Georgia Rehab Blog

More people are killed each year by a doctor’s pen than by a gun. Thousands more. Doctors prescribe pain killers, anti depressants and other drugs which if improperly used can injure or even kill a patient. Michael Jackson is the most famous recent victim of this tragedy of inappropriate drug use.

Now I’m sure no good doctor sets out to kill a patient when they prescribe medication for pain or suffering. After all, every doctor swears, as part of the Hippocratic Oath to Do No Harm.  Yet morbidity and even mortality are inevitable byproducts of some drug use. A doctor can be sure that a certain percentage of his patients will suffer more from the drugs they prescribe than from the condition they are attempting to alleviate.

With this in mind, drugs should be prescribed only when the benefits far outweigh the risks. Some instances of drugging are acceptable; many are not. Where one’s life has become unbearable with pain, the risk of further injury or even death is clearly outweighed by the benefit of alleviation. Drugging a patient with such a level of pain is warranted.

The pain of end stage cancer provides a good example. As cancer consumes good tissue like a wind driven fire consumes a forest, the patient becomes wracked with ever increasing levels of pain. Light doses of pain killers give way to heavier doses which are inevitably replaced with sronger narcotics.

The drugs used eventually disable the patient. But without the drugs, cancer would have wrecked his body and made him suffer along the way. It’s an acceptable tradeoff to  kill the patient’s pain, even if as we do so, we kill some of his awareness and life.

The pain of cancer and other physical ailments is real and measurable. Which makes a cost benefit analysis as described above relatively easy and an appropriate means of determining who should receive drugs and who shouldn’t.

But no objective standards exist to determine the benefit of using medications in drug treatment. Many drug rehab in Georgia clinics prescribe powerful mind altering and dangerous medications to their patients though neither tests nor clinical observation  has shown that rehab is improved with drugs.

If you or a loved one has a problem with drugs, your best bet is to choose a drug free program. Drugs have their place but not in the lives of people who want to remain drug free for life. Drugs can kill and are only warranted when the costs are greatly outweighed by their benefits. Such was not the case with Michael Jackson and would not likely be the case with your loved one.

Fritz Alders,

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance

Two opposing sides argue a key question regarding drug rehab in Georgia. Should drugs be a part of drug rehab or should they not? The correct opinion is answered by which side of the debate can boast the better results. And with this question, there is no debate. Drug free rehab wins. Hands down.

Now drugs are sometimes necessary to accomplish the first phase of rehab, the withdrawal phase.  But once an addict is clean, the fight should turn to getting rid of drug residues stored in the body. If not, the addict will experience insufferable drug cravings. The inability to withstand the torrent of drug cravings is what keeps addiction alive.

Drugs supply the body with chemicals it would otherwise manufacture. With continued drug use, the body makes fewer chemicals essential to living, and begins to rely on the drugs to fulfill its need. The longer a person uses drugs, the less his body produces on its own.

With less natural production, more substitution is necesary. This is the start of chemical dependency and drug cravings which act like an alarm going off in the body. The alarm keeps ringing until the user takes his drugs.

Eventually, drug cravings become so severe that the addict will do almost anything (in many cases, abandoning all previous moral teachings) to get more of the drug.

Addicts will find themselves doing things they would never have thought of doing, all in an effort to satisfy their cravings. Lying, stealing, cheating, anything is fair game to get the drugs needed to slake his cravings.

From this nightmarish scenario you can see that it’s best to get an addict off drugs for good as soon as possible. Substituting a legal prescription drug for an illegal narcotic does not solve the chemical dependency. And while such dependency might be more socially accepted, it does not handle an addict’s dependency on drugs for life.

Fritz Alders,

Managing Partner Georgia Alliance

“Time heals all wounds.” I don’t know who said that, but  it certainly does not hold true with drug addiction. The longer a person’s addicted to drugs, the more he takes and the heavier his addiction becomes.

With this in mind, it’s critical to find help as soon as possible. Addicts are not known for exercizing good judgment. A delay in treatment could spell further trouble for the addict and his family.

Take for instance the young woman who was on the verge of going to rehab. Before going, she wanted to get high one more time. She and a friend broke into a pharmacy and stole narcotics. She was arrested and now faces time in jail, time which could have been much better spent in rehab.

If you or a loved one needs drug rehab in Georgia act fast. Get help now. Time is not on your side.

Fritz Alders,

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance

Taking drugs to handle a problem whether physical, mental or emotional is generally never the right answer. Just ask Jay Bennett, the former guitarist for Wilco. Well, you can’t. He won’t answer you. You see, he’s dead.

Jay died of an accidental overdose of Fentanyl, prescribed to “answer” his chronic hip pain. The drug is administered through a patch, and in his case, the patch may have leaked causing him to absorb a lethal dose.

And therein lies one of the problem with drugs. Given to treat pain or stress, at best they treat symptoms and do nothing to handle the real problem. As long as the cause isn’t addressed, located and handled, drug use typically continues. With use, comes the potential for abuse or harm. The problem with drugs used to treat pain or stress is that they don’t really handle the pain or stress.

Over time, a problem unhandled begets an even bigger problem. Think of it like a tooth infection. At first, you can handle the pain with aspirin, but as the infection grows, a stronger pain killer is needed. Eventually, drastic and even more painful measures are needed, and all because the real cause of the problem was not addressed and handled.

Addiction follows the same vicious cycle. The addict takes a puff or a hit to handle some kind of pain or stress in his life. But the problem doesn’t go away, even if for the moment the pain does. The problem grows, partly because with drug use he’s admitting that he can’t confront it and partly because the drugs physically and mentally make him weaker. And as he becomes smaller and the problem he faces grows bigger, his only answer is to take stronger drugs and to take them more often.

Drug use is the problem not the answer. Keep this in mind if you’re lookng for effective drug rehab in Georgia. Find a program which does not administer drugs beyond a medically supervised detox. After that the addict should be taken off drugs all together and further detoxed to rid the body of accumulated stores of drug residues which can cause drug cravings.

A key part of his therapy must involve finding the real reason for addiction. What problem, pain or stress was he trying to solve with drugs. Once found and handled, he will have a new and saner attitude about drugs. He will know that drugs is not an answer, just a problem. 

Imagine how happy a life can be if one is free of drugs and has found and handled the problem which was the reason he began using drugs.  Imagine if Jay Bennett’s doctor had sent him for hip replacement surgery rather than tried to handle his problem with a pain patch. Drugs is not the answer.

Fritz Alders,

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance

The latest edition of TransWorldNews carried an article describing the Mexican drug cartel’s role in fueling heroin addiction in Charlotte, Nc. This nice city has seen a 242% increase in the use of black tar heroin, a hashish-like, non powdery form of heroin produced in Mexico. 

Illustrating the effect this infestation is having on the people of their city, he writes: “The war on drugs is a bit of a cliche, but there really is a drug war and the POW’s are American citizens, many of them children.”

He then concludes, “we must first free the citizens who have been trapped in heroin addiction through effective drug treatment, such as Narconon.”

Narconon is one of our favorite programs to refer hard core drug abusers to due to their extraordinarily high success rate. Nearly 8 in 10 addicts remain drug free after completing their program. Well done Narconon for your important role in providing effective drug rehab in Georgia.

Fritz Alders,

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance

“The effect of Methadone on babies is not fully understood. But for expectant women who can’t get clean without it, it might be their best hope.” So begins an article in the Baltimore Sun. I couldn’t read any more, I was so outraged.
 
You know it’s just outrageous, if not insane to me, for pregnant women to be prescribed a powerfully addictive drug, like methadone, particularly if the effects have not been studied and so are not understood. Sure, with drug rehab, gray areas exist. But this one’s black and white. Pregnant women shouldn’t take drugs, particularly heavy weights like Methadone!

Particularly outrageous is the idea that nothing else can be done for heroin addiction. Studies show that Methadone treatment is ineffective. So to treat a pregnant woman with a drug where the consequences could be horrible and the known benefits are definitely low is bad medicine.

Effective drug free programs exist to treat heroin addiction. They should be used with pregnant woman before any other treatment is even considered. Enough questions exist about where to go for effective drug rehab in Georgia as it is without having to complicate the issue with what to do.

Fritz Alders

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance

Is it fair for a State to suspend the driver’s license of someone caught driving under the influence of alcohol? If you’re like most people, you answered “yes” without hesitation. Thousands of people are killed each year to drunk drivers. Suspension seems a mild punishment for such reckless and dangerous behavior.

With this in mind, it’s inconsistent and wrong minded for a State to  punish a drunk driver and yet allow a person to drive under the influence of a narcotic. But that’s currently the law in Arizona. Methadone, widely prescribed by State run or psychiatric based drug rehab programs to treat heroin addiction, is exempt from the DUI statute.

This exemption is being challenged by a new bill now in the state senate. The bill was prompted by a crash in 2007 where a driver, high on methadone and other drugs, swerved into oncoming traffic and struck a car carrying five high school cheerleaders.
A drug free approach to heroin addiction is available, but  Methadone, itself a powerfully addictive substance, is typically used in state run drug rehab programs. The pharmaceutical lobby has tremendous clout in the legislature and no doubt has influenced their decision. As long as safer, more effective treatment options exist, a drug free approach should immediately replace methadone programs. This is how I would approach the issue when it comes to drug rehab in Georgia or any state for that matter.

Fritz Alders

According to the Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment, a report issued by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “recovery from drug addiction is a long term process and frequently requires multiple episodes of treatment.” The authors compare addiction to chronic illnesses such as diabetes and indicate that up to 60% of addicts relapse after treatment.

With such a high rate of relapse among addicts, choosing the right program for their treatment is critical. After describing a form of heroin addiction therapy, the authors write: “However, individual treatment outcomes depend on the extent and nature of the patient’s problem, the appropriateness of treatment and related services used to address those problems and the quality of the interaction between the patient and his or her treatment provider.”

As you can see,  when treating addiction, the program you choose determines the outcome you can expect. But how do you find the right program? You don’t. Leave that decision up to a professional referral service. In my mind that’s the best way to get effective drug rehab in Georgia.
Fritz Alders

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance

You won’t find a shortage of costly drug rehab in Georgia, just a shortage of results. Despite being treated by a horde of “professionals”, from medical doctors to psychiatrists, nearly 6 in 7 patients will fail their rehab . Higher priced rehab, in fact, often produces the poorest results.

Top drawer, luxury priced institutions staffed by highly trained and highly paid medical personnel… and bad is the best they can do? How can this be? The answer involves both the perception of the problem of addiction and the perspective of those who address it.

Though unfounded and without proof, addiction is perceived to be an illness by Doctors. It’s easy to understand their perception. After all, they spent 8 to 10 years studying disease.

With a perspective shaped by med school and further influenced by pharmaceutical reps, the treatment for drug addiction is to them evident. Pharmaceutical intervention. In other words, Drugs, Drugs and more Drugs.

But if taking drugs caused an addict’s problem, can taking them be his cure? Hardly.  An addict needs to quit, detox and rehab without assaulting his body and mind with more chemicals.

The most successful program in Georgia, one that we’ve referred hundreds of people to, does not use drugs in their program. Their results vindicate the approach. Instead of 6 in 7 failing rehab as with the pricey psychiatric based centers, nearly 6 in 7 succeed in ridding themselves of addiction. Permanently.

As the numbers show, the highest price you pay for drug rehab in Georgia at a psychiatric center is the lost opportunity to be free of addiction forever. This is an unbearable cost for the addict and his loved ones, and one that need not be paid.

Fritz Alders

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance

For a person who has or who knows someone with a drug problem, getting effective help is the real problem. There are plenty of places which promise recovery, the mother lode. But like fool’s gold, most are not worth a darn.

The sad truth is that few patients permanently kick their habits. Nearly 6 in 7 will continue to abuse drugs or alcohol after finishing treatment.

Cost is no index of success either. With drug rehab in Georgia, you don’t necessarily get what you pay for. High priced programs are not proven more effective. In fact, one of the programs we refer our Clients to costs half as much as others and yet gets 3 to 5 times better results.

Help is possible, just hard to find. Whether it’s Georgia Alliance or someone like us, you need to call a professional drug rehab referral service before choosing a  program. Find out who they recommend, and then interview each treatment center.

Ask each one what percentage of their patients are permanently cured of their addiction. I wish you much success.

Fritz Alders

Managing Partner, Georgia Alliance