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EST. 1921
VOLUME 95 I ISSUE 5
Jazon Munoz| Loyolan
Alison Wolf, a junior marketing major and facilitator of "Getting our Fix" the Narcotics Anonymous (NA) support group on campus, returned to LMU after recovering from heroin addiction.
Burma accused of
ethnic cleansing
Alison Wolf opens up about
her addiction and recovery
journey.
Alison Wolf,
as told to Isabel Ngo
Managing Editor
@LALoyolan
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of
death today in the United States for people
under 50, the New York Times reported. In
2016, approximately 64,000 people in the
U.S. died from drug overdose.
“It’s the only aspect of American health
... that is getting significantly worse,” Tom
Frieden, the former director of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
told the NY Times.
The CDC reported that “the number
of overdose deaths involving opioids
(including prescription opioids and
heroin) quadrupled” since 1999.
As National Recovery Month comes to
a close, Lions for Recovery at LMU is just
starting the semester with support groups
for students who have experienced alcohol
and substance abuse.
Alison Wolf, a junior marketing major
from Santa Monica, leads “Getting Our
Fix,” the Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
group that meets every Friday on campus.
Wolf returned to LMU from a medical
leave after going to rehab and detox for
heroin abuse. Wolf, 25, shared her story of
recovery with Isabel Ngo, managing editor
at the Loyolan.
I was a hardworking student with a job
— I worked 50 hours a week and went to
school part time before I transferred to
LMU. I was extremely studious and got good
grades. But after I lost my job, I had all this
excess money. That’s when I found cocaine.
I didn’t realize I was using every day until
a month in. Slowly, my cocaine addiction
turned into a crack addiction, and I was
going into psychosis — that was the first time
I went to rehab. It was also when I learned
about heroin.
Heroin gives you a euphoria — it’s not an
‘up’ — it feels like getting a warm hug inside
of you. It mellows you out. It slows down
time, so if you’re someone who’s constantly
thinking, your mind can shut down on
heroin.
But it turns into a physical addiction.
Instead of enjoying it, you build up a
tolerance. You start being unable to go
without it, because you start withdrawing.
You get sick . It literally feels like you’re dying .
I started living animalistically. I kept looking
for ways to get money — stealing or conning
people, even sexual favors at times — so I
could get the drugs. You’ll do anything just
so you don't get that sickness. You keep on
chasing this high, but you never get it.
The first time I detoxed off heroin it took
three days. Afterwards, it took more than a
week of detox to start feeling normal again.
There were days when I couldn’t even move.
That was the hardest part. It’s why a lot of
people don’t stop. You’re physically sick and
mentally, you’re defeated. You’ll do anything
to get rid of that feeling, that withdrawal.
And right when you use heroin again, you
instantly feel okay.
Many people think that we choose to do it.
But once you become addicted, it’s no longer
a choice. You can’t resist it. It’s so controlling
that you think about it all the time, you
plan on getting it all the time.
The Rohingya population
has allegedly been targeted
in Myanmar.
—
Matt Gaydos
Managing Editor
@LALoyolan
Armed forces in Myanmar have been
killing the Muslim Rohingya minority in
what some world leaders and U.N. officials
are calling “ethnic cleansing” efforts,
according to BBC News.
The government of Myanmar, also
known as Burma, denied accusations
of the reported atrocities, and said they
were “very, very disappointed” by the
comments, as reported by BBC News.
The current leader of the elected party in
parliament is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who
won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her
“resistance to the military dictatorship,”
according to the New York Times.
While she is in charge of the government,
she does not control the military. She
has not yet publicly criticized the brutal
treatment of the Rohingya minority.
“To be fair, she was a political prisoner
in her own country,” Dr. Amir Hussain, a
professor of theological studies and adviser
for the Muslim Students Association. “But
now [she is] the leader of the country. And
now [she has] a very different kind of
power and responsibility.”
Hussain criticized her for standing idle
and not exercising that new found power.
“If you’re a Nobel Peace Prize winner, you
can’t do [that],” he said.
Okkar Min Din, a junior management
major from Myanmar, believes that how
Suu Kyi publicly addresses the military
action against the Rohingya is not what
matters.
“What matters is that her party and the
military should end feuds in order to help
Myanmar develop,” Min Din said.
The Rohingya have faced systemic
discrimination since the 1982 Citizenship
Law that excluded the group from
citizenship. As a result, they are one of the
largest stateless populations in the world,
according to Human Rights Watch.
Hussain drew a parallel between the
attitude toward the Rohingya in Myanmar
with the way we see undocumented
immigrants in America. The Burmese
excuse their actions, Hussain said, by
claiming that the Rohingya “are not
Burmese. They’re not Buddhist. So they
don’t count.” From here, Hussain said, it
is an easy jump to come to the conclusion
that they are not human beings.
Hussain explained that much of the
Myanmar population do not believe the
Rohingya should be in the country. “These
people aren’t our citizens, so anything
that happens to them is their own fault.”
See Burma | Page 3
See Recovery | Page 2
