[ad_1]
To the Editor:
Re “An Uplifting Story of Beating Addiction We Don’t Hear Enough,” by Nicholas Kristof (column, Feb. 17):
Hearing about a program for people with substance use disorder that actually works is so encouraging and indeed uplifting, as Mr. Kristof notes. Thank you, Mr. Kristof, for digging into this crisis and for reporting on this program in Tulsa that has had so much success for women in recovery.
As someone who lost a loved one to substance use disorder, I know that it’s easy to lose hope that there is help that is accessible and with proven success. My niece was certainly someone who may have survived if she had found a program like this. Instead, she was incarcerated for crimes associated with her drug use, and she found little if any help there. One prison wouldn’t even let me send her books — her one means of escape and solace.
I can’t help wondering what if instead of locking her up, she had been compelled to enter a program like Women in Recovery. As an advocate for saving the lives of those with substance use disorder, I am heartened to learn there is a program like this that may be replicated in other states.
Judy L. Mandel
Newington, Conn.
The writer is the author of “White Flag,” about her attempt to help her niece.
To the Editor:
I have a 25-year-old son who has suffered from drug addiction for the last six years.
My son has now been substance-free for more than a month. Heroin is his drug of choice. He has overdosed several times and ended up in the emergency room on those occasions. Administering Narcan to one’s own son is a sobering experience. Thank God for its existence.
Recovery programs often do not work the first and second time around. It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. This country has chosen largely to ignore addiction and underfund treatment. Why? Because it can.
Families are embarrassed to let others know of a family member’s addiction. Addiction is not a moral failing of either the addict or the addict’s family. If we’re going to save addicts, we can’t do it without an army of family members coming forward and advocating for their loved ones. But they need to risk exposure and the scourge of judgment by others.
What my son had to do to get into rehab this last time was monumental. Recovery centers make it incredibly hard for addicts to access them. They create hurdles to jump over as if they are testing an addict’s resolve to get treatment. Here are just a couple:
1) Must call daily to continue to express interest in admission. Ha. Some are lucky to still have a home and a phone.
2) Many will not accept patients on methadone like my son. What the hell?
I will not suffer in silence any longer. Some days it is excruciating for me to see my son suffer, and other days I feel hopeful for him. But I’m done being quiet. This is a national epidemic.
Cathy A. Vellucci
Cheshire, Conn.
To the Editor:
Nicholas Kristof is right about many things — most importantly, that treating addiction in America is not hopeless.
As a Detroit-based addiction interventionist, I can usually land a bed for a willing patient within 24 hours in Michigan. If I’m asked to place an addict in a residential treatment facility in another state, the proverbial brick walls like insurance questions pop up and the frustrating navigation begins. The window of willingness on behalf of the addict may be fleeting, and in the time it takes to land a bed, a patient may change their mind.
As Mr. Kristof writes, “Perhaps one factor behind our pathetic national response is hopelessness.” He concludes, “We can do better.”
Hopelessness is part of the addiction epidemic, and with fervor we must fight it. I hear endlessly, “If she’s been to five treatment centers, why do you think a sixth would be any different?” Because timing treatment with willingness is everything.
I’ve borne witness to the successes of those who have come back from the abyss, and again Mr. Kristof is right: We must continue to sprinkle “hope for millions of families desperate for answers.”
Charlie Haviland
Franklin, Mich.
To the Editor:
This is a topic near and dear to my heart, as an addict in recovery for 31 years, and a licensed drug counselor for 26 of those years (now retired). Nicholas Kristof brought up what, with the beauty of hindsight, is to me the biggest takeaway. When people recover — get the grace to truly step off the hamster wheel of addiction — we start to work, keep jobs, pay taxes, maybe pay old debts, maybe do service. We give rather than take.
This means the money spent on well-designed, comprehensive, trained-staff programs (which don’t actually have to be that costly) becomes investments that pay dividends to society, rather than cost society.
The recovery process can be hard, including for the staff members of these programs, but it’s also really that simple. Hard is not complicated.
James Cioe
Castle Rock, Colo.
To the Editor:
What an uplifting and hope-filled article.
I lost my youngest child and only son, Parker, to a heroin laced with fentanyl overdose on June 11, 2020. Parker would have turned 31 that year.
He struggled with addiction for 15 years and was probably to as many rehabs. So much of this article resonated with me. Every time I offered him an opportunity to recover by entering a program, he said yes. Once sitting on our front steps I remember him telling me, “I just want to be normal.” He would be so enthusiastic leaving a program, only to relapse eventually.
I loved reading about this program in Tulsa. It gives me hope for those who still have the privilege to recover. My son’s addiction and ultimate passing have affected my entire family and others. I’ve become active in shedding light on addiction and the responsibility of the pharmaceutical companies, which have dirty hands driven by their greed.
Thank you for this hopeful article.
Mary Butler Fink
New York
[ad_2]
Source link
