Cupcake Brown (that's her real name) was 11 in 1976 when her mother died. Custody of Brown and her brother was given to a stranger — their birth father — who only wanted their social security checks. He then left them with an abusive foster mother who encouraged her nephew to rape Brown repeatedly. Brown got better and better at running away. A prostitute taught her to drink, smoke marijuana and charge for sex. Her next foster father traded her LSD and cocaine for oral sex. Eventually she went … [Read more...]
Drinking: A Love Story
Drinking: A Love Story By Caroline Knapp Freelance journalist Caroline Knapp began drinking in her early teens and continued unabatedly until she "hit bottom" in 1995 and checked herself into a rehab at the age of 36. During that time she managed to graduate with honors from Brown and have a successful career as a journalist, and few people suspected she had a problem with the bottle. Here she recounts the years of denial that helped her rationalize the blackouts, innumerable hangovers, … [Read more...]
Army veteran finds sobriety, helps others
By David Palmer With her blonde bob and a big smile, recovering drug addict Stephenie Drake, a 35-year old ex GI from Pansy, Ark., looks happy in her sobriety. Drake has been clean and sober nine years now, she said in a recent interview, and lives in a small trailer with her son, Skyler, while she attends Pulaski Tech. She has six years of college, part of it at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is close to getting her nursing degree. Drake began her journey to sobriety in 2002 … [Read more...]
New Court Helps Veterans get a Fresh Start
On a mid-December afternoon, Sixth Circuit Judge Mary S. McGowan convened Little Rock’s new Veteran’s Treatment Court (VTC) on the third floor of the Pulaski County courthouse, the second of its kind in Arkansas and one of about 40 nationwide. The mission of the VTC program is to promote recovery and rehabilitation from substance abuse and mental health issues and when successful, which is most of the time, damaged lives and broken families are restored and society benefits. On the docket in … [Read more...]
Our creative writing class on recovery for teenagers
We, at One Day at a Time, a Little Rock based non-profit company, have a special interest in addressing the problem of teen substance abuse. This is partly owing to the fact that, the U.S. Department of Health and Human has identified Arkansas as among states with the highest rates of non-medical use of pain relievers among 12- to 25-year-olds. Here are some other facts worth noting: • 22 percent of Arkansas high school students say they've abused prescription drugs by the time they're … [Read more...]
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