soul, at the precipice of hell. He suffers chronic anxiety and self-loathing. He has vicious scabs on his arms, cannot sleep, and noticeably shakes. He lies and sometimes steals. He has no survival instinct. He is tortured. Recently, well into a six-month residential treatment program, my son was evicted onto the street by his “treatment” providers. He had arrived back late to his program after a long day at the dentist’s where he had two teeth extracted. He appeared about 6 p.m. and was promptly drug tested. He was evicted several days later, the test results revealing he had taken Vicodin (given by the dental clinic) and methamphetamine, which he acknowledged using. What remains unclear is whether program staff knew he was having major dental work. Staff made no arrangements to escort him since he had achieved a higher level of freedom as a model citizen during his two months with them. As my husband so aptly and painfully put it, “They gave him just enough rope to hang himself.” Sadly, it is not an uncommon scenario. Sending my son to a dental appointment unescorted was an important test, one he failed. Per program rules, he was evicted from his therapeutic community, a bad person who chose to self destruct. He was literally cast into the gutter to provide a bed for a more deserving soul, one who makes healthy choices. Here is the real “WTF.” Please help me understand. Is my son’s “condition” an illness or isn’t it? We all play this both ways. It’s an illness when we need insurance funding and recognition of our evidence-based therapeutic practices. It is an illness when our clients need medication to help stabilize their mood and be more emotionally resilient and cooperative. It’s an illness when we write papers about heritability and genetic markers. However, addiction becomes a moral failing and a choice when we become bored with our clients and tired of their bad behavior. It is a choice when our clients are dirty and unattractive. It is a choice when our clients need shepherding that we don’t have the time, money or inclination for. It is a choice when we have no state mandate to hold someone against their will even when they are dying. Why waste brain power mulling this over? It may be because I am the queen of codependency. Perhaps harm reduction is simply a fiction in the minds of neurotic, anxious mothers with attachment disorders. We are fools to believe our children are ill. This belief in addiction as disease is just one more feminist conspiracy to relieve mothers of their guilt. We enculturated our children to be weak, antisocial and self destructive. We are blinded by memories of their toddler innocence just as we are blind to the fact our addicted children choose to remain addicted. We are incapable of accepting that our children are simply bad, character-disordered people. Before our son was evicted from treatment, my husband made many frantic calls to the program director. His calls were not returned. We had even attended a family therapy meeting at the facility the night before the eviction and no staff member alerted us to the pending family crisis. And it was a family crisis. We desperately needed their clinical advice and advocacy on how to help our son as well as grieve this new setback. If our son’s treatment providers knew what was coming, they gave us no inkling. How callous and cruel of them to embrace A New PATH 6 LifeHouse Recovery Connnection Although in existence for less than a year the San Diego-based recovery community organization is busy opening a recovery center/sober living facility on Hancock Street. Last Saturday a fundraising dinner brought together almost 100 recovery advocates. Executive Director Karen Hayes cited the outpouring of volunteer effort from the LHRC board of directors and allies as further proof of the need for a strong, organized recovery community in San Diego. Continued on page 9 February 2013 A New PATH wishes to Thank These Generous Sponsors: Emerald Level ($15,000+) - Virginia Napierskie, Drug Policy Alliance, Alliance Healthcare Foundation Diamond Level ($10,000+) - Gretchen Burns Bergman Sapphire Level ($5,000+) - Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, Theodore Bergman, Sylvia & Jaime Liwerant, Anonymous, Ute City Charitable Trust, Gretchen Productions Amethyst Level ($2,500+) – Linda Marteeny, Barbara Brown, Beth Herman, Matthew G. L. Perlatti Memorial Fund, Priscilla & Keith Webb Opal Level ($1,000+) - Dr. David Bergman, The Liwerant Family Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, Neil Hadfield & Margaret Jackson, Alvarado Parkway Institute, Pam Jackson, Peggy Matthews, Anna Curren, Barbie Spinazzola Topaz Level ($500+) – CC Interiors, SOS Printing, Caroline Stewart & Associates, VROM, Rory Devine, Harlan Levy, Connie Conard, Caroline & Donald Stewart, The Gold Diggers, Scripps Mercy Behavioral Health Services, Sharp McDonald Center, Bay Recovery, MorganStanley SmithBarney, Suboxone - Reckitt Benckiser, On The Border, Soroptimist International of S.D., Marilyn McCloskey, Sue K. Edwards, Carole Rosenstock-Goldfeder, Ron & Claudia Little, Tom & Tanya O’Donnell, Paul & Nelly Dean, Sylmar Company, Steven B. Dillaway PATH Partners ($200+) - Laurie Anne & David Beck Brown, Henry Austin, Mary Jo Grubbs, Centaur University, Dr. Bruce & Barbara Pevney, Cecil & Sally Hawkins, Eve & Mike Hudgins, David J. Williamson, George & Kate Willis, John and Nancy Walters, Rick Morey, Crown Point Catering, Inc., Dawn & Dutch Dershem, Jacqueline Keene, Practical Recovery, Art & Lana Salyer, Steve Verdugo, Barry Lessin We invite you to join us! Return with payment to: New PATH, 2527 Doubletree Road, Spring Valley, CA 91978 Website: www.anewpathsite.org E-mail: [email protected] __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Philanthropic Levels _____$15,000 Emerald (Love) _____$10,000 Diamond (Empowerment) _____$ 5,000 Sapphire (Clear Thinking) _____$ 2,500 Amethyst (Healing) _____$ 1,000 Opal (Hope) _____$ 500 Topaz (Strength) Annual Membership Levels _____$200.00 PATH Partner _____$100.00 Business _____$ 75.00 Family _____$ 50.00 Couple _____$ 40.00 Individual _____$ Other Name(s)________________________________________________________________ Bus. Or Org.____________________________________________________________ Address________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip__________________________________________________________ Phone_______________Fax___________________E-mail_______________________ Amount Enclosed $___________ Paid by credit card (see below) or Check #_____________ Card Number _________________________________________ _ Expiration Date ______________________ Signature _______________________________________________ We accept Visa, MC, Discover & American Express _____ I would like to get more involved and would like information about the activities of the committees _____ I support PATH and its goals with a financial contribution, but at this time cannot actively participate. _____ Please keep me informed of future events. Your contribution is tax deductible according to law. Tax ID#:33 088 3927 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! A New PATH 7 February 2013 Watch for News on Strut for Sobriety! in September 2013 Date & Location to be determined... 10:00 boutique & silent auction v 12:00 luncheon, awards ceremony & fashion show 2012 Co-Chairs: Colleen Ruis Ince & Liz Crocker Strut for Sobriety! is a BRAVO S.D. Awardee for Best Gala Benefit Using Live Performers! Tickets: $85 or $1,200 for a Topaz Runway Table of 10 To reserve: 619-670-1184 or email [email protected] A New PATH 8 February 2013 Why People Who Hate Drugs Should Want to End the Drug War By Tony Newman (Huffington Post 1/17/2013) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/why-people- who-hate-drugs_b_2497780.html Many people hate drugs. It is easy to see why. Most families have had a loved one with a problematic relationship to alcohol or other drugs. People who struggle with drug problems can cause incredible pain to themselves and their loved ones. Broken marriages, loss of jobs, incarceration and even dying from an overdose are all possible tragic consequences of serious drug problems. While it might be counterintuitive, people who hate drugs should be at the forefront of ending our nation's failed drug war. The drug war makes all of the problems I mentioned above much worse. Drug War = Mass Incarceration and Lack of Treatment Let’s start with people struggling with drug misuse or addiction. Our drug war doesn’t keep drugs out of the hands of people who want drugs; drugs are as plentiful as ever. But getting caught with drugs can land someone in a cage for many years. Spending time behind bars is not the way to help someone who has drug problem and most likely will make that person more traumatized. The sad fact is that we spend 50,000 dollars a year incarcerating someone for a drug offense, yet at the same time there is not enough money to offer treatment to people who want it. Drug War = More Overdose and More Dying People who have lost a loved one to an overdose feel an unimaginable pain and often want to wipe drugs off the face of the earth. Tragically, the drug war leads to many such deaths. Despite 40-plus years trying to eliminate drug use, there is an overdose crisis in this country right now. Overdose is now almost neck-and-neck with car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the country. Most people who experience an overdose are with friends when it happens and would survive if someone called 911. But because of our drug war, people often don’t call 911 because they are too afraid that the police will show up and arrest them. It is outrageous that we discourage people from calling 911 to save a life because of laws that pit their interest to help someone who is ODing against their motivation to not be arrested. Another way to potentially save people who are overdosing on an opioid is to provide them with an antidote called naloxone, which can reverse the effects and restore normal breathing in two to three minutes if administered following an opioid overdose. Unfortunately our society does not come close to doing enough to make naloxone available to people who use drugs and their friends and families. Drug War = Unsafe Neighborhoods People who live in neighborhoods with drug dealing out in the open and with violence associated with the drug trade are some of the most vocal supporters of the drug war. Of course people want and need to feel safe in their neighborhoods. But most “drug-related” violence stems not from drug use, but from drug prohibition. That was true in Chicago under alcohol kingpin Al Capone, and it is true now. The killings and violence in many U.S. cities are not from marijuana or other drug use, but because prohibition makes the plants worth more than gold, and people are willing to kill each other over the profits to be made. Drug War = More Danger for Our Children Many people may know the drug war is a failure but are afraid of change course because they worry about their children and want to keep them safe. Ironically, the drug war is a complete failure when it comes to keeping young people from using drugs. Despite decades of DARE programs with the simplistic “Just Say No” message, 44 percent of teenagers will try marijuana before they graduate and nearly 75 percent will drink alcohol. Young people often claim it is easier for them to get marijuana than alcohol because drug dealers don’t check IDs. Young people also feel the brunt of marijuana enforcement and make up many (and in some places most) of the arrests for marijuana offenses. Arresting young people will often cause more damage than drug use itself. Teenagers need honest drug education to help them make responsible decisions. Safety should be the number one priority. We have dramatically reduced teen smoking without tobacco prohibition and without a single arrest. A New PATH Drug Abuse Is Bad. The Drug War Is Worse There is no doubt that drugs have ruined a lot of people's lives. It is understandable why many people hate drugs and want to protect their families. But when you looks at the greatest harms from drugs, the drug war and prohibition almost always make the problem much worse -- and make our families and communities much less safe. We need the people who hate drugs to actively join the movement to end the war on drugs. Because the war on drugs is a war on all of us. Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org) Documentaries on the War on Drugs Several excellent documentaries have come out recently. These can in be viewed as trailers or in their entirety at: www.momsunited.net: The House I Live In, by Eugene Jarecki, is a brutal attack on the racist drug war. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It has the support of celebrities like Brad Pitt, Danny Glover, Russell Simmons and John Legend. It has generated a great deal of media attention. The documentary explores the risks that prohibition poses to freedom, and the tragedy of addicts being treated as criminals. Jarecki reveals that a solution is possible if we can just find it in ourselves to be compassionate, and see past the decades of paranoia and propaganda Breaking the Taboo, is a film narrated by Morgan Freeman, and produced by Richard Branson's son Sam, which takes a critical look at the global war on drugs and how it has failed. It is being offered for free through Google and You Tube. It follows the Global Commission on Drug Policy on a mission to break the political taboo over the United States' led War on Drugs and expose what it calls the biggest failure of global policy in the last 40 years. Raw Opium, as described by director Peter Findlay is a “feature length documentary about a commodity that has tremendous power to ease pain, and to destroy lives. The opium poppy is the raw material for heroin, fueling a vast criminal trade larger than the economies of many countries.” The film is a journey around the world from an opium master in southeast Asia to a UN drug enforcement officer on the border of Afghanistan hunting down the smugglers of central Asia; from a former Indian government Drug Czar and opium farmer to a crusading Vancouver doctor and Portuguese street worker who daily confront the realities of drug addiction. This flower has played a pivotal role - not just in the lives of people who grow, manufacture and use it - but also in the increasingly tense sphere of international relations. Code of the West, At a time when the world is rethinking its drug policies large and small, one state rises to the forefront. Once a pioneer in legalizing medical marijuana, the state of Montana may now become the first to repeal its medical marijuana law. Set against the sweeping vistas of the Rockies, the steamy lamplight of marijuana grow houses, and the bustling halls of the State Capitol, CODE OF THE WEST follows the political process of marijuana policy reform – and the recent federal crackdown on medical marijuana growers across the country. This is the story of what happens when politics fail, emotions run high and communities pay the price. Cocaine Unwrapped. Moving from country to country in South America, reporting from across the drugs frontline and interviewing top-level international politicians this film exposes the human cost of one of the most popular drugs on the London streets. Combining reportage from the drugs front line and interviews with those top-level international politicians who are campaigning to get us in the West to take real responsibility for our drugs problem, Cocaine Unwrapped presents prohibition in a wholly new light. Legalize It, is an inspiring documentary that captures the powerful and moving story of the 2010 campaign to legalize cannabis in California. It is a sensitive and humorous behind-the scenes look at a colorful campaign, the people running it, and the groups who opposed or endorsed it. LEAP & Moms United to End the War on Drugs were active advocates for it. 9 February 2013 Gov. Brown Backslides on Corrections Budget, Plans More Rat Holes Excerpt from Californians United for a Responsible Budget Release 1/10/13 Gov. Brown's 2013-14 budget, released this morning, echoes comments earlier this week that the administration has deserted plans to shrink California's over-sized prison population, ignoring clear messages from voters. The proposed budget increases prison spending $250 million including a $52 million General Fund increase, bringing the total Corrections budget over $11 billion. Despite the passage of Prop. 36 and continuing realignment. It also projects an increase in the prison population by 2,262 people over the 2012 Budget Act projections. "If the Governor believes that 'we can't pour more and more dollars down the rat hole of incarceration' then why is he increasing spending on Corrections, planning for more prisoners rather than fewer and defying the demands of the Federal Court and the voters to further shrink the prison system?" asked Diana Zuñiga, Field Organizer for Californians United for a Responsible Budget. The $11 billion prison budget comes just days after the Brown administration declared the California prison crisis over. Contrary to claims that the prison system is no longer crowded, Central California Women's Facility is at 184.4% capacity, well over the court's 137.5% target, and the entire system is currently at 146% capacity. The Los Angeles Times has endorsed former Gov. George Deukmejian's call that the state's prison population be reduced at least to 110,000, more than 20,000 fewer than are in the system this week. Realignment and other reforms are, as the Times notes, "only a beginning."… California Votes to Reform Draconian "Three Strikes” Mandatory Minimum Law The Moms United to End the War on Drugs “Empty Chair at the Holiday Table” 2012 photo campaign. A New PATH and moms from around the country shared their stories of loss during the holidays to speak out for an end to the war on drugs, which has been so disastrous to our families. Many of the moms leading this campaign have been personally impacted by the war on drugs, including having a child who suffers from addictive illness and has been repeatedly incarcerated, a child who has died from preventable drug overdoses, and a child who has died due to drug war violence. We requested photos containing 3 elements: a chair with a picture of a lost or missing loved one and a sign with one of these statements: incarceration, accidental overdose, drug war violence, stigma. Over 50 photos were collected on the Moms United facebook page in the Empty Chair album. They have become a part of a growing collage of personal stories of loss. We also requested that people set an empty chair and place setting at their holiday family gathering to bring focus to drug war damage. Californians voted overwhelmingly to reform their state’s harsh “three strikes” law last November. Prop 36, closed a controversial loophole in the law so that life sentences can only be imposed when the new felony conviction is “serious or violent.” PATH has partnered with FACTS and other organizations for years to reform this draconian law. While the law required the first and second strike to be either violent or serious, any infraction could trigger a third strike and the life sentence that goes with it. Therefore, petty offenses led to life imprisonment for thousands of people. More than 40 % of the total third-strike population in California is serving life for a third strike that was neither violent nor serious. Proposition 36 ensures that no more people are sentenced to life in prison for minor and nonviolent drug law violations. “I weep for the countless families who have been torn apart by discriminatory and destructive drug policies that lock up fathers and remove children from their mothers in the name of the war on drugs, which is really a war waged against families and communities.” Gretchen Burns Bergman “I wait for those with substance use disorders to be served by our health care system rather than languishing in prison. Until that wait is over, there will always be an extra place setting at my holiday table for those who are locked up, thrown away or left out.” Kathie Kane-Willis “The empty chair at the table is a powerful metaphor for the incredible void that permeates my life during the holidays and all year long because my son lost his life to drug prohibition violence.” Joy Strickland The Moms United campaign mission is to “end the violence, mass incarceration and overdose deaths that are a result of current punitive and discriminatory drug policies. We are building a movement to stop the stigmatization and criminalization of people who use drugs or who are addicted to drugs. We are calling for health-oriented strategies and widespread drug policy reform in order to stop the irresponsible waste of dollars and resources, and the devastating loss of lives and liberty.” Moms United is a project of PATH. Become a fan and follow the campaign on Facebook, Moms United to End the War on Drugs. https://www.facebook.com/groups/125162887532951/?fref=ts and visit: www.momsunited.net A New PATH 10 February 2013 Unsung Hero We thank David Beck Brown for all of his artistic contributions to A New PATH. Recently he created an illustration for our 2012 Virtual PATH to recovery 13th birthday fundraiser (above), and he has drawn cartoons for his articles on prison reform for our newsletters for over a decade. He designed our Faces of Recovery Calendar cover, and our PATH logo.We are grateful for his talent and generosity. His art is truly a part of our history, and he is a true friend to the mission of A New PATH! DPA Released a Report on Veterans and the War on Drugs 11/9/12 More Than 200,000 Veterans Behind Bars; One in Five Current Conflict Veterans in VA Care Diagnosed With Substance Abuse Disorder Report Calls for Alternatives to Incarceration; Increased Access to Overdose Prevention Programs and MedicationAssisted Therapy; and Medical Marijuana and MDMA for PTSD The Drug Policy Alliance, the nation's leading organization advocating alternatives to the drug war, has released an updated and revised edition of their seminal 2009 report, “Healing a Broken System.” The report examines the plight of returning veterans who struggle with incarceration and psychological wounds of war such as addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder – and suggests reforms that could improve the health and preserve the freedom of American soldiers returning from war zones and transitioning back to civilian life. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created new challenges in providing care for our returning veterans. Roughly 30 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, depression, mental illness or other cognitive disability. Left untreated, these medical conditions often contribute to substance misuse and addiction, fatal overdose, homelessness and suicide, as well as violations of the law, particularly non violent drug offenses. For these reasons, veterans are increasingly falling victim to the country’s longest war: the war on drugs. The current generation of veterans joins the larger population of Vietnam-era veterans who have struggled with many of these same problems for decades. Research shows that A New PATH the single greatest predictive factor for the incarceration of veterans is substance misuse and addiction. Evidence also shows that preventable overdose is claiming an unacceptable number of current conflict veterans – nearly as many as suicides. Experts predict the number of veterans facing these severe problems will only increase as more veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, unless urgent policy changes recommended in the report are adopted. “U.S. servicemen and women have been asked to bear an unthinkable burden in the past decade -- and the military has prescribed them whatever drugs they need to keep fighting. But it's a different story when veterans come home,” said Daniel Robelo, research coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance. “We arrest too many veterans for drug law violations and incarcerate them for too long, leaving them with criminal records that make it all but impossible to get a job, housing, education, and other services – often creating a vicious cycle of addiction and incarceration. We fail to take simple measures to prevent fatal overdoses, we deny proven treatments for addiction and dependence, and we allow the drug war to stand in the way of new and promising treatments for PTSD and other service-related conditions.” The report includes new sections on promising research evaluating the medical safety and efficacy of marijuana and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in treating veterans suffering from PTSD, addiction and other mental health conditions. In particular, the report focuses on New Mexico, where earlier this week the state’s Medical Cannabis Program’s Medical Advisory Board unanimously recommended to the Acting Secretary of Health to keep PTSD as qualifying condition and to deny a petition to remove PTSD from the list of eligible medical conditions for enrollment in the program. Today, more than 3,000 New Mexican residents with PTSD are actively enrolled in the state’s Medical Cannabis Program – and many of them are military veterans. The report is available at: http:// www.drugpolicy.org/resource/healing-broken-system-veteransand-war-drugs Recommendations for Improving Care of Returning U.S. Veterans: • Changes in state and federal statutes to focus on providing community-based treatment instead of incarceration for veterans who commit nonviolent drug-related offenses – and on reaching veterans before they enter the criminal justice system. • Adoption by government agencies of overdose prevention programs and policies targeting veterans who misuse substances or take prescription medications. • Significantly expanded access for veterans to medication- assisted therapies such as methadone and buprenorphine to treat opioid dependence. • Expansion of research and access to innovative treatments for PTSD and other psychological and physical wounds of war, including treatment modalities involving Schedule I substances such as MDMA and marijuana. Key Facts: Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Among U.S. Veterans • Two and a half million men and women have served in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. • Approximately 50 % of Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans receiving VA care have been diagnosed with PTSD or another mental health condition. • 19 % of current conflict veterans who have received VA care have been diagnosed with substance abuse or dependence. • 75% of Vietnam combat veterans with PTSD met criteria for substance abuse or dependence in a national study. • Veterans do not qualify for substance abuse disability benefits unless they also have PTSD. • Military personnel and combat veterans have higher rates of problematic substance use than their age peers in the general population. February 2013 11 Mission Statement To reduce the stigma associated with addictive illness through education and compassionate support and to advocate for therapeutic rather than punitive drug policies. History PATH grew out of a series of preSubstance Abuse Summit meetings with parents, Superior Court Judges and Officers of the criminal justice system in the Spring of 1999. Founding members are Gretchen Burns Bergman, Sylvia Liwerant and Tom O’Donnell. Our Proposals for Therapeutic Justice 1) Long-term mandatory rehabilitation in a structured therapeutic community-based recovery environment for non-violent drug offenders. WHO WE ARE A non-profit advocacy organiza2) If the nature of the crime does not tion of parents, concerned citizens, indiallow for this alternative, sentencing viduals in recovery, healthcare profesPATH WOULD LIKE TO THANK: should include immediate placement sionals and community leaders working in a rehabilitation and recovery protogether to educate the public, media and Alliance Healthcare Foundation gram within the prison system. decision makers about the true nature The California Endowment of addiction, and to expand access to 3) Upon release from prison Drug Policy Alliance treatment services. We advocate to end Join Together / Demand Treatment or structured recovery homes, discriminatory drug policies that serve as Las Patronas individuals with substance-related roadblocks to recovery. San Diego County Superivsor Ron disorders should be mandated to Our goal is to reduce prison recidi- Roberts transitional programs such as sober vism, save lives, heal families,and move Sempra Energy living environments, to prepare them Faces & Voices of Recovery towards a healthier society. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to re enter society. Attention PATH Members ... Price Galinson Collaborative Fund For immediate and up-to-date Matthew G. L. Perlatti Memorial information, please send us your e-mail Fund address and we can inform you elecFor their generous grants and support! tronically! Our e-mail address at PATH is [email protected] www.anewpathsite.org www.momsunited.net Return Service Requested Spring Valley, CA 91978 2527 Doubletree Road (Parents for Addiction Treatment & Healing) A New PATH Permit No 212 El Cajon, CA US Postage Paid Non Profit Org
