It's a frightening time to be a parent, and when access to potent drugs is but a mouse click away, parents have just cause for concern about the very real dangers of pill abuse. There are some signs of abuse that parents should be looking out for, but ultimately all you can do is to educate your kids, stay involved and hope for the best.
What can parents do when the "pusher man" has become an easy to access online website selling potent drugs without the need for a prescription?
It's a scary time to be a parent, and while parents of every generation may have felt the same way, with the incredibly easy access to drugs that today's teens have, parents often feel a bit overwhelmed at how to protect their impressionable teens from dangerous pharmaceutical abuse.
A quick survey of internet pharmacies proves that there is little that cannot be bought through the services of an illegitimate pharmacy located out of the country. Oxycontin, hydrocone, xanax, and benzodiazepines are just a few of the many drugs that are but a mouse click away. Pharmaceutical abuse is rising, and while yesterday's teens may have raided the family liquor cabinet, today's teens can easily supply their own drug needs through online ordering or even through the misuse of over the counter medications.
These drugs are pretty scary too; some of them are very addictive, and some of them are very risky for dangerous overdoses, especially when taken in conjunction with other pills or with alcohol, which research indicates is a very common practice.
The misuse or abuse of these pharmaceuticals is misperceived as relatively safe and harmless, and does not carry the stigma associated with the usage of "illicit drugs" such as heroin, marijuana or LSD; but these drugs are just as dangerous as illicit drugs, and are also very addictive, and with an estimated 6 million Americans currently addicted to pills, the danger of a crippling and potential destroying addiction is very real…and very scary.
So what can we as parents do?
Try to monitor your teen's internet activities, and be very suspicious of any activity at online pharmacy websites, or drug info related sites. Most teens get the information on dosages that they need from the internet, from sources that may or may not be providing credible and safe information.
Be aware of any pharmaceutical paraphernalia. Empty bottles of cough syrup, empty pill wrappers, or other such medication related debris are not normally carried around, and probably indicate at the very least some experimentation with pharmaceuticals.
Educate your teens as to the risks involved with using pharmaceuticals, and make sure that they are aware of the dangers and the possibility of death.
Don't keep a lot of old and unused medications hanging about in the medicine cabinet. If you're finished with the pills but have some remaining, dispose of them properly. Also, be aware of the quantities of medicines used regularly, and if you seem to be refilling prescriptions for certain drugs more often than you think that you should…this may indicate a problem.
Be involved and try to be a part of your teen's life. It can be difficult to determine whether changes in behavior are a normal part of adolescence, are in fact caused by something more sinister, but by staying active in your teen's life, you are in a better position to spot trouble before things get serious.
We as parents can only educate our kids as to the dangers, be on the lookout for trouble, and hope for the best. It is truly a frightening time to be the parent of a teenage kid.
August 2007 Archives
Alcohol abuse impairs health, destabilizes families, and it's now proven linked with downward social mobility. Getting help is never a "dollars and cents" issue...but when you look at the economic impact of continuing abuse, treatment always makes sense.
If you need one more reason to get help for problem drinking, you may find motivation out of a Virginia health care study examining the use of alcohol, and the kind of neighborhood you can expect to live in.
Researchers examined hundreds of Caucasian men over a 12 year period, evaluated their alcohol use behaviors, and as well plotted their residences every three years during that 12 year period. They found that heavy use of alcohol over that time was significantly and casually related to a far greater likelihood of residing in a "bad neighborhood" (as defined by low socio economic status). Contrarily, those people who reversed heavy alcohol consumption were far more likely to move out into better neighborhoods as their length of abstinence progressed.
Researchers explain that approximately 40 percent of experienced risk towards alcohol abuse seems to be environmental, and that continuing residency in low socio economic neighborhoods likely further contributes to abuse due to an increase in environmental stressors, negative modeling and lesser access to treatment and social programming.
The researchers conclude that alcohol abuse does not solely diminish health, but it also very negatively impacts on quality of life and socio economic status.
Of course not everyone who abuses or is dependent on alcohol lives in a "bad neighborhood" and many successful professionals boasting impressive residences drink far more than is healthy; but on a societal level, alcohol abuse and dependency seems very closely linked with greater poverty and downward social mobility.
Alcohol abusers don’t perform as well at work, are more likely to be fired, and more likely to suffer health problems related to abuse that reduce their employment potential…also, alcohol can be expensive when consumed in the kind of quantities a serious alcoholic needs.
My family never needed to move out of the family home, but we certainly suffered economically during my period of alcohol and drug abuse. I held down a job, but I certainly didn’t excel, and nearly lost it a number of times (should really have lost it) and we were lucky to have done as well as we did.
People should never look at the cost of treatment as a barrier to access, and you just need to find the best drug or alcohol treatment that you can possibly afford, and consider it an investment in the future. It worked for me, and my family is far more comfortable now that my attentions are not so firmly focused on intoxication…and it seems that research backs up my experience.
Continuing abuse always leads to destruction on many levels, and you are far less likely to enjoy a good neighborhood, live on safe streets, and send your kids to quality schools while continuing to use and abuse alcohol or drugs.
Spanish researchers at the University of Navarra have conclusively linked increased ambient air temperatures with an increase in the neural damage done by consumed ecstasy. Taking ecstasy in a hot club environment increases the risks of neural damage. Heat makes it worse.
The ambient temperature at which ecstasy is taken influences the neural damage done by the drug.
Using animal model studies in which rats were dosed with ecstasy at temperatures ranging from 15 to 30 degrees centigrade, and examining the resultant neural damage, researchers have causally linked the ambient air temperature during consumption with an increased risk for neural damage and deficits.
They explain that if ecstasy were somehow dosed directly into the brain, there would be no risk of neural damage, and the damage caused seems to be induced by the bodily metabolism of the consumed drug. Higher ambient air temperatures increase the speed and extent of the metabolism, and the higher the ambient air temperature, the greater the risk of neural damage.
The problem for drug users is that people most often take ecstasy in a club setting, in which many people may share a poorly ventilated and confined space, greatly increasing ambient temperatures. A heated club environment exacerbates the neural damage done by increasing the metabolism of the consumed drug.
The seratonergic systems, those that regulate mood, memory and sleep, seem most affected and damaged by ecstasy; and researchers who have long known that heavy ecstasy consumption can induce serious neural deficits, now also realize that even occasional and minimal consumption does also induce some damage.
If you take ecstasy, even once, you do likely suffer some degree of neural consequences, and the more you take it, the greater the permanent damage done. It now seems that damage can be alternatively minimized or increased depending on the temperature in which the drug is taken. Hard dancing ecstasy consumers, already at risk for fatal hyperthermia through a loss in internal temperature regulating mechanisms, have another reason to fear the heat of the dance club.
If you must take ecstasy…do it in the snow!
Your kids will hate it, and they may even resent you for doing it, but if they have a history of drug or alcohol abuse, a drug test is the only way you can be sure that they remain sober. Cheap, reliable and accurate drug tests give you peace of mind, and also let you get them the help needed quickly, should a test come back positive.
There is nothing an adolescent hates more than an intrusion into their privacy, and drug tests are certainly intrusive, but they are also very accurate, and can be a very useful tool for parents concerned about substance use and abuse.
I don't think that drug testing is necessarily appropriate as a preventative measure for kids without a history of abuse, and if they have acted responsibly they should be rewarded for that behavior with increasing levels of trust; but for kids with a history of abuse, I feel that they are a valid parental tool.
About half of all kids who enter a residential treatment program will relapse back to some degree of drug or alcohol abuse at some point, and the earlier this use is detected, the earlier help can be arranged and the greater ultimate probability of success.
Kids who have a history of drug and alcohol abuse should be informed that drug testing is to become a regular part of the family life, and there should be no exceptions made once this announcement is made. Today's testing kits, particularly urine testing kits, are inexpensive, very reliable and accurate; and provide an easy way for parents to be sure of their kid's use or non use. The fact is that all kids will lie to their parents at some point, and kids with drug or alcohol abuse problems are even more prone to lying to cover their abusive behaviors; but a drug test does not lie, and teens will also know in advance that if they use, their parents will know.
The ideal result for the introduction of family drug testing is not to catch teens in the act as such, but to keep them from indulging, knowing that if they do they will certainly be caught. The consequences for a positive test result should be made clear in advance, and if a test does come back positive, parents must have the strength to implement whatever treatment or consequences had been pre agreed to. If a kid knows that a positive drug test means another session at a drug rehab facility, that may be enough to keep them from using.
Kids are pretty clever though, so you have to be sure that the test you are using is reliable, and as well be aware of any possible ways to "fool" the test. Kids get the information they need to beat drug tests from the internet, but that info is there for you too. Speak with an addictions specialist on the best way to implement reliable and accurate drug testing into your family's routine.
Your kids will hate it, but it might just be enough of a deterrent to use that it will keep them safe…and they'll thank you for it later.
Parenting an adolescent is never easy, and when your teen is using or abusing drugs or alcohol, this transitional period is especially complex. Drug testing can help.
Although addictions professionals agree that group therapy works best when participants share a common history and background, it can be difficult to find drug treatment where you need it, when you need it, and that you can afford...that also perfectly reflects your needs. Any immediate treatment is far preferable than waiting for elusive perfection, and since all people struggling with abuse and dependency share if nothing else a history of addiction and drug seeking behaviors, our similarities may be greater than they might at first glance appear.
People tend to benefit most from peer group therapies when involved with a group of people with whom they identify and sympathize; thus the closer in age, sexual orientation, gender and experience, the better. Peer support and peer cognitive learning groups are a hallmark of drug treatment, and thus it makes some sense to search out treatment groups displaying as similar a cross section of members as is possible. Ultimately though, although we may differ in many ways, all of us entering into drug treatment share at least one major thing in common.
In some situations shared and common experiences are of utmost importance, and an adolescent user is unlikely to benefit much from a group of older and experienced people, with very distinct issues and with a very different set of experiences and world views. Likewise, very elderly seniors often feel more comfortable within a group of like peers; and some gays, lesbians and bisexuals do not feel comfortable discussing their sexuality and how it factors into substance abuse in a heterogeneous group. But for most people, the realities of available drug treatment facilities mean that the likelihood of encountering a group of people sharing greatly similar life experiences is slim.
Thankfully, although we may differ greatly in our upbringings, our socio economic status' and our sexual orientations, we all share something far greater than these, and that is our shared history of addiction and substance abuse; and that I think makes us all far more similar than we might otherwise appear. Additionally, while some people may greatly prefer a group of more similar people to share testimonies and support, the efficacy of the therapy as offered may not vary much, and preferences may have more to do with a comfort level at entry. While clinical studies show that the elderly benefit about equally from age specific therapy or general adult treatment, they prefer greatly to recover with a group of like peers.
I went through two rehabs, and very surprisingly to me, I identified and bonded most closely to one person in each group with whom I shared almost nothing superficially in common, and with whom I would have been very unlikely to ever meet within my social circle. What we shared in our addictive histories proved to be far greater than how our lives had superficially differed up to that point, and these two remain friends and confidants of mine to this day.
So when choosing a rehab facility or drug treatment support group, try to find the one that seems to offer as close a group of peers as you can find; but if all you have access to is a completely disparate and very different group of addicts in recovery…give it a try, and you might find that what you share is greater than what seemingly separates.
Don’t choose a facility because its patients look, act and think like you do…choose
one that fits your needs, and that offers quality and comprehensive care.
You too may find a retired bayou shrimper and a lesbian lawyer (my two now great rehab born friendships) of your own, that give you support and inspiration, and help you stay sober day by day.
Ultimately, although we all search for perfect drug treatment, perfection can be hard to find; and any drug treatment is better than no drug treatment.
People drinking Red Bull cocktails benefit from stimulant effects of the energy drink that mask many of the perceived depressive effects of the alcohol, and a recent study reports that almost 20% of these same people are not using designated drivers after a night out, and are simply choosing the person who appears least drunk to drive the party home. Energy cocktail drinkers don't feel drunk, but they are, and they may very well be the people piloting the car home after a night of drinking.
Two recent studies, one Canadian, and one Brazilian, when taken together paint a slightly ominous picture of current club culture, and its implications for impaired driving.
The first study, out of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, investigated the effects both perceived and actual of mixing alcohol with energy drinks (such as red bull)…which are popular cocktails throughout the world's bars and clubs. The stimulant nature of the energy drinks seem to reduce perceptions of some of the alcohol's depressive effects, and people consuming red bull cocktails reported feeling less tired, less un coordinated, and stronger than those people who had consumed normal alcoholic cocktails.
Popular for inducing an ability to dance all night, these cocktails seem to mask some of the perceived symptoms of intoxication, and people drinking energy drink cocktails underreport their level of intoxication as compared to people drinking conventional alcoholic drinks.
But when university researchers compared the reflexive and physio motor reactions of both the energy drink consuming and regular cocktail consuming groups, they found that although the energy drink group reported feeling less intoxicated, they performed equally poorly on measures of coordination and reactions times.
The second study, out of the University of Alberta, examined designated driver practices and compliance amongst young bar going people in the province. The study found that although many people do use designated drivers responsibly (rotating between members of a group) a significant percentage of bar goers do not; and fail to plan for the drive home before entering the bar to drink. The strategy employed by almost 1 in 5 is to simply select the seemingly least impaired person to perform the driving duties, whether actually impaired or not.
When you combine the results of the two studies, you seem to have a group of people drinking alcoholic energy drink cocktails, who do not realize how drunk they truly are, and these same people too often simply selecting a designated driver who appears most competent at the moment…a recipe for disaster to be sure.
But what’s to be done? I don’t think that anything but enforcement carried much impact over drinking and driving behaviors, and to that effect law enforcement need to continue policing the late night roads, on the lookout for people who may be a lot drunker than they think they are.
If you drink red bull or other energy drink cocktails, be aware that the stimulant effects of the energy drinks mask some of the depressive effects of the alcohol…but they do not lessen the physical effects of consumed alcohol, and you may be in worse shape than you think you are.
Use a designated driver, call a cab, walk…don’t take foolish chances that can end a night of fun in tragedy.
Kids deserve to know the truth about addiction in the family, and they suffer with feelings of guilt and shame if their concerns and fears are never appropriately addressed.
It's too bad that children get drawn into the whirlwind of family substance abuse, but when one or more parents is abusing drugs or alcohol, the effects on kids in the home can be profound, detrimental and lasting.
Kids, even young kids, know something is wrong, and there is no way to shelter them from the realities of the household, and no way to spare them from the pain of the truth. Children know there's a problem, but younger children especially very likely don’t understand what it is, why it's happening, or whose fault it is. The greatest risk is that children will internalize the pain of the abuse behaviors, and believe that they are somehow at fault for the behaviors of abusing parents.
Children may accept any story given, but children will only truly believe and benefit from the truth, and by acknowledging the existence of a problem, and by letting kids know that it's not their fault, they have a far greater chance of growing up happy, healthy and less likely to develop substance abuse problems of their own as they age through their teens.
The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare recommends telling children:
- That addiction is a disease, and that their abusing parent is sick and the witnessed and sometimes scary behaviors are all a part of the disease.
- That lots of kids just like them also have a parent or even two parents who also suffer from the same disease.
- That it's OK to talk about the problem, and there is no shame in discussing feelings with any trusted figure.
Inhalants can be fatal the first time they are tried, and the long term and irreversible health effects of inhalant abuse are tragic. The really scary part is that the most common abusers of inhalants are our very young kids. Parents need to be on the lookout for any of the signs of inhalant use, and if any usage is suspected, need to get immediate professional help.
More than 17 million Americans have used inhalants at least once.
Inhalants, which are a class of drugs in which the user inhales the vapors of a gas, are incredibly damaging and can be very addictive; and studies report that a whole lot of young people are experimenting with these scary drugs.
Inhalants tend to be most widely used by the very young, presumably due to ease of access, and when the drug of choice is located in the closet or in the garage, it's very convenient for these young people to get a cheap and very intoxicating drug.
Some commonly abused inhalants are paint thinner, shoe shine, turpentine, hair spray, gasoline, glue, and many many others. There is both the risk of immediate cardiac arrest from the use of inhalants, and a very real and very frightening possibility of long term, severe and irreversible cerebral and physical impairments. Inhalant abuse seems to attack the central nervous system in a way very similar to alcohol, but at an extremely exaggerated pace.
It's very important for parents to be aware of the abuse of inhalants, and also to be aware of the signs that may indicate the usage of this class of drugs.
Some of the signs of inhalant usage are:Because the health effects of these drugs are so severe, and because the most common abusers are our very young kids, parents need to be especially aware of the risks of inhalant abuse, and need to get professional help if they ever suspect that their kids may be abusing inhalants.
- Chemical odors on the body or clothes
- Paint or other chemical stains on the face hands or clothes
- Hidden inhalant paraphernalia (empty spray cans, rags, strong smelling plastic bags)
- Looking drunk, confused or un coordinated
- Frequent nausea and a loss of appetite
When I consider how many shameful things I did while I was abusing alcohol, it's sometimes hard to sleep at night. But I take some solace in the fact that although I am responsible for all that I did, it's as if I wasn't even a fully conscious participant in my own life at that time. I was there, but the booze was definitely leading the way, and I followed meekly behind, never consciously questioning those actions that always left me able to drink as much as I needed to.
I'm not a scientist, but I have to say that my personal experiences seem to correlate with research which indicates that there can be a cognitive perceptual shift during addiction, and this shift allows the addict to do many things that most of us would consider crazy.
Looking back at my period of heavy drinking, I can see now how many of the things that I did were not appropriate, and were often even harmful, but at the time they all seemed like quite logical and normal things to do.
I remember inviting some friends over for my daughter's fourth birthday party and consuming with 2 others 3 cases of beer during and after the party. I feel ashamed when I think about it, but at the time this seemed like a normal thing to do.
I remember driving drunk…often, but I would only drive during about the first 8 or 9 beers, because I didn’t think I was actually intoxicated yet!
I often said I had a sales meeting, and ended up meeting my friend the local bartender instead. I can't believe I never got fired, and I can see now how transparent my excuses must have been.
I stole a bottle of whiskey from my sister's liquor cabinet as I was heading out the door after a visit. I don't even know why I did it, but I didn't think too hard about it either. I'm sure it didn't take them too long to figure out where the whiskey had gone!
I could go on with an endless list of shame, but the point I'm trying to make is that none of these behaviors even seemed unusual or wrong to me while I was drinking. I can’t really explain it, but it's like I sort of turned down that little voice in my head that would otherwise have let me know how stupid, irresponsible and mean I was being. I wish I could explain myself better…but I think that anyone who has experience with a drug or alcohol dependency may understand what I'm talking about.
I don't offer this post to excuse myself for my actions, and neither do I want to absolve addicts from their own responsibilities, but I would like to try to explain a little bit of what happened to me, and what I think happens to a lot of us during a period of addiction.
We are in control, but we also aren’t quite thinking clearly. We're there but we aren’t. We are ultimately responsible for the pain we cause, but while using, we're not even completely aware why everyone seems so angry with us all the time.
It's not an excuse for my past behaviors, but it is a partial explanation.
Incredible new technology may soon be employed throughout the sewers of our nation, giving us a much better picture of drug use as it's happening in real time. Remarkable science...and with it the possibility for accurate targeted drug interventions in the communities that truly need them; and also a disturbing new law enforcement weapon in our continuing frenzy to fill new jails as fast as we can build them with ever more drug users.
Big Brother may soon be watching you…well, your sewage anyways.
Remarkably, scientists at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society presented a prototype of a technique that will soon be used to detect the level of drug metabolites passing through a certain area's sewage in real time. The testing will reveal levels of meth amphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and even legal opiates such as oxycontin or ephedrine.
Although people lie…urine is apparently quite truthful, and researchers explain that this new methodology, once employed, will give both law enforcement and public health groups much better information about the true levels of substance abuse as it is occurring within our communities, and in real time. Currently drug taking estimates are conjured from a mixture of self reporting (people may be reluctant to admit to an illegal activity) medical records information and police reports, which together give us a somewhat vague notion of drug use as it’s happening in particular areas.
The information may be used to help allocate public health, education and prevention dollars into the communities suffering the highest rates of drug use and abuse, and the information could also be used as information by law enforcement officials looking for evidence of illegal activity within an area or even a residence.
I'm no lawyer, but I'd wager that once you flush the toilet you lose any claim to privacy over the contents of the bowl, and this could be a boon to police looking to cobble together cases with a new and scientific form of drug taking evidence.
As always, science is neutral, but what we chose to make of it never is. I'm not a fan of the criminalization of the consumption of drugs, and even though I loathe drugs for what they've taken from me and my family, I do not believe that someone harming only themselves deserves imprisonment for this offence. Our Nation's prisons are already absurdly full of non violent drug offenders, and with ever greater methods of ensnaring these users, will we need to continue our frantic prison building?
On the other hand though, if this technology is used as a means of gathering better data for use by public health officials towards better treatment initiatives and targeted community intervention, then I welcome this remarkable and astonishing new science into the public arena.
No doubt it will occur within both the spheres of justice and health, and we'll have to take a bit of the good with the bad. I confess to finding it a bit disturbing, even though I no longer have anything I need to hide.
Al ANON is a peer group support organization for families of an alcoholic. The pain of alcoholism does not end with the alcoholic, and the family also suffers from the drinking. AL ANNON meetings follow a 12 step program to healing, and aim to help the family member's close to an alcoholic live healthier and happier lives...whether the alcoholic is drinking or not.
My family was, and to a lesser extent still are, members of a local Al ANON chapter. They have found the group meetings to be very helpful, and as such I would not hesitate to recommend the meetings to anyone suffering through the pain of a loved one's addiction to alcohol.
The AL ANON mission to is to teach and council families affected by an alcoholic's drinking how to live happier and healthier lives. The AL ANON philosophy is that the drinking of a loved one can have a profound impact on the health and happiness of those close to that person; and through reactions to the drinking, feelings of shame and anger, and a sense of personal responsibility over the drinking of an alcoholic, family members can be as addicted to that person's alcoholism, as the alcoholic is to alcohol!
Al ANON is an anonymous and non profit organization that aims to help family member's live happier and healthier lives, whether the alcoholic family member is drinking or not. Al ANON is a spiritual organization, but no particular religion is mentioned, and people from any beliefs set are more than welcome to attend. Family members are invited to speak at the meetings, but participation is entirely at the individual's discretion, and if anyone chooses to remain silent, they are free to do so.
Al ANON members practice a twelve step program to recovery from the pain of a family member's alcoholism, and they also educate on how to support the alcoholic in their personal battle against addiction in a healthy and positive way.
Through shared storied of hope and the understanding of others in a very similar situation, Al ANON can offer empowerment, and offer some degree of peace to any family member suffering through the pain of a loved one's addiction.
My family has found the group to be very valuable, and as such I would encourage anyone suffering through the addiction of a family member to at the very least give a meeting a try, and see if it seems beneficial to you.
The pain caused by alcoholism resonates through the family. AL ANON helps to ease some of the pain, and makes for a healthier and happier family as a whole.
With more than 2 million Americans currently incarcerated, and more than half of these are non violent drug offenders, we need to ask ourselves whether our drug incarceration policy is either sensible or humane. While it may be politically popular to announce ever longer sentencing for drug offences, this policy of jailing as a response to drugs in our communities is not having a positive impact on the level of drug use in our country, and costs an incredible amount of money to sustain. How much better would our communities be if even a portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on prisons each year was diverted to education, drug rehabilitation, and general community building?
I'm no friend to drugs or drug dealers, and I would advocate anything that would help reduce the burden that drugs and alcohol abuse transfer to the families and communities of those that suffer with drug addiction, but I can't help but wonder at the absurdity of our current penal situation.
I have to question the philosophy behind a system that incarcerates more than a million of its citizens for drug offenses, and that currently jails a greater percentage of its population than any other nation in the world… by far. We may hear about the North Korean work camps or Chinese political detention, but when you look at the numbers, you have the greatest probability of spending time in prison here at home. Additionally, how can it be that drug offenders currently serve far greater jail sentences than violent offenders? And even more disturbingly, why are so many of these non violent drug offenders re incarcerated years later for violent offenses….could it be that they are learning violence in American prisons, and that we are responsible for creating the people that make America one of the most violent societies on earth?
Some quick facts on drugs and incarcerations:Our communities and our families have been suffering the effects of drugs for too long, and it must by now be very clear that we cannot beat out national drug problem simply by locking up all that break our country's drug laws. How many people will we need to incarcerate before drugs cease to be a problem? Solutions like mandatory minimums and other long sentences for drug offences, largely politically motivated, are causing more harm than they ease and need to be abolished as soon as possible. When you look at the recidivism rates that indicate that many of these non violent drug offenders are becoming violent while in prison, unless we are willing to lock up people indefinitely, we are likely just making our own problems worse. If even a quarter of the national incarceration budget was instead diverted to drug education, access to drug rehabilitation, and on policies designed to improve the communities at greatest risk for drug abuse, how much better would our nation be? I'm a parent, and I know how scary it can be, and I can understand the knee jerk reaction that leads us to vote for people that promise to get tough on drugs through ever greater jail sentences. But we must awake to the reality that our policy of incarceration has not improved our drug situation, and has created an absurdly and tragically large population of jailed Americans. Imagine your son or daughter caught up in drug abuse, and possibly drug dealing as a way to support an expensive habit. When it's someone you love a 10 year jail sentence for small time dealing sounds crazy, and obviously what is truly needed is the rehab, therapy and the counseling that will allow them to get off of drugs and to make a contribution to society. A 10 year sentence is a lifetime for a young person, and in effect destroys what could still be a promising young life. We need to change our ways, and start using our dollars on more constructive and humane solutions to our national drug problem. It's not working, we can’t and we shouldn’t simply keep locking people up for ever, and if only those dollars were spent for community building and education, how much of our drug problem might just disappear?
- At the end of 2005, more than 2 300 000 people were held in State or Federal prisons, and more than 7 million were either incarcerated or on parole; and one out of every 136 Americans is in a state or federal jail. By comparison, England which is located in the middle of the world prison rankings incarcerates just 148 per 100 000, compared to America's 737 per 100 000.
- The average violent offender in federal prison will serve 63 months in jail, while the average non violent drug offender will serve 75.6 months.
- From 1985-1996 California built one new university, and 21 new prisons.
- Every dollar spent to incarcerate a drug offender is one dollar taken away from spending in the communities from which these offenders came; which can help to explain some of our deplorable urban environments.
- 22% of all incarcerated inmates will be forced to have sexual contact against their will while in prison.
- States spend almost twice as much on corrections as they do on all forms of public assistance combined.
- A Justice Dept. study has revealed that the length of time served in prison has no outcome good or bad on the likelihood of recidivism.
Maintaining contact with the office while in residential drug treatment can’t be beneficial to recovery, but if it's the only way to induce executives into needed residential rehabs, then it’s probably a positive thing
For recovering addicts like myself, the thought of maintaining access to work colleagues and fulfilling necessary business requirements while sequestered in a rehab facility is perplexing, and a bit concerning as well.
A residential drug rehab treatment program should be intensive to the point of the exclusion of anything extraneous but the focus on recovery and sobriety…and contact to the outside world should be as minimal as possible to heighten the focus on an internal recovery.
An executive rehab runs a little bit differently.
Firstly, an executive rehab offers complete confidentiality, and strives through elaborate means to respect the need for secrecy of its sometime powerful and well known alumni. While all rehabs are medical facilities, and are by nature confidential to outside inquiries, an executive rehab will go so far as to never telephone or even mail information to the recovering addict's residence or workplace without prior consent, to minimize the risk of unwanted discovery of treatment.
The costs of an executive rehab will generally exceed that of a conventional private rehab, and for those additional fees the programming and therapeutic attention as offered are intensive and of the highest quality; all done to speed the process of recovery allowing busy and powerful executives to resume their stations as soon as possible. With high fees also come luxurious accommodations and facilities, and executive rehabs are generally located within peaceful and secluded grounds, both to encourage quiet and meditative contemplation, and also to further minimize the risk of unwanted attention.
But where an executive rehab truly differs from a conventional rehab is in the amount of contact to the workplace and outside world allowed. The patients at an executive rehab facility will be allowed to maintain necessary work communications with their colleagues, and although professional staff encourage a minimization of work during the treatment period, executives are permitted to work as much as they need to to ensure that their responsibilities are adequately covered.
When you think about this last allowance, it at first seems contrary to the ideals of a residential rehab, and if work continues unabated during treatment, how can there be room left for the needed focus on recovery?
But when I consider an executive rehab further, I realize that these programs are designed to remove barriers to entry and obstacles to treatment. No one will initiate needed therapy if the personal and professional costs are too high; and for many executives, the admission of a need for rehab is perceived to be too damaging to a hard earned career. By allowing executives to recover in very private surroundings, with continued communications access to the work place, you allow them to maintain the secrecy of their treatment, and act as if they were only on an extended holiday.
Ideally addicts enter a rehab facility and forget about their outside responsibilities for the time needed to get better, but if by refusing to grant access to work responsibilities you inhibit the ability of certain people to participate in drug or alcohol abuse treatment, then the needed concessions do I think make sense.
It's too bad that these executives feel that an admission of normal human weakness would cost them so much that they are fearful to get the treatment they need; but we can’t ignore reality, and although I can’t see how engaging in anything other than the work of recovery while in a rehab can be helpful, if that's what's needed to get these people the help they deserve, then it is a positive step to better health.
Common and normal, drinking dreams nevertheless leave me quite shaken; and I always awake with guilt and fear…and have a few moments of panic over my subconscious relapse.
Most people well into sobriety will know what I'm talking about, and although commonplace and seemingly normal, these drinking dreams still scare the heck out of me; and I wake up after each vivid drinking dream filled with this overpowering guilt and fear, and it takes me good moment before I realize that it was all a dream.
Drinking or drugging dreams are reoccurring experiences for many people in recovery, and they are almost universally scary and unsettling experiences. My dream is usually the same; and it's pretty mundane sounding…just me sitting on the couch with a few quarts of beer watching TV. Doesn’t sound too scary, but I can always taste the slightly bitter cool of the beer as if it were real, and that dream buzz feels pretty close to the real thing too. These dreams haunt me throughout the day, and leave me unsettled and pensive.
Intellectually, I don’t believe that these dreams signify anything particularly disturbing; but emotionally they always get to me; and one thing that I can be sure of is that any day that begins with a dream drunk hangover will find me in a meeting before the sun goes down. I don’t think that these dreams will ever make me take that first sip, but a meeting feels like the right antidote to a subconscious relapse, and sharing my with my knowing friends in AA always puts my mind at ease.
I've been sober for years, and I'm now resigned to the fact that I will live with periodic drunk dreams forever. Any addiction will come back to haunt you, and there's not much you can do about the directions your mind takes as you sleep.
I think that all you can do is use each and every drinking or drugging dream as a subconscious reaffirmation of your need to remain vigilant, and remain active in whatever keeps you sober throughout the day.
Long term studies of the effectiveness of the D.A.R.E. drug education and drug resistance training programs offered in junior highs across the country have proven that the program offers almost no benefit to kids who receive it. We need to stop funding that which doesn't help our kids, and try to find something better. For now, parents cannot rely on the school system and need to take personal responsibility for drug education in the home.
A whole lot of kids have passed through D.A.R.E. drug education and drug use resistance training during junior high, and the evidence seems pretty conclusive at this point that these programs have offered our kids very little of value.
I don't dismiss the intentions of the school board officials and professionals involved in the DARE program, and others like it, and drug prevention training is a very difficult and problematic subject, especially when dealing with impressionable teens very prone to experimentation; but now that the evidence is in, and the program has been pretty conclusively proven ineffective, we need to stop wasting out tax dollars on it, and find something better to replace it.
Although a number of school districts have disallowed funding for the program in response to studies that have questioned its effectiveness, the program is still being offered in most American schools, and the financial costs of the program are high. When the damage done by drugs, especially when used by kids, is so tragic, we cannot let inertia and a reluctance to change dampen our motivation to eliminate that which has been proven ineffective, and strive to replace it with something better.
The only thing that really seems to help kids stay off of drugs is the involvement and concern of parents, and kids whose parents stay active in their teens lives are much less likely to use, and ultimately abuse drugs.
Hopefully addictions professionals and educators will find something that works, but for now, parents cannot rely on the school system to educate about the dangers of drugs, and cannot assume that kids are getting what they need to stay off of drugs from the schools. Talk to your kids about drugs, do it now and do it often, and stay involved even as they try to separate, it's not always easy, but it's the single best thing that we as parents can do to keep our children safe from drugs.
Clinical studies indicate that a brief intervention with a professional for people displaying substance abuse behaviors, but who do not yet have addictions, can influence tremendous behavioral change.
The best way to deal with drug or alcohol dependency and abuse is never to let it occur in the first place. While we are very unlikely to curtail trans-cultural human urges towards the consumption of mood altering substances, through better prevention and intervention, we may be able to limit the numbers of people who progress from use to abuse.
A lot of people can use alcohol and even illicit drugs recreationally and never develop dependency issues. What makes those people difference from the rest of us who are susceptible to abuse remains obscured, and it's believed that genetics, personality and environmental factors all interact to complete the picture. We'll never get people to stop indulging, but if we can minimize the danger to those of us at risk to develop substance abuse issues, we could prevent a lot of heartache.
None of us like to get involved into the business of others, and although we may have concerns about associates or coworkers and their level of substance use, we rarely initiate any action until that abuse has become so obvious and so severe that a response becomes required. Unfortunately, by the time any action is taken the level of abuse and dependency has grown enormously, and the difficulty of enacting positive change greatly increased.
Research has shown that a brief intervention with a professional in people demonstrating substance abuse behaviors, but that do not yet display dependency, can have a great impact on drug and alcohol consumption.
For many, all that is needed are one or two 20 minute professional consultations with an addictions professional or doctor to influence change, and this surely better than an intensive and expensive rehabilitation treatment months or years down the road. The problem isn’t that we don't know what works; the problem is finding a way to implement policies that would allow for these interventions to occur.
The intervention seems to work best when done by a professional, although family and friends can also influence change. A quick intervention will never save all proceeding down the road to addiction, but if even a fraction can be helped, the benefits of such as small and easily accomplished intervention become pronounced.
Medical professionals need to be on the lookout for signs of substance abuse, and ready to intervene when this abuse seems probable. Schools need better early intervention systems, and intervention may need to go to the at risk user, instead of waiting for that person to request assistance; and employers should be aware of the signs of substance abuse behaviors, and offer non confrontational interventions to the benefit of both the company and the individual.
Recognizing the benefit of early interventions in substance abuse, medical schools have started offering prospective doctors training on how best to diagnosis substance use before it progresses to dependency, and training medical personal how to enact behavioral change through brief interventions at an early stage of abuse.
Although none of us want to be nosy or intrude on the personal and private life of another, maybe we need to do more to encourage early interventions within our institutions and workplaces, and to make sure that those with the power to intervene are aware of those who might be at risk for substance abuse and addiction.
When treating an addiction, earlier is always better than later, and best of all is engaging in treatment as a preventative measure to those displaying at risk behaviors.
Feelings or lethargy, nausea, irritability and nights of insomnia as experienced during marijuana withdrawal can make the process very unpleasant and increase the likelihood of a relapse back to use. One of the best ways to alleviate the severity of marijuana withdrawal symptoms is through regular and intense exercise.
The active ingredient in marijuana (THC) is fat rather than water soluble, and as such much of the legacy of a marijuana addiction remains trapped within the fat cells of the body, and can linger for a period of weeks.
People didn't used to consider marijuana addictive, but addictions professionals now recognize that the cessation of regular marijuana smoking can result in a very strong withdrawal syndrome, and as the potency of marijuana gets increasingly stronger with each passing year, so does the strength of the withdrawal symptoms. Some of the symptoms experienced by regular marijuana smokers after quitting use are insomnia, a lack of appetite, nausea, irritability, anxiety and even aggression.
One theory in the betterment of marijuana withdrawal symptoms espouses regular and intense exercise as a way to accelerate the removal process of lingering marijuana metabolites from the body. Through intense sweating, some say that the marijuana metabolites can be removed far more quickly than normal, thus reducing the length and severity of withdrawal symptoms.
There is some debate about the effectiveness of exercise as a way to remove metabolites from the fat cells of the body, and even debate about how much impact these metabolites play in the experienced sensations of withdrawal; but even if exercise does nothing to remove theses metabolites, it seems a perfect antidote to the withdrawal symptoms as experienced.
While feeling lethargic, nauseous and irritable you may not feel inclined to get out of the house and engage in strenuous exercise, but it may be just what your body needs to alleviate some of the experienced symptoms. Endorphin creating intense exercise can be a great way to calm the sensations of anxiety, and physical weariness can help to alleviate nights of insomnia. Work out feelings of aggression in a healthy and productive way through sports or exercise, and have fewer negative mood symptoms remaining at the end of the day.
Exercise may or may not accelerate the process of metabolite extraction, but it seems almost certain to better the experienced symptoms of withdrawal, and is one of the easiest and safest methods to a better mental outlook and hopefully a good night of sleep.
So get off the couch, lace up the sneakers and get out and do some sweating… you'll feel better!
Since elected officials have repeatedly proven that they are far more likely to lock up a drug addict then offer needed help, we need to change the way we try to improve access to treatment.
There are tens of millions of Americans with substance abuse problems requiring professional intervention, and only a small percentage of these people are getting the help that they need.
While undoubtedly a significant percentage of these people have the means to afford drug treatment, and for whatever reason choose not to get it; it is estimated that about 30% of these people, or many millions of Americans, have no health insurance coverage nor have the financial capabilities to afford comprehensive drug treatment expenses.
The fact that so many millions of Americans are slipping through the health coverage cracks in our Country should appeal to our humanitarian natures and induce a desire to enact change; but even if we view the issue callously and economically, we still come out far ahead by reducing the barriers to treatment entry.
Substance abuse cost's Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year in criminal and justice, health care and reduced productivity costs; and conservative estimates have 1$ spent on treatment reaping an eventual 7$ savings in societal costs. Since the numbers seem so overwhelmingly in favor of enacting social and economic change towards better treatment access, why are we not spending more public tax dollars on the very sound investment of drug treatment?
"Because drug treatments don't work"
Well actually they do work, and drug rehab programs save countless thousands of lives a year…but the nature of addiction is such that often a single period of drug treatment doesn’t induce permanent change, and thus the treatment statistics per individual rehab visit are not particularly encouraging. It's hard for public officials to publicly commit great resources to programs with such low success rates, and since incarceration and "getting tough on crime" are so much easier to sell to the electorate, we are continually enacting short sighted and ineffective policies.
I think that ideally we should divert a massive influx of dollars into both treatment programs and addictions research, but since I don’t think that this is likely to occur lacking enormous political will; we should instead concentrate on increasing spending into addictions research. We need to develop better pharmacological and treatment interventions, and once we do have something more concrete to offer, something that does increase the recovery rates per individual rehab visit, then I feel that the political motivation to fund needed substance abuse programming will materialize.
So get out the pen and paper, and if you've been touched by addiction either yourself or through the pains of a loved one, empathize with those that still need help, and let your State and Federal elected officials know that the funding of addictions treatment research is important to you.
How many more billions are spent in the development of hair loss, and erectile dysfunction medications than in all addictions research combined? Not that government funded Viagra trials…but still, it's funny how our priorities can get so distorted.
A number of states still enforce laws that make the possession of needles for drug use a crime. These laws do not result in less drug abuse; they just make existing drug abuse more damaging. When we know that sharing needles increases the probability of HIV and other infections, why are we enforcing laws that penalize addicts who try to use safely?
Why in this day and age, when we know so much about the risks of HEP C, HIV, and other diseases, would we possibly still want to criminalize the possession of clean needles?
Certain states currently do have drug paraphernalia laws and these laws are enforced. These laws do not of course result in intravenous drug users using proportionally less heroin or cocaine, but they do greatly decreases the probability than an addict will risk carrying around clean needles to use.
The risks of contracting a fatal blood borne disease are extremely high when abusing intravenous drugs, and public health and policy makers should be encouraging the use of clean needles, instead of penalizing addicts who try to use more safely.
Heroin users, when it comes right down to it, are going to use; and while they would all prefer a safe and clean needle, when the choice is either a used needle, or no heroin…we all no how it's going to go down. Let's change this damaging law, encourage IV drug users to use clean needles, and supply these needles through needle exchange programs. Let's also have great access to drug rehabilitation programs available, and try to reduce the numbers of people that are dependent on these drugs, instead of simply forcing them into even higher risk administration practices
Drug policy is rarely simple, but this is one policy that seems pretty clear. We are hurting them, and we are hurting ourselves. We are increasing the spread of infectious disease through outdated laws that increase the probability of unsafe injection practices.
There are hundreds of facilities offering drug and alcohol rehab and detoxification that do not allow for the use of any medications as a part of their recovery philosophy. While at face value, the ideation that adding more drugs to eliminate a drug problem makes some sense, when you look at the actual risks and benefits associated with using appropriate and safe medications in drug rehab, it becomes absurd not to use them.
The rehab philosophies that call for a complete abstinence from all drugs and medications during recovery are to my thinking ridiculous.
There are hundreds of rehab facilities throughout the U.S. that follow a philosophy of either natural alternative treatment or other alternative quasi scientific ideals of recovery; and as a result many thousands of people endure un medicated drug treatment each year.
Firstly, the use of certain medications during rehab can make more humane and comfortable an already very difficult transitory period to sobriety…and what possible harm can a couple of ibuprofens do to a person suffering the pains of opiate withdrawal?
Secondly, certain withdrawals can induce acute and even chronic conditions that are either dangerous or even life threatening. Until alternative therapies are clinically proven to reduce the incidence of dangerous convulsive episodes during sedative or alcohol withdrawals, I certainly can’t imagine recommending that anyone I loved endure such a risky period of detox.
Thirdly, the use of psychiatric medications can be the difference between depression, anxiety and an inability or unwillingness to actively participate in the lessons of rehab; and symptoms reduction and a better ability to integrate all that rehab offers.
Why should people suffering a very difficult period of detox and recovery exacerbate their suffering by adhering to any philosophy of recovery that does not allow for non psychotropic medications? Medications that can both decrease discomfort and also improve an ability to participate enthusiastically in drug treatment and therapies.
I'm all for alternative therapies, and since what works for one person may not work for another, by giving people the widest possible range of tools in their arsenal against addiction, I believe you improve the overall ability to resist temptation. Previously suspiciously regarded therapies such as yoga therapy, meditation therapy, or even karate therapy have all proven clinically beneficial and are now increasingly accepted into mainstream treatments. I do not believe that the recovery methods as used today are good enough, and I am grateful for continuing research in this area that offers hope of improvement. But, although our current methods are imperfect, we should not abandon them for something completely unproven and even medically dangerous; essentially experimental therapy using human guinea pigs in the process.
Get drug treatment in a facility that avails of the pharmaceutical interventions that improve the comfort and odds of success in a drug rehab stay. Do not gamble with your recovery and with your life by using alternative or untested philosophies of recovery that do not allow for the use of proven safe medications throughout the process.
The legacy of abuse leaves a lasting imprint on the neuro chemical workings of the mind, and we would be remiss to not use the tools at our disposal to accelerate the healing of mind and the body.
A lot of things sound pretty convincing when taken at face value…but a little digging and a little research often proves that what seems intuitively correct actually makes very little sense. Before subscribing to an alternative and un medicated philosophy of drug treatment, do your own research and draw your own conclusions.
Allowing detox and withdrawal to proceed more painfully than necessary reduces the willingness of people to complete a detoxification, and allowing psychological symptoms of depression and anxiety to continue un medicated throughout recovery lessens the ability to benefit from available psychosocial therapies.
It just doesn't make any sense to me.
AA works for many, but for Christians, replacing the term "higher power" with Jesus Christ makes recovery more meaningful and resonant with truth and Faith. For many Christians, joining a Christian 12 steps group or Christian rehab just makes more sense.
The founding fathers of Alcoholics Anonymous wanted to reduce any barriers to entry into their lifesaving spiritual program; and so although devout Christians, these men decided to organize their recovery group as a spiritual but secular recovery organization. Which considering the religious climate of the time, was a remarkably inclusive and modern act of forethought; and has allowed millions of non Christians to benefit from an organization of hope, guidance and sobriety.
But although the terms God or Jesus are replaced with higher power, the philosophies and Faith based teachings are all very Christian in nature, and AA does mandate a belief in a higher power to follow the 12 steps to recovery.
Because the roots and philosophies are so closely linked to Christianity and a belief in God, the use of AA in Christian rehab programs is not much of a stretch; and when used in a Christian facility, instead of praying to a higher power, prayer is directed as a group towards a Christian God and to Jesus Christ.
Because a Christian recovery group prays to the same god, recovering drug and alcohol addicts can unite in prayer together, enjoy stories of faith and spiritual recovery through God's will, and use bible readings and scripture study for discussion and meditation within the programming and meetings of a Christian 12 steps group.
To truly follow the 12 steps, you need to accept God into your heart, you need to pray to God to make you a better person by removing some of your weaknesses and shortcomings; and you need to look and pray to God for spiritual guidance, enabling you to live a better and meaningful life of sobriety. AA can’t work without an acceptance of powerlessness, and since prayer remains essential to recovery, it makes sense for Christian men and women to unite together in groups where that prayer is unified and directed at a shared God and with a shared Faith.
Christian 12 steps meetings are meaningful to the faithful
Christian 12 steps recovery groups take what's effective about the AA program and make it more meaningful by teaching the lessons of the Christian Faith and adding the true lessons of the Bible into the recovery matrix.
I remain active in the AA support group I started in all those years ago, but I also enjoy an occasional meeting with fellow Christian addicts in recovery within my Church community. There is something elemental and profound about joining together and seeking spiritual guidance towards betterment with others who share a similar belief and conviction, and although I'm grateful for the fellowship of my original AA group, I do appreciate joining with fellow Christians for group prayers to Jesus Christ in our communal battle for sobriety.
You can find Christian 12 steps groups through most churches and Christian community groups, and Christian rehabs generally use the 12 Christian steps as a part of their recovery programming.
The 12 steps of AA don’t work for everyone, but they do work for many, and AA has saved many millions of lives since its inception. For Christians, combining what's great about AA with a true expression of your Faith makes it more powerful, more relevant, and I believe better able to offer success and sobriety. I encourage all Christians in recovery to join a Christian 12 steps meeting, and enjoy Christian fellowship and shared recovery through Jesus Christ.
Working the 12 steps has helped me to achieve sobriety, and it has also bettered my relationship with God. Faith and prayer during recovery can be powerful things. My story of recovery is a Christian tale of hitting rock bottom only to see the light.
I was born and raised a Christian, but once I started using and abusing in my teens and through young adulthood, my relationship with my Faith all but disappeared within the haze of intoxication. Other than a few "stoner" talks about the meaning of life, I really didn’t think about God just as I really didn’t think about much other than getting high or getting drunk. One of the most surprising aspects of my recovery away from addiction and abuse was a re awakening of my Faith, and the development of a very personal belief and reliance on God as I understand Him.
I still don’t go to church nearly as often as I should, but Faith has become important in my life, and it influences all that I do…and it was in AA after really hitting rock bottom that I discovered that God remained a part of me, and that I could use His strength to get better.
Remembering how to pray with AA
In AA we begin each meeting with a serenity prayer, and we pray to improve our relationships with God, to have God remove our shortcomings and we pray to understand God's will and guidance for our lives. As AA is a secular but spiritual organization, you don’t have to pray to a Christian God, only to any higher power as you understand it; but for me it's always Jesus that I pray to, and who I thank each night for keeping me sober and happy within my family and my community.
The thing about God's lessons is that they don’t tend to fade as other lessons of recovery do. In rehab we all learn about cognitive triggers to abuse, and how to maintain our thinking to stay clear from temptation, and I have found these to be useful and have incorporated them into my recovery lifestyle. Unfortunately, these take a continual effort and sometimes feel like the lessons of long ago algebra class…something I once understood, but have no use for now!
I don’t question the value of these programs, but for me, once re awakened, my Faith and a belief in God's power to guide me has always felt more personal and applicable to the battles of daily recovery and relapse avoidance.
I pray every night for God's continuing guidance, and I use the Bible for strength and support in difficult moments. I don't look to the Lord because I have to…but because I crave His guidance and I recognize His power to keep me sober and happy.
Christian rehab
I went through a secular rehab, and I can’t complain because when combined with AA and continuing group aftercare therapy it worked (it took two runs at it though!); but now that I recognize the intrinsic value of spiritual guidance, and now that I use the Lord's power to keep me sober every day of my life…I wonder if a Christian rehab might have been a better fit for me, and if it might have worked completely the first time.
Christian rehab offers us spiritual lessons, guidance and prayer to better understand how God can help us in all areas of our lives, and how we can work to live better lives for God, and also live better lives for ourselves. The lessons of Christian rehab aren’t easily forgotten, and a reminder of the teachings are ever present within the family bible, and remain with you every time you pray to Jesus with an honest and open heart.
Addiction is a disease of the body, of the mind, and also of the spirit, and I can’t help but wonder if the spiritual healing (most overlooked in conventional rehab) isn’t the most important of the three.
No one who knows me well would describe me as evangelical, and my Faith is mostly a very personal and private thing…but since a belief in God and using His strength as my strength has helped me so much, I feel that I have a duty to share my story, and suggest that using Faith and prayer for recovery maybe the most powerful source of healing of all.
The concurrent abuse of alcohol by HIV positive patients has been proven to reduce immunologic functioning in those not receiving retro viral therapy.
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have shown that what animal and cellular studies have indicated remains true within human populations, and that alcohol use in certain HIV positive populations increases the pace of disease progression.
Researchers suspect that heavy alcohol use decreases immunologic capabilities in HIV positive patients, and that it may achieve this lessening of immune response through accelerated HIV replication in the lymphocytes.
The researchers examined the case files of almost 600 alcohol dependent HIV positive patients, and did statistical analysis on the data (controlling for significant variables) and they determined that alcohol plays a significant role in accelerating the progression of the disease, particularly through reducing CD4 cell counts amongst people not using retro viral therapies. Patients that were using retro viral therapies did not show the same CD4 cell count decreases.
The researchers call for greater therapeutic interventions for people with HIV and who use alcohol to excess, and note that brief medical interventions have proven very effective in getting people without addictions to reduce their consumption.
The substance abuse treatment of people with already compromised health needs to be a priority, and although alcoholism or drug abuse is harmful to anyone, HIV positive and other chronic disease sufferers need rapid intervention to improve their general health, and increase treatment compliance.
Easier said than done I know…but with every year bringing more positive treatments to the fight against HIV and AIDS, we need to ensure that the hard earned gains of research into HIV therapies are not undone by concurrent and untreated substance abuse.
Contingency management, a therapeutic approach in which recovering crystal meth addicts are rewarded with non monetary vouchers for increasing periods of sobriety, has proven a very effective strategy for increasing the long term abstinence of crystal meth addicts in recovery. Research continues on how best to incorporate contingency management principles into existing rehabilitation programs, but the initial news is very good, and provides some additional hope to addicts suffering the devastation of crystal meth dependency.
Recovery from crystal meth can be daunting. Not only is the drug so addictive, and as a result are the cravings for the drug so intense, the negative psychological effects of crystal meth cessation can last or months or even years. When these two factors are combined, the high recidivism rates of crystal meth addicts in recovery are better understood.
In response to the rising rates of crystal meth addiction in the country, and also in response to the devastation that an addiction to crystal meth can cause, there have been a number of research studies done on what treatment approaches are the most effective for crystal meth rehabilitation. As with any drug, any one treatment won’t work for every user, and as a result the best rehabilitation programs will combine both psycho social counseling with behavioral modification programs. But a third strategy towards prolonged abstinence, commonly used for cocaine addiction, also seems to be effective. This strategy is called contingency management (CM).
The carrot and the stick…we all live our lives essentially by the principles of avoiding pain, and seeking reward, and while most drug rehabilitation programs emphasize pain (addiction) avoidance, contingency management provides the carrot to the matrix. What contingency management is, is a system in which recovering addicts are rewarded for periods of abstinence with rewards of increasing values, and the longer the period of abstinence, the bigger the reward.
These rewards are usually non monetary vouchers for things such as movies, gasoline or other entertainment vouchers, and the system has proven reliably effective as a strategy for crystal meth addiction recovery. Clinical studies indicate that the use of contingency management in a recovery program is associated with longer periods of sobriety.
Long used for cocaine addiction, contingency management is becoming an increasingly common element of crystal meth recovery.
You can't have the stick without the carrot, and it makes sense that by making treatment more comprehensive, recovery outlooks would be brighter. Research continues on how best to incorporate contingency management into crystal meth recovery, but it is encouraging that there is at least some good news for the treatment of the ever increasing numbers of people devastated through an addiction to crystal meth.
A recent American clinical study examined the effect of perceived criticism on relapse back to substance abuse, and found that the perception of criticism was a very significant factor leading to relapse. Families can best help in the recovery process by remaining encouraging and supportive, and additionally attending both therapy with the alcoholic, as well as some form of family support organization.
The Al Anon philosophy: Al-Anon has but one purpose to help families of alcoholics. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps, by welcoming and giving comfort to families of alcoholics, and by giving understanding and encouragement to the alcoholic.I've praised al anon before, but recent research seems to prove that the al anon method of encouragement helps alcoholics in recovery stay sober. Family support is of paramount importance to the newly recovering alcoholic, and family support can make the difference between continuing sobriety and relapse. The al anon program teaches families how to heal themselves from the pain of addiction that always resonates through the family, and that additionally