During National Addictions Awareness Week, Nov. 15 to 21, Portage Ontario joined health and addiction organizations across the country to help raise awareness about addiction, in particular among young people.
For 30 years, Portage Ontario has been helping youth between 14 and 18 with serious substance abuse problems. Many have begun using drugs as early as 10 years old. They have lost interest in school and are not attending regularly, are often alienated from family and no longer living at home.
Portage seeks to helping young people overcome their dependencies and take back control of their lives.
The negative effects of drugs and alcohol impact not only on healthcare, public safety, and the economy, they impact communities, families, and the people we care about, Portage Ontario officials state. However, the note, the good News is that addiction treatment works, and recovery is possible. But, stigma is still a significant barrier for many.
In order to help reduce the stigma around drug addiction and recovery, Portage Ontario launched an online awareness campaign on Nov. 22.
The “Let’s reduce the stigma – Let’s #giveitup!” campaign seeks to help the public understand how hard it is for an addict to stop abusing drugs.
Portage Ontario is challenging people to give something up for 10 days– something that they are accustomed to having every day, like coffee, chocolate, or chips. Over the course of 10 days, Portage will share stories and testimonials about recovery and statistics about addiction in Canada. The hope is the campaign will get people talking about addiction and recovery.
