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Vital help

I am writing this letter concerning an article I read recently in the Butler Eagle. My name is Crystal Irwin. I am 22 years old and I currently reside at the Butler County Prison. I am an active participant in the community Reintegration Program.

Upon reading the article, about losing the grant to fund outside drug and alcohol treatment, I was upset and disappointed. I can’t speak for everyone, but most of the people in the reintegration program struggle with an addiction of some kind. I personally would not be in my current situation if it wasn’t for drug use and poor choices. I have struggled with addictions for nearly half of my life and have tried every kind of care available, numerous times.

I relapse frequently. I believe I pick back up partly because I don’t know how to apply the things I learn in treatment. I don’t know how to appropriately deal with life on life’s terms. Almost everyone in my life has given up on me and, at first, sitting in a jail cell I was beginning to give up on myself as well.

After being sentenced to the communiy reintegration program, I caught a glimpse of hope. This program might work for me. It involves not just knowledge but also action. I will be exposed to situations where I will either practice the tools we learned to succeed, or repeat the vicious cycle of addiction that up to this point has become my life.

I believe the program is set up for success. I am excited to have the chance to slowly begin building a new life with guidelines, support and resources. I think it would be detrimental to my recovery and the community reintegration program to remove the drug and alcohol treatment part of the program. I don’t believe money should be a determining factor as to whether or not people who need treatment receive it.

I am gaining knowledge through the community reintegration program and I am looking forward to the part of the program where I can practice applying what I have learned. This program is about changing and bettering lives — for the first time in my life I am fighting successfully for sobriety. This program has given me a reason not to give up on myself. I would hate to see it jeopardized by a money issue.

This affects not only me but everyone in the program who struggles with addiction, all the people who love and care for them, and the community as a whole.

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