Drug Addiction Treatment Centers: A Fresh Start by David Westbrook

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Drug Addiction Treatment Centers: A Fresh Start

Half a decade ago, I started working on a hotline to help

addicts and their families find drug addiction treatment

centers. Thousands of calls later, I still remember the

first time I picked up the line. I could hardly make out

what the woman on the other end was saying to me. Shelly

(not her real name) was sobbing. She had just arrived at her

father's apartment and had found him passed out cold on the

couch with a needle still sticking out of his arm. Why she

called our line instead of 9-1-1 was a mystery. I called for

an ambulance and waited on the phone with her until they

arrived. She told me how her father had been a construction

worker, though his dream was to play guitar in a band.

Shelly said her parents split up when she was thirteen

because of her dad's drinking. He moved away to live in

another state for a couple of years and they began to lose

touch. He would send the occasional card or make a call on

her birthday the first couple of years, but that eventually

ended. After college, Shelly decided to find her dad. It

turned out that he had moved back and was living just a

couple of miles from where she grew up. Somewhere along the

way, he had picked up a heroin habit. Shelly tried to talk

him into going to treatment, but he always had an excuse for

why he couldn't. Shelly said she visited him weekly, helped

him keep his apartment up, bought his groceries and kept

after him to quit. She said she they had just talked the

night before and that he had, for the first time, agreed to

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BIO:

David Westbrook is a freelance writer. He has spent several
years talking to thousands of addicts and their families who
are in search of drug addiction treatment centers. He
invites you to visit his websites
www.addictionsresources.com and www.alcoholismresources.com

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