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    A Place of Grace

    Jul 26, 2022 6 minutes
    By LOU ORTENZIO, Clarksburg, West Virginia

    To anyone suffering the pain of addiction, I want to offer three simple words I know are true: There is hope.

    How do I know that?

    Because for four decades, I have lived through every facet of this complex and heart-wrenching problem. And I wake up every day filled with hope.

    As a small-town doctor, I prescribed opioids to generations of patients in pain—physical, emotional and spiritual pain.

    I became addicted to those same drugs. I lost my medical practice, fractured my family and was convicted of prescription fraud. God found me, and I entered into recovery. Now I work at the Clarksburg Mission, a shelter and treatment center that has been helping my town’s most vulnerable residents since 1971.

    I know what addiction does to the body and brain. I know how and why people become dependent on drugs and alcohol. I know what it’s like to bust up your life. And I know what it’s like to put things back together

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