Earlier this week, we talked about drug addiction in prison here, specifically opiate and heroin addiction, and how poorly the justice system handles those who are arrested while strung out and/ or released when they have a history of drug addiction issues with a very few exceptions. But there’s a phenomenon of self preservation and a sort of tribal protection that happens inside that we haven’t talked about, one that often saves the sanity and physical and mental wellbeing of those inside but, in one recent case, has meant an unnecessary death.

Methadone Death of Prisoner in Canada

Not that it doesn’t happen in the United States, but the incident reported recently occurred in Canada: one prisoner died of a methadone overdose after his cellie, or cellmate, smuggled methadone back to their cell, methadone that he had been prescribed and received at the jail health center but hadn’t swallowed.

The Unlikely Sad Result

The cellmate who provided the methadone in this particular case in Canada which sparked the change in policy was charged and convicted of manslaughter for giving his cellie the drug that ultimately killed him. His sentence? Three (more) years in jail.

While it is necessary for it to be clear that there are consequences for breaking the rules, consequences that are serious enough to want to avoid, it is also important to see the big picture. In this case, as in many others like it, if the original person receiving methadone received a comprehensive detox and addiction treatment while incarcerated, he wouldn’t have been receiving the methadone in the first place. He wouldn’t have been in a position to give the drug to someone else, and that person may not have wanted the drug if he had undergone the same detox and treatment program upon entry.

Again, drug rehab in the prison system would be beneficial for everyone involved, saving lives and money for the state at the same time.

The Resulting Change to Canadian Jail and Dosing Policies

Since, apparently they weren’t doing it before, their solution in the Canadian provincial jails was to institute a policy of watching the inmates take their prescribed medication, actually laying eyes on them as they swallow the pills and then searching them before they return to their cells.

Hmm. Good plan. But this is common policy in jails and prisons across the country and yet it still happens that inmates routinely smuggle their medication back to their cellmates, back into general population.

Recommended Change to Any Country’s Drug Policies

The solution seems obvious: drug rehab in the prison system. I know plenty of people who are hardcore addicts who somehow manage to stay clean while they’re inside. They don’t want to be ‘that guy.’ They want to keep their edge and remain alert. They don’t want anything beyond the prison system itself in control of their lives. Why not reinforce this positively with a regimented drug rehab, something that provides them with relapse prevention tools to stay clean when they get out? It’s another way to choose control and to give them the ability to maintain this desire for control when they leave. And for those who don’t break their addictions when they’re inside and live off of the smuggled medications and dope that they get at any cost, drug rehab offers them a way out.

What’s your recommendation? What would you do differently?

Tompkins jail in upstate New York is the only jail in the area to use meds to help heroin addicts kick dope while they are incarcerated, according to Stacey Shackford at The Ithaca Journal. They are using the most recently FDA-approved opiate addiction treatment, buprenorphine, to treat heroin addiction in jail.

Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit organization, has pointed to Tompkins’ buprenorphine program as a successful approach to the issue of drug addiction in jail. They say that more states would benefit from following suit.

Tompkins’ Drug Addiction Treatment Program

If Tompkins is any indication, treating heroin addiction while inmates are incarcerated not only decreases the number of problems and trafficking inside prison walls but also serves to cut back the recidivism rate when they are released.

Dr. John Bezirganian is Tompkins’ mental health director. He founded the facility’s opiate addiction treatment program a few years ago. He started by offering the buprenorphine program to inmates about 30 days before they were to be released; new inmates have the option of starting on buprenorphine when they arrive. When they go home, they have a 30-day supply of the drug in their pocket as well as a referral to a provider local to their hometown who will continue their care.

Buprenorphine and Opiate Addiction Treatment

Buprenorphine does not have the abuse potential that methadone does and is therefore a great candidate for opiate addiction treatment, especially in the jail system. You can’t get addicted to it and it has a ceiling on it so you can’t increase its effect by taking more. This also means that there are no documented cases of buprenorphine overdose, either, and if someone tries to abuse it by crushing it and shooting the drug, then they will immediately be thrown into opiate withdrawal due to a component of the drug inserted specifically to protect against such abuse. In the same way, it stays bound to opiate receptors for two or three days after use so relapse will be ineffective. In short, the only person who would want this drug is someone who wants to stave off withdrawal symptoms during opiate detox, not anyone who would want to get high.

What Do You Think?

Do you think that treating heroin and painkiller addiction in prisons and jails is an effective use of funds? Do you think the buprenorphine specifically is a positive choice for these programs? What do you think?

Your friends have told you to go to drug rehab a thousand times. Your mom says she doesn’t want to talk to you until you get your life cleaned up. Your wife just left you and took the kids because you won’t get help. And yet, you keep drinking and drugging. You know this is a problem, but you don’t see why everyone can’t just wait a while until your life settles down. Why won’t they give you a chance?

Judgment And Logic Get Lost With Drug Addiction

One of the worst parts of drug addiction is how judgment and logical thinking goes down the tubes. A drug addict can see everything wrong with their life, just like everyone else can. However, they just don’t see the connection between their addiction behaviors and the things going on in their life. Somehow, they keep making the choices that create problems. And before long, they are drinking and drugging to cover the pain from all the problems.

A sure sign of drug addiction is when you know you’re drug use causes big problems, yet you keep using. You may even have some idea of how your drug use has led to these problems. Yet, you keep using. Instead of this information come telling you to stop taking drugs, you push it to the side. This is a clear sign that you have lost control and you truly have a drug addiction.

Drug Rehab Can Stop Downhill Spiral of Addiction

When you are in a downhill spiral like this, it’s easy to think that there is no hope. You may even believe that drug rehab doesn’t really work. And it can’t work if you never go. Thinking about drug rehab can bring up some real mixed feelings. You don’t like the idea of everyone knowing all your business, especially strangers. But what if your friends and family are right? They are all leaving you, they say, because of your drug use. Would there be anyone left after a while?

Drug rehab can help you do one very important thing to help you get sober — remind you that you have the power of choice every minute to the sober. And when you use that power to be sober, you won’t lose all the things you care about. Your job, your home, your family, your friends, your respect, your dignity. Every day you are sober you have a better chance of keeping all these things in your life. It may be a hard pill to swallow at first, but drug rehab can help you become empowered person with a good life.

There are a number of myths surrounding drug addiction and drug addicts. Television and movies go a long way toward perpetuating these myths and those who actually do personify them tend to solidify the stereotypes in the popular imagination. The result is a stigma that keeps many from admitting that they have a problem with drugs and alcohol and many of those who do admit it refuse to get the treatment they need.

Drug Addicts: The Stereotype Is Wrong

The truth is that drug addicts come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not just the crack addict in the alley in a bad part of town. Drug addicts are also the alcoholics who wear suits and successfully function as executives in the corporate world. They may be the very people who dispense and prescribe your prescription painkillers, the ones wearing the white coats. They could be the stay at home mother or father driving the kids to school and baseball practice. They could be the elderly neighbor or the local teen beauty pageant contestant or your kid’s teacher. The stereotype of who or what a drug addict is could not be more wrong.

Drug Addict and Addiction Stereotypes: How They Hurt The Addict

It’s difficult to look at the bedraggled and desperate stereotype that we’ve chosen for drug addicts and stand up and say, “Yup! That’s me!” For professionals, executives, parents and those in public or healthcare professions it is especially difficult to claim that title and get the necessary drug addiction treatment without suffering a great many life changing repercussions. Certainly, those repercussions may not be avoided simply by avoiding treatment; in fact, not getting medical treatment ultimately ends up harming even more people and causing more permanent damage for the addict’s life and reputation. That’s the point: the stereotype can perpetuate the behavior unnecessarily as the addict holds onto the illusion that he or she can keep people from finding out by trying to quit alone.

Drug Addiction Stereotypes: How They Hurt Everyone

Clearly the consequences of addiction reach far beyond the personal life of the drug addict. Everyone on the road including pedestrians are put at risk when so-called “functional” addicts who pass for “normal” get behind the wheel while under the influence. The costs to the economy of fraud and other bad decisions of high ranking corporate and political executives under the influence are in evidence every day. Perpetuating stereotypes and demonizing those who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction make this particular bigotry dangerous and costly to everyone.

If you or someone you love is addicted to drugs and/ or alcohol, don’t let the stereotypes and stigma keep you from getting the medical drug detox and rehab that you need. Contact The Canyon for more information about executive drug and alcohol rehab.

You have used your fair share of drugs and alcohol. Fine, I you get it. Everyone seems to be making such a fuss about this. You think you get by just fine without all their advice. Sometimes, you even lay off the drugs and alcohol for a little while. You can do what you need to do, so why don’t they just lay off? That’s a good question, so let’s take a closer look.

Have A Better Functional Life With Drug Rehab

Having a Good Life Is More Than Basic Responsibility

You could make the argument that if you can function in your daily life, you really don’t have a problem with drugs or alcohol no matter how much you use. And honestly, the biggest problems people usually have with an addiction cause problems with their job, the legal system, and basic responsibility. So if a drug addict or alcoholic really can hit the basic functions done, do they have a problem or don’t they?

OK, so you go to work and you show up for family functions. But what about the rest of your life? What about having an open loving relationship with your spouse? What about teaching important things to your kids? What about being financially secure? What about physical exercise? What about developing meaningful hobbies and doing good things for your community?

Barely Functional Life With Drug Addiction Is Empty

Life is pretty empty when all you do is get by. And you may think you can keep on going to work and being a warm body in the room and you aren’t causing any sort of trouble. But how long do you think your body can sustain the damage from the drugs and alcohol? How long before you develop heart trouble, nerve damage, or liver disease?

Your virtual absence in your family causes a big gap. Your kids miss out on having a parent, even though you are usually around. Your spouse misses out on having a life partner, even though you are usually around. You become a living ghost, living a shallow life behind a thin façade.

Drug Rehab Takes You From Just Functional To Having A Chance At Life

It’s about more than just being functional. A drug addiction sucks the life out of you. You may not even realize how much is gone until you enter a drug rehab or alcohol treatment program. When you take this commitment seriously, you can finally see how much you’ve pulled your self out of your own life. Drug treatment can give you clarity, but only if you already to give up pretending you are OK.

Drug addiction is a medical disease, and yet the fear of getting the necessary treatment to get better through detox and drug rehab keeps far too many people each year from getting the help they need. Dispelling the myths and alleviating the fears that people have about drug and alcohol rehab may be the only way to help people make the first and biggest step toward breaking free from drug and alcohol addiction: deciding to enter drug rehab.

Drug Addiction Treatment Fear: Cost

Many don’t even look into drug rehab because they assume it’s too expensive. If your insurance won’t cover it or you don’t have insurance, there are a number of financing options available to you. First, check with your workplace human resources. They often have programs in place to help employees pay for outpatient programs, therapy and/ or inpatient drug rehab. In some cases, you may be eligible for health insurance that will cover drug rehab.

Another option is to work with your drug rehab program of choice. They may offer a payment plan or financing if you can’t borrow the money from relatives.

The important thing to remember is this: no matter how expensive drug rehab is upfront, it will never cost more than the amount you spend on drugs and alcohol in a single year, much less the residual costs that come with addiction like late bill payments, legal fees, car repair and more.

Drug Addiction Treatment Fear: Reputation

Many people opt out of drug rehab because they fear the damage it will do to their reputation when people find out that they not only have an issue with drug and alcohol addiction but that it was serious enough to require treatment. The answer to this is twofold: first of all, anonymity is an extremely important aspect of any drug and alcohol rehab center. If someone were to call up your drug rehab facility and ask if you were a patient, the center would decline to answer citing patient confidentiality.

At work and with others in your neighborhood or community, can you claim a health issue or simply “go on vacation.” The only people who need to know are those in your immediate family.

Drug Addiction Treatment: Don’t Wait to Get the Help You Need

If you are struggling with drug addiction, then you are dealing with a disease that is medical in nature. You need medically supervised detox and treatment in order to heal safely and effectively. The longer you wait to get help, the more negative will be the effects of your drug addiction on your body, your mental and emotional state, on your family and friends and on your performance at work. Getting it under control sooner rather than later is the best choice. Don’t let fear stop you from getting your life back.

You’re only ready for drug rehab when you’re ready. Nothing going on outside a person has the true power to make someone ready for it. You can lecture, plead, beg, cry, and pray. But it’s up to the drug addict’s free will to get benefit from drug rehab.

Cant Make A Drug Addict Want Drug Rehab

As they say, you can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Likewise, you can bring a person to drug rehab, but if they aren’t ready to submit themselves to a whole different plan of life, it won’t do a bit of good. It’s a good news bad news thing.

Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, drug addicts always have the power for making change with them at all times. Unfortunately, many drug addicts wait until they have lost every penny, every ounce of respect, every relationship, and most of their health to use that power. And unlike the Land of Oz, a drug addict using their power of choice at such a late stage may not make everything all right again.

Addiction Thinking Keeps People From Choosing Drug Rehab

People trying to talk with drug addicts think they are dealing with the personality of the person they know and love. But they are wrong. Addiction thinking makes them a truly different person while they are actively addicted. The drug addict will be manipulative, will lie, will make excuses, will say what you want to hear, will think you are weak for sharing your feelings, will consistently choose drugs over anything else in their
life.

No one can predict a drug addict’s ultimate wake-up call to get drug treatment. Will it be their wife and children leaving him? Will it be the foreclosure on her home? Will it be watching another user friend die in
front of them? Will it be hearing a devastating health diagnosis? Will it be a near-death drug-related car crash?

You Can Finally Help When A Drug Addict Is Ready For Drug Rehab

If pressing your drug addicted loved one to go to drug rehab seems to make things worse, then don’t feel bad about backing off. Make your statement strong and clear in other ways if you have to. Cut off all money
to them. If they live with you, kick them out. Tell them you love them deeply, but you can’t have them in your life until they get clean and go to drug rehab. Do whatever you can to get your message across, but don’t sacrifice your sanity or ruin your own life doing it. When they are ready, they will be ready. And maybe, when that day comes, you can help them start a sober life.