Where the Recovery Community Stands in the Obama Administration

What does the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America mean for the recovery community and the issues we support? What kind of effect will the state of the economy have on the priorities of the incoming Obama administration and on the goals of the new Congress? These are all valid questions worth following in the coming weeks, months and years.

Where does the recovery community stand? As many of you know, the ‘Paul Wellstone/Pete Domenici Parity Bill’ was attached to the ‘Financial Bailout Bill’ Congress passed earlier this fall and the President signed. It was a major victory for our community and the many people who need help, but what now? How will the Obama administration implement the law? Will the Obama administration be friendlier to the recovery community in terms of funding and support programs? It seems as though ‘yes’ is the answer, but the economy and the fiscal crisis in general may have something to say about it and other new ideas President-elect Obama has.

Our country faces the possibility of losing our ‘AAA’ bond rating. This would significantly impair future spending, borrowing, and basically all types of commerce and economy. It does not take much to realize what it means for the recovery community and other groups and interests vying for funds and support. The government: federal, state, and local would have to begin serious prioritizing of where, how and when to spend money.

California, like many of the states, is battling a major revenue shortfall and a budget deficit. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a series of spending cuts coupled with tax increases, among them a temporary increase in the state sales tax and an increase in the alcohol tax: a nickel per drink on beer, wine and spirits. The increase in the alcohol tax would generate $878 million to combat budget woes. The political climate in California has been tepid towards any tax increases: the governor failed to garner any Republican support for his tax increase package over the summer. The silver lining in this proposal is some of the funds will be dedicated to alcohol related issues, according to the Marin Institute.

NCADD-NJ was at the forefront of a similar policy debate, here in New Jersey, in the spring of 2006. A strong grassroots movement, the Just a Nickel campaign, was instituted to advocate for raising New Jersey’s alcohol tax to raise revenue for treatment and addiction services. This movement resulted in Governor Jon Corzine putting something more than “just a nickel” in his first budget. The Governor proposed a five cents per gallon increase on beer and a ten cents per gallon increase on wine and spirits. Ultimately, the proposal failed in the legislature, but the groundwork was laid for future endeavors.

Fast forward to today. A policy window for our issues has opened up in New Jersey. Recently, the New Jersey Senate held a hearing to look into the alcohol polices on New Jersey’s college campuses. Members of the Amethyst Initiative testified about their goals. College and university officials from across the state testified about their alcohol policies and the behaviors of their student bodies in relation to those policies.

The only thing we can be certain of as a community is that we are in a waiting game, much like the rest of the political community and America in general. As President-elect Obama formulates his cabinet and staff and as new members arrive on Capitol Hill, new policy ideas will be formulated along with new questions and the general unknown as to what will happen come January 20, 2009 and beyond.

How will the financial crisis be handled? How will the two-fronted war be resolved? Will an era of bipartisanship be ushered in like President-elect Obama campaigned for? These are questions we can ask ourselves in the coming months and years. But we do not have to sit on the sidelines and ponder this. We can be active in our local, state, and national arenas advocating and championing our causes. We can be the forefront for shaping the new American policy arena in this time.

Public Hearings: Stop the Incarceration Cycle

ASSEMBLY MAJORITY LEADER BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN
COUNTING THE COST HEARINGS

Upcoming "Counting the Cost" hearings will be examining the cycle of arrest, incarceration, reintegration & re-entry. New Jersey Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman will host a series of public hearings aimed at the pervasive cycle of arrest, incarceration, release and re-incarceration and its impact on our economy, our families and our communities.

Schedule of Hearings

November 21, 2008
Middlesex County Hearing -"Families and Incarceration"
Date: November 21, 2008
Location: First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens
771 Somerset Street, Somerset
Time: 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Mercer County Hearing - "A Second Look at Sentencing."
December 8, 2008
Location: Shiloh Baptist Church
340 S. Howard Woodson Jr. Way, Trenton
Time: 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Essex County Hearing - "Training & Treatment"
December 11, 2008
Location: Rutgers University Newark- Paul Robeson Center
350 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. Newark
Time: 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

For more information, or to testify at one of the hearings listed. Please call (609) 292-0500

Video Documents Journey from Liberty State Park to Brooklyn Bridge and Back for Addiction Recovery Month

Supported by the Recovery Project and the A&E Network, this year's Recovery Cruise and Rally was extraordinary in a number of ways. Most obvious was the human bridge of recovery that spanned the Brooklyn Bridge and led into Manhattan. With the crowd of 5,000 and the spectacle of those many individuals acting in unison to demonstrate the strength of recovery, the Rally embodied the determined advocacy to have addiction accepted and treated as a disease. This video documents the journey including national, NYC metro and Friends of Addiction Recovery-New Jersey participants who made their way from Liberty State Park in Jersey City to the Brooklyn Bridge and back on Saturday, September 27, 2008.



See other highlights of the day

Advocacy Leader Questions Candidates at Town Hall Meeting

August has been a successful month for the Recovery Voices Count campaign. Among other things, Recovery Voices Count seeks to bring addiction related issues to the attention of candidates for public office here in New Jersey and around the country by asking them a series of five questions.

On August 4, 2008, Advocacy Leader Carolyn Hadge attended a town hall meeting in Ocean County with U.S. Senate candidate Dick Zimmer and Congressional candidate for New Jersey’s third district, Chris Myers; and again attended a town hall meeting with third district candidate John Adler on August 19. Ms. Hadge was able to ask a question in front of the crowd during the first meeting, comparing spending $40 billon per year on the ‘War on Drugs’ to the savings in Ocean County from “the Ocean County Drug Court and Intensive Supervision Program.” While unable to ask a public question in the Adler town hall, Hadge was able to corral him for a moment afterwards. Adler expressed his support for treatment over the ‘War on Drugs’, as well as having a good understanding and support for enacting parity legislation.

It should be noted that advocacy leaders in and around New Jersey’s two most competitive congressional districts, the 3rd and the 7th, are in the planning stages of holding town hall meetings to brings candidates together to discuss the important issues of the recovery community and to emphasize the growing voice of the recovery community on local, state, and national issues.

For more information, return to the NCADD-NJ Election Guide web page for updated news and events.

Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed (CDOI) Treatment Conference

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence-New Jersey (NCADD-NJ) serves as the lead agency of the Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed (CDOI) treatment improvement project, a New Jersey Health Initiatives award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to implement a state-of-the-art model of improving addiction treatment outcomes.

In continuing the effort, a one day conference is planned on Wednesday June 11, 2008 with two leaders in the addictions field, Dr. David Mee-Lee and Dr. Scott Miller. In addition New Hope Foundation staff members will also speak about engaging people in collaborative and participatory treatment.

The conference which takes place from 8:30 to 4:00 concludes with a panel discussion on how the CDOI approach has resulted in lower drop-out rates and higher-than-average success rates. Event to be held at the Crowne Plaza, 390 Forsgate Drive Jamesburg, NJ.

Download the conference brochure for agenda and registration.

For More Information:
609-689-0599 ext 7002

To register: PLEASE MAIL A COMPLETED REGISTRATION FORM and your payment to:
NCADD-NJ, 360 Corporate Boulevard, Robbinsville, NJ 08691
Attention: CDOI

2008- April is Alcohol Awareness Month- Impact of Youth Alcohol Use

Youth use of alcohol in New Jersey is a pervasive and critical public health problem. The problem is epidemic by any public health standard. It begins in middle (and even elementary) schools and erupts in high school and on college campuses. No other drug threatens as many of New Jersey’s youth as alcohol. The 2005 New Jersey Student Health Survey of Middle School and High School Students found that almost half of the students drank alcohol within the past 30 days. Given their age and inexperience, many youth consume alcohol in ways that are very dangerous and result in serious medical issues or alcohol overdoses.

Each year in April, Town Hall Meetings taking place as an opportunity for community-based organizations to bring communities together to help raise awareness about the issue of underage drinking. Some upcoming meetings and events include:

4/14- Town Hall meeting Middlesex NCADD Contact: Mara@ncadd-middlesex.org 732-254-3344 North Brunswick Town Hall

4/17- Senate Legislative Oversight Committee
Issues last year with underage drinking at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ has led to a state Senate Legislative Oversight Committee hearing on April 17th at 10 a.m. at the PNC Bank Arts Center. The issue of underage drinking and tailgating before concerts will be discussed further. Meeting at 10:00 Am

4/23- Town Hall meeting, Milltown Municipal Alliance, contact bluevelvetsea@msn.com 732-565-9402 Borough Hall Court Room

Rude Awakening 2008
Programs will be running from April to JuneAssemblies will feature talks by the Middletown Police, a Jersey Shore Medical Center trauma nurse, a municipal court judge, representatives from Crossroads, township’s substance abuse program, a social worker, physical therapist, dental reconstructionist, and those who have lost loved ones in DWI collisions.
Contact Cpl. James Roese Middletown Police Department Traffic Safety Bureau 732-615-2049

NCADD-NJ Sobering Facts Campaign
Previously NCADD-NJ has released primers on youth drinking as part of its series on Stop Youth Alcohol Use. For sobering facts and more information about drinking on private property or enacting town ordinances for beer keg registration visit the NCADD-NJ ‘Sobering Facts’ website.

The online Alcohol Screening Tool is available year-round.

Recovery Voices Count

Faces and Voices of Recovery recently launched their Recovery Voices Count campaign to educate the public about the myriad of ways that they can get involved in nonpartisan civic engagement activities so that their voices can be heard in the local, state and national arenas. Recovery community organizations and recovery advocates across the country are conducting voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote activities, sponsoring candidate forums and getting candidates for political office on record about critical policies that will make recovery a reality for even more Americans.

With that in mind, along with a number of excellent materials, Faces and Voices of Recovery is also hosting one hour phone-in Recovery Advocacy teleconferences. The topic of the first teleconference/webinar in the 2008 series supports the Recovery Voices Count campaign. In this webinar, experts in the field talk about how you can get involved in the Recovery Voices Count campaign. Pat Taylor, Executive Director of Faces and Voices of Recovery introduces the campaign, Tom Coderre, National Field Director of Faces and Voices of Recovery gives an overview of why you should get more civically engaged, Gwen Henderson, Women in New Recovery speaks about voter registration success at her organization, NCADD-NJ’s Lori McDaniel discussed building relationships and the process of educating the public, candidates and elected officials about drug and alcohol addiction issues and sound public policies, and Jeff Blodgett, Wellstone Action spoke about how to organize and mobilize a successful Get-out-the-Vote campaign.

Take a look at the informative materials
Download the Guide to Civic Engagement
Listen to the teleconference
Download the Recovery Voices Count PowerPoint presentation
Find out more about the Campaign
Go to NCADD-NJ's Election Guide