Chris Christie

Okay, short rant...promise.

The discharge planning and referral process for individuals in recovery from substance abuse is shit. Politicians seem to be in agreement with the idea that "we need to address this drug epidemic" but they fail the system and the people they are claiming to help by introducing them to a vicious cycle.

A person abusing a substance comes to the decision (one they are sometimes forced into) to seek help. They call a facility or two or twenty and are introduced to there first obstacle, The insurance question. And while we all hope to believe we each have equal opportunities for treatment, if your insurance is through the state, Medicaid/Medicare... you will likely find yourself being either turned away or forced to be included on long wait lists or told to seek state and county funding. One could imagine how dried up those resources are. Okay, so you finally find a place that accepts Medicaid/ or by some miraculous chance you are provided with state/county funding. You enter treatment. Detox is 3-5 days Short term Rehab 10-14. Residential you are looking at 28 days. Some long term facilities are 60-90 days. The rare possibility that one finds a 6 month to 9 month program...well congrats to you. There are so few programs that when a person leaves the initial detoxification, they are immediately thrown back to the wolves. They have no chance. Its a shitty thought....And so the cycle remains, the person seeks help, obtains brief relief and then back to the communities and environments that they sought to leave.