Addiction Recovery Advocate Vows to Help Others

A little over seven years ago a young man was desperate and depressed; feelings that were brought on by his substance abuse. Not knowing how to change but not willing to give up on life, he reached out to his family for help and they found a successful long-term rehabilitation program.

Today things are vastly different for this still-young man after working for six years in the same field that helped him save his life. His name is Lucas A. Catton and he is now an intervention specialist and certified counselor working with an addiction help line (www.drug-alcohol-rehabs.org), among many other things. He is also one of the recovery advocates featured in this year’s National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month kits, which are available online at www.recoverymonth.gov.

He has had hundreds of articles printed in publications across the country and his book “Losing the Beer Goggles” is a social commentary on the addiction treatment field, which Catton says needs to undergo a serious change.

Earlier this year he started a non-profit organization called the Foundation for Social Improvement, whose goal is to acquire funds to give grants to community organizations that specialize in education as well as drug rehabilitation and prevention. He is also the spearhead of an initiative called the Drug-Free Alliance (www.drug-freealliance.org), which is an advocate of drug-free living and practices.

Mr. Catton’s message of change doesn’t often sit well with traditionalists in the addiction treatment field, for he lashes out at medication-assisted therapy and mind-altering drugs prescribed to people, especially addicts. “It doesn’t make any sense at all to give a substance abuser another drug and call it treatment,” he says, “Even the science behind it can’t prove the theories or that they work.”

As for what’s next on his plate, Catton is in development for an independent feature film about drugs and the treatment field in an effort to entertain as well as share a message. He also plans on continuing to grow the Foundation and the international Alliance by adding new members and opening state and national chapters.

“People deserve to know the truth about things so they can make informed decisions. It’s no different with the drug treatment and prevention field. People and institutions regarded as the authorities aren’t necessarily right in their assertions, and as long as I’m around I’m going to do my best to let others know that there are effective solutions out there if they’re willing to look.”