People in recovery from substance use hope to change the political landscape by running for office

Thomas Higdon was a politics fanatic his entire life: He kept up on the news cycle, he door-knocked for candidates, and he volunteered for a number of campaigns. 

He long dreamed of working in government, but he and everyone around him felt it wouldn't be possible because of his substance use. His use of alcohol and other drugs began causing problems when he was in law school in the mid-1990s, and in 2014, the consequences of his substance use left him living under an overpass. He is now abstinent from the drugs, but even years later, he felt he had ruined his chances of running for office. 

"I allowed this internalized stigma, over decades, to blind me to what I could really do," Higdon, now 52, told CBS News.