Has a population of about 200100 years ago it was one of the Fastest Growing towns in the u. S. It was famous for producing robin to come out tiles and was even called the capital of the world in the last 50 years the population has fallen by a 3rd and continues to decline these days akron is better known as the meth capital of ohio its a city where the number of drug addicts keeps growing every year this film was shot in several private Rehab Centers and is about the people who still live in them who have recently left. We are at the emma recovery residence a home thats been in my family for over 50 years 53 years i believe i have know ive read read some editorials and such lately were and people are saying that the worst is behind us and that is far from true. The statistics such as they are are disappointing now the just released accounting report were and were on track to outpace last years deaths significantly. To former prisoners and to people who have checked out of state rehab center and need a safe shelter for a while they can stay free until they find work then they pay 500. 00 a month in rent. 10 months and. I mean really that im alive lets hear. My last jury. My 4 story apartment window on the sidewalk and should not be alive here today not be able to walk its just another thing everything i just did and i straight. You know they sent a work out. I had to go to serve. The darker phone. My hope. Still be alive the last time i was there smoke. Here all those. Kind of drugs. You know. And corey met when they both rented rooms for marina and both had been heroin and misuses for than 10 years. Corey is from a very poor family in West Virginia and his mother abandoned her at birth and shes never seen her biological father. Then thats me he was right after they doubted me is that after that 4 days old i remember that she doesnt even know the. Big mystery. I dont really care its not important. And i have a great family anyway. And then thats me senior picture so i was 17 and a half there. And i was a blond then. If. This says her adoptive parents were wealthy and loving but that didnt save her from addiction and other things the rap sheet and corey have now states i knew. I was just broken you know i broke in college when i was raped in that stairwell you know thats when i started drinking and that slate when the the addiction in me was like awakened but never like. Consistently or like norrish like i mean i nurtured my heroin it made everything that was broken inside of me go away. When we met or all things he was working at one of the crunch Rehab Centers and had been clean for long enough as well as Administrative Law to the center. Of the streets hoping to try and help them change their lives. Hopefully. Plain to see me thats what its all about you know all it takes is that one person. Connecting with another person or believe in somebody else. But god i got with that white man that awful im right im rob. You know. Ok when the research is pretty conclusive i mean we have genetic markers for addiction the disposition towards addiction certainly it is a Learned Behavior as well so now we have 3 generations of people under the same roof who know active addiction and again thats pretty entrenched i mean how do you interrupt that cycle. Dads wasted on this you know the kids are on meth where do you start to untangle that one im good now because i dont want to be a statistic i want to give my kids stuff that i didnt have. My dad could means money. You know my aunts and uncles came up when i was 14 i came up to ohio. My whole family were gigantic it was a perfect storm of factors we are just now peeling back the layers of trauma throughout much of the 1990 s. And beyond the doctors were encouraged in some cases incentivized to overprescribe we have 2 small towns here in ohio. That have been prescribed millions of pills i mean enough to sedate the small country then we have the sim aloa cartels and the other mexican cartels who have Distribution Centers throughout the rust belt in the midwest. Very central among them drug addiction and the many other just desperate causes is the main reason behind steadily declining population according to the American Medical Association journal in 70 is from 2010 to 2017 the death rate among people aged 25. 00 to 64. 00 rose by more than 20 percent. This memorial was actually conceived built by the young people of our residents here are recovering. Residents are part of who we are part of what we do is we provide ceremony in these peoples lives the ceremony of death which. Started about in 2013 we buried our 1st young guy from the house here and it has not abated and they are succumbing you know one after the next so these are all the personalized tags of the young souls who came to us and sought help and theres more coming. We had a couple of our crew of our sort of core guys who lived at the house when they left against the council 48 hours later they were dead relapse and just. Picked back up part of the challenge is if you stay in recovery obviously your tolerance lowers significantly. So you go back to believing in the way of the way in this changed significantly i mean were talking about. A chemical that can stop your heart with the net mess of a grain of salt can stop your heart. You know just talking about fentanyl and cough and tamil continues to treat pain quite similar to heroin chemically but. Compared to heroin fentanyl is 50 times more potent cough until 5000 times cough into militias some powerful that its used as a veterinary tranquilizer 2 milligrams is enough to sedate an elephant recent years have seen several mass prove a dose of his own fentanyl and cough and to know the drugs are cheap and pushes them to the expensive heroin and meth to increase their profits given addicts more of a high for less money to strengthen their dependence. Its hard for dealers to get the dose right when they concoct the mixture at home thats why so many people die from overdoses and anyone who survives enjoys a painful withdrawal much worse even than from heroin. Doing too much. Why would you want to throw up your clientele but then you should also hear about people say ray ray over here that yes somebody 3 people just died off all that stuff and we got to go get that guy was just crazy he did too much you know what he would do im different you dont know why you. Know you are going to the same thing you know ok well we got it wrong lets go get it. From. The ground were in a house theres nobody around is guess what. Im a. Drug dealing has long been a simple and accessible source of income for many a time for anyone who wants to quit and break the cycle of addiction because the push is on literally everywhere. Its not hard. I want to be sober but i thought i did and then i was walking to the bus you know from the sober house was over and brown street great area and i literally met my dealer walking to the bus stop he was like hey you want to sample thats how easy it is you know and i was like sure. To get you know and thats thats that was. One curious. Byproduct of course of the epidemic is the. Epidemic of crime. And i just. Here were 3 young guys right down the street here were shot in a running gun battle i mean were talking about a small city were at 100 what 90000 people and weve got a running gun battles up i mean its like chicago in the thirtys its a wave of crime ive had rounds hit the building next door and 9 millimeter rounds right through the picture window so this is the wild west you know courtesy of the epidemic. Where you put this ad nearly 3 am. Myself has started. Im not a. Ok were at a. B. C. Church Akron Bible Church on brown street and we came here to do trunk or tree. Its where the kids travel all trying to try car to car in their costumes they get candy. This has halloween coming up and its a Recovery Church and thats what they do the dirty of everybody thats here is the recovery from some sort of addiction. Its a rough neighborhood. And. You cant be both with yet you. Secret prisons are not usually what comes to mind when thinking about europe however even the most prosperous can be deceived within this 0 zone there were 2 view houses were our prison was located only cia people had access to the story for investigators sure hell they uncovered the darkest dealings of the secret services but i mean there you go rated nor in. Hockey seem a bit sore knee yes or no for. Crying for justice on r. T. Dont. Annex a coal group is a member of the crown bible church she has 4 children and no husband she hasnt used meth for over a year and believes her drug and sex addictions a rooted in her childhood. My dad raised me work and now fox saying he raised me like as if i was his son instead of his daughter so thats how i dress and a lot of people would make fun of me for it that i and then at home my dad choosing my step mom over me i feel like because she didnt like me and she didnt like the relationship that my dad and i had and he kind of wanted to please her which kind of left me lonely i think thats where it all came into play i just wanted to sleep with somebody even if it was for one night just that you know 5 minutes or an hour couple hours of being with somebody for one night made me feel like i had selfworth. The drugs would know me but then the more people i slept with or the more bad things that i did or you know people that i heard id have to use more drugs to try to numb those feelings on top of the feelings or mardy numbing and it was just a process that never ended and then eventually it got to the point where nothing more. Just says please run play baseball or yes i was really good at it played Little League world series when i was 14. Very good at baseball was my escape baseball was my getaway because of the childhood and i had a grown up i used to use music driving foolish when i had my moments i still. Say joan if you. You know i love being around kids and you know helping kids and stuff to the point where ultimately i dont want to use them for their kids but when i go and i spend more time over there because they have kids because it allows me to decompress. Wasnt there for mark huge. And there was a very emotional. Never knew her biological father but says shes immensely grateful to her adoptive dad he kept believing in her throughout her years of addiction its largely because of his support that she managed to overcome her dependence start a family was corey and move into a house in a nice safe neighborhood. Lost so many close. In may using. The. F. Word dad every time i go to treatment he had to pretty much buy new clothes he. Got so good blake going to the store and getting like Womens Clothing like the ladies at the store knew when they go she need more clothes you know my dad. Found this neighborhood for us he thought it would be a good place to start a family without her dad we would not be here now but thats what it takes to take family for. More really stuff. This is for oh the cover here were. Worried about really were eating there so theyre ready and in the end he is and. Says baby my mom got does theyre collectors items now i guess dad sees for like all these years and then gave them to me for lizzie oh. Oh oh. We are at. Terry in the Highland Square area of akron ohio we come every morning of course for pride to do his thing but we also visit. A number of our misfit. In this place is. Fairly planted with them. Tom was 36 is actually one of the institutes very 1st volunteers and staff people just tremendously creative spirit really a beautiful person to look like a viking but 36. Seth apple also used to rent a room from ray not while recovering from his addictions he was adopted by lance and carol apple pious financially stable and seemingly prosperous in every sense a good christian couple. There are some. Number 12. I got to call. 36 morning. Had a particular addiction to alcohol was an issue for me but. The its called. The active ingredient in cough syrup. And they also street. It is called robo tripping robitussin and what he would do is he would drink several bottles of it and it would cause some. Effect and thats what he was. Pretty much with using drugs for about 12 years he did have some very stringent rules that he voiced that. No hair away you know he said dont mess with those so he really we believe he thinks thought he had a handle on this that he was using it properly and he was not quite. Willing to give it up. Well we had lets see a little was the best i know them are 6155 pm so this isnt my 1st child its koreas 1st child my 1st child was adopted. By way choosing only to say that it was the best option and you know my cousins ended up adopting her. But the 1st time was just it was a you know i was. Trying to understand. And then trying to become a mother at the same time and it fundamentally did. We 1st met our protagonist in june 29th teen and for the last time in february 2020 during that time the rehab center where rob rawlings worked closed down. And started using it again. Then he completed a one month course at a rehab clinic and found a job you know he delivers heavy white goods like fridges and washing machines he gets up at 5 am every day and mostly lives in hotels because he has to travel involved in his work he says hes making more than ever before and feels happy selfsufficient his dream is to save enough by the end of the year to rent premises for his own sober house so he can start helping other people again. The most. Trying to help themselves obviously everybody wants to help everybody the epidemic is ridiculous take your yourself before you take. You know you know. You cant transmit something you dont have. Running a household 14 which i would get down every time i would hurt every time i would feel pain i would go far one of the guys in the house to see what they needed because. Problem is you cant. Grab somebody else and hope thats the same you know if the problem and the problems maybe theres just put a bandaid on it because when. You go. You know i was. So i actually i had. To process. Mentally. Emotionally the physical part is just simply pick. And percent of well ever get. A heroin addict. If you add up every Treatment Center ive been since i started on majoring in recovery and then the relapse and then back in recovery in the area and etc ive spent. Close to 3 years in programs and thats not counting time that i spent in sober living you know but every time i went you know planted a seed and it made i made more connections it wasnt all you know because im sitting here and im alive and i am giving back to the community that i used to be a burden. Completed her studies at the Recovery Coach Academy founded by. 2022 years since she stopped using more than 10 years ago she went to college to become a social worker. Wants to use knowledge and experience to help addicts to break the vicious cycle and claim back. They have this false belief that the streets care about them and those people support them that are out on the street but if they get some support over here you know you can introduce them to like a better way of living slowly no its not going to be fast and its not going to you know but maybe they will one day. Maybe they want thats like the saddest thing about this field is youre going to watch people die youre going to watch them kill them so. Also completed her recovery Coach Training a little earlier but she hasnt started working yet she wants to get her life back on track so now devotes all of her attention to her children. You know i love my children i have 4 kids with 3 different dad now my 1st daughters father hung himself my. Kids middle 2 children that i have dallas and cole and who are 5 and 4 their dad is about alcoholic and hes clean right now but. Last kid that i have his dad is an active addiction still to this day so chances are one out of 4 of my kids will be an addict at least if i live the right way and show them how to live instead of tell them how to live their lives my job i can only lead by example d and if they choose the opposite way thats ok ill be here for them i wont enable that but i will be there for them. Just a couple of news items is anyone following whats happening in Franklin County this week 28 deaths in 10 days again thats 28 deaths in one county in the past and. Continues to help rehabilitate former drug users and educate others he believes that individual coaching is the best solution. Other teachers at the academy see addiction as an illness and not just a sickness of the mind and body but an affliction of the spirit and thats what gets in the way for many who are trying to escape drug dependency they dont have the strength of spirit or high and goals to face but they can succeed. Again i think its important to note that its not an opioid. I mean perhaps ultimately its an epidemic of spirit its the fact that weve become so disconnected soul bereft of spirit and community. Moving forward now a lot of you. You are all going to be working in wildly different capacities please know you are the tip of the spear of the recovery revolution. Ah no no crow. No shots. Actually felt. Well. No 1st. Point ch your thirst for action. Thousands of american men and women choose to serve in the countrys military and the decision lotos shot it lives every day and came to a complete. The day that i was right to be instructed you know told to shut up what theyd kill me and i see how it destroyed my life any screamed at me and he made me come in and he grabbed my arm and he write me with his birthing area if you take into account that women dont report because of the extreme retaliation and its probably somewhere near about half a 1000000 women have now been sexually assaulted in the us military rape is a very very traumatizing thing tat happen but ive never seen trauma like ive seen from women who are veterans who have suffered military sexual trauma reporting rape is more likely to get the victim punished than be offended i had an almost 10 year career or chose very invested in and i gave that up to report a sex offender who was not even put to justice or put on the registry this is simply an issue of tower and violence male sexual predators for the large part of target whoever is there to prey upon whether thats a man or woman. All boats are going to after a week long vote chilled changes to the russian constitution with nearly 80 per cent bucking the. Police. Shootings repeated. A wave of protests calling a new security law comes into force potentially drawing the u. S. Into another standoff. Because the move 1st