DRUG TREATMENT NOT EASY TO COME BY

Anyone who's ever struggled with addiction -- either through personal
experience or through trying to help a loved one -- knows how difficult it
is to get help.

With virtually every other disease, medical help is only a phone call away
during a crisis. If you have high blood pressure and start having chest
pains, you'll have no trouble summoning an ambulance or sailing through an
emergency room.

Unfortunately, it's much more difficult to get help when you suffer from
the disease of addiction.

It's the very, very rare patient who, in a moment of clarity, decides to
stop doing drugs and is able to find help the same day. Almost three years
ago, when I'd come to the end of my rope, it was 48 hours before I could
get into Peninsula Hospital for detoxification.

That's a hellish wait, and it's typical for drug and alcohol treatment.
Many addicts get so frustrated and feel so hopeless over the whole ordeal
of trying to get help that they give up and turn back to drugs.

Even after I'd made all of the phone calls and knew I would probably be
admitted to Peninsula, I couldn't just sit and wait. Going through opiate
withdrawal is excruciating, and as much as I wanted to stop using, I was
physically and psychologically unable to do it on my own. So I bought dope
and kept shooting up until roughly 12 hours before Peninsula admitted me.

I managed to hold onto the willingness to get clean even during those
dwindling hours. I was shooting dope, but I wasn't doing it to get high. By
that point, any pleasure was gone. I only wanted to not feel sick, to feel
somewhat human. And so even though I wasn't in full-blown withdrawal when I
showed up at Peninsula, I still wanted to kick my habit.

So many addicts run into red tape and financial roadblocks that they feel
they're beyond help. Yes, it takes a lot of effort and diligence to get
into detox and treatment, but it can be done. The key is being willing to
do whatever it takes to get it.

That might mean making phone call after phone call. It might mean driving
three hours to another city. It might mean hanging on one more agonizing
night, shaking and vomiting, until they can get you in the door.

Granted, much of the red tape has been caused by addicts themselves. Over
the years, treatment facilities and programs have functioned much like
interstate rest stops -- a place for addicts to pull off, get healthy and
get fed -- and then go back out and get high.

They know that not every addict is like that. Unfortunately, many are --
it's the ones who demonstrate the most willingness, however, that these
facilities and programs feel have the best shot at getting clean and
staying clean.

Here's a list of treatment programs, detoxes and facilities that might help
you or a loved one. Keep calling. Don't give up -- recovery can be
obtained, no matter how low you think your addiction has taken you.

- - Buffalo Valley, 501 Park Ave. S., Hohenwald: 1-800-447-2766 (accepts
TennCare)

- - CADAS, P.O. Box 4794, Chattanooga: (423) 756-7644 (accepts TennCare)

- - Center Pointe (a subsidiary of Helen Ross McNabb), 5310 Ball Camp Pike,
Knoxville: 523-4704 (Accepts TennCare and indigent patients)

- - Cornerstone of Recovery, 1214 Topside Road, Louisville: 970-7747

- - Cumberland Heights, P.O. Box 90727, Nashville: 1-800-646-9998 (accepts
TennCare)

- - Florence Crittendon Agency Substance Abuse Program, 1531 Dick Lonas Road,
Knoxville: 602-2021

- - Good Samaritan Recovery, 319 S. Fourth St., Nashville: (615) 244-4802
(accepts TennCare)

- - Indian Path Pavilion, 2300 Pavilion Drive, Kingsport: 1-800-366-1132
(accepts TennCare)

- - Magnolia Ridge, 900 Buffalo St., Johnson City: (423) 232-4130 (accepts
TennCare)

- - Miracle Lake, P.O. Box 327, Etowah: (423) 263-2583

- - Mountain View Treatment Center, 1008 Highway 28, Jasper: 1-800-605-1531
(accepts TennCare)

- - New Leaf, 1200 S. Willow St., Cookeville: 1-877-567-6051

- - New Hope Recovery Center, 233 W. Main St., Morristown: (423) 581-2411
(accepts TennCare)

- - Overlook (Peninsula), 219 Court St., Maryville: 970-9800 (outpatient;
accepts TennCare)

- - Pine Ridge, 2800 Westside Drive, Cleveland: (423) 339-4156 (accepts TennCare)

In addition, there are a number of local hospitals that have behavioral and
emotional health units that offer detoxification and substance abuse
treatment, including our own Blount Memorial Hospital and Peninsula
Hospital in Louisville.

There are also 12-Step programs that meet every day of the week throughout
East Tennessee. I can provide additional information on those meetings, and
on local halfway houses for men and women -- all you have to do is drop me
a line or call.