ADDICTIONS EXPERT - "Saving Dope Fiends" Prologue
The following is the Prologue to my book, "Saving Dope Fiends, a personal primer on how to run drug rehab programs."
Recently, I was asked to run for political office.
I was invited to a meeting on the back porch of a house in West Point Grey. It soon became apparent that I was being interviewed.
At some point, I was asked to share my thoughts about Vancouver’s disgrace, the Downtown East Side, a hotbed of drug addictions, dealing, mental problems, poverty and more social service agencies per square inch than any other jurisdiction in the known world.
It was shortly after I started talking about “dope fiends,” that a lawyer spoke up.
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with what you’re saying.”
My customary answer to the “I’m not sure I’m comfortable” opener is “Let me assure you that my last consideration at this moment is your comfort level.”
I bit my tongue and asked, “Why?”
“It’s not so much what you’re saying,” he explained, “as they way you’re saying it.”
Some of you will already have been offended by the phrase “dope fiends.”
This book is not for you.
I was the Founder and Executive Director of The X-Kalay Foundation Society, a residential treatment centre for drug addicts, alcoholics, ex-cons and others, from 1967 to 1976. X-Kalay was part of a worldwide approach to these social ills known collectively as the “therapeutic community model.” We saved hundreds and hundreds of lives. Today, 40 years later, X-Kalay continues in Manitoba under a different name, and it continues to serve Canadians most admirably.
Booking Inquiries
david@davidberner.com
