What would you do…if you are coming down from a high on meth and you are ready to crash but you aren’t close to home? (TAR Lite #11)
Would you:
1. Somehow find your way home to sleep off the drugs?
2. Find a close buddy’s house to crash in?
3. Find a homeless shelter or park bench to provide a bed for the night?
4. Steal a car, drive to another town and rip off wallets, stereos and cell phones from several other cars and, because you’ve been awake for so long and haven’t re-dosed (taken more meth), while in the process of removing another stereo you fall asleep, burglary tools in gloved hands?
Congratulations if you selected #4, which is what Jason D. Hill, 33, reportedly did in Post Falls, Idaho. The vehicle’s owner found Hill around 4:30 a.m., sleeping in the driver’s seat of his car. Fortunately for the vehicle’s owner’s safety, Hill remained asleep until police arrived. An arrest for auto burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of drugs and a prior felony warrant for attempting to elude police followed.
This is, of course, not the first time Hill has violated the rights of others—he has a criminal history dating back to when he was just 12 years old. While it’s unclear how much time Hill has served on charges ranging from battery to grand theft, it’s apparent he hasn’t spent enough (if any) time in rehab: police not only found unspecified drugs, but also what appeared to be traces of meth in his gloves. If he ever gets and stays clean and sober, we may find Mr. Hill to be a productive individual, as are most recovering addicts. However, until he is coerced into sobriety with random and regular drug testing as a condition of any parole, Jason D. Hill will likely continue to be a menace to society.
Click here for the source of the story!
Susan Reid said,
June 13, 2012 @ 8:43 pm
I have read (and given as gifts) your books. I regularly read and enjoy your newsletter and really like this “What would you do?” feature.
Love your many insights into spotting alcoholism/addiction using behaviorial clues.
Tonight I feel compelled to leave a comment about one phrase above that struck me as, well, questionable.
“…until he is coerced into sobriety with random and regular drug testing as a condition of any parole, Jason D. Hill will likely continue to be a menace to society.”
I agree that until Mr. Hill gets sober he will continue being a menace.
I do not agree that Mr. Hill (or anyone) can be “coerced into sobriety.”
Coersion may stop an addict/alcoholic in his/her tracks. Momentarily.
Edicts, mandates, parole conditions, even ultimatims by loved ones cannot keep anyone sober unless they want to be sober.
Drug testing is a tool of those who believe sobriety can be coerced. It engenders compliance. Period.
Actually, in too many cases it simply rewards the addict/alcoholic for more cheating (if pee in my cup for me I’ll pay you).
It’s a small point, but an important one.
I don’t now how many alcoholics/addicts in recovery you encounter daily, but I bet they would all tell you the same thing.
Thanks for all you do to prevent more chemically induced tragedies!
Susan
Doug Thorburn said,
June 21, 2012 @ 12:51 pm
Thanks so much for your support and comments Susan.
However, I disagree, but it may be an issue of semantics.
In interviewing dozens of addicts for my books, they rarely remembered what got them sober. Until I dug, and dug more.
One case was a classic. When asked what got him sober, he said he had found God. I responded, no, that’s a way to KEEP you sober; it’s not what inspired in you a need to GET sober. He insisted, and I stood my ground. I asked him to think about it.
A year later (he was and is a dear tax client) I asked him if he’d thought about my question from the year before. He meekly responded, “yes….” I smiled and asked, so what happened? He told me he was fired from his job and relegated to a series of demeaning jobs well underneath his job skills. He knew he had to get sober. One day two years later, after he hadn’t had a drink for three days, he realized he never had to drink again–and didn’t.
All addicts are all coerced in their own way. If you tell an addict as a condition of keeping a job they must get and remain abstinent, they often will. For some, it may not be their bottom, but it’s a start; some need to lose family, friends and even their freedom. It’s a form of coercion: you get and stay abstinent, or this will happen. This is being used by a Hawaiian judge who I’ll have to write about at some point, as well as a few others around the country, and drug courts are leading the way. The rate of recidivism (and therefore, relapse) is a fraction of non-drug court treatments (just punish; no coercive nudge to coerce abstinence).
So, in my response I found myself correcting “sobriety” with “abstinence.” I should have perhaps written, “Until he is coerced into abstinence (from which he may find sobriety)….”
I’ve written elsewhere sobriety requires both abstinence and ego-deflation. Abstinence is required before there’s any hope at deflating that big fat alcohol and other-drug addicted ego.
Thanks again Susan!