AHS Views

The story of the Reid sons has been in the news a lot recently. I thought the saga would end with their sentencing. I thought that both sons would serve some time in prison, get addiction help through drug treatment, and disappear from the public eye.

Now today there is another article in the news about Garret Reid, who was caught smuggling drugs into the prison where he is serving time.

This is a crime that could carry the penalty of two additional years in jail and will take away the chance that Reid was given for addiction help through a drug court treatment program.

 Getting someone the addiction help can reverse the cycle of drug addiction and criminal activity much more effectively than a jail sentence. If you know someone who need addiction help services, get them into a drug rehab center now. Don’t wait until they go to jail.

The news has been full of stories about people – largely celebrities – who don’t stop drinking or taking drugs after drug rehab. But for every story out there like that, there are innumerable stories about people who go to drug rehab and make it. Fortunately, some of them are also making the news. Pop star, Fergie, for example has just revealed that she had a serious addiction to methamphetamine, which she kicked thanks to getting the addiction help she needed.

“I had chemically induced paranoid schizophrenia,” she told Allure. “At one point I gave myself an ultimatum, because I was absolutely sure the FBI and a SWAT team were coming for me. I said, ‘OK, if you walk through that door and they’re not out there, then it’s the drugs.’”

Thankfully for Fergie, she did receive drug addiction treatment, and today she has a successful career as lead singer of the Black Eyed Peas and as a solo singer.
 
Hopefully Fergie’s story inspire others to stay away from drugs and, if they’re on them already, to get the addiction help services they need.

Anyone who watches the news knows about the trials and tribulations of Britney Spears. Now an article reports that her ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, has just released a music video said to tell the story of Spear’s life spiraling out of control leading to her getting addiction help through a stint in drug rehab.

While it is being reported that the video is about celebrity culture in general, as many young celebrities have recently checked into drug addiction treatment recently, the co-writer of the piece, Duran Duran is quoted as saying is it “loosely based on Spears.”

And judging from the girl in the video, dressed in a “Spears inspired” outfit and oversize designer sunglasses, I would say that the video is more than loosely based on the pop star whose time in an addiction treatment program and bizarre behavior since then has caught the attention of the media on an almost daily basis. 

With all of the negative influences on young adults these days through pop culture, and role models such as Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan possibly making alcohol and drug addiction look attractive and glamorous, this video might be useful to educate kids on the flip side of the story and encourage them to either stay away from drugs, or to get the addiction help services they need.

I’ve often wondered why the government and other entities continue to throw money at drug detox and drug rehab facilities and treatment models that are unsuccessful. I think one of the reasons may be that they actually believe ‘relapse is part of recovery.’  I don’t know who the ‘expert’ is who decided that, or how the word got spread around, but it’s certain that it didn’t come from someone who is an expert in addiction help.

It more than likely came from someone who has had a number of failures in trying to get people off drugs. Somehow, they just got to the point where they didn’t believe there was anything wrong with their treatment model, or their facility, or their skills - it’s just that ‘relapse is part of recovery.’

It’s not uncommon for someone who has failed at something to try to make others believe that the thing they’re failing at is impossible.

In fact, when it comes to drug rehab, it’s not. There are very successful drug rehab program centers around. And plenty of people actually kick the habit.

If you or someone you care about needs help getting off drugs, contact an addiction help services counselor. He can guide you to something that really works. 

How they can be a drug rehab expert and not know how to get someone to stay off You have probably heard ‘relapse is part of recovery’  being offered as the reason why some drug rehab programs are unsuccessful - they are unsuccessful, relapse is part of recovery. a reason for relapse and for the failure of drug rehab programs. Anyone who says this really doesn’t know what it takes to make drug rehab successful. What else are they going to say? They don’t know What does that mea 

“You have to want to stop, and you have to stop believing drugs are the answer to your pain,” Dale Gordon, a recovery addict and director of treatment for the Yukon territory’s Alcohol and Drug Services unit told the Whitehorse Star in a recent article. “My experience is that people who recover have a way to do that.”
 

The idea that relapse is part of alcohol or drug addiction is widely accepted, but it doesn’t have to be that way. A good drug rehab program will help give you the skills you need to stay drug free after you’ve received the addiction help you need.

Part of that help has to involve working out how you will resist the temptation to get back into drugs or alcohol after you’ve completed your drug rehab program.

“Choices are made daily. You are here because of the good choice you made. From here, it’s one choice at a time.” Senator Gary Hooser of Hawaii told drug court graduates at a recent graduation ceremony.

And he is exactly right. Everyone has their own reasons for getting involved with drugs - they could have been anything from just ‘harmless’ experimentation to trying to escape some serious life problem.

But no matter what your reason, you got into trouble because of decisions you made in the past. If you or someone you care about is on drugs now, get the addiction help services you need to get off them, and then make sure you make different choices the next time you’re confronted with similar situations. Remember that when it comes to drugs, your choice could be life or death.

While no specific numbers have been reported, I would imagine there are several hundred thousand drug addicts out there who are parents. And parents, just like anyone else struggling with substance abuse, often end up needing some type of drug addiction help treatment to handle their addiction.

Unfortunately, when that times comes, many parents will chose to not get the addiction help they need because they know that once they are in a program it will be left up to their families or the state to decide who will take care of their children. Losing or being away from their children can be too much for any parent to bear, even when a parent knows that if they don’t get addiction help they could lose their children permanently.

But what if drug addiction treatment centers provided child care or allowed children of addicts to stay with their addicted parent while they were undergoing substance abuse treatment?

This is actually the plan at a drug addiction treatment center in Oregon. Facilities are being built to accommodate six mothers and their children.

The center is one of the first to offer this option and it may open the door for more addicts to get the addiction help services they need while also enabling mothers to learn to be responsible for their children again in a controlled, drug-free environment.

Drug addiction among doctors has received considerable attention in recent months. Usually the addiction has gone on for months or years, and the docs have already endangered the lives of several patients before anything is done to ensure they get the addiction help they need.

Most recently, a doctor in Pennsylvania who was addicted to hydrocodone, an opiate painkiller, was under investigation for seven months and arrested before the medical board did anything about it. Several incidents had occured during that time - one four hour surgery took the doctor 12 hours to complete, and a patient who got a nose job was left with part of her nose hanging off because the doctor hadn’t stitched her up correctly.

The problem appears to stem, in part, from the fact that investigating agencies in are not at liberty to disclose the details of their investigation to the Pennsylvania medical board.

But, according to the article, the doctor’s condition was known about by her staff and by pharmacists. When interviewed, three of the staff said the doctor was unfit to practice, yet no one took effective action to ensure she stopped treating.

Approximately 7 percent of the doctors in Pennsylvania are addicted to alcohol or drugs. Something has to change to ensure that patients are protected from this situation, and doctors get the addiction help services they need.

A report was just released about the increase of substance abuse among the young people of Montana. However, the problem is largely with alcohol, rather than drugs, and binge drinking specifically is far beyond the national average. It’s something parents have to watch out for, and ensure they get their kids addiction help as soon as possible.

According to the report, 38 percent of kids in Montana indulge in binge drinking – defined as five more drinks at a time. The national average is 28 percent, although American Indian kids are at 45 percent.

Montana’s received a $10 million grant for an education program to warn people about the dangers of binge drinking, but more money is needed for addiction help for those already hooked. Binge drinking is not only more dangerous than having the occasional drink, it can be deadly. If someone you know is binge drinking, contact an addiction help services group that can guide you to the right treatment.

Contrary to popular belief, relapse is not a part of recovery. When an individual relapses after receiving drug addiction treatment it’s because the addiction help they received was incomplete – some vital element of rehabilitation was omitted.
 
Most of the time there are indications that the person may relapse. In fact, some will even say they’re planning on it.  Rock star Pete Doherty is the perfect example: when he was handed his suspended sentence he commented that there was no way he could stay out of legal trouble. Now there’s a video online of Doherty shooting heroin. That shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Although heroin addiction is not easy to overcome, if a drug rehab program is thoroughly done, there’s no reason why someone would relapse. The only solution is to do exactly what Doherty says he’s doing: get back into addiction help services until relapse is no longer a threat.

I came across an article today about actor Benicio del Toro attending a meeting for gay men with substance abuse issues. Apparently del Toro showed up at a Health Crisis meeting that was held as a form of addiction help for methamphetamine addicts.

The media was buzzing about del Toro’s sexual orientation and past issues with drug addiction, but he was at the meeting to support a friend who was trying to get addiction help.

According to the article, Del Toro started attending the meetings when he was researching his role in Things We Lost In The Fire. He befriended one of the attendees, and is now supporting this friend in his battle with drug addiction.

When a person is struggling with addiction, they often call upon friends who are not on drugs to help them get into treatment.

If you know someone who is using drugs, be that friend to them – help them get the addiction help services they need. You might save their life.