ONDCP Blog

Director Kerlikowske to Participate in National Day of Service in Baltimore

“Everybody can be great ... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.” — Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On January 21^st, our Nation will celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Day coincides with the Presidential Inauguration, and the President is calling on all Americans to join him in a National Day of Service on Saturday, January 19^th.

Director Kerlikowske, Deputy Director for Demand Reduction David Mineta, Deputy Director for State and ONDCP staff are answering the President’s call to action this Saturday. Together with Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, Inc. and the Baltimore City Mayor’s office Director Kerlikowske will honor the Baltimore Recovery Corps’ Peer Recovery Advocates (PRA) for their outstanding volunteerism and join them for a community clean-up in Baltimore.

The members of the Baltimore Recovery Corps are recruited from people who have at least two years successful recovery from a substance use disorder and seek to use their experience to serve others.  They coach and mentor people in or seeking recovery and help them access the services they need, find and maintain housing and employment, and connect to a community of recovering peers who can help them in their journey to sustained recovery.

We are inspired by the work of the Baltimore Recovery Corps and encourage all Americans to get involved in service projects that matter to them and their communities. To search by zip code for a service opportunity near you, go here.

For more information about Presidential Inaugural Committee’s National Day of Service, go to http://action.2013pic.org/service. To learn more about MLK Day, visit MLKDay.gov.

Guest Post: Wake up and Smell the Recovery

I'm Devin Fox, and I am a person in long-term recovery. I'm a young person, a gay man, an activist, an advocate, a son, a brother, an employee, an executive director, a social worker, and–most importantly–a human being. To me, being in recovery means being free from drugs and alcohol. In November 2012, I celebrated 4 years of continuous recovery, with all of its ups, downs, and even boring days.

I strive each day to live to my greatest potential and to reach for a life focused on being the best that I can be. My life was not always so solution-focused however. Although my story is not entirely unique, it’s unusual enough to make me feel special.

Those who have known me for a while know I have been an activist and an advocate since grade school. I have an innate ability to gauge a roomful of people's concerns and then clearly articulate those concerns to the most likely person, persons, or system that can bring about some type of effective change. This ability has enabled me to help support young people in recovery as together we seek to make our voice heard in a Nation caught in the grips of a mentality that revolves around the problem of addiction. Instead of this fixation on addiction as the problem, it is time to focus on the solution of a person’s own identified recovery and how we as a whole can support that effort.

Like many others, I suppose, I often feel as if I am focused on how to live only one "life" at a time. The mixing of roles and worlds into one individual can be tricky and most certainly frustrating. As I continue to progress in my recovery, I am discovering and learning to accept my own complexity – the multiple sides of my personality that make me who I am.

On one side is Devin the advocate, a well-informed, well-groomed, well-maintained machine. Devin the advocate lives for the "cause." This Devin can move with ease through crowds because his intentions are almost always well-meaning and his actions thoughtful and appropriate.

Devin the person-in-recovery is just about everything except a machine. This includes the good (which I will gladly disclose here), the bad (I'll think about it), and the ugly (please!). You see, Devin-in-recovery can hide behind Devin-the-advocate. My asset of being an effective advocate and activist has the potential to overrule the necessity to focus on a personal life of wellness and recovery. This awareness of how closely my assets and my defects are connected helps me live in the moment and be the most effective agent for change that I can be.

My life often becomes chaotic and overcome with the pressures of work, business meetings, and conference calls. In a sense, it’s not much different from the seminars, recitations, and homework I left at Rutgers last spring. When I become unbalanced and afraid, I grasp onto my "causes." I cling to their truth and take it as my own. I revel in the injustice and emerge with chest puffed, cape billowing, and the ugly sword of truth unsheathed. The wonderful outcome is that today my “cause” has become my personal mission in life.

I find joy in helping others and fulfillment in spreading a message of hope to any who will listen or will join me in experiencing it. For me, young people in recovery finding a voice in a world that has been deaf to our input is more than a “cause.” This movement is not something I hide behind. I stand proudly beside it and acknowledge it belongs to me, you, and everyone who wants it. This movement is life. This movement is recovery. This movement is the solution.

This is my truth. It is just a small piece of the multi-faceted human being that I am, and a snapshot of how recovery shapes my life and my work. The steps that I take on a daily basis to help me heal and grow into the best man that I can be are simple, and they often rest on my decision to show up for my life one day at a time. The result of my choosing a new way of thinking, and therefore a new way of life, is a freedom that cannot be felt or fully understood by simply reading about it in this blog. To those in recovery and struggling against the tyranny of addiction to alcohol or other drugs, I say this: Go experience this freedom yourself. Embrace it, own it, and then share it. Our personal recovery stories are our asset today not our defect.

Celebrating the Holidays with Recovering Family Members and Friends

This time each year can be stressful for anyone, but the holidays present a special challenge for people recovering from a substance use disorder. Those in long-term recovery typically are adept at navigating the minefield of temptation at holiday social gatherings. But many of those in their first year of recovery, their friends, and family members wonder how best to celebrate the holidays safely, comfortably, and joyously.
 
If your festivities will include someone with a year or more in recovery, you may simply want to ask if there is anything you can do to make the holiday better for them. They may want to bring a friend who’s also in recovery. They may have beverage preferences or want the flexibility to step out for a short while, either to attend a mutual aid meeting (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or SMART Recovery), make a call, or get some fresh air.
 
The holidays may come with expectations, such as shopping, travel, cooking, and multiple social gatherings. People in early recovery are often experiencing difficult personal or financial circumstances while at the same time trying to learn to live without the substance that had become central to their lives. While the holidays are a time to celebrate family and good cheer, they are also a time when other feelings can be heightened. Such feelings can include a sense of loss about a deceased family member, or feelings of hurt, resentment, anger, shame, or guilt about the past on the part of the recovering person, other family members, or both.
 
Early recovery brings reawakened awareness of the harm one caused oneself and one’s family and friends during the course of the addiction. It is also a time when the brain and body are still actively recovering from the effects of addiction. Those in early recovery are relatively new at learning to experience, process, and manage feelings and to function in social situations without the use of a substance. Alcohol or other drugs may have served the recovering person as a social lubricant during the early stages of their use, helping alleviate social anxiety and feelings of not fitting in while simultaneously lifting their guard, making it easier to speak and act spontaneously.  The social events of the holidays can be challenging in a number of ways for the individual who is new to recovery.
 
Fortunately, many in early recovery do well during the holidays. The experience of sharing the holidays with family or friends can strengthen their recovery and reinforce the value of the fuller, more authentic way of life they are entering. The holidays can, in effect, be a time to reconnect and restore. To help foster a positive holiday environment for those in recovery, please keep in mind the following:
 
Tips for celebrating the holidays with family or friends in early recovery:
 

1. You are not responsible for your guest’s recovery, even if that guest is your child, sibling, or parent. Behind the scenes orchestration to “help” the recovering person through the event can sometimes be unhelpful. Instead, reach out to him or her to see if there’s anything you can do to help the event  go smoothly. If you do, be ready and willing to accept “No, thank you” as the answer.

2. Ask yourself if you and your family are ready to celebrate the holiday with the recovering person. Are there unresolved hurts or resentments that could make the holiday difficult for all? Does your family understand addiction and embrace recovery or is the topic shrouded in shame, an “elephant in the room”? Addiction affects not only the addicted individual, but the family as a whole. Denial or shame around addiction, if not appropriately addressed, can make the holiday difficult for the family and risky for the recovering person. So, it’s worth asking: Are you and your family ready?

3. Ask your friend or family member if they are comfortable taking part in the celebration this year. Make sure they understand that it is perfectly OK to miss the celebration if that is what is best for their recovery. Their recovery comes first. It’s better to miss them this time around in order to increase the likelihood that they will be alive, well, and able to participate in future events.  Think of it as an investment that will pay dividends.

4. If you will be serving alcohol, check to see if your invitee is comfortable with that. Note, even if you’re willing to host an alcohol-free holiday event, your family member or friend might not be comfortable attending if alcohol is not served simply because he or she is present.

5. Ask if they’d like to invite someone or invite others who do not drink. Regardless of whether alcohol is served or not, the recovering person may want to invite a recovering guest. If you’re serving alcohol and have family members or friends who are in recovery or who do not drink, you may want to ask your guest if he or she would like you to invite them so that there will be other non-drinkers with whom to socialize.

6. Ask what kinds of beverages they would like to have. While non-alcoholic “mocktails” may seem like a good idea—and many in recovery do enjoy them—they  may actually be a trigger for some people in early recovery, either because they visually remind the guest of cocktails or because they remind the individual that he or she can no longer drink. Despite all the pain and aggravation that alcohol and drugs may have caused the recovering individual, giving them up can result in a powerful sense of loss. Beverages such as hot spiced cider, hot cocoa, iced or hot tea or coffee are often welcomed. Some people in long-term recovery drink so-called “non-alcoholic” beer and wine. If this works for them, it is of course perfectly acceptable. It should be noted, though, that these beverages generally do include small amounts of alcohol. For people in the early stages of recovery from alcohol addiction, these beverages should be avoided.

7. Provide time and space to step away from the group, if needed. Being able to take a walk, relax in a quiet room, step away to connect by telephone with another person in recovery, attend a mutual aid meeting, or gracefully depart early can be very important to a person in early recovery.

8. Listen to them. If they don’t want any special steps taken to accommodate them, and both you and they are comfortable with them taking part this time, then simply go ahead.

Tips for individuals or families in early recovery:

• Have a plan for the holiday, including mutual aid meetings and calls to sponsor, mentor, recovering peer, counselor, clergy or others central to your recovery.

• Identify risk factors that should be avoided and know how you will respond if they’re encountered.

• Know your signs of potential relapse and take steps to address them.

• Stay in touch with your key supports, such as counselors, sponsors, mentors, or recovering peers.

• Keep it all in perspective: Nothing that happens, no matter how painful or unpleasant, is worth giving up one’s recovery.

• If relapse does, occur, don’t delay acting out of shame or guilt. Get help immediately. There is still an opportunity to build on the progress you’ve made.

Drunk and Drugged Driving: Not an Acceptable Part of Life

This time of year most of us are making plans for gatherings and celebrations with family and friends.  But sadly, there are 10,000 people who won’t be home for the holidays because they lost their lives this year in substance-impaired driving crashes in the United States. The problem is so deadly that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has placed substance-impaired driving on its annual Most Wanted List highlighting the most critical changes needed to reduce transportation accidents and save lives.

At the NTSB, we investigate accidents across all modes of transportation.  We understand the intense public concern and media scrutiny following a commercial airline crash or train derailment.  Yet more than 90% of transportation-related deaths occur on our nation’s roadways.  The numbers are staggering:  more than 30,000 people a year are lost to traffic crashes.  More than 30% of these deaths involve substance-impaired driving; it would take a major commercial airliner crash every week to reach the same number of deaths.

Absent is the intense public concern, and there is little media scrutiny of these crashes.  Where is the call for increased safety measures?  I believe that complacency is part of the problem.  In his book One for the Road:  Drunk Driving Since 1900, author Barron Lerner quotes physician Ralph Hudson who said:  “This national embarrassment and disgrace has not been just the accumulation of death and injury but, rather, the strange acceptance of death and injury as a way of life.”  It’s time for everyone to challenge the notion that drugged and drunk driving crashes are inevitable.  We must work together to identify and support new measures to curb the carnage on our roadways.

Like the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the NTSB has begun to call greater attention to the issue of drugged driving, a problem that still goes unrecognized by many.  In fact, a recent survey of teens revealed that while 87 percent of teen passengers would speak up to ask a driver to refrain from getting behind the wheel after drinking, only 72 percent of teen passengers would do the same for a driver who has used marijuana.  But while there is compelling evidence that illegal, over-the-counter, and prescription drugs are playing an increasing role in traffic crashes, there are no standards or testing criteria for these substances, and their role in crashes is often under-reported.  That’s why last month the NTSB issued new safety recommendations calling for a common standard of practice for drug toxicology testing and increased collection, documentation, and reporting of test results. 

As we move into 2013, the NTSB will continue to work with Federal agencies like ONDCP and continue advocating for measures that will push us towards the goal of zero highway deaths due to substance-impaired driving.  Regardless of how they travel, everyone should be able to get home safely for the holidays.   

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged with determining the probable cause of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety, and assisting victims of transportation accidents and their families.