Publication Rings in New Year With Stories of Hope Despite Ongoing Opioid Crisis

Books & Recovery Magazine highlights the need to spread the message that people do recover

COLORADO –While it would be nearly impossible to have missed the headlines of the last decade regarding the opioid crisis, the positive stories around substance use disorder are harder to come by. Not because they don’t exist, but because they don’t receive the same amount of attention. As a mother personally affected by the crisis, founder and publisher Rebecca Ponton hopes to change that with the digital publication, Books & Recovery.

“I have been the desperate parent, living in a state of terror about my child’s health and wellbeing, and trying to find help,” she says. “We’ve all heard and read the horror stories; I want families to know there are success stories, and there is hope.”

The message that needs to be shared is that people do recover. According to the 2023 report, Recovery from Substance and Mental Health Problems Among Adults in the United States, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2021, 70.0 million adults aged 18 or older perceived that they ever had a substance use and/or mental health problem, 72.1% (or 50.2 million) of whom considered themselves to be in recovery or to have recovered from their substance use and/or mental health problem (which often co-occur).

The opioid crisis dominates the headlines, but alcohol – a legal and socially acceptable drug – remains the number one substance used by Americans aged 12 and older, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), resulting in over 178,000 deaths a year.

The goal of the magazine, in part, is to be a voice to combat the mis/disinformation and stigma surrounding substance use disorder (which includes alcohol use disorder), and to provide medically and scientifically-based information. Toward that end, future editions of the magazine will include a column featuring doctors, who are “addiction” specialists, discussing treatment and options, such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT), the gold standard in evidenced-based treatment for opioid use disorder.

Subscription is free and Ponton encourages readers to share the publication and, with it, the message of hope.

Media contact: Rebecca Ponton | rebecca@booksandrecovery.com

SOURCE: Books & Recovery Magazine