After alcohol and drug rehab what is sobriety anyway? Some define it as total abstinence from all drugs and alcohol. Others may define it as holding down a job and realationship with little or controled use. I personally like total abstinence, simply because it is easier to judge and safer in the long run.

Often we hear from a client that it is ok for them to drink alcohol as it never was a problem for them. Cocaine was the problem. Cocaine wrecked their life. It was drug addicition, not alcohol addicition that needed to be worked upon. Secondary drug or alcohol use is always a concern. It is not that because one had a cocaine addiction that now we are worried you are predisposed to getting a problem with alcohol. It is because even with just having a couple of drinks once a month you are increasing your risk of relapse with cocaine.

Those couple of drinks will LOWER your inhibitions. You feel more confident. You are relaxed more. It is in this state that if someone offered you a few lines of cocaine, you might say, “just this one time“. It is because the alcohol can and does alter your ability to make good decisions that it is so dangerous. Most heroin relapses are PRECEDED by alcohol use.

So I agree with clients when they say only one drug is their problem. But because it is a dangerous problem, the use of other drugs and alcohol is still very dangerous. After drug and alcohol rehab take the safe and easy road. Abstain from all drug and alcohol use.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 at 9:44 am and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.