January is Human Trafficking and Slavery Awareness Month:

Human trafficking and prostitution are one and the same and both are crimes against humanity and the absence of all we know to be decent and dignified. Getting caught in the middle of this cruel and brutal “industry” takes away a human beings sense of self and casts a dark shadow over every dream once thought possible. Getting out may take years and forgetting the horrors lasts a lifetime. Human worth is worthless and the soul is violently crushed by each encounter. Drugs and drug abuse are demanded and are part of “the job”, making human trafficking and prostitution of one the most powerful and evil engines, driving not only drug addiction, but also drug trafficking, human rights abuses and the devastating consequences connected to it.

In this article “Human Trafficking and Prostitution” author Melissa Farley, Ph.D. of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, describes the fight we have ahead of us to abolish this God forsaken form of human slavery.

Melissa Farley, Ph.D. - According to U.N. estimates, approximately 2.5 million people are being trafficked around the world at any given time, 80% of them women and children. Conservative estimates suggest that the sex industry generates some $32 billion annually. However, estimates of income generated from prostitution in one city, Las Vegas, are as high as $5 billion. Today, sex trafficking is a high-tech, globalized, electronic market, and predators are involved at all levels, using the same methods to control prostituted women that batterers use against their victims: minimization and denial of physical violence, economic exploitation, social isolation, verbal abuse, threats and intimidation, physical violence, sexual assault, and captivity. Despite the illogical attempt of some to distinguish prostitution from trafficking, trafficking is simply the global form of prostitution. Sex trafficking may occur within or across international borders, thus women may be either domestically or internationally trafficked or both. Young women are trafficked for sexual use from the countryside to the city, from one part of town to another, and across international borders to wherever there are men who will buy them.

Prostitution is widely socially tolerated, with the buyers socially invisible. Even today, many mistakenly assume that prostitution is sex, rather than sexual violence, and a vocational choice, rather than a human rights abuse. Although clinicians are beginning to recognize the overwhelming physical violence in prostitution, its internal ravages are still not well understood. There has been far more clinical attention paid to sexually transmitted diseases among those prostituted than to their depressions, lethal suicidality, mood disorders, anxiety disorders (including post-traumatic stress disorder) dissociative disorders, substance abuse, and traumatic brain injury. Regardless of its legal status or its physical location, prostitution is extremely dangerous for women. Homicide is a frequent cause of death.

Prostitution is an institution akin to slavery, one so intrinsically discriminatory and abusive that it cannot be fixed--only abolished. At the same time, its root causes must be eradicated as well: sex inequality, racism and colonialism, poverty, prostitution tourism, and economic development that destroys traditional ways of living. The conditions that make genuine consent possible are absent from prostitution: physical safety, equal power with johns and pimps, and real alternatives. It is a cruel lie to suggest that decriminalization or legalization will protect anyone in prostitution. Until it is understood that prostitution and trafficking can appear voluntary but are not in reality free choices made from a range of options, it will be difficult to garner adequate support to assist those who wish to escape but have no other choices. Enforcement of international agreements challenging trafficking and prostitution can aid in this effort as can laws challenging men’s purchase of sex.

It is important to address men’s demand for prostitution. Acceptance of prostitution is one of a cluster of harmful attitudes that encourage and justify violence against women. Violent behaviors against women have been associated with attitudes that promote men’s beliefs that they are entitled to sexual access to women, that they are superior to women and that they are licensed as sexual aggressors. Those concerned with human rights must address the social invisibility of prostitution, the massive denial regarding its harms, its normalization as an inevitable social evil, and the failure to educate students in the mental health and public health professions. Trafficking and prostitution can only exist in an atmosphere of public, professional and academic indifference.

Source: www.prostitutionresearch.com

Why Community Based 12-Step Programs Fail

I am one of those few people who got sober through a community based 12-Step program which has a success rate between 3%-7%. Just getting sober is hard enough and when taking the community based approach the caveats and labels are endless. Over the last few years I have been doing a lot of complaining about the rate of successes and failures of the 12-Step approach to recovery at the community level. I am not alone. I have felt this way about the 12-Step program for a long time and would like to point out some specifics about this. First, I need to be absolutely clear about the fact that I truly believe the 12-Step approach does have effective tools for people in early sobriety. However, as people earn more time in recovery they often find out far too late, after he or she relapses, that the 12 Steps that get people sober, do not keep them there. Over the years, as research on substance related disorders and recovery have gained ground, we are learning that people are dying at a far more rapid rate from relapse when compared to first-time use. For this reason it is even more critical that community based 12-Step programs are better evaluated.

Friends and family who watch an addict destroy his or her life feel tremendous relief when their friend or loved one who had almost succumbed to drug abuse finally enters the rooms of recovery. The hope is often short lived however because many who seek recovery who enter these rooms, quickly realize that everyone in these rooms is looking for the same answers and that they are all extremely desperate. While some of the real answers lie in the program of the 12 Steps, this is often not realized. The 12-Step approach has gotten a limited number of people long term recovery and for many who cannot afford to look deeper into his or her own recovery, getting real help is an impossible and financially unattainable dream.

Getting right down to the bottom of it however, when I was a newcomer in a community-based 12-Step program, I really found that I was victimized by a lot of people and found the program to be predatory, sexist and abusive to women of all ages. Sitting in women’s meetings and reading outdated text materials where every action and inaction was written in the masculine form was and is really quite offensive and of little help to any woman suffering from addiction, which also causes depression among other serious conditions.

It amazes me how a 501(c3) like Alcoholics Anonymous, which is tax exempt, cannot afford to, or will not properly edit material that is suitable and relates to the sensitivities of today’s reading audience, both male and female. The fact of the matter is that the basic text of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous has not changed since 1934, which was written during alcohol prohibition, which began January 6th, 1920 (18th Amendment) and ended December 5th, 1933 (21st Amendment). It would certainly be reasonable to believe that anonymity (A.A.’s 11^th Tradition) was a probably a good position to take during prohibition. However, these days talking about alcoholism or addiction openly, without rendering a person “hopeless” and damaged goods, is becoming a far more preferred trend because the public is beginning to see that real help is only for those who can afford it. Therefore, if we are going to help everyone, a more open and honest dialogue about the real causes of addiction is a path we must take.

There is an extremely dictatorial tone within the rooms of 12 Step meetings. Members request, even demand that a newcomer get a sponsor, yet among all the “approved literature” there is only a small pamphlet and no comprehensive book specifically geared towards sponsorship. Sponsorship is a serious responsibility and can be a real liability where freely handing out advice on how a person should manage his or her life is risky business. Too risky for A.A. it seems. Sponsee and sponsor relationships have unwritten mandates, accompanied by absurd rules that conflict with the personal decision making process of rational people who know they want recovery.

I remember falling for this idea in my first year of recovery and ending up getting “advice” from a mentally disturbed women who spoke in riddles and of her collection of angel figurines. She wanted to make pasta formed like angels for us while explaining to me how to live a sober life. She often mentioned how little money she had which made me feel sorry for her and so I even gave her money, something I later found out was against the unwritten rules of which there were many. She kept baiting me in with "more will later be revealed" which was spellbinding. My so-called sponsor also called my residence at seven in the morning, demanding from my then fiancé that I get on the phone because I must be going to a meeting right away. She harassed him right out of my life, telling him he was a negative influence on me and telling me if I stayed with him I would drink again. Me being new and extremely gullible, I believed every word and my engagement ended up in a “War of the Roses” style break up.

The fear and scare tactics of “if you don’t wear your hair up, you’ll drink again. You should not be in a relationship in your first year.” Or “if you don’t clean dirty coffee pots and get a commitment, you won’t stay sober” made little sense to me. But I “took direction” and “abandoned myself” as I was told, did just about everything I was asked to do, abandoning my life, passions, a real job with real responsibilities, all to appease my various sponsors which I eventually all fired.

Then I read the book that made me see things differently. It was written by a guy named Chuck C. and it’s title was “A New Pair of Glasses.” This book was about self-sponsorship and that is what I ended up perusing and it has served me well so far as I have never relapsed. From exploring other areas of self-help, I learned that if I don’t expand my knowledge on recovery beyond the rooms of 12 Steps meetings, I would be stuck forever serving an establishment that offers little hope in a big city like Los Angeles. Rather than spend all my time sitting in wobbly chairs that hurt my back, in dirty rooms, day in and day out, waiting to help someone, I decided to help myself and get a real job, a career, and go back to school to earn an undergraduate degree. It made me realize that my true mission in life is like anyone else’s. To become a dignified, useful member of society and help solve problems by applying valuable skills, while exercising compassion and understanding for my fellow man and woman.

We should be cautious to accelerate anyone into a program of recovery too quickly by making him or her learn faster than they can process the information. Getting toxins out of the body is a very unpleasant experience as it is and the force-feeding of categorical and God forbid unrealistic demands can do more harm than good. It is my true belief that recovery should be governed by the mental health profession because the way community based 12-Step is handled, better compares to inmates running the asylum rather than a place where people can get real help. I do believe that within the 12 Steps, there is a program there somewhere that can work for all people who would like to live by structured principles of recovery. However, for the most part, the 12-Steps need to be brought into the 21^st Century. Some reputable recovery organizations like the Hazelden Foundation have helpful literature taking the 12-Steps to a new, more 21^st Century friendly audience. Hazelden Press has a book on how to be a sponsor that in my view should be in every 12-Step meeting anywhere and anyone who is a sponsor should have at least five to ten years in recovery and be certified, having taken at least one semester in psychology on substance related disorders.

New Year’s Resolution: Stay sober and go where the love is

A special note to my readers: A great blessing, just in time for my 13th sober birthday which is on New Year's Eve. "Five Years From Now" recovery blog and website was covered on our nation's 6th largest radio show today; Bill Bennett's Morning in America, hosted by Mr. Bennett's Co-Host and my dear friend Seth Leibsohn. I am so very very honored to have been able to be a guest on this wonderful show. Here's the link for today's show.

Almost 13 years ago (It’ll be 13 years on New Year’s Eve), before I got sober, I struggled for years trying to see if people would accept me and love me as an addict. Couldn’t they see that I was still a “nice person” even though I used drugs? Couldn’t they accept me, hire me, be my friend, my neighbor, my teacher, a loving family member, even if I was on drugs? Why not? I kept asking myself, while looking in the mirror seeing a person I could hardly recognize. After all, I kept telling myself, I wasn’t really hurting anyone but myself? And I could manage that part…right? So I thought and thought so very wrong.

As the years in recovery go by I learned that when a member of the family is addicted to drugs the whole family is affected. When a student is on drugs the entire school develops a negative stigma. When a worker is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, he or she gets frowned upon and pushed out. Relationships suffer and get destroyed, promises are often broken and commitments turn into empty words. The addict becomes a victim of many crimes and also one who is not in good standing with the law. This is a very sad reality but it is reality and just like addiction, if we want to change this reality, we fist have to accept that this is reality. It’s not a matter of whether a drug is legal or illegal, all drugs should be controlled and bad drugs should be illegal. We can’t deny the fact that drug addiction destroys human health and wellbeing sometimes over time, sometimes right away and sometimes forever.

I wanted to go where the love is, yet I had no direction on where to find it. Why? Because I was trying to find love in others instead of myself! Duh! I would later learn in sobriety that love would only find me if I did the work I needed and took the time I needed to love myself. For me this was a very tall order because I wasted so much time drinking and using drugs that taking care of loving myself was the last thing on my mind.

In the journey of my recovery I have found that self-love is a series of daily adjustments. They start with putting my attitude in check and continue with making sure that I recognize the blessings of my environment and the people who try to help me. My blessings are my sobriety, good health, relationships and ability to better myself and become more productive as a contributing member of my community. I give back what I receive, directly or indirectly, in a big way or a small way with dignity. It is also my responsibility to make sure that I am perceived in a way that is healthy for me. To do this I choose to tell everyone in my life that I am sober. It works for me and has kept me sober for many years.

Those who freely make a difference for people in recovery are the most magnificent human beings in the world. These people do things for us recovering folks that at one time or another we truly cannot do for ourselves. Sometimes those people help us and become our friend for life. Other times they help us and are burdened by us, yet they still care enough to find empathy and compassion in their hearts to understand that without the help and understanding of others we remain lost in our pain. We must always remember that the people who help us deserve praise for their kindnesses, though near or far. We praise them each day by staying sober and show them that they are our heroes and cheerleaders. Today, I thank all my heroes and cheerleaders for leading me to my 13^th year in recovery. You are the true winners who shine a bright light on my path each day!

May good things come to you always!

Alexandra

Lindsay Lohan: Beautiful Woman, Extraordinary Talent, Horrific Personal Struggle

By Alexandra Datig

Lindsay Lohan grew up in the spotlight. From “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” to “Mean Girls” to “Chapter 27” Lindsay Lohan has made us all recognize that she has a will to succeed. But Lindsay has had struggles finding someone in her life who she could believe in that would show her good example. A conflict between parents, a teenage drinking problem, a series of drug arrests and courtroom drama that seems endless, has shown how Lindsay’s personal life is spiraling out of control.

At the age of 25, life begins to change for many young women. Lindsay has reached an age where she must recognize that she either grows up and begins to take responsibility for her life, or the heartbreak will keep on coming. In recovery it’s called “incomprehensible demoralization.” When Paris Hilton had all her troubles, she too was in her mid 20’s, though neither Paris nor Lindsay actually understand that younger women who plan to become “just like them” are idolizing and modeling their behavior.

We see Lindsay smoking just about everywhere she goes. We see her falling down and making a fool of herself and even more so we often see Lindsay alone. Yet we don’t ask her why she believes that her “I’m going to do what ever I want” attitude isn't hurting others. Still, Lindsay is pushing all the extremes. From breaking her probation, to being sent to the morgue, to a Marylyn Monroe-esque Playboy shoot, what are other young women and men supposed to make of Lindsay Lohan? Is she saying “look only at the part of me which is okay“, pointing to her outer undeniable beauty? But if we look at her behavior and her decisions over the last few years, it seems there are more reactions than actions to her life. This is a certain sign of unhappiness and a dangerous place for an addict.

Addiction is a complex and incredibly stressful thing, where the central nervous system’s ability to send a calming response to CNS receptors is impaired. While in it’s active state, addiction is a confrontational fiend. It is a disease of betrayal, provocation, hostile retaliation, of emotional highs and lows as well as a constant need to prove that “we are a better person than the rest of those who are watching.” Lindsay is portraying a type of martyrdom and quite frankly (and I never thought I’d say this), Playboy Magazine is doing far more for Lindsay than Lindsay is doing for Playboy. The images are certainly a step up from the blood dripping, knife wielding pics from earlier this year.

Lindsay is at a crossroads in her life and perhaps Playboy has put a fork in the road. Is she going to follow the path of Anna Nicole Smith, whose reactive, addictive life lead her to an early death? Or is Lindsay Lohan going to grow?

I for one just want to ask Lindsay to take the opportunity and think about other young women who are not riding high on fame but are going through similar problems as Lindsay’s run-ins with the law. We have heard Lindsay say for moths now, that she has to change and do more and learn form her mistakes. Woman to woman Lindsay, cause I've been there and done that, the world may seem like it revolves around you, but it does not. If you want to destroy your life, that is your business, but please, if you continue on your destructive path, get out of the spotlight because you are hurting the self-image of at-risk young women and men! It is time for you to see the writing on the wall. Do something good with your life and give yourself a chance and stop being so selfish.

President Obama's Policy On Drug Legalization: No On Legalization, Yes On Demand Reduction

Pot And Why Not, By Alexandra Datig

Those walking the tightrope of “casual” marijuana use question; “is pot really that bad?” The short answer is yes, it’s really that bad. The long answer is also yes and entails critical details everyone should be aware of before they think “pot is really not that big a deal” or that it’s about “something other than what it is.” The facts are pretty simple. As U.S. Drug Czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske states: “Drugs are not bad because they are illegal. They are illegal because they are bad.”

The war on drugs exists because there is a demand for drugs in the United States. According to Mexico’s President Philippe Calderon, “the United States is the world’s largest consumer of drugs.” Those who choose to consume illegal drugs like marijuana, meth, cocaine or heroin to name a few are responsible for conflict, carnage and continuous abuse and addiction. As long as the U.S. has a demand for illegal drugs or exhibits a lack of discipline by abstaining from drug abuse, Mexican cartels will keep on pushing dope into our communities. Want to end the war on drugs? Don’t do them. It’s that simple. We don’t hear about Mexico’s rampant drug problem. We hear about vicious cartels manufacturing dope and pushing it on Americans who are not being forced to do drugs. They are making the choice.

Choosing drugs is not a good thing. Legal or not, when under the influence of drugs, addicts can be unpredictable. Some drugs render a person incompetent and unproductive like P.C.P., crack or heroin, other drugs impair motor skills and enhance creative overindulgences and endanger others on roads and highways, such as today’s marijuana. Drug abuse has become a hot topic because there is a wide array of elements people want to know about like “is pot legal?” But the people are being lied to. The Pied Pipers of drug legalization are lying to us all. Whether it’s parents, students, addicts and society as a whole. As Americans, we have a great responsibility towards each other if we want a healthy society. We must be honest and forthright to one another about he harms which may face us. We have gotten none of that from drug legalizers who are eager to push their agenda, yet claim no responsibility to the devastating harms and costs of addiction.

First and foremost, pot, under Federal law, is illegal in all of the United States and is considered a Schedule I drug, meaning it is dangerous, habit forming and has no medicinal use. If you’re not close to this issue I know what you’re thinking, because some states have allowed, under state law, for marijuana to be used as a “medicine” it should mean there is some allowable use? That still doesn’t make it legal such as "you are now free and clear to move about the cabin." Not at all.

Calvina Fay, Executive Director of the Drug Free American Foundation points out the obvious: “crude marijuana grown in someone’s backyard is not medicine. It is a toxic, cancer causing weed.” Furthermore, are Americans truly to believe that marijuana is the only “medical” compound in the United States that requires no warning label on its side effects like pharmaceuticals and over the counter medicine?

John Redman, drug policy expert and Executive Director of Californians for Drug Free Youth explains it like this: “"In prevention there are two indelible truths about drug use: 1. If you reduce the perception of harm of a drug, you increase its use. 2. If you increase the availability of any drug, you increase its use. Legalizing marijuana does BOTH."

Mr. Redman also points out the great misunderstanding is that (1) marijuana is not legal, it is decriminalized by some states. This, in plain English means that decriminalization gives people who use marijuana an assertive defense in court. That’s it. (2) Doctors cannot issue a prescription for a medical marijuana card, that would be illegal under Federal and state law, as the prescription process is controlled by the FDA, a federal agency and marijuana is federally illegal. Doctors can only recommend marijuana, like they did cigarettes in the 1950s “because it was the brand doctors recommend most.” Sound familiar? Only now they figured out how to charge people for their “recommendation.” (3) The FDA recently ruled marijuana is not recognized as a medicine for various reasons. One of the most important is that there is no way to control efficacy. Meaning if one takes a Bayer aspirin, it creates a certain kind of effect. If one takes two Bayer aspirin the effect is predictable and one knows what the effect will be. With marijuana this is not the case, unless the THC content, which is the psychoactive ingredient in the marijuana plant, is gauged through a very sophisticated laboratory process. There is no way of knowing how the substance “could” affect a user and it should be obvious to us all that any such research belongs into the hands of pharmacists and licensed laboratory experts, not a bunch of hacks “dispensing voodoo medicine” out of a pot shop for large amounts of cash with bouncers at the door.

Those who are allowed by government to conduct such research, like they are in England for instance, take away the psychoactive ingredient from marijuana (the part that gets people high) and isolate the cannibanoids, which is the part of the marijuana plant that can aid cancer patients. It is then processed through a laboratory and prepared to be sold through licensed pharmacies, in a small glass bottle in the form of a mint flavored oil based oral spray for cancer patients. Furthermore, shouldn’t we ask since when is medicine dispensed in drug dens in the forms of butter, cookies, lollypops, sodas, joints, bongs, vaporizers and pipes? The answer is, since someone had the bright idea to fool people into believing that Prop. 215 was legitimate idea which it clearly was not.

Many people may also not be aware that the THC content in the marijuana of today is staggering when compared to the late 1960s. Today’s marijuana has been found to have a THC content of more than 30 percent in plant based products and 60 percent in oil-based products. When compared to the marijuana from the late 1960s, which had 1-3 percent THC content, we can’t help but wonder why some say that “pot isn’t really that bad.” Pot has gotten worse, a lot worse. Yet pot advocates tend to downplay these critical facts that have created a lot of confusion. No wonder back in the first and second century the Chinese called marijuana “ma” which means “chaotic!”

Since 1996, after Californians voted for the Compassionate Use Act, also known as Proposition 215, we have seen very little compassion and a whole lot of drama from marijuana manufacturers, distributors, advocates and even some consumers. The best thing that could ever happen to Proposition 215 is that it would be repealed, while in the process we isolate the truly ill and place our compassion where it belongs. In our hearts, not in the pockets of domestic marijuana cartels, hacks and greedy drug dealers! Over the years the people of California keep on learning that those who voted for Proposition 215, mostly made an uneducated guess, at best, when they cast their vote in favor of the measure. As a result of enacting Prop. 215 into law, our roads are not safer, our schools are exposed to dispensaries right next door and drug legalizers are selling the passive message to students that “pot is not as bad a alcohol.” Not as bad "how" dare we ask?

The Compassionate Use Act did a lot more than just aid the dying. It also violated them with no protections. Enter the conveniently organized “Patients for Safe Access”, an organization that could look after people who had problems obtaining their “medicine.” The confusion of it all became clear when a statistic came out cited by the California Police Chiefs Association, which showed only 4 percent of all medical marijuana users were considered seriously ill and could possibly benefit from THC isolates.

Reasonable people asked the obvious question: How could a “medicine” that helps relieve complications with cancer be good for you if it is smoked? A Harvard Law study later showed that marijuana caused pre-cancerous conditions in the lungs when smoked. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), in 2009 finally included marijuana smoke as a carcinogen under Proposition 65 and concluded marijuana smoke causes cancer. Enter another organization, the “Drug Policy Alliance”, bankrolled by billionaire George Soros, sugar daddy for the drug legalization movement, formerly convicted for insider trading in France. The Drug Policy Alliance went on the media circuit and explained that marijuana has oil based smoke and that smoking it was the only “helpful” way a patient would fully absorb THC and all that goes along with it. THC would lodge in the fat cells and in some instances stay in the system for as long as those fat cells exist. And that means forever, unless removed surgically. This of course begs the question, didn’t we learn our lesson with cigarettes?

Prop. 215 gave a green light to what we should have taken a much closer look at. Were Californians foolish to believe that this was about helping cancer patients only? As Gilroy California community organizer and prevention advocate Ron Kirkish put it “kids think marijuana is medicine!” Yes, Californians were hoodwinked, make no mistake about it. Any legal text, enacted into law, which states the word “any” brings on ambiguity that causes the kind of trouble Californians and other states have bought into. Proposition 215 states: “To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.” This is where the wheels came off and before voters realized they couldn’t do a darn thing about it, this verbiage containing the word “any” opened Pandora’s Box in many cities in the State of California. The reason voters or even the legislature could not do anything about it (and they did try) is because according to the California Constitution, once enacted, a ballot measure cannot be amended. Now dispensaries would spread all over the state where at one point in Los Angeles, the City was plagued with nearly 1,000 pot shops, which outnumbered Starbucks Coffee shops. Los Angeles dispensaries quickly became frowned upon and viewed as shady operations, which they are. The pot shops attracted robberies, shootings resulting in death and as it later turned out, many unreported crimes, such as the trafficking of narcotics and money laundering.

With Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich at the forefront, cities and counties became so frustrated by the rampant spread of dispensaries, more than 150 cities and several counties placed an outright ban on dispensaries. Whereas 300 of the 478 cities in California have either a ban or some form of ordinance to control the pot shops which attracted crime and blight in communities. Few others were able to create a stronghold in their city like Richard Lee did with his Oaksterdam University, well at least for a while. Lee started a "college" where people could, in violation of federal law, learn how to grow, use and sell marijuana. Lee, also funded the signature drive for Proposition 19, The Tax Regulate and Control Cannabis Act, in which he and his minions and loyalists outspent the opposition ten to one and still lost. Proposition 19 was authored by an environmental lawyer by the name of James Wheaton and the text was quickly discarded as “one of the most poorly written measures ever to enter California politics.” The Obama Administration took an immediate position against the legalization of all illicit drugs, as well as dismay over the situation with “medical marijuana.” John Lovell, veteran law enforcement lobbyist for the California Peace Officers Association had the floor when pointing out “The last thing we need is yet another mind-altering substance to be legalized.” Proposition 19 quickly gained worldwide attention.

The Drug Policy Alliance and the California NAACP pounced all over incarceration and black arrests due to pot possession. Bishop Ron Allen of the International Faith Based Coalition, a powerful alliance of Black bishops and ministers, debunked these arguments backed by NOBLE, the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Executives, citing that the legalization of marijuana would not solve the devastation of drug abuse in the Black community. Astonishingly to many, Bishop Ron Allen himself was recovering from addiction for more than a decade and publicly stated: “When I was doing drugs I wanted them to be legal too!” and “Why would anyone legalize something that causes an addiction?” To put a complete end to this argument, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 1449, which brought pot possession of an ounce or less down to an infraction and a $100 fine, just about equal to a parking citation.

In the mean time L.E.A.P., a drug legalization organization of retired cops took center stage with all kinds of rhetoric. You see, L.E.A.P. stands for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and they were adamant about telling police officers how to do their job on the front lines of the drug war. 99% of all law enforcement agencies in California opposed Prop. 19 and L.E.A.P. was left in the dust. Besides they were completely out of touch with the reality of the drug problem. Something that seemed quite obvious to anyone but L.E.A.P.

One of the many issues Proposition 19 also missed was that anyone who received more than $100,000 in Federal grants had to abide by the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988. This meant especially schools and non-profits as well as others. Also, there was no test in existence law enforcement could use for marijuana impaired drivers and any such test would have to have been approved by the FDA, a federal agency. Campaigning in concert with the Wayne Johnson Agency and Acosta Salazar, the California Chamber of Commerce explained, corporations with employees handling explosives, such as oil companies, electric and gas companies have strict policy guidelines on drug testing and THC was known to show up in a drug test for up to 45 days. Lastly, among many other clear and credible arguments against Proposition 19 the RAND Corporation conducted several studies on the effects legalization would have on the black market and it soon became clear that legalization would have no effect on cartel activity, in fact it would have made it worse. Case closed.

Marijuana legalization efforts for recreational use have been before voters nine times starting in 1972. In 1975, the State of Alaska legalized marijuana for recreational use and according to Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, the result was an increase in auto accidents, a spike in industrial accidents, low job performance and teens using at twice the rate of adults. Alaskans began to realize this was not working. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration cites a 1989 repeal effort began and voters re-criminalized marijuana in 1990. Lesson learned? Not yet. Proponents would venture to several other states in search of the feeble minded who would believe that voting for something in conflict with federal law would be a good idea. Yet in the end when the votes came in and the people spoke they denied legalization for recreational use every time. Voting “NO” on this kind of thing does seem like a bit of a no-brainer. No pun intended.

Since the 2010 defeat of California Proposition 19, marijuana advocates have been making all sorts of noise about how they were cheated out of a victory and how they were coming back in 2012 with a more aggressive approach. Oh really? The Obama Administration got the memo and as promised by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in 2010, the feds have seriously stepped in to vigorously enforce the Controlled Substances Act. Kevin Sabet, a former adviser to the president's drug czar and a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Substance Abuse Solutions told MSNBC; "This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The administration is simply making good on multiple threats issued since President Obama took office." The fact that marijuana is a Schedule I drug creates all kinds of problems for those who want to meddle with the stuff. For starters, anyone who has a medical marijuana card and possesses marijuana will not be able to carry a gun. Landlords in California have been placed on notice by U.S. Attorneys and some have been sent letters from the feds ordering them to get rid of their drug dealer tenants, otherwise all the rent they collected from the pot shop owners would be confiscated. The Harborside Health Center, one of California’s largest dispensaries received a letter from the IRS asking for $2.5 million in owed taxes because they were not able to write off certain expenses like payroll (for drug dealing).

In the mean time one area I personally would like to explore is doctors. What kind of doctor would recommend marijuana in violation of federal law? In 2010, Steve Lopez, columnist for the Los Angeles Times asked this very question. Mr. Lopez went to a medical marijuana doctor and later wrote a column of his findings. In short, when his medical marijuana doctor was not selling pot recommendations, he was in fact an OBGYN and Mr. Lopez didn’t even have to get up from his seat for an examination. Nice, right? So, we should really ask, who these doctors are and when will we be able to learn a little more about them? Because without the doctors there is no way Proposition 215 can continue doing harm. It's the doctor who must recommend marijuana first, before the wheel is set in motion. Most people also do not realize that kids as young as 14 are able to obtain marijuana with parental consent. Pretty evil stuff if you ask me and far out of reach from the ethics of the Hippocratic Oath.

Last but not least, wouldn’t it be nice if we were able to just start living our lives without sending the message that drug abuse is part of life? Why? The world is a pretty cool place without drugs. Take it from me, drugs lead to a steady deterioration in the quality of health and life. I’m sober now for more than 12 years. I started with marijuana and 13 years later ended up on meth. Don’t believe in gateway? It might not be the case for everyone, but I’m living proof of it. Drug use is not worth it because you can’t turn things around quickly once you’re addicted. If you make it back to a normal life things get pretty exciting if you’re honest with yourself and you do everything right. You can become a productive citizen again with the help of others and you will be able to help others as well. The one thing you can never get back is the time. I could have done a lot with my life in those 13 years I spent being addicted. They should have been the best years of my life. I could have gone more places, learned how to do more things right, had more friends and could have been closer to my family. But that time is gone forever. Don’t make the mistakes I made. Don’t do drugs. Trust me, life is much more beautiful without drugs.

Alexandra Datig

Things Can Get Even More Difficult In Early Sobriety

Getting sober can be deadly for some. There is the general impression by those unfamiliar with the many stages people go through in recovery, that somehow greener, happier pastures await us right away when getting sober. Nothing could be farther from reality for quite some time. One of the things we hear in recovery is “first we’re going to save your butt, then we’re going to worry about the size of it.” Yep, you heard right. Getting sober means gaining weight.

Because people who get sober gain weight, the gym or the hiking trail is often a priority. Many of us get minor injuries because our minds do not understand how to work out a sobering body. The reason we gain weight is because we starved our bodies from good nutrition for so long that it now stores everything we give it and that means it stores the one thing we don’t want it to. Body fat.

But it gets worse. People who go into detox are given more drugs and even as they try to recover, the physical cycle of addiction cannot stop because rather than a regular regimen of cocaine and alcohol or marijuana and meth, we now are on a regimen of Librium or Methadone or whatever our doctors think will stop our cravings for the drugs that had us so badly addicted.

The death sentence, like it was for Amy Winehouse, is when we still have the mental obsession with the habit we are trying to kick and think we can go back “just one more time” - mixing the drugs we abused with the detox medication. This can and in some instances will kill us.

That is why, when we say we want to quit, we really have to mean it and stick with it no matter what. We have to be able to let go of “what it looks like” with our body image, and we have to start looking within and working on what it is. Looking inside is hard, everything hurts. Not only that, we have to fix the damage we have done to the lives of others as well as our own.

When exactly does our obsession with drug abuse leave us? No one knows that answer. When we begin drug use and it turns from “fun” to necessity, we do what in recovery is called “cross the invisible line.” We cannot tell you when that happens. But we know that at some point we have lost control over our lives and the addiction is ruining everything and ripping days off the calendar of our life. When we get sober we do the same thing in reverse. We re-cross the invisible line and when we do we are not aware of when exactly we do this either. Our body makes that decision and it does so years after we decide to get sober. Recovery is a process of the body returning to a natural state, where it can follow the ebb and flow of life on life’s terms.

Therefore, be cautious when someone comes out of recovery and tells you that after 90 days they are clean. The body is not ready because it can’t heal that fast. Addiction tries to lure us back to the brink of abuse and tries to turn us inside out for a long time. This is the great fight for our life when we get sober and we must stay strong and focused on our recovery. We need real friends, a meaningful life and as little conflict as possible if any. Give it about five years. Then you’ll know with more certainty that happier times are ahead.

In this video Dr. Drew points out some of the most basic and simple realities of what is and is not considered sobriety.

Bruno Mars Tribute to Amy Winehouse at VMAs: No less than FANTASTIC!

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