History of Drug Rehab Centers
Since the 50s we have experienced a much greater need for drug rehab in the United States and Canada. This increase in demand for drug rehab comes from an addicted public that dramatically increased in numbers, and continues to do so with the introduction of more pharmaceuticals into the general marketplace, but the more important cause for the rapid rise in the establishment of drug rehab centers evolved due to the money that was invested to pay for drug rehab. Most of this money came from health insurance companies that had added a provision for drug rehab in an overwhelming majority of their health plans. However, drug rehab centers were established well before there was any workable science to deliver a technology that would handle addiction successfully - and drug rehab’s reputation has suffered because of it.
These early drug rehab centers were basing their treatment on the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, which was a marginally successful approach to helping alcoholics recover from their addictions, but was not intended to be an institutionalized form of therapy and by altering its basic tenets, these centers did not deliver the results that one would anticipate if they were seeking a cure to their addiction. For about twenty years, this didn’t seem to be a problem as drug rehabilitation was finding clients and making money. This pattern declined in the late 80s and into the 90s and tough drug laws resulted in a skyrocketing jail and prison population full of drug-related offenders.
In time, the insurance companies and other financial sources became disaffected with these poor results and measures were taken that limited the amount any individual insurance company would pay for addiction treatment and the number of treatment episodes anyone could have within a given year and/or the life of the policy. Most of these drug addiction treatment centers had less than 10% of their graduates leaving their care and being free of their addiction. This meant that over 90% returned to their destructive behavior and, it was just a matter of time before they were looking for help again. It wasn’t uncommon to find addicted persons that had attended these types of treatment multiple times, with many going through more than five episodes of treatment.
The pendulum has recently begun to swing back in the other direction, though, and legislative and advocacy efforts are once again turning toward drug rehab and addiction treatment as opposed to incarceration. The money to pay for the drug rehab centers is still being figured out, as insurance companies don't offer as much coverage and there is only a relatively small amount of government dollars avialable for addiction treatment, especially quality drug rehab centers that get results.
