Let’s be realistic though, Drug Rehab is no safer than any other place. The reality is that Rehabs are a metropolis of addicts– thereby increasing the chances that SOMEONE is going to use while they are there. Often ‘clients’ will sneak in drugs and alcohol or scam prescriptions at a doctor’s visit while in treatment. Administration shouldn’t kick clients out for use. Would you kick a cancer patient out of the hospital because they got sicker?

People should know that going to treatment does not equate to going to a drug-free oasis. They will be just as tempted to use as anywhere else. — Perhaps even more given the ‘thrill factor’ of getting away with it under everyone’s noses. Patients/clients and counselors alike should be understanding when a peer relapses in treatment. It could very well be you sitting in that same seat- so why not say “but for the grace of God…” and lend a helping hand to pick them back up.

Relapse is a conditioned emotional response for many people. Let’s be realistic, for someone who has spent 10, 20, or even 30 years using drugs or alcohol every time they had ‘a feeling’– 30 days in treatment is nowhere near enough time to turn something like that around. You can drill the 12-steps into someone’s head all day long, send them to meetings to repeat witty rhetoric like a robot– but if you have not given them some realistic alternative emotional responses…. (even better, a chance to develop those emotional muscle over an extended period of time) then you cannot lay the blame entirely on the user.

If a horse breaks his leg and the owner only bandages it up and hands the horse some Neosporin before sending him out on the race track full speed- can the owner really get mad at the horse when he breaks his leg again?

Recovering from addiction takes a lot more than a Big Book– it takes a strong support network, encouragement, alternative responses, and time to develop those new muscles.

this is Martin from ChooseHelp.com —

just to let you know that we will give away the aforementioned E-Book free of charge to people who contact us by email. If you cannot afford the 20 bucks or don’t have the means of payment, like a paypal account or a credit card, you can still get the ebook from us…