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- McDermott╒s Guide to Drug Treatment.
-
- (c) Peter McDermott, 1993
- (c) Lifeline Project, 1993
-
- This guide was first published by Lifeline Project, Manchester, UK.
- This electronic version may be freely distributed electronically or as
- hard copy. However, be warned that you are missing out on Mike
- Linnell╒s brilliant illustrations.
-
-
- Introduction/why do you want to get help?
-
- There are hundreds of different reasons why people decide they need help
- with a drug problem. Here are some of the most common ones:
-
- Your parents have sussed you out, so you want to get them off your back.
-
- Your boss has sussed you out, and you╒ve got to pay for your drugs somehow.
-
- Your partner says that they╒ll leave if you don╒t ╤ and it looks like they
- mean it this time.
-
- You╒ve been nicked again. Unless you can give the court something
- reasonable in your plea of mitigation, you╒re going to jail. Do not pass go.
- Do not collect a methadone detox on the way. The ú200 isn╒t going to be any
- use where you╒re going.
-
- You finally recognize that you don╒t have any control over your
- drug use. You want to stop for a while, or at least try to cut down, but you
- don╒t seem to have any control. Your willpower keeps on slipping, just long
- enough to break your determination. Given that you feel incapable of
- helping yourself, perhaps somebody else can help you.
-
- So, you╒ve just robbed the last twenty out of your dad╒s wallet/wife╒s
- purse/sister╒s piggy bank, you╒ve shot, smoked or snorted all the gear, you
- need to do something before they find out and finally cut you off. They╒ve
- been on at you for long enough to see somebody about the problem, but
- who do you see? There╒s so many different places, all offering different
- types of thing. Do you need methadone? A detox? What about the black box?
- Accupuncture? Does it work? Before you sign your life away, you need to
- read McDermott╒s Guide to Drug Treatment ╤ the first no-bullshit Michelin
- guide for smackheads, crackheads, temazzie monsters and others in need of
- a temporary escape clause.
-
- A caution
-
- Before you decide to go to a drugs agency, there are a few things that you
- should know about drug treatment in the UK.
-
- If you go to see a doctor, a social worker or a probation officer, the person
- that you see will have received some training for the job. If you go to a
- drugs agency, there worker that you see is unlikely to have been trained as
- a drugs worker. They may have trained in another discipline but the
- amount that they actually know about drugs or drug problems varies
- immensely.
-
- This lack of knowledge will often permeate the whole of the agency. If the
- boss has very little drug-specific knowledge it is unlikely that he or she
- will insist on it in his staff. As a consequence, Britain has drug services
- that are typified by their lack of professionalism. The unstated position that
- is implicit here is, ╘they╒re only drug addicts, anybody can deal with their
- problems╒, when in fact, too many drugs workers are unable to identify the
- issues even when they are spelled out for them.
-
- The expansion of drugs agencies over the last ten years or so has been
- fueled by political pressures and the availability of money, rather than any
- proven success at addressing a particular problem. Much of what drug
- services do is about justifying their existance or building empires and
- securing salaries, rather than addressing problems effectively. That said,
- there are many good, committed workers out there who will do their best to
- help you, and even the ones who aren╒t can be useful if you learn how to
- work the system and play the game.
-
- The key thing to remember though, when it comes to drugs services, is the
- principle ╘let the customer beware╒.
-
-
- Who are you doing it for?
-
- When you begin to think about getting some kind of help for a drug
- problem, you need to think about what it is exactly that you want to do and
- why. When people are asked why they first enter drug treatment of any
- kind, the first bunch of reasons in the list above are much more common
- than the last. A drug problem is something that depends largely on
- definition. For many people, their only problem is how to get enough
- drugs, or enough money to pay for them.
-
- Fair enough. this booklet is not trying to force anyone to stop using drugs.
- Drugs are cool, exciting, and they make you feel good. We know that this is
- true, or else why would you be in such a mess. The goal of most forms of
- treatment is to try and convince you otherwise. I╒m sure that you╒ve all
- come across them before ╤ well-meaning, social work types with their L
- registration cars and their ú90,000 houses in the bohemian part of town.
- Took a couple of whiffs on a joint once when they were a student and now
- they talk about ╘my hell on drugs╒.
-
- The first thing to say is that if you are looking for a miracle cure, look
- elsewhere. Only God works miracles. The only totally effective treatment
- programme I know of was in China. First time they caught you, you got
- twenty years in the re-education camp. The second time, they used the
- magic bullet. The one to the back of the head. And even that was only
- effective because you knew that they would catch you. If people thought
- they could get away with it, they╒d use, death penalty or no death penalty.
-
- As with drugs, different things work for different people. If you are
- seeking treatment because you genuinely are motivated to try to stop using,
- then you stand a very strong chance of succeeding regardless of what type
- of treatment you choose. However, you can probably increase your chances
- even further if you pick a type of help that suits to your personality and
- your circumstances.
-
-
- Why do people use drugs?
-
- People use drugs for an wide range of reasons. Some people use
- intoxicating drugs for religious reasons, like the communion wine in this
- culture, smoking ganga in Rastafarianism or drinking the sacred brown-
- mixed among that curious North-Western tribe, the Tetleybittermen. Others
- use drugs to medicate illness, like some of the the community care cases
- that we all know and love.
-
- Fact of the matter is, a great deal of drug use, legal and illegal, does not
- produce any problems. However, some people and some drugs just don╒t
- mix. For every one person who can use the brown on high days and
- holidays, there╒s another ten who are sitting clucking in a cold flat because
- they are too sick to get out on the street and sell their arse. For every one
- person who likes a line of charlie before they go out trying to pick up a
- lover, there╒s another who just sold their house because they couldn╒t keep
- from spending the mortgage money on rock.
-
- Treatment usually seeks to do one of two things. It either attempts to
- stabilize one╒s drug use, to reduce the harm associated with it, or it seeks to
- help you achieve abstinence from drugs. Which, if either, of those two aims
- is yours is something that only you can know. However, it does help if you
- are clear about what you want. Too often, people go along to drugs agencies
- and think, ╥what is the best thing to tell them in order to get what I want?╒
- Perhaps we should just tell them what we want, because you╒ll only get
- whatever it is they are going to give you, regardless of what you say.
-
- Some theories of drug addiction argue that drug users will never stop until
- they reach rock-bottom. Different people reach rock-bottom at different
- times. Some never do. Drug addiction is a relatively new phenomena in
- Britain, but as far as we can see, some people may continue using all their
- adult lives. The negative consequences of drug use are a product of the
- relationship between drug, the mind-set of the individual using them, and
- the social situation in which the drugs are taken. Thus, somebody who
- injects large amounts of diamorphine on a daily basis to relieve the pain of
- cancer is not regarded as having a drug problem, whereas somebody who
- smokes a large amount of brown to relieve the pain of living is seen as
- having a very serious problem indeed.
-
- Academics have rightly pointed out that a great deal of the harm that is
- seen as being caused by drug use is in fact a product of the way that society
- reacts to the issue. So one of the most common problems is the illegal status
- of drugs, which causes people to experience problems with the police and
- the courts. This also drives the prices of drugs artificially high, and so some
- people end up committing crime to pay for their habit. These harms may or
- may not be the fault of society, nevertheless, they are still harms. If you
- are experiencing problems as a result of your drug use, it is easier to
- change your own patterns of drug use than it is to change society.
-
- What is the nature of your problem?
-
- Your first step on the route to resolving your problem, is to try to identify
- just what the problem is. Other people may feel that they know what the
- problem is ╤ you take illegal drugs. This, in itself, rarely constitutes a
- problem for anybody. On the other hand, you might be experiencing so
- many problems that you can╒t sort out which ones are related to the drugs
- that you are using, from those that are simply a part of your day to day life.
- Some people will be quite capable of identifying their problems for
- themselves, whereas others may need some help with this.
-
- For such people, a drug advice and information centre will be the first port
- of call. These services used to describe themselves as ╘counselling╒ services
- and were avoided like the plague. Staff tended to be either well-meaning
- do-gooders who didn╒t have a clue, or they were just corrupt know-
- nothings who were earning Brewsters╒ for sitting on their arses. This last
- group were infinitely preferable to the first lot. If you weren╒t careful,
- they╒d be trying to persuade you to do a ╘family sculpt╒ or tell your feelings
- to a chair. Fortunately, these are now an endangered species, although
- they can still be found in certain parts of the country.
-
- Anyway, a good advice and information project can sit you down and try to
- help you identify what your problems are, and give you advice on what the
- various options are. Bad ones will identify problems that you never
- recognized as problems and tell you that only they can help you get over
- them. This booklet intends to play a similar role, but it cannot give specific
- information about services available in your area, so ask your friends, see
- if any of them can recommend a good drugs agency or worker.
-
- Harm reduction
-
- Many services claim that they now operate according to a ╘harm reduction╒
- philosophy. This rather grand term means that some drugs workers have
- finally started listening to drug users rather than pretending that they
- know it all.
-
- Before we go any further, I must point out there are some experts who feel
- that the very idea of frug treatment is a nonsense. They believe addiction is
- not a ╘curable disease╒, but a particular set of goals and values. Some people
- like to take legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, other like to take illegal
- drugs like cocaine and heroin. Some people like to spend ú1000 a week
- skiing, others like to spend ú1000 a week on crack. Because of the difficulty
- in actually defining what the problem is, there are similar difficulties
- coming up with forms of treatment that are effective with even a majority
- of people who enroll in any particular programme. There is an old saying
- in the drugs and alcohol treatment field that goes, ╥It doesn╒t matter what
- you do, a third get better, a third get worse, and a third stay the same.╙ For
- this reason, a wide range of treatment options are available, some very
- different to others. Hopefully, this booklet will help you choose the one
- that best suits you.
-
-
- What services are available, and where do I get them from?
-
- Advice/Information
-
- The drug advice and information service should probably be your first port
- of call. Unfortunately, most areas dont have a stand-alone advice and
- information unit ╤ they tend to be part of a bigger project, such as a Drug
- Dependency Clinic or a counselling service. Where this is the case, those
- agencies might not be quite so committed to the quality of the advice and
- information that they give out. Test them, ask the workers questions that
- you know the answers to in order to see whether they know the answers as
- well. That should give you some insight into the quality of the advice or
- information that you get from them.
-
- These agencies do what they say they do ╤ offer advice and information. If
- you╒ve got a problem, they╒ll have suggestions as to what you should do
- about it. They should also be able to refer you on to a more appropriate
- service if necessary. Unfortunately, because many advice and information
- services are also counselling agencies, and because the people who fund
- counselling services want to see results (i.e., numbers), many agencies will
- immediately suggest that what you need is a spot of counselling (see below)
- and can you come back next week.
-
- Therefore, you should be clear about what it is that you want. If you want to
- have a chat about your drug use with some sad old dear once a week, then
- that╒s fine by me. If you want to secure a supply of methadone , or you want
- to come off, then there may well be other, more appropriate services.
-
-
- Counselling
-
- In the early eighties, counselling agencies dominated drug service
- provision in the U.K. There are a number of historical reasons for this.
- Before the eighties, there were only a few drug dependency units in the
- U.K., mostly dealing with old heroin addicts from the sixties. When the new
- wave of brown heroin flooded the country around about 1980, parents
- began screaming ╘what are you going to do for little Johnny╒. By this time,
- maintenance prescribing had fallen out of fashion, so many local
- authorities funded voluntary sector drugs agencies.
-
- Of course, they were set up by people who had little idea what to do about
- the issue. So they looked around. Drug Dependency Clinics are run by
- ...psychiatrists. What do psychiatrists do? They cure people by talking to
- them. (In fact, they really cure people by giving them drugs or ECT, but
- how were they to know that?) Anyway, psychiatrists are expensive, so
- perhaps we should hire counsellors?
-
- So what is counselling? Well, there are almost as many different types of
- psychotherapeutic counselling as there are counsellors. In classical
- Freudian psychotherapy, you would see a highly-trained therapist as often
- as three times a week, every week for a year. At the other extreme, you are
- more likely to see somebody who has been on an eight-hour, introduction-
- to-counselling course. Furthermore, the quality of counsellors is also very
- patchy.
-
- The basic idea is that by talking about your problems with a non-
- judgemental counsellor, you can be helped to see the obstacles thus
- bringing about change. What the funders weren╒t aware of, is the fact that
- at the heart of most models of counselling, is the idea that the victim (oops,
- sorry) that the client sets the agenda and decides what changes they feel
- they want to make. The problem being, that at any given time, a majority of
- drug users actually don╒t want to stop taking drugs, and those that do rarely
- find that counselling offers them any concrete help with that process.
-
- As a consequence, drugs counsellors have tended to focus on the other
- areas of the client╒s lives. If you do have a particular problem, for example,
- past sexual abuse or some emotional difficulty, then you may find
- counselling helpful. However, it is not a ╘cure╒ for addiction, nor is it a
- magic wand that can change the way that you think and feel overnight,
- and a more specialized counsellor, like a sexual abuse therapist or a
- marrage guidance counsellor might be better trained and more
- experienced. So before you enter into a counselling contract, get the
- counsellor to justify what they think they can offer you, and why.
- Remember, they are providing a service, and if you don╒t think that what
- they offer is appropriate, then you need to tell them that.
-
-
- Out-patient detox.
-
- If you want to stop using opiate drugs like heroin and you find that you are
- unable to stop, one option is to go for an out-patient methadone detox. At
- one time, it was difficult to find a doctor who was prepared to prescribe
- methadone. However, in recent years there has been an enormous
- expansion in the use of methadone.
-
- A few words about the pro╒s and con╒s of methadone might be in order
- here. Methadone is a synthetic opiate. This means that it was chemically
- synthesized, rather than comes from the opium poppy, and has very
- similar effects to natural opiates. Doctors like to use it in preference to
- heroin for a number of reasons. This means it stays in the body for a long
- time, unlike heroin, which only lasts a few hours. It can be prescribed in
- an oral mixture, which is intended to break the injection habit, and if it is
- prescribed in high doses, it becomes difficult getting enough heroin to
- have any impact.
-
- On the other hand, it is regarded by many as producing an inferior buzz
- and being more addictive than heroin. Withdrawals are felt to last longer
- with a methadone habit than a heroin habit. Also, it does seem that those
- people who go onto a methadone script are likely to stay addicted for longer
- than those who don╒t, although they may also suffer fewer problems than
- those who avoid methadone.
-
- If you want to try a detox, remember that methadone isn╒t the only option.
- Some doctors may be prepared to use di-hydro-codeine (DHC, DF118) or
- benzodiazapines or both. You need to decide which one you think is best for
- you.
-
- Where to get an out-patient detox?
-
- The obvious first port of call is your family doctor. In the past, many G.P.╒s
- would throw you off their list if they knew that you had a drug problem.
- Today, many of them are more sympathetic. If he╒s not prepared to take on
- the task himself, ask him to refer you to your local Community Drug Team
- (CDT) or Drug Dependency Clinic (DDC). Many drug clinics will not take you
- onto their list unless you have first been referred by a G.P.
-
- Another alternative is to go to your advice and information service. If
- there is a waiting list at the DDC/CDT, they might well be able to fix you up
- with a G.P. who will take you on to his or her list for a detox. Finally, if they
- aren╒t any use, try approaching your Family Health Service Authority and
- telling them about your needs. They should be able to put you in touch with
- a doctor who is prepared to treat you.
-
- Methadone maintenance
-
- If you are experiencing problems as a result of opiate addiction and you
- either don╒t want to come off, or you can╒t manage to do it, you might want
- to think about methadone maintenance. This means that you will receive a
- maintenance dose of methadone for an extended period, until you feel
- ready to try to stop.
-
- At first, this sounds like a good deal. Free, legal drugs for as long as you
- want. However, there are drawbacks. Any addiction involves some
- surrender of personal freedom. On methadone maintenance, you have to be
- at the chemist, every day to pick up your script. You need to attend the
- clinic regularly. Your life is no longer your own ╤ key decisions about
- what you can or can╒t do will be made for you by a doctor or nurse.
- Sometimes, you may have to have to suffer the indignity of giving a urine
- sample to check whether you are using the drugs that they give you, and to
- check that you are not using on top. Again, I should stress that enrolling in
- methadone maintenance is likely to extend the period for which you are
- addicted.
-
- On the other hand, compared with having to find large sums of money
- every day, then finding a dealer who won╒t rip you off, only to find that
- the gear is lousy and hasn╒t sorted you anyway, methadone maintenance
- might be a good deal. Once again, it╒s a matter of personal choice,
- dependent on your particular circumstances.
-
- Where to get methadone maintenance
-
- If you do want methadone maintenance, it is most likely to be available at
- your local Drug Dependency Clinic or Community Drug Team. Some G.P.╒s
- may prescribe methadone on a maintenance basis, but they are rare and
- they usually prefer it if you╒ve already been assessed by a specialist drug
- service first. On the other hand, many DDC╒s or CDT╒s will only take people
- who have been referred by their G.P. Your local drugs advice/information
- service should be able to give you the details of your local services.
-
- A brief word about heroin maintenance
-
- In the golden era, before 1967, all doctors were allowed to prescribe heroin
- and cocaine for the treatment of addiction. However, this facility is now
- strictly limited to doctors in possession of a special license from the Home
- Office, most of whom are Consultant Psychiatrists who work at Drug
- Dependency Clinics.
-
- Although there has been a great deal of debate lately about the desirability
- of such prescribing, the actual number of doctors who are prepared to do it
- is very small, and those who will prescribe heroin or cocaine tend to only
- do it for a limited number of people. Why? Well, the reasoning seems to be
- that you can attract more people than you can treat by prescribing
- methadone, why bother? So all that I╒ll say about heroin maintenance is
- that it is theoretically possible, but it isn╒t very likely.
-
- In-patient detox
-
- If you find that you can╒t manage to stop taking drugs because the
- temptations around you to continue using are too great, you might benefit
- from an in-patient detoxification. These usually take place in a special
- hospital ward called a Drug Dependency Unit, although you could also end
- up on a general psychiatric ward. Some of the residential drug
- rehabilitation units (rehabs) are also now beginning to do in-patient detox,
- although this may be conditional on your agreeing to sign up for the full
- programme when your detox is complete.
-
- In-patient detox usually involves a relatively rapid reduction that may or
- may not be supplemented with sleeping medication once the methadone
- has stopped.
-
- A recent development has been the rapid naltrexone detox. This involves
- being put to sleep with large doses of sedatives, then being given opiate
- antagonists to flush the opiates out of the system. Although the worst of the
- turkey is done while you are asleep, your sleep patterns will still be
- disrupted for up to a month afterwards. Furthermore, this type of detox is
- physically traumatic, so requires a great deal of nursing attention to
- monitor the sleeping patient. In drug withdrawal, as in life, there are no
- short-cuts.
-
- Besides the medication, some hospitals also provide some kind of
- psychological therapy which may or may not be compulsorary. As with
- counselling, the nature and the quality of the therapy of offer is very
- variable. Some hospitals have well thought out programmes based on
- relapse prevention models, while others just have free-form encounter-
- type groups.
-
- There are a number of advantages in going into hospital to do a detox. You
- are removed from your immediate environment, which can give you a
- break from the everyday pressures of your life, and remove some of the
- temptation to go out and score. However, detox units are no different from
- anywhere else and you can often still score on the hospital ward. You are
- also going to have to face those pressures once you get out, so the situation
- is an artificial one, but the achievement involved in actually getting drug-
- free may well help you sustain your resolve.
-
- The type of therapy that is on offer at these places seems to have little clear
- discernable impact upon outcome rates. All detox programmes have a high
- drop-out rate and a high relapse rate, so you should not go in expecting a
- magical cure. The best predictor of success in drug treatment is the
- motivation of the patient. If you are really determined, you can get clean.
- If you find that you continue to relapse, then rather than doing detox after
- detox, you might find that you need the longer and more intensive regime
- of a residential rehabilitation programme.
-
- You can get information on in-patient detoxification facilities from your
- G.P., your C.D.T. or D.D.C., or from your local drug information and advice
- project.
-
-
- Residential rehabilitation
-
- Residential rehabilitation is the big daddy of drug treatment options. They
- usually involve a long stay, usually anywhere from six months to two years
- (though programmes are getting shorter).
-
- There are several different types of residential rehab (also known as a
- therapeutic community). They include:
-
- Concept Houses ╤ concept houses have a particular theory of addiction and
- recovery, sometimes specific to that organization, sometimes just based
- upon the Minnesota Method and the twelve step programmes.
-
- Religion-based therapeutic communities - it is rarely a condition of
- acceptance that one accepts the religious principles that inform the house,
- although there is usually some attempt to proselytize for a religious point
- of view.
-
- Non-ideological residential rehabilitation units - These are lacking a
- single, organizing dogma like the first two types and tend to use an eclectic
- mix of counselling, groupwork, relapse prevention, etc.
-
- Rehabilitation or brainwashing? The difference between the two is simply
- a matter of personal values. The aim of the residential rehabilitation unit is
- to totally restructure the personality, changing you from a person who
- thinks that drugs are a reasonable way of dealing with your problems, into
- a person who thinks that drugs are damaging your life, perhaps even
- killing you.
-
- Residential rehabs polarize the views of ex-residents. Some people believe
- that it was their stay in a rehab that saved their life. They are usually the
- final option when all other methods of help have failed, and are presented
- to the drug user as just that ╤ their last chance.
-
- Other people though, feel that the rehab that they stayed at actually
- damaged them. There has been little independent control or regulation of
- rehabs, and in the past, they tended to make extensive use of programme
- graduates, who would perpetuate abusive situations in the name of
- ╘therapy╒.
-
- Some examples:
-
- In one rehab, a female resident is told that she will not recover from her
- addiction unless she participates actively in the group therap[y sessions.
- She is encouraged to talk to the group about her experience of being
- sexually abused by her father. However, not all of the residents are
- committed to the therapeutic process. Some of the men regard this as as a
- sexual fantasy. Back on the streets a few weeks later, they gossip about her
- experiences.
-
- In another rehab, residents are woken up in the middle of the night. All
- the clocks are removed, all windows are shuttered. Staff begin a marathon
- session of sensory deprivation lasting several days that is intended to assist
- residents to regress to the point at which they were born. One resident
- suffers a total psychotic breakdown and is transferred to a psychiatric
- hospital.
-
- The major problem with residential rehabs, is that they are often staffed by
- people with very little training, but who believe that they have the
- magical power of cure. Because there is no single model of how best to deal
- with a drug problem, what you get is any number of competing theories. As
- a result, the idea has been spawned that anybody can be a drugs worker. No
- specific training is required, all you need is for somebody to give you a job
- ╤ you╒ll pick it up as you go along.
-
- In this context, the ex-user is a good idea. At least they understand the
- scene, and they know what worked for them. More numerous though, is the
- type that has trained to be a counsellor in order to better understand their
- own pathologies. Then they decide that they want to put their new found
- skills to the test ╤ and drugs has recently been one of the few growth areas
- for a trained counsellor. Unfortunately, some of these workers are just as
- dysfunctional as any drug user ╤ but they are less likely to get into legal
- difficulties as a consequence.
-
- You can learn a great deal during your stay at a rehab. You can learn about
- yourself and why you do the things that you do. You can learn work
- discipline, and get experience of what it is like to take on managerial
- responsibility. You can learn that it is possible to live without drugs for an
- extended period. Like in-patient detox, it is something of an artificial
- situation, but most rehabs make some efforts to slowly re-integrate
- residents back into the outside world.
-
- However, they tend to be rigidly heirarchical, and necessarily go in for
- somewhat strict discipline which can sometimes verge on the abusive ╤ for
- example, you might be forced to wear a jesters outfit for a week if you
- continuously crack jokes, or you might have to walk around with a big
- placard round your neck, telling the world that you are a liar and a thief or
- subit to some other equally demeaning practice. The point of all this, is to
- break down the old ╘addict╒ personality and replace it with a new ╘healthy╒
- or ╘non-deviant╒ personality. Like all forms of treatment, far more people
- relapse and return to use, but for those who are committed to attempting to
- stop using drugs, it is a strategy that works for some.
-
-
- Self-help groups.
-
- A self-help group is any group of people who come together for the
- purposes of supporting each other through a problem. Perhaps the largest
- and best-known of these groups is Alcoholics Anonymous, but there is laso
- Narcotics Anonymous (which focuses of drugs, both prescribed and illegal)
- and more specialized ones like Overeaters Anonymous and Sex Addicts
- Anonymous. Most of these groups are ╘twelve-step programme╒, which
- means that they are based upon the twelve step model of Alcoholics
- Anonymous.
-
- Adherents of these groups claim that Twelve-step programmes are really a
- spiritual rather than religious programmes. The steps combine a set of
- tried and tested methods for staying drug or alcohol free, with a quasi-
- religious authority that exhorts members to change the things that they
- are able to change, and rely on a higher power to take care of the things
- that you can╒t change for yourself.
-
- Many people baulk at the overt religious nature of N.A., but it does have
- advantages over other drug treatment programmes. Support comes, not
- from paid workers, but from other people who have shared the same
- situation, and therefore often have a level of insight into the type of
- behaviour that addicts go in for. This results in a much greater level of
- commitment, and NA groups often provide a circle of support during that
- difficult period after stopping use. NA╒s strength is that it can pass on the
- stored experience of hundreds of thousands of addicts (which is how they
- prefer to be described) about the things that work for them in their
- struggle to stay drug free.
-
- Although the 12 step movement is not anything like as big in the U.K. as it
- is in America, there are still groups in most areas. You can find out about
- your local group by ringing World Service Organization at ?, or ask at your
- local advice and information or other drug service.
-
- So finally....
-
- As you can see from this booklet, drug treatment is an enormously varied
- field with incredibly diverse standards. Some things you might find
- helpful, others you won╒t. The key to success is to shop around, find out
- what suits you.
-
- You should also remember, the majority of people stop using drugs on their
- own, without any help. Ultimately, the real work has to be done by you.
-
- Drugs services can give you medication, a place to do it, advice,
- information, skills and contacts. Some people find that they get useful
- emotional support from a drugs worker but the vast majority don╒t. That╒s
- why the user groups like NA and others exist ╤ so that people can get
- support from those who have experienced these problems and discovered
- solutions that work for them.
-
- Whatever stage in your life you are at at the moment, remember, you still
- have the whole of your future ahead of you. It╒s time to start making the
- most of it.
-
- Good luck.
-
-
- (c) Peter McDermott, Lifeline, 1993
-