The Faces and Voices of Recovery summit brought together more than 150 local advocates from across the U.S. in hopes of building solidarity around a national pro-recovery message, aimed at both policymakers and the public. "If up until now we have let others define us, from this moment forward we define ourselves. This is historic," said Ronnie Uss, a recovery advocate from Monticello, N.Y.

The conference opened with a town meeting where participants -- both people with addictions and their family members -- told how they made the transition to becoming an advocate for recovery. "I had no intention of going public until I got a job offer that was withdrawn after I spoke to the CEO about my recovery," said moderator Susan Rook, former host of CNN's TalkBack Live and today an outspoken advocate for the rights of people with addiction. "Two weeks later, I got a phone call asking me to go public."

If discrimination motivated some, others became advocates out of a sense of duty to those addicted to alcohol and other drugs. "I stepped out of the darkness of addiction into the light of recovery," explained Phil Valentine of Connecticut Communities for Addiction Recovery. "I feel I am called to this." Alfred Jackson of People with Recovery and Disabilities of Tucson, Ariz., said he found advocacy to be empowering. "We got minds, we got brain cells still working," said Jackson. "We need to get out there and do something."

"When I went into recovery in the 1980s, there was lots of treatment, so I assumed that it was available for everyone," said Sonja Baker of Santa Barbara, Calif.'s Community Recovery Network. "But when I got into the treatment field I was appalled to find that there is not treatment available for homeless people, the dually diagnosed, and women with children. That shocked me into action."

Echoing what would become a rallying cry over the course of the three-day summit, Baker added, "If someone has an illness, they should be able to get treatment. We have a right to that."

Organized by the Alliance Project and funded by the Johnson Institute, the mission of the summit was twofold: to provide pro-recovery groups with advocacy skills and tools, and to develop a national advocacy message and agenda. Jeff Blodgett, director of the Alliance Project, said that the recovery advocacy movement has been gaining steady momentum over the past three years. "There's an eagerness now to develop some kind of national strategy we can all get behind," he said.

However, Blodgett and others repeatedly stressed that while they hoped to craft a straightforward national advocacy message, the intent was not to dictate to local organizations. Much of the conference, in fact, was devoted to giving participants an opportunity to help craft the messages that the campaign hopes to promote. Suggestions included telling the public about the gifts that people in recovery can give to the world, and that people with addictions don't have to hit bottom to get well. Participants added that people in recovery also need to know that they can be advocates without violating the anonymity precepts of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"We want something that anyone can easily become a part of, but still maintain their own identity and structure," Blodgett said, drawing a sharp distinction between establishing a national advocacy campaign and a national advocacy organization, such as the failed Society of Americans for Recovery of the mid-1990s. "This is not some new permanent membership organization or national coalition of organizations," he added. "We want to avoid that. Instead, we're looking for a formal rallying point ... We need to find a common denominator that we can all rally around."

Blodgett said the campaign would have two distinct audiences: the recovery community, which will be urged to organize and speak out on its own behalf; and the public, which will be educated about addiction and recovery and the case for making changes in public policy.

One focal point for future advocacy could be the issue of parity insurance coverage for addiction -- a cause championed by Minnesota's Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and Rep. Jim Ramstad (D-Minn.). Both Ramstad -- who has publicly acknowledged his own recovery -- and Wellstone delivered passionate speeches at the recovery summit and called for advocates' support in moving parity legislation forward.

"This is the beginning of a civil-rights movement," said Wellstone, drawing parallels to past campaigns to end child labor, improve workplace safety, and give women the right to vote. Pointing to the success that the mental-health field has had in promoting parity for people with mental illnesses, Wellstone said that a recovery advocacy movement is desperately needed.

"Together, we can take on stigma," said Wellstone. "I call on you today to be the national voice for recovery. Be a community of one, unified, to be a powerful voice in our nation's capital and in the states. Let us organize to change the way we talk about addiction, as an illness, to change the focus from controlling behavior to recovery. Don't settle for second-class treatment of people in recovery."

By telling their personal stories of recovery, Ramstad said, the advocates at the summit are fighting what the late Sen. Harold Hughes called the most harmful myth of addiction -- "that it is hopeless."

"We're all in this together, folks," added Ramstad. "We must never forget the 150,000 Americans who died last year from addiction and those still suffering, because they too will die if they are not helped."

Ramstad said that while the American Medical Association classified addiction as a disease in 1956, U.S. drug policy still seeks to blame people with addiction for their own disease. "We need you to help change the outdated laws and practices in America," he said.

Ramstad has sponsored an addiction parity bill in the House, while Wellstone has sponsored the Senate version. Ramstad estimated that he could probably get about 99 votes for the bill right now, while Wellstone's version would garner about 35 backers in the Senate. Both totals, however, fall far short of what's needed for passage.

"It's frustrating," said Ramstad. "We are two lone voices: many in [Congress] think addiction is a moral failure, so we have a job to do ... But I'll be damned if I'm going to let 26 million Americans suffer the ravages of this disease and stay silent."