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Wilkes-Barre houses for a buck spinoff of Securities and Exchange Commission fraud case

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Tom Marsilio finished his third glass of wine when the shame sunk in.</p><p>&#8220;What the hell did you do that for?&#8221; he asked himself. &#8220;After 30 years you start drinking again?&#8221;</p><p>Moments later the 66-year-old awoke, still three-decades dry. The drinks weren&#8217;t real, but his cold sweat lingered until relief replaced it.</p><p>Marsilio recalled the recent dream last week, speaking with the Times Leader in an empty Luzerne County courtroom on Pennsylvania Avenue.</p><p>He says he hasn&#8217;t had a drink since 1985. And despite the recurring dreams, he says his cravings for the stuff have long subsided even if the feelings those dreams provoke can be all too real.</p><p>As he writes in an essay that appeared in the July issue of the Mensa Bulletin &#8212; a publication of American Mensa, a group which admits only those who score in the top 2 percent on standardized intelligence tests &#8212; he hopes telling his story can help others wrestling with substance abuse issues.</p><p>&#8220;I was able to quit alcohol by developing a sense of self worth,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;d have to really hate myself to ever get involved with it again.&#8221;</p><p>Marsilio counts himself lucky that &#8212; whether prosecuting cases as an assistant district attorney or, as he did previously, defending clients before a judge and jury &#8212; he&#8217;s the lawyer and not the defendant.</p><p>And in fact his alcohol use nearly ruined his career.</p><p>Once in the 1980s, he said, he passed out standing up while drunk at a formal U.S. Marine Corps function in Philadelphia. He&#8217;s sure he hopped behind the wheel soon after, fully aware that a DUI for a Marine Corps officer almost certainly spells discharge.</p><p><strong>Drawing on experiences</strong></p><p>The now-retired lieutenant colonel said he pulls from these experiences in relating to defendants facing charges connected in one way or another to drug and alcohol use &#8212; a demographic he says makes up the lion&#8217;s share of criminal defendants.</p><p>He tells them of driving drunk thousands of times, of sitting intoxicated behind the wheel on three different continents. Marsilio specifically recalled one instance of piloting a vehicle through a crowded North African street, attempting through bloodshot eyes to navigate a sea of people, seeing double all the while.</p><p>Had he seriously hurt or killed someone, he doubts he would have survived his incarceration overseas.</p><p>Waking up one morning, a 37-year-old struggling to shake yet another hangover, Marsilio finally decided he&#8217;d had enough.</p><p>&#8220;I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired,&#8221; he said.</p><p>So, certain alcohol would soon kill him, he gave it up and his life improved almost overnight. Marsilio said he soon became less irritable, his life outlook improved and his temperament softened.</p><p>But it wasn&#8217;t all easy, especially in social situations where early on he&#8217;d often draw criticism and comments. As if the drink were not prominent enough in every day life, as an active duty Marine of five years who followed his service with a 19-year stint in the reserves, he said nearly every social occasion revolved around drinking, often to excess.</p><p><strong>Social pressures a challenge</strong></p><p>According to Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services (WVADS) CEO Jason Harlen, such social pressures can be detrimental to people struggling with alcohol abuse, and their prevalence makes dropping the habit extremely difficult.</p><p>Because of this, he said alcoholics entering recovery often must restructure their lives.</p><p>&#8220;They associate alcohol use with bars and parties, so they need to change the people they associate with,&#8221; Harlen said.</p><p>Even then, he said, alcohol&#8217;s social acceptability and high visibility makes it difficult to avoid.</p><p>WVADS combines both solo and group outpatient counseling with group support through Alcoholics Anonymous in its approach to treatment. Individuals with more serious addictions are referred to inpatient facilities.</p><p>Harlen said WVADS sees some 40 to 50 people each day, a majority of whom struggle with alcohol and heroin addictions.</p><p>The organization offers services to individuals struggling with nearly any type of addiction, but he said his 13 years with the nonprofit have taught him, &#8220;Alcohol is and always will be number one.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8216;Healthy history of dependence and abuse&#8217;</strong></p><p>Michael Donahue, administrator of the county Drug and Alcohol Program, said he&#8217;s seen much the same in his 34-year career.</p><p>When it comes to alcohol, he said Northeastern Pennsylvania has a &#8220;healthy history of dependence and abuse.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We work hard, so we play hard. That&#8217;s good, fertile ground for any kind of substance use and abuse.&#8221;</p><p>Donahue said he believes people tend to dismiss alcohol as somehow less dangerous or less addictive than other substances. But for some folks, he says that&#8217;s simply not true.</p><p>An alcohol addiction is a lifelong, progressive illness that can destroy lives and families, Donahue said, and professional help is necessary if you want to quit.</p><p>&#8220;You can die from alcohol even after you stop using,&#8221; he said. Because of this, he said the process of getting clean must be highly medically involved.</p><p>Donahue then encourages those in recovery to become involved with service work and make a habit of attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Social support is key in decreasing the likelihood of relapse, he said.</p><p>Marsilio, however, said he&#8217;s attended only three meetings in his 30 sober years, and rejects the notion that he&#8217;s still an addict.</p><p>As far as he&#8217;s concerned, he says he is recovered, &#8220;and it will never ever happen again.&#8221;</p><p>But Marsilio said he does volunteer with a group called Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, occasionally assisting colleagues who grapple with addiction.</p><p>And he doesn&#8217;t just reach out to fellow attorneys. Marsilio said as a defense attorney he always extended advice to DUI clients, and still today as a prosecutor he makes a point to reach out to defendants in similar situations.</p><p>&#8220;Anyone who is willing to listen to my advice is welcome to hear my story,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If I could do it, you could do it too.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By James O&#8217;Malley</p><p>jomalley@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County lawyer shares tales of his binge drinking to help others kick habit