Road to Recovery

I’d like to comment on Phillip Feldman’s letter re: removal of licenses and prison terms for DUI drivers. A large percentage who have their licenses removed will drive anyway. With rare exceptions, the imprisoned, upon, release, will relapse into old behavior. Why? Because whether using alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs, or pot, they are all addicts who are unable to stop their drug of choice without rehab, counseling, etc. I should know. The alcoholic gene runs in my family. I drank for 21 years until my health forced me to seek help, then self-help programs and counseling. I drove drunk. I drove blacked out and would wake up terrified that I might have killed someone. Yet I could not stop on my own. I have now been sober 41 years and have helped many people on their road to sobriety. (I’m 92.)

Until the country comes to grip with the fact that prisons are not the answer, and enacts legislation to provide rehabilitation institutions, nothing will change.