Drug Addicts Lie

Drug addicts lie. I don't mean to single them out, lying is human nature. But an addiction can elevate this behavior to that of an art form.

An effective drug rehabilitation program has to account for and correct for the lying that goes on in an effort to feign recovery. I think most comfy voluntary programs have such a low success rate because people can fake success long enough to get away from the recovery process and they haven't changed who they are in any significant way.

Stone Hawk is a place with an amazing success rate. If you want a simple explanation of the regimen, you basically have intensive, effective detoxification coupled with learning some of the life skills that addicts have typically not yet learned.

I knew a young woman who had grown up under the tough love and derision of an ex-alcoholic ex-boxer born again blow hard. When she left home for a co-ed campus, she was at a loss. I was a Residence Assistant and I also tried to be her friend but she was on a downward spiral of drugs, alcohol and sex. When she couldn't get anyone to use with her or supply her in our building anymore, she moved to another house. A week later I had to accompany an RA from that residence to the hospital where the girl was on suicide watch. Many people tried to reason with her during the few months that it took her to reach bottom, but there was just no stopping her. Getting kicked out of school was, thankfully, the start of a change for her. Her family, who had kept their distance for whatever reasons they had, stepped in and got her to go to Stone Hawk. As is often the case with addicts, she tends to avoid the places and the people she knew then. But I heard through the grapevine that she was working in the family business and in a positive relationship. I was going to get into some of the lies she told while she was using, but I kind of changed my mind. It's like I want to respect her being able to move on. I hope that if an addict ever reads this post that they see themselves in the story and can look past the end towards a whole life beyond addiction.