Drug Abuse Rehab - Drug Abuse Rehab Programs To Young Adults

With all the media reporting about various celebrities returning for more drug rehab, some of them for the third or fourth time, many people are getting the idea that rehab does really not work. Some of the people are beginning to think that public funding for drug rehab programs is a waste of tax dollars. The fact is that lifelong recovery from drug and alcohol addiction is almost a conviction when drug rehab is done right.

The lack of trust of the people in drug rehab programs is leading to some dangerously bad ideas, such as putting people addicted to alcohol or drugs on some other drug, or worse, legalizing drugs. These are actually not the solutions; they are problems masquerading as solutions. The call for substantiation of drugs and alcohols is the most compelling evidence that drug rehab is basically a hit-or-miss failure in many, if not most, settings. This is in fact a complete surrender, an absolute capitulation to the power of drugs. It like says, Okay, drugs have win and that can come on in and rule the lives because there is nothing people can do about it.

Putting heroin or other similar drug addicts on methadone is another testament to the failure of most approaches to rehab. Methadone substitute therapy is entrenched across the country and around the world. Addicts commonly remain addicted to a legal drug instead of an illegal one. The thought of getting free of illegal drugs has simply been abandoned. The thought process that has actually leads to this non-solution is, Drug rehab probably will not work, and it is going to be too much trouble to try to save this person anyway. At least they will not share infected needles and they might get some of their life back. Of course, they are addicted to this drug now, but nothing else can actually do about it.

Another example of substitute or replacement therapy is putting drug addicts, and especially alcoholics, on addiction-blocking drugs such as naltrexone. This addictive drug prevents the receptors of the brain from responding to opiate drugs and alcohol, and actually works for a while to reduce the craving for the substance. Here the problem is that naltrexone blocks all pleasure responses. Life actually just turns gray and is not really worth living. And the most badly, it can increase the possibility of an opiate overdose, which can be fatal.

In any of these kinds of conditions, people are simply trading one drug and often a new addiction for another. This situation actually makes the pharmaceutical companies happy, but it does not achieve any kind of rehabilitation for the addicted persons. So why people are not putting unfortunate drug-dependent people through drug rehab programs! The answer is much known to all; many programs have abysmal success rates. They do never have all the elements in place that can make drug rehab successful. The drug rehab program people choose should empower them, so that they accomplish life long freedom from drug use. It should take people through detox and withdrawal and ensure that they repair the damage drugs have done to their life.

• Matt Thompson
• 02/01/2009, 6:59 PM
• 0 Comments