The Semi-sober house

A satirical, fictionalized memoir about survival, self-discovery and, hopefully, recovery and redemption, The Semi-Sober House is also more pointedly an indictment of the American treatment of addiction. It follows a year in the life of Jade Gamble, a savvy young woman from a privileged background, plagued by addiction. The picaresque protagonist endures harrowing escapades in the drug-fed underbellies of major American metropolises—Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Tucson and New York City—in search of a life on her own terms.

Jade, who becomes an advocate for “harm reduction” through the use of medical marijuana, recounts with occasional flashbacks her struggles with the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse, drug addiction and “incarceration” in multiple rehabs, hospitals and sober living situations. Its self-destructive heroine has the dark appeal of the protagonists in the movies Blue Jasmine and Leaving Las Vegas. After a tragic accident, she lands in a sober house, where anything but abstinence reigns. In this unconventional residence with its colorful cast of characters she is allowed to smoke medical marijuana, alleviating her once debilitating depression and enabling her to write.

Crusading for the legalization of marijuana in her relationships and on her blog, Jade yearns for not just a house but also a home. Nevertheless, the system turns on her, and Jade is once again spun into a maelstrom with a downward spiral. Paralleling Dante's worldview, this tale charts the inferno, purgatory and hoped-for paradise of the heroine's life journey. While The Semi-Sober House is a disturbing, sometimes shocking chronicle that explores some of the darker facets of contemporary American society, its poetic insights and sardonic humor offer moments of blinding illumination.

 This topical tale, told in the pulp fiction genre, humorously and tragically exposes the foibles and often-hypocritical behavior of drug rehabilitation programs, and the many individuals who take advantage of those who suffer. Given the enormous addiction problem in this country, The Semi-Sober House offers an insider’s look at addiction and the dynamics of treatment that may be useful to other drug users and their families. In the process it advocates for the humane legalization of cannabis, as well as a reform of the American legal system.

Bad habit - forthcoming

Information about Bad Habit forthcoming