23.1 Million People Need Treatment

That's right, 23.1 Million People Need Treatment for substance abuse disorder in just the United States. VOICES FOR RECOVERY sent me a Recovery Kit with the most amazing resource materials. I wanted to share one of the most astonishing papers on Commonly misused substances. Interesting enough the average age of abuse is 35-44 with under 30's being the highest rate of misuse.

According to US Department of Health Services, In 2008 there were an estimated 4.4 million emergency rooms visits due to substance abuse. The statistics below tell the number of people who used (actually telling the truth) in one month in 2008. The numbers tell a chilling story. Mind you it's just one month of reports and the result of misuse and abuse, not just occasional usage. 

• Cocaine - 15 million users - decreased from 07
• LSD - 1.1 million users - increased from 07
• Gases, Nitrates, aerosols - 600,000 users - decreased from 07
• Pain Relief (Opioids) - 4.7 million users - decreased from 07
• Psychotherapeutics - 6.2 million users - decreased from 07
• Marijuanna - 15 million users - increased from 07
• Alcohol - 126.8 Million users - same as 07
• Tobacco Products - 70.9 Million users - same as 07

Other misused substances on the increase include Ecstasy and tranquilizers. This is indeed a MAJOR health issue for which all of should be concerned enough to do something about it. So if you know someone, or are yourself struggling with either legal or illegal substances, reach out for help! It begins with information, and from the packet I received there is help across the board for every race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. 

You can be free from addiction, there is help and HOPE. Read the archived blog, reach out for help through the links you find here. This is also for those who love and live with an addict. We are in this together!

Additional resource to find services in your area: 1 800 662 HELP or 800 487 4889 (TDD) as well as http://www.samhsa.gov/treatment .

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12 Steps for Believers in Christ

Christian 12 Steps Link to Site

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and dysfunctional- behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that God, a Power greater than ourselves, could restore us to sanity and stability.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as revealed in the Bible.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as revealed in the Bible, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Scriptural 12 Steps 

Expanded Version of 1 and 7

STEP 1. We admitted that we had become powerless over alcohol or the alcoholic (the substance we had abused or the substance abuser) and that our lives were unmanageable.There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Prov 14:12) For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. (Rom 7:19) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (ROM 7:24)

STEP 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings and to forgive us – believing He would remove them - and receiving His forgiveness. He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Prov 28;13) Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my inequity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord" – and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psl 32:5) Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

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Bobby Unser Jr: Thinking about him

if you click the link "Thinking about Bobby" 

it's how i remember him. i don't have his high school photo, so next is an older bobby but he still looks alive. Now we see pictures like this: Bobby Jailed. 

Makes me cry.

he wasn't always what you see now on the "jailed" media blitz. of course judgement belongs to those without any faults. of course what you see right now is a result of societies ill. broken families, neglected children, teens abandoned without any guidance - all given right over to the "priests of the streets" called dealers. this could be anyone's life. enough hurt and pain drives a soul to self destruction be it quickly through suicide or a long slow one with addictions medicating itself until death with cigarettes, substance abuse, food, sex or whatever one can find to make the hurt go away....

I remember he loved animals, people and wanted as we all do a purpose and acceptance. not sure why sons don't feel that from their fathers. mothers usually try their best to give their sons plenty of love and encouragement. so when the child or teen can't find it in their own home - they wander.

{Photo just an Illustration of a drummer, not Bobby}

when we were friends - he was mostly not "high", he played his drums with passion and life... he had good friends who cared for him and those who just wanted to be around a famous son. perhaps those were the ones who led him astray. long after we grew apart, i know one particular "friend" who was truly "wicked" filled with deceit coming from a very drugged up family and past. perhaps is was she who infected him with her witchy ways and claws and put her cursed poison into him that never quite went away. 

i don't give excuses for why people do what they do. all of life involves choice. having a strong sense of self with tools including life guidance and purpose along with rules (ie: life expereience, religious/spiritual beliefs, etc) will save many from falling off the wayside.

Sometimes people just have to fail in order to find the truth about life. perhaps they were never allowed to experience the consequences of failure. perhaps that is why people like bobby from famous families eventually end up like he is now. things were always covered up so no one would know... 

now? I pray for him.. i pray he finds God, why he was created and finds salvation from his ills.

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loss of self

addiction creates a loss of self identity

the substance an engine which drives the "man/woman" for the fuel. watching from the outside it looks much like this painting. the addict lives in an easy chair thinking things are fine when the reality of the black cloud shrouds clear thinking. dysfuntion is without the use of all limbs and mental capacity to create a decent future, or lifestyle that allows others to participate... the engine consumes EVERYTHING in the path. from the outside looking in, from one who is at the end of themselves with the addict my heart goes out to you and the man dilemna... (man of course being mankind).

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