Drug Treatment Today
You’ve seen it on television and in magazines; you’ve read about it in memoirs and biographies: people losing themselves and everything dear to them to an addiction to illicit and prescription drugs. While the leading cause of drug use is as simple to locate as the company one keeps, no person is born a drug addict. Instead, the gateway to drug addiction is seldom a personality disorder but rather stems from the fact that the consequences of drug use are not immediately apparent which can lead to the misconception that the drug has no affect on one’s ability to lead a normal and productive life. Of course, the idea that one can sustain a growing drug habit while maintaining a healthy lifestyle is believable until it isn’t. At some point, the unchecked drug user must seek drug treatment.
However, individuals and families affected by drug addiction have never had so many places to turn for help in coping with addiction. From counseling and screening at community health centers and county hospitals, individuals can begin to receive information and help almost immediately. In fact, the federal government has continued to recognize the moral and economical benefit to helping individuals overcome their addiction, especially before they turn to crime or otherwise cease to be productive members of their community. From unique Drug Courts that involve the family and community of addicted drug users who have recently turned to crime to help them achieve a return to a drug-free life, to state issued drug treatment and recovery support vouchers allowing the implementation of more innovative strategies to combat drug-addiction.
Treatment facilities are also more and more varied. Suitable treatment can be found for any level of addiction and can be tailored for each individual depending on his or her needs. From long-term care at private drug treatment centers to short-term, open-facility care in homes democratically run by tenants transitioning into their new autonomous drug-free lives, treatment isn’t the regimented practice it once was, with blanket solutions applied to unique problems. Treatment can help with more than coping with the psychological and physical barriers to overcoming drug-addiction, treatment offers the people the opportunity to remove themselves from the culture of drug use and replace it with the culture of productive, healthy living. People who were introduced to drugs by members of their social circles or communities have the opportunity with treatment to learn how to make better decisions that can affect positive change in all areas of their lives.
Treatment today is more nuanced than many may realize. Often, a more holistic approach is used in drug treatment and the individual is taken into more complete account. Approaches to drug treatment today recognize that recovery from drug addiction is something that does not necessarily end with one treatment and cannot be determined only by the words “success” and “failure”. Understanding that relapse and co-opting one drug for another, while not expected, can be part of recovery process helps to make drug treatment adaptable to an individual’s needs and help reshape behavior during all stages of drug treatment and addiction recovery.
Source: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/ndcs06/chap2.pdf
