AHS Views

I read a news item about Baron Geisler, an actor in the Phillipines, who’s going to get addiction help for alcohol. The story says he lost an acting job because he showed up on the set with a few drinks under his belt. It also said he has a history of drunken brawls but, since his mother sent him to alcohol rehab, he’s ‘no longer like that’. He ’slipped’ because his girlfriend left him. He said ‘never meant to hurt anyone or show any disrespect’.

But out of the blue (in his statement about the recent incident) he also denies his involvement in the shooting of a co-worker he’d recently nearly come to blows with - provoked when Baron insulted the other guy’s girlfriend - and he’s up on sexual harrassment charges filed by his roommate’s daughter.

So, in fact, he is still ‘like that.’

He says he’s just ‘very emotional.’  Sounds innocent enough, but it’s obvious that he’s causing his own problems. And until he stops doing that, it’s going to be virtually impossible for him to stay sober.

If he wants a girlfriend who will not get him ‘very emotional’ by leaving him, he’s going to have to stop doing things that result in sexual harrassment charges from other women, refrain from insulting people to the point of them wanting to beat him up,  and get himself into a position where he doesn’t have to deny his involvement in a shooting.

Maybe then his girlfriends will stay with him and he won’t therefore feel compelled to drink.

A facility that offers full addiction help services would have to help him handle those aspects of his personality.  That’s real rehabilitation.  If you’re looking for a facility that will do that, give us a call.

I’m in Ontario, Canada visiting family and friends for the holidays. Boy, they really take drinking and driving seriously here. They have a program called Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere - R.I.D.E. Teams of police are assigned to spot check drivers and if the driver says they’ve been drinking, AT ALL, or if the police can smell alcohol, you do a breathalizer. If you blow above the legal limit (recently reduced so it’s the same as the U.S.), you’re taken away - I’m not sure to where since I don’t know if Canada has drug courts where someone can get addiction help or if they just go to jail, etc.

What’s different about this program? First - it’s a spot check. You don’t have to have done anything suspicious to be stopped. Second - if you’ve been drinking AT ALL, even though you’re within the legal limit, they can still take your keys and your car for 24 hours.

I think the actual R.I.D.E. program is officially over, but the actions taken to prevent drunk driving continue - and the DUI laws are getting even tougher, especially on those who are ‘nearly’ at the legal limit.

Sound steep? I’m sure the hundreds of thousands of people and their families who were injured or killed in DUI-related accidents would say ‘absolutely not.’ I would tend to agree. Better safe than sorry. And I’m sure this must lead to a lot of people availing themselves of addiction help services instead of drinking and driving and getting a stint in the slammer. Nothing works like zero tolerance.

And if it wasn’t meant to be, why did God invent taxis and designated drivers?

A new study shows that alcohol shrinks the brain. Millions of people need drug and alcohol addiction help, and we’re spending millions finding out this useless information.

Why do we need it? We already know that just one drink can impair abstract thinking for a month, we already know it causes a gradual deterioration of the body and people die before their time, we already know it’s involved in most domestic violence incidents, we already know it’s ruins families, lives, careers. Shouldn’t we be spending our money making sure people get the addiction help services they need?

Getting someone who needs help with alcohol or drug addiction can be difficult. In fact, 95% of alcohol and drug treatment candidates think they don’t have a problem. But, they do. They have a problem with alcohol or drugs, and they have the problems that got them into alcohol or drugs in the first place. And the only way to resolve those problems is through a successful alcohol and drug rehab program.

But how do you convince them of that fact? Sometimes the addict is afraid the person will think less of them if they discuss it, sometimes they think the person couldn’t possibly understand what they’re going through, and sometimes the relationship between the addict and the person trying to convince them to get help is not that great.

That’s when you need outside help – someone who understands what the addict is going through, has worked with hundreds or thousands of alcoholics or drug addicts in the past, and can convince them to get into alcohol or drug rehab.

If you need help getting someone into treatment, call a drug rehab program counselor. They’ll help you determine if an interventionist is needed, and will also help you find the right treatment program.

Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers has checked into a rehab facility to keep up with his recovery from alcohol abuse. Meyers, star of the current Showtime series The Tudors, recently finished shooting his upcoming flick ‘August Rush’ opposite Terrence Howard and Robin Williams in New York.

Rhys has scheduled his next project to start after he completes the alcohol rehab treatment program.

Seems drug and alcohol rehab is becoming quite the celebrity trend - others who recently checked into rehab include Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss and Desperate Housewives heartthrob Jesse Metcalfe.