Not a Typo.
2011 is the year when pursuit of maintaining the status quo faded into oblivion because the status just ain't so quo anymore. Treading water is not enough.
We're sinking. We've spent way too much time and energy "accepting the things we cannot change" and not nearly enough showing "the courage to change the things we can." The climate for recovery from addiction in our society sucks. Despite state-of-the-art research yielding incredible results, damn little of it finds its way into actual treatment.
And when it does, it's not the best and the brightest, it's the quickest and the cheapest.
Unless, of course, you have an extra $25,000-$100,000 laying around to pay for one of the "Rolls-Royce" programs where they actually utilize the latest research in their treatment techniques. If you have public insurance, the story is different. You barely see a counselor and you're lucky if your roommate isn't dealing Oxycontin.
And there is only one reason why. Because we allow it to be.
How many people in this country are in recovery right now? Recovering addicts? Alcoholics? Family members? Gamblers? Etc., etc.? Who knows, it's a tough statistic to ascertain. When many people recover in fellowships that stress anonymity as a spiritual foundation, it's safe to say that a statistical researcher is going to be about as welcome as a census-taker at some Red-State outpost of the local militia.
Add to this the real danger for many people of arrest or incarceration if they admit to a drug history, due to our outrageously primitive narcotics laws, and guess what?
You aren't going to come away with any numbers except the ones that identify the individuals most spectacularly unsuccessful at recovery.
So, call for Revolution number one is for recovering people to begin to recognize that if things are going to get any better for the many, many, recovering people in our society, as well as those struggling with addictions, it's up to us to make it to.
We need to start a revolution in how we are defined, identified, treated and regarded by the rest of our society.
And then we demand a place at the table.
Happy New Year!
Just stumbled across your blog and I am impressed. I think recovering addicts are at the bottom of the list as far as any type of funding goes. The irony is that the solution of incarceration doesn't work. Glad to see that there are people working diligently who care. Peace from Pa.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many addicts/alcoholics out there it is mind boggling. But when you consider that for every one of those, there are 10 to 12 family members affected by alcoholism, it is even more mind boggling.
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