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For Donald Allen, the director of the Offi ce of Drug Control Policy (ODCP), recovery and abstinence from drug use have far-reaching benefi ts for the vitality of a community. “Recovery is important because [it’s] part of the continuation of care that we engage in,” says Allen, who represents Governor Granholm’s Offi ce in Lansing, Mich. Nicknamed Michigan’s “Drug Czar,” he adds, “[When I] fi rst started talking about [action], I talked about prevention and treatment, recovery and resiliency from relapsing into drug use. [It] is so important because that’s when you make people become more productive people in society, and that’s when you reclaim people’s lives. That’s when they become productive members in their families.”

To discuss this plan, Allen recently appeared at the Wayne County Community College in downtown Detroit for an informational seminar hosted by the Detroit Recovery Project and its CEO, Andre Johnson. He has also been asked to appear in Washington, D.C., to speak as an expert about the ODCP’s effective campaign to obliterate fentanyl use in Detroit and Michigan. “When a person spirals out of control because of drug abuse, they are a deficit…

[Treatment is] almost like the transformative thing in [these] people’s lives. When they come off drugs and have a job, [they can] be stable and get housing; they can become parents; they can become mentors and role models in their communities,” he concludes. “The whole community prospers.”. - terry shropshire

For more information, log onto www.michigan.gov/mdch

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