Rehabs for Crack

Here are some questions we’ve answered about Crack addiction:

How to find out if my partner is still taking heroin and crack?

by Kerry

(Widnes, England)

How would i know if my partner is still using heroin and crack?

Tell Tale Signs

by: Ned Wicker

Dear Kerry,

Heroin and crack cocaine users have their own
rituals and it is not that difficult to determine if they are using or
not. Heroin users inject the drug and so will have paraphernalia
around, as well as track marks on their arms and legs. Watch the
behavior.

Is anything wrong, or out of place, or different?
Heroin users might only use a couple of times a day, whereas crack users
are always seeking the next hit.

Addiction takes over a
person’s life, so the signs will be there. Just watch. See our section
on these drugs and look for the signs of addiction.

My dad is an addict and I’m leaving for the military?

by Mitchell

(Ohio)

I’m nineteen years old and for as long as I’ve been on this earth my
father’s been addicted to alcohol and crack… I understand it’s a
disease, and he himself is the only one who can fix it.

I plan
on leaving for the marine corps by the end of ’11 and I fear returning
home without a father. Any tips or anything to help my anxiety would be
greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hard Situation

by: Ned Wicker

Dear Mitchell,

You have cause for concern, but there
is really little you can do to force your father into treatment. I
would call Al-Anon and have a chat with their members, who know all too
well what it is like to watch a loved one battle the disease.

Your
father does have to decide for himself that he needs help, and you can
encourage him to seek treatment. You have to live your life.

I
know that might sound selfish, but his problem can’t be allowed to ruin
your life. God bless you for your willingness to serve our country in
the armed forces. I would hope that your father respects that.

There
is only so much you can do to help. As it is now, there are no
consequences for him. He has you there. When you leave for boot camp,
maybe an AA member can help him, or another family member, but he’s
going to have to want help.

Thanks!

by: Mitchell

Thank you… It’ll have to be something I deal with day by day, as my deployment draws closer.

Crack’s long-term effects?

by Frank

(New Orleans, LA)

My girlfriend is a former addict of crack cocaine. Her use span was
between 3-4 years. According to her she has completely stopped using,
but sometimes I wonder if that’s the total truth.

Her brain
just doesn’t seem to work normal. She finds fault in me for everything,
doesn’t take responsibility for any of her own actions and turns
everything around on me. No matter what I’m trying to discuss with her
she takes offense, starts yelling and cursing me and being abusive, then
turns on me, and accuses me for everything that she is showing to be.

There
is no middle of the road, no peace to be made and no compromise. She
will tear me down or anybody who may find a fault in her. She will not
accept criticism in any form, constructive or corrective. She has a
very shallow life, which only consist of sitting on the sofa all day, on
the ipad, iphone and watching tv.

She doesn’t cook, doesn’t
maintain the house, has no job, but has a lot of money from a divorce
settlement, which she uses as her power tool.

But God forbid I
say anything about getting up and doing something productive. She’ll
use any excuse in the book to reason why she is the way she is and then
start accusing me of not liking her, or hating everything about her.
It’s a daily fight with her.

She’s educated in social work and
even when I try to encourage her to get up and do some good for others
with her experience and background, she finds fault in me for that.
Then says I have the problem that I’m the abusive one, that I need help,
that I am a narcissist, etc. I can’t get through at all. She takes
offense to everything.

She has never been to any kind of
treatment program, just quit (I think) on her own and claims that her
cocaine use didn’t affect her in any way. But getting along with her is
trying to make sense of the devil.

What can I do?

Directionless

by: Ned Wicker

Dear Frank,

Lesson one: You can’t fix her. If your
story is objective and true, you probably have no future with this
woman, who sounds like a person in denial and her cocaine use might have
caused irreparable damage.

You need to have her get an
assessment from a qualified treatment center. You also may want to ask
them about doing an intervention to try to get her into treatment. If
this doesn’t work you may have less options.

She has probably
never had a medical evaluation and doesn’t want one. She doesn’t have
the problem, she thinks you do, so there’s really nothing you can do
about her behavior other than to ask her to be civil. I-Pad and TV all
day and abuse if anyone says anything?

Living off her divorce
settlement? She doesn’t need you, she doesn’t need anybody. She has
created her little world and there’s no room for you. Your best option
may be to get out and not fight it. You can still be her friend and
encourage her to take care of herself, but this sounds like a train
wreck to me.

Also consider contacting your local Al-anon chapter,
they have seen this situation many, many times and can help you decide
what to do.

She needs to decide that she has a problem and she needs to face her own fears and issues.

Marriage Down the tubes

by: Anonymous

I have finally come to the realization that a sane person can
not save a person on crack. The person has to choose to want the help in
recovery. I was married to a man for 7 years and spent endless amounts
of money in rehab settings for him with the first day of discharge being
a day of crack use.

The addiction did not come to light until after the marriage and I wished that I had seen the signs early on.

Having
separated from him June of last year, he wanted to still have a
relationship with me but not live with me. I saw right straight through
that smoke screen. It was a way of having his own world and doing what
he wanted to do when he wanted to do it without any repercussions.

He
recently disclosed to me the risky behavior he is engaging. Having sex
with a complete stranger who is also a crackhead and he just learned of
her name and is really risky in my book. This is very nasty and down
right disgusting.

If the handwriting isn’t on the wall now, I am
really blind. Because of my love for him, I tried to stand by him even
through his faults. I know now that there is no room in his life for me
or anything civil. Crack has won.

This man gets disability and
also gets a payroll check under the table being a gifted church
musician. Payday rolls around and straight to the crack man he goes.

As in poker, I had to know when to hold em, fold em and walk away. I choose now to walk away.