BNM Articles

Author: Jeff Cullen
Date: September 2001

Dump Truck

Boredom.  Is it inevitable?  No, only to conform to an unwanted routine, every day lifestyle that keeps leading me back to the subtle, yet blatant invisible death I know is slowly but surely creeping up on my weak heels.

Is there a way out? I’d love to know.  Scattered thoughts know no higher being, just a mere shadow in the corner of my eye.   So far the second decade has brought nothing but rare sight of day, consistent puncture, and an awaiting collapse of a flowing source of life I call a mainline.  What the future holds?  A ticking clock we lay our eyes on, day after day to tell what we call time, which is all that will tell.

I see a badly needed lesson, an uncomfortable extremely humbling lesson, necessary for up and coming decades to unravel.  All and all possibly a test of maturity and acceptance of the realization that there are no questions or answers,  just common sense and reality, that unbearable, in your face, in your head your voice screaming right fucking at you that you refuse and ignore so often.

So surreal an act of utter arrogance, resulting in a dark and gloomy state that shows little mercy.  So surreal an intelligent mind aware of some so-called state of reality that holds repercussions promising only the worst of weather if you will.

Like denial almost, unwilling to easily take some control over decisions where vital consequences dwell and linger overhead, shown to be obviously detrimental to oneself, very grim source of self destruction, only an imbecile would do anything but attempt an immediate 180 turn, especially with the knowledge and awareness of this incredibly strong force I choose to call a motivated beast growing stronger day in day out.  In over his head he immaturely takes more huge steps towards the edge, not having concern for what lies ahead in a fairy tale life that has pointlessly been turned into a struggle that eventually starts to ripple like a slight breeze on a glassed off cove at dawn.

Sourse: barrylessin.com
Date: November 16, 2011
Author: Barry Lessin, M.Ed., CAADC

Your child’s drinking or getting high is worrisome and often a challenge to figure out what steps to take.  Flexibility and being open to different approaches to prevention, counseling and treatment for substance abuse is crucial. Harm reduction approaches can offer you an approach allowing you to get back into the ‘driver’s seat’ of family control if you find yourself in the passenger seat—or even worse, the back seat.

The philosophy of harm reduction is based on our knowledge that human beings will always be engaged in behaviors that carry risks, like alcohol and other drug use and unsafe sex. Harm reduction embraces the value of each person’s dignity and the respect of a person’s right to make choices. This shifts the focus from attempting to restrict or prohibit risky behaviors to reducing the negative consequences associated with them.

To Read the Entire Article, Click Here.

I learned about harm reduction in the early ‘90s as a way to address the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C. I was fortunate to learn from Edith Springer, an incredible teacher and passionate woman. I was excited to learn some­thing new, something that could reduce the spread of this deadly disease, and yet was surprised that it was not being commonly discussed in the medical field. To me this was huge! To be able to provide services that would not only help people from becoming infected, but also get them to eventually come back for information, services, and resources was such a great idea.

At that time my focus was as a social worker, working the frontlines of the AIDS epidemic; my interest in learning harm reduction principles and techniques was solely directed at stopping the spread of the horrific, ter­minal illness caused by HIV infection. Although HIV and sexual risk was my focus at that time, and I was learning about harm reduction within that con­text, I could see the benefit in the area of substance use as well (preventing overdose was not part of what was presented at the time; these were “Social Work and AIDS Conferences”).

To read the complete article (in magazine format!) please click here! (and go to page 35!)