AHS Views

I read an article today about a pastor who has been waiting for seven years for the funds the government promised for her detox and rehab facility. Currently, she has a long list of addicts who have asked for help getting off drugs but most of them change their mind long before that help is available. The wait is only two weeks, but for an addict, even a couple of days’ delay is often too long. When someone decides to get the drug addiction help they need, they need it now.

A lot of people, young and old, who have nothing to do with drugs or alcohol have trouble following through with a decision once it’s made. If they don’t do it now, it may get put off for months, or forever. For an addict, the situation is a thousand times worse: they’re trying to stick to their decision regardless of the desperate urge for another drink or another hit, and they’re starting to get the severe anxiety, nausea, muscle pain and other symptoms of withdrawal.

Once an addict has agreed to get help, get them into a drug rehab center immediately – now. Get on the phone with a drug rehab program counselor who can find the right addiction help services for the situation, then jump in the car or on a plane and get them there now. Yes, it’s a pain in the neck – but it’s nothing compared to what you’ll be in for if the addiction continues.

I read an article today about Superior Court Commissioner Brian Rees and his determination to get addiction help for kids no matter what he has to do.

He uses the several options at his disposal – probation, detention, a week or two in juvenile prison, residential drug rehab and, finally, drug court, to give a kid every opportunity to straighten out. If they don’t, they eventually go to jail. Rees says the hardest to help are the ones who deny they need it.

Where are the parents while all this is going on? I can only think that the majority of them have given up. Perhaps they feel they’ve done everything they can and are relying on the courts to handle the problem.

Sometimes the best thing parents can do when their kid has an alcohol or drug addiction problem is to contact an interventionist. Someone who will talk to their son or daughter, and convince them to get the help they need. Believe me, if they do wind up in prison, they’re more likely to come out of there a hardened criminal, and more prone to addiction than they were when they went in.

If you need addiction help for your kid and can’t convince them to get it, contact an interventionist as soon as possible. Many are former drug addicts themselves, they know what your kid is going through and can get them the addiction help services they need.

The Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services has launched a new campaign to remove the stigma associated with alcohol and drug addiction so people will get treatment. “Individuals with brain diseases should not be discriminated against,” said Angela Cornelius, the director of the agency. “Stigma forces thousands of Ohioans to sit silent with their afflictions.” It’s unfortunate that they have to associate drug addiction with brain diseases, since there’s no scientific proof of that fact,  but, nevertheless, ensuring someone gets drug addiction help when they need it is vital – and it has to be done fast.

According to the agency, nearly 900,000 Ohioans who needed alcohol and drug addiction treatment last year didn’t get it. In fact, 95% of the 22 million people who are considered to need treatment don’t get it because they don’t think they need it. Whether this has anything to do with a stigma is up in the air. Alcohol and drug abuse is so widely accepted in so many circles that it may be that people don’t see it as a problem because everyone else is doing it.

But underneath it all, when an alcoholic isn’t drinking and a person on drugs isn’t high, they know they have a problem. Most of us who know someone with a drug or alcohol problem have experienced them telling us that they’ll stop, or cut down. But, they don’t. The problem is that they’re not gotten into treatment at the moment they admit they have a problem.

Don’t let that moment slip by with someone you care about. Alcohol and drug addiction help is usually available any time of night or day. When you see that opportunity, contact an addiction help counselor before the person changes their mind.

An article from CBS News reports that Andy Reid’s sons will finally be given the opportunity to get the addiction help they have needed for years. This past week, both sons were sentenced to jail time with the option to apply for a drug addiction treatment program that that would require them to report to authorities regularly, do drug testing and hold down jobs.

For anyone who hasn’t been following the story, Reid’s sons were both arrested on the same day for drug related charges. Britt Reid was arrested for pointing a gun at another driver on the road. Drugs were found in his car. His brother, Garrett, was arrested for crashing into another car – he was high on heroin.

As is usual, their drug problems started long before their arrests. The judge said that both sons’ were overmedicated through most of their lives. In fact Britt Reid developed a prescription painkiller addiction in high school after an injury.

Both parents have been supportive of their sons throughout this whole ordeal and said that they have tried to get them drug addiction help.

I’ve worked with many parents who are trying to get their kids into treatment. What is most upsetting is when the parents, who know their child is in trouble with drugs, will delay getting them help, or stop trying altogether. In some cases I have even had parents who are supporting their drug addicted son or daughter while they are living under their roof. But they will not insist on them getting addiction treatment.

Unfortunately, Britt and Garrett Reid’s position is not unusual. If you don’t want that for your kid, contact a drug addiction counselor and get them help now.

If someone is on drugs, there’s a good chance they will also wind up in prison. Nearly half the people already in prison are dependent on drugs. That’s about 1.25 million people. Once an addict gets into prison, there’s very little chance his addiction will get handled – despite the fact that he may not have access to drugs. It actually takes drug rehab to get someone off drugs permanently, not just lack of availability. It’s a mind set. When the drugs become available again, the person will get back on them – unless he gets addiction help treatment through drug rehab.

Once relapse occurs, there’s also a good chance the person will get in trouble again and go back to prison. And it could be over and over again.

Addiction treatment isn’t simply getting the person away from drugs. They also need help to get down to the bottom of why they were taking drugs so they can address these issues. If nothing is done about the motivating factors, there is very little chance of the person ever recovering. If someone you care about is on drugs, get them into drug rehab for drug addiction help now, before they wind up in prison.