Michigan – With an epidemic of heroin addiction crippling families across the nation, families in Monroe Michigan united in the streets to take a new message to their city…Recovery is possible. The stigma associated with this addiction can often be as cumbersome as the deadly disease itself. The co-dependent can often suffer the same as those who have become addicted and a message of Hope was exactly what Monroe needed.
Local organizer Vasco Tchakarov stated that the days event was the greatest feeling ever. It’s all about us uniting and coming together to break the stigma of addiction so we can be looked at as normal human beings and treated fairly and equally.
Hope Over HeroinCheck out this video shot by our photographer Tom Hawley! The Hope Over Heroin rally marched through downtown today, bringing awareness to Monroe’s heroin epidemic.Photo gallery available here:https://monroenews.smugmug.com/HOPE-OVER-HEROIN/
Posted by Monroe News on Saturday, January 23, 2016
Close to 200 people came together in Monroe to remember family members who have been lost and to support those who struggle to stay alive and live a healthy drug-free life. It is clear that heroin is a killer and city leaders continue to struggle for a solution. Local police departments have self-admitted that they are highly ineffective and that they can not arrest their way out of this epidemic, but yet jails and prisons remain full while treatment facilities remain out of reach for many.
Those who have become addicted are not criminals, they are victims of a broken society and they continue to be victimized by a judicial system that has turned its back to them. Exploitation by a for-profit prison system is one huge problem, judges and district attorneys that are out of touch with their communities is another, but many believe that the FDA has sold out our children to the pharmaceutical industry in the name of record profits.
Team Recover of Toledo Ohio was one of many groups that joined together in Monroe
Organizers Vasco Tchakarov and his wife Jenna prior to the days events
Related blog by Revolution News Ohio: Team Recovery, Street Awareness Against Addiction
Related blog by Revolution News Stop The Stigma, Break The Silence – United to Face Addiction in Washington DC