“We are all aware that the use of illicit drugs and alcohol among our youth continues to rise,” the mayor said on Friday before signing the proclamation designating September as the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month on Saipan.
Tudela said each individual can control and stop substance abuse.
He said treatment and long-term recovery from substance use disorders can offer people a renewed outlook on life.
This year’s theme is “Join the Voice for Recovery: Together We Learn, Together We Heal.”
After signing the proclamation, Tudela announced that he would be undergoing heart surgery in the U.S. next week.
“I put myself in God’s hands — please pray for me,” he said. “I’m not a smoker, not even a drinker but I have this heart problem. I don’t know why.”
Representatives of the Department of Public Health, Northern Marianas College, the Transitional Living Center, the Community Guidance Center, the Commonwealth Diabetes Coalition, the CNMI Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, the Ayuda Network Inc. and members of the community fwitnessed the signing of the proclamation in the mayor’s conference room.
William Kintz, an instructor at the Northern Marianas Trades Institute, and Arnold Rabauliman offered their personal testimonies.
“I’m giving back to the community what I took away from the community,” Kintz said. “Now I am a wonderful human being.”
He narrated how he struggled with alcoholism for 20 years.
Kintz said he was arrested five times for DUI and was jailed for 90 days.
Rabauliman said because of his drug and alcohol addiction he lost his job, friends and family.
“I didn’t know how to control myself. I was powerless with my addiction,” he said.
But after he was sent to jail, Rabaulima said he finally realized that God could — and did — change him.
