WPIX NEWSROOM

September 12, 2009
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (WPIX)—
Recovered addicts and their families walked across the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday to celebrate recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. They even got the chance to check out Smokey Robinson - who has a special connection to all of them. They are all recovering addicts, free from the scourge of drugs.

The concert at Cadman Plaza capped off a huge rally that began with some ten thousand people walking across the Brooklyn Bridge - taking the symbolic steps to recovery. This is the second such celebration of recovery to raise awareness that addiction is a treatable disease.

Once addicted to Valium, Elisia Dones told PIX News she has been clean for 30 years and is now a substance abuse counselor.

"This is solidarity," said Dones. "People need to know I'm talking to someone whose walked down the same road as me...and you came out of it so I know I can too."

Governor Paterson was at 'The Recovery Project ' event to make the point that New York State having recently repealed the harsh Rockefeller drug laws, is trying to replace incarceration with treatment for drug users.

"We are giving individual judges the opportunity to choose what will be a treatment protocol for defendants when they are sentenced," said Paterson. "We are giving people a second chance."

More than 22-million Americans struggle with addiction to alcohol and other drugs. But less than ten percent of them get the treatment they need.

"My message to them is to get help immediately," said Robinson. "I don't care what source you use or where you go. Get help immediately."