Addiction

B.W. COOK The Decorative Arts Society, benefiting a substance abuse recovery center called New Directions for Women, will return this year with its ninth annual series of programs focusing on the decorative arts. Last fall, interior designer David Easton came to Newport Beach from New York City to launch the series. Easton addressed the local crowd on "America at Home: The tradition of our past, the challenge of our future." Easton was lauded at a cocktail reception hosted by Newport antique dealer Tom Stansbury, attended by dedicated Decorative Arts volunteers including Ann Dennis, Sandra Ayres, Elana Donovan, Louise Ewing, Carolyn Garrett and Joan Sammis.

I'm addicted to football. That means that after this weekend, I am actually going to have to find something to do on Sundays. Given the choice of being outside on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon or being cooped up in my apartment watching the NFL battle of the week, I would choose the game, or games as it usually happens. Actually, it's not even a choice with addiction. It's a requirement. That's why I am dreading the Super Bowl this Sunday. Not because my favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, was forced out in the first week of the playoffs, but because it's the last time I'll be able to watch real football for another six months.

Mathis Winkler COSTA MESA -- During her high school years, Julie Nemeth took amphetamines occasionally when she and her friends went to parties. "If it was around, I would take it," said Nemeth, now 27. Then, after giving birth to her first child a few years later, Nemeth was trying to shed some of the pounds she had gained during the pregnancy. Her friends suggested she get back on the drug, commonly known as speed. What followed were years of struggle against her addiction to speed and bouts of depression that made her lose control as a mother, she said.

Alex Coolman Jennifer was a fresh-faced 17-year-old the first time she tried heroin. A decade later, her body and soul had been ravaged by a habit she couldn't control. Her addiction grew until it destroyed her life, pulling her down into a grim world of homelessness, prostitution and prison time. "My whole day was spent getting more," the forceful, dark-haired 32-year-old recalled recently. Being arrested on drug possession or prostitution charges and going to jail were simple facts of life.

Sue Doyle NEWPORT BEACH -- A liquid drug that swings with some nightclub crowds has gained popularity in another place -- the emergency room. The combination of GHB -- which is usually sold by the capful for about $5 -- when mixed with alcohol can make a deadly drink. The two drugs have such sedative effects that when combined, a person can stop breathing and even have seizures, said Daniel Headrick, director of the chemical dependency center at Hoag Hospital.