Community Corner
Interventionist Offers Advice for Families of Addicts at Orland Township Tonight
David Lee, who draws from his own struggles with addiction to help others still in the throes, will aim to answer the question 'what can I say to convince them to quit?' 7 p.m. tonight at the Orland Township offices
David Lee and his brother Kevin both grew up in the same situations. Raised near Gary, Indiana in the 1980s, the Lees both earned good grades. They went to the same parties.
“And we both sampled the same gateway drugs at the same parties,” Lee said, while speaking at the Community Link Symposium at in May.
David Lee became a drug addict as a teen, putting his family through a self-described hell of arrests and foiled attempts at recovery until he finally went clean.
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Kevin Lee, however, did not become an addict. Kevin went on to college and a life away from the trouble David faced.
Lee explained at Sandburg that the reason why he became an addict, and his brother didn’t is he didn’t have a choice.
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“You can blame peers, or the home, but the moment you take that pill, drink that drink, or smoke that joint, the choice is no longer yours,” Lee said. “Either you will become an addict or you won’t.”
David Lee will be returning to Thursday night to answer a different question: “What can I say to convince them to quit?”
David spent the better part of a decade traveling to different areas, getting deeper into legal trouble as a result of his addiction. To avoid arrest, David Lee gave up the identity of a dealer to police. About five years later the man encountered David while he was then selling drugs, and he beat David up.
It was until his family sat him down for an intervention that he was successful in going sober. Since becoming clean, he started the treatment support provider Intervention Services.
His talk Monday night will focus on the need for families to be firm with addicts among them.
“Families don’t want to turn their backs, but tough love can be necessary,” said Cheryl Kokaska, counselor/outreach coordinator with Orland Township Youth and Family Services. “Families need to understand that enabling allows the drug abuse to continue.”
Lee will be on hand for individual questions after his lecture.
EVENT DETAILS
What: David Lee Lecture and Q & A
Where: Orland Township Administrative Offices, 14807 South Ravinia Ave.
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, June 21
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