Addiction treatment options save lives, not just souls

ABC anchor and “20/20” host Elizabeth Vargas has been off the air for a couple of weeks now, and it’s because of the booze.

It’s not an important story in the scheme of national events, but the news rated pretty high on numerous aggregator sites this week with large headshots and bold headlines about her current stay in rehab.

Good for her. Admitting you’re powerless — either over alcohol or the ability to keep your job carrying on as a lush — is the first step.

But seriously, if she is a true blue alcoholic, then rehab will prove to be the best decision she ever made, even if it was made for her, as long as she never takes another drink.

I would have preferred my life to have taken a different path than it did, but the left turn that brought me to a rehabilitation center 4 ½ years ago was the start of a better life overall for me and my wife and children.

I was one of the lucky ones; Elizabeth Vargas is one of the lucky ones.

More often than not, though, people suffering from drug or alcohol addiction never receive in-patient treatment or get any clean time at sobering facilities. Rather, they languish in jails, on the streets, suffer through their addictions living out some semblance of an existence, or simply die.

There are a lot of us out there. By some accounts there are 18 million Americans who fit the criteria for full-blown alcohol addiction and more than 4 million addicted to drugs. Of that, it’s been reported that fewer than 4 million Americans have sought out some type of drug and alcohol treatment.

For me, and Elizabeth Vargas, I’m assuming, we have decent jobs and decent insurance and the ability to afford a medical treatment facility paid for by that insurance, our savings or our jobs. For many more, that is not the case.

In the Imperial Valley, the choices for drug and alcohol treatment for men and women are limited. When it comes to the need for residential medical treatment, the only option is to pony up and pray for a bed outside the county, that is, if you have the resources.

Other than that, though, it’s jail or Jesus, and neither is right for everyone.

If that would have been my choice had my financial circumstances been different, I likely would not be sober and in active recovery today.

What happens today is men and women who qualify for residential stays in this Valley go before judges in the court system and are referred to jail, Turning Point in Holtville, New Creations in El Centro or Imperial Valley Ministries in Brawley.

Since Volunteers of America was basically shown the door from county three or four years ago, there has been no other residential program with a non-faith-based focus to fill the gaps.

Turning Point, New Creations and I.V. Ministries all target salvation as the redemptive road back from addition and not other proven methods of recovery, such as 12-step programs or other cognitive behavioral therapy.

The problem is the lack of choices in a controlled environment, and if anyone has ever known a true addict or alcoholic, directing them down a narrow path — like that of the conventional God of the Bible and the dogma of organized religion — is an invitation to relapse.

When a friend asked me and several others to help him look into what it would take to establish a secular recovery home as an alternative to church-based centers, I said absolutely.

The Valley is growing, and with that growth comes diversity of beliefs, of needs, of problems and solutions. People deserve more ways to better themselves, to save their own lives and begin the long period of physical, social and spiritual reconstruction.

On some basic level, even the men and women running these faith-based residential facilities would have to understand their way is not the only way — not for me, not for many.

There are other people out there who will support this endeavor, including some in the judicial system who see the lack of options as a roadblock to rehabilitation. Hopefully more supporters will make themselves known.

Recovery is about saving lives, not necessarily saving souls. Turning Point, New Creations, those are the right places for the right people. But what about the other people, where is their right place?

This column first appeared in the Imperial Valley Press, Nov. 8, 2013.