Dr. Drew Pinsky has earne
d somewhat of a reputation to speak out on treatment, enabling, etc. Back in 2004, in fact, he wrote an excellent book on the subject. This past week however, Dr. Drew caught flack in publicly proclaiming that Lindsy Lohan’s parent’s need to go to the wall in: If I Were Lindsay Lohan’s Father I Would Go to Any Lengths to Get Her Into Treatment. You may recall the recent tragic loss of Casey Johnson and Corey Haim. They were both peer celebrities who had illegal prescriptions at their fingertips and may be alive today, had intervention took place. In context to the Dr. Drew piece, “any lengths” really implied having your addict jailed, even if one had to illegally plant drugs on them. Addicts do have rights and a big decision to make. Recovered addicts with previous jail experience have sometimes referred to jail as a “rescue”. It is not always the worst thing that can happen to your addict. However, a celebrity’s jail experience is not the same as that of a run of the mill addict. Many jail guards hate addicts not to mention effective treatment in jail is still rare. That’s another topic, but Dr. Drew may do all of us more of a favor to go back to the roots of his solid base of knowledge and advocacy for the problem. There he can really impact America’s issue with drug abuse and addiction in an effective manner, now that he has your attention. His focus these days is on celebrities and funky radio shows like Loveline and the content of his input on the subject has to be taken in that context. What do you think? Dr. Drew Link by Valerie Allen Public Relations
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April 21, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Tom at Recovery Helpdesk
First, I have to say that I know many people who have spent time in jail and would never call it a “rescue.”
I know many who have been to jail many times and used in jail and got out and used. It was no rescue. Even for those who benefited from an interrupt in a pattern of chaotic drug use, I think we need to consider whether a more therapeutic form of interrupt would have been just as effective and more ethical and humane.
Keep in mind that it is human nature to try to weave negative experiences into a life narrative that helps us cope with those negative experiences. We want to believe that “everything happens for a reason.” But I would be careful about giving permission to others to view incarceration as a form of treatment for people with addiction when the truth is that often the reason someone was struggling enough to get themselves sent to jail in the first place is because as a society we have underfunded and underperformed when it comes to providing effective treatment.
Why not skip the jail part and go straight to effective treatment especially since most of the time treatment isn’t even available in jail?
I think you are being too generous in your assessment of Dr. Drew. I read his book, and did not find it excellent (some accurate and helpful information, but not consistently accurate and helpful).
From what I have read and seen of him, I question his knowledge, skill, judgment and his ethics. I don’t question his self-promotion skills. But as an addictions professional, I frankly think he is something of a quack.
I posted on this topic yesterday on my blog at recoveryhelpdesk.com
People may also be interested in reading about some of the unethical and harmful treatment decisions he has made for all the world to see on his rehab reality TV shows as listed by a forum participant at junkjunk.ning.com
Please don’t give this guy a pass. He has put himself out there as an expert, and when he says stupid things that put other people at risk he needs to be held accountable.
April 23, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Joe
“Why not skip the jail part and go straight to effective treatment especially since most of the time treatment isn’t even available in jail?”
Why not?? Because it would cost many billions of dollars that the criminal justice system does not have. Most offenders do have alcohol and drug problems. Most jails and prisons have substance abuse counselors, who by the way, are stretched to the limit right now. Add on top of that most offenders are in complete denial about their addiction and don’t want treatment. I’ve spent the last 18 years working in jails and prisons as a Chaplain and an Addiction Counselor.
I’ve had hundreds of offenders, both men and women, tell me that going to jail or prison was the best thing that ever happened to them, it saved their life. You sound like so many in the Human Services Dept. that believe all offenders are just sick (victims actually) and need therapy and/or the right med and all will be well.
Have you ever considered their victims, the families, and the people whose lives will be changed forever? Can we just blame this whole thing on their addiction? Why is it that just a very small percentage of addicts actually commit these often-horrendous crimes? Do you think they are all here for failure to have auto insurance or “I’m just here for traffic” which I hear all the time. You may want to consider this quote from RLS, “Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.”
“Keep in mind that it is human nature to try to weave negative experiences into a life narrative that helps us cope with those negative experiences”
The negative experiences you are talking about are called ‘crimes.’ And some people seem to only learn through the consequences of their decision to create ‘negative exoeriences.’
Good luck with all that sympathy, poor me crap. It’s as if you are trying to blame the jails and prisons for the problem!!??
p.s. For many people jail is effective treatment. Serving time in jail is or was supposed to be punishmnet for criminal behavior.
There, now I’ve done it again, gone and hurt someones feelings ]-;
April 21, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Bill Ford
Thanks for the input Tom. Glad it caught your attention. I did change one thing. “Always” to “sometimes”, regarding jail as a rescue. The addict I am referring to who suffered tremendously, called her incarceration; RESCUES. Her comments were earnest. She said detoxing in jail 7 times was hard but spared her a worse fate. Other addicts who said that…maybe, I could see your point about weaving the experience into something positive. Most of the jailed addicts I have known did not say this when they got out. Definitely worth clarifying. I know regarding addiction, jail does more harm than good. It is not very rehabilitative. That’s why I support reform. Nonetheless, some come out with a commitment to stay clean. Unfortunately, encouraging stats on that are not high. Relapse on the other hand is high. Many questions there.
As for Dr. Drew, He has the public’s attention. I agree, regrettably, he has diluted his focus on entertainment and exploitation. People in world of recovery and treatment do speak disparagingly towards him and deservedly. If pressed, I could say he has sold out. I like the 2004 book and his collaboration with 4 other writers. It’s a good general primer with some basic cause and effect, regarding addiction. I liked William White’s piece. I am not sure what Drew really doesn’t know. I do feel that the knowledge and influence he does have is not making a great impact in the world of addiction and recovery because of his greater distraction with being a celebrity. You made some good points.
April 22, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Tom at Recovery Helpdesk
Bill, I know you support drug policy reform and treatment over incarceration. I appreciate and admire your work on those issues. And I agree with what you’ve written on those issues.
I think your anecdote about the woman who detoxed in jail seven times and said it was hard but spared her a worse fate is interesting. I have no doubt that her comments were in earnest. But is her conclusion accurate?
Certainly, there is no way to know for sure. But I have to wonder whether detoxing seven times in jail is likely to have been her best route to recovery.
First, jail is not a particularly safe or comfortable venue for detox. The detoxes probably just happened because she was in jail (not because she intended to detox and had a recovery plan in place).
She obviously relapsed at least six times. With any detox/relapse cycle you increase the risk for fatal overdose. And with any incarceration/release cycle you increase the risk of fatal overdose. Was it really necessary to take this risk seven times? Or was it only necessary because her detoxes happened in jail with no treatment or aftercare plan –instead of in a rehab where there was a higher chance of the detox being part of a recovery plan? And wouldn’t a planned detox followed by a good recovery plan have been more likely to avoid at least some of the next six detoxes?
I don’t know what was going in on her life, and maybe jail was the only thing that saved her from some greater harm. But should it have been the only thing available to save her from a greater harm?
These are the kinds of thoughts that go through my head when I try to grapple with the issue of if and when incarceration is ever an effective and ethical recovery intervention.
I do think coerced treatment can work. But I often seen the incarceration without the treatment. And I often see coerced treatment used even when the coercion was not needed.
So far I’ve concluded that incarceration is never an ethical recovery intervention. And so far I have always been able to envision a less intrusive and more effective alternative.
I also struggle with the fact that many people prefer incarceration over less intrusive and more effective alternatives because people who are addicted are stigmatized and incarcerating them feels “right” or “good” to many people.
Many people who are addicted (and their family members) have internalized stigma to deal with too.
Many are so confused about why they are unable to stop using, and so desperate to stop using that they are even willing to accept incarceration in the hope that it might be the answer. Many family members are willing to consider getting their family member incarcerated to stop them from using –they feel that helpless and are that desperate.
Not enough people are around to explain to them that incarceration is unlikely to be the only or best solution, and comes with many new risks.
April 22, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Bill Ford
Yes, I do support reform and it would behoove us all figure out how to light a fire under the Criminal Justice Commission before they forward their recommendations and proposed bills for vote at the end of the year.
The Woman I spoke of is a family member and her addiction was severe; her means of supply was equally extreme ending her up in jail many times over a long period well in excess of ten years. I’ve been watching her from a distance all my life. It took her another fifteen years of recovery and relapse to be 8 or 9 years sober today. I can’t say what drove her see-sawing in and out of jail, but her primary venue of assistance to get away from heroin was methadone which she had detoxed from while in jail a few times. I understand that is the worst. Apparently, she was still using heroin while doing methadone which is common. Other than that, I wish I could say more about it to help what your doing. Had the jails been more proactive, it could have spared her some of that hardship. I have a soft spot for the suffering addict because I have seen so much of it. I know you do too. There are many more that do not and hold the cards. It is those who need to be reached.
I don’t have any trouble with coerced treatment. Society may be able to stomach that as an alternative to criminalization of drug use. They do it in a lot of Asian countries, but have a horrible record for success. Its a good subject. How do we make it work.
April 24, 2010 at 8:26 pm
smallsteps2recovery
I think it is shameful that jails have become our nation’s frontline for treating mentally illness and addiction. They are both brain diseases. Can you imagine the outcry if we incarcerated diabetics instead of providing them insulin? Or jailed a cancer patient in lieu of proper chemotherapy. I know addicts break laws and commit crimes as do the mentally ill. But until we end the stigma, we are not going to change funding for treatment. We need longer treatment that is more affordable. I am certainly no medical expert, but I do know that it has been proven that early intervention and proper care for mental illness has a significant impact on the outcome for the patient. Waiting until someone has had several psychotic episodes is not advisable. So I question the theory that we have to let the addict hit bottom on their own. So much damage has been done to their brain and so much progression of the disease. I say create the bottom if you can. We need to get addicts into long-term treatment and followup care while they are in the younger end of their lives. This should be a priority for our nation.