Recovery and unethical treatment practices

[blight12]

It was difficult to determine where to post this as its not related to recovery strategies but is related to the recovery process or industry in general.

If it needs to be moved or deleted thats ok but I hope it could be answered in some way even via PM. Perhaps it might help readers to take care to avoid unethical service providers and/or to save on the overall cost of treatment.

I would like to get some feedback on your concerns and issues with the substance abuse and recovery industry specifically where you think patients are being taken advantage of in some way, especially if their treatment quality and cost is compromised due to some other industry priority, like financial gain.

Also not necessarily any issues experienced at individual service providers or exceptions to the normal process, but rather the problems with the entire industry and accepted norms or standards for treatment.

A good example might be the homepage article today (Big Pharma Company Jacks Up Price of Overdose Life Saver by 1100%: Now, More People Will Die). The fact that this is even possible without any significant opposition or consequence is sickening because somehow we have all been tricked into thinking that large scale commercially motivated malpractice suffering and death is ok. I wish I could be trained by the marketing genius behind this if i cant find the cigarette and nicotine guy first.

To clarify further, what standard treatment and related best practices might be setup with focus on financial or commercial gains instead of whats best for the patient.

Conspiracies, with at least some logical or reasonable evidence to support it, are welcome. I dont need the facts or the confirmed truths. Any information or opinions are helpful even if only as starting point for further research and confirmation.

For example:

Are opiate maintenance drugs the best solution for the patient or are they an excellent way for big pharma to profit directly from the illegal drug trade.

Could the fact that shorter term, more effective, more economical or single dose addiction treatment options could be suppressed or be unknown to the masses to maintain profits from the illegal trade of pharma drugs or superscription of maintenance drugs.

Do treatment centers profit from maintenance drug prescriptions or is there any financial or other incentive for them to do what may not be the best solution for the patient.

I really would just like to know how and where to find more information on The Dark Side of the addiction recovery industry.

This as well as the entire drug and mental health/function topic is an interest and I am also an online marketing consultant so I would like to see if could get involved in some positive way. Use marketing for Good instead of Evil for once. Im sure its possible lol.

Its just disturbing to see the signs and indications of massive abuse and profiteering of the pain and suffering of others such as those that need genuine assistance on this topic. The really worrisome thing however is that it is mostly accepted without much opposition or outrage. Do no harm should be clarified to include "do the least amount of good for the most amount of money" as harm as well.

Anyways, thanks.

 

[fifleman]

Welcome to people. Whether it's a journalist posting a scathing article or funeral homes setting us up with a nice $3,000 box to be buried in, profiting off of people's pain and suffering is, well, very profitable. Why? Because positivity and well-being have to be worked at and achieved in one's life; pain and suffering is guaranteed to every single sentient being that is inhaling right this moment. So many of us end up playing victim to whatever it be and begin a search outside of ourselves. I played victim for years to drugs, alcohol, and an abusive/toxic relationship. One rehab received thousands of dollars from me on two separate occasions while many other classes also gained a buck from my pocket. The common denominator wasn't them destroying my soul to harvest my last dollar: it was me who was living so unconsciously that I didn't know up from down.

I can blame multi-billion dollar industries keeping maintenance meds highly-priced, "cold-hearted" companies, steeply-priced rehabs, whatever. I received the how-to-stay-sober guide; the do this, do that guide; the $10,000 rehab plan. The fact is, I continued to shell $ out because I thought it was going to fix the problem. What fixed me? Me, and I didn't have to pay for him.

Business is out to make money. Getting sober has become a business and that is now the way it is. I have compassion for all other sentient beings, but I believe the only unethical practice we partake in is the one we practice alone that destroys our own mind and body. It started with me, not money, to change my life. I believe the industry exists because people have forgotten how to look inside themselves.

My $2.86 opinion.

 

[RedLeader]

Not even gonna start on the political side of it all.

But ya, basically what was said in the post above me. We get ourselves clean/sober at the end of the day. However, rehabs, Big Pharm and so on all try and convince us and our loved ones that we cannot "fix" ourselves and that money needs to be spent on external/professional help. It is very easy to convince a desperate parent to hand over 40K to a rehab to fix her child, but not so easy for society to accept that drug addicts contain the strength inside of themselves to beat it with just a little bit of free love, acceptance and compassion from everyone around them. Society is convinced addiction is enough of a choice to be worthy of punishment, but enough of a disease to warrant expensive private care that the addict can't do alone.

Good to see you posting, fifleman. Always enjoy reading your stuff.

 

[neversickanymore]

Good points fifleman To the OP.. thank you for bringing these topics up... I am really glad that BL has instituted the Recover support forum.. this is a special place where we can all share ideas from all schools of thought and approaches to addiction. It is my personal hope that buy people posting their Courage, Wisdom, Strength and Hope and lending their support and love those dealing with addiction and oceans of people, indirectly or directly, affected by addiction.

Since this forum is still in the process of development we here at the recovery support forum are busy developing and compiling comprehensive recovery information and are collaborating on the best ways for it to presented. We hope to have this up and running soon. BL is committed to presenting every weapon we can in the fight against addiction in the hopes that all us addicts can find the best possible path for each of us to follow.

please don't let the negative prevent you from receiving the positive in recovery and life:D

 

[Swimmingdancer]

It can definitely be hard to navigate the "Recovery" industry and determine who has your best interests at heart - as opposed to being heavily influenced by profit or being tricked by those who are solely interested in profit (like I think many doctors truly believe they are doing the right thing but they get all their info from the pharmaceutical companies) - and how you can get the best care IME. It has definitely been a huge learning experience for me and my conclusion has been that it is very important to take an ACTIVE role in my own health and recovery, to do my own research and not just automatically believe what I am told by health care professionals and organizations, and to not stick with treatments or doctors that I feel are not right for me. I really think this goes for health and mental health in general.

I could write a huge essay on the problems with the opioid maintenance drug industry.

I think it would be easier to discuss the modalities and situations where I've actually had a positive experience as opposed to my numerous complaints about how profit and politics impairs recovery.

 

[Vaya]

blight12, we're going to see if you can't find more involvement in your thread were it to be placed in Drug Culture, rather than The Dark Side. I do hope so!

TDS >>> DC

~ Vaya

 

[Longhauler]

This is a VERY interesting subject. Concerning opiate detox specifically, I believe most people could more easily and MUCH MORE economically detox at home, if they were given the right drugs, the right information, the right instructions/procedures more often than they do. I only went once to a hospital for detox, and after 3 days I left without remorse. I'm not talking about poly-drug detox involving for example high doses of benzos or alcohol, I'm talking about straightforward opiate addictions. It is totally ridiculous to accept a schedule telling you when to wake up, walk piss and shit when you're fucking detoxing, or simply to be in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar environment, while detoxing. I never was able to do it otherwise than alone, with enough good drugs to kill the pain (the best ones imo being pregabalin, clonidine, orphenadrine/cyclobenzaprine, antihistamisnes, valerian...). Some say that they need to change their environment, and I can understand that, but it that case, the solution could be to find a non-using friend ready to accommodate you for a couple weeks or something like that... I really don't understand how can people ADD to the pain of detoxing by getting screwed by those ''rehab'' centers. When I was detoxing, I only needed to be left alone with clonidine and lyricas, that's it and that's all.