Street roots., February 23, 2018, Page 4, Image 4

News
Page 4
Street Roots • Feb. 23-March 1,2018
P H O T O B Y E M IL Y G R E E N
A group o f advocates rides a bus to Salem to participate in a lobby day rally organized by Oregon Recovers, a coalition led by people in recovery.
UNLIKELY LOBBYISTS TURN
RECOVERY INTO POWER
BY EMILY GREEN
know firsthand how difficult it can be to access
drug and alcohol treatment in Oregon, and today
ay Z ’s “Marcy M e” reverberated throughout they were going to do something about it.
The majority were members of the 4th
the room, drowning out sounds of billiard
Dimension Recovery Center on Northeast
balls knocking into each other as a couple
of 20-somethings in baggy clothes swung their Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where they
had begun gathering at 6 that morning. It’s a
cues. About a dozen other young
place where people ages 13 to 35 who are in
adults lounged around black
recovery from substance abuse can get addiction
leather sofas arranged in a
treatment and support or simply hang out with
square nearby. Some had face
other young people who are also in recovery.
and neck tattoos; most carried a
Also there, waiting for the bus, were several
conditioned persona, showcasing
older, more professionally dressed men and
their street cred.
women in recovery programs just up the road
Outside on the back patio,
at Volunteers of America, along with a few drug
three men compared rap sheets
and alcohol counselors and peer mentors.
and war stories as they smoked
Once in Salem, they would all join a lobby
cigarettes. One passed around
day rally organized by Oregon Recovers, a
his most recent mug shot,
coalition led by people in long-term recovery.
displayed on his smartphone. “I
Oregon Recovers is attempting to do
got caught with a gun,” he said.
something that’s never been done before in
It was 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb.
Oregon: bring together the thousands of
13, and these unlikely lobbyists
Oregonians who are in recovery to form a
were all waiting for a bus to take
constituency aimed solely at reforming what
them from Portland to Salem,
they say is a fractured and under-funded system
where they planned to walk the
of drug and alcohol treatment, prevention and
halls of the Capitol building,
recovery programs.
sharing their stories with
Its vision is for Oregon to become a state
lawmakers.
where anyone can have immediate access to
While most had never talked to a legislator
effective drug and alcohol treatment when they
before - and weren’t sure what they would say
need it, followed with continuing community-
when they did - they were unflinching in their
based support. It wants addiction to be
determination to have their voices heard. They
S E N IO R S T A F F R E P O R T E R
J
Oregonians who
have battled
addiction are
banding together
to push fo r
m eaningful
reforms to the
state’s fractured
substance abuse
treatment system
recognized as a health issue, not a criminal
justice issue, and to incorporate a broad range
of treatment and recovery options that include
harm reduction strategies.
While it’s unknown exactly how many people
in Oregon are in recovery from substance
abuse, nationwide, it’s estimated at roughly 25
million people, according to a 2016 report from
the U .S . Surgeon General.
That’s why Tony Vezina, director of the 4th
Dimension Recovery Center and a key
organizer at Oregon Recovers, says he hopes to
see hundreds of thousands more join the
statewide effort as it progresses.
If harnessed, it’s a constituency whose sheer
size could give it tremendous political power,
but the stigma and shame attached to
substance abuse is a challenge organizers know
they have to overcome.
The school bus that would transport the
group south that morning was running late
after malfunctioning in sub-freezing
temperatures, but it finally rolled up just before
8 a.m.
Many of the more than 30 people onsite told
Street Roots that, despite trying, they weren’t
able to access meaningful drug and alcohol
treatment until after they were arrested and
charged with a crime.
When a person enters publicly funded
treatment through the court system, many
See RECOVERY, page 5