Your Brain on Drugs With A Side of Insanity

This Is Your Brain On Drugs With A Side of Insanity

“Why I do declare you look prettier than a red winged blackbird sittin on a yella pumpkin.” I use to say that a lot when I was drunk. I'm not even from the south but I liked the way it sounded when I said it.

We've all seen the Public Service Announcements on television. It started in 1987 when a man held up an egg and said, “this is your brain.” Then he cracks the egg on the side of a frying pan, drops it in the heated pan, and says, “This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?”

Yes, I have a question. Why do we put people with fried brains in prison instead of medical treatment facilities for addiction?

Addiction is a recognized disease. It's treatable. The criminal justice system endorses treatment. They use prison as a last resort for repeated offenders. Most drug/alcohol offenders imprisoned today have been through some sort of court ordered treatment. Intensive Out-Patient Treatment (IOP) is often required now for first time drug/alcohol offenders as part of a mandatory probation instead of prison. IOP usually lasts for ten to twelve weeks. Probation requirements include; random drug tests, substance abuse classes, PBT testing, twelve step attendance, and sometimes include long term in-patient treatment at rehabs or half-way houses. Lets not forget big fines and picking up trash on the highway.

Here's a news flash...It's not working. It hasn't worked very well since its inception. Its not working because a large percentage of people who suffer from addiction are in denial. They're arrested for some form of a drug/alcohol related crime and put on probation. They attend the classes, go to IOP, and sit through twelve step meetings. When probation is over, or many times beforehand, they begin drinking and drugging, get arrested again and are sent to prison for a second offense or violating their probation.

It's never going to be the solution because telling an alcoholic he can't drink won't stop him. Sending him to counseling once a week for an hour isn't going to cure him. There's at least 100 free BAC calculators online that will teach him how long and how much they can drink before taking a PBT test. Sending him to a two hour class once a week that explains the damage you're doing to your liver will only make him think maybe he should cut back...tomorrow. Picking up trash on the side of the road makes him thirsty and prison teaches an alcoholic how to distill liquids in their cell.

I'm writing this article because my friend Nicole had a relapse. Nicole is an addict who had been clean for awhile but decided she was cured. While under the influence Nicole made the terrible decision to drive a car. When she seen blue lights flashing in her rear view mirror she lead the police on a high speed chase through three cities and had to be tazed before being apprehended. Lucky for Nicole she didn't hurt herself or anyone else.

Nicole is an intelligent, attractive woman in her early thirties with a bit of a southern drawl. If you had met her during her recovery you would have liked her. I'm not certain what triggered Nicole to start using again. Whatever the reason once she picked up insanity took over. I know in her heart she wanted recovery. About a year ago I ran into her at a county building and we chatted for a few minutes and she said something I'll always remember. Nicole said, “It's all about change.” She was referring to a popular saying among people in recovery, that in order to stay clean you have to make a lot of changes in your life.

I'm not condoning drinking and driving. I am against any form of it and I agree that there needs to be consequences including prison. What I'm trying to say is this problem isn't going to go away because the drunk/drugged driver has a disease and in his mind thinks hes OK to drive a car. Alcohol or drugs has impaired his ability to think correctly and he is temporarily insane.

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as repeatedly doing the same thing over, and over and expecting different results. When I was a practicing alcoholic I expected different results when I told myself I would only have two drinks at the bar. I expected different results when I promised myself I wouldn't drink before 6pm. I expected different results when I made a vow to only drink on the weekends. The results were always the same. Once I picked up a drink I would drink until I was drunk.

I'll concede to the fact that prison may be the bottom that makes one in a hundred alcoholics stop drinking. Maybe the alcohol awareness classes convince one in a hundred. Maybe the humiliation of picking up trash on the side of the road convinces one more. But what about the other 97? They're going to drink again. Many are going to drive again. You're not helping an alcoholic or society by sending him to prison.

I've watched too many people die from this disease. I've held hands with a dying addict as they took their last breath. I've been to so many funerals I've lost count. My friend Tim died a few weeks ago. I once watched a hospitalized man shake so violently from withdrawals he didn't make it though the night.

I've also watched people get better. I've watched their life change. Most all of my close friends have been clean and sober for a long time. The one thing I notice they have in common is they've made a lot of changes in their life and nothing happened overnight...it took years of hard work to put their addiction in remission.

I don't have a solution but I have a suggestion that could be built upon. Instead of sending an addict to prison for one to five years maybe we could come up with a similar sentence at an addiction treatment facility or half-way house? I haven't investigated the cost comparison of prison compared to rehab but I understand a half-way house runs as low as $600 per month. If an offender has medical insurance that could pay for in-patient addiction treatment at a hospital for as much time as the insurer would allow. The offender would spend the remainder of the one to five years at a half-way house.

I'm not sure what type of alternatives to prison would work but don't we have government officials that put together committees to figure these things out? I'm only one person but I've decided I'd be willing to help form an organization that addressed this problem.

In conclusion the drunk or addict you send to long-term treatment will have a much higher chance of recovery than jail could ever offer. Treatment saves life's. My friend Nicole is most likely going to go to prison for a long time because she has a disease. That's very sad.