Sam knew he was out of second chances when he checked into the clinic. He had already graduated from four 30-day inpatient programs, and every time he swore he’d never go back. Every time, the need for drugs outweighed his good intentions. He was in the chronic cycle of rehabilitation and relapse that is all too familiar to many people with addictions.
With the right combination of intensive outpatient therapy, medication and recovery supports, Sam broke the cycle and remains drug-free and living in recovery. But he’ll never forget the sense of failure and hopelessness he felt.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that nearly three-quarters of people like Sam will experience these setbacks or “relapses” after treatment.
No one expects someone with a chronic disease like diabetes to stay in a hospital for 30 days and come out cured. Yet that’s how we have treated people with another chronic condition – addiction to drugs or alcohol.
You have no doubt seen the data on the impact addictions have on this country. As many as 25 million Americans are thought to have an addiction. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the disease costs $700 billion annually in treatment costs, crime and lost productivity.
And it costs us in lives. Deaths from heroin overdose alone jumped fivefold between 2001 and 2013. Yet only a tenth or so of those 25 million people get any help.
[For more of this story, written by Linda Rosenberg, go to http://www.thenationalcouncil....d-model-must-change/]
Comments (0)