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YMCA offers alcohol, drug education
By Tasha Hayton, Staff writer
Alcohol and drugs affect more than the addicted users; they can also damage recreational users, family members and friends in the community, said Ralph Strangis at the C.A.R.E. breakfast Monday morning.
C.A.R.E. (Chemical Awareness Resources and Education) is an education program the Coppell Family YMCA is now offering.
Strangis, a Coppell resident who is best known as the Dallas Stars play-by-play announcer, is an admitted recovering alcoholic and drug addict.
After deciding to become a sports broadcaster or a game show host, Strangis moved to Los Angeles, he said.
“I had nothing but a habit. I traded or sold every single thing I had for drugs,” he said.
And, his problem didn’t seem to be much of an issue where he was living, he said.
“I was in Hollywood, California, and it was ’82. Everybody did cocaine,” Strangis said.
He hit rock bottom at 25 when he thought he was having a heart attack after drinking too much Scotch and mixing it with cocaine. But, he couldn’t call 911 because his phone had been turned off for days without his realizing, Strangis said.
The near-death experience made him realize alcohol and drugs added nothing good to his life, he said.
“I know my life won’t get better if I drink or use drugs,” Strangis said.
Once he was clean, he had six-figure debt and no job or job prospects, he said, “but I was sober. I could do it with a clear head.”
As much as Coppell residents might not want to admit a problem with drugs or alcohol, the C.A.R.E. program will help people address it, he said.
“We’re in a community — we don’t want to talk about this,” Strangis said.
And, a 2006 Coppell High School graduate agreed with Strangis.
“At least this program is going to show what happens (on drugs or alcohol),” said Nichole Hoffman, who is now about 14 months clean.
After being kicked out of her dormitory and sorority, Hoffman agreed to go to rehab, she said.
For the first two months, she wasn’t doing it for herself, but once she was, she was on a fast-track to recovery, she said.
“Bottom line: no one’s gonna stop until they’re ready,” Hoffman said.
But, they can’t do it alone, she said.
“I lost everybody. People don’t know how to handle it,” Hoffman said.
A program like C.A.R.E can help families and friends support the person who is suffering without judgment, she said.
The resource will help people learn not to turn a blind eye.
Mayor Doug Stover told the group that he every day regrets not intervening when he saw his brothers traveling down the wrong path.
Stover has one brother serving a life sentence for dealing drugs, and the other no longer knows who he is because of drugs, Stover said.
“No one wakes up every morning and says, ‘I’d love to be an addict today,’” Stover said.
C.A.R.E chairperson Paul Arthur Burdine has also lost family members to drugs.
And because of his experiences, he said, he wants to see the program helping parents and their children address drug and alcohol problems.
In Coppell, about 30 percent of the population is younger than 18, he said. The teenagers are entering their at-risk years, Burdine said.
People don’t need to have a drug or alcohol problem to take part in the C.A.R.E. program classes, he said.
Once it is established, there will be educational programs once a month, Burdine said.
Ultimately, parents will need to readdress having a glass of alcohol in front of their children and learn to ask themselves and their offspring the difficult questions, Strangis said.
“What do you care about? What’s important?” Strangis said. “Do you care enough to do what’s hard?”
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