Editorial by Josh Voigt
Addict. It’s a word we don’t like to use to describe ourselves. But at age 17, I was addicted to alcohol and cigarettes, and a user of marijuana, PCP (Phencyclidine) and other drugs.
I cannot place blame for my poor decisions on my parents or upbringing, as I was raised in a loving Seventh-day Adventist home. I became addicted through peer pressure and my inability to say no. I wanted friends to like me, and never wanted to look like I was too afraid to try something.
Story by Tamaria L. Kulemeka
Norman Carter, a member of Allegheny West Conference’s Temple Emmanuel in Youngstown, Ohio, is also on the frontlines of the drug crisis.
“[The opioid crisis] is a beast that’s been unleashed. … In order to stop it, you have to stop drugs, and we know that is not going to happen. I think that all we can do is be prepared to provide services to those in need,” says Carter, who kicked his crack cocaine habit nearly eight years ago, and three years ago founded the Carter House, a transitional residential program in Youngstown.
Story by Tamaria L. Kulemeka
Darcel Harris is thankful for the success her 12-step group, patterned after the Regeneration model, has experienced for nearly three decades. Harris, a middle school Language Arts teacher, psychology professor and author in Westminster, Md., says the group grew out of Chesapeake Conference’s Westminster (Md.) church, where she is a member. Today they meet every Friday night and during a branch Sabbath School service called True Vine. They also operate a non-profit called Grow, which enables them to provide resources and minister to the needs of homeless people, drug addicts and the less fortunate in the community.
Story by Tamaria L. Kulemeka
“[The church] is supposed to be a hospital, but we’re not all ready to address the sick,” says James Jackson, AEC’s coordinator for Adventist Recovery Ministry (ARMin), and a member of the Mount Olivet church in Camden, N.J., who spent 20 years under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. After being “restored to sanity” and getting clean, he worked as a counselor and retired as a clinical supervisor for an agency that provided mental health and substance abuse services in the city.
Bonnie Franckowiak, professor and coordinator of the Master of Science Nursing Program at Washington Adventist University, says recognizing substance abuse varies from age group to age group. For example, adolescents showing changes in mood or failing grades could be signs of drug use. In more advanced age groups, needle marks could be a clue that someone is using. She says the biggest determinant is recognizing a person ceasing to function as he or she once did, not to mention their finances vanishing for no visible reason.
Photo by Bonnie Franckowiak by Tijuana Griffin