ST. PAUL, Minn., November
14, 2006 – What if you have a drug addicted
son or daughter, husband or wife -- even an addicted grandparent
-- and they’re in denial about the depth of their
illness? What if they refuse to admit they’re addicted
at all?
Then you need to read “It’s
Not Okay To Be A Cannibal: How To Keep Addiction From Eating
Your Family Alive” -- a stunning new book
co-authored for Hazelden by Andrew T. Wainwright and Bob
Poznanovich, two recovering addicts whose own stories of
battling addiction show that anyone can face a ‘cannibal’
and win.
Based upon successful interventions
in 43 states and five countries, this 150-page paperback
is a practical, step-by-step survival guide with case histories
and real-life scenarios that offers readers reassuring advice,
recovery and hope when dealing with addicted family members.
“Why do we use the term ‘cannibal’ in
our book when we refer to people struggling with the deadly
illness of addiction?” asks Wainwright who, along
with Poznanovich, leads Addiction Intervention Resources
Inc., a national network of intervention consultants dedicated
to helping families break free of addiction. “It’s
not that addicts literally eat other people – but
cannibalism is an apt metaphor for what addiction does to
individuals and families.”
“It’s Not
Okay To Be A Cannibal” (slated for publication
in February 2007) takes the reader inside the reality of
addiction through real-life examples -- from a 19-year-old
in Texas whose family successfully intervened to get her
off crack to the 500-pound man who was literally trying
to kill himself with food to the Albuquerque teenager whose
entire room became a shrine to cocaine. “It’s
Not Okay to Be A Cannibal” eliminates the
mystery of how your family can intervene with an addict.
The book explains what to say and what not to say to an
addict, how to eliminate the “conspiracy of silence”
that envelops families dealing with an addict, and much
more.
“When they’re addicted,
the person you love is sick, crazy and overruled by the
cannibal who has taken up residence in their body,”
the authors explain in "It’s Not Okay
To Be A Cannibal." “If you wish to save
the person you love from the cannibal, you must first save
yourself. Otherwise, the cannibal will eat all of you alive
– not just the addict, but your whole family.”
Rejecting federal War on Drugs
policies -- the authors compare the government’s failed
‘War on Drugs’ to a form of addictive behavior
itself -- Wainwright and Poznanovich suggest that Americans
must commit to a campaign of “house-to-house fighting”
to save one family at a time through interventions. They
focus not on the addict, as most books do, but on the family
and friends of the addict.
Co-author Robert “Chicago Bob” Poznanovich was
a cocaine addict who lost his house, fiancée, savings
and his $200,000/year job as he descended into psychosis.
Andrew T. Wainwright is a former heroin addict who ended
up in a psychiatric ward. Both sought treatment at Minnesota’s
Hazelden treatment center and met in 1995 at a halfway house;
their acclaimed work with addicts has since been featured
in Psychology Today, Chicago Tribune and Fortune Small Business.
As readers turn the pages of
“It’s Not Okay To Be A Cannibal,”
they’ll learn insights from two of the most experienced
experts on addiction and intervention in the world. Among
the topics covered: why it’s statistically 10 times
harder to get a family to intervene with a loved one who
is addicted than it is to get the addict him or herself
to surrender to treatment for addition, why interventions
are most often scheduled for the morning, and what the number
one concern is among families considering an intervention
with an addict they love (the fear of suicide).
Ultimately, “It’s
Not Okay To Be A Cannibal” is both a handbook
and an inspiration for anyone who cares about someone trapped
by addiction: 90 percent of addicts who are intervened upon,
say the authors, get into treatment for their condition
and recover. “It’s Not Okay To Be A
Cannibal,” selling for $13.95, is available
through amazon.com
and at major bookstores across the country. For more information
about authors Andrew T. Wainwright and Bob Poznanovich,
visit www.addiction intervention.com or call toll-free 800-561-8158.