On the pathways to recovery, ‘Hope is Dope’
The pathway to recovery is not a straight line. Sometimes it’s a slow, uncomfortable walk with friends, sometimes it’s a dark, bumpy tunnel, sometimes it’s clear skies then a brief total eclipse.
And it’s a personal journey. One that people may go on with you, but still, it’s personal.
According to 2023 research from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 16.5% of all Americans 12 or older have a substance use disorder. While there are diagnostic tools to make such determinations, each patient is dealing with their own circumstance, making treatment difficult.
A big part of that is personal brain chemistry.
“Addiction changes the brain, but they don’t know how it changes the brain specifically,” Ken Clowes said. “Understanding how it does, that’s a light bulb going off, because that also provided the key in how to change it, how to provide healing brain chemistry.”
Clowes is Community Initiatives Center assistant at Butler County Community College who struggled in his efforts to get sober. In the Sunday edition of the Eagle, staff writer Eddie Trizzino told us about one of Clowes’ “light bulb” moments on his road to recovery.
The idea that he could get out of addiction gave him hope, which offered a similar feeling to “dope.” The revelation happened around 2007, when Clowes met Steve Treu, who would go on to author a book detailing the power of the mind — that “Hope is Dope: Achieving Chemical Balance.”
“People like Steve that instilled hope in me when I didn’t have it myself,” Clowes said. “I had a probation officer once, back in Mercer County, years ago who treated me with the utmost respect. And what that does for somebody is it makes me want to treat myself with respect too.”
“We have the ability to heal because the brain chemistry that got affected in the first place is still there in the brain to be influenced again,” Treu said. “It’s the only way anyone recovers.”
With Treu’s brain chemistry insights, we hope the path is a little more clear for even one reader.
As the Eagle winds down its series on addiction in Butler County, we know the struggle will continue. And we will continue to have conversations and point to recovery resources. We will tell the stories of those who rose and fell and rose again from addiction. Because these conversations and stories matter.
— RJ
