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Addiction, Inc.

herbavore

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
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America’s Addiction Crisis ranks among the great epidemics of our age. Millions of people have fallen victim to painkiller abuse, alcoholism, the rise of meth and the revival of heroin. Sorrowful tales of death at a young age and of families torn apart have become a defining feature of the early 21st century American experience.

In crisis, there is opportunity — and entrepreneurs have swept in.

The industry of addiction treatment is haphazardly regulated, poorly understood and expanding at a rapid clip, bringing in $35 billion a year. Remarkably, this business is often conducted behind the closed doors of suburban homes scattered across the nation.

With this report, we open those doors.
Drug treatment is a trade dominated by former addicts, who have transformed their personal experience of getting clean into the business of helping others. It is a field that mints millionaires whose companies drug-test urine. It has spawned experts in the art of online marketing, who pursue addicts and the revenue they (and their insurers) represent.

Here are their stories.

Read the full article here:https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/27/business/addiction-inc.html?_r=0
 
The only medical field where having been a patient makes people think you are qualified to treat the disease.
 
I read each one of those articles. I found amusing the one about the proliferation of treatment centers in Prescott, Ariz. employing the "Florida Model." Nothing from Florida should be emulated, especially not when it comes to addiction treatment.
 
Another good example of what happens in this industry would be the short Vice did on a resident funneled through a Prescott sober home who landed in an affiliated California home and ended up dead from the lack of medical care. The short is titled, "Dying For Treatment". The real shame is not the small towns dwindling charm but the fact that hundreds of thousands of Americans diagnosed with a fatal disease are receiving substandard care for a hefty price.
 
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Wow just watched that video. I hear anecdotes from time to time about how bad some of these places are (I was always quite lucky) but in it's brief 16 minutes, this short is eye-opening.
 
The only medical field where having been a patient makes people think you are qualified to treat the disease.

Being unique doesn't make it untrue.

And it certainly isn't helped by the fact the doctors themselves as so routinely incompetent that becoming more competent than them, at least within the confines of this issue probably isn't hard.

Besides, addiction IS different to other diseases. My point is that those former patients who think they are competent to treat addicts may not be completely wrong. There could well be a lot of truth to it.
 
One of the articles discusses American Addiction Centers. Awhile ago I decided to give them a call to get an idea about their treatment services. I could hear the call center team laughing at me in the background when I stumbled over a few words. I asked for a reference and review from an ex client. They had me unknowingly speak with one of their ed consultants who pretended to not work for the program. I called them back informing them the program was not a good fit.

I concluded this due to the repeated allegations of insurance fraud in the Yelp reviews that had pictures to back them up. That and the fact that they thought it was appropriate to use an ed consultant as a fake ex graduate though he did probably go through the program and after being in their rehab for 30 days was now qualified to work their. They called me about 10 times after that asking if I wanted their services after I had told them no at least 3 times. I hope their stock never recovers.
 
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Unfortunately, immature, completely unprofessional behavior like that does happen just like in any other field. During one of my stints in an inpatient facility, I recall overhearing employees discussing the recent firing of a co-worker due to them getting busted making posts online that about various patients and events that had occurred, mostly made so that them and their buddies could laugh at it. Yeah, someone in hardcore opioid withdrawal shit their pants, that's hilarious...
 
My point is that those former patients who think they are competent to treat addicts may not be completely wrong. There could well be a lot of truth to it.
From your posts I gather that you still use and have not sought treatment. These places are not cheap. If I wanted to be helped by someone who's only qualification is that they are a recovering addict, I'd participate more in 12 step. When you (or insurance) is paying through the nose, I don't think it's asking too much to be helped by doctors and psychiatrists and therapists with at least a masters degree.
 
From your posts I gather that you still use and have not sought treatment. These places are not cheap. If I wanted to be helped by someone who's only qualification is that they are a recovering addict, I'd participate more in 12 step. When you (or insurance) is paying through the nose, I don't think it's asking too much to be helped by doctors and psychiatrists and therapists with at least a masters degree.

I couldn't agree more. I've been in various detox programs, longer term inpatient facilities, etc., and I've encountered so many recovering addicts in charge of this or that, and often making calls and/or giving advice as if they have a degree hanging in the office (they have neither degree nor office), even had some of these people say "The doctor's busy, you'll be fine", or what have you, and don't question their expertise... They've been clean for a few years, and work in a rehab! They must know better than a patient, and of course know just what a doctor of whatever sort would do in this situation. Really sucks to pay for top shelf help, and get stuck with "counselors" carrying a swollen head, never wanting to admit that they dropped out in junior high...
 
I couldn't agree more. I've been in various detox programs, longer term inpatient facilities, etc., and I've encountered so many recovering addicts in charge of this or that, and often making calls and/or giving advice as if they have a degree hanging in the office (they have neither degree nor office), even had some of these people say "The doctor's busy, you'll be fine", or what have you, and don't question their expertise... They've been clean for a few years, and work in a rehab! They must know better than a patient, and of course know just what a doctor of whatever sort would do in this situation. Really sucks to pay for top shelf help, and get stuck with "counselors" carrying a swollen head, never wanting to admit that they dropped out in junior high...

Some of the most abusive and corrupt staff I have witnessed working in the addictions treatment field have been the doctors, educational consultants and higher up management. These positions can dictate what type of treatment the clients can potentially obtain. What really dictates the level of care you will receive is how a place is licensed and regulated and it has nothing to do with if an employee happens to be in recovery.
 
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The picture I see is an industry in desperate need of regulation. The federal government should step up and start doing certification which would require random inspections to uphold a certain standard.
 
In a way it is no different than the chilling terror I feel when I think about private, for-profit prisons, private for-profit nursing homes and private for-profit psyche facilities. If there is a profit to be made, making sure you have an endless supply of the bodies you are making the profit from is simply part of the business model. This does not mean that no well-meaning and enlightened person should not run treatment centers--and certainly having at least some staff that has experienced what they are treating is important. But we are talking a few companies vying to own the exploding market and things are going to get uglier.

What I would like to see here in my city is a local task force that looks at our town and then comes up with a comprehensive plan and city/county oversight to ensure that anyone running a rehab/treatment center is part of a wider web of services. One of the worst things IMO is the way treatment for addiction is walled off from all the other factors in a person's life that may have originally fed that addiction--everything from a need for lifelong support for childhood trauma survivors to mental health services to innovative and affordable pain clinics and certainly services that address poverty and the stigma that prevents people with drug records from working. "Treatment" cannot exist in a vacuum.
 
From your posts I gather that you still use and have not sought treatment. These places are not cheap. If I wanted to be helped by someone who's only qualification is that they are a recovering addict, I'd participate more in 12 step. When you (or insurance) is paying through the nose, I don't think it's asking too much to be helped by doctors and psychiatrists and therapists with at least a masters degree.

I'm sorry this has "what" to do with me exactly? You know one of the problems we have in society is that people care entirely about qualification and nothing for actual competence. Such faith might well work if the system for qualification worked but if it has serious problems then such faith is foolish.

But people get what they deserve and so shall it be entirely deserved by anyone with such beliefs the next time they receive terrible treatment by someone entirely qualified but utterly incompetent.

There's Qualified and there's qualified.

I for one don't care how much qualification someone has. I care about how competent they are. You'd think the two would be the same but it stops being the same when you make a system that issues documents named qualification independent of qualification.

I'm still at a loss what any of it has to do with me though. I don't think I said anything about me at all.
 
I too would rather be treated by someone competent, which a lot of doctors and psychiatrists are not. Remember to alot of those people we're just junkie scum. To a former addict your a person, and they can relate and help you through it.

There's a reason I never went to treatment, I got clean on my own.
 
In a way it is no different than the chilling terror I feel when I think about private, for-profit prisons, private for-profit nursing homes and private for-profit psyche facilities. If there is a profit to be made, making sure you have an endless supply of the bodies you are making the profit from is simply part of the business model. This does not mean that no well-meaning and enlightened person should not run treatment centers--and certainly having at least some staff that has experienced what they are treating is important. But we are talking a few companies vying to own the exploding market and things are going to get uglier.
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Took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with AACA while they were taking over a facility in Vegas. They kept pushing for the more “luxurious” centers - the one in Vegas just happened to be n network for my health insurance through work and had already hit my annual out of pocket so it was “supposed” to be free. They assured me it would be free and I left after a week b/c I made it clear to them that going from 6mg Xanax a day PLUS 6 mg Klonopin could not be tapered in 7 days. And there was a “detox” house - it was, of course, the slummiest of all the houses in an otherwise quite nice neighborhood with million dollar homes. But there was NOTHING to do, no programs, meetings, just st sleep or watch movies. Rather than AMA I coordinated an IOP in Phoenix and then didn’t hear a peep from them until October. Tried to bill me $2500 (yes) for a urinalysis. Even though their onsite test confirmed what I told them I was there for... My insurance denied the entire claim because it was submitted outside the contracted window. Glad they never saw a dime.

At the same time, I spent some short stays at spots in Phoenix - I don’t know if we can name individual facilities, so I can come back if we are allowed to. Anyway, these weren’t typical houses - more like true inpatient where you’re in a “unit” so to speak and have very structured days and your vitals are measured throughout the day. I saw the psychiatrist the morning after arriving and we discussed things openly and my goals and basically I didn’t meet the criteria to continue in patient since he was not d/c my MUCH reduced benzo dose of 4mg Klonopin/day and so I was out after just a few days. But, this place should be a model for others and proves that there ARE good places out there. This place had recreation time, good food, music therapy, real structured group sessions and the staff were excellent.

I read about the places up in Prescott and it’s true.....some have no business running a “facility” and I’m curious how many are contracted with health insurers vs just taking cash. It’s an industry that’s new and unregulated so unscrupulous people will look how to make a quick buck, pray on people’s vulnerabilities. Also, no addiction is identical. Someone’s alcohol withdrawal won’t be like the meth user nor will these match a dope sick heroin user. So, there needs to be a tailored approach that seems woefully lacking as many try to stick to 12 steps and don’t address the more complex underlying issues or are equipped to handle a dual diagnosis patient.

Excellent conversation to have going, so thanks to OP for sharing. And fuck AACA.
 
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