The Addiction Recovery Channel

09/29/2026

♥️

BTV City Councilors hear updates about Overdose Prevention Center and tax fairness proposals. No final decision was made on either Monday night.

09/14/2026

❤️I began injecting drugs in 1967 in Haight-Ashbury, SF, and became an entirely different person. Methamphetamine took me and did what it wanted with me for years. I abandoned everyone who loved me and barely survived the pervasive gauntlets at every turn: incarcerations, disease, violence, homelessness, stigma, self-hate, despair... I happen to be in a near 42 year recovery at this point and will turn 80 this year. The last near 42 years have been full, meaningful, healthy, very productive and always grateful. I can tell you that I engage in a living amends today, intending to accept responsibility for the pain I caused to others, the harm I did, and to use my energies to help others like me, with addiction and all its varied and dark consequences.
I was always "there", buried beneath my disease and its symptoms, bound, gagged, blindfolded. I couldn't respond to love... Today, in my freedom, I reflect upon my family, mainly my mother because she never saw me recover as my siblings have (my father passed away at my age 12). I'm able again to love her today and accept the suffering I caused... I'm deeply sorry...
My decisions back then were not choices, they were the result of a fully compromised brain reward system and pre-frontal cortex: addiction. In some ways my work today as an advocate for people with addiction is my way of saying "I'm sorry"... My mother would be proud, as would my father. Every one of those taken from us by addiction had a story to tell, a life never reclaimed... My heart is with every person held hostage by addiction today, every loved one taken by addiction in days past, and every family and community struggling to respond with love today...❤️
Ed Baker ACSW

09/12/2026

♥️"I am calling to people of faith during prayer, self-reflection, meditation and mindful conversation to answer the question: Is it time for us to come together and respond to a common calling, to stand up, unify and express our deepest belief that we are morally driven by an imperative to respond to the poor, the dying in our midst?"

I am urging people of all faiths to stand up together to welcome an overdose prevention center into our community, to share in preventing deaths and supporting health.

09/02/2026

♥️These little photos convey the inner experience of standing for loved ones lost to "substance use passing"....
Loving hearts, open to deep loss and unending commitment to the creation of compassionate care for our loved ones suffering so from severe and persistent chaotic substance use disorder and its many consequences...
I would ask you please, with all due respect: if you are going to comment, please do so with love and support♥️

08/08/2026

🎯Thank you Bob for posting this...True Journalism here...
The courage to research and report honestly is becoming rare as "journalists" pander to reader-interest and "stigma-bait"...This type of clearly unethical journalism costs lives, as does the equivalent behavior of government officials currently running for office..."🎯
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=27533725856322853&id=100003364284948

08/05/2026

🎯Some days are just for taking care of yourself. 42 years of Recovery this month. It gets better. For those of you just beginning, stick very close❤️For those of you with multiple decades, stick very close♥️For everybody in between and those not here yet, stick very close♥️

08/05/2026

07/31/2026

♥️We need to push through on expanding needed Safe Syringe and Overdose Prevention Programming...Now...Come to the Press Conference at City Hall on Monday, 8/3, at 4:30 pm and show your support for data-driven, solution focused harm-reduction interventions. This will be held right before the City Council meeting at 6pm...Punitive measures directed towards people suffering from untreated diseases and living unsheltered are shameful...Please speak out against this...♥️

The open letter pleads for city officials to address the ongoing struggles with homelessness, addiction, and public safety.

07/27/2026

❤️This is me, Ed Baker, the Addiction Recovery Channel. Thank you for visiting this site.
I just noticed a few sensational video clips showing our loved and loving neighbors in various stages of suffering.
I'm not in support of this type of post, and I want to be clear about that. It's a boundary violation in my book and I want no part of it. I will see what I can do to block this type of content. Suggestions are welcome and thank you all for your support during these tragic times. ❤️Ed❤️

07/17/2026

❤️A letter to our Team Sharing Vermont Families❤️

I began injecting drugs in 1967 in Haight-Ashbury, SF, and became an entirely different person than the 20 year old I was.

Methamphetamine took me and did what it wanted with me for years.

I abandoned everyone who loved me and barely survived the pervasive gauntlets at every turn: incarcerations, disease, violence, homelessness, stigma, self-hate, despair...

I happen to be in a near 42 year recovery, abstinence based, at this point and will turn 80 this year.

The last near 42 years have been full, meaningful, healthy, very productive and always grateful.

I can tell you that I engage in a living amends today, intending to accept responsibility for the pain I caused to others, the harm I did, and to use my energies to help others like me, with addiction and all its varied and dark consequences.

I was always "there", buried beneath my disease and its symptoms: bound, gagged, blindfolded: but "there"...

I couldn't respond to love...to help...

Today, in my freedom, I reflect upon my family, mainly my mother because she never saw me recover as my siblings have (my father passed away at my age 12).

To my mother, I am a "lost loved one..."

I am able again to love her today ~ and accept the suffering I caused~

I'm deeply sorry...
My decisions back then were not choices, they were the result of a fully compromised brain reward system and impaired pre-frontal cortex: addiction.

In some ways my work today as an advocate for people with addiction is my way of saying "I'm sorry"...

Also my way of saying "thank you" to the wonderful ones who have helped me so much in my life...

My mother would be proud, as would my father.

Every one of those taken from us by addiction has a story to tell, a life never reclaimed...They are our "lost loved ones..."

As we prepare to gather this year on 8/31 to be with each other in our reverent sharing of grief, commitment and hope, I'd like you to know that it is one of the treasures of my life
to stand with you.

My heart is with you and your families...

Thank you for your loving courage Team Sharing Vermont Families...

And it is equally with every person held hostage by addiction today...

PLEASE JOIN US ON 8/31 FOR OUR ANNUAL GATHERING...
This year at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, at the head of Church St in Burlington. From 5-7 pm. #