Five Addicts Challenge our Misguided Drug Rehab System - Book Report/Review Example

Hooked: Five addicts challenge our misguided drug rehab system How often is it that a book forces you to change the way you think? Not very often; but “hooked” by Lonny Shavelson is an account of five addicts that forces us to rethink and restructure our ideas about addicts. Addicts are never thought to be good people, associated with crimes and mostly thought of as people who choose to become the way they are. Stories of criminals and how they commit crime under influence of a drug has stereotyped all the addicts as criminals. However, Lonny Shavelson dares to break out of this mould and search for the truth by becoming a friend to five addicts and hence is able to present their stories in the most compassionate way explaining the possible reason for their addiction and in the process studies the various flaws of our system in helping these addicts. Through the book the author points out how our system fails to help these individuals because of the complexities involved in getting treatment, how the authorities are unable to understand the reason for their addiction or for their relapses considering that freeing them of their addiction is decriminalization, and how freeing them from their addiction is not as simple as it seems. This book is not just another good read instead it is a humane take on a problem that is a menace to our society enriching us with knowledge and possible solution for the problem. Lonny Shavelson is a writer, a physician, a radio journalist, and a photojournalist. A man with dynamic personality who has written about various topics like child labour, effects of hazardous wastes, all dealing with current issues of society. Hooked is another attempt by the author to bring into light the issue of drug addiction and rehabilitation, an attempt in which he does succeed. Darlene James: Darlene is a person who deals with a lot more than just addiction and whose addiction stems from her inability to cope up with the reality, a reality which is different from normal people. She suffers from mental disorder, psychosis and hallucinations, which is worsened by her homelessness and continuous encroachment of her makeshift homes by local authorities, which makes her feel even less wanted. She was a methamphetamine addict, and also had alcohol problem. She heard various noises in her head, living in a delusional world. She did petty crimes like stealing and had an abusive partner who spent half his time in jail. Darlene lacked any emotional support and her escape from this world is her addiction which can also be said to have lead to the problems of hallucinations. However, as Lonny points out that arguing about what has lead to hallucinations and trying to judge the character of the person is completely wrong and the efforts should be concentrated towards helping the addict. Darlene was wronged by the system in that she was brought into one rehab program thrown out of it because of her inability to free herself of her addiction, this continued for three drug treatment programs. She was referred by city’s mental health counselors to substance abuse counselors and then back again, this continued for so long that even Shavelson got tired of seeing the drama. In a condition when a person needs emotional support being kicked out from program before being submitted to another program must have only caused more emotional distress. Fortunately for Darlene, she eventually got into a special program in Walden that combined psychiatric care with drug rehab. This led to drastic improvement in her. Darrell McAuley: He is one of the most stable characters of all and is himself able to understand the complexities of the rehab programs, serving as a guide to Lonny in his research about drug treatment programs. Darrell was also homeless, and an alcoholic who had been kicked out of various rehab programs. He had attended various Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. Due to his addiction he had been hospitalized many times when he got into accidents while drunk. The only thing that separates him from other characters is that he did not suffer from any mental disorder even though he was briefly prescribed anti depressants but no significant mental disorder could have been a reason that led to him attaining sobriety. Despite that he too became a victim of the system as even he agrees that the insensitive attitude of the system forces the addicts to check out of the system rather than stay in. It is not that the addicts don’t want to get rid of the addiction but due to the various complexities both emotional and biological one needs to stand in full support of the addicts to ensure that there is full recovery; however, due to internal conflicts between the departments, it is the addicts who eventually have to suffer. He was a supporter of “harm reduction” philosophy of treatment rather than the strict militaristic style of Walden. Darrell’s strong will eventually led to him being free of addiction, he attended a rehab program that suited him best and became sober again. Mike Pagsolingan: Mike’s was a case that generates most sympathy from its readers. He was a nice guy who had a family, unlike the previous two characters who lacked any functional social life. It was his past that was interfering with his life. He had been sexually assaulted as a child, the haunting memories of his childhood never left him alone and despite his efforts he could not get away from his addiction. He was addicted to heroin and this addiction also led to his other problems. Mike entered the rehab program by Walden and came out sober but relapsed soon enough because the emotional trauma he had suffered as a child was not treated. The program at Walden considers that addicts are like out of control children who need to be disciplined back into leading the social life of normal life. Under such circumstances though people might recover for a short period but often relapses are common as happened in case of Mike. Due to an inability to talk freely about his past, something that led to his addictions, he was unable to remain clean for long. When Mike relapsed he was unable to go back to Walden because under the program a violation of rules means severe punishment and even removal from the program. Mike had violated the program rules which prohibits re-indulgence and would have never gotten back into the program. Eventually Mike was failed by the system and he ended up in a jail for illegally entering his sister-in-law’s house. Finally he was enrolled into a residential program. His was a case that despite presenting hope was also the most affected by the system. Crystal Holmes: She was a person who personally never wanted to be rehabilitated; she was a street smart person who relished her image of a drug addict. She was the kind who thought that she could play the system and fake it for she had associated her identity to cocaine. She could have been easily thought to be the one who would never regain from her addiction. However, when looked deeper it was found that despite coming across as a person who did cocaine as a recreation, she too had a past which had caused great emotional damage to her. She was a street walker, and had been a victim of circumstances. She was in a difficult relationship with her partner which only caused more emotional trauma to her. Crystal’s is a case that raises hope among its readers. She was caught for selling cocaine but instead of being tried in the criminal court was sent for a trial at San Francisco’s drug court. Drug courts have been hailed by the author in that they are persistent in their efforts never leaving the addict during the entire course. They have been praised in their understanding of a drug addict’s behavior and the natural occurrence of relapses. They stick with the addicts and drug courts have been found to have a high success rate. Crystal was lucky in that she was tried in the drug court and despite suffering from many relapses during the entire course was able to come out as a changed person. Glenda Janis: Out of all the characters we’ve seen this is one person who was completely failed by the system and has the worst ending. A Native American who was an alcohol addict and had led a difficult life as a teenager continued to live in the past. She was from a broken family, a homeless person, who became an alcohol addict, under influence of her mother and suffered the same consequence that her mother had. Glenda was a sweet natured person but having dealt with alcoholism since as young as 16, it was difficult to free her of her addiction from the start. What worsened her case was her deteriorating health something that even she realized, maybe she realized that and hence was unwilling to get rehabilitated. Finally when she found real help at Friendship house and became sober after a long period of time, the system’s lack of a follow-up program led to her demise. After being released from Friendship house she was provided a room at Salvation Army housing facility, however, this facility too was very close to her earlier hangout and in absence of any follow up program and support she soon relapsed. Her relapse led to her removal from the housing facility, being left homeless again, she relapsed and was finally found dead on the streets. Hers was a tragic story which showed the worst that could happen under our current flawed drug treatment system. Summary and Conclusion: The book is a must read for all those who want to understand the complications associated with drug addiction and rehabilitation. The writer is compassionate towards the five characters understanding that addiction is not a disease that can be treated by some pills, nor is it as simple as a mental disorder that needs some psychotherapeutic sessions. It is a complication of both forms and hence it is best to be treated by both psychotherapy and medicine. Besides, one must understand that relapses are a part of treatment of drug addiction. It is illogical to think that relapse only happens because a person is unwilling to get treated which is clear by the case of Mike who despite strongly wanting to get treated relapsed. On the other hand, it is also wrong to think that only when a person is willing to get treated will he be able to recover completely a myth that is busted by the case of Crystal. The author aptly points out that for complete recovery a follow up is a must. Drug use is a reaction to some emotional trauma that the person must have suffered; it is an easy way to escape from the pain. If the therapist can heal that pain it will become easier to rehabilitate the person. It is also important to establish the person as a normal functioning entity of society by providing them job and home. Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that this book provided an interesting peek into the lives of drug addicts and was successful in separating criminals from drug addicts, helping its readers to become kinder to them. Read More