Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Overcoming drug addiction - part II

VO: An estimated 22 million Americans suffer from substance abuse due to drugs, alcohol or both. That’s about the population of Texas. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug. 14.6 million Americans use it. Consider that’s the combined populations of four states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. These are the latest figures released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in their National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Seven years ago, Nathan Scott of Spearsville, Louisiana, decided not to be a statistic. He sought help for his drug addiction that started with marijuana and LSD and steadily intensified to IV drugs like cocaine, dilaudid, heroine, and morphine.

Soundbite: The scary thing is, once a real addict starts down that road it’s really hard to stop. You can’t just stop. t’s sort of like telling someone to stop breathing. Just concentrate and try as hard as you can. Stop eating or whatever.

VO: Fortunately, for Scott, he went to an outpatient treatment center that helped him get off drugs and set his life back on course. He sought help at Monroe Addictive Disorders Clinic or MADAC. The clinic manager, Richard Barfoot, explains what happens first in an outpatient treatment center.

Soundbite: “We start out by setting them up with an initial assessment day. Come in and take two hours to do a complete assessment on somebody. At that time they sit down with a counselor as to what’s got them here at the clinic. What their problem is, what drugs they’ve been using, how much and for how long. Then we just go through with them and tell them what services are available.”

VO: Services like a daytime treatment program, a night program for people who work during the day, a program for teens who are just beginning to have problems with drug and alcohol abuse, a relapse prevention program, after-care services for people who have completed a program—all in an effort to stop alcohol, drug and gambling addiction.

Soundbite: I got awesome help from really awesome people who cared and knew how to help people in my situation. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of work.”

VO: People who are especially motivated to quit, Barfoot notes, have seen their lives unravel because of addiction.

Soundbite: “But if it’s already got to the point where you’ve lot a job, a house, a wife, relationships, family’s gone down, then it’s easier to see the reasons why you ought to quit.”

VO: MADAC is a state-operated outpatient treatment center that works on a sliding fee scale. For Scott, the treatment was free because he didn’t have an income.

Soundbite: “The biggest percentage of our clients are indigent clients. We’ll accept insurance if they have it. Some insurances will pay for substance abuse and some don’t. States fees are based on a sliding fee scale based on the number of dependents you have in the family and total income you have. A lot of our clients have jobs or some kind of work but will still be under the income level. If they’re under the income limits they will be treated for free. They won’t have a bill other than their drug-screen fees.”

VO: Scott has been clean for more than seven years now. After going through treatment, he sees relapse as being the major problem for people fighting addiction.

Soundbite: “From being in 12-step meetings and stuff, very, very,very few people stay sober for any length of time. It’s really sad. People come in and go out. Sometimes they come back. Some people don’t. They die. I know people who went out for one more drink, one more hit of crack and three weeks later you read about them in the paper.”

VO: And according to Barfoot, relapse occurs when people don’t stick with the program—like going regularly to Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and working with a sponsor.

Soundbite: When I get people who are repeats to the clinic or who have been through several other clinics and haven’t done well, the first thing I usually ask them is: How long were you clean? And then, I’ll ask them, are you still attending after care and do you have a sponsor? Are you making AA meetings or NA meetings? Almost invariably the answers are: after I completed treatment I stopped going to aftercare or I never went to aftercare when I finished treatment.

VO: But getting someone to treatment in the first place is a significant step because of the misperceptions of addiction. Barfoot finds that people don’t think they’re as bad off as the stereotypical addict.

Soundbite: I get a lot of people in and I ask them: do you think you’re an addict and they say no. Do you think you’re an alcoholic and they say no. But if I ask them, do you think you have a problem drinking: They’ll say yes. Or is drugs a problem for you: they’ll say yes.”

Soundbite: “Addicts come into it with hardheadedness—it’s tough to tell an addict anything. They’ll want to prove you wrong. One of the characteristics you see in a lot of addicts is having to learn everything the hard way. I don’t care if I saw three people do the same thing and it went bad for them, I would do it because I was different.”

VO: But when a person is committed to treatment, Barfoot sees a powerful change take hold.

Soundbite: It’s amazing the transformation or even a several week period in some of these people. When they get to where they have hope again. They see there is a different way of living. It doesn’t have to be the way it’s been for so long.”

Soundbite: I really don’t think it’s something to be embarrassed about. It really is to a large extent just like any other disease. It’s treatable. But, it’s also progressive and fatal if it’s left untreated.”

VO: In Scott’s case, he would be considered a MADAC success. Next month, he begins a Ph.D. program at University of Pennsylvania on a distinguished scholar fellowship.

Soundbite: “Life’s good—and it will probably stay good as long as I do what I need to do.”

Out: In Monroe, Louisiana, I’m Kate Archer.

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