Betting SD's going to be outed
[URL]http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/deadline-miami/article53995175.html[/URL]
Glad she was not at my place.
Heroin Use, Rehab, Relapse Triggers, Treatments, Solutions
Mike7704 - Man I feel your pain and you wrote a lot, so a long reply.
From what you wrote it sounds like you feel more for this girl than the typical Sb used for fun. Trips, overnights and snuggling surely took their toll. While one of the rules is 'never fall in love with a working girl', I'm not judging you on that. It happens. Shoot been there done that. Sometimes you can't help it!
Now as far as her situation goes. Dude! If she moves in with 3-4 other drug users she is on the slippery slope to destruction. Way TOO many peer presures to degrade to the lowest common denominator! When the money runs out and the Jonesing starts, there is only one solution. The streets and whatever greaseball dude rolls up. Not your job to fix that but if one can help her avoid that situation, that's a first step.
I hear all of the calls for "getting her in rehab" and just sigh. I would have been one of those, until I read up on Heroin use and rehab. Send 'them to rehab, lock 'them up or just get them away from me! Out of sight out of mind. Then I would have thought, "they did this to them self, its' their fault, they need to do a fix them self. I was ignorant (lacked knowledge). Life is never that simple.
There are MANY people who are sick of being on drugs that go to rehab, come out and relapse and die. The problem is that most rehab is a joke. While the body might be rid of the drugs in 30-days the brain has NOT recovered from the changes caused by long-term H use. THAT might take 6-months or more. Then there are societal and cultural pressures that need to be addressed or relapse occurs. It isn't an easy process and not as easy as going to rehab or taking a pill (like you might do with another disease). But still I seem to think it was that easy.
So to run someone through a 30-day program and pronounce them "cured" is a joke. Second, MOST ALL rehab programs follow the 12-step model. While this might work for a few, it is largely ineffective and has a very high failure rate ( 90% Oh, sure, as a non-addict it is easy to sit back and agree with the philosophy that "if you really want to change, you can change. " This is a chemical alteration of the brain, that needs time to heal and no amount of personal will power can over come those changes. Also, 12-step philosophy forbids anyone from using any sort of drugs to address their addiction. A patient can get kicked out of the 12-step community for doing so. Now that is sad, since there are drugs like methadone, Subutex and Suboxone that ARE effective for treating opiate addiction. In fact, Suboxone acts in the body such that IF a patient takes opiates they get no high from them. But use those and the 12-step people shun you and any support network established is gone. They see it as substituting one drug for another. It isn't that simple. We need compassion and like my case, needed to get my head out of our right-winged azz! Pulling one's self up by their own boot straps isn't the answer to drug addiction! Final problem with opiate addiction is that more times than not the behavior (drug use) started because of some psychological issue. With out treating that and resolving it the triggers remain. Simply push the "cleaned-up" patient back into environments that helped them start drug use, is doomed to fail. So you run a person through a 30-day program, pronounce them "cured" and toss them right back into the same environment that spurred the drug use in the first place. Brilliant!
I thought I was fairly "in the know" on drug use and rehab. Boy was I wrong!? An open mind and and a read of this article sure demonstrated that! So I'll suggest it here for anyone who wishes to cure ignorance. Yeah, I know it is L-O-and-G, but a good education is never easy! It is eye-opening!
[URL]http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/dying-to-be-free-heroin-treatment[/URL]
But I have to laugh and cry about the reason a baby was dumped. That she lied? REALLY? All addicts lie, all of the time. She is embarrassed by her use and wanted to hide it. We, who are paying girls to date u,s are going to judge an addict for lying? Seriously? So dump her out and remove from her a stable & safe source of income. What is she going to do next?
Now if she gets clean, one way for her to move to a situation where she is away from the old triggers is an organization known as Oxford House. Started by former addicts in halfway house- when the state funds ran out. Instead of shutting down they figured out how to run the pace on their own. They built a model; and it has spread. One strict absolute rule. You use, you are out. It is a good model with some success, much better than 12-step alone, but no panacea. I have heard mixed things from girlsa off the street about Oxford House. Many sing its praises and agree it is the way to go.
An education on Oxford House:
[URL]http://www.oxfordhouse.org/userfiles/file/purpose_and_structure.php[/URL]
So the baby I wrote about has a mother, father, sister and brother. All are respectable high paying professionals. I am certain the behaviors demonstrated have been around for years and everyone is aware. But therein probably lies the key and trigger? Some expectation or pressure? Maybe just wild youth experiences and experimentation gone amuck? But until some underlying issues are resolved the addiction will continue or be repeated. No amount of my "tough love" is going to do anything to change that. For me to "tell her to get into rehab" is only useful if it makes me feel better and I can pat myself on the back for "having done something!"
I'm just sayin'.
Last summer I lost an ATF UTR girl. An (former) addict. She was clean and had been for years. She had a job, they loved her and she had a perfect attendance record. She had a daughter she lived for and had saved up enough to get her own place and things were looking bright for her future. Then one day her birthday came along and she decide to "celebrate. " One instance where her diligence slipped would be her last act. The addict is as normal looking as you or I, not all of them are criminals, thieves or robbers. It is easy to "classify" them, stigmatize them and push them away or blame them: but they all need our support and sympathy as they fight this terrible disease. Would you bash someone with lung cancer or give them empathy?
I'll get down off the soapbox now....