I recently received an anonymous email from a member of IntheRooms.com asking me to publish the following letter. He/she stressed the importance of the online community, which has really made a difference to his/her recovery.
Anonymous In the Rooms Member –
To the Editor of the NA Blog, I noticed you’ve written some articles about In the Rooms, which is great, but I’m not sure if the articles are reflecting all the facets of what In the Rooms does, exactly, to help members.
As an active NA member, I can honestly say that In the Rooms has provided me with a vital tool I use daily for my recovery. I’m recovering cocaine addict and am beginning to have some real success for the first time. Throughout the last few years, I have had several relapses and been in and out of rehab treatment centers. I’d say that in the last 9 months, IntheRooms has helped make a big difference in my recovery.
You see, I travel for my job, which doesn’t help in terms of attending meetings. With In the Rooms, I connect from my laptop at any hot spot and talk to my recovery buddies at the NA group IntheRooms.com, which has over 14,000 members. We chat live, send each other messages, and post discussions in the group.
For someone like me, struggling to get to meetings, I just go onto IntheRooms and connect with fellow NA members. Also, I always check In the Rooms national database of NA meetings, in case I have time to attend a meeting in a visiting city.
I hope my testimony helps people understand and encourages them to join In the Rooms. It can really help to connect with so many people who have so much knowledge about recovery. One of my buddies In the Rooms has been clean 30 years. He’s a tremendous well of knowledge and support to me. Thanks _ AnonymousNAer
The Arizona Star recently polled their readers to find out if they supported the initiative of legalizing marijuana in the state. Shockingly, the majority were in favor of legal marijuana in the state of Arizona. However, the periodical made sure to note that the study was not scientific and that it only reflected the opinion of those who participated.
Nonetheless, when asked: “Do you believe marijuana should be legal for recreation purposes?” 84% of readers agreed that it should. When asked: “How would you view the legalization of marijuana? (In terms of the government’s role)” 53% agreed that it was wise and 39% agreed that it would be a satisfactory means of seeking tax revenue. Finally, when asked: “What effect do you believe legalizing marijuana would have on drug trafficking and its related violence?” 70% thought it would decrease significantly, while only 9% claimed no effect.
For me, the poll reflects the trend of medical and legal marijuana across the US. It also makes sense, as the “Baby Boomer” generation is now in full control of the reins. After all, they were also the generation marked by the “hippie” drug culture. Still, I conclude that these Arizonians, and many others, are oblivious to the realities of legalizing drugs. I would argue from the slippery slope premise and say that there is a snowball effect. Basically, you start with allowing medical marijuana, and then it is all together legal, which eventually leads to the legalization of all drugs.
What kills more people per year, illegal drugs or legal drugs and alcohol? Answer, legal drugs and alcohol. Of course, common sense would tell us because it is more readily available when legal and less controlled.
A frightening report from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), known as “The National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment 2009 (NPDTA),” was recently released and reflected an excessive abuse of nonmedical, prescription drug use in the US. The most startling figure, however, was the absorbent amount of youths (12-21) that were included in the results.
The very first sentence of the report reads: “Approximately 6.9 million individuals aged 12 or older were current (past month) nonmedical users of prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs (opioid pain relievers tranquilizers, sedatives, or stimulants) during 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).”
The report goes on to note: “the number of deaths and treatment admissions involving CPDs, particularly prescription opioids, increased significantly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics, unintentional overdose deaths involving prescription opioids increased 114 percent from 2001 (3,994) to 2005 (8,541), the most recent nationwide data available.”
As part of the ongoing controversy, Pennsylvania is now among the states seeking to approve Medical Marijuana use. Pennsylvania politician Mark Cohen of Philadelphia recently introduced a piece of legislation that would allow small amounts of marijuana to be legally purchased and used for medical purposes.
The timesonline.com reported in an article that: “he (Cohen) introduced the bill because it seemed, after talking to people, that marijuana had a legitimate use in easing the pain and suffering of patients diagnosed with life-threatening or painful illnesses.” They also reported that the issue may take special precedence for Cohen as his own father passed away four years ago from disease and glaucoma, both of which may have been treated with medical marijuana.
Nonetheless, many legislators across the US agree that the medical marijuana issue can be a slippery slope. Take California for example. Originally, the state passed legislation for medical marijuana, and within just a few years of its approval and implementation, marijuana was being considered for general legalization as it could be an easy way to collect more state taxes.
A Harvard psychologist named Gene M. Heyman recently released the book, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, which asserts that addiction isn’t really an illness. However, it really isn’t that surprising as Heyman is just one of the many who have previously posed this opinion.
The facts remain that nearly all health experts agree that addiction is a serious illness, which is not voluntarily chosen. Among such experts that disagree with the logic behind Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, is Norman Miller, professor of medicine at Michigan State University, who says: “These guys – I don’t know, academia, they just kind of take what they want, and they don’t care about the truth, or what the studies show.”
Tony George, the head of addiction psychiatry at the University of Toronto, further expounds upon this point, when he says the following about Gene M. Heyman’s hypothesis in the new book: “Where (Heyman) loses the argument is that there are clearly both biological and environmental or contextual factors involved, but he’s basically saying that the context and the environment are everything and the biology is irrelevant.”
Just recently, The Recovery Network(TRN) website has gone down. Similar to other social networking sites for recovering addicts, the Recovery Network specialized in connecting people and keeping them informed with blogs and news. It also provided online support that connected members to recovery experts. The Recovery Network was actually one of the first among the circle of social networking sites for recovering addicts; its niche and main base was the continent of Europe. It is unknown exactly why the site is down at this point, but insiders are speculating that it has to do with hosting costs.
Nonetheless, there is a viable and readily available solution. Right now, anyone seeking the same kind of social networking website and more can find it free of charge at intherooms.com. IntheRooms is less than a year old and already boosts 40,000+ members whose combined recovery time has recently been marked at 100,000+ years.
IntheRooms features all of the interface capabilities of The Recovery Network and more. It has a blogroll with at least 20+ blogs, a community forum, live chat for all the fellowships that members belong to (NA Chat, AA Chat, GA Chat, etc). The Newsletter is updated weekly. Each member can set up an account that has email and messaging capabilities; they can set up their own discussion groups for any and all interest broad or niche.
At last count, IntheRooms.com had members in every continent (over 100 countries). Their recovery community is considered global, so for any former members of The Recovery Network seeking similar needs again (because the network is down), please come check out IntheRooms.com. Hope this helps out.
The new “Pokies Cause Pain” campaign is encouraging people that live with a pokie addiction (poker machine) to share their tales online with the hope of preventing others that maybe destined for similar paths.
The campaign was initiated by Australian senator Nick Xenophon and was launched on “Responsible Gambling Awareness Week.” Senator Xenophon told the Australian AP that families had been victimized long enough as a result of pokie addiction and added “It’s an opportunity for people to have that voice. They haven’t had it in the past.”
For anyone interested in making an anonymous contribution to the “Pokies Cause Pain” campaign, the website is up and running and can be found at: www.PokieAct.org.
Still, Australian Senator Nick Xenophon said that the government must find a better way to shift taxes collected from pokies to other areas and ultimately limit the influence of pokies; “There is no doubt that communities would be better off, budget bottom lines would be better off, if state governments didn’t rely so heavily on poker machine taxes,” Xenophon said.
