Family Matters: Addictions, OCD and Suicide

In Ventura California, James A. Kasmir, a 53-year-old local entertainer went on a drinking binge and put his head in a noose he had wrapped around the door of a bedroom in the home of an old friend, who found his lifeless body pressed up against that door on Feb. 11, 2015.

Since 2005, Kasmir had worked with Straight Up [a youth development project for ages 12-25 made possible through funding from Ventura County Behavioral Health Department, Alcohol and Drug Programs] and was known as a "good guy, an accomplished musician AND magician, a fine teacher, improviser and friend. The kids and teens who learned theatre from Jim will never forget his style and his generous spirit."

Straight Up promotes the need for "social change regarding prescription drug misuse and other concerns using improvisation and interactive techniques to engage discussion, explore issues, and develop personal and community solutions to these issues" and the files Jim wrote on a Straight Up computer that he had wanted to publish on their blog as 'Anonymous' are published here to further that initiative.