Journalism professor Bill Celis has had three articles printed as part of a nationally syndicated Public Access Journalism series on battling drug and alcohol addiction in today’s society. The twenty-piece series was written over the course of a nine month period by five different journalists for PAJ. Celis’ articles focus on the challenges fighting addiction as well as improved treatment methods for addicts. His motivation to contribute to the project came from losing a friend to addiction five years ago. "I wanted to understand how and why my friend succumbed to this disease and why others, myself included, did not," Celis explained. "I was sorry that the increasingly sophisticated treatment was not available to my friend in the 1980s when he was in the midst of his addictions. The new drugs and greater awareness by health-care professionals might have saved his life." PAJ has syndicated the series in more than 30 American and Canadian newspapers.
Download a reprint of Celis' stories (PDF)