Everyone looks down on the addict in active addiction. Everyone has something to say when the DTs start, when the withdrawals hit, and when someone is literally falling apart right in front of them. People are quick to write someone off, throw them away, and act like a drug addict is somehow less than human.
But the second addiction gets a doctor’s signature, a prescription bottle, and a fancy program name attached to it, suddenly everybody wants to look the other way.
Let’s be real…..
If the “MAT PROGRAM” was really created for the addict, then why is it designed to keep so many people in it for YEARS? If the goal is to help fight addiction and prevent relapse, then why does the answer seem to be keeping people dependent instead of helping them learn how to live free?
Why do doses continue to increase the longer someone is in the program? Why are we offering this program to incarcerated individuals while dangling time off or credit served for participating in a 6-month program?
If we are really “SUPPORTING OTHERS IN ACTIVE RECOVERY,” then why are people spending years incarcerated, getting released with a prescription in their hand, and being sent right back into the same world they came from without the tools to actually survive?
Because let’s talk about what nobody wants to talk about.
What happens when that prescription becomes more valuable on the street than it is in their recovery? What happens when someone trades or sells it and goes right back to chasing the same thing that almost killed them?
Then when that person is found unresponsive days later, everybody wants to say, “Well, that’s just what addicts do.”
Because now we aren’t talking about the program anymore. We aren’t asking questions. We aren’t looking at what failed. We just blame the addict, call them a junkie, and move on.
Let’s talk about recovery centers.
Why are so many okay with pushing this as the discharge plan? Why are we acting like this is the only answer? Why are so many facilities staffed with program participants who are still relying on the same program they’re promoting?
Because the reality is, some people working in these programs are one missed clinic visit, one disruption, one wrong turn away from needing a detox bed themselves.
And nobody wants to talk about that.
How are we supposed to have honest conversations about recovery when questioning the system gets treated like attacking the people in it?
How is this any different than what happened with Oxy in 1996. Big Pharma came in claiming they had something that would help people, something they said wasn’t addictive, and we all know how that story ended. That was a huge part of what fueled the opioid crisis we are still dealing with today.
So why are we not allowed to ask questions now?
If this program was really designed to help the struggling addict, why wouldn’t we build it around helping people get through detox, survive early recovery, learn coping skills, rebuild their lives, and eventually stand on their own?
Recovery is supposed to be about freedom.
It’s supposed to be about getting your life back.
Not replacing one chain with another and convincing everyone it’s sobriety.
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