Facing the Habit is an award winning documentary by Magnolia Martin, (originally from Charlottesville, Virginia) about a drug addict and his journey to finding a drug that will enable his recovery.

Dave is a former stockbroker whose life has spiraled out of control due to heroin addiction. A one-time millionaire, he is now reduced to petty theft as a means to supply his habit. Desperate to get help, Dave travels to Mexico for the Ibogaine treatment.

The consequences of doing meth… a brave look into what happens even after you are not using anymore.

MusiCares, an organization whose primary focus is on resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues which directly impact the health and welfare of the music community. The foundation’s programs include emergency financial assistance, addiction recovery, outreach and leadership activities, and senior housing.

Watch Musicares honor Chris Cornell (formerly of Soundgarden, and now singer for Audioslave) at the 3rd Annual MAP Benefit show. Artists David Gahan (Depeche Mode), Alice Cooper and John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) also participated.

Nikki Sixx speaking about addiction, his struggle with recovery and taking life beyond addiction.

Co-authors Constance Curry and Kristina Wandzilak discuss the struggles with drug and alcohol addiction at the heart of their book, “The Lost Years: Surviving a Mother and Daughter’s Worst Nightmare.”

Nobody said recovery was easy. Recovering Wino is “a 37 year old married recovering alcoholic trying to figure life out and do it sober.”

Monday, November 19, 2007
Learning Gratitude

I never realized that when I put down the drink that I would almost entirely have to re-learn how to live life again. It is very strange sometimes. I feel like I don’t know how to act right half the time. And it is hard to explain.

In AA, and in my readings and even in Yoga class (oh and Oprah of course), I hear of how important it is to be grateful. To…

Here is an excellent entry about love and personal inner battles on love from Vicarious Rising:, “The saga of the fall and rise of a 30-something female alcoholic. I talk about things I know nothing about and I am basically one confused sick puppy. But I’m sober.”

True Grit

I’m not having the best of days. I’ve been trying to wean myself off of communicating with my best friend, and frankly, it’s making me miserable. I miss him. I want to beg him to love me. I want to make an ass of myself. I want to ask him what it would…

If you are have a sense of humor and are into weird, funny, oddities Comics with Problems is worth a look. It is a fantastic website that has an odd collection of awareness government campaign advertisements that appeared in comic books. In particular, the drug and alcohol campaigns are a real hoot, for example…

Stay tuned for more!

The Incredible Tapestry Workshop

This was a bit of a treat to find… The Next Frontier – Emotional Sobriety. Nothing is better than a dash of humor on subjects that can often be so painful.

Sometimes, I have thought of creating a Slob’s Guide to Spiritual Growth, for those of us who can’t walk around with our hands folded and a slight, mysterious smile on our faces. It might go something like this:

1. It is better to watch the game in your undershirt with a can of cola in your hand than a can of beer.
2. When you holler at somebody, you…

By Martha Woodroof
November 19th, 2007

I was at a meeting yesterday with a newcomer who talked about how shaky his sobriety felt. The topic was “going to any lengths,” and this young man said he was sure this shakiness was his own fault, that he must not be working a good enough program.

I just wanted to march across the room and hug him. Early sobriety is so uncomfortable on so many levels. At the beginning of it I was a big onion of a person, with layers of self-imposed, stinky difficulties enveloping the pretty cheerful, well-intentioned, mostly kind person I really…

The Last Chance Texaco has written a life-affirming post that bravely exposes the truth of addiction, both good and bad.

All of Me. Good and Bad.
November 10, 2007

I have a friend, Joe K. who has been sober something like 38 years. Joe has worked with hundreds of alcoholics and addicts, not just here in Boise, but all over the country and continues to do so. A couple of weeks ago I was in a meeting and met this dynamite guy with years and years of what looks like, on the outside, really solid recovery. This guy works with probably ten men in…

In Florida, Addicts Find an Oasis of Sobriety
The New York Times
November 16th 2007
By Jane Gross
Photo: James Estrin
A coffeehouse, Koffeeokee, in Delray Beach, Fla., that plays host to therapy group meetings is a gathering spot for the city’s recovering addicts.DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Whitney Tower, 56, a scion of the Whitney, Vanderbilt and Drexel fortunes, squandered his trust fund and sold family treasures to support a $1,000-a-day heroin habit before landing in a tough-love facility near here seven years ago and never leaving. “If I went back to New York I’d be dead in two weeks,” he said.

In some ways Mr.…

Resentment, self-pity, fear. Which one trips up the most people who are in recovery? Semi-Charmed, over at Methed Up, answers that, at least for him, it’s fear:

Over and over in meetings you hear that ‘resentment is the number one offender.’ I’d like to be able to call bullshit of that, I suspect for me it is fear, but honestly I don’t know. Either way, we’re given tools for dealing with resentments and fears by doing the steps. We write them down. We look at what has troubled us. We share it with a trusted friend (a sponsor or someone else,…

Looking for for some great weblogs focused on recovery from addiction? Take a look at The 100 Sober Weblogs.

Getting clean is work, but staying clean is much harder. Relapse is common, especially during the first two years. Even after two years, relapse still occurs. Brain Dead Genius relates a tragic event that occurred to a friend who had been clean for 5 years:

This week someone OD’d after 5 years clean. A friend. The lesson was that [he] wasn’t really working a program, just being abstinent - I know that there aren’t any guarantees in life but just for today I choose to hedge my bets and work a program - because I know that I’m not immune.

Everyone in recovery…

Rusty Keller relates this startling, painful encounter with an old acquaintance who is still using:

I had a horrible run in with the still drinking T yesterday. In public. In front of my terrified son. In the parking lot of our little country store. She was wasted, as usual. I was so uncomfortable and felt so awkward, but I said hi and asked if she was okay. She was so freaky, babbling something about wondering what I was doing there (uh, buying dinner and some milk). As I was walking out she calls me over to the car she’s in (driven by…

There is something to say for the frankness some of these bloggers have about their addictions… tkdjunkie really brings this home.

This blog was started in December 2005, when I was still actively drinking. It was initially used as an outlet to express my grief when I discovered that my then-boyfriend had been cheating on me. I was drinking extremely heavily during that time and feeling that life wasn’t worth living. He somehow convinced me to seek help for my alcoholism through Alcoholics Anonymous.

Sober since April 6, 2006
That’s 589 days

and suddenly i was surrounded with champagne …

They had a celebration at work…

Sober Chick is a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous, her sobriety date is June 13th, 2005. Follow her brave and difficult journey…

A butterfly represents the stages of recovery. We are reborn again, free and so beautiful!

I’m Off 2C The Wizzard!
Tuesday, September 25 2007
It’s time stop living like this . . .

I have been running off of self-reliance and just cannot seem to grasp on freedom from self. It appears that my life has become unmanageable. I start to feel better and then sabotage everything. I am a menace to myself and it has gotten to the point that I am really…

Heroin in suburbs?
Parents feel shock as son falls prey.

By Bill McClellan
Of the Post-Dispatch
11/25/2002

Walt Volkenannt was just a big kid. Thirty years old, and he had not grown up. Think of him as one of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan. He had friends. By all accounts, these friends were more mature than Walt. Of course, they were young, and I am not suggesting they were models of responsibility, but they were much more responsible than Walt. That fact gave Walt’s parents some hope. Last December, Walt nearly died from a heroin overdose.

His parents, Walter and Donna, were shocked. That is,…

“Dry”
Written by Augusten Burroughs
Reviewed by Ginger B.

You don’t have to be an addict to relish the journey of Augusten Burroughs in his book “Dry.” With the wit of an extra-dry martini (excuse the reference) Burroughs chronicles his life after he leaves his dysfunctional (an understatement) family described in “Running With Scissors” through the next ten years of his life.

At the age of 19, Burroughs becomes an ad copywriter in New York City, earning an ungodly amount of money, and pouring most of it down his throat. Augusten’s skills as an advertising writer are manifested in this slick, yet unfeigned account…