Ability to commit a person against their will for drug rehab

[Alana Marsh]

My sister has a very serious prescription drug dependency.  She also has other mental health problems.  She has overdosed 4 times and each occurrence could have resulted in her death if she hadn't been found in time.  

Our family has pressured her to get help, but she claims that she doesn't have a problem with drugs.  She argued this point in the hospital after each overdose.  Under family pressure, she has gone to 3 different hospitals (one was a rehab center, the other two were mental health facilities), but only stayed for a very short time, refusing extended treatment.

We're becoming desperate.  She badly needs help, and our question is:  How can we force her to get help?  Is it possible to get her committed to a rehab center for an extended period of time?  We realize that the individual has certain rights, but we fully expect her to overdose and kill herself unless she is forced to get proper help.  

Can you give us any guidance?  Thanks you very much.

[Brighty to Philisha]

I don't imagine it's ever too late, it's just that for those of us suffering on the sidelines it's never soon enough. Just to give you some hope... my daughter is in residential treatment now... she is only 21. I went to visit her and met one of her roomates who is a 73 year old woman in treatment for alcohol. Her husband of 42 years had died 3 months before. She had never sought help before and now finding herself alone she decided to begin anew. I was filled with inspiration just seeing her there with all the other patients so much younger than she was. It's true.."where there's life there's hope." I will pray for you and your mother. Brighty

[ANONYMOUS>> SAME SITUATION!!!]

I suggest you go to your court house  and get papers for temporary guardianship of your sister, it seems she is incapable of making the right decisions. You will most likely be hated for a few weeks by her but she will understand.. You also need to realize that an addict will NOT accept help until they ACCET they havea  problem.. My sister was the SAME way, it took talking to the judge and getting guardianship of her to BLUE paper her into a detox facility. We were told by local agencies that there is a lawa gainst forceful admittance to detox in most states. Usually an addict has to fall flat on their face with no getting back up before they accept help from ANYONE ESPECIALLY FAMILY!!!!  It sounds like she REALLY needs help.. I suggest talking to an attorney ( consulatations are free) then proceed with talking to the family about who is best suited to take guardianship of your sister until she gets help.... But please bare in mind this is FAR from easy, it is painful, hard, and full of anger and resentment.. It has been three months since my sister has used drugs... The only way she got help was our mother got the courts to grant her temporary guardianship of her to FORCE her to get help... This is someting I would only suggest in SEVERE cases.....If she has overdosed 4x than this is severe and she needs help fast.... In other cases I wouldnt reccomend this method.. Good luck.. I hope there are not children involved in this situation....

[comment to Brian from D about methadone]

I am not bashing your advice at all so please do not feel offended.. Just giving my input on your comment..I have spent several months researchimg methadone treatment and I totally disagree with the treatment in most cases... Methadone is a treatment that should only be used with HIGH TOLERANCE heroine users. Methadone is not a treatment for a vicodin or percocet user. It was strictly designed for those heroine addicts who had a tolerance to allow them to shoot or snort heroine up to 20 times per day. Methadone in itself is VERY addictive and it limits a persons addiction recovery.. A methadone treatment user is a person who's whole life resulted in heroine use, ways to get it, how to get the mobey, where to shoot it next so forth. Once the methadone is used to get the person off Heroine that person is now dependent on the Methadone to live a normal life...I personally feel that you CANNOT get an addict clean if you are administering a treatment that is addictive in itself.. I am totally against the use of Methadone. Our state just declined the opening of a Methadone clinic for the reasons I stated above... Addiction recovery cannot happen if the addict is given an addictive drug.. You yourslef posted a comment a while back about benz/valium. I wont quote you but you disagreed with the choice to get that person off xanax using valium because from the same family.. How can you suggest Meth treatment?You seem well educated in addiction.. Please look at my poin on Meth treatment.. Heroine users go from a life of finding/using heroine and having NO life, to having no life using Methadone.. They cant leave state, cant take vacation, cant sleep in on Saturday.. Why?? Because they gotta have that Methadone certain time of the day 7 DAYS A WEEK!!!! Sorry if you are offended just disagree with your posting..

[Brighty to D.]

Hi D.. quite frankly I do agree with you in both theory and reality ... my daughter was offered methadone treatment and she declined in favor of total detox and treatment. Her father and I are pleased because we share many of your views which are indeed valid. But I also have to tell you that it's a mixed bag and I do believe methadone treatment serves a purpose for a certain addicts who have been through the systems.. both legal and recovery, and are not able to make a go of it. A person who has to work to support themselves, pay the rent, and stay out of jail may find doing without the opiate an impossible task. If the use of methadone gives them enough stability to get their life in order and learn new lifestyles then I am all for it. The reality is that many heroin addicts have been living in a "comatose" state for so long that they fall on their faces when expected to clean up and get back into life.This just reinforces their low self esteem and defeat. The judicial use of methadone provides an opportunity for a person to function with a maintenance dose... to go to counseling, to get back to a structured life and gain the self esteem that goes with it all. They don't have to break the law or violate probation and can begin to integrate into society and feel good about it. Yes.. they do have to plan to eventually go through a tapering process, to learn recovery skills, and to finally be drug free. If a one year program on a tapering dose of methadone can get a person mentally prepared to be totally drug free then it serves a purpose. I do realize your points.. and not all methadone clinics or users live up to the ideals I am mentioning. Some clinics counsel against tapering.. some even may like the daily fee that the client has to pay and may keep them on methadone longer than necessary. The methadone user is still in a drug culture environment and rubbing elbows with non recovered persons at the clinic every day and often they are using heroin and methadone at the same time. It's just not a perfect world. I personally think that methadone is overated and has a sketchy success rate for the reasons you mentioned. To me, the best case scenario for methadone treatment would be better standards in the clinical use.. standarads that mandate recovery and relapse prevention skills being taught to the meth user, urine testing, and a definite tapering schedule, integration into the work world, and other counseling. To give out methadone indefinitely without recovery expectations is certainly perpetrating the problem. It should simply be a step to healing , not a substitute. Best wishes, Brighty

[debra]

I,ve been reading all the postings and seen where my niece Philisha had posted about her mother, which is my sister,(younger) i have tried many many times over the past year& half to help her,in driffrent ways she always gets mad and resents me for it. we lost our mother to cancer,it will be 2 years May 28 and her problem has gotton worse since then,she has 2 children,17 and 11 she with me (my niece) and my nephew is with his dad. i thought for sure losing her kids would make her want help, but it did,nt. i even tried getting a court order, i was told even if they gave me one she could leave the rehab when ever she got ready. this law needs to changed. i,m terrified that i (we) will lose her too. i pray all the time for her so do other family and friends.we lost our dad when we young,so it was me my sister,brother and mother until we lost her, it has been really hard for all of us. my sister has alot of quilt because she was,nt there as much as she could have been if it was,nt  for her addiction, this much she has told me. PLEASE PUT MY SISTER IN YOUR PRAYERS her name is Tammy.  what is the Bakers Law .

[debra]

I,ve been reading all the postings and seen where my niece Philisha had posted about her mother, which is my sister,(younger) i have tried many many times over the past year& half to help her,in driffrent ways she always gets mad and resents me for it. we lost our mother to cancer,it will be 2 years May 28 and her problem has gotton worse since then,she has 2 children,17 and 11 she with me (my niece) and my nephew is with his dad. i thought for sure losing her kids would make her want help, but it did,nt. i even tried getting a court order, i was told even if they gave me one she could leave the rehab when ever she got ready. this law needs to changed. i,m terrified that i (we) will lose her too. i pray all the time for her so do other family and friends.we lost our dad when we young,so it was me my sister,brother and mother until we lost her, it has been really hard for all of us. my sister has alot of quilt because she was,nt there as much as she could have been if it was,nt  for her addiction, this much she has told me. PLEASE PUT MY SISTER IN YOUR PRAYERS her name is Tammy.  what is the Bakers Law .