Admitting you need help the first step in addiction recovery

Beating addiction is never easy, it takes a lot of hard work to stay clean and sober. I was addicted to opioids for 10 years to help me sleep after suffering post traumatic stress disorder when I tried to revive my disabled son, Logan, when I went to wake him up from a nap. I tried my best, I have CPR training that helped, but ultimately my son died, sending me into a depressive tailspin.

After trying to tough it out on my own, I ended up in the hospital. It took six weeks to get my brain chemistry under control, I was prescribed an opioid sedative to help me sleep, over the 10 years I took this medication I became addicted. My doctor decided to slowly wean me off and prescribed a non-addictive antidepressant and suggested I try medical-grade cannabis to help me manage PTSD and get a good night’s sleep. It worked. I sleep like a log now.

The secret to my success was admitting I needed help. The hard part was staying clean and sober. This I have done and continue to do, one day at a time.

Mark-Alan Whittle, Hamilton Mountain

Living life to the fullest

Healthy Rips Rogue session on the deck

Skewed Priorities

Now that the Doug Ford government has decided to give Mayor Fred Eisenberger an early Christmas present, in the form of a truncated light rail transit line, that will cost a whopping $600 million per kilometer to build, I’m left wondering how many more times downtown councilors can be fooled into thinking this project won’t cost local taxpayers anything. We all know from past experience that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Mark-Alan Whittle,

Hamilton Mountain

POVERTY INDUSTRY

The N2N food bank has had 1,200 families for the last decade. In order to get food, you have to be on welfare, ODSP or CPP if you are broke and retired. Poverty is an Industry in this city. 3,000 are homeless, 10,000 on welfare, and another 30,000 on ODSP. Since 2005, over 450 intravenous drug addicts have died due to overdoses. That useless injection site is wallowing in dysfunction, public health pulled out early last year due to the toxic environment at the shelter health network. Over 30 staff, the site was down to one stall, still is.

Mark-Alan Whittle,

Hamilton Mountain

Debating vaccine delays, plus other Hamilton Community News letters to the editor (hamiltonnews.com)