Drug Addiction Statistics
"Society doesn't see addiction as a disease. Sisters are dying."Jill Westfall An estimated 22 million people in the United States--9.5 percent of them African-American--are struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, according to the latest stats from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Lucy Hall was one of them. First introduced to marijuana at age 14, Hall was sniffing cocaine by high school. In her twenties she started smoking crack. "I was at rock bottom," she says. But when she sought treatment, she couldn't find a facility for women. So in 1996, after completing her own recovery through various programs, Hall, now 43, founded the Mary Hall Freedom House, Inc. (named after her mother). The residential treatment facility in Atlanta provides housing, counseling, child care and job training for women who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Additional services for patients' children are aimed at breaking the cycle of abuse. "Society doesn't see addiction as a disease," says Hall. "Sisters are out there dying, not knowing there's a choice."
Hall sought treatment in 1989 after giving birth to her first child. "I left my daughter right there in the hospital and went to get high," she says. But then she recalled how her own mother had died of alcoholism when Hall was 6. "I realized I didn't want to die," she says. "I wanted to see my daughter grow up." Now a certified addiction counselor, Hall oversees a $2 million annual budget and manages a staff of 30. So far almost 1,400 women have been through the program. The facility houses 65 women--who live in separate apartments and stay six to 18 months--and about 20 kids. Hall, whose grandmother, aunt and two brothers also died of drug- or alcohol-related causes, believes that most substance abusers have low self-esteem. "Here we tell our patients, 'We will love you until you learn to love yourself.'" For more information, visit maryhallfreedomhouse.org.
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COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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