Addiction Awareness comes to Houston

HOUSTON, Miss. (WCBI)- September is National Recovery Month, and a group in Houston is taking action to help prevent addiction.

And they’re starting with the next generation.

Saturday is Addiction Awareness Day in Houston.

A day for the Community Addiction Awareness organization to unite with the community to educate on addiction.

“Everyone is in the fast-paced life, and we believe that folks just don’t realize how bad the drug problem is in their community. They have a what I call a blind eye, but with us getting out here in speaking about it if nobody ever talks about it nobody ever knows about it. It’s here just like it is in any other communities. The drug problem is bad everywhere, so we’re just putting awareness out there showing the signs,” said CAA President Donald Gane.

They started the day by teaching kids the dangers of addiction.

“People don’t think about where it starts. They think when they see it on the street who is a grown man or a grown woman, and they’re thinking how does it get that way but what you don’t realize is what if that child grew up in a home full of drugs? What if that child was approached at school by an older kid that said, ‘Hey, you wanna try this?'” That could’ve been where it started. So, if we can prevent that, will give them some kind of support to where they can come to somebody and talk,” said CAA Secretary Ginger Putman.

It is important for the organization to show people who are facing addiction so that they understand and are there to help in any way they can.

“Love the addict hate the addiction and what we mean by that is so many people look at an addict like I said and they judge him, but you show you love them, you show them that kindness. By far I do not encourage people to enable an addict, but you are to show them kindness,” said Putman.

They wrapped up the day by talking to adults about how to spot addiction and how they can help their loved ones.

“We talk to the family of the addict because that’s a problem too because they cannot interact with each other because they’re living in different worlds they might be living in the same house but they’re living in different worlds,” said Gane.

If you or someone you know is suffering from addiction, you can contact Community Addiction Awareness through their Facebook Page.