Pubdate: Mon, 04 Nov 2002
Source: Meridian Star, The (MS)
Copyright: 2002 Meridian Star
Contact:  http://www.meridianstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1698
Author: Steve Gillespie

FORMER ADDICT TURNS BAD HABIT INTO SOMETHING GOOD

DRUG EDUCATION - Billie Jo Miller, a recovering drug addict, wants state 
lawmakers to use some of the money seized from drug busts and fines 
collected from drunken driving and narcotics arrests to help fund secondary 
drug rehabilitation programs. She also wants to educate adults and children 
about drug abuse.

The energy Billie Jo Miller once spent looking for narcotics to feed her 
habit is now focused on making a difference in her community.

A self-proclaimed recovering addict, the Bailey resident wants to inform 
and educate adults and children about the dangers of illegal drug use. She 
also wants to enhance the rehabilitation process locally.

"Everybody has skeletons in their closet," Miller said. "If my skeletons 
can help somebody, they need to be dragged out."

Miller, 22, began abusing prescription pain medication as a teen-ager. She 
not only misused her own prescriptions for migraines - she also took 
medication prescribed to others.

"I would take anything I could to get away from the world I was in," said 
Miller, who on Dec. 6 will celebrate her first anniversary of being clean.

Drug education

This month, a year after going through detox and spending two months in the 
hospital for drug rehabilitation, Miller began an e-mail and letter-writing 
campaign to seek advice and support for her ideas.

Miller contacted public officials - including state legislators, county 
supervisors and city leaders - telling them about her plans to work with 
children and start a secondary drug rehabilitation program.

A secondary program would offer transitional, residential units that help 
people work their way back into society with intense counseling.

Miller wants state lawmakers to pass a bill to fund secondary drug 
rehabilitation programs with some of the money seized from drug busts and 
fines from drunken driving convictions and narcotics arrests.

"Most of the elected officials have said they would support me the best 
they can and to let them know what they can do to help," Miller said.

Lawmaker impressed

State Sen. Sampson Jackson, D-DeKalb, met with Miller last week and said he 
was impressed with her drive.

"That kind of money would be well spent," Jackson said. "We in the 
Legislature think we know how to solve problems, but I think we should 
listen to our constituents who have been through it. They have good ideas 
about how to solve problems."

Jackson said he would do everything he could to help Miller and may have 
her meet with legislative committees to find a way to aide those who want 
to overcome addiction.

Miller said she has also had her share of discouraging responses.

"One person told me that with no credentials I don't have a snowball's 
chance in hell of getting anywhere," Miller said. "That's made me that much 
more determined."

Miller is aware that drug education programs are in place, such as the DARE 
program initiated by law enforcement officers to warn school children about 
the dangers of drug abuse.

More work

But Miller said she believes more needs to be done to discourage drug use.

"Almost everyone in our community has been directly or indirectly affected 
by drugs or alcohol abuse," Miller said. "I believe children will listen 
more to someone who has been there and done that."

One of Miller's goals is to educate herself as well.

She plans to return to school in January at Meridian Community College. She 
eventually plans to enroll at Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus, 
to pursue degrees in psychology and social work.

Miller's pastor, the Rev. Clay Chancellor of Russell Baptist Church, has 
supported her efforts.

"She wants to see more managed control and preventative maintenance," 
Chancellor said. "That's what I like about her ideas and that's where her 
focus is. There is a need for a secondary drug rehabilitation program and 
we fully support it."

Miller doesn't pull any punches when she talks about the obstacles she has 
faced, both with her addiction and recovery.

"I was taught in rehab that you have to give back what recovery has given 
you, and that is what I want to do," Miller said.

Miller's plans

Today, Miller works as a hostess at Montana's Bar-B-Q & Seafood Restaurant 
and doesn't hide the fact that she has had a drug problem.

"I feel if someone doesn't want to take a chance on me that's their missed 
opportunity," she said. "Addiction is a battle I will fight for the rest of 
my life. You don't just go to rehab and then everything's OK."

She said she doesn't know where her efforts will take her.

She hopes to steer others away from drugs, provide the best possible chance 
for rehabilitation and help others recovering from drug addiction be better 
accepted into society.

Miller said she has the support of her husband, Gary Miller Jr., her 
pastor, other family and friends. And she said she draws inspiration from 
one of her favorite recording artists, Elton John.

Miller usually listens to "Elton John's Greatest Hits" on the compact disc 
player in her 1999 Oldsmobile Alero and almost always listens to Track 9 - 
"Don't Let the Sun go Down on Me."

"It might get dark at 5:30 in the evening, but not in my life," Miller 
said. "This is something I have to work on until there's nothing to work on 
anymore."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens