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whats the success rate for recovering addicts ?

S

Stifko

Diamond Member
A friend of mine is a recoverying addict who keeps picking up and using again. He smokes and sniffs herion and smokes crack. Since 2000 he has been in and out of rehab, recovery and other professional places like that. 12 step programs are not helping him either. So I was asking he how many junkies kick for good and his answer blew my mind. He has seen only a 2% to 5% recovery rate for addicts. Thats coming from the ppl he has seen going to the meetings and the ones that were in the program when he started. There are addicts with 20 years of clean time that pick up and go in benders like they only have a few weeks sober.

Is there an agency that keeps stats on this ? I can't belive that the % of ppl who stay clean is so low. Its a pretty sad commentary on what happens once you become an addict and what faces my friend. He is a great guy and I wish he would stay clean. I spent Friday night with hime b/c thats a bad time for him and is more likely to use.
 
Heroin is about the worst stuff you can imagine. You only have to do it once to be addicted to it. 🙁 My prayers go out to your friend to help them through the hard road to recovery that will likely be the rest of their life.
 
Your state should have an agency that deals with alcohol and drug abuse. Don't know what it's called where you live though. They can provide you with all the statistics you want.
 
Walk away from your "friend" and never look back. He made his choices in life willingly. You are only enabling him by giving him support. He needs to hit bottom, life on the street, eat out of garbage cans and, possibly, die.

Don't let your life be intertwined with his. You can do nothing for him.
 
We are in NYC, but he is probably going back to the recovery state: Minnesota. They tell you that you have to avoid people. places and things. He can't handle being back home yet. There are too many old haunts for him here and that leads him to his bad ways.
 
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Walk away from your "friend" and never look back. He made his choices in life willingly. You are only enabling him by giving him support. He needs to hit bottom, life on the street, eat out of garbage cans and, possibly, die.

Don't let your life be intertwined with his. You can do nothing for him.
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yeah that'll teach him a lesson when he's dead...
 
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Walk away from your "friend" and never look back. He made his choices in life willingly. You are only enabling him by giving him support. He needs to hit bottom, life on the street, eat out of garbage cans and, possibly, die.

Don't let your life be intertwined with his. You can do nothing for him.
Click to expand...

can't do that Happy, he is like a brother to me. I can help him and you are taking a very hard line. If I help to keep him sober for one night, thats something.

 
Originally posted by: Stifko
We are in NYC, but he is probably going back to the recovery state: Minnesota. They tell you that you have to avoid people. places and things. He can't handle being back home yet. There are too many old haunts for him here and that leads him to his bad ways.
Click to expand...

Nothing leads him to his bad ways, he seeks them out. Walk away from him and live your life as if he were dead.

 
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Walk away from your "friend" and never look back. He made his choices in life willingly. You are only enabling him by giving him support. He needs to hit bottom, life on the street, eat out of garbage cans and, possibly, die.

Don't let your life be intertwined with his. You can do nothing for him.
Click to expand...
I never sympathize with the original action, but I once saw a movie where the 'bad guy' injected one of the 'good guys' with heroin. They became an addict from it and the idea of that really disturbed me. If you were blindly lead into something, not fully understanding the consequences, you might be a little more forgiving. I don't know this person's circumstances and there may be more involved than you'll ever know. I think drug abuse is wrong, but knowing that he's tried to stop means a lot. I haven't been addicted to anything in my life except beer, high quality liquor, and hot chicks. We're all human and we all have our demons...some people just pick the wrong ones to start with.
 
He has to want to stop. Trust me on that.

Edit- Success rate is wholely dependant on whether someone can come to terms with their problem and then make concentrated efforts to CHANGE. If they can't do that then they will not succeed.
 
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Originally posted by: Stifko
We are in NYC, but he is probably going back to the recovery state: Minnesota. They tell you that you have to avoid people. places and things. He can't handle being back home yet. There are too many old haunts for him here and that leads him to his bad ways.
Click to expand...

Nothing leads him to his bad ways, he seeks them out. Walk away from him and live your life as if he were dead.
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You're right about him seeking them out. He does seek them and goes way out of his way to do so. That line about things leading him was BS on my part.

I just don't know if I can walk away like he is dead. I don't know how I am enabling him either. I am encouraging him to get back into another program in MN.

 
Oh one other thing. I really truly think that AA, NA and the like are not programs that I would ever want someone I know in! You are putting them in the midst of addicts and alcoholics are expecting them to never have a thought of drinking or doing drugs. I much some other type of program than a program in which you stick addicts together and expect them not to do drugs unless they are monitored 24/7. Speaking of which Teen Challenge has a 90% success rate. Look I am not religous but for some reason religous programs have way HIGHER success rates than any comparable program.
 
Originally posted by: Millennium
Oh one other thing. I really truly think that AA, NA and the like are not programs that I would ever want someone I know in! You are putting them in the midst of addicts and alcoholics are expecting them to never have a thought of drinking or doing drugs. I much some other type of program than a program in which you stick addicts together and expect them not to do drugs unless they are monitored 24/7. Speaking of which Teen Challenge has a 90% success rate. Look I am not religous but for some reason religous programs have way HIGHER success rates than any comparable program.
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I hear you, but who can be monitored 24/7 ? The NA and AA programs do refer to a higher power that can be whatever you want them to be. Being around other junkies and/or drunks can be helpfull from the angle that they all get strength from eachother, I guess. I was posting this to get some opinions and I got them. Thinking about it more now, HappyPuppy is probably right. It is extremely hard to write a person off as dead if you care about them. It is most likely the right thing to do though. I can't think of him as a goner.
 
Originally posted by: Stifko
Originally posted by: Millennium
Oh one other thing. I really truly think that AA, NA and the like are not programs that I would ever want someone I know in! You are putting them in the midst of addicts and alcoholics are expecting them to never have a thought of drinking or doing drugs. I much some other type of program than a program in which you stick addicts together and expect them not to do drugs unless they are monitored 24/7. Speaking of which Teen Challenge has a 90% success rate. Look I am not religous but for some reason religous programs have way HIGHER success rates than any comparable program.
Click to expand...


I hear you, but who can be monitored 24/7 ? The NA and AA programs do refer to a higher power that can be whatever you want them to be. Being around other junkies and/or drunks can be helpfull from the angle that they all get strength from eachother, I guess. I was posting this to get some opinions and I got them. Thinking about it more now, HappyPuppy is probably right. It is extremely hard to write a person off as dead if you care about them. It is most likely the right thing to do though. I can't think of him as a goner.
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Umm... no HappyPuppy isn't right and neither are you about the higher power things...PM me.
 
I don't know what the sucess rate is. A simple google search will tell you. But I do know it is really low.
 
Originally posted by: Stifko
A friend of mine is a recoverying addict who keeps picking up and using again. He smokes and sniffs herion and smokes crack. Since 2000 he has been in and out of rehab, recovery and other professional places like that. 12 step programs are not helping him either. So I was asking he how many junkies kick for good and his answer blew my mind. He has seen only a 2% to 5% recovery rate for addicts. Thats coming from the ppl he has seen going to the meetings and the ones that were in the program when he started. There are addicts with 20 years of clean time that pick up and go in benders like they only have a few weeks sober.

Is there an agency that keeps stats on this ? I can't belive that the % of ppl who stay clean is so low. Its a pretty sad commentary on what happens once you become an addict and what faces my friend. He is a great guy and I wish he would stay clean. I spent Friday night with hime b/c thats a bad time for him and is more likely to use.
Click to expand...

Drugs like that are a physical addition, the withdraw is real and painful.

That being said, the only real way to stay off it is to quit and never look back. That takes willpower, tons of it. The reasons why people use drugs are generally incompatible with large amounts of willpower, hence the low recover rates.

Anyone can choose to stay off drugs, it is called free will. There is a price to be paid for that however in cravings, pain, and suffering. Not everyone wants to pay that price, thus they go back on the drugs.

I blame them for their own actions, but then again I also have sympathy for them, it isn't easy quiting something that you're physically addicted to. I've got no doubt many of them want to quit but either lack the support or willpower to do so.

A better solution would be to develop drugs that destroy the phsyical addition to drugs. That is where the money really needs to be focused.

Hopper
 
Originally posted by: Millennium
He has to want to stop. Trust me on that.
Click to expand...

That's half a sentence. The complete sentence is "He has to want to stop more than he wants the drugs".

Edit- Success rate is wholely dependant on whether someone can come to terms with their problem and then make concentrated efforts to CHANGE. If they can't do that then they will not succeed.
Click to expand...
The word "change" is the key word. It isn't easy to be sure, but people who really, really want to do it can. It's like quitting smoking, only 10 times worse. People who really want to quit can, those who only sorta wish they could quit don't.

I drink a half dozen Diet Dr. Pepper's a day. I kinda wish I didn't cause it probably isn't good for me, but I won't actually quit until I really, really want to quit.

Hopper
 
Originally posted by: Grasshopper27
Originally posted by: Millennium
He has to want to stop. Trust me on that.
Click to expand...

That's half a sentence. The complete sentence is "He has to want to stop more than he wants the drugs".

Edit- Success rate is wholely dependant on whether someone can come to terms with their problem and then make concentrated efforts to CHANGE. If they can't do that then they will not succeed.
Click to expand...
The word "change" is the key word. It isn't easy to be sure, but people who really, really want to do it can. It's like quitting smoking, only 10 times worse. People who really want to quit can, those who only sorta wish they could quit don't.

I drink a half dozen Diet Dr. Pepper's a day. I kinda wish I didn't cause it probably isn't good for me, but I won't actually quit until I really, really want to quit.

Hopper
Click to expand...


Yep you got the nail hit on the head. Smoking is something I made a half-hearted effort to quit but I smoke so lightly(3-4 cigs a day if that)that I haven't really wanted to. Now I wanted to quit drugs and I did fairly easily once I was sober enough to want to quit.
 
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