| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| HTA ID | HTA-0657 |
| Title | Drug Recovery — Young Brothers Staying Clean |
| Era | WKBW-TV (Buffalo, ~1973–1975) |
| Station | WKBW-TV Channel 7, Buffalo |
| Program | Eyewitness News |
| Role | Reporter |
| Segment Type | Feature |
| Duration | ~2:00 |
| Source File | WKBW Henry B&W 11 Mono.txt |
| Record Version | V1 (Transcript Only) |
Henry reports on drug addiction recovery in Buffalo's African-American community. Young men describe their journey from cough syrup and pot to university education, emphasizing the difficulty of staying clean while living in the same environment. A counselor notes that "the last thing we want to do is close the door on you" — drug addiction is described as one of the greatest problems facing the community.
00:00 . 00:30 It's been a long time. 00:31 Glad to see you here, though. 00:33 It's started the same way most our young brothers started out there now, 00:36 with the cough syrup, with the pot. 00:39 We've come a long way, man. 00:40 We're all going to school now, university. 00:42 It's hard being out there every day in it and being able to stay clean, 00:46 but it's a beautiful feeling. 00:48 The last thing we want to do is close the door on you. 00:50 Drug addiction is one of the greatest problems facing our cities, 00:54 yet answers and cures continue to elude us. 00:58 A new program here in Buffalo called LEAD focuses on education, prevention, and cure. 01:04 It began at the Jefferson Education Center as part of a radio program on WBFO's satellite studio. 01:11 Like for the past two years, I had lived in New York. 01:14 Perhaps its finest feature is its method of recruiting addicts who will work within the group toward their own cure. 01:21 One of the group's founders, William Rivera, himself a former addict, describes their method. 01:26 Our first step is we're going to go out to the streets, to the heavy drugged areas here in Buffalo, in pairs and whatnot, and we're going to approach them and let them know what we're doing here. 01:39 And they'll know that we are ex-addicts because we have a certain way of relating to one another. 01:47 We have experienced the same type of thing. 01:50 So informing them of what we're doing here, 01:54 we'll ask them to invest a few seconds of their time 01:57 to kind of look into it themselves. 02:00 And a group of us will sit there, our ex-addicts 02:04 and those that are coming in to get themselves together, 02:07 and we'll be more or less showing them a mirror 02:10 of where they're standing. 02:12 - The success of this program depends on many things, 02:15 money, facilities, but mostly the dedication 02:19 of the young former addicts who have been through the hell 02:21 of drug addiction and are trying to help pull their brothers 02:24 out. 02:25 Henry Lawrence, Eyewitness News.