Infiltrating Alcoholics Anonymous

        “Sometimes people in our situation just need to know we’re not alone,”said Matthew Fuller, a 26-year-old recovering from a serious Oxycontin addiction.

                I was lucky enough to sit down and talk to Fuller and other recovering addicts after attending an AA meeting at the Alcohol & Drug Dependency Services on Elm Street in Buffalo. Although the meeting is technically for alcoholics, narcotic abusers attend as well.  The same goes for alcoholics attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings.     

                “Addiction is addiction, we don’t discriminate or make light of other’s illnesses.”

Said Sarah Kobee.  Sarah has been inpatient at the facility for a little over a month now. 

                “My parents saw my drinking as a problem and threatened to kick me out if I didn’t come here.  I didn’t want to at first but I guess they know what’s best, and it is helping.” She added.

                Alcoholics Anonymous has grown to over 2 million members worldwide since starting in 1935 in Akron, Ohio.  Although there is no real way to track the sobriety of its members, the growth of the program speaks to its success. 

                “It’s day to day man, every day is a fight,” Fuller said.  He has been sober for 37 days and counting.  To many, that may not seem very long, but to him it’s an amazing accomplishment.

                “God plays a big role in recovery.” Said Jim Manson, who started out the meeting with his own story of loss and hardship.  He asked that I not put any of what was said in this paper, but did elaborate on “God Factor.” 

                “Couldn’t of done it without him, man. Like they say ‘If God is your co-pilot, then you need to switch seats with him, ’ya know?” Manson Said.

                The Bible was constantly brought up throughout the meeting. Various speakers had favorite passages or just liked to thank God every chance that they could.  It was extremely interesting to see the power that many of these people place in the hands of their respective faiths.

                “The steps are important. Lots of people don’t take it seriously but jokes on them, man.” Said Manson.  There was no real mention of the steps during the meeting.  Some people made reference to them but nobody gave updates or shared about completing any of them. This leads me to believe that participants are on more of a personal journey, a part of the program that many like to do themselves.

                Amidst the many stories of struggles and pain, the horrible coffee and the constant cigarette breaks, this meeting opened my eyes to the daily struggle that addicts face.

       Drug and alcohol addiction is much easier to criticize when you’re looking at it from a safe distance, but only when you immerse yourself in it do you understand the men and women battling this disease.

                “In the end, you can’t do it for anyone else. You gotta do it for you or you’ve already lost. That’s a lesson we all had to learn somehow.” Said Fuller.

D.A.R.E. in West Seneca

   “Sometimes the parents just think that their kid’s know, well a lot of kids don’t,” said Brian Cosgrove, an officer at the West Seneca Police Ddepartment.

        Cosgrove has been teaching drug and alcohol awareness with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program for seven years. DARE has been educating school children on the dangers of drugs and alcohol since it was started in Los Angeles in 1983.  It has since spread to more than 43 countries around the world, including 75 percent of our nation’s school districts.  Cosgrove specializes in teaching fifth grade elementary school students.

                “Middle school kids are in that phase of maturity where they think their parents don’t know what they are talking about and teachers don’t know what they are talking about. It’s tougher with middle school kids to get your point across. Fifth graders are still impressionable, they’re 10 years old and they still believe in us and believe in what we have to say,” said Cosgrove.   The current DARE curriculum consists of 10  lessons.  The first few lessons concentrate on the harmful effects of gateway drugs, including tobacco, alcohol and marijuana.

                “We focus on marijuana a lot because it’s a gateway drug. You use marijuana, you’re more likely to branch off and try other things,” said Cosgrove. Lesson five focuses on alerting the students about how advertisers try to market their products to children.

                “The advertising companies try to tempt you to use their product and make it seem really good. I used to like to talk about that, however cigarette ads are pretty hard to find nowadays,” said Cosgrove.

 Lessons six through nine are all about how to handle different peer pressure situations that the students may encounter in the next few years.

                “The two parts are teaching the harmful effects and then using that information to make good choices and to be confident when you’re making those choices. Get out of different peer pressure situations,” said Cosgrove. 

                Lesson 10  is the graduation, in which students receive their diplomas and present their essays on what they learned to an audience of family and friends.

 However, this current DARE curriculum is about to be a thing of the past.  In an attempt to keep up with the times, the program has begun to evolve.

                “It’s a totally new curriculum which is going to start this fall.  It focuses a lot more on friendships and getting bonds with kids with good qualities.  It cuts down heavily on advertising and a lot of things are different as far as time spent on certain topics. We spent a whole lesson on the health effects of using tobacco and now it’s not, it’s less, so we’ll see how it goes,” said Cosgrove.

Cosgrove just completed his training in the new system with the state Department of Criminal Justice Services, as did all of other DARE officers.

                “Hopefully if they start out with a good, stable foundation, they will make good choices right away and by the time they get to high school the foundations are already in place and no matter how the cycle of drug use goes they are not going to be affected by it, I hope,” said Cosgrove.

 Although the new curriculum is more up to date, Cosgrove is not entirely convinced. 

                “They tell us that it should be a good curriculum but until I get in the classroom and use it, I don’t know if it’s the greatest… I just don’t know,” said Cosgrove.

 Due to financial problems, many school districts have begun to make cutbacks and programs like DARE are often among the first to go. There are even a few school districts that have done away with the program entirely.

                “The cost is minimal compared to what you get out of it. Our town, our chief, the school board and the super intendant are all super supportive of the DARE program, so for the foreseeable future in West Seneca the DARE program isn’t going anywhere,” said Cosgrove.

Kids Escaping Drugs is Doing it's Part

                  Alcohol and drug addiction is an unrivaled problem in the “Queen City,”

but Kids Escaping Drugs is doing its part. Research has shown that addiction

to any drug is a brain disease.

                Drugs are chemicals. They work in the brain by tapping into the

communication system and changing the way nerves normally process

information. This disease can be treated through behavioral and

pharmacological treatments. However the challenge is to make the public aware

of the problem so the addicted can get the help that they need.

              “We have reached over 125,000 students with a poignant and direct

message from the young people on our campus regarding the painful

consequences of addiction,” said Melissa Rivers, communications coordinator

for Kids Escaping Drugs. The group’s campus, located on Harlem road in West Seneca,

houses addicted adolescents from 12 to 21 years old. The campus also takes the

families of the addicts into account.

             “We serve to educate them about the disease of addiction. This education

allows the families to make changes to the home environment, which improves

the adolescents' ability to succeed,” Rivers said. Through the Face 2 Face

program, Kids Escaping Drugs has partnered with school districts all over

Western New York to help educate kids about alcohol and drug addiction.

          “This vital program has grown from six schools in the 2008-2009 school

year to over 90 schools in the past year.” Rivers said.

           Over 230 million people around the world tried an illicit drug last year – or

one in every 20 people. This is a problem that is only growing, but Kid’s

Escaping Drugs is cleaning up Western New York and giving families a second

chance. Make a Change WNY!