Inmate Running The Asylum

This is a an off-spring of the treatment nightmare post.  I had a young client who is a junkie-plain and simple.  Like all heroin addicts he wanted everything his way and he wanted it now.  He decided he needed to be in a $40,000.00 28-day program because it will look good in court.  Aftercare?  An afterthought, actually no thought at all.  However this $40,000.0 waste of money might look good and get his charges dropped, which he also demands.  He is in a 7-day detox when he hatches this idea.  He is out of detox and using the day he gets out of detox when he tells his adult parents this is what has to be done.  They wanted to go along with this “plan.”  It is in a nicer neighborhood than the program that will require 6 months of treatment and still cost less, but the neighborhood is very very important.  I had to argue against this nonsense and explain to everyone that he needed to get his addiciton and other issues treated.  He is inside, not wandering around the neighborhood.  They inspected the facilities and he and his parents agreed to admit him to treatment, and of course, another detox.  I understand the parents were at their wits end, but that does not mean they turn the decision making over to a nitwit.  They wanted a clean and healthy son, and by then they should have known that he is not the one to make the best decisions as to how that will happen.