Delighted Diners

It was that time of year again: Gratitude Dinner for Friends of Addiction Recovery – New Jersey. After five consecutive years of celebrating our volunteers, it is still invigorating to do so. This year’s crowd included new leaders, a “friend” that became an employee of NCADD-NJ and the faithful that we depend on to carry the message of Friends. We were glad to entertain a group of 40 on November 22, 2008.
This year’s Recovery Month Recovery Cruise & Rally video captured Saturday, September 27 from New Jersey to New York and back to New Jersey. The film was well-received by the group. Ovations were given to those who were in the video from our group. It was good to know that one of our own, Mr. Rich Stabp was the National Delegate representing New Jersey at the New York event. We remain grateful to those who give of their time year-round to contribute to this valuable work.

New Drug in Schools

This is a new drug known as 'strawberry quick '.

There is a very scary thing going on in the schools right now that we all need to be aware of.

There is a type of crystal meth going around that looks like strawberry pop rocks (the candy that sizzles and 'pops' in your mouth). It also smells like strawberry and it is being handed out to kids in school yards. They are calling it strawberry meth or strawberry quick.

Kids are ingesting this thinking that it is candy and being rushed off to the hospital in dire condition. It also comes in chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange.

Please instruct your children not to accept candy from strangers and even not to accept candy that looks like this from a friend (who may have been given it and believed it is candy) and to take any that they may have to a teacher, principal, etc. immediately.

Pass this information on to as many people as you can (even if they don't have kids) so that we can raise awareness and hopefully prevent any tragedies from occurring.

More information at the Juvenile Justice Commission

My Day in Drug Court

Photo: Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong, who presides over the drug court in Somerset County and is chairman of the Statewide Committee of Drug Court Judges, addresses the conference of the National Association for Drug Court Professionals after New Jersey was awarded the organization’s Leadership Award. Carol Venditto, statewide drug court manager, is to the left looking on.

I had the privilege of sharing Friends information with over 100 drug court participants back in May which was Drug Court month. I traveled to Cape May and Atlantic County Drug Courts to give presentations and was afforded a captive audience before they were to stand in front of the judge. I consider the work of Friends a great honor. As the judge said after my presentation, “We need all the Friends we can get,” and he thanked me for giving the presentation. Wow, a judge thanking me? I’ve only had experience with a judge fining me and then I take the checkbook to the window to pay. My life has changed too.

I knew I wasn’t going to stand before the judge but I still felt nervous being in the courtroom. Perhaps I need to stop ‘judging.’ To my surprise the judge was pleasant and showed genuine concern toward the drug court participants. It was an experience I will cherish. Recently, New Jersey Drug Courts were honored nationally by the National Association for Drug Courts. New Jersey even has a committee of Drug Court Judges. Kudos to all the drug court workers and participants!

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