ONDCP Blog

Guest Post: Supporting Recovery in the Native American Community

Note: This is a guest blog post from Don Coyhis, President and co-founder of White Bison.

At White Bison, our goal is to bring 100 Native American communities in healing and recovery plays a large role in this mission.   All of our programs, trainings, and resources are based on the principles, values, and laws found in the Teachings of the Native American Elders and of the 12 Step program. Through my work at White Bison, I’ve learned a lot about addiction and recovery in Native American communities.  In honor of recovery month, I’d like to share some of what I have come to believe and understand over the more than 20 years since we founded White Bison.

I have come to believe:

• Alcoholism, substance abuse, domestic, and sexual violence are symptoms of a deeper hurt in our communities;
• Alcohol and drugs are destroying our communities, but we want to recover; and
• Returning to our Native American culture is the key to our recovery.

I also understand that:

In order to heal, we need to understand and implement the Four Laws of Change in our lives:

1. Change must come from within: Healing begins with a desire for wholeness and integrity within oneself. It cannot be initiated by external forces.
2. In order for development to occur, it must be preceded by a vision: When individuals and communities lose their way in addiction and disease, a vision of what could be, of who they truly are, or of the pathway to take is required for transformation to take place.
3. A great learning must take place in our communities: Addiction is fostered by a lack of awareness of the need for healing in the community. This must be overcome by opening the community’s eyes to the need of the community and its members for healing and to the vision of the community as a healing force.
4. We must create a healing forest: This means that the entire community needs to be part of the process of healing from alcohol and drug problems. The community itself must recover in order to support its members who themselves are recovering. Our image for this is of an ailing tree that is removed from a diseased forest, nurtured back to health, and then replanted in the forest. Unless we bring health to the forest itself, the tree will become diseased once again through its association with the forest. If we create a healing forest, this trees will remain well and others will not become ill.

I’ve also come to believe in the concept of ‘Wellbriety.’ Wellbriety is not just about sobriety; it means seeking wellness in all aspects of our lives: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  On August 10^th, I entered my 34^th year of Wellbriety. I proudly stand among thousands of my Native American brothers and sisters who are in recovery. We are returning to the ways of our ancestors. We are learning from our elders, so we may grow and change. We do these things consciously, so that our babies will grow up to be proud, sober Native American adults and elders. Aho.

Don Coyhis is President and co-founder of White Bison, Inc.

Cross Post: Director Kerlikowske's Statement on Prescription Drug Abuse

Note: This is a cross-post from The Partnership at Drugfree.org. The original post can be found here.  

Last month, I visited a fellow Medicine Abuse Project partner—Project Lazarus—an organization on the forefront of combating the prescription drug abuse problem. Project Lazarus is located in Wilkes County, North Carolina, an area of the country that has borne a disproportionately large part of the burden caused by medicine abuse. While there, I met a group of dedicated people working hard to reduce medicine abuse in the area and across the country—doctors, leaders and law enforcement officers. I have great admiration and respect for all of the people I met at Project Lazarus, but one individual in particular stood out for me.

Donna Reeves is a mother from North Carolina who tragically lost her daughter to a drug overdose in 2006. She spoke of the importance of involving a diverse range of people in the conversation about prescription drug abuse—emphasizing that this problem doesn’t just affect one demographic, but all age groups across the geographic and socio-economic spectrum. Perhaps most importantly, Donna highlighted the urgent need to educate parents on the signs of drug abuse, the tools available to help young people seek treatment and the existence of a life-saving overdose reversal drug, Naloxone. Donna’s message was heartbreaking, but it’s one we must hear: education is one of the most powerful ways to prevent drug abuse.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classify prescription drug abuse as an epidemic. While there has been a marked decrease in the use of some illegal drugs like cocaine, data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) show that approximately one-fourth of people aged 12 and over who used drugs for the first time in 2010 began by using a prescription drug non-medically.

Alarmingly, the majority of new or occasional nonmedical users of pain relievers obtained the drug from family or friends for free or took them without asking. Chronic users were more likely to obtain the drugs from doctors or by buying them. What can we learn from this? We know that securing medicine in the home—and disposing of unneeded pills—can help prevent medicine abuse from ever beginning.

Securing medicines in the home and disposing of medicine properly is an important part of the solution, but it must be accompanied by prescription drug monitoring programs in every state, law enforcement efforts to thwart improper prescribing practices and, of course, education for parents, prescribers and patients.

If you have unneeded medicine in the home, please take advantage of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on September 29th, when the Drug Enforcement Administration will open sites across the country to receive unused prescription drugs—no questions asked. If you’re a parent, please take the time to talk to your children about the harm caused by medicine abuse, and educate yourself on the signs of abuse. Working together, we can build a better future for our country’s young people—free of the pain caused by medicine abuse.

Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy

Recovery Month: Finding Our Voices

Note: The following guest blog post comes from Peter Gaumond, ONDCP's Recovery Branch Chief.

My name is Peter and I’m a person in long-term recovery. For me, that means it has been more than 25 years since I have had to drink or use any other substance.

Some 26 years ago, when I was struggling to overcome my addiction to alcohol, I could not have imagined myself uttering those words, even to myself. The idea of posting them online for the world to see would have then been unthinkable.

For those who have not lived through an addiction it may seem strange, but I just could not imagine living without alcohol. It seemed as though my life would be a meaningless empty shell without it when, in fact, it had already become just that because of my drinking and its consequences. Earlier in life, I had been driven by the thought of doing work that would positively affect the lives of others. However, with the progression of my addiction, that dream and my self-respect had been replaced by hopelessness and shame. What had been a bright future, full of promise, had become clouded by addiction and the sense of self-betrayal and despair that can accompany it. While I was only 29 years old at the time, and most of my life still lay ahead of me, looking forward in time, I could see nothing.

As I began to recover, I was able to begin to see beyond the bleak landscape of addiction. Freed from the compulsive need to drink the unending effort to somehow manage my addiction in order to maintain the appearance of normalcy, I was able to focus outwards and begin again finding ways to contribute. Out of despair and isolation came hope and a sense of community and purpose that has only grown over the ensuing years.

For 20 years, I chose to remain anonymous as a person in recovery. My family and my friends, many of whom were also in recovery, knew I was in recovery, but others did not. Ironically, for all but the first two or three years of that period, I worked in the addictions field as a counselor, educator, program director, as an administrator in the state Department of Human Services, and later as a consultant supporting SAMHSA’s Partners for Recovery and Access to Recovery programs. I had long recognized that to dispel the stigma, confusion, and fear that surround addiction and recovery, people in recovery needed to come out publicly, putting a face and voice on recovery.  While greatly admiring many who did so, I somehow had a hard time with the idea of “going public” myself.

When I finally made the decision to be open about my recovery and to share about it in public forums, a weight was lifted from my shoulders. Being open about being in recovery did not have to be a source of either pride or shame, as I had feared. I discovered instead that doing so allowed me to live more authentically than I had in the past. While my addiction and recovery are not my identity, they have played a key role in shaping who I am today. Sharing some about their role in my life allows me to connect more deeply and honestly with others than would be possible if this segment of my experience were cordoned off from the rest of my life.

I believe that as more of us who are in recovery begin sharing our stories, the broader community will start to understand that addiction is a “we” problem that must be addressed by the whole community and not a “them” problem that can simply be handled by law enforcement or fixed by treatment and forgotten. As more of us speak out, I also think more will come to understand that recovery is a “we” process that can transform individuals, families, and communities and not something one simply does in isolation.

By speaking out, we can each help in our own small ways to make a positive change in the world around us. Across the nation there are millions of people in recovery. Speaking together, we can move mountains.

Have you found a voice?

-- Peter Gaumond, Chief of the Recovery Branch within the Office of National Drug Control Policy

Guest Post: Addressing Substance Abuse Requires Us All to Work Together

This is a guest blog post from U.S. Representative Ben Ray Luján.

Substance abuse is one of the most pressing public health concerns facing our Nation.  According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 22.6 million Americans aged 12 and older had abused illegal drugs over the past month.  August 31^st is International Overdose Awareness Day, a time to highlight the danger posed not only by illegal drugs but also by the abuse of prescription drugs.

In New Mexico, our communities know the problem of substance abuse and overdose all too well.  For many years, New Mexico has been among the states with the highest rates of substance abuse.  At the national level, last year the CDC reported that drug overdose led to more than 37,000 deaths in 2009.  Of these, almost 21,000 deaths involved prescription drugs, and well over half of those involved opioid pain relievers—exceeding the number of overdose deaths involving heroin and cocaine.  While illegal drugs continue to plague our Nation, prescription drug overdose has become an epidemic.

A strategy to address substance abuse must consist of a range of approaches that includes prevention, treatment, and law enforcement elements. Addressing substance abuse cannot be done in a top-down approach, but will instead require all of us to work together.  We cannot hope to lower substance abuse rates by working in a vacuum—we must coordinate our efforts at the Federal, state, county, and local government levels. We must work together with friends, families, communities, educators, and young people.

One aspect of this problem that we understand particularly well in New Mexico is how drug abuse affects not only individuals but also our culture. Coming from small towns all across New Mexico, people in my district talk a lot about culture and tradition—and its importance to a strong and stable community. As I have joined the community in walks to raise awareness and held events in my district, one thing that I have consistently heard is the notion that we are losing our culture, tradition, heritage, and pride in our communities.  This is not unique to New Mexico, however, as drug abuse poses a threat to the fabric of communities across the country.

As we mark today’s occasion and remember those who have been lost to substance abuse, we must realize that the equalizer in our fight against substance abuse is education.  Working as communities to raise awareness and spread education on the dangers of substance abuse—particularly the abuse of prescription drugs—will help to avert future tragedies.  We can also limit the availability of prescription drugs by locking medicine cabinets, properly disposing of prescription drugs, and supporting smart law enforcement efforts.  Government also has an important role to play, and now 49 out of 50 states have enacted legislation to establish prescription drug monitoring programs to prevent diversion and abuse.  By working together as part of a comprehensive strategy, we can rise to this challenge and reduce substance abuse and its often deadly consequences.