Who is to blame for the nationwide epidemic of alcohol and drug abuse?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 27, 2008 -- (OAK RIDGE, NJ)—According to Katie Couric of CBS News, 20 percent of all teenagers are binge drinkers.

This number is a surprise to Stephen Della Valle, President of the Board at Turning Point Rehabilitation Center in Verona NJ and author of the new book Rising Above the Influence: A True Story About Alcohol, Drugs and Recovery.

“Nowadays it seems teenagers are getting involved with hard drugs at an earlier age,” says Stephen. “Right now is more important than ever to make them aware of the dangers and consequences of drug abuse and to alert them of the dangerous road of addiction.”

Mr. Della Valle is concerned with the media subsequently supporting the revolving rehab door Hollywood has become.

“The media has turned celebrity alcohol and drug problems into entertainment and a spectacle rather than focus on the life and death aspects of this serious disease,” says Stephen.

“People need to realize the severity of this disease,” says Stephen. “Hollywood is continuing to depict drug and alcohol use as ‘cool’, but it is quickly becoming a nationwide epidemic. With addiction there are only three possible end results—rehab, jail or death.”

Stephen Della Valle considers himself one of the lucky ones. In Rising Above the Influence, he candidly recounts his indoctrination into the world of substance abuse as a young teenager; and the desperate, sometimes morbidly comical situations he endured to support his heavy addictions to heroin, prescription drugs, cocaine and alcohol.

“I did a lot of things I’m not proud of,” says Stephen. “There is nothing cool or admirable about being an addict, no matter how much the media tries to make it look that way.”

Rising Above the Influence is his honest and inspiring account of the depths one man can fall to—and the heights he can achieve if only he reaches out a hand for help. \
For more information and to purchase a copy of this book, please visit, http://www.amazon.com/Rising-Above-Influence-Alcohol-Recovery/dp/098017760X


(Rising Above the Influence by Steven Della Valle; ISBN: 0-9801776-0-X; $21.95; paperback; 5½ x 8½; 208 pages; OAK RIDGE PRESS)

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