The Hazelden Blog

For better or worse, the search engine Google defines what is relevant in today’s world. So the other day, I asked my colleague Barbara Weiner, Hazelden’s research librarian, to tell me how many times the word “recovery” shows up when entered into the Google monster.

I’m interested because September was National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, a rare moment each year when the federal government stops counting success in the failed war on drugs by how many kilos of cocaine it has seized or drug addicts it has arrested in your hometown. Instead, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recognizes that addicts and alcoholics all across America actually do recover from their illnesses, thanks to treatment and recovery programs that somehow manage to carry on year after year despite a paucity of resources, public or private.

According to Barbara, Google came back with 183 million results for the word “recovery.” I realize, of course, that recovery is to the current recession what hope was to Barack Obama in 2008, especially after the feds cornered the market on it with legislation titled “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” These days, it is also ubiquitous in describing what happens after a hurricane or after your computer’s hard drive blows up. There are an awful lot of apps out there for this noun now.

But to my surprise, the top 20 results for “recovery” included seven specific references to recovery from addiction. Even more amazing is that Recovery Month garnered the 10 spot, right between economic Web sites in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

This defied my expectations. As an advocate focused on expanding public awareness and changing government policies about addiction, treatment and recovery, I am often frustrated that our best efforts seem to fall short of sustainable momentum for change.

The war on drugs is still mostly a war on ill people who need and deserve help. And even people who do recover are often reluctant to stand up and speak out, out of a fear of stigma and shame or just plain ambivalence. I figured a Google search would confirm my assumption that addiction recovery is near the bottom of the pile.

But I was wrong. Something positive is happening in places like Richmond, Va., where 5,000 people turned up for a sober barbecue party. Across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and in the rain in St. Louis, thousands hit the pavement for a “Walk for Recovery.” Native Americans held a “wellbriety” event in northern Minnesota. There was a picnic in the park in Salt Lake City and a sobriety softball game in Atlanta. Even the federal government got it right, by figuring out a way to get its recovery month efforts in the top search engine results (http://www.RecoveryMonth.gov).

I am not about to abandon the call to action for people in recovery and their families to stand up and speak out. I’m convinced that treatment centers and trade associations can do much more to raise their voices in the policy debate and emphasize their success. And too many millions of sober people still are hiding behind the wall of anonymity of 12-step programs.

What I will start doing, though, is recognize that while no one person or organization can or should lead this change, our collective efforts are making a difference. The other day, I asked a wise fellow traveler, David F., how he is doing in the aftermath of the death of his partner. “I am change,” he replied. Aren’t we all?

When this column is published and enters the eternal world of the Internet, the next Google search for “recovery” should come back with 183,000,001 results. Count one more for change.

William Moyers is the vice president of foundation relations for the Hazelden Foundation and the author of “Broken,” his best-selling memoirs, and “A New Day, A New Life.”

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