Everyone knows that the road to sobriety is a difficult one. Without having lived through it, however, it can be difficult to fully appreciate the trouble that addiction can cause. Legal entanglements are part of most everyone’s experience with long-term addiction. Short-term addictions, though, can still cause emotional, physical, and legal rifts. While you or a loved one are just trying to survive the physical effects of addiction, you may have legal things to worry about, as well. You may be worried about you or a loved one reoffending, facing jail time, or the aftermath of dealing with a drug-related death and in these situations having legal care is vital. Add other family issues, like domestic violence, terminal disease, or pregnancy, and things can become even more complicated than they are.
If you or a loved one are living with addiction, this is not the way that things have to be. Legal care is just one of the moving parts of your bigger effort to get back on your feet and live a healthier, more productive life. Particularly when working with lawyers through a reputable treatment center, you’ll be able to find the type of legal guidance that can help you understand your options as your body heals. The individuals who work with patients at treatment centers have a better understanding of the barrage of difficulties faced by people living with an addiction to drugs and alcohol, and what legal paths may be best on a case-by-case basis. This individual attention is important not only because of the fact that everyone has a different set of circumstances, but also because anyone’s situation can change any day, and that requires quick-thinking, legal prowess, and patience from everyone.
Scottsdale Recovery Center prides itself on offering this type of individualized legal attention and assistance for patients entering the facility. Nothing is more important than successful completion of treatment, and the beginning of a drug-free life. Understand that it is possible that you may need more than a typical month-long stay in the treatment center; it isn’t unusual for people with especially severe addictions to need more than one stay or an extended stay. There’s no need to feel alone, or that you’re a failure. You’re trying to make things better for yourself, and for your loved ones, and legal care is available.
Drug Court
Dr. Benjamin Rush was one of the first American alcohol advocates to suggest that alcoholism is a disease, and needed to be treated as a sickness, instead of a moral failure. The 18th-century physician noticed that ‘drunkards’ (as people living with alcohol addiction were once called) could not help themselves, and would become obsessed with finding and using alcohol. During the rise of Dr. Rush’s theory, a number of indigenous nations began to form sober circles of people committed to protecting themselves from the pitfalls of alcohol.
Fast-forward to today, and though addiction is still considered by many to be purely caused by a lack of responsibility, more individuals who work in positions of legal and local power are recognizing that an entirely new system is necessary to combat the high number of people in the system as a result of their drug and alcohol use. In 1989, the first drug courts were created in Miami to help with The Crack Epidemic of the late 1970s and 1980s. The epidemic began in New York City but quickly spread out of control. Major cities all over the country were affected. The establishment of the first drug court began a movement began that revolved around a fresh way of seeing addiction as a treatable condition that afforded a return to a healthy, productive life. Unfortunately, hundreds had to die before local governments were finally able to work cooperatively, evaluate their resources, and take the necessary steps to lead their communities out of the grasp of addiction.
Rehab
One of the inevitable results of drug court is being reprimanded to a reputable treatment center. This is part of the reason that drug courts have been so successful: the focus lies in healing the offender, not punishment. While punishment is an obvious and occasionally necessary part of the process of some recovery stories, it is not the only option and tends to do more harm to a person than good. The focus on healing is what sets drug courts apart in the legal system, and has saved countless lives.
That said, understand that nobody is required to go through drug court – this is an option if you’ve been in legal trouble while continuously using drugs and alcohol. If you’ve never committed any traceable legal violations, you don’t need to check yourself into a treatment center out of legal obligation, but you should always consider it on behalf of yourself, and on behalf of your loved ones. Choosing to enter a drug and alcohol treatment program on your own accord, or at the insistence of friends and family, is a much more desirable way to begin your treatment rather than by force of legal care and systems. In addition, family support will make a difference in your spirits during your stay, and your commitment to getting better.
Make sure that, whether you’re in treatment because it was something you wanted, or not, that you reach out to your support system, and listen to their encouragement. If your support system is lacking, the counselors in your treatment center will be there for you as much as they are able. You counselors, too, will work with your legal advocates to protect your future. It is also possible and probable that you will bond with your fellow residents in your treatment center, so get ready for all of the good things that drug and alcohol treatment can bring to you.
Legal Options are Always Available
The most important part of your recovery isn’t your friends, family, or legal guides. The most important part of your recovery is the commitment that you make to yourself. The path that leads away from addiction to drugs and alcohol is a difficult one. Thorough counseling that addresses the root of your attraction to addictive substances is the first step, but believing in yourself and in your future is just as necessary.
