Michael R. DeLeon, a successfully acclimated ex-offender who after nearly 8 years of drug addiction and gang involvement, spent 12 years in state prison and half-way houses for a gang-related homicide. Michael plead guilty in a very emotional and complicated case involving the murder of his own Mother by people tasked to kill him.  Since Michael’s release from prison, he has earned 3 Associates Degrees, a Baccalaureate Degree in Business Management, with a minor in Criminal Justice and a CADC Educational Certificate. Michael is now in the process of obtaining his Tobacco specialist certification from the University of Kentucky School of Nursing, his Masters Degree in Social Work at Liberty University School of Social Work as well as pursuing his LCADC.

Michael DeLeon is on a mission: A mission to educate the youth to stay on the right path when it comes to serious life issues, especially drugs. He has become the #1 booked school presenter in the country.

Michael is the founder and powerhouse behind Steered Straight Inc., a non-profit organization formed in 2007 upon his release from prison and designed to carry an important message to youth on the extreme dangers of drugs, gang involvement and associated criminal activity.

Steered Straight’s program reaches out to children, teens and young adults with a message of reality about life-choices and the importance of consequential thinking so that they understand that there are consequences to their actions. The reality of the message comes from Michael himself, who was entwined in the life of drugs and traveled a troubling road to get to his future.  Throughout the country, Michael now leads a team of talented speakers who present a realistic and powerful prevention message.  His “no holds back” message resonates well with student assemblies, faculty and parents.

Stay In Your Lane Media, the media arm of Steered Straight, was founded by Michael in 2012, and has produced four award winning documentaries, Kids Are Dying, An American Epidemic, Marijuana X and Road to Recovery. His fifth documentary, “Higher Power is currently in post-production. Michael has also produced multiple public service announcements, as well as educational and instructional videos on prevention and Recovery

Michael founded a project of Steered Straight, Inc., called “The Recovery Army”. Recovery Army’s mission is to recruit everyone to wage war on this pandemic of addiction. He tours the country in a Recovery Army Tour bus, visiting communities with educational resources, films and books. He visits schools, prisons, jails, treatment centers, Churches and community organizations addressing each group with catered messages and presentations. He captures stories of Hope and Recovery and has produced over one hundred video stories on the Recovery Army Website.

Every state in America has experienced Michael DeLeon – one of the most passionate prevention speakers you will ever encounter.  He is a member of many associations, committees and boards, but more importantly, he will take the time to answer questions from any youth and talk with anyone in his audience. Why? As Michael says, “I don’t want to just affect one kid; I want to affect them all.”

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Decisions by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Navarone Garcia is Priscilla Presley’s son.

Navarone Garibaldi Garcia (born March 1, 1987) is an American musician who serves as the lead singer of Them Guns. Them Guns is a Los Angeles-based rock band made up of members Garcia (guitar/lead vocals), Kyle Hamood (lead guitar/vocals/keys), Bobby Vega (drums), and Chuck Holiday (bass). Santa Cruz Waves described their sound as "...a rock base, a tinge of surf/ska vocals, and funked out keys, a sound to satisfy the traditional, to alternative, to psychedelic rock music enthusiasts...birthed from the barrels of Them Guns".

Navarone Garcia was raised in LA.  He was introduced to drugs and started using at a pretty young age.  He became addicted to fentanyl in 2016.  After getting clean in 2020 and a few relapses in 2022, he is now clean and sober for real.  He is now traveling with Michael Deleon from Steered Straight. He is talking to kids mainly about the danger of fentanyl and helping to raise fentanyl/vaping awareness. 

The main point he wants to get across is that there is fentanyl in everything and it doesn’t seem to be an accident. It’s not like one dealer put fentanyl in their batch and it started killing everybody.. and all the other dealers said GREAT IDEA. It seems planned. And the growing vape industry is very misleading, making people think it is safer than smoking, or a way to quit smoking.

https://steeredstraight.org

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About 29 years ago, a public school teacher told Barbie Rivera that her 6 year old son had a mental disorder and she needed to put him on a mind altering drug - Ritalin.  Barbie thought that was nutty as her son was very bright, normal and already bilingual. She started home schooling him now has her own school - called HELP Miami.  Her story of how the drug companies offered to pay her $5K every year for every student she will recommend for medication is horrific.

H.E.L.P. Miami is a non-profit, accredited private school and tutoring center whose mission is to empower the individual student to become a competent, independent learner with sound educational skills (without the use of labels and drugs) so that they can master their academics and succeed in life.

Barbie's book:  https://www.amazon.com/Enough-Exposing-Education-System-Attempt/dp/1957128062

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Tim has seen and done it all. He's been an addict. He's run million dollar companies. Drugs stole more than half of his life but now he's dedicated every waking minute since walking out of prison to dealing hope to addicts and their families. Tim says "where there is life, there is hope." Known as The Hope Dealer, Tim is a successful entrepreneur, grateful recovering heroin addict and alcoholic - and truth-talking convicted felon. Tim and their wife - Jennifer Gimenez - are a power couple, helping others.

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Decisions by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Duke Rumely is a former alcoholic who has been sober since 1989. Since then he realized that what was needed at concerts and sporting events was an area for those who are sober and trying to remain that way. He founded Sober AF Entertainment and is making great strides in leading the sober movement - making sober the popular to be for young and old alike.

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Decisions by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Paula Santos Young's world shattered when her beloved oldest son's life was stolen in March 2022 - poisoned by fentanyl-laced marijuana from someone he trusted. With his death, Paula's motherly instincts kicked into high gear. Now she's on a crusade, roaring from every platform she can find to wake up officials and communities to the fentanyl crisis destroying families like an unstoppable hurricane.

Paula ferociously shares her anguish and her son's story on podcasts, TV and radio to put a human face on this epidemic. She mercilessly calls out the lack of urgency from leaders who act like this is just a minor storm, not the Category 5 emergency that it is.

With steely determination, Paula founded a nonprofit to battle the crisis she calls "our war." She's leading the charge, uniting forces throughout Massachusetts to proclaim this fight. Her rallying cry is being heard - from cities recognizing Fentanyl Prevention Day to the State House honoring her efforts. Still, Paula won't rest until the crisis is tackled with the full might and resources it deserves. For she's more than a grieving mom; she's a warrior fighting to ensure no other mother feels the searing loss that forged her unwavering mission.

Last month, she received a special Congressional Recognition on her Human Rights Award 2022 for her work combatting the fentanyl crisis.  He and her husband run the organization Achieve Greatness - https://www.achievegreatness88.org/. An organization originally started by her son Andrew.

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This weekend, we are attending a Drug Free Heroes event in Clearwater Florida that will have Marshall Faulk as one of the speakers.  We are excited to hear about how he continues to educate kids on drugs and promote the idea of living drug free - even in tough sports like football.

We are republishing our interview with Marshall from 2020.

Marshall Faulk was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, both for the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. In 2011, Marshall was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017.   Now he is the National Spokesman for “The Foundation for a Drug Free World”, a nonprofit public benefit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live Drug-Free.

https://www.drugfreeworld.org/

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Dr. Dallas Bragg launched his Sobriety Coaching business in January 2023 to help gay men break free from addictive behavior and create life past addiction. After struggling with a crystal meth addiction, he decided to begin his sobriety journey on August 4, 2018. Since then, he and his two kids have rebuilt their lives together. Now, blending spirituality and recovery has led to an expansive coaching practice and a new podcast called The AfterMeth. Dallas makes time for physical fitness, houseplant, hiking, and his favorite pastime: writing. Dallas obtained his doctorate in Nonprofit Leadership in 2014 and still enjoys teaching part-time at post-secondary Universities.

Father of two adult children, out gay man, adjunct college professor, and sobriety coach who helps gay men recover from addiction. 

www.drdallasbragg.com

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Grant Cardone is an American businessman, Equity Fund Manager ($4B Assets Under Management), Real Estate Investor, Business author and Founder of 10X Growth Conference, 10X Health System, Cardone Ventures & 10X Studios. Also author of seven best selling business books, creator of Cardone U online education and The 10X Growth Conferences (the largest business conference in the USA.)

Grant Cardone has been a sales training consultant for over 25 years working with a wide range of organizations including Google, Morgan Stanley, Toyota, GM, Nissan, Infiniti, Reinhardt, Carrier, and the U.S. Army. He is also a New York Times best-selling author, executive producer of the reality TV business show, Turnaround King, and the host of The Cardone Zone. In 2012, Cardone was named Number-One Sales Expert and Top 10 Business Coaches to follow on Twitter. He is a regular contributor to a wide variety of publications including The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider. Also the author of Sell or Be Sold, The Closer's Survival Guide, If You're Not First You're Last, and The 10X Rule, he lives in Miami Beach, FL.

https://addicted.org/supe

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Decisions by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Samantha Bushika is a survivor with a story she finds inspirational, one that has already saved lives. She celebrates eight years of sobriety in March, marking a journey away from a lifelong addiction to using and selling heroin. Her battle with addiction led her into an unjust justice system, where she became a scapegoat in her small Vermont town's first heroin bust. Despite possessing no heroin herself—it was found in her roommate's possession—Samantha was unfairly targeted due to her circumstances as a poor 20-year-old with addict parents.

Over two decades, Samantha endured what she calls "Life on the Installment Plan," facing repeated incarcerations for non-violent, drug-related offenses, some of which are no longer criminal. Despite completing treatment successfully twice during 14-day rehab stints, she was labeled a treatment failure. Each jail term stripped her of her mental health and maintenance medications, often leaving her isolated in solitary confinement for months.

In 2016, at the age of 35, a tragedy led to an unexpected turn: Samantha found herself pregnant. Despite never desiring children and doubting her maternal instincts, she saw this as an opportunity for love and redemption. With nothing but a correctional GPS ankle monitor and a 450 credit score, she checked into a homeless shelter, determined to build a better life for her unborn child.

Driven by a desire to help others, Samantha launched her blog, "Progressing Not Perfecting," aiming to support people on a larger scale. Despite facing stigma within her niche and financial challenges, she remains committed to her mission, tirelessly working 18-hour days to #provethemallwrong and #showthemwhatwecando. With a domain rating of around 65 and 27k followers on Instagram, she has built a platform to share her message of hope and resilience.

Despite her achievements, Samantha struggles to be taken seriously due to her past as a heroin user in recovery. Yet, she remains undeterred, reaching out to potential collaborators and expressing her willingness to work together for mutual benefit.

https://addicted.org/supe

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