The
W W W. L A L O Y O L A N . C O M
EST. 1921
S RT
LIF E
Los Angeles LOYOLAN
SP O
Sep t
27, 201 ber 7 m e
NFL owners see the big picture by supporting players.
+
See how one LMU custodian plans on saving the world.
Page 12
Page 14
V O LU M E
TS AR
95
| ISSUE
5
‘I never asked to become an addict, but it made me stronger’
Jazon Munoz| Loyolan
Alison Wolf, a junior marketing major and facilitator of “Getting our Fix” the Narcotics Anonymous (NA) support group on campus, returned to LMU after recovering from heroin addiction.
Alison Wolf opens up about her addiction and recovery journey. Alison Wolf, as told to Isabel Ngo Managing Editor @LALoyolan
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death today in the United States for people under 50, the New York Times reported. In 2016, approximately 64,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdose. “It’s the only aspect of American health … that is getting significantly worse,” Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told the NY Times. The CDC reported that “the number of overdose deaths involving opioids (including prescription opioids and heroin) quadrupled” since 1999. As National Recovery Month comes to a close, Lions for Recovery at LMU is just starting the semester with support groups for students who have experienced alcohol and substance abuse. Alison Wolf, a junior marketing major from Santa Monica, leads “Getting Our Fix,” the Narcotics Anonymous (NA) group that meets every Friday on campus. Wolf returned to LMU from a medical leave after going to rehab and detox for heroin abuse. Wolf, 25, shared her story of recovery with Isabel Ngo, managing editor at the Loyolan.
I
was a hardworking student with a job — I worked 50 hours a week and went to school part time before I transferred to
LMU. I was extremely studious and got good grades. But after I lost my job, I had all this excess money. That’s when I found cocaine. I didn’t realize I was using every day until a month in. Slowly, my cocaine addiction turned into a crack addiction, and I was going into psychosis — that was the first time I went to rehab. It was also when I learned about heroin. Heroin gives you a euphoria — it’s not an ‘up’ — it feels like getting a warm hug inside of you. It mellows you out. It slows down time, so if you’re someone who’s constantly thinking, your mind can shut down on heroin. But it turns into a physical addiction. Instead of enjoying it, you build up a tolerance. You start being unable to go without it, because you start withdrawing. You get sick. It literally feels like you’re dying. I started living animalistically. I kept looking for ways to get money — stealing or conning people, even sexual favors at times — so I could get the drugs. You’ll do anything just so you don’t get that sickness. You keep on chasing this high, but you never get it. The first time I detoxed off heroin it took three days. Afterwards, it took more than a week of detox to start feeling normal again. There were days when I couldn’t even move. That was the hardest part. It’s why a lot of people don’t stop. You’re physically sick and mentally, you’re defeated. You’ll do anything to get rid of that feeling, that withdrawal. And right when you use heroin again, you instantly feel okay. Many people think that we choose to do it. But once you become addicted, it’s no longer a choice. You can’t resist it. It’s so controlling that you think about it all the time, you plan on getting it all the time. See Recovery | Page 2
Burma accused of ethnic cleansing The Rohingya population has allegedly been targeted in Myanmar. Matt Gaydos Managing Editor @LALoyolan
Armed forces in Myanmar have been killing the Muslim Rohingya minority in what some world leaders and U.N. officials are calling “ethnic cleansing” efforts, according to BBC News. The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, denied accusations of the reported atrocities, and said they were “very, very disappointed” by the comments, as reported by BBC News. The current leader of the elected party in parliament is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her “resistance to the military dictatorship,” according to the New York Times. While she is in charge of the government, she does not control the military. She has not yet publicly criticized the brutal treatment of the Rohingya minority. “To be fair, she was a political prisoner in her own country,” Dr. Amir Hussain, a professor of theological studies and adviser for the Muslim Students Association. “But now [she is] the leader of the country. And now [she has] a very different kind of power and responsibility.”
Hussain criticized her for standing idle and not exercising that new found power. “If you’re a Nobel Peace Prize winner, you can’t do [that],” he said. Okkar Min Din, a junior management major from Myanmar, believes that how Suu Kyi publicly addresses the military action against the Rohingya is not what matters. “What matters is that her party and the military should end feuds in order to help Myanmar develop,” Min Din said. The Rohingya have faced systemic discrimination since the 1982 Citizenship Law that excluded the group from citizenship. As a result, they are one of the largest stateless populations in the world, according to Human Rights Watch. Hussain drew a parallel between the attitude toward the Rohingya in Myanmar with the way we see undocumented immigrants in America. The Burmese excuse their actions, Hussain said, by claiming that the Rohingya “are not Burmese. They’re not Buddhist. So they don’t count.” From here, Hussain said, it is an easy jump to come to the conclusion that they are not human beings. Hussain explained that much of the Myanmar population do not believe the Rohingya should be in the country. “These people aren’t our citizens, so anything that happens to them is their own fault.” See Burma | Page 3