Drug Addiction Treatment Blog

With the recent influx of celebrities entering drug rehab centers for a quick dryout session, to appease the public, or as the result of a “nudge from the judge”, drug rehab programs are getting a bad name. As the founder of a public benefit addiction treatment help organization, I’ll attempt to set the record straight. Drug rehab programs do work, just not if the individual attending treatment doesn’t want them to, and hence doesn’t make any attempt whatsoever to remain sober following treatment. Drug rehab programs offer guidance and rehabilitation, not a magic cure for addiction and alcoholism. Otherwise they’d be called “Addiction Cure Programs.” I know this because I went to rehab multiple times before ever managing to stay sober for any significant period of time after treatment. A little about my story is published on the about treatment centers page of www.treatment-centers.net. I had to go to treatment multiple times because when I first went, I didn’t go for myself - I didn’t go because I wanted to stop being an addict, stop doing the drugs I loved so much, or stop having fun and partying. I went because others wanted me to, and because my life had become so unmanageable I needed a “break”. I had no intention of staying off drugs and alcohol.

Many of the celebrities stepping through the revolving door of drug rehab centers lately are doing so at a very young age - Lindsay Lohan for one, apparently just turned 21. Is it really such a surprise that she went out drinking? Many young people drink alcohol for their “coming of age”. It only comes once, and is a milestone (whether or not those laws serve the public interest or public health is another question). When I was that age and going to drug rehab, I simply wasn’t ready to stop yet. An individual can go the the best drug rehab center in Malibu, learn all the tools for sobriety, and still not stay sober after leaving treatment. They have to want sobriety. They have to be sick and tired of being sick and tired of suffering the negative consequences of drug addiction.

Additionally, these people are rich. Drug addicts often stop abusing drugs when they can’t afford their drug of choice any more. With top celebrities, this never happens, which is unfortunate. I truly believe that if there was a provision in the law for judges to require that certain individuals under specific circumstances (multiple offenders, under a certain age, with income over a certain level) have to match their expenditures on drug rehab programs ($50,000-$100,000+ easily for a 30 day treatment stay at these Malibu rehab centers) with donations to publicly funded treatment centers, and a stipulation that if they re-offend, their money is placed in a trust of some sort with someone who audits all expenditures, we’d see these celebrities more interested in getting into recovery.

Also, recovery needs to be fun. With the prevailing feeling among these celebrities being that partying is the definition of fun, and is necessary to “fit in” and “be cool”, the outlook for recovery is slim. Recovery can be fun, but for these celebrities and public figures - Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Al Gore III, and Mel Gibson to name a few - they need to experience it first hand. They need to go to rehab centers that make recovery fun, and offer them something different than what they are used to in their everyday lives - When rehab is like a resort, it is like a reward for years of hard fought drug using and law breaking. I don’t have a personal masseuse and chef in my everyday life, but if I go to one of these Malibu drug treatment centers, or a place like Cirque Lodge in Utah where Lindsay Lohan currently is, I get that treatment. I don’t know about anyone else, but that sounds to me like a pretty nice place to be, easy to look at as a reward for drug use and illegal behavior. Perhaps these celebrities need to learn how to live like the rest of the world, and maybe then they’ll understand that they are subject to the same laws of behavior and propriety.

Drug rehab, alcohol rehabilitation and dual diagnosis treatment does work. Drug addiction treatment centers do teach the tools necessary for recovery from addiction and alcoholism. Even free, publicly funded programs do this, let alone $50,000 Malibu treatment centers. Detox programs handle the physical withdrawal part of the equation, and short-term and long-term addiction treatment centers teach the tools for recovery, delve into the underlying issues and causes of the substance abuse, and repair the psychological and emotional damage of the addiction. The rest is up to the individual, and they have to want it. It is often said that if an individual puts as much energy and investment into their treatment and recovery from addiction as they did into obtaining and using drugs, their sobriety is virtually insured. From first hand experience with drug rehabilitation, I know this to be true.