Gov. Tim Walz's story is a recovery success story. He had a pretty embarrassing event with alcohol and the police, and after some tough love from his wife, a “gut check moment”, he decided to not drink again. Then he didn’t. Now he’s on the world stage with a family that cries out of pride for him. Love it. No notes. Wish my story was that clear and accomplished early on. More so, I wish this story for everyone who needs it.
And in usual fashion, when pressed, very little else is discussed beyond “Oh, I don’t drink anymore” — which for the average civilian, I totally appreciate. Stigma is real and, as much as I wish it wasn’t so, there are consequences from coming out as sober.
But Walz is not in an average place at all. He’s a person with lived experience who can help remove stigma with a few choice words. And why does the stigma around drugs matter? He can talk about it from a personal place.
Furthermore, an increasing amount of people are dying from drug overdoses in the U.S. today than at any point in modern history, and research has demonstrated that effective stigma reduction efforts normalize substance use disorder diagnosis, treatment and recovery while increasing outreach by those with substance use disorder to supportive services.
So, the more people talk about it – especially those in power with lived experience — the more people realize it’s not so weird to get help. The more people live.
24 million people live in recovery in the United States and we are (currently) not a organized voting block. We don’t buy music together, we don’t support movies together, etc., mainly because we lack public leadership. We have Robert Downey Jr. and he’s apparently now Dr. Doom and doing a Broadway show, so he’s busy.
Not only are we not organized, we don’t often get mention. We didn’t get referenced in either candidates acceptance speech, even though addiction is the number one killer of people ages 18 to 45. The ultimate non-partisan issue, put on the back burner by both parties as approximately 108,000 people die a year.
But the blame is also on us. Non-organized groups that don’t tap into their collective voting power typically don’t get what they want. Shocking, I know. Because addiction affects everyone, all genders, all races, all socio-economic levels, we are the political cause that is oddly the most American. I’ve attended AA meetings in New Orleans where I was the only one not in drag, and I’ve attended meetings in Ohio, where my flannel was actually a little boring, and I can honestly say they were both the same meeting.
AA would tell you that anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our sobriety, and so you should stay quiet. I would remind folks, that while you are free to believe whatever you believe, another truth is dead people don’t recover. So if we can speak up and keep them alive, I’m happy to then argue about any and all things sobriety.
Governor Walz can change all that. He can own his recovery, tell us his full story, how he did it, how he does it on a daily basis, how he has a phenomenal family who hasn’t ever seen him drink. He has a success story, one of the best I’ve seen. He can tell us that recovery is possible.
We all love a midwestern dad for being empathetic, helpful, present, for spreading joy. We trust them.
If Walz openly talked about being sober, we’d love him more. More importantly, 24 million voters would feel less alone. Most importantly, with the removal of stigma, less Americans would die.
Let’s do it Tim. Tell us.
