Interview With Laura Crain From The Mchenry County Substance Abuse Coalition

I have chosen to discuss this culture because drugs are one of the most common leading and contributing factors in almost all crimes. Whether it is youth, women or men it is a common factor in their decision-making processes at the time of their offence. I will be starting my directed field placement with Calgary Probation at the SE office. It is guaranteed that, the cliental in whom I will be interacting with and trying to rehabilitate successfully will have had some form of addiction previous to the offence, at the time or within their time in a correctional facility. Because drugs are still a huge part of society, if not even more than ever before, upon release the client will be faced with adversities and challenges with sobriety.

For the self-help meeting in regards for my reaction paper, I attended a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting. NA is a nonprofit, community-based, 12-step recovery organization for recovering drug addicts (Bowens, 2011, p. 1). The meeting I attended took place outside on a Saturday afternoon at Magnolia Park in Garden Grove, California. It is an open-group tag meeting, where one speaker will tag another person to share and welcome for anyone to attend. It was very easy to locate the meeting, as it was right in front of the park’s only parking lot with members sitting in a circle on benches and lawn chairs. The meeting started at 12:00pm and ended around 1:30pm.

Attention Getter: Imagine 60,000 people in one city, all dealing with the same problem, addiction. According to an article written by Carter M. Yang for ABC news on March 14th of this year, there are 60, 000 people in Baltimore alone that are addicted to illicit drugs. These numbers are disheartening and unfortunate. I can relate to every one of these people struggling with substance abuse, because I am an addict. A program called Narcotics Anonymous has

The Southwest Metro Drug Task Force in cooperation with local law enforcement and with the support of local communities once again experienced another successful year. These participating agencies have made a commitment to their community in deterring drugs to decrease the exposure to their citizens.

The need for a substance abuse recovery home in Starke County, Indiana is a need that is unmistakable in the county based on the hefty number of individuals that suffer from substance abuse and dependency in the county which is clearly displayed by the recent number of crimes that are related to or involve illicit and prescription drugs. In attempt to meet this need and create an opportunity for individuals suffering from substance abuse and dependency to receive local substance abuse treatment in a recovery home the proposal will be presented to several stakeholders within the Starke County community. The term stakeholder “refers to those people who are affected, or could be affected, by the service” (Canadian Career Development Foundation, n.d.) that is being proposed. The proposal for the creation of a substance abuse recovery home will be presented to five key stakeholders including Ms. Becky Anspach the director of Community Services of Starke County, Starke County Community Corrections director of operations Mr. Robert Hinojosa, Ms. Dee Lynch the director of the Indiana Department of Child Services of Starke County, Porter Starke Services facilitator of intensive outpatient program treatment (IOP), and Ms. Rhonda Adcock the director of Starke County CASA.

Narcotics Anonymous is a support group using the same principles as Alcoholics Anonymous but designed for individuals addicted to narcotics (Fortinash & Holoday Worret, 2012). The programs emphasize both personal responsibility and mutual accountability by means of a social model recovery program which is peer-driven. Recovery Kentucky utilizes care and change as their foundation for the peer-driven model. Participants are often reminded the program is not just a pit stop for drug and alcohol use but a commitment to change the whole body, mind and spirit. They are required to attend community meetings and complete a twelve step program where the client will acknowledge the problem, recognize a solution and develop a plan of action that will support the ultimate goal of sobriety (MIC Program Description, n.d.).

Western countries struggle with the control of drug abuse. America, for example, has been failing with eliminating or reducing the chronic issues of drug abuse and crimes associated with drugs. America’s goal around these problems consistently has been complete

If one traveled through the small quiet community of Monroe, MI you would probably never think that this town has a drug problem. From the outside it seems like a nice middle class suburb that might be ideal to raise a family. For those that reside here however, they know that there is a growing problem. There aren’t many families that haven’t been affected by heroin addiction in this small town. The drug has literally swept through this county like an angry mob of rioters bringing crime, death, and destruction with it, leaving many people in the community asking, “Why?”

One of the biggest problems for people using drugs in Afton is the lack of resources available to them. The nearest treatment and drug counseling centers to Afton are a 45-minute drive away, and Afton has no means of public transportation. In order for people who are using drugs in Afton to receive the proper care they need to overcome their addiction, there needs to be something closer and more assessable for them. This is why opening a drug counseling center in Afton would be beneficial to not only Afton residents, but also the surrounding small towns with limited means of transportation. This can be accomplished by seeking out the help and support of locals, stakeholders, and community groups already present in

In the city of Toronto drugs and alcohol recovery continues to be a major problem. The number of drug users in the city continues to soar. Drugs and alcohol control the city and thousands of Torontonians struggle with this diseases with little to no chance of recovery. Many are left with no food or homes because they don’t have enough money to make rent or to go shopping. This problem is crippling our economy and creating poor environments for youths. Addicts are staying addicts and our jails keep filling up because police aren’t addressing the real problem. Misinformation and preconceptions clog our view of the right path. Scare tactics and disproved science make us live in the past. The truth is the substance abuse issue persists due to

I am writing to you today in regard to your request that I develop a program to decrease substance abuse in low-income teenagers at Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio. This memorandum will discuss the program I recommend and the reasons why I believe it will help reduce substance abuse in this population.

Since the drug problem appears to be affecting communities and including the children of immigrants. The Obama Administration’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy, published in 2001, charted a new course in in efforts to reduce illicit drug use and its consequences in the United States-an approach that rejects the false choice between an enforcement-centric “war on drugs” and drug legalization (The White House , 2014). Part of the policy includes to prevent drug abuse through education, to reform the criminal justice system, and to open rehabilitative programs for drug abusers. Furthermore, the Federal Government has spent more than $31 million on drug control (The White House , 2014). These amount has benefited those who have been drug abused and prevented drug traffickers from crossing the border.

Bennett believes law enforcement and policy can only succeed if people come together as a whole. He believes that communities must unite to drive out drugs and support others battling drug addiction. To stop the drug problem communities must start “reclaiming their neighborhoods, working with police, setting up community activities, getting addicts into treatment, saving their children” (550). Better drug treatment and more drug education is also needed to combat the growing drug epidemic. Bennett tells us that the drug epidemic is something that needs to be treated together as a community, because law enforcement can only succeed with the support of the local residents. He also suggested that a larger criminal justice system is needed to

The article called Harm reduction by a “user run” organization: A case study of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) by Thomas Kerr et al, was an interesting article to read I do not know much about the use of illicit drugs or addictions because I have not been exposed to them growing up. However, I have learned assumptions by going to school, watching television shows and through my family’s judgments. Before reading this article I did not know much about user-run organizations for harm reduction and I have now learned how beneficial it is to drug users.

The agency where I am completing my internship is called Center for Family Services. This organization provides a wide range of services. I am working in their Family First program. This program is a substance abuse program just for mothers who must attend drug court or have an open case with the Division of Child Protection and Permanency. These women are ordered to complete a substance abuse program. This program serves a diverse cultural and ethnic population who may have experienced trauma in their life. Many times, trauma and post traumatic stress can lead to substance abuse.