http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_227_Taking_A_Different_Route.mp3 Dick Gordon talks to Thomas Warren, a recovering addict who counsels his ex-drug buddies on the job. Plone 2.0 http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_227_Taking_A_Different_Route.mp3/logo.jpg http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_227_Taking_A_Different_Route.mp3 <h4>TAKING A DIFFERENT ROUTE</h4><p class="imageleft"><img class="image-left" src="resolveuid/be6984ce7de82c6fdce1a5c4c6ce27d2" alt="Crack" height="100" width="100" />Crack cocaine</p><p>Nearly 8 million Americans say they have sampled crack at some point in their lives. In Tennessee yesterday, a father admitted to smoking crack cocaine in front of his 11-month old baby. And a woman in New Hampshire was charged with making crack cocaine in her home kitchen.</p><p>Thomas Warren says he knows the devastation that using crack cocaine causes. Thomas started using in the 1980s while he was a bus repair man. <br /></p><blockquote><p>In 1989, I overdosed 3 times. You know, everybody left me for dead. They robbed me, took my car, everything. Just left me in the house… And somehow I came through… that's a circumstance that led up to me saying it's time for me to stop. <br />-Thomas Warren</p></blockquote><p class="imageleft"><img class="image-left" src="resolveuid/10e2ca66d6eeb3775d916496a53a6df7" alt="Thomas Warren 2" height="100" width="100" />Thomas Warren</p><p>Thomas has been clean since 1989. These days, he counsels his co-workers about all kinds of issues, including drug use.</p><p>Thomas tells Dick Gordon about his life's journey -- from taking his first drink at age 4 to becoming the person addicts now turn to for help. <br /></p><p>Thomas Warren is currently a Peer Assistant for the Municipal Transportation Authority (M.U.N.I.) in San Francisco, California.</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=crack.htm&amp;url=http://www.na.org/ " target="_self">Do you need help with addiction? </a></li><li>Find out <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/crack.htm" target="_self">how crack works</a></li></ul><blockquote>Music heard in this story:<br />Funky Driver on a Funky Bus by Charles Leondard for the album Bay Area Funk - Funk &amp; Soul Essentials from San Francisco, Oakland, and the Bay Area 1967-1976, Vol. 1 <br /><br />The Wheels On the Bus by Rhythm 'n Kids for the album Rhythm 'n Kids - Volume One<br /></blockquote><br /><p><a title="Add To This Story" class="addbtn" href="resolveuid/cc2a8297b6c0d5c86538f03c46448d35" target="_self">Add to Story</a><br /></p><h4>REMEMBERING JOEY</h4><p>Karen Dalton is an artist who lives near Bynum, North Carolina.  She recently wrote to The Story about someone she knew from her childhood in Newark, New Jersey, a boy named Joey.</p><blockquote><p>Joey was a Downs Syndrome kid that lived on our block 4 houses from mine… Joey was not allowed out of the house. He lived on the second floor. [But] Joey spent his childhood playing with us from the windows in his house.<br />-Karen Dalton</p></blockquote><p>Karen learned from her mother just this month that Joey passed away. He was 61. She talks to Dick about her poignant and fun memories of Joey's friendship.</p><ul><li>Read <a title="Karen's Essay" href="resolveuid/ad41e4340481f59785483f62d0107d44" target="_self">Karen's essay about Joey</a><br /></li></ul><a title="Add To This Story" class="addbtn" href="resolveuid/cc2a8297b6c0d5c86538f03c46448d35" target="_self">Add to story</a><br /> crack Thomas Warren bus Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:00:00