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Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences to the individual that is addicted and to those around them. ~
Drug addiction is a brain disease because the abuse of drugs leads to changes in the structure and function of the brain. Although it is true that for most people the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, over time the changes in the brain caused by repeated drug abuse can affect a person’s self control and ability to make sound decisions, and at the same time send intense impulses to take drugs.~It is because of these changes in the brain that it is so challenging for a person who is addicted to stop abusing drugs. Fortunately, there are treatments that help people to counteract addiction’s powerful disruptive effects and regain control. Research shows that combining addiction treatment medications, if available, with behavioral therapy is the best way to ensure success for most patients. Treatment approaches that are tailored to each patient’s drug abuse patterns and any co-occurring medical, psychiatric, and social problems can lead to sustained recovery and a life without drug abuse.~Similar to other chronic, relapsing diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, drug addiction can be managed successfully. And, as with other chronic diseases, it is not uncommon for a person to relapse and begin abusing drugs again. Relapse, however, does not signal failure—rather, it indicates that treatment should be reinstated, adjusted, or that alternate treatment is needed to help the individual regain control and recover.~Nearly all drugs, directly or indirectly, target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that control movement, emotion, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. The overstimulation of this system, which normally responds to natural behaviors that are linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc), produces euphoric effects in response to the drugs. This reaction sets in motion a pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the behavior of abusing drugs.~As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. As a result, dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit is lessened, reducing the abuser’s ability to enjoy the drugs and the things that previously brought pleasure. This decrease compels those addicted to drugs to keep abusing drugs in order to attempt to bring their dopamine function back to normal. And, they may now require larger amounts of the drug than they first did to achieve the dopamine high—an effect known as tolerance. ~Long-term abuse causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that influences the reward circuit and the ability to learn. When the optimal concentration of glutamate is altered by drug abuse, the brain attempts to compensate, which can impair cognitive function. Drugs of abuse facilitate nonconscious (conditioned) learning, which leads the user to experience uncontrollable cravings when they see a place or person they associate with the drug experience, even when the drug itself is not available. Brain imaging studies of drug-addicted individuals show changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decisionmaking, learning and memory, and behavior control. Together, these changes can drive an abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively despite adverse consequences—in other words, to become addicted to drugs.~
Source: The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)~~http://www.intervention.com/addiction/addiction_family_help.html
Emily Wang (Maggie Cheung) is a woman who wrestles with her dream of becoming a singer, her fitness as a mother, and daily life without her partner Lee (James Johnston). ~Her past is riddled with drugs and regrets, the result of which left Lee dead in a desolate motel room in Hamilton, Ontario, and landed Emily with a six-month jail sentence. ~The only thing that she desires for the future is a loving relationship with her son Jay, who is being cared for by Lee's parents, Albrecht (Nick Nolte) and Rosemary (Martha Henry). While Rosemary blames Emily for the death of Lee, Albrecht recognizes the importance of the bond between a mother and her son, and his faith sets the standard for the faith Emily must find in herself. ~Clean follows Emily to Hamilton, Paris, London and San Francisco and in three languages (English, French and Cantonese), as she battles for a place in a world reluctant to forget the woman she has been and unwilling to accept her as the woman she longs to be. ~CastMaggie Cheung -- Emily Wang~~~http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388838/
ORGANIZING ACHIEVEMENTS ~
• Released the first ever “Recovery Bill of Rights,” used in campaigns to empower people seeking recovery and their family members to get the help they need
• Launched Online Advocacy Action Center to inform recovery advocates about current issues and to make activism easier than ever
• Organized a National Call-In Day the day before the House voted to pass the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, generating over 3,500 phone calls to Capitol Hill
• Organized media, letter writing and call-in campaign to VH1 to protest the portrayal of people with addiction on “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew”~
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND POLICY ACHIEVEMENTS~
• Launched Addiction Recovery Insurance Equity Campaign to end health insurance discrimination against people with addiction
• Launched Recovery Voices Count, the organization’s 2008 Recovery Community Civic Engagement campaign to register voters, educate candidates and get-out-the-vote
• Organized New Hampshire Presidential Town Hall Meeting to educate voters and encourage candidates to adopt recovery-friendly public policies
• Waged a successful 2006 campaign to restore federal funding for the Recovery
Community Services Program
• Secured partial repeal of the ban on federal financial aid to students with drug convictions in coalition with allied organizations.~~http://www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/pdf/Publications/LGI_Achievements.pdf~~http://www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/
A dark age is a time without government, without trade, and without any sense of community. It is a time of everyone for him or herself. During a dark age, mere survival is the only concern. No one has the leisure for any higher activity, including keeping records. That is why a dark age is dark. Its principal feature is that we know nothing of what took place in it. ~A dark age is a melting pot when the old, exhausted institutions of a society are broken down and destroyed. Something new and better suited to human needs can then be built up in their place.~
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"The world is one great city, and the substance out of which it is formed is single, and there must necessarily be a cycle of change, in which one thing gives way to another, and some things are destroyed and others come into being, and some things remain where they were and others are moved." ~Epictetus 1st century AD Stoic philosopher
A lie that many of us tell ourselves is one that one recovering addict told himself too: “For years I knew I was a drug addict—by my definition at the time. I kept saying to myself, I’m the only person I’m hurting, and I can stop whenever I want. I just don’t want to. That’s the big lie. Deep down I knew I couldn’t stop and I didn’t think there was any way out. But I was wrong; ~I’m living proof that recovery is possible. I was a pretty rebellious person, and I used that attitude to get clean. The last time I got into self-treatment, I said to myself, damn it, I’ll show you I can get clean, and I did. "There is a way to get out of the spot you’re in!”
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For many addicts, junkie pride masks strong feelings of hopelessness and shame. The hopelessness, especially in early treatment, says, “This is really hard and it’s never going to work anyway, so I might as well just go back to using”
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We need to watch out for this kind of thinking, because it can lead us into sabotaging any treatment. If we find ourselves thinking like this, talk with a counselor or another recovering addict. They’ve been there, they can help.~Addiction is the same no matter what drug we use. If we pay attention, we’ll notice how much we have in common with other recovering addicts—and we’ll be able to get help and support from them.
~http://www.alexandriaky.org/cgi-bin/police/publish/printer_35.shtml
Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences to the individual that is addicted and to those around them. 
