Sober Homes: Money VS. Treatment
While the facade of sober homes is to benefit drug users, the true beneficiary of such programs are those who run them. Sober homes are the epitome of social suffering: structures that are supposed to aid addicts are actually causing more suffering while profiting immensely.
If sober homes were actually implemented to better those who they serve, there would be more statewide regulation and upkeep surrounding their function. Cary Clickstein, in a New York Times Article, explains that Florida requires that haircutters have a license, yet those supervising sober homes don’t need them. People who are in charge of others’ current and future wellbeing don’t need any certified skills to be in that position: a clear indication that the wellbeing is negligible and the money is what matters to these people.
A nurse at a sober home recalls the habitus of her specific sober home as a place where everyone was always high. I can’t help but think that if the people in charge of the sober homes were well equipped, trained, and actually licensed, this environment wouldn’t exist.
The people who run the sober homes don’t actually care about the occurrences within the building as long as their pockets are being filled (which they clearly are). Daniel Kreitman recounts that sober homes were charging “$2,000 for daily urine tests and upward of $5,000 an hour for ‘equine therapy.’” Moreover, sober homes are conducting tests on people 2-3 times a day; these tests can cost upwards of $4,000. Even in cases where people would test negative for multiple months in a row, sober homes continued to test clients multiple times daily, further proving that they are more concerned with the immense profit of the tests rather than the clients. Mr. Rizzo-- a man who had gone through treatment, understood the money- related aspects of sober homes, and opened his own sober home-- was able to sell 80% of his company for eight million dollars; this proves how profitable the businesses actually are and how people’s wellbeing and health is actually driven by money rather than actual health.
The amount of people who are released from sober homes and found dead soon after in addition to the unproductive, destructive habitus of sober homes is a recipe for disaster. That is, unless you are someone benefiting from this suffering. As long as people need treatment for drug use, these sober homes will stay open, profiting greatly off of other people's pain and vulnerability. Because of the unnecessary costs associated with treatment which so many patients undergo, sober homes have proven themselves to be money makers rather than genuine treatment and reentry centers.
References:
Alvarez, Lizette. Haven for Recovering Addicts Now Profits From Their Relapses. 20 June 2017,
Segal, David. “City of Addict Entrepreneurs.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27
Segal, David. “In Pursuit of Liquid Gold.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Dec.
2017, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/27/business/urine-test-cost.html.
Moore, Lela. “Clean, Sober and $41,000 Deep in Out-of-Pocket Addiction Recovery Costs.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 26 July 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/reader-center/costs-of-drug-rehab.html.
Comments