Interventions Can Save Lives

There is a very unfortunate belief that is held by many families who are trying to help an addicted loved one. And that is that the person must “hit rock bottom” before they can be helped. I don’t know who invented that phrase but they did not do anyone any favors.

This phrase is often repeated by those working in or writing about addiction recovery. But I’ll tell you why it is so dangerous.

With the type of drugs on the market today, a person can easily be dead before they hit rock bottom.

When I talk to a family about helping a loved one who is immersed in drug or alcohol abuse, I make sure they know that hitting rock bottom is not a requirement for recovery. There are ways to generate an interest in recovery in just about anyone.

The Television Show Intervention Has Done Us a Favor

Several years ago, the idea of an intervention to get someone into drug rehab was known only to a few people. But now, there have been many television shows that feature interventions taking place. Most famously is the show Intervention from the cable channel A&E. The HBO series Addiction also brought the subjects of drug dependence, intervention, and treatment into the foreground. The popular television show The Sopranos even featured an intervention as part of the storyline.

So at least the people who have been exposed to these shows may have gotten the idea that the drug-dependent person may not have to hit rock bottom and ask for help before rehab is possible.

Drugs that Kill Without Warning

If you wait for a person to reach rock bottom, he could easily kill himself before that happens through the following means:

• Cocaine creates such a severe strain on heart and blood vessels that heart attack, cardiac arrest or stroke have killed some users.
• Most everyone knows that heroin can kill any time through overdose. All it takes is a batch of heroin that is more potent than usual, especially if it laced with fentanyl.
• Painkillers can kill at any time. A person new to pain pill abuse may get so much opiate in his system that his breathing stops. Or a person who has been off the drug for a while (for example, in jail) misestimates how much of the drug he can tolerate and he overdoses.
• Ecstasy has killed on first use by causing a person to severely overheat, causing organ breakdown and death.
• Synthetics like Spice and bath salts can kill through their strong stimulant effects (similar to that of Ecstasy) or because erratic, psychotic, homicidal or suicidal behavior ends their chances at ever arriving at rehabilitation.
• While young people may not think it can happen, alcohol can and does kill when a heavy overdose is consumed.

Those are some of the main drugs that can kill unexpectedly. There are others.

If you care for someone who is abusing drugs, please take this list to heart. Don’t wait for them to reach out. If they can’t stop on their own if they promise to cut back and can’t keep the promise, find a professional interventionist and a good rehab program. At Narconon centers, this is something we do all year round. If you need help, please contact us.