A Recipe for Disaster

If people knew the ingredients in crack cocaine, they may be opposed to buying and selling it. If they knew the ingredients to a solid family structure they would see that crack cocaine abuse mixed in with family can be a recipe for disaster. But of course there are simply some people who love to indulge and will bake a pie with extra ingredients, because they believe it will make eating it more enjoyable. Family systems can sometimes be that pie and the extra ingredients can be those drugs. The special ingredient of having a family structure absent of drug abuse is not off limits to different social classes; even from the talented celebrities, multi-millionaire CEO'S and to the low income families raised on welfare and food stamps. However there is no guarantee that if you are a abuser coming from a low income household that rehabilitation may be affordable for you. Treatment is not affordable for crack-cocaine addicts with low income families. Let us imagine the people are the ingredients and the size of the family is how much we put in our "Golden Tin" a.k.a. mainstream society and lets see what we come up with.

Ingredient Number #1

• In 1999, 1.5 million children had a parent in prison. Most of these children (nearly 900,000) were younger than 10 years old (National Institute of Drug Abuse.2008. http://www.nida.gov/ .17 April 2008 ).

• Children with parents who abuse drugs and alcohol are widely considered at high risk for a range of physical and behavioral problems, including substance abuse problems (National Institute of Drug Abuse.2008. http//www.nida.gov.17 April 2008).

These facts may be horrifying to some, but to many may not seem to be realistic, so let me paint a picture. De De has been her family's sole support ever since she was twelve years of age due to growing up in Detroit to a low income family, her father in jail for distributing narcotics and her mother an on again off again addict. Now at seventeen with two younger siblings, the middle child, the fifteen year old brother already wants to live the life of a drug dealer. De De's boyfriend is also doing time right now for possession of crack cocaine. It is no riddle that this family's recipe is a mixture of some horrible circumstances. In her interview she was asked if she thinks her family being low income plays a role in treatment and addiction. De De responded "My mom has been to rehab once, but when she got out and got a job she was too busy catching up on bills to attend sessions. My mom looked very hard into outpatient, but her health insurance would not cover it" (Harris, De De. Telephone interview. 4 Apr. 2008). Crack Cocaine abuse can lead to separation of parents and children, feelings of hopelessness, single parenthood, anxiety over childcare needs, bad relationships, and emotional and behavioral difficulties in children (The Cleveland Clinic. "Cocaine and Crack." http://www.clevelandclinic.org/. Department of Patient Education and Health Information. 10 May 2008 http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/0000/0060.asp?index=4038).

Ingredient #2

A person who is addicted often

• Loses control of his or her life
• Will do anything to get more cocaine
• Spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on his or her habit
• Loses interest in friends, family, and social activities
• Has a need to take the drug just to feel “normal”
• Has an enabler

(The Cleveland Clinic. "Cocaine and Crack." http://www.clevelandclinic.org/. Department of Patient Education and Health Information. 10 May 2008 http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/0000/0060.asp?index=4038).

Gregory, a 38 year old man who battled his crack-cocaine addiction for nearly 14 years, has been in and out of recovery multiple times. Each time he went into rehab his family paid for his treatment. Many drug rehabs recommend an on-site, inpatient program as the initial step in the recovery process. The patients eat and sleep at the inpatient facilities. During the typical 28-day program, many drug users experience a freedom from drug usage they have not had in many months or, in some cases, years ("What is Drug Rehab." www.wisegeek.com. 7 May 2008 .http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-drug-rehab.htm.). In an interview he was asked, "due to your economic status while growing up, how did this help/hinder your addiction?" His response was, "having money was a gift and a curse because knowing that money was readily available made me use crack cocaine more, but ultimately the money also saved me because I was able to go to rehab to get to where I am now. I am 38 years old and 2 years clean. When I first started using I was 22 and fresh out of college with a bright future in marketing." His parents had always done well for themselves, his mother a teacher and his father a local business owner. He explains that all through college they took care of him. When he graduated, he decided to take a year off at their expense and they gave him permission, thinking it was just to find himself. "There is no doubt that they loved me, but they became enablers". Gregory left home a year later and even though he worked, they still supported him financially. "There was a time I got fired from my job from going in high and I told my parents I wanted to move back home to be closer to them. They let me with opened arms". It wasn't until he started leaving for days on end and coming back with raging mood swings that they began to notice something was wrong with their son. Gregory isolated himself in the basement all day, and when his parents went to work, he would get high to numb himself. "Growing up I realized I didn't have control over my life because my parents always took care of me, so when I was high I felt like had control. It felt like I knew the answers to everything."(Sooner, Gregory. Personal interview. 10 Apr. 2008.)



Ingredient #3

• Families suffer because the addict no longer loves them, but loves the drug, causing harm that could last a lifetime. (Licare, Jennifer R., and Kathirine Delaney. Cocaine Solutions:Help for Abusers and Their Families. New York. London: Harington Park P, 1990. 1.)

• Bulk becomes more important. It is initially less costly to purchase cocaine as crack. (Licare, Jennifer R., and Kathirine Delaney. Cocaine Solutions:Help for Abusers and Their Families. New York. London: Harington Park P, 1990. 8.)

Keyshia Cole, a platinum selling recording artist, revealed facts about her mother's crack cocaine addiction on BET's docudrama entitled "The Way It Is." When Keyshia was a toddler she was given to a family friend of her mother and adopted. This woman opted to raise her as her own, but Keyshia soon found out that she was receiving adoption checks from the state. When Keyshia got older, her biological mother, Frankie, was sent to fire camp for drug related charges instead of a regular penitentiary. While at fire camp she received treatment and became clean. Keyshia went looking for her mother during the recording of her first album and decided to bring her mother to Atlanta in order to reconnect and develop a bond. On the first night Frankie and the whole family sat down and talked about her past drug addiction. Frankie asked Keyshia, "how do you feel about me now; now that I've been sober for 16 months?" Keyshia told her mom that, in order for them to grow and for her to continue to battle her addiction, the whole family would have to attend counseling (Season 2 Episode 1." The Way It Is. BET. Atlanta.). Family Counseling for low income families is not covered fully by medicare and The National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which supports more than 85 percent of the world’s research on drug abuse and addiction, has found that behavioral approaches can be very effective in treating addiction. Family counseling sessions are a vital aspect of recovery for a addict. Family sessions give clients the opportunity to learn the facts about addiction and recovery so that the family can better understand their drug use problems and where the problems may stem from. On " The Way It Is" the therapy session inspired Frankie to share her story and make her own mark, so she and another daughter, Neffe, visited a women's recovery center to share their experiences. In a tearful and moving talk, Frankie talked about her life as a drug addict and prostitute. Neffe, Frankie's youngest child, followed and shared what her life has been like as the daughter of a drug addict. ("Keyshia Cole: the Way It Is." www.wikipedia.com. 11 May 2008 ). The therapy they received, in turn, helped the women at the center see that the recovery does not end there. Frankie and Keyshia still reside in Atlanta and during the couseling sessions Frankie began to dig up her past ambitions. Frankie was an aspiring singer before Keyshia was born and has continued to embark on a career in music now using her daughter's financial backing.

Research suggests that if you are of low income, you in fact have a hard time with finding and affording the proper treatment. If you took all these ingredients and mixed them together, you would find that the family structure is suffered. Not only is the family structure suffering, but society is too. Suppose Frankie never got the much needed therapy because her daughter, Keyshia, was not able to afford it. Research shows that medicare does not pay for outpatient services or counseling. Adding in the mixture of De De's family, the outpatient that was found was unaffordable, especially to a mother with two children who has to pay bills. This creates a cycle of abuse that cannot be stopped because the adults are unable to teach their children what not to do if they themselves are doing it. Overindulging is never a good thing and in George's situation, he had more than enough love and support, but not enough guidance. George's parents garnished him with all the finer things they could afford without taking into the consideration the consequences, especially when allowing money to lead a child. They were there until the end by paying for his financial needs and George is two years sober. The final product is what happens to the addiction in these homes due to different classes. The final recipe turns out sweet for the upper class and, as for the lower class, it is very sour. It ends with a mother wanting to bake that sweet pie, but because she can't afford outpatient counseling and therapy, that special ingredient of having a solid family structure is off limits. The pie baked in that "Golden Tin" is not solid which makes it unenjoyable, but only to the people who have to eat it.