Good question. I wish I had a good answer. The government can't get the
drugs off the street. Every time they make a bust the people are back on
the street or someone else is there in their place. We have to fight the
addiction.
For this article addiction will be to drugs and alcohol.
What I am going to say is all based on what I have experienced over the
years. I have no formal education. I was not an addict but I was a drunk
and woke up one day with a new life and quit getting drunk. I haven't had
a drink in 10 years because I don't want to drink.
We have to start with the children. My kids from my first marriage saw first
hand what drugs can do. They said no every time.
I have seen children walking around with a contact high from crack. For
them the contact high is like what the adult gets smoking it. What can we
do for the children of the addicts? How do we keep them from following in
their parents foot steps?
We have to do what is best for the children. As long as the parents are addicted
the children are in danger. That is child abuse. Children of addicts are
beaten, sold, left at home alone and in some cases abandoned.
We have to save the children. We have to remove the children from the home
until the parents get their act together. If the parents are not together
and one parent is clean and sober that parent should be given custody of
the children. If the other parent can not or will not take the children try
to find a relative. If no relative come forward then the only thing left
is a foster family until the parent is clean and sober.
Once the parent regains custody they should have random drug tests for at
least a year.
The schools should have continuing drug education programs starting in elementary
school and continuing through college.
There should also be evening classes for parents to help them deal with
the problem.
What do we do about the addict? Based on my experience the addict has to
want to quit. No program will be able to get them to stop unless the want
to stop. Most of the people I know on drugs that have gone to rehab went
back to drugs within a month. They go back to the old neighborhood and so
called friends who drag them back into addiction.
NA and AA tell you that once an addict always an addict. This gives many
a defeatist attitude. Why should I quit when I will never be free of the
problem? Why should I go through life worrying every day about having a drink.
I changed my attitude and I have not had a drink in 10 years. I go to bars.
I tended bar. I have no urge to drink. Nothing makes me want a drink. I get
high on life.
For some people AA and NA works. Some people may have an illness that causes
them to lose control. I feel that in most cases you need an attitude adjustment.
Hypnosis may work for some.
First of all the addict has to want to quit. If they don't want to quit
they will not. Even hypnosis will not work if the do not want to quit.
Why do they have the problem in the first place? What made them start using?
In most cases they have low self esteem. They feel unwanted and unloved.
You have to find the root of the problem and try to ease the damage done
by the problem. If it was a death in the family or another loved one you
have to help them deal with it. Convince them that the person would not want
them to be addicts. Convince them that the person is watching over them.
You have to build their self esteem. Convince them that they can do anything
they set there mind to and that they can quit.
You have to make them understand that drugs can not cure any problems but
will only make them worse. I do not let anything bother me anymore. If lose
a woman no matter how much I cared for her I am not going to go to the bottle.
Life goes on and it may get better with her gone.
Show them what drugs can do. The homeless who can't find a job because of
their addictions. People missing arms and legs because of drugs. Women who
are 30 and look 60. People who had strokes because of drugs. People whose
hearts exploded because of drugs. People who fried their brains with drugs
and go around on the streets talking to themselves.
You have to convince them to care enough about themselves to want to stop
before it happens to them. You have to show them love and give them reasons
to love themselves enough to save themselves from themselves.
They are lost souls and you have to help them find themselves. Their whole
attitude about life, themselves, their loved ones and their so called friends
has to be changed.
This is not an over night process before rehab it may take a year or more
for them to even go to rehab. Once in rehab it may take 2 to 6 months in
house and 4 to 6 months outhouse. Then you need to give them a 24/7 support
line for when they need help.
You can not tell them that they are doomed to a life of addiction. You can
not tell them that only God can save them. God gave us the power to reason.
He gave us the power to help ourselves and he gave others the power to help
us help ourselves.
The key is that the person has to fight addiction from within. The only
one that can win the war against addiction is the addicted one. They may
need help but in the end they have to save there own asses.
As I said I have no formal training on this subject. I did not go to school
for this. I learned at the best place to learn about the problem and the
cure. I learned from the streets.
All of the high priced studies, all of the books, all of the classes and
all of the highly educated doctors can not save the addict. You have to learn
from the biggest school. You have to learn from the streets.
Yes you need the doctors to help during the cold turkey part of the process.
The rest of it takes those who have been there. Former drunks and drug addicts.
After rehab they need support. They need someone they can talk to when they
are down. Someone they can get a hold of 24 hours a day.
NA and AA will say I am full of shit. You may say that I am full of shit.
I know a lot of addicts. Some never went to rehab and are now off drugs and
alcohol they changed their attitude. I changed my attitude and quit using
alcohol.
NA and AA have helped many. I say that an attitude readjustment program
will save the souls that they can not save. They treat an illness. This program
would treat the soul.
© Copyright 2001 Lee W. Gaylord
drugsandalcohol@castleofhopeforlostsouls.org
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