Hospitals and treatment centers are making stronger efforts to prevent people with addictions from falling through the cracks as they are passed between institutions. New and effective medicines now suppress drug cravings. Joseph Bryant's seventh -- and last -- try to overcome his addictions, in 2004, couldn't have been better timed. Bryant tried repeatedly to kick addictions that began with alcohol when he was 10, heavy marijuana use in his teens, and topped by a $700-a-day heroin habit in his 20s. [continues 1442 words]
Challenge Two: Paying For It Every month, the staff at Caron Treatment Facilities in Wernersville, Pa., field calls from nearly 2,500 people looking for help to pay for treatment to kick their addictions. The call volume points out one of the larger dilemmas of addiction treatment. You've made the life-saving decision to go for help; now how do you pay for it? With 30 days of treatment running anywhere from $14,000 to $30,000, the cost can seem insurmountable for someone already in a shaky position to deal with high finance, red tape and insurance companies. [continues 682 words]
Addiction Treatment Catching Up With Groundbreaking Brain And Genetic Research Seven. That's how many attempts it took Joseph Bryant to kick lifetime addictions that began with alcohol when he was just 10, followed by heavy marijuana use in his teens, and topped by a $700-a-day heroin habit in his 20s. After he served prison sentences for car theft and drug peddling, and as he took up residence in abandoned houses at the age of 27, he realized he had to change his life, or he would find himself, as he put it, "in jail for the rest of my life or dying on the streets of Baltimore." [continues 2079 words]
