National Overdose Day - We have a lot of work to do

Long before there was facebook or twitter, I lost my first friend to an overdose. I was a sophomore in high school when Ross Shalenberg passed away after mixing alcohol with valium. Today, I remember him for the carefree, fun loving kid that he was. He was too young to drive, but not too young to use. He grew up in a family where neither his mother or father was sober. His father was mean when he drank, and I can remember us talking about that while using together. He was trying to numb himself from the abuse he received daily, while I was using to try and escape abuse that had happened earlier in life. I do know that the only times I would see him laugh was when we were using. 

KOLR 10 Story on the Heroin Crisis in Southwest Missouri

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- More people in the United States are now dying from heroin and opioid overdoses than car accidents. That makes it the leading cause of injury-related death in our nation, according to the CDC.

David Stoecker is no stranger to addiction.

The Unite to Face Addiction Rally

It has taken me a while to write about the Unite to Face Addiction Rally. I have really tried to think about what it meant, being a part of history. It was to people in recovery what Woodstock was to hippies 46 years ago.

California's Proposition 47

California recently passed Proposition 47. Proposition 47 made several criminal offenses that were at one time felonies into misdemeanors: shoplifting, writing bad checks and drug possession (methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and hashish). They exclude people who have prior convictions for crimes against people such as rape and pedophiles as well as amounts greater than $950.

I am sure the arguments were heated between supporters for both sides.