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by David Palmer  Within the past six months we have started four projects aimed at reducing substance abuse. Our projects focus on: addiction in children, prison behavior and recidivism, high-risk communities and lack of treatment availability. They have the potential to save a lot of people a lot of heartache and money.
We have entered a new phase. We’re not just talking about recovery, although this too is crucial, we’re investing in it. First, the children.
We have completed our first e-book, “How to help your teen stay sober: A Guide for Parents Grandparents, Guardians and Friends,” and will soon make it available on our “One Day at a time.com” web site. The book includes my testimony, an account of my 16 year old grandson’s drug and alcohol-related automobile accident and many pages of teen testimonies and advice on such matters as identifying the signs of addiction, how to talk to your child about drugs and alcohol and how to set a good example for your teen. Our second project addresses substance abuse in the criminal population. Eighty or ninety percent of crimes committed involve drugs or alcohol in some way, and many inmates continue using drugs inside, which causes problems. The other problem is recidivism, the tendency among inmates to relapse after they have been released and end up back in prison. Three out of four inmates who are released are likely to be back in within a couple of years, either for new crimes or parole violations. The evidence suggests that our tabloid newspaper, One Day at a Time, can help improve addiction recovery rates inside of prison and lower recidivism rates on the outside by providing information about recovery and by offering hope and encouragement through testimonials. Larry Norris, director of the Arkansas Department of Correction, has been an enthusiastic supporter of this initiative, and we are proceeding with the help of the chaplains at these institutions. Prison inmates tell us they find inspiration and hope in the pages of our publication (they don’t have access to computers and our website) and are motivated to join recovery programs in prison and on the outside when they are released. This spring, we will conduct a pilot study in two of the prisons to determine how we can best inspire and motivate inmates. If only 1 per cent of the state’s 15,000 inmates (150 men and woman), stay out of prison, the saving to the taxpayer, at roughly $25,000 per inmate, is almost $4 million a year. The potential nationwide is enormous. Our next step is to survey inmates to determine more precisely how many read the paper and how it impacts their behavior both within and outside the prison walls. Another idea we have is to encourage inmates who would like to cultivate their writing skills. We have seen this done with inmates who have an aptitude for painting. When Janet Sharp sent me her testimony from Wrightsville prison documenting the horrors of her childhood and addiction (reported elsewhere on this web site) I was struck by its simple eloquence. Actually, most of the testimonies that come our way have that quality, and we are compiling many of them in a book scheduled for release late this year. A One Day at a Time prize for excellence in writing for inmates is a possibility. We are exploring a second, perhaps more practical program which would encourage inmates to learn how to write for the media as reporters and editors. There are numerous possibilities in this area. One young inmate we know, for example, is editing his prison newsletter, and we are exploring a collaboration that would work within prison regulations. Ron Jefferson, a recovering cocaine addict who has written a play and an autobiography, is another example of someone whose creative impulses should be nourished. A story about Ron appears on the site. There is something else I want to say about Ron, and that brings me to the subject of high-risk communities in terms of addiction and crime. Pine Bluff fits the profile. Ron wants to change things in his hometown of Pine Bluff. Now 47, Ron was born in Pine Bluff, moved to Detroit as a little boy, went through eight years of intense drug abuse and living on the streets later in life and returned to his hometown over a year ago with six years of sobriety. To quote from his story, “He arrived clean and sober and on a mission to reduce substance abuse and promote recovery in a city that desperately needs help.” Pine Bluff, a city of about 55,000 with a predominantly black population, has twice the crime rate of the national average and almost three times the violent crimes. Most of the crimes—80 percent on average—are drug related. A recent report released by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that nationally one in nine black males, age 20 to 34 is now serving time in prison. One in fifteen black men 18 and over are in prison compared to one in 54 of all men. Jefferson, who holds down two jobs and helps support four children from his previous marriage, has launched a new Narcotics Anonymous meeting in Pine Bluff that meets on alternating Saturday afternoons from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Family Community Development Corporation and the Center of Compassion. Jefferson has also formed Now U Know. Org, a non-profit company which has the mission of inspiring those who are in recovery and of educating those who don’t understand addiction and recovery. Among other things, the organization provides DVD’s of Jefferson and others to those who need them. Jefferson also shares his message personally at correctional facilities, treatment centers and community centers. I believed in Ron and his mission, and wanted to help him. At his request, I sent him 1,000 copies of our publication for distribution in Pine Bluff and accepted his invitation to speak at his CA meeting and at one of the women’s prisons. This brings me now to our fourth initiative. In his book, High Society, Joseph Califano, says“…problems within existing treatment systems—inadequate certification standards, frequent turnover of staff, erratic program procedures, lack of program performance accountability, absence of professional training—contribute to the discouraging cycle of recovery and relapse.” Over the Labor Day weekend, I saw this played out while trying without success to get treatment for an acutely alcoholic man whose family sought my help. It was a nightmare of Kafkaesque bureaucratic proportions, and I filed a complaint with the appropriate authorities. Having said this, I know from my own 29 years of recovery in Little Rock that there are many doing the right thing and trying to do the right thing. Our fourth initiative is to do our very modest best to help them get the money and talent they need to address the matter of proper treatment.
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