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About Treatment Centers

At best, any treatment for crack addicts is iffy. There are two major obstacles to overcome, nearly insurmountable physical addiction and the accompanying lifestyle. I've never got a straight answer from any worker at a clinic about their percentage of success. I visited a clinic run by two recovering addicts. I asked if they have ever seen a crack addict successful in recovery. One said, "Well, we are". Not a word about any of their clients. Treatment centers won't give you success rates because they want your business. Treatment centers will give you a lot of positive strokes because they need your business.

Many addicts have been to 12 step programs, numerous treatment programs and varied counseling. They will say they don't want anymore because they have heard it all. They are right, they have.

The treatment centers I have seen are run by caring, loving and skilled people. These are courageous people who go against big odds to see few successes. A large percentage of these people are recovering addicts.

Families and friends of addicts "hang their hat out" on treatment centers. It's a mistake. I am not saying it's impossible, it's just improbable. A good statistic is that over 70% of cocaine users who quit have accomplished this by themselves. Yes, no treatment, just sheer will power. They "hit bottom" and get totally fed up with the lifestyle. Using that statistic alone means an addict has only a 30% chance in quitting with help. Let's assume the general recovery rate for crack cocaine addicts is 5%. We'll use 100 addicts for the sample.  Therefore 5 out of 100 recover. Of those 5 there are 3.5 who recover on their own(70% of 5) and that leaves 1.5(30% of 5)who quit in some other way. To summarize, 1.5 addicts out of 100 will quit in some way other than on their own. Now you see treatment centers have very low odds. That figure is probably very accurate and that's why you don't hear treatment centers boasting about their success rates.

Then there is the money issue. I think that the chance for success is no different between an expensive or inexpensive program. I think some of the cheapest may be the best. Visit both and talk to the administrators. More important, meet with the addicts in the program. Do they look healthy and happy? Do they voluntarily tell you how happy they are in the program? Amounts of money spent will not give proportionate returns in curing drug addiction.

In my opinion there are 2 types of treatment centers. They are the residential and non-residential rehabilitation facilities. In my mind the non-residential are worthless unless the addict is holding down a full-time job. In the non-residential there is no interruption in the lifestyle. Lifestyle change is essential. I feel the best chance for success is to move the addict to an out of state residential treatment program. He won't see any old friends and they can't call because none of them have phones. Again, it's a lifestyle change.

Here is a list of nationwide treatment centers provided by Shelby of our Discussion Group. They are in alphabetical order by state name. Double click on the list and it will open in Adobe on your computer. After it opens in Adobe, click File, then Save As and save the file on your Desktop or in the folder of your choice. I do not recommend printing the list as it is lengthy.

That ends my discussion of treatment centers. I have more I could say, but what is the use? They are just not that effective. And trust me, I'm not going to get a rash of email telling me I am wrong.

Steve