BREAKING ADDICTION MUST COME FROM WITHIN

Recovering Addict Says Forced Rehab Won't Work

A local recovering drug addict says he wasn't ready to break free until he
made the decision himself to get help.

"You can only help people that are willing to help themselves. That's the
only way it can work. Because if you want it bad enough it will work," said
John Senenko.

Senenko, 29, first began using drugs at age seven.

It started with some marijuana, supplied by some older cousins, but
progressed to cocaine, heroine, crystal meth - basically anything that he
could get his hands on to get high. He used to take heroine to calm down so
he could sleep.

He's been clean for "some time" ever since he decided to seek help.
Although things aren't perfect, he says he can at least now deal with his
problems and get on with his life.

"It was an every day thing for about 20 years," he said. "That's all you
knew. The street life and getting all messed up, that's the thing, you
didn't really know anything else."

"If I wouldn't have stopped when I did I'd be in a pine box for sure.
Because that's where I was going," said Senenko.

As an addict you don't deal with life "on life's terms because you're too
scared. It's not really the drugs or the alcohol. You're just using that to
fill the void of what's inside," he said.

An Albertan MLA is hoping to help addicts like Senenko, by catching them
early. Conservative Red Deer MLA Mary Anne Jablonski introduced a private
member's bill that would allow parents to put their drug-addicted kids in
drug rehabilitation centres for up to one year.

Bill 202 passed its second reading on March 22, but some reports have
indicated that it might fail as Justice Minister Ron Stevens suggested the
issue was too complicated to be dealt with in a private member's bill.

Senenko says enforced treatment wouldn't have worked in his teenage years
because he didn't have it within himself to get help.

"If you're going to force it on people it may not work because they're not
doing it for themselves. They're doing it for somebody else."

His parents would have probably tried to make him go, he said.

Senenko did, however, think forced drug treatment might be good for youth
who were involved in crime.

"They might find something different," he said.

Now in recovery, Senenko turned to the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre and
with them and a 12-step fellowship program he's been clean ever since.

"I had to help myself. I had to do it myself, they just helped me along the
way," he said.

Senenko said he had moments over the years where he did try to get help,
but had difficulty finding the resources or people willing to listen. "Some
people would look down on you like you're piece of dirt," he said.

But, he added, people are becoming more aware.

Before getting help, Senenko describes his state as being dead inside.

"I did look like I was dead and just didn't notice it," he said. "Doing
drugs is just a slow way of committing suicide because eventually you'll
die. You're just slowly killing yourself."

He was 89 pounds when he was on drug but now is a healthy 185 pounds. It
takes a lifetime to recover but Senenko seems determined to never look back.

"I'll always be an addict for the rest of my life but I'm a recovering
addict so that's different," he said.

It was a struggle when he took the first step, he cried almost every day,
but he wanted to do it.

Now he's involved in a youth entrepreneurship program, has taken up mirror
etching and is working with youth, because he can relate to what they are
going through.

"If I can help even one, it's an accomplishment," he said.

"Now that I've cleaned up I have a fuller and meaningful life ahead of me
and it's just beginning. And everybody can do it," he said.

"I'm happy to be alive."