Episode 8: “The War on Drugs Became a War on Families” Featuring Gretchen Burns Bergman
Gretchen Burns Bergman became an advocate because she became a mother fighting for her children.
After watching her sons struggle with addiction and incarceration, she rejected the idea that punishment was helping families like hers.
Instead, she helped build a movement rooted in compassion, treatment and hope.
Her story reminds us that mothers are often the first people responding to an addiction crisis long before any system arrives.
And sometimes they become the people most committed to changing those systems.
Families are not the problem. They are part of the solution.
A New Path
A New PATH works to reduce addiction stigma, support families and advance humane drug policies grounded in health rather than punishment.
The organization has empowered thousands of families while helping shift public conversations around addiction and recovery.
About Brave Recovery: The Women Impacted
Twelve women. Twelve stories. One challenge to everything we think we know about addiction, recovery, prevention, grief and hope.
From mothers and advocates to researchers, journalists, counselors, authors and community leaders, each woman featured in Brave Recovery: The Women Impacted reveals a deeper truth: recovery is not simply about individual choices. It is about whether families, communities and systems create the conditions that allow people to heal.
These stories are not only about survival.
They are about what becomes possible when people are seen, supported and given the opportunity to reclaim their futures.