MARGARET MORSE TOURS

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No One Does It Better... No One!

Israel

MAR RET MORSE TOURS .

SINCE 1980

A 3 GENERATION
FAMILY BUSINESS

ing the Shema. I could talk."

Coming Home

There was no JAGS support organiza-
tion in Michigan when Samuel
returned — only 15 states have chap-
ters. Samuel gathered information._
about JAGS, contacted the New York
central office, consulted with Jewish
Family Service, and informally spoke
with physicians, social workers and
psychologists about the need for this
support in the metropolitan Detroit
Jewish community.
Two years ago, Gloria Allum,
addictions program director at JFS,
started her work at JFS, concentrating
on treatment for patients who were
chemically dependent. "I saw this
huge gap," says Allum. "I was work-
ing with a large number of chemically
dependent patients as an outpatient
therapist but there was no support
program for them and their families."
People talked about stress, rather
than alcohol or cocaine dependency,
she says. "No one talked about sub-
stance abuse in the Jewish communi-
ty,.but people were seeking help and
coming to me as patients. It was obvi-
ous this area needed a support organi-
zation."
She heard about JAGS, called New
York, and they linked her to Samuel.
The local group's first meeting was
May 16.
Samuel and Allum say recovering
addicts and their families can't man-
age recovery by themselves; they need
support.
"Jewish people are used to saying,
`We're strong enough, we can do that,
we've been through worse,' or We're
too smart for that,'" says Mum. "The
problem is too many Jewish families use
these as excuses to deny there is a prob-
lem." Samuel knows JAGS works from
personal experience. "I learned that sub-
stance abuse is a disease. As a parent, I
didn't cause it to happen to my child,
and I can't control it for my child. The
support group teaches you how to let
go of your addict so that you're no
longer enabling. JAGS shows me how
to take care of myself"

Suppo rt Building

The strategy for metropolitan
Detroit JACS is far-reaching.
During the past few months,
Samuel and Allum and others have
contacted local rabbis and requested
their support. This includes recog-.
nizing that substance abuse is a
problem in the Jewish community
and talking about it. It also means

having speakers present at syna-
gogue functions, for the youth
groups and Jewish schools.
"Estimates of substance abuse
are usually lower for the Jewish
population than actually exists,"
says Maxine Uttal, director of JAGS
at the central office in New York.
"In the early 1990s, the state of
New York took a poll and from that
determined that the percentage of
substance abuse in the Jewish popu-
lation was about the same as in the
general population."
In the late 1980s, she says, Rutgers
University in New Jersey operated a
cocaine hotline. Religious affiliation
was asked and 18 percent of the
respondents indicated they were
Jewish.
The religious community believes
the percentage of their members, who
are substance abusers is much smaller,
under 4 percent. JACS believes that it
is closer to 10 percent. "Those are
estimates," says Uttal, "because we
have no hard data. We do know,
however, that alcohol is the most
popular substance, and cocaine the
second most popular. Among the
older population, addiction to tran
quilizers, sedatives and pain pills are
common. -
"We also know that the greater the
denial of the problem, the longer the
delay to get into a treatment program,
which exacerbates the problem."
Samuel believes JACS is unique
because of the spirituality it brings
with the support. Families connect
with one another, explore their
Jewish roots and discover resources
within Judaism to help their recov-
ery program. It achieves this
through retreats and support pro-
grams, through community out-
reach programs and seminars to
educate and sensitize Jewish spiritu-
al leaders, health professionals and
the Jewish community in general.
"The program doesn't take the place
of AA, but it does supplement it," says
Samuel. "The 12 steps are still an inte-
gral part of recovery. Addiction is a
physical, mental and spiritual disease
that can be successfully treated but it
needs the community" ❑

11,1argaret Morse
with daughter Wendy and
grandchildren II,hchael & Robyn.

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Reaching JACS

JACS meetings are held at Jewish
Family Service, 6960 Orchard Lake
Road, Suite 202, West Bloomfield.
The meetings are 7-8 p.m. every
Tuesday. For information, call JFS,
(248) 737-5055.

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