Drug Rehabilitation

Generally duration of ninety days is preferred for alcohol rehab programs. However, for people who cannot afford to be in rehab for ninety days, accelerated program options are available that allow patients to transition back home after 28 days with continuing transitional recovery support

People aged twenty and more, from all walks of life participate in such programs. Factors like history of chemical dependency, age, psychiatric history or other variables, may lead to a longer length of stay. Such situations are worked out by senior staff members who work with the client to assess their needs for an appropriate length of treatment.

The 28-day alcohol rehab programs have some of the highest success rates in the world. Mostly people are successful at beating their addiction with only one 28-day treatment. For the success of any alcohol or drug treatment program, the initial objective is to stabilize, achieving and maintain abstinence long enough to create a solid recovery foundation. It becomes imperative for the recovering person to choose to engage in the ongoing process of growth and change, once abstinence is achieved.

People attending these programs participate in education lectures and treatment counseling in both one-on-one and small group settings. Some rehab programs also have additional activities such as yoga, introduction to spiritual principles of recovery and support groups.

The most important point is that most of these alcohol rehab program support the development of self-awareness, self-honesty and self-clarity. Continued engagement in this process leads to the development of self-responsibility, the ability to keep agreements, and self-accountability for one’s choices.

Treatment for addiction to and dependencies on alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamines, heroin, marijuana, and others are usually done in 28 days. These programs are generally not part of a medical hospital and do not provide medical supervision or detox services.

What Do You Do Now?

Solving drug addiction with traditional 12 step or drug substitutes may work for a few but when your loved one isn’t one of those why not do something different. There is still help available.

In the UK there is drug rehab offering a unique drug free program that not only cleanses the body of toxins but also eliminates physical and mental drug cravings in the process. What is drug rehab anyway? The definition of rehabilitation in Webster’s dictionary is as follows:

Rehabilitation
To Restore Or Bring To A Condition of Health or Useful and Constructive Activity To Restore to a Former State or Capacity

If there was a drug or alcohol relapse then it is fair to say that there was no real rehabilitation.

Why The High Rate of Relapse- Is It Their Fault?

Time and again even when the addict tells you that they want to be clean, they continue to use drugs and drink excessively. Often as a friend or family member we fail to understand that really, the addiction is not something the addict has control over. When you try to reason with them, even if they agree with you, it ends up going nowhere. Does this sound familiar? Everyone just gets more upset and angry. We deal with it in our own way, the addict goes and uses drugs again to take away the pain, physical and emotional. It is a vicious cycle. The cravings kick in so quickly that they can’t wait to use again.

In dealing with the addict and getting them into rehab again, remember this:

Your loved one should not be the target of your pain, the enemy is drug use, drugs, alcohol, drug pushers, drug dealers. The addict understands this because they know better than you the destruction this has brought on them and their lives. Their guilt of hurting the people they love is overwhelming and the only solace is using more drugs. Drugs and alcohol have become the most important thing in their lives because they need it physically and mentally just to exist.

The drug addict knows that ultimately, the only options are jail, death or rehab.
Why send them somewhere where their chances of failing are high. You may only get one chance to help save your loved one. Do it right the first time.

Most of us understand cravings. The addicts cravings are crippling and completely take over their lives and yours. A drug and alcohol treatment that eliminates these physical and mental cravings offers the addict a fighting chance, and no more relapse. In spite of all the damage they do, anger and hostility, most are good people and actually are very fragile. They too want to believe someone out there can help them.

The social implications of drinking and driving are not to be taken lightly, this explains why the legal penalties for someone caught driving while intoxicated are severe. In Florida, penalties for DUI (driving under the influence) are different based on whether the offense was committed for the first time, the amount of alcohol found in the blood, and the driver’s willingness to cooperate with the police.

Suspension Of Your License

If you refuse to take an alcohol test, whether it is a breathalyzer, blood, or urine test, the Department of Highway Motor Vehicles (DMV) may impose upon you a suspension of your license for a certain period of time. For a driver who refuses to take the test for the first time, the DMV may suspend his license for six months, while a driver who refuses for the second time and the succeeding instances is deferred of his license for as long as 18 months. If your license has been suspended for the first time because of a refusal to take the test, you can apply for a hardship license or a business purposes license, which expires after 42 days, after 90 days of hard (no driving) suspension. It is during this period that your DUI attorney can gather all evidence to prove that the police lacked probable cause to arrest you for DUI.

If you have taken one of the alcohol tests and your blood alcohol content is more than 0.08, the DMV will suspend your driving license immediately after 10 days during your arrest. This applies to all drunk driving offenders, whether it is their first time to be arrested for DUI or not. License suspension lasts for up to six months. After 30 days or approximately one month of hard suspension, where the driver is prohibited from driving, you can apply for a hardship license or business purposes license to plead the DMV to allow you to drive for business purposes for up to 42 days, provided you show proof that you have attended DUI school during the period of hard suspension.

Alcohol Rehabilitation

Apart from administrative suspensions imposed by the DMV, a person who is convicted of DUI also suffers from statutory penalties that are enforced by the court. A first conviction leads to imprisonment of not more than six months. Imprisonment is not commonly spent in jail, but in an alcohol rehabilitation center or drug abuse treatment facility. A fine of $500 to $1,000 is also levied and a license revocation (separate from the administrative suspension that begins 10 days after the arrest) of six months to one year. If the vehicle is a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) and the driver was tested to have a blood-alcohol-concentration of 0.04, he is disqualified from driving a CMV for one year. Persons convicted of DUI are also required to serve a mandatory 50 hours of community service or pay $10 for each hour of community service. Probation of up to one year is also necessary. For persons who are tested to have BAC of 0.15 or higher and those who committed DUI with a minor inside the vehicle, enhanced penalties are executed.

Second convictions are, understandably, more severely penalized the first convictions. The court requires a person convicted with a second DUI to pay a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $2,000. The court may also oblige the convict to serve not more than nine months in an alcohol rehabilitation center or a drug abuse treatment facility. If the second DUI is committed within five years after the first conviction, jail time of not less than 10 days is mandatory, 48 hours of which should be served consecutively. The court also has the power to revoke the offender’s license for a minimum of five years, provided the second conviction took place within five years after the first conviction. A hardship license or business purposes may be given after one year of serving the revocation.

Jail Time

Florida law imposes more severe penalties for persons who have been convicted for the third time. Imprisonment, which is equivalent to time spent in an alcohol rehabilitation center or a drug abuse treatment facility, is up to 12 months. Up to 30 days of mandatory jail time is also required, with 48 consecutive hours in jail mandatory. If the third conviction took place 10 years after the second conviction, a fine of not less than $2,000 or more than $4,000 is levied. License revocation may take up to 10 years and the offender may only start applying for a hardship license or business purposes license two years after serving the suspension.

Ignition Interlock Device

The court has the power to order the installation of an ignition interlock device into the offender’s vehicle upon the reinstatement of his driver’s license. This period varies based on the situation. For a first conviction, ignition interlock is required for up to six months, at least one year for the second conviction, and at least two years for the third conviction. Mostly, ignition interlock is imposed when the driver’s BAC is 0.20 or more or when he was found to have been driving with a minor inside the vehicle. Ignition interlock requires the driver to breathe into the device for the vehicle to start and five minutes into the ride. Every 30 minutes, the device beeps, signaling the driver to breathe into the device again. The data that is collected by the device is recorded and sent to the DMV headquarters in Florida. The offender is responsible for shouldering the expenses of installing, maintaining, and monitoring the ignition interlock device.

Florida law exercises zero tolerance for minors, or persons under the age of 21, who have been caught driving with a blood-alcohol-content of 0.02. Administrative suspension of driver’s license is effective immediately after arrest, with the first offense requiring six months of suspension, the second and subsequent offenses up to one year. If a minor refuses to take an alcohol test, suspension of license lasts up to one year and 18 months for the second refusal. If the minor was tested with a BAC of 0.05, his license is only returned only after he has completed DUI training school. This violation is not considered a criminal offense, nor is being detained considered an arrest.

In the present gizmo world, everybody looks for instant gratification. There is a need to get high, a desire to reach the top of world even if it is all in the mind. Alcohol and drugs provide us with that perfect illusion. In some cases, alcohol is just a pillow to numb the pain present in life. It is in fact just a symptom of some underlying pain.

Contrary to popular perception, alcoholism is not a result of genetics and thus an incurable “disease”. There are clear passages to rehabilitation and recovery with proper holistic principles and individualized techniques. An alcohol dilemma arises majorly due to four major factors which are:

1. Chemical imbalance in the brain,
2. Unresolved events from the past,
3. An inability to cope with current conditions,
4. Beliefs held that are inconsistent with what is true.

Once the right cause of the addiction is identified and healed, the dependency on alcohol is forever remedied. Drinking problem is completely curable, if there is enough one-on-one treatment between the patient and professionals in the field who know how to locate the cause and heal the underlying problems. Rehab centres provide 4 to 60 hours of one-on-one treatment depending on the grimness of the addiction. Unless someone helps the victim to understand his/her hidden trauma and pain and formulate a treatment on the basis of it, it is most likely that the concerned person will continue to use alcohol as a forum of self medicating.

Usually a team of 10 specialists is required for a holistic and complete heal of the addict. These includes a clinical psychologist, a hypnotherapist, a spiritual counsellor, a medical doctor, a drug and alcohol counsellor, an acupuncturist, a marriage family therapist, a nutritionist, a physical trainer, a life purpose coach and a massage therapist. A continuing specialist keeps in touch with the patient once he/she is cured to make sure that he/she remains on track. Apart from these, blood chemistry analysis, self image enhancement, gourmet cooking, relapse prevention counselling and detox treatment are also used in many of the centres. In a number of rehabs, scrubbing floors and washing toilets is also included as a part of the program to reinstate the person’s will power and commitment towards a job.

The central aim of most rehabilitation program is to create continuing alternative coping mechanisms to which the patients can turn to instead of alcohol. For this purpose of client therapy, traditional group meetings are organised in which patients can discuss their past events with others. However, sometimes one’s past can be too shameful or embarassing to be recounted or shared in a group. For such cases, confidential sessions are organised where a person can confide his innermost fears and painful memories with his mentor.

Permanent freedom from dependency of alcohol is not an overnight achievement. It requires weeks of perseverance and dedication on part of the patient and the doctor. Once reached, it gives the victim a second lease of life which should be solicitude for with utmost care.

The Need for Alcohol Drug Rehab

Of all the mind altering drugs, the alcohol drug may be the one to which most Americans are addicted. It may be time to start talking about it more as a drug and less as a pleasurable beverage. Like all of these addictive drugs, it may only take a few abuses of alcohol before a susceptible individual finds himself addicted. Some seem to become drug addicts by habit, while others tend to find addiction almost immediately upon use.

Once the admission of alcoholism has taken place, the individual needs to find an alcohol drug rehab program suitable for his level of addiction. Any program will begin with the physically painful withdrawal process, but after that, programs vary greatly. While withdrawal has some visible side effects, the period following withdrawal involves primarily the mind.

The physical addiction actually subsides relatively quickly in most cases, once alcohol is no longer being ingested. So the fear people have of withdrawal is usually more hype than what they actually end up going through during their alcohol drug rehab programs.

However, the emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of moving from drug abuse to abstinence tend to be much more painful for the alcoholic than what is expected. The best alcohol drug rehab programs focus on restoring brain health and cognitive reasoning so that the alcoholic can face life without resorting to alcohol as an escape.

Learning to face your emotions and anxieties without alcohol can be very traumatic after years of escaping from them. The alcohol drug rehab program will teach you how to carefully analyze and truthfully judge your emotions and thoughts. This is what will allow you to face life without drugs, just as everyone else must do.

The key is to learn to tell yourself the truth, rather than to allow yourself to rationalize. When emotional turmoil strikes, you have to be honest with yourself about whether alcohol will make the problem better or worse.

A good alcohol drug rehab program arms you with the mental tools you’ll need to make good decisions in tough times. If you learn this, and you learn to rely on a higher power when this is failing you as your feelings have failed you in the past, you stand the best chance of being in that 15% of people who will emerge from your alcohol drug rehab victorious. However, you must be patient with the process, as there is no quick fix to the years of damage you’ve done to your body and mind.