Like most adolescents, I craved a sense of identity. From the outside looking in, you would have thought I had it all: two great parents, a stable home life, made good grades, played basketball, won Mr. Senior, etc., but there was an emptiness, a void, that I could never fill.

In 2011 I was beaten and broken. I knew if I didn't do something different and stop using drugs, then I was going to blow my brains out.

What I am about to tell you is a true story, but in many ways it seems unbelievable. Matter of fact, without God, it would have been completely impossible! I grew up as a normal little girl, kind of chubby, and rather outgoing and funny.

My name is Loretta Smith. I grew up in Inez Kentucky and was the younger of two kids. I had what I considered a normal childhood even though both sides of my family had alcoholism in them. My only brother and I were raised in a two parent home and we were always loved by our parents.

Jason Jones of Morehead, a former drug addict and now a counselor at Addiction Recovery Care (ARC), presented recently at the 2015 conference of the Kentucky Counseling Association (KCA) in Louisville. His presentation was titled, “Introducing Abstinent Members into Suboxone Counseling Groups.”

Often loved ones that need residential treatment for a drug or alcohol addition refuse to go. In Kentucky, Casey's Law allows family members to request a court provide involuntary commitment at a residential treatment facility.