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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories U.S. House passes funding measure for timber counties 10 things to know for Thursday The Playwright in Ashland has new owners, same vibe Since You Asked: Penalty for parking in accessible space is consistent Man who blew himself up had prior mental crisis Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency Services, March 26 People in Business, March 26, 2015 Police volunteer suspected of stealing 30 firearms Central Point woman scammed by fake diamond Man arrested in connection to Cave Junction stabbing Politics and Elections Arthur I. Cyr: Iran – a crisis without end Arthur I. 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Cyr: The legacy of Singapore’s leader Lee Kwan Yew Our View: Some police videos should be released Letters to the Editor, March 26 Guest Opinion: George Will: Who says economics is hard? Editorials Our View: Some police videos should be released Our View: Public records rules should apply to lawmakers, too Our View: Oregon schools will have to make do with a little more money Our View: Medford police tried to avoid confrontation Other Views: Dave Frohnmayer was a man of honor Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor, March 26 Letters to the Editor, March 25 Letters to the Editor, March 24 Letters to the Editor, March 23 Letters to the Editor, March 22 Columns Arthur I. Cyr: The legacy of Singapore’s leader Lee Kwan Yew Guest Opinion: George Will: Who says economics is hard? Kathleen Parker: Wacko birds nesting in U.S. Senate Michael Gerson: How to block a bad nuclear deal with Iran Guest Opinions Guest Opinion: Guest Opinion: Raise your voice against child abuse Guest Opinion: Central Point Cemetery needs work and city action Guest Opinion: Return to clearcutting is wrong approach for counties Guest Opinion: Plan a Hawthorne playground for all children Lifestyle Latest stories Antionette Kerr: Tourney fever gets superstitious David Murdock: ZOOOOOOOOOM! 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Plant a few dahlias, Dahling Health St. Mary's student helps others with diabetes Community blog: Sleep Tight: Making Your Bed, Body and Mind Ready for Rest Health Watch: 5 tips for seasonal allergy relief A better bedtime Studying stress Hiking Biking Faith Religion briefs Religion News: Presbyterian Church gives approval on same-sex marriage Religion briefs: Friday, March 13 More religion events in the Rogue Valley Religion Briefs Milestones and Achievements Haga-Parks Exercise helps special-needs kids adjust to airport procedures Engagement: Workman-Wright Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Blues jam tonight at The Little Brown Jug Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick pay tribute to Arkansas bluegrass duo Vern Williams and Ray Park Next Stage Repertory presents 'Educating Rita' at the Craterian Theater Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night' opens at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Alan Berman Trio plays the Imperial Ballroom in Medford Theater Next Stage Repertory presents 'Educating Rita' at the Craterian Theater Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey into Night' opens at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Camelot's 'Sunset Boulevard' ambitious, not as dark Andrew Lloyd Webber's lush musical 'Sunset Boulevard' opens at Camelot Theatre in Talent Review: Thanks for the Memories pulls off challenging 'Anastasia' Music Blues jam tonight at The Little Brown Jug Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick pay tribute to Arkansas bluegrass duo Vern Williams and Ray Park The Farr Side: Lines are blurred with theft of Marvin Gaye’s classic groove Captain & The Maestro play The Wild Goose Pimps of Joytime play Historic Ashland Armory Community Events Rogue Valley artist Linda Evans' pastel paintings capture landscapes of Southern Oregon Ashland Independent Film Festival announces this year's lineup OSF Hip-Hop Poetry Open Mic Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhibits by regional artists Jesse Lawson and Joe Moxley host 'Barkeeper' Dining Parsing the meaning behind wine medals and scores Restaurant Inspections: Sunday, March 22 Jasmine Thai Cuisine Restaurant Inspections Agave offers gourmet tacos, tamales, ensaladas and more Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obits Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Magazines/Special Sections Business Services NEWS NOW U.S. House passes funding measure for timber counties ... Our View: Some police videos should be released ... Guest Opinion: ... U.S. House passes funding measure for timber counties ... Our View: Some police videos should be released ... Guest Opinion: ... Rick Holmes: What addicts say about getting high and getting better By Rick Holmes Wicked Local MailTribune.com By Rick Holmes Wicked Local Posted Mar. 24, 2015 @ 9:08 am By Rick Holmes Wicked Local Posted Mar. 24, 2015 @ 9:08 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> We were talking about death, about the growing number of young people killed by overdoses of heroin and prescription drugs. If anything would scare people away from drugs, I said, it would be the death of a friend. “Are you kidding?” said Philip. “Back when I was selling, if someone I’d sold to died, I’d get 10 new customers. They figured I must have the good stuff.” Talk to people who’ve seen the prison of addiction from the inside, and you quickly realize they don’t think like the rest of us. That’s what happens when you have a disease of the brain. “You don’t think about the danger of overdosing when you’re using,” Leo Henry told me. Leo, 35, is from Somerville, Massachusetts, but now he shares a small cell at the Middlesex House of Correction in Billerica. “You don’t think about anything when you’re shooting up heroin,” he said. “You’re the walking dead, basically.” It’s no way to live, and a good way to die. Overdose deaths are going up, for lots of reasons: Heroin is cheap — $5 will buy you a bag in many neighborhoods — and it comes laced with fentanyl to increase its potency. Addicts go through a five-day detox — they call it a “spin dry” — and then go out and shoot the amount they were using before and it knocks them cold. They call it an opioid crisis because it started when doctors starting writing prescriptions for what is essentially synthetic heroin — Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin — with wild abandon. Louis Rosario started using opioids at 17, when he was still a student. He kicked the habit once, he told me, but then came down with leukemia, which meant a return to prescription painkillers and addiction. He’s 36 now, with both his diseases — the cancer in his blood and the addiction in his brain — now in remission. He’s using his time in jail to make sure it stays that way. “I’m blessed that I got here,” he said. He has daily classes and group meetings filled with frank, often emotional, talk about who they are, what they’ve done to themselves and their families, and how they’re going to put things back together again. Jail isn’t the best place to receive treatment for a chronic brain disease that often comes packaged with mental illness. But sometimes it’s the only place where an addict can stay safe and sober for the few months it can take for his head to clear. Increasingly, it’s a place where the parents and spouses of addicts turn in desperation for help. They try to find a spot in a treatment program, but there are never enough beds, the rules are too complicated or the care is too expensive. They appeal to a judge for a civil commitment so their addicted loved one can be locked up for his or her own protection. Outside of jail, treatment comes in a variety of forms. It starts with detox, but detox alone is rarely enough. Counseling and mental health treatment has to be part of it, especially since addiction so often goes hand-in-hand with illnesses like depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Drugs play a part in many addicts’ recovery: methadone for those who need the structure of a daily visit to a clinic; Suboxone helps some fend off the cravings, but it can leave you buzzed. Henry says he wants to get on Vivitrol, which prevents opiates or alcohol from getting you high. But pharmaceuticals can’t provide the social support that is so critical to getting and staying sober. That’s why groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are important — and nothing is as important as family. Michael Fahey, 22, started doing drugs in middle school in his hometown of Hudson. By high school, he had developed an addiction to Percocet. Then the police intervened, charging him with a crime he’d rather not talk about. “Just say I was busted for stupidity,” he told me. That landed him in jail for three days and sentenced to house arrest for a couple of years. “I was lucky,” he said. His parents provided a lawyer who helped him avoid a long prison sentence, and they took Fahey back into their home, where his druggie friends weren’t welcome. He also had a good friend — now his fiancé — to stand by him. She and an uncle in recovery got him to his first AA meeting, and he hit four or five meetings a week for the next two years, completing all 12 steps. These days, Fahey doesn’t go to as many meetings. He pumps gas during the day and performs standup comedy at night, working some of his story into his humor. He doesn’t define himself as an addict anymore. He’s got a family — his fiancé and her two children — depending on him, and career ambitions that leave no time for getting high and dozing off. I told him I’ve seen studies that show the single most important factor in preventing men who’ve done time in prison from getting in trouble again is a commitment made to a good women — social science again proving what people have known about for millennia: the power of women to civilize men. Fahey laughed and said, “That’s my story.” Every addict’s story is different, and too many of them end in the grave. But there are success stories as well, more than most people know. An estimated 23 million Americans are thriving in long-term recovery, having learned to hold their diseases at bay. With the right treatment at the right moment, and the right people to help them along, the walking dead can find new lives. Rick Holmes writes for GateHouse Media and the MetroWest Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected]. Like him on Facebook at Holmes&Co, and follow him on Twitter at @HolmesAndCo. By Rick Holmes Wicked Local MailTribune.com By Rick Holmes Wicked Local Posted Mar. 24, 2015 @ 9:08 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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