BY KAREN BOSSICK

Learn how to beat the opiate addiction epidemic Friday afternoon at Ketchum’s Community Library.

Piers Kaniuka, who co-authored “Real People, Real Recovery: Overcoming Addiction in Modern America” with fellow recovery professional Eric Spofford, will offer his prescription for recovery at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1.C

The program is presented by St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation in collaboration with The Community Library.

Kaniuka, director of Spiritual Life at Granite Recovery Center in Salem, N.H., was a functional drug addict by the time he graduated from high school. His drug use escalated dramatically at Ohio Wesleyan University with LSD and cocaine.

Finding recovery, he has worked in the field of addiction for more than 20 years, using holistic practices to treat addiction.

Kaniuka, who has Master’s degrees in Theological Studies and Counseling Psychology, will describe the root causes of the current opiate epidemic, including Big Pharma, the war on drugs, stress, racism, poverty and ineffectual treatment. And he will describe how he beat opiate addiction, while explaining the difference between recovery and sobriety and what constitutes success in treatment.

“A lot of the opiate crisis stems from doctor’s quickness to give people something to address pain and Big Pharma’s efforts to push opioids on the public, “said Jon Thorson, who is among those bringing Kaniuka to the valley. “Kids are getting drugs out of their parents’ medicine cabinets because they hear that they will feel better if they take them.”

The local recovery community wants to acquaint the public with what is going on, Thorson added. There seems to be a lot more stresses on families today than when I was a kid. Families now have two breadwinners instead of one. There’s a disruption and, if you’ve got more than three friends, one has probably got personal experience with a friend or family member who needs help.”