Addicted to drugs and alcohol

[RobinChristine]

Not intended to be mean ,I honestly don't understand. I was watching Drug Court on TV and a man was facing 15 years in prison if he failed  Drug Court. This program gave him an opportunity to become sober and  make an attempt to reunite with family. The latter was not a "requirement"  He could not do it. How can you not get sober  knowing what the other option is.

  Drug Court is on my local FOX network.

[Debmomto2girls]

It is called addiction. It is a disease. If a person doesn't address the underlying cause of what caused them to become addicted, try will never remain sober. We need more affordable counseling for those who want help.

[EireLass]

Because you can still get plenty of drugs in jail. Why get sober if you don't have to?

[FromAtoZ]

For some, the addiction is so deep, it hits emotionally as well as physically.

Some people fail time and time again when they make the attempt to get clean and sober.   The 'why' is individual and cannot, nor should not, be generalized.

For some, myself included to a degree, it is hard to understand why some one can't step up and help themselves.  But then I see people who have tried and have failed.  Most times, the common denominator is lack of true support from those around them.  It takes more than the individual to get some one through a true, hard core addiction.  Issues need to be dealt with, admitted and worked through.  Often times, family and friends turn their back on the person, especially after many failed attempts.  That enables the person to remain at the bottom more than any thing.

However, the want and need to get clean and sober must start with the individual.  If it truly isn't there, regardless of any thing else, they will continue to fail.

It isn't an easy process for many.  

While I have often thought about the why for some, without knowing the deep issues and such that individuals face, we can't assume.

[AdrianneHill]

As awful as it is to live that way, it isn't as frightening as the unknown. People who have been addicted fore years have no idea how to function sober and the thought of a future totally devoid of the only "help" they've known is so frightening, many are paralyzed. Other times, the family claims to be invested in the other person achieving sobriety but families fight hard against it (even when they claim to be supportive) because it totally changes the family dynamic and change frightens them too

[stormcris]

Simply put jail is a viable alternative to some people.

[LindaClement]

Because your self-loathing is head-to-toe pervasive, and you can't see any way to end it?

[LindaClement]

Well, and B.F. Skinner's theories were discredited within 10 years of his first publication of them:

Punishment (and rewards) --including the threats (or promise) DO NOT EFFECTIVELY ALTER HUMAN (or chicken) BEHAVIOUR.

Still.

[Ms.KitKat]

 Drugs and alcohol alter the mind and body so much that only drugging/drinking is the air they breath. Nothing else matters. Even rock bottom does not seem like bottom enough.

[muslimahpj]

Its a disease and addiction is something that can be very hard to overcome.

[muslimahpj]

Also, untreated mental illness can lead to addictions. Many with an undiagnosed mental illness will drink or drug to self medicate.