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Lothar121

Detroit Mom: How I Quit Pot
She lauds Catholic services program
Marisol Bello | Detroit Free Press | 06/12/06

Christina Gates, student barber and Detroit mother of two young girls, has a new lease on life.

Gates had been smoking marijuana all day, every day, since she was 15, but now at 29, she says she is finally clean and hoping to stay that way. And she says she has Catholic Social Services of Wayne County and its substance abuse program to thank.

"More people should know about this agency," Gates said. "It's a real positive environment. I would recommend it to people as a way to stop using drugs."

Last year, the nonprofit agency helped more than 3,400 clients stay drug free, provided more than 1,000 Wayne County seniors with daily volunteer visitors, and counseled more than 300 parolees and probationers in its sex offender program. It also offered foster and adoption services, helped youth offenders get straight and encouraged teen mothers to stay in school.

Now, the agency is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a slew of events showcasing its services. The celebration kicked off May 18 at the Max Fisher Music Center. A fund-raising auction with the Detroit Shock women's basketball team is scheduled for June 24. Later this month, the agency will begin holding monthly open houses for the public to visit its Detroit offices and see its work up close.

James Grissom has worked as a substance abuse therapist with Catholic Services for three years and remembers starting the outpatient treatment program with only three clients. Today, he runs two groups with up to 16 people each that meet once a week.

He works with addicts of all ages, races and genders and runs classes on everything from relapses to nutrition and exercise. He helps those people find jobs and parenting classes.

"I try to promote a healthy mind-set," Grissom said.

He also offers his own experience. A recovered addict and convict who has been clean for more than 10 years, Grissom shares his life story as an example of a healthy lifestyle.

Clients such as Gates say they appreciate how Grissom keeps it real in their group sessions.

"There was nobody who showed me they cared about me in that area, who would say, 'Look my little sister, you ain't fooling nobody but yourself,' " Gates said.

Gates has been attending the program for six months after getting a referral in January, when she was arrested on a marijuana possession charge. She has stayed clean since February, she said.

She also has big plans for the first time in a long time. She hopes to graduate at the end of the month with a barber's license and plans to open her own barbershop.

"My long-term life goal is to never pick up a blunt again," Gates said. "I want to continue feeling like this, like a wind of fresh air. Like I'm on the outside looking in at me and saying, 'You can live like this. You are clean.' That's what the program did for me."

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nerphroll

That's cool. If she felt like she had a problem with marijuana and was able to get some support, I'm happy for her. There are certain people like her out there for whom marijuana is actually quite harmful, psychologically speaking.

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HELP ME IVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR OVER 13 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!
PURIFY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buzzby

I'd say that counts as "drug abuse". Marijuana an excellent servant but a terrible master.


Perhaps the only way for some people to avoid abusing marijuana is to abstain completely from its use. It's too easy to fall back into out-of-control habits. I believe in the "relationship" model for drug use. People can form good, beneficial relationships with mind-altering substances or bad, harmful ones. It's possible for good relationships to go bad, but it's also possible to move from a bad one to one that allows you to keep your life in balance.


When people proclaim the joys of total abstinence after being referred to a program by the court, you always have to wonder about their sincerity. If you want to keep your ass out of jail and your kids out of foster homes you'd better spout the party line.

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nerphroll

Well put Buzz,
It's not so much the marijuana per se, but whatever the drug-of-abuse-of-choice is for a person. In this case it happens to be pot but in general people like Mrs. Gates have addictive personalities in general. At times in the past I've teetered (in my own opinion) on frank abuse of marijuana. Sometimes the only way to try to build a healthy relationship with it again is to abstain and start from scratch, rather than ease into a new pattern of use from a very heavy one. One thing for sure is that it always helps to have the support of others around you if you can muster it.

Buzzby

Me, too. Fortunately, without the added complication of physical dependence it was fairly easy to change that pattern of behavior. I was smoking all day, every day, and lost interest in other important aspects of my life. It wound up being very boring and, because of the tolerance phenomenon, I didn't get very high - just in a kind of constant fog. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. A lot of the fun for me is the change in perspective from being sober to being high.


Very true. I went from all day, every day to nothing at all for a couple of months. Then I settled into the once a day, late evening, moderate dose habit I've maintained ever since. (With exceptions for special occasions, of course. Even moderation requires moderation. )

 

replica

As always, moderation is key.

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sleep please

Moderation is a smoker's best friend

More Rights, Please.

reggie_the_dog

If I was here I would simply move 30 miles from Detroit to Ann Arbor, MI. In Ann Arbor all cannabis violations (sale, possession etc.) are punished with a 25 dollar ticket. Getting such a ticket is not even a violation of probation.

Like if I ever get busted here in France (not very likely they will ever charge me, they may steal my stash though, but usually you are not charged with a crime) anyway if they ever charge me here and ask if I am going to quit I will say "No your honor, I plan to move to Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the UK or Belgium (all of the countries that border France and where cannabis is decriminalized.)


Hell I smoke weed all day every day and am not ashamed. I bet this woman was not ashamed either until the cops ran her in and threatened to take her kids from her.

Mamabudz

And THAT is the key...

For this woman, and for many people, it is not the substance that is the problem it is their Life.

They are using the substance to balance the pain they are experiencing -- anesthetizing what hurts -- a very reasonable thing to do.

In this case, we have a woman who was lucky enough to find a community to provide her loving guidance and support her to discover a better way to fulfill her needs for Home/Recreation/Socialization and Empowerment than she had before.

Begs the question -- What if her community had been able to provide her those things -- before the age of 15?

We here at MJ.com are a community ourselves -- while we extol the virtues of cannabis/marijuana...I would like to think that we also extol the virtues of
communication and that life does not revolve around marijuana, or if it appears to do so, that clearer "heads" can advise that it may be wise to seek further for the true cause as to why ones life should not revolve around any secondary substance.

...except perhaps a cookie...

Dalamar49

All hail moderation and regular (though hopefully not too regular) breaks from cannabis.

*currently tolerating a break, himself*

Bowlblaze

I hope she at least realizes how lucky she is that MJ was her drug of choice. Harder drugs would have totally laid her out way worse. But I agree that people like her shouldn't be smoking weed. Any drug needs to be treated with respect and not used as a crutch.

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The government thinks we're all criminals. The people who are really the criminals are the people who view pot smokers as being no better than rapists, murderers, or corrupt politions
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