Drug addiction is very tough on families.  I think it is a testiment to the stength of the family that is still holds together and still tries to support a member who essentially has burnt every bridge at least a dozen times.  There still is not one day go by that we do not get at least one request to "lock up" a family member.  "I'm looking for a drug rehab center which I can send my son and he cannot leave.  Do you lock you clients up?"  I have heard that phrase or something very similar to it many, many times. 

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, only the courts and the legal process has that kind of power.  The only problem is locking people up doesn't seem to solve stealing, drug dealing, robbery and a host of other crimes.  Why would locking someone up with an addiction have anything but a similar effect.  The inmates in prison have a great deal of resentment at being locked up.  So you think people with addiction would have any less resentment?  Are resentful clients eager to work at change and fun to work with?

Besides even though we seem to lose a little more freedom each day, isn't this still a free country.  As sad as it is sometimes, one of the truly great things about living here is that you do have the right to be wrong.  That does not mean you get a free pass to hurt other people.  But you still have the right to be wrong.  To simple truth is you can't force change effectively.  Change by outside brute force causes the least amount of change and it is for the shortest period.  Drug rehab most likely will not work under such rules.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 7:42 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.