Did you know that September is “Recovery Month?” http://www.recoverymonth.gov No?neither did I, till I received a response to a post I did about Stage 2 Recovery. I’m not one for using this blog to promote other programs or events, but I believe this is important. More than any survey I’ve done, the one that gets the most responses is one which asks about how much alcohol do you drink. It appears there are many people who drink while wondering if they are drinking too much. It’s understandable. Alcoholism and drug addiction touch most of our lives in one way or another. The great majority of clients I see will bring it up about themselves, a close family member or a friend.
What seems less clear is what it means to be in “recovery” from an addiction. In my professional 
experience, those people who choose to “recover” the parts of themselves they gave up to their addiction are usually more content for doing so. No doubt, they must endure the painful process of letting go of their addiction. But it appears this process is often more tolerable when there is a vast network of supportive people in 12 step meetings and professional settings. For those who stick it out past the start-up phase, there are often positive surprises waiting for them.
If you want to learn more, check out the SAMHSA website. It will provide you with information on Recovery month and give you a glimpse into what recovery may offer you. What do you think?
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The City of Vancouver “Vancouver has finally “CRACKED UP”
By Stephen Thomson
Carnegie Community Action Project introduces vision for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
A Downtown Eastside group is calling for a stop to gentrification and support for a government-sanctioned drug market in the Vancouver neighbourhood.
The proposed actions are part of a “vision” for the area introduced by the Carnegie Community Action Project today (July 20).
Transformed Downtown Eastside could be a global model: report
By Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun July 21, 2010
Vancouver could lead the world by transforming the Downtown Eastside into a community where everyone has a home, drug treatment is available on demand and drugs are decriminalized, according to a report created by the Carnegie Community Action Project.
The vision report, Assets to Action, was developed over two years with consultation from 1,200 Downtown Eastside residents and several community groups, who endorsed the plan in front of a crowd of about 100 people gathered Tuesday at the Carnegie Community Centre on the corner of Hastings and Main.
The No. 1 concern of most residents was housing.
Report co-author Jean Swanson said 5,000 people in the Downtown Eastside live in horrific conditions in 10-by-10 single-room-occupancy hotels with shared bathrooms and cockroach infestations.
“The city says SROs should be replaced, but at the present rate, that will take 40 years,” Swanson said.
The vision calls for Vancouver city council to buy five lots a year in the Downtown Eastside for social housing over the next 10 years.
While organizers said treatment on demand for drug addiction would be the best option, they also called for a regulated legal drug market.
“You need to be able to access [the drugs] you need right away, safely from nurses or doctors, not from the Hells Angels,” report co-author Wendy Pedersen said.
“The black market is punishing us and it needs to end. We need to stop sending those billions of dollars out of this community.”
Organizers called for a slowed pace of gentrification until existing residents and homeless people have social housing.
“Our character and our flavour — all of our beautiful little stores — are starting to get wiped out,” Pedersen said, adding that residents are being pushed out of the area.
The report says residents are proud of their community and want to drive the neighbourhood transformation.
“Low-income residents are saying they want to have more control over their own community,” said Phoenix Winter, a board member at the Carnegie Community Centre. “We don’t want others coming here and telling us what’s wrong with us and what we need. We have good ideas about solving problems ourselves.”
tsherlock@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Transformed+Downtown+Eastside+could+global+model+report/3302820/story.html#ixzz0uKrJKapD
THE CITY OF VANCOUVER CANADA HAS A DRUG PROBLEM
HEROIN AND CRACK COCAINE RULE THE STREET’S IN THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE OF VANCOUVER
I interview a young man who has used Heroin most of his life he recently relapsed after eleven month’s clean time this video is quite graphic
The Harsh Reality of Drug Addiction
This video was shot in Vancouvers downtown eastside by the narrator it is quite extreme, It shows how common place and and readily available drugs are and how people can succomb to a extreme physical reaction from lack of sleep, nutrition and dehydration. This video was made for many different reasons, one being educational the other as mentioned earlier it’s common place here in Vancouver, in any other city or town in North America this man would have recieved immediate medical attention but here in Vancouver both the police and ambulance just drive by. If you do not belive me come on down and see our little human circus slash “HARM REDUCTION EXPERIMENT”
This man was spotted two hours later sleeping on a concrete curb as his pillow.
Both the narrator and producer of this video have had spent many years struggling with addiction and have spent hard time in Vancouvers “NOTORIOUS” downtown eastside.
Today they have escaped and are clean and sober and now dedicate there lives to those who still suffer from “THE HARSH REALITY OF ADDICTION”
I interview a woman who has used Heroin most of her life she has a very sad life
We have a woman named Lisa she has been on all the current Harm reduction program’s available in Vancouver’s Downtown eastside
this is a sad sad story this poor woman only has her addiction to look forward to in her life
Last but not least we interviewed more woman who talk about the pro’s and con’s of Heroin vs. Methadone
You be the judge the whole reason for these videos is to bring some truth out about the addiction support services that are in use here in Vancouver. My research has been on a personal level for over twenty five years in addiction as well as these and many more video interviews. Thank you recovered addict
PHOTO’S I HAVE TAKEN ABOUT VANCOUVERS DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE
http://flickriver.com/photos/39103088@N04/popular-interesting/
Dina Has a Great Story of Recovery From Addiction DINA A FRIEND OF PHATPOOCH TELLS HER STORY OF LIFE ON THE DTES OF VANCOUVER AFTER 10 YEARS OF ADDICTION A TRUE MIRACLE AWSOME TESTIMONY
DINA DID TEN YEARS HARD TIME IN VANCOUVERS DTES ADDICTED TO CRACK WAS HOMELESS AND HAD A LIFE FULL OF PERIL TODAY SHE HAS TRANSFORMED HERSELF http://www.video.ca/video.php?id=394964877
People do “Recover” from a life of addiction Donnie a True “Miracle of Recovery
A good friend of Phatpooch, Donnie was addicted for over thirty years he’s been clean now for 7, his testimony is good news for those who still suffer from the plague of addiction that’s ravaging North America http://vimeo.com/3069039
East Vancouver Darkness – Angelina
videos from: http://www.2010homelesschampions.ca Angelina young and addicted tough as nails sweet as sugar … downtown eastside young addicted girl …
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