Discrimination?

After 30 years of operating one of the largest recovery programs in Arizona I still have a difficult time wrapping my brain around the state's attitude toward alcoholics and addicts.  And even more specifically, the attitude they have about those who spend their time, money, and lives helping substance abusers get clean and sober and rebuild their lives.

Within the past few years Arizona has created a statute that requires those who are licensed to house recovering substance abusers to have written policies and procedures that outline what kind of "good neighbor" policy they have.  In other words, they expect that addicts will behave so badly that they must present the neighbors a set of guidelines of how the residents of the house will act toward those who live around them.

The message they send to recovering people is that they are so outside the mainstream of society that they don't even know how to treat their neighbors or behave in normal society.  I wonder how a recovering person's self-esteem is impacted when they can't live in a neighborhood unless they tell their neighbors how they intend to behave outside their residence.  Discrimination anyone?

Have you heard of other businesses that are required to have a good neighbor policy?  How about the bar downtown that serves intoxicating beverages?  How about the convenience store that sells intoxicating beverages?  How about the new church that opened in your neighborhood?  How about the tire shop on the corner?  Why don't they have the same mandates that businesses that serve our most vulnerable citizens must adhere to?  Maybe discrimination?  Maybe the nice people don't want "those people" in their neighborhood.  You think?

Let's look at this from a different perspective. Whether you know it or not, substance abusers are a protected class because addiction is a disability that is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act and the Rehabilitation Act. 

These Acts protect the handicapped and others against discrimination. Minorities are protected when they're seeking housing or obtaining a loan.  The elderly are protected when they seek access to a business and therefore must be offered handicapped parking and ramps for their wheelchairs or walkers. The list goes on and on.  And it's actually pretty good reading if you're in a protected class.

It's a sad day in our world when laws have to be written to protect those that might be exploited or denied help by a biased or prejudiced majority. The Acts were written to protect us.

And you can believe that TLC's lawyers are busy working on lawsuits to protect its clients against discrimination.

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