Substance Abuse: First Person

California Campaign Against Meth Abuse Includes First-Person Web Videos (Regularly Updated)
Viewers of MeNotMeth.org can add their own first-person stories to a growing collection of videos and find resources throughout California for fighting meth addiction.
From Me Not Meth
Facing the Past of Addiction: A Blog Entry by Aaron Laxton (October 2, 2012)
"I have been clean for 265 days and with each day it gets easier. Being in recovery means taking one day at a time."
From TheBody.com
HIV and Drug Relapse (Video) (Posted: August 2012)
"In this video I talk about my own battle with drugs, relapse and what role my diagnosis had in my relapse. Acceptance of your own diagnosis can be hard but you have to find healthy ways to deal with the stress of life and of HIV."
From TheBody.com
This Positive Life: Richard Cordova (June 28, 2012)
Richard was given an AIDS diagnosis in 2002. He was devastated -- but not surprised, considering his life of hard partying, meth use and unprotected sex. But since that time, he's rediscovered his passion for life -- and traded drugs for marathons and 200-mile bike rides.
From TheBody.com
Simply Rob: Advocate and Artist, a Man of Words Uses Them to Spread Truth (Summer 2012)
To read PDF, click here.
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
The Only Thing "Positive" in My Life Was My HIV Status: A Blog Entry by B. Osten (February 14, 2012)
"Every now and then the past creeps back. And when it does I take a moment and compare it to where I am today."
From TheBody.com
Living My Life Positively (February 4, 2012)
"I've been ridiculed and criticized because of my HIV status," writes Louisiana resident Millicent Foster; "But that has just made me more determined."
From TheBody.com
Profile: Inspiring, Devoted, Unstoppable (Winter 2012)
Despite the loss of her grand amour, Chantale Perron is as determined as ever to support and fight for the rights of drug users and people with HIV.
To read PDF, click here.
In The Positive Side, from Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange
I Yam What I Yam! A Blog Entry by Rev. Andrena Ingram (January 22, 2012)
"I am a child of God, and for the past five years, am the pastor of a congregation on Germantown Avenue, in Philadelphia. It has been a long journey, a very public journey ... especially when it comes to my HIV status. No secrets ... I live my life as a religious leader LIVING unashamedly with the HIV virus."
From TheBody.com
Surviving Addiction, an Advocate Finds Her Voice (January 17, 2012)
From AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Beneath an Angel's Wings: My Story of Struggle and Longtime Survival, Part One (August 4, 2011)
From TheBody.com
Monday Reflection: Living With Addiction ... A Blog Entry by Rae Lewis-Thornton (July 25, 2011)
"When I heard about Amy Winehouse's death the first thing that crossed my mind, is that you die how you live. It's a sad but true reality and it's not just about drug and alcohol addiction but anything that has a hold on you, and that thing dictates your life."
From TheBody.com
From Addict to Activist With 3 Easy Letters: A Blog Entry by Jeannie Wraight (April 20, 2011)
"She told her listeners of the girl I was, a hard-core dope fiend. ... She told them that when she asked how it was, how it could be that 5 years later the same girl was standing on the streets of South Africa, alive, thriving and fighting that I told her simply: 'I became an activist'."
From TheBody.com
My HIV Is My Strength; Don't Give Up! A Message of Hope: A Blog Entry by Kevin Maloney (April 3, 2011)
"As my campaign above states, my HIV became my strength. Had I been diagnosed with cancer or another life altering health condition that would have been my strength too!"
From TheBody.com
Recovering Joy: A Video Blog Entry by Mark S. King (December 20, 2010)
"[In this classic holiday video], you'll find a special reading of ''Twas the Night Before Christmas' by my alter ego Anita Mann ... Thanks for the gifts you have given me this year, my friends, and here's to a wondrous, healthy year ahead."
From TheBody.com
Poetry: H-I-Me -- A Blog Entry by Brandon Lacy Campos (October 19, 2010)
Let me be clear with all ya'll here / If you are choosing to go on a meth-fueled sex affair / My responsibility to the outcomes of your personal decisions stop right there / So happy we got all that out in the air.
From TheBody.com
This Positive Life Video: An Interview With Ron Crowder (August 24, 2010)
When Ron tested positive in jail back in 1991, he wasn't surprised. Being an injection drug user who was sharing needles, he knew he was at risk. Yet, being diagnosed in a time when AZT was the only medication available, Ron never lost hope nor has he allowed an AIDS diagnosis to stop him from giving back and educating Nashville's African-American community about HIV.
From TheBody.com
This Positive Life Video: An Interview With Brenda Chambers (August 24, 2010)
This mother of four, recovering crystal meth addict and sexual abuse survivor did not allow her 2003 HIV diagnosis to stop her from living. In fact, she used it as a means to stop using drugs, regain custody of her children and become an AIDS activist.
From TheBody.com
Stella's Journey (July/August 2010)
From survival to healing.
To read PDF, click here.
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Facing Change: A Video Blog Entry by Mark S. King (March 16, 2010)
From TheBody.com
After Sex Work, Homelessness and Drug Addiction, an HIV-Positive Man Comes of Age (Winter 2008/2009)
Kevin was a teenager when he was infected with HIV. In this moving personal story, Kevin explains how his life got so messy -- and how he got the help he needed to clean himself up.
To read PDF, click here.
In Achieve, from ACRIA and GMHC

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