FORMER ADDICT TURNS BAD HABIT INTO SOMETHING GOOD

DRUG EDUCATION - Billie Jo Miller, a recovering drug addict, wants state
lawmakers to use some of the money seized from drug busts and fines
collected from drunken driving and narcotics arrests to help fund secondary
drug rehabilitation programs. She also wants to educate adults and children
about drug abuse.

The energy Billie Jo Miller once spent looking for narcotics to feed her
habit is now focused on making a difference in her community.

A self-proclaimed recovering addict, the Bailey resident wants to inform
and educate adults and children about the dangers of illegal drug use. She
also wants to enhance the rehabilitation process locally.

"Everybody has skeletons in their closet," Miller said. "If my skeletons
can help somebody, they need to be dragged out."

Miller, 22, began abusing prescription pain medication as a teen-ager. She
not only misused her own prescriptions for migraines - she also took
medication prescribed to others.

"I would take anything I could to get away from the world I was in," said
Miller, who on Dec. 6 will celebrate her first anniversary of being clean.

Drug education

This month, a year after going through detox and spending two months in the
hospital for drug rehabilitation, Miller began an e-mail and letter-writing
campaign to seek advice and support for her ideas.

Miller contacted public officials - including state legislators, county
supervisors and city leaders - telling them about her plans to work with
children and start a secondary drug rehabilitation program.

A secondary program would offer transitional, residential units that help
people work their way back into society with intense counseling.

Miller wants state lawmakers to pass a bill to fund secondary drug
rehabilitation programs with some of the money seized from drug busts and
fines from drunken driving convictions and narcotics arrests.

"Most of the elected officials have said they would support me the best
they can and to let them know what they can do to help," Miller said.

Lawmaker impressed

State Sen. Sampson Jackson, D-DeKalb, met with Miller last week and said he
was impressed with her drive.

"That kind of money would be well spent," Jackson said. "We in the
Legislature think we know how to solve problems, but I think we should
listen to our constituents who have been through it. They have good ideas
about how to solve problems."

Jackson said he would do everything he could to help Miller and may have
her meet with legislative committees to find a way to aide those who want
to overcome addiction.

Miller said she has also had her share of discouraging responses.

"One person told me that with no credentials I don't have a snowball's
chance in hell of getting anywhere," Miller said. "That's made me that much
more determined."

Miller is aware that drug education programs are in place, such as the DARE
program initiated by law enforcement officers to warn school children about
the dangers of drug abuse.

More work

But Miller said she believes more needs to be done to discourage drug use.

"Almost everyone in our community has been directly or indirectly affected
by drugs or alcohol abuse," Miller said. "I believe children will listen
more to someone who has been there and done that."

One of Miller's goals is to educate herself as well.

She plans to return to school in January at Meridian Community College. She
eventually plans to enroll at Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus,
to pursue degrees in psychology and social work.

Miller's pastor, the Rev. Clay Chancellor of Russell Baptist Church, has
supported her efforts.

"She wants to see more managed control and preventative maintenance,"
Chancellor said. "That's what I like about her ideas and that's where her
focus is. There is a need for a secondary drug rehabilitation program and
we fully support it."

Miller doesn't pull any punches when she talks about the obstacles she has
faced, both with her addiction and recovery.

"I was taught in rehab that you have to give back what recovery has given
you, and that is what I want to do," Miller said.

Miller's plans

Today, Miller works as a hostess at Montana's Bar-B-Q & Seafood Restaurant
and doesn't hide the fact that she has had a drug problem.

"I feel if someone doesn't want to take a chance on me that's their missed
opportunity," she said. "Addiction is a battle I will fight for the rest of
my life. You don't just go to rehab and then everything's OK."

She said she doesn't know where her efforts will take her.

She hopes to steer others away from drugs, provide the best possible chance
for rehabilitation and help others recovering from drug addiction be better
accepted into society.

Miller said she has the support of her husband, Gary Miller Jr., her
pastor, other family and friends. And she said she draws inspiration from
one of her favorite recording artists, Elton John.

Miller usually listens to "Elton John's Greatest Hits" on the compact disc
player in her 1999 Oldsmobile Alero and almost always listens to Track 9 -
"Don't Let the Sun go Down on Me."

"It might get dark at 5:30 in the evening, but not in my life," Miller
said. "This is something I have to work on until there's nothing to work on
anymore."