Part of our policy is to search new clients belongings when they first arrive.
We look for drugs, alcohol, and weapons.
And it's surprising how many of these things we find. Anytime we find anything prohibited we confiscate it for disposal.
Lately, because that seems to be a rising trend, we find heroin - along with the syringes to use it. We seldom find a lot. But it's usually enough for a few fixes, a few highs.
Finding drugs and drug paraphernalia is not a surprise. It's been happening for the 25 years we've been in business.
But there's a question that I've never been able to answer for myself. What's the point of going to treatment or a halfway house with drugs? Why not just keep using until we've had enough?
One half-baked answer I've come up with is that some clients come to us to make their families happy. Or else they're on probation and have an ultimatum from their PO.
But in the drug world I came from I never quit using until I could no longer go on. I recently celebrated 25 years of recovery. And I didn't quit because I had a spiritual awakening or a message from God that I should get sober.
I quit because I had lost everything one more time. And I was in so much pain from the life I was living that I wanted to change. So I didn't take anything to detox with me but a strong motivation to change. I was done. I knew I was done and I was willing to do whatever it took to get clean and sober.
The only conclusion I can reach is that those who try to bring drugs into the halfway house or treatment program is that they're not done. They're trying to convince someone that they are by showing up. But the drugs they bring with them shows their true intentions.
Hopefully they get the message before they become another statistic.
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