Road to recovery

The message Gloria Villegas has for anyone who can't get a grip on their addiction is, "No one puts booze or drugs in your hands. It's all up to you- no one can make you do anything you don't want to."Recently, I was approached by a researcher who asked me: in treating criminals with a repeated drug or alcohol addiction, should they be penalized or sent into rehabilitation programs? As of now, after their first offense, criminals are sent to rehab, after that they go to jail. While in jail there are programs that are available to assist with addiction such as FOTAP, an organization that assists the families of prisoners with addictions. However on the outside, the challenge of staying sober remains.

When a drug or alcohol offender leaves prison, they go into sober livings where they cohabitate with others like themselves. There they learn to live their lives as normal people by getting jobs, completing household chores, and most importantly going to meetings and talking to those who can help them with their recovery.

At Miracle House, a sober living for women in El Monte, this mission is taken one step further. The women here have a personal relationship with the manager, Gloria Villegas. "I tell them, the state is paying for you to be here for six months! Take advantage of it and utilize yourself, go to school." Villegas is referring to what she believes is key to sobriety- self reliance, which means that you take full responsibility of your actions.

Five of the women here at Miracle House (two of them, repeated felons) will be graduating from El Monte Adult School with cap and gown. "We have them [really] look at themselves and realize their patterns by counseling them. The most effective counseling is done by those with similar experiences in that they're relatable," says Gloria's husband, Alex, who's in charge of the men's segment of the house. Alex does add that there are some people who are not ready to leave that lifestyle and those are the ones that should remain imprisoned, ".they're doing the same thing [lifestyle] expecting different results."

It is important to understand that drug/alcohol dependence is a disease. First it becomes a mental addiction; the person is addicted to the effect of the stimulant and as they build up their tolerance, they need more to feel the effects. Then it becomes a physical addiction where the body needs the stimulant to function. This is commonly seen during detoxification procedures when the patient (drug/alcohol abuser) is isolated to 'clean-out' their body of the drug. For instance, those who are addicted to alcohol will get what is called 'the shakes'; they experience anxiety that affects the nerves. Those who abuse heroin will get 'cold sweats' and can't keep their food down.

So how does a norm at a party become an addiction? "Normally they blame past hurts such as their parent's neglecting them as children or peer pressure," says Gloria. The oddity of this condition is that it can start at age 10 or even later at age 34. "I know women who became alcoholics after a divorce when they decided to walk into a bar. I've also seen professors live on skid row because their addiction has made them insane," she adds.

The important thing to remember is that we each have the power to change our lives. There are programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Al-Anon (for those families of alcoholics) that are there to help you. The first step to recovery is realizing that you have a problem. Sonia, a Miracle House resident says, "It [addiction] needs to be treated as a disease, such as we would diabetes.