01/04/2024
We all know how huge our drug epidemic is, right? But can we please talk about the drawbacks of administrative discharging in drug rehabilitation centers and its impact on clients. The addictions field would argue that it's a primary health problem when it's really the clinician's continue to treat the primary symptoms of addiction as bad behavior subject to “disciplinary discharge.”
Dismissing a client from addiction treatment- a process that often involves thrusting the client back into drug-saturated social environments without provision for alternate care- makes as little sense as suspending adolescents from high school as a punishment for truancy. The benefit/harm ratio of these policies should also be examined related to other behaviors that have achieved an unwarranted level of importance and whose linkage to recovery initiation is weak, e.g., expelling clients for smoking, possessing contraband (e.g., to***co, food/candy, caffeinated beverages, music or books), profanity, making phone calls, failing to go to or get out of bed on time, insubordination (refusing a staff order), missing meals, and oversleeping. Such issues should be addressed within the larger context of treatment and the helping relationship, not constitute grounds for service termination. Excessive rulemaking will shift the focus from the treating toward a one of control and compliance relationship rather than building and recovery and to be honest it's unnecessary and unproductive.
Most of the treatments are failed because of these very reasons and they need to change immediately. You can't take a full blown addict from he**in and m**h and expect them to not want ni****ne. Ni****ne addiction is not what they're for and they should be able to smoke if necessary. Being this strict will cause a relapse or an admin discharge and for most, it's why jail time is chosen over recovery.
