TAKING CONTROL OF ADDICTIONS

SUMMIT COUNTY - Rob M. drank or smoked pot daily from age 13 to 23. He
spent the last two years of his drinking in Frisco at bars within
walking distance of his apartment.

"I came up here to ski and to party," he said. "My vision was to ski
first, party second and work third. Instead, it became party first,
ski second and work third. I lost a lot of ski days because I'd sit in
the Moosejaw or wherever and drink all night, so I couldn't get up to
ski. I wanted the skiing to be more important to me, but basically
getting drunk was more important."

Rob came to Summit County at age 21 looking for peace and contentment.
He ended up smoking a lot of pot, drinking eight to 10 beers and five
to six shots daily and staying up for three-day stretches, using
cocaine, acid or crystal meth.

"When you stay up for three days, people go to sleep, and you're still
drinking," he said. "It's very antisocial, even for the partiers. You
just get into a different class of people I don't want to be with. I
used to have to pay people to work for me because I couldn't possibly
go in because I had been up all night."

He drank because he felt maladjusted socially, and using chemicals
made him wild and fun. He felt an internal drive to drink, even though
he knew he'd end up oversleeping, blacking out or feeling remorseful
about melodramatic or angry outbursts.

"I wanted to party long after other people did," he said. "I felt very
alive when I was drunk. I knew I was out of control because I could
never leave the bars before 2 a.m. I just couldn't stop when I got
going. If I had a videotape, it'd be frightening to see what I did and
said."

After two ski seasons of intense partying, he went back to college but
found he drank the same way. Feeling depressed, he went to the
school's mental health center and told the counselor the truth about
his drinking. He also had a friend who recently quit drinking, and his
father and brother had attended Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for years.

Three weeks after talking to the counselor, he went to AA but relapsed
within 21 days.

"Once I started drinking again, I put all ideas of recovery out of my
mind," he said. "It was like I never stopped drinking. But then, on
July 4, 1990, I was at Pinkie's in Arvada, and a voice in my head
said, "You don't have to do this anymore. You can be done if you
want.' AA showed me there was a way out. It showed me there was an
alternative."

He's been sober for 12 1/2 years and is about to launch his own
business on the Front Range.

"My life is not perfect now, but I have hope. I can go anywhere and do
anything I want, and I'm not limited by the lurking disasters," he
said. "For me, there was always a disaster hanging around the corner
when I was drinking, and now I don't have to live like that."

Resources for Breaking the Cycle of Addiction

Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith began AA in 1935 to help themselves and
others who suffered from the disease of alcoholism. It has grown to
include 2 million members in 150 countries, according to the AA World
Services Web site.

AA is a program of total abstinence. Members maintain sobriety one day
at a time by sharing their experiences, strengths and hopes at group
meetings and by working the 12 Steps with a sponsor.

The 12 Steps begin with an admission of problems with alcohol. They
continue with believing a higher power can help (which may or may not
be God), turning one's life over to it, taking a thorough
self-inventory, sharing it and making amends. Members also maintain
sobriety by taking personal inventories daily, building conscious
contact with a higher power and helping other alcoholics.

Other programs use AA's 12 Steps and traditions, including Alanon, for
families and friends of alcoholics, and a host of anonymous programs
for eating disorders, chemical abuse, gambling, emotional problems,
sex and workaholism.

Other, Christ-centered programs, such as Celebrate Recovery, founded
in 1991, incorporate the 12-Steps but use principles based on the
Beatitudes. It also adds accountability partners, who hold members
responsible for their program.

"The major difference (from AA) is we say who our higher power is, and
that's Jesus Christ, and it's for anyone with hurts, habits and
hangups (whereas AA is for anyone with a desire to stop drinking),"
said group leader Carla Zinn Rigger.

Another Christ-centered program, Sunrise Ministries, uses Scripture,
prayer and discussion rather than the 12 Steps for recovery.

"It's for the addicted and brokenhearted - anything that has control
over you or that you feel is out of control," said group leader Danika
Gravelle. "We really let the Lord do the work. We're just facilitating
the meeting."

In response to recovery groups, Jack and Lois Trimpey founded Rational
Recovery (RR) in 1986. RR does not believe in the disease concept of
addiction and does not support involvement in recovery groups.

Instead, it teaches thinking skills designed to result in permanent
abstinence from alcohol and other drugs. Thoughts and feelings
supporting drug use are called the "addictive voice," an enemy to be
defeated. RR focuses on the addicts' control over their lives, rather
than on a higher power. Group discussions, books and personal
instruction at RR centers teach the cognitively-based method.

Each method of recovery has groups in Summit County.

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RESOURCES FOR RECOVERY:

Alcoholics Anonymous (12-step based): (970) 453-2905,
www.aa.org

Alanon (12-step based for families and friends of alcoholics): (970)
513-4990, www.al-anon.alateen.org

Celebrate Recovery (Christ centered): (970) 468-1882,
www.celebraterecovery.com

Sunrise Ministries (Christ centered): (719) 836-1587

Rational Recovery (cognitively based): www.rational.org