While Rhode Island’s drug problem remains as small as the state, authorities there believe that the meth and club drugs afflicting other states will catch up to Rhode Island soon. Ecstasy is already a favorite among the party crowd on college and high school campuses. Rhode Island families may find themselves in need of a drug or alcohol rehabilitation center before they even realize that drugs had invaded their community.

Currently there are less than 100 drug and alcohol rehabilitation and treatment centers in Rhode Island. Residents may or may not find one in their community, but that should not stop families from seeking help. With hundreds of rehab centers and clinics located in the New England area alone, quality care is still just a phone call away. In fact, seeking treatment outside the local community is often the best choice for treating any sort of addiction. At home, the addict is surrounded by the same stresses of career and family that often fueled the need for alcohol or pills to start with; temptation lurks around every corner, and families usually need time to regroup and move forward as well. Seeking treatment from a facility outside Rhode Island should never be discounted.

Evaluate any treatment center carefully before committing yourself or a loved one to care. A badly-managed rehab program can lead to an endless cycle of relapse and partial recovery that prolongs the abuse indefinitely. Only a comprehensive program that encompasses detoxification, counseling, and long-term behavior modification has any hope of helping an addict walk away clean forever. And only a program experienced with the particular type of abuse, that tailors its approach to the individual, and that is funded and staffed adequately to offer close, personalized treatment, is worth looking at.

Rehab is about separating the alcoholic or the addict from alcohol and drugs. This is a complex process that involves much more than just breaking all the bottles. However, complete removal from temptation is often the best way to start. This doesn’t mean you have to kidnap the addict or leave Rhode Island. Alcohol treatment centers and drug rehab facilities often have inpatient programs, which move the addict out of the environment that enabled the abuse and into one that is focused completely on living without drugs or booze. The 24/7 medical supervision ensures that the debilitating effects of abuse are properly addressed, and provides the emotional support and counseling required to get addicts to face up to and overcome their emotional dependency on drugs or alcohol.

“Tough love” is a prerequisite to getting clean. Families often require the help of a professional to get their addict to seek help at all. They have no clue how to get a person to permanently alter his or her behavior. Professional help is a must, and the best hope for permanent recovery lies inside the walls of a drug and alcohol treatment center. In Rhode Island, that might mean driving a little farther, but a family healed of drug abuse is certainly worth the mileage.