Hope for drug addicts

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 19

Hope for drug addicts

Christopher is aged 22 and has been an alcoholic and chemically dependent since he was 14. Ruth is aged 22, has a son of nine months, and has been a junkie for years.

' Both feature in the second part of the documentary “From the Horse’s Mouth” at 9.M on Two; they take part in the Minnesota Model method of recovery.

The Minnesota Model is based on the conviction that total abstinence from all kinds of drugs is the only way to stay clean.

‘ At Clouds House, nes-

tied in the beautiful countryside of Wiltshire, England, Christopher and Ruth joined a group of people attempting just that The Minnesota Model gives no guarantees but recovery stops if patients touch one drug.

Surrounding themselves with similarly minded people makes it much easier for the addicts to face up to reality, responsibility, and the thought of being sober for the rest of their lives. The group also serves to fill the vacuum left by an addiction. The friends that were lost over years of cheating,

lying, and self-abuse are virtually replaced during the six weeks of treatment Clouds House continues with several reunions each year, so that friends can meet up regularly.

Despite the fact that Clouds House has made itself an efficient and cost-effective form of treatment the British Government still refuses to acknowledge it financially.

The second part of the programme looks at how the United States Navy deals with addiction amongst its ranks. Addicts are involved in a

12-part recovery programme that begins with military discipline (“to make them feel better about themselves”) and ends with group therapy. In between this the reforming addicts are physically trained to take their minds off their pain as much as to keep them healthy. The programme shows that there is hope for addicts of all kinds if the addiction is treated in much the same way as any other disease. It also makes another, more crucial, point in the same manner: prevention is always better than cure.