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Ex-addicts are turning lives around: Treatment called key to staying out of jail
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Most landlords won't rent to people with felony convictions--with good reason. Most employers won't hire them--with good reason. Many job fields are closed to felons--education, the military, health care, working for utility companies, the list goes on--and with good reason! About the only fields open are fast foods, which doesn't pay enough to support a family, and construction, for which many addicts lack skills. Addicts who sincerely want to overcome their addictions have an uphill battle that most of us can't even imagine--and knowing that they have crafted their own downfall doesn't make it any easier for them.
God bless the people who work with addicts--it's a tough, often thankless, very dishearting job. A wise and experienced probation officer told me once that the only addicts who make it are those who have some sort of spiritual change of heart and usually have a family who love them and that they will do for their children what they can't do for themselves.