The greatest staff in town, hands down! And don t ...

The greatest staff in town, hands down! And don t get me wrong, there are some unbelievable teams, dedicated towards providing for the less fortunate and who use various avenues to do so (I certainly don t mean to take away from their triumphs over the many obstacles our state puts in place) but rarely (if ever) have I witnessed the battle that Project Recovery faces every day; waging war against the faceless enemy of addiction and its seldom associated ally, The System , that plays a key role in reenforcing stereotypes in citizens who struggle with addiction.

Ignorant ideologies are the real enemy and Pennington County profiteers off the pandemic of addiction. Tell the world that addicts are morally bankrupt, social pariahs and you ll get your wish; shame and guilt being the main source of sustenance for substance abuse.

Throw an addict in jail without the necessary medication they ve been using to combat that addiction and you simply steal their weapon; recycling a suffering soul through the system until they no longer have any reason TO wage war. What might have once been a human being fighting a disease, instead, becomes a junkie with nothing left to strive for. The System profits and people die.

Project Recovery knows this. They see it, every day. They ve seen addicts come through their doors broken, armed them with Suboxone, given them self-esteem and the understanding that they are MORE than the sum of their sickness. They see that person succeed, set goals, strive on through perilous odds and peer pressure.

And then they watch as 24/7 (a spineless system simpering behind The MADD Movement) profits and punishes these people. (Yes, addicts ARE people . In fact, they re sad people ) throwing them in jail without their medication; Pennington County Jail more fraught with buffets of illegal substances than any trap house or back alley of any big city.

And then Project Recovery starts over. Because what comes out of Pennington County is NOT the same as what went in. The addict is set back to square 1: Full-blown, tunnel-vision junkie mode.

Sometimes, Project Recovery succeeds. Sometimes they get that soul back on track. But, I imagine, many times they fail.

You can only tell a man that he is worthless so many times... before he TRULY becomes a man without worth.

Despite this, the team at Project Recovery keeps on. They schedule appointments. They call the man. They assure him that his value is beyond borders and stars and now, more than ever, he s armed with the priceless gift of empathetic understanding to serve others.

And then they wait. They cross their fingers and they wait; prayers in their hearts, tears in their eyes.... they wait and see if that man, that person, those people , MAKE it to their appointment.

I don t know that I would have such courage or could invest so much into an idea, so stacked with odds against on either side. But I damn sure know that credit should be given where credit is due and so, I say, Project Recovery, thank you.