Mel Gibson: Untreated Alcoholism?

OKSANA GRIGORIEVA is clearly a victim when it comes to domestic violence as can be seen and heard on this TMZ video clip. At the same time I believe that she will get the help she needs. But what about Mel? In this interview with Larry King, where recorded conversations are made public, a couple of things seem very obvious.

Mel is completely enraged at Oksana and is fitting the model of a man who has so much rage, he verbally expresses that he does not have any regard for who he hurts, including a baby as well as himself. Second, even though his behavior is clearly of concern, why did Oksana record the calls, prolonging his obsession rather than call the police? After all, recording a call is against the law in California unless both parties are aware they are being recorded.

The taunting of Mel, telling him he needs medication may not be a big issue for those who don't understand the disease of alcoholism. But for those of us who do, telling an alcoholic, especially a dry and untreated alcoholic that he or she needs medication is a serious mistake and will without a doubt cause rage, even the kind of rage Mel expresses in his conversations. This is by no means something anyone deserves, but it is a attibute to alcoholism that has never been treated.

Untreated alcoholism fits the model of some of the behavior Mel is exhibiting. When we get sober and we take the 12 Steps, we learn not to turn guilt into rage. We learn that we are only human and are responsible for the harm we do and that we must make amends. Though the amends process can be a life-long process, if we're going to be sane and free from the stronghold of addiction we must stay away from situations that cause us harm. If we don't we must be removed or someone will eventually remove us and make us fall from our ego-driven throne.

The best thing for Mel right now is to end the court ordeal quickly, get some therapy and go back to doing something that makes him happy.

Just watch to the end...

Mexico's President Calderon: U.S. is largest consumer of drugs in the world

A must see video. Mexico's President Calderon points out that not only is the U.S. the largest consumer of drugs in the world, but also that 90% of the weapons seized from the cartels were sold to them by the U.S. The issue of the guns was that Mexico had outlawed the guns they confiscate, that the cartels obtain the guns through legal means in the U.S. and smuggle them back to Mexico.

Calderon further stresses that the U.S. must reduce its consumption of drugs. Period. On that point I couldn't agree more.

Proposition 19 and the Pink Elephant in the room

What does being sober and being in politics have to do with politics? Well in the recent fight to defeat Proposition 19 quite a lot. As an independent campaign committee fighting against the measure which failed to attempt to legalize marijuana in the State of California for recreational use, I found my sober position constantly being ignored like a pink elephant in the room. Even though my fellow debate panelists knew I had suffered a 13 year addiction that started with pot and lead to serious health consequences as well as incomprehensible demoralization, I found myself being insulted, second-guessed with certain people and debated with people who deliberately were adding insult to injury. On more than one occasion I even encountered people who were in a 12 Step program that wanted to legalize and sell marijuana to the residents of California, even thought they understood the harms of picking up marijuana first hand, which of course was rather disturbing.

All those negative mean spirited things would have worked for the other side to get me to step aside and give up had I not been sober. They were unable to sway me. It was only during the last 11 months of campaigning that I began to really understand why we are cautioned in early sobriety to stay away from conflict and anger that is directed toward us. We are simply not strong enough both physically and emotionally to handle the negativities and jealousies of the world. This especially when we are thrust into the spotlight in midst of our early recovery.

Proposition 19 was defeated and the youth and parents of California as well as recovering addicts and those who are trying to gain recovery are one step closer to having a safer environment where drug dealers don’t run rampant from community to community. It was a great victory indeed.

Acting as if they were somehow duped, Prop. 19 proponents had a pretty hard time admitting publicly that they actually lost and tried to pretend that the loss was not real for them and that Prop. 19 was only a "test run." But having been on the front lines, I know how hard they fought and having experienced political losses prior to Prop. 19, I know they must be devastated.

They leveraged all they knew how while at the same time not realizing that California was no longer willing to take chances on marijuana. And for that matter, neither was the rest of the country including the Obama Administration. By sending the message of the people’s “NO” vote in several other states, a message of marijuana legalization is just not a priority was sent to the rest of the world. Chances are that marijuana legalization as a whole was a fad and a trend of lawlessness that is fazing out because communities have had enough from the crime and the dubious snake oil salesmen who peddle the intoxicating, mind altering weed.

In the end California who was expected to lead the world in irresponsible, out of control drug peddling under Proposition 19, now leads a sobering charge to do the right thing and look to our core priorities of creating a better California. Thanks to all the hard working community activists, drug preventionists, law enforcement and our civic leaders we are back on the right track to combat America's drug problem. That is to keep drugs illegal so they are less accessible while we streamline a solid prevention effort to educate our communities about the risks of drug use and addiction.

- Alexandra Datig