A Feature on John Johnston, Drug & Alcohol treatment counselor and former addict.

This multimedia feature piece documents John Johnston and his experiences as a counselor at Serenity Lane Drug and Treatment Center located in Eugene, OR and how it has been a part of his recovery process and ultimately saved his life.

Script:

“High school was keg parties and some pot and a few other drugs and then my freshman year at the University of Arizona, that was the first time I realized I was an alcoholic. Long story short, when I was 22, my parents sent me up here to send me to Serenity Lane for drug and alcohol treatment.

I became a counselor about 15 years ago, I wanted to do something that made a difference. I also had the idea that the only way I was going to stay sober was to work in the field. Which worked to some degree, but also ended up working against me. I had to just realize the job and recovery are two different things.

Eventually at 28, I was dependent on opiates. My own denial allowed me to get sicker and sicker. I came up here at 22, didn’t get sober until 28. It was a pretty slow learning curve. Admitting defeat, surrendering, and then the realization that I pretty much had to change everything and that I had to practice abstinence if I was going to get into recovery, I couldn’t use any mood-altering substances.

Back in the 80s, those things were kind of accepted to a much larger degree, there wasn’t the awareness, there still isn’t the awareness there needs to be. We still see a tremendous amount of dependence and abuse on college campuses.

My hope for community as a whole is that the bias that there is toward addiction would change. I think education, in some areas has improved, but I don’t think it’s where it needs to be. Like I said, what we see nowadays is pharmaceuticals.

I still think society views pharmaceuticals as ok and illegal drugs as the problem. That’s really not the case. But my overall hope that the bias that everyone has towards addiction, would change. And that it’s actually seen as a disease that’s treatable.

One thing is, when you’re talking to your doctor, and he prescribes you a medication for pain, it’s not only what the medication can do for you but what it’s doing ot you. But I think we live in a culture, where our answer for everything is a pill.

The drugs that are in high school halls now are different from what they were 30-40 years ago. It’s not pot and alcohol; it’s oxycotin and Adderall. These are very powerful, high-grade pharmaceuticals. When I was a patient, I wanted to know that they had been there to some degree. I think most addicts and alcoholics want to know that when they come to treatment. But that’s just a trust-building tool after that it becomes about how to help them through the various obstacles that they are challenged with as an individual.

Yeah, I see myself in everyone that walks through the door in one degree or another. The shame, the hurt, the pain, what it does to the family. Yeah, I try never to forget that.