I always smh when I see the Passages Malibu Commercials...

" I was an addict, now I am not" dude, you're always an addict.

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I agree, addiction, is just like with pedophiles/child molesters, you can only teach someone to control it but there is no cure. It really stinks!! I'm an addict as well. Trying to fight this demon every day before it destroys me.

hahah omg, i am the same. that commercial is such BS. i laugh every time it comes on.

my parents (who struggle with alcohol) had the same reaction to that commercial when they first started showing it. personally, i think they hired the guy in it and he probably was never addicted to anything. of course i don't know that. but it seems like they were going for "hey, let's put an attractive, clean-cut white male with a perfect voice to make our rehab look like a paradise, instead of actually showing people there who are trying to get sober".

Lol yeah it's BS! An addict is always an addict. There is no cure for this ****! But we can get and stay clean and change our minds & perspectives. It's a long process and it's hard but we can do it!!!!

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What I always notice is that he never actually says that the reason he's somehow "not" an addict anymore has anything to do with Passages. It seems very carefully worded to imply that there's some kind of connection, even while he never outright says so. Just that he happens to have been some kind of addict, and that Passages happens to be some kind of a rehab facility, two separate facts that for some unknown reason we're supposed to think of as being related..! What an endorsement..

Yeah! It's BS. Just a racket. Place to make money off of the rich addicts out there. I heard a that guy commuted suicide or something. It may just be a rumor.

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Yeah, most of the commercials I see for drug and alcohol rehabilitation are laughable. Only a few seem like good places.

Lol yeah, I laugh at this too, just sad that some people actually would spend so much money on a place like this. What is it, like 80,000 dollars? And just for 30 days too.

I know some people that went to other 30 day programs, not quite expensive, around 20,000 but most accepted health insurance too. The only program that helped me was a long term residential, I did 90 days there but I guess I was lucky cause most people were there for 6 or 9 months.

Made me get up early, make my bed, do my chores everyday for at least an hour, made me work in the kitchen for 2 weeks, etc. I needed more than just treatment but also behavior modification.

I thought it looked more like a getaway resort for the rich and lame to say that they went to a rehab. If my insurance would pay for it, I wouldn't mind an all over body massage, gourmet meals, a peaceful place to stay with a scenery.

I think their target market is rich parents who suspect their kids might be up to no good and want the house to themselves for a while.

My best place for drug rehabbing was drug court. This was your last chance to get it right before the pokey.

Yes! I'm the mother of his daughter and I've known him 27 years. I know the real story of how he got sober and started passages. His is total BS!

So you're telling me there is this disease where I get to do basically anything I want...as long as I pretend I'm helpless and have no self-control?

Sounds like more horseshit from the big acid companies.

I've learned the hard way, once an addict always an addict.

'Once an addict, always an addict' is a lie.

Thoughts?

I think this dude is back out on whatever dope he was doing which I si why we haven’t seen a commmercial in quite some time.

I'm a recovering alcoholic who's been back out before. My drinking picked up where it left off. Alcohol is a drug, so in my case, I know I'll always be an alcoholic. The proposition that "Once an addict, always an addict" might not be true for some people, but I'll always be an addict. Thanks for posting this thought-provoking issue.

I have an addictive personality, no changing that:
food, alcohol and internet.
bizi

emgreen and bizi: As you've seen elsewhere today, I'm celebrating 26 years clean and sober today. Like you emgreen, I've gone back out before - I came in in 1978, out in 1985 and back in May 10th 1992. Like you, my addiction picked up where it left off (at least), it seemed like my addiction was in the background doing push-ups or something because it was almost like it was where I would have been if I had continued drinking and using during the seven years I was clean.

The reason I asked for thoughts though was because I just saw something in the NA Basic Text that I've never seen before. Admittedly, I started in the program four years before the basic text was written and so I, like all addicts back then, used the AA Big book to work the steps and the Basic Text just never really became my go to book, so I've missed a few things - but couldn't believe it when I found myself on page xiv and read, "We can help to change the old lie "Once an addict, always an addict". I was shocked to tell the truth.

Was wondering what others thought of that was where the question came from. Thanks to both of you for weighing in.

congratulations yagar!!!!
bizi

Don’t know. Don’t believe it’s true, but I was misdiagnosed an addict. And after experiencing how addicts are treated, I don’t blame them for going back to self medicating.

It seems like an easy throwaway diagnoses for docs when they need it.

We all cope and self medicate. I know it makes “non-addicts” feel better to demonize the opiate addicts. It’s all about superiority.

I guess I see it from both sides. Neither understands how the other feels nor takes the time to care. They just want to justify they past and present actions.

Nothing like a place with steam baths, hot towels, and beautiful scenery to violently detox in!