I’m not sure what boggles the mind more about this story: the fact that poachers got an elephant strung out on dope or that the elephant was subsequently put through a three-year opiate detox so that he could get better.

Um, what.

A Tough Life for an Elephant

According to Weird Asia News, “An Asian elephant that was fed bananas laced with heroin by cruel smugglers to keep him under control has been put through a detox program by Chinese vets in Beijing.”

They’re calling the elephant Big Brother, and in his four-year long life, he’s been illegally captured and given heroin to subdue him and keep him under control. When the poachers who stole were arrested, the police wanted to free Big Brother, but quickly noticed that something wasn’t quite right. That’s right: he was going through heroin detox and having some severe withdrawal symptoms. So the cops sent him to a wild animal protection center and it was there that he received a methadone maintenance treatment that was steadily decreased over time.

What Methadone Maintenance for an Elephant Looks Like

Apparently, it comes in the form of five mega-shots of methadone a day that are each five times the maximum human dose. And it lasts for three years. I’m not sure where the protocol came from on this, if this is a relatively common occurrence or what (it’s been reported that he had three elephant friends with him at elephant drug rehab who are also doing well), but they’ve got it down to a science now. Over time, his methadone dose was reduced gradually and he seems to be doing fine. He’s scheduled to move to a wildlife park in Kunming where he will live out his days unshackled by heroin addiction.

Why Drug Rehab for Junkie Elephants?

Well, drug rehab likely would not have been the destination for almost any other animal or species. But Big Brother is an Asian elephants, which are currently classified as endangered by the IUCN. Had he been a regular old elephant, he might have been sent to the gas chamber instead. Or shot. Or whatever they do to large animals who are severely ill. But then again, if he’d been an ordinary elephant, the poachers might have left him alone and never fed him bananas spiked with dope.

How often do you think this happens? What do you think of what must be an exorbitantly expensive treatment for an animal when people are dying from the same disease all over the world? A justified expense, or no?

Many of the most difficult experiences in life are opportunities for growth – a loved one’s death, job loss, serious illness. The need for drug rehab is also such an opportunity. It may feel like the lowest point in your life, but it might actually be your biggest and best chance for a new life.

Change Is A Challenge Drug Rehab Included

People don’t like change for the most part. It could be something great like buying a new house, or it could be saddening like the death of a family pet. No matter what it is, change is difficult for most people. Giving up comfortable habits and limits is often the hardest part about change.

Going to drug rehab is no different. You may intellectually know that going to drug rehab will probably save your life, help your relationships, and improve your employment situation. But when you go to drug rehab, you know that means you won’t spend your time the same way anymore. You may need to give up some friends and social hangouts.

Giving Up Comfort Is Part Of Accepting Change

You will have to give up escaping from reality and emotional pain. Life as you know it may feel like one big sacrifice after another. Of course, drug rehab also teaches you many new things and helps you gain a lot. You can build valuable friendships and supporting relationships. You can gain knowledge and understanding about yourself that improves your sense of self worth. You can improve your self care habits such as nutritious eating, exercise, relaxation, and having joy in your life. There is so much to gain, but many times people focus just on what they have to give up.

So, if you recently went to some form of drug treatment or a drug rehab center, what did you make of your experience? Were you able to move through the challenge of giving up comfortable habits and embrace the new opportunities? Or were you really bothered by the idea that you didn’t know what was coming? Were you able to set your compass in a different direction or did you leave drug rehab feeling more disoriented?

Open Yourself To Change And Make The Most Of Drug Rehab

There’s no right or wrong answer here. Sometimes, a person ends up going through drug treatment more than once. It might just take a few times to cut through all the addiction thinking and layers of self
protection. If that’s your process, that’s your process. So if you struggled with accepting change, it just may mean that you are going through some common experiences with drug addiction recovery.

This uncertainty doesn’t mean drug rehab was a bad idea. You may not have been as ready as you thought you were. Change doesn’t have to come all at once – baby steps are good too. You can make the most of your drug rehab experience by accepting the idea of giving up some comfort. Each time you do that, you open yourself to more positive opportunities than you can imagine.

Heroin Prescription for Heroin Addiction Treatment

Um… what? Though I’m pretty sure that in England it is actually legal to prescribe heroin in certain cases of pain management, I’m not sure how often that actually happens (do they prescribe clean needles, too? And cookers? What about cottons and clean waters?) And where that seems counterintuitive considering the worldwide problem that is heroin addiction, starting with the nature of the business of heroin production, is apparently under consideration in Canada. It seems our neighbor to the north is considering prescribing heroin to treat heroin addiction.

There Was a Three-Year Study on Heroin Prescription for Heroin Addiction Treatment

Yes, a three-year, government-funded study on the efficacy of prescribing pharmaceutical grade heroin to heroin addicts. The results are being called “remarkable.”

Dr. Martin Schechter was the North American Opiate Medication Initiative, or NAOMI, principal investigator in the study. He says, “Heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) is very safe when done properly. Our results show it to be very effective.”

The Argument Against Heroin Prescription for Heroin Addiction Treatment

Well, can you really predict the outcome of fighting fire with fire? And then there’s the idea that it’s a step toward legalizing the drug, which many are against. Many simply don’t like the idea that their tax dollars would go to maintain a heroin addicts addiction even though far more tax dollars are spent cleaning up the damage caused by heroin addiction. Still others argue against heroin addiction clinics and the like for the same reason that they don’t want methadone clinics in their neighborhood. There’s also the idea that acknowledging the problem somehow condones it.

The Argument For Heroin Prescription for Heroin Addiction Treatment

Why not? For many who have repeatedly tried and failed to kick using the more traditional methods, this could work. And if the goal isn’t necessarily abstinence but harm reduction, it certainly is a lot less expensive to provide this kind of regular upkeep and treatment—ostensibly, maintaining someone’s addiction—rather than pay for the damage due to criminal activity or the medical bills of the uninsured who overdose on non-pharmaceutical grade heroin in the street.

Then there’s the argument of quality of living. When you’re strung out on heroin, your entire focus is on your next dose. When you regulate your addiction and get it under control with methadone or, like this research shows, with three regular doses of heroin each day, then you are free to think about other things. People who never have before were getting and holding down part time jobs while on this study. They were having viable and functioning friendships and relationships with other people that didn’t center around heroin addiction. It seemed to function much like methadone in freeing the person from their mental—if not physical and emotional—attachment to their addiction.

What Do You Think of Heroin for Heroin Addiction Treatment?

Do you think it’s on the same par as methadone? Or do you think that it doesn’t make sense at all?

Alcohol rehabs are made for people all across the life span. But recent studies highlight the need for more research on adolescent alcohol use. Why? Because the highest rates of alcohol problems are among young adults. If more adolescent drinking can be prevented, researchers hope the young adult population will show a decrease in alcohol misuse and related problems.

Adolescent Brains Are Vulnerable To Alcohol

It’s important to remember that adolescents aren’t little adults. Their bodies and minds are developing in ways distinct from adults. The human brain is still “under construction” until age twenty five. Brain
chemicals come in and out of balance and activity levels in certain parts of the brain are much higher than adults. As you might guess, this accounts for a lot of the mood swings and impulsivity of adolescence (and even young adulthood).

All this means that the adolescent brain can be affected more easily and more strongly than an adult of the same size. This has dangerous implications for teens. Their naturally high levels of impulsivity can make it easy for them to try alcohol along with other risky behaviors without really thinking about the consequences. Their brain and body may be seriously impaired but show fewer negative effects.

Alcohol Treatment For Adolescents

Alcohol treatment for adolescents addresses not only their alcohol abuse or addiction, but also the other life problems that contribute to the situation. School pressure, peer pressure, abuse in the home, divorce, eating disorders, depression – all of these things are likely to be at the root of adolescent drinking.

If an adolescent boy or girl continues their drinking patterns into adulthood, they may have great difficulty managing their life. They have a much greater chance of developing an alcohol addiction and needing a more intensive alcohol rehab program to help them.

The longer these unhealthy patterns continue in a person’s life, the more challenging it is for the person to maintain sobriety on their own. Being drunk and escaping reality has become a way of life by then. More than likely, their emotional state will remain more juvenile and immature. Clearly, the transition to independent adulthood will be difficult for an adolescent drinker unless they get alcohol treatment.

Get Your Adolescent To Alcohol Treatment

If you are the parent of an adolescent with an alcohol problem, it’s so important to get them into treatment. Whether you need outpatient alcohol treatment or a residential alcohol rehab center, get them started as soon as possible. The sooner they get started, the better their chances for a sober life as an adolescent and as an adult.

You may not think of older people as drug users and drug addicts. But we can’t ignore that this segment of the population needs drug treatment and addiction aftercare. Let’s take a look at some of the issues with older people and drug addiction.

Drug Addiction Hidden Among Older People

Embarrassed and Ashamed to Admit Prescription Drug Addiction

Elderly people are by far the most medicated group of people in our American society. And unfortunately, they also do the worst job following doctor’s orders for taking their medicine. Most elderly people aren’t likely to say anything about having a drug addiction. They are either aware and embarrassed to let anyone know, or they may truly not realize they have become dependent. They may even have more than one doctor unknowingly prescribing similar addictive medications for them. The effects of these strong medications can make it even more difficult for older people to keep track of what they are taking.

Family members are not likely to suspect drug addiction as a problem. If their loved one appears more calm or says they are sleeping better, the medication may seem to be helpful. Family members can’t easily imagine that their sweet grandma or their stoic father could actually be addicted to their anxiety pills.

Alcohol Addiction Easy To Hide With Older Person

Another common problem is alcohol addiction. Alcohol is a commonly found socially acceptable drug in our society. Many older people live alone and may drink large quantities without anyone knowing. Also, older people tend to experience difficult things like the death of a spouse, increasing physical limitations, and ailing health. An older person may develop alcoholism later in life because of these loses and adjustments. If an older person is retired and doesn’t have a good daily routine to keep them occupied and fulfilled, they might easily slip into a bad drinking habit to deal with loneliness and sadness.

Drug and alcohol treatment isn’t just for people who are young and trying to build their lives. Drug and alcohol addiction happens across the lifespan. Despite the challenges, it’s important to consider drug treatment for an older person. Just because they are older, it doesn’t mean treatment is pointless or a waste of time. People’s lives have value no matter what their age. Drug addiction robs people of their lives and their spirit whether they are 24 or 64 years old.

Help An Older Person Get Drug And Alcohol Treatment

If you suspect an older loved has too much prescription medication or could be drinking too much. don’t esitate to find a good drug treatment facility and ask questions. Help them get the help they need right away.

Every intervention ends with one thing: an ultimatum. The person addicted to drugs and/ or alcohol is offered the opportunity to drive to go to drug and alcohol rehab like The Canyon or else ….

That “or” can be a huge and weighty decision for family members. It must show that you are serious, that you are not going to put up with the bad behavior brought on by drug and/ or alcohol addiction any longer. And it must also be something that you are willing to follow up on. Whichever choice the addict in your life makes, your life is about to change as drastically as his or hers.

If Your Loved One Chooses Drug Rehab After an Intervention

We’ll start with the hoped-for outcome: choosing drug rehab at The Canyon. The intervention is over and your loved one is on his or her way to The Canyon in southern California. If you choose an inpatient drug addiction treatment program, there will likely be a blackout period, which means that you will not be allowed to contact your loved one by phone, email or letter and they will not be able to contact you. This is necessary so that they can focus on physical detox if necessary and begin to settle into treatment. Soon, though, when they are able, you may even be invited to participate in family therapy sessions and group meetings as well as family visitation days so that you can see the progress your loved one is making in treatment.

If Your Loved One Doesn’t Choose Drug Rehab After an Intervention

If they chose not to get help for their drug addiction, then you will most likely be experiencing an odd mix of depression and relief. It’s hard to let a loved one go but when that person is hurting you and your family, it is a necessary step. You may feel like a load has been lifted and, in a way, it has. Stand strong behind your determination and know that you are making the right choice for everyone in your family. There is still a chance that your loved one will choose to get help and if that happens, it will be due in part to you and your strength.

Yesterday, we celebrated Independence Day for the United States of America. It’s one day set aside to celebrate our freedoms and remind ourselves of the sacrifices people have made to create and maintain our tremendous country. If you have been through drug treatment, you might honor your anniversary of sobriety. But truly, each day of sobriety is worth celebrating. You don’t just get sober by accident, you know.

Managing Sobriety After Drug Treatment

Celebrate Your Sobriety Every Day

Let’s look for a moment at how you may be keeping your sobriety each day. You may have to manage cravings, occasional flashbacks of your old using or drinking days, bad days where you become very tempted to use again, and running into old drug using friends. These issues are tough to face sometimes, and they are a real part of staying sober.

Drug treatment or alcohol rehab may have also been a part of your journey. Once, twice, maybe more times than that. You may also attend some type of support group as a member, someone’s sponsor, or both. All of these have made changes to the way you spend time and who you spend time with.

Learning About Yourself In Drug Treatment Helps You Stay Sober

What did you learn about yourself in drug rehab? Did you drink to cover up pain from your family life? Were you diagnosed with depression, which was the main reason you used drugs? Do you have a physical health problem made worse by your drinking or drug use? Drug treatment isn’t the only place to learn things, but it is often the place where these problems are brought to light.

Everything you do to keep your sobriety is a personal responsibility. And these are not small efforts, either. They are courageous, take focus, and require the willingness to admit that you can’t do sobriety alone. When you isolate yourself, that’s when temptation can strike the hardest. Recognizing and working around your old addiction thinking is a daily challenge. It’s also one of the most important things you can do to keep your sobriety going.

Sobriety Is Hard Work So Celebrate It

Sobriety is no easy thing. Drug treatment, social changes, accountability, challenging thoughts – all of it is hard work. But your mind, body, and spirit are free from the shackles of addiction. Yes, you must always be aware of relapse risk. But you have the freedom to live a positive healthy life and make decisions with a clear head. Life is different, but better. Celebrate your sobriety each and every day.