REALLY YOU HAVE WON THE LOTTERY
If it is true that 10% of our population has a propensity to alcoholism and/or drug addiction, and if you are one of the folks that happen to be in clean and sober. In treatment, or in a positive recovery environment then Congratulations!
YOU DEFINATLY HAVE WON THE LOTTERY!!!!
It goes like this — I lived off and on for about 23 years in Houston, Texas. Within the Greater Houston area, at that time, 2015, there was approximately 6,220,000 people, plus or minus a few undocumented folks, living and getting along in their lives.
Ten percent of this number is 622,000.
Wow, that is a lot of alcoholics and addicts running around.
The Lottery Formula
Lets try and think of it this way. If each possible alcoholic and drug addict spends just $20 bucks a day on their drinking and using, let me get out my calculator,
OK, that would be 622,000 x $20 = $1,244,000 each day!
Then, $1,244,000 x 7 days of the week = just $8,708,000
Finally, $8,708,000 x 52 weeks of the year. (No time off for weekends and holidays). = $452,816,000 and no cents!!!!
$20 Bucks is Just A Start
This is only a good number if we assume our drunk buddies and junkie friends only spend $20 dollars a day.
As a 40-year addiction survivor, I can attest to personal experience that just spending $20 would only be the start of my day. When I was out there smoking crack, shooting dope, drinking beer and whiskey.
Any good alky or druggie would just get upset at only having a twenty. A little taste. (Doper Slang)
Lets Spend 50 US Greenbacks
Right, let’s see what the figures are for that.
If we were to increase the daily amount spent to $50 a day, the amount is staggering. It’s – $11,320,400,000 per day!
That is 11 billion, 320 million, and 400 thousand buckaroos!
Whew. That’s a truckload. A whole bunch of trucks. And that is just Houston, Texas.
WOW. How many major cities in the USA — 25–30, overwhelming and staggering!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Story Time Again
So, let me get back to “you winning the lottery”.
I lived in a great recovery residence in Houston. It is a very nice, well furnished home with plenty of space, 8000 sf, to move around in. They have room for about 23–24 men who come to us, to regain or renew their sobriety.
The sober home is still and has always been considered to be a very well structured environment. It is safe and secure, and which promotes positive abstinence and recovery through the original 12 step process.
Fact
I can absolutely say for a fact, that I did nothing to deserve such a wonderful existence. Nothing at all except ask a good friend for help!
I was stuck out in South Texas near the boarder with no place to go. I called him up and asked him if he needed help with the Powerhouse. Ha said “When is the next Greyhound bus to Houston”.
My history, if it be known, is that I deserved a 8 x 12, with steel curtains and cement carpeting. Rotting away in prison as my addiciton took me places no one should ever go.
If real Texas justice was to be served — I deserved to be sleeping with an itchy blanket on a green 3 inch prison mattress, with a nasty old pillow to rest my head on.
The damn cold as heck, stainless steel commode/sink/water faucet combo, is the worst of it all.
The Great News
Today, living here back in the United Kingdom on the Southwest Coast of Devon, I actually get to drink coffee that is not just instant coffee. Brewed with very luke warm water and no sugar or cream. I have a real electric kettle, and not water from a toilet sink.
I get to use a real knife and fork, (not a flimsy plastic spork).
Today, I also get to sit down at the wooden table in the dining room to eat my dinner looking out my window at a scene from a British tourist postcard. The little seaside town I currently live has absolute amazing views of the seafront.
I can go outside and look up any time I wish. Also,I can see the stars at night and the clouds and sun in the day. I can feel the wind in my face!!!!! Or I can walk down, downhill of course, to the seafront and harbour down in town.
I can smell the fresh sea air, coming mostly right off the Atlantic Ocean. I can smell newly cut grass and can pet the friendly dog down the road at a neighbour’s estate.
Again Back To The Lottery Story
Back in Houston, Texas, if we say, approximately 622,000 people have a problem with drugs and alcohol.
Then me, being just one man out of 622,000 ending up with this life, I current have, is absolutely like winning the lottery.
Dont need to count the USA’s current population of over 328.2 million, of which an estimated 841,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose. You can image the Everest size mountain of cash spent.
In 2019, 70,630 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States. The CDC estimates that in 2020 over 81,000 died from Substance Use Disorder and accidental over dose.
2021 Is Not Going To Be Good
The news does not get better. As COVID-19 has disseminated our world, addiciton rates are skyrocketing. With no end in site now that the boarder is full of people wanting to enter the United States. I would give a guess of that in 2021 over 100,000 people will die needlessly.
Th perish away from us, mostly alone and seemingly hopeless in their suffering.
When I open my eyes each morning I never fail to forget what it is I really deserve.
If there were justice in the world and it got dealt out to me, it surly would not have put me here. I was given an abundance of grace and mercy.
Thank God, I did not get what I deserved!!! I only just won the Lottery!
Thank You So Much
Thanks for you for your time today. I know time is precious! And if you would like to win the lottery of success in recovery like I have. The please, please, please reach out to someone. Someone trained and properly educated who knows all about the freedom from addiction. There are many of us!
They would he glad to show you how it’s done! I certainly would love to tell you more.
I can tell you a story you just won’t believe and I can tell you about the men that made it possible.
Men like my friend Adam Mitchell, who live just a few block from my flat in Torquay or Kenny Laney from the Powerhouse Recovery Center in Houston.
Others like Mickey Bush, Chris Raymer or Mark Houston.
Even the very first man in recovery I met long ago in 1979. Mr. Don Pritz. These guys and many like them have dedicated their very existence to helping those who suffer.
You can get a hold of me here – Chris France | MediaWorx.Online