White Bison Inc. is a 20-year-old Native nonprofit organization that focuses not only on alcoholism recovery but also on the ways in which a history of colonization contributed to addiction in the American Indian community. Operating from a modest office on a quiet street, White Bison reaches Native communities well beyond this city south of….
Continue reading ›
Michael Walsh lost 16 years to alcohol and cocaine addiction. Now sober, he’s trying to help others find their way out through a new secular peer-support group called LifeRing. Alcoholics Anonymous was instrumental in his recovery, but as an atheist, Walsh, now 41, struggled with the concept of the higher power found in AA’s program…..
Continue reading ›
Mike was sober for 14 years. Then, at age 14, he took his first drink. And he drank until it defined him. First he called himself a drinker. Years later, when he was willing to admit it, he began using a new word: alcoholic. Mike (who asked that his last name not be printed) tried….
Continue reading ›
It’s sad to have to report the death of a teenager due to alcohol. By now, most local residents have heard the tragic story of 18-year-old Francisco Martinez, whose life was snuffed out just 20 minutes into the new year when he was hit by a car on a rural road. According to reports, the….
Continue reading ›
The lowering of the drinking age has led to an explosion in teenage drink-driving convictions, new figures show. Sunday Star-Times’ analysis of drink-driving convictions over the past decade show teenage New Zealanders, women and those aged 40-plus are our worst drink-drivers. But the teen figures are the most alarming in 2006, excess breath-alcohol convictions for….
Continue reading ›