IT is choice

[DMX]

IT is choice When you go to AARC you may still be able to function and live your life but you know what they do they help. there are lots of kids who fall off and they may even work at AARC first sound firmilar? I know that AA is'nt for everyone it is a choice and you know what AARC and the director are not God but they do help because they've been where we have, I remember everyone coming in who I saw being in pain and just defeated and they got better for awhile. we all let out feelings and so did our parents and brothers and sisters. not everyone can recover from such a tromatic disease but it's a choice we all make and there are no excuses. For all you people that are complaining about this treatment center you are not very smart by downing it they helped you and when you left you never had to come back because they showed you and helped you remember step 12. The staff are obviosly not in it for the money but working at AARC is not neccasarily 12 step but I've seen many people that don't even work there doing 12 step work and lots that do work there. It is a tough place but I am glad I went and I think about drinking again one day but that is not what I want so I go to meetings and talk to my sponser. Why does AARC need to cover things up? they don't really, they've helped many kids and they as I said earlier don't always do it in a healthy way that in todays society sees it but they do what they can. And they don't want to do what they do but if a kid goes off are they supposed to let him kill someone because we have all had that thought. So bash AARC all you want but it is for us who want it so you can complain all you want but do somthing with your life at least.

[velvet2000]

I believe it's kidnapping I believe:


that it's not a choice, when you decide to leave and a group of people sit on you and drag you back in. If you are court ordered to AARC then it's not a choice is it? If you are under sixteen you legally do have the choice to walk out, but you will be restrained and told that you don't have the right to sign out. Only exeption to the rule being one smart cookie with her own lawyer who knew where she'd been taken.


It's not a choice when you're wallet is taken from you. It's not a choice when you are very young and you run away from AARC, and then AARC calls everyone you might have known or talks your parents into doing it, so that all of your family and friends are scared to take you in. Or when they show up to all the locations that they know you might go to, to drag you back. And even if you don't find them then that poor kid is forced to live on the streets because you've told their parents that they are bad parents if they let her/him come back home. Is that "for there own good" Scarring them forever? When you believe the disease concept, you believe that someone with a disease needs to be cared for at all times and you do your best to help the disease not progress, you don't try to make it worse for them.


There are very few kids who think that because they are older than 16 that they can sign themselves out who stay. The ones that do are usually either out of money and places to stay and don't have the street smarts to stay afloat, or are so vulnerable that they will cling to what you tell them quickly. Some people are put in the situation where they can't get their families back without going through AARC, and love their parents so much that they will spend years of their life faking just to have them.


How can you say that doing unhealthy things, hurting a child or doing things to them that are "wrong" is okay? If you think that you are stopping them for murdering someone, what about the boy who was not an addict and you knew that, and was kept anyways. What did he end up doing? Well first when he got out he started abusing drugs which he says he did because he hoped on coming back and really being like you guys...AARC's programming is so effective that he thought he had to be just like you. Then you wouldn't let him back - then her murdered someone which he says he did in hopes that he would be court ordered back to AARC. Before you he was a decent kid who had acted out for attention, and probably just needed someone to talk to.


Like I asked you on my board, when will it ever be not okay? You said that aarc does wrong things but it's for a good reason...It's not. I'm still waiting for some answers. When someone doesn't do what I want them to I don't harm them to try to force them to do it.


I do believe that what Br**n N**l did was because of you. He wouldn't have robbed you just for the minor cash he could have gotten from a pawn shop.


And thank you for allowing us to "AARC bash" but we've only had to bash to try to help you, otherwise we were mostly talking about our feelings. Oh and thank you for the well wishes about doing something with my life. I have done many positive things with my life, more so than most people get to while they are here, and deffinately more so than anyone who stays with AARC. What have you done?


One thing about leaving AARC is that nobody ever stands behind you. Even if you still come to the functions and left AARC peacefully for what you thought was a legitimate reason, you will still be bashed. Someone needs to tell An***w M**t*n what was said after he left. He thought the whole while that things were as tight as ever, and now look what he's doing for a person who bashed him.


You might think that I come here to seek revenge on people, and I do admit that certain people being upset is slightly amusing to me! But the truth is that there are people who are not involved with aarc, and people who are involved with aarc that I care very much about. There are also people I don't even know, yet I care for them too. The reason I created my page is to create a forum where people could come back together, share the TRUTH and start to heal. I am sorry that you are not in that place.

[DMX]

k I thought you said that you had the choice to leave and usually kids are so whacked when they come in there parents or the court system usually needs to make that choice for them. And I was referring to when you graduate you never need to come back if you don't want to. They don't beat you in there either if you don't want to stay they do what they can to step in front of you so you don't go do something screwed. I wanted to take off to glenmore trail and throw myself infront of a car.  

[velvet2000]

Re: k Don't believe Ihad a choice, because I didn't. OH I see where you made the mistake. I said that I legally had the choice, meaning that I should have been able to leave, but would be sat on if I did.


When a kid is in deep trouble they need to be shown how much power they have over their own lives, not to have it taken away from them.

[Logo9]

Interested I have read over some of the posts and find this board interesting. I went through AARC in 94-95. I can realate to some of the stuff I have read but not all. Cheeky 54 was on staff then and I was probably in group with Velvet although I am not sure. I still remain in touch with a lot of the graduates and I am pretty happy with my life. AARC was not perfect that I agree but they did help me get sober and I think that is what counts. I am sorry to hear of all the stuff you guys went through. I never heard of any of it before. Are you guys still sober? Do you go to meetings? Was there anything positive that you were able to get out of AARC? My sponser always told me to take what I need and leave the rest. I try to apply this to my experiences with not only AARC but with the numerous other agencies I went through.

Wishing you the best of luck,

Logo9

[velvet2000]

same old, same old. We've already talked about whether or not we still go to meetings here, have sponsers, yadayada. We've already answered a million posts about how if we aren't a part of aarc then we must be miserable druggies (yeah taht's not cultic behavior). We've also already answered that there is nothing positive about AARC, and we already know that only staff is posting here, so at least try to be more creative liars. Why don't you go post at my website? Not one of you has been able to answer anything I question. The closest to an answer is someone saying that AARC does twisted things to kids but that's okay!

[ramprato]

RE:Interested "Are you guys still sober?"


If you are asking if I use mood altering substances including alcohol, the answer is no. How are you defining that word sobriety? Chances are pretty good that I no longer recognize the word "sobriety" in my life either anymore the way you see it. The place I was in, (Straight Inc.-Cincinnati), drilled into me 24/7 that I had a "substance abuse problem" and that I would DIE without "their" help, that my family would disown me if I withdrew, and told me daily I was f.u.c.k.e.d. up, and the root of the worlds problems. Straight used their mind raping tactics on me to instill their brand of "sobriety" on me.


The truth was that I was just like everyone else who was ever an adolescent, I did some dumb things and that's all, the only difference is that I had a bunch of sick f.u.c.k.s who took away my God-given right to make mistakes and learn from them myself. Bottom line, yes I tried a few things and got really burnt by a mind rape mill like AARC, but that didn't mean that I EVER had a "substance abuse problem".


I'll let you in on something, along with being a mind rape mill survivor, I am a 5 year cancer survivor. In order for my medicine to work to the best of its ability, wouldn't it be prudent to NOT smoke or use any substance in order to allow those medicines to do their job? That's why I don't use and it seems to be working. For me there is no need to go to AA, because I am not "powerless" like some would of wanted me to believe all those years ago.


When I started dealing with the truth about these types of places and what happened to me there, I got some flack from  some family members for a little while until I stood up to them and told them that I was no longer going to be the "druggie" anymore with the "problem", that they were full of @#%$ and fell into the practices of a cult whether they wanted to believe it or not, and that they were not going to make me their scape goat anymore like the program taught them. We were no longer going to refer to me as the dirty low down druggie or I wanted nothing more to do with them, if they wanted to get along with me then they would have to meet MY terms for once, things honestly for the first time got better in my life. Ever since then, them sons-of bitches at Straight that tortured me lose their control more and more over my mind.


Yeah I did all the "right things", I "graduated", I stayed clean, went to meetings for years afterward, thinking I was THE problem, that I was a "druggie", I should feel guilt all the time because my past was "f.u.c.k.e.d. up" NOT SO, at least not anymore then any other human being, too bad I didn't know then what I know now, but that's OK, at least I know it and I'm free in my mind and I have a damned good therapist who thank God knew of Straight and its mind control and honestly believed they all just went away.


Well Logo9, you said this, "Wishing you the best of luck", well I'm saying the same for you, we may not agree, that's OK, fine then, but you did ask a question and I never really went into it this much in depth before and I thought that now would be a good time to just sit down and answer it the best that I could.

[Anonymous]

Dear David could I please get the case number on the suite against Provo Canyon School in March 2001. The suite was filed by Mr. Ed Glynn. I desperately need that file sent to me or a case number. I need this by 2:00 PM. Thank you, Rhonda Taylor rhondataylor@aol.com

[Anonymous]

How do I define sobriety?  Sobriety=Psychological suicide
That's just a personal opinion from someone that experienced sober life only secondary to an association with a mind control cult.  
I like the fact that today I am normal despite thier rantings.  Yes, for me stone cold sobriety is abnormal life and is indeed psychological suicide.
str8jack-it

[Anonymous]

To each his own I guess.I am sober and I love it.I have no regrets about my life and can't imagine living anyother way.I need a straightjacket when I am not sober that is for sure

[Carmel]

Just to interject.....

What about those of us that never had a drug or alcohol problem to begin wih?  What about those of us who were forced to admit things that were untrue, if for nothing else than to preserve our sanity?

If AARC, AA, NA etc. are so hard up for followers, that they have to "create" them just to keep there numbers up....then maybe they are in the wrong business.

As far as I can tell about 50-60% of the kids in treatment were not in need of "sobriety".  They were in need of stability, understanding, parents that did not physically, sexually, and mentally abuse them.  "Drug addiction" was nothing more than the armored truck driving Straight, Inc. 's loot all the way to the bank.  

If destroying someones self-esteem and sense of worth is necessary to "save" them from something they may or may not ever even experience (drugs) then I will be the first to light the match that burns the whole organization to the ground.

Some people in this world need a doctrine to follow in order to feel as if they belong, or maybe even that they are guaranteed a reward in the "afterlife"......life is a gift, and I would think that God is insulted by the way we use it against each other.

[velvet2000]

Carmel, probably less than %50-%60

"Over the past ten years over one million adolescents have been removed [from school] for drug policy violations.' Joel Brown of The Center for Educational Research. 'An estimated %10 of them have drug problems."

Boulder Weekly, March 2000 by Jake Ginsky.

[Carmel]

That may be so....if you are one who puts stock in such statistics.  I personally am one who questions them.

Just because an adolescent is at fault for violation of drug policy, does not make him/her a confirmed drug addict in need of intense mind breaking treatment.  

I do not deny that there are many many teens and young adults in need of help, in need of a solution to their addictions....its a very real problem in the world.  But I think the demonizing of "illegal" drugs provides us with a skewed perception of what is really dangerous.  A person can get ripped out of their mind on alcohol in public OR at home, often times to a degree much more than the next guy sitting at home smoking a bowl with his buddies....but we all tend to shudder at the latter because marijuana is "illegal".  What truly is the worse situation once we look beyond the written law?

A parent expects the inevitable transgression of experimentation by their children.  But what I am getting at here all in all is, when does the transgression become habit? And is a zero tolerance attitude really not just a very dangerous stance to take?

[Antigen]

There's a class action suite in Europe which has been joined by 1500 Americans 7. GlaxoSmithKline faces lawsuit "as big as tobacco litigation"

As I understand the chemistry of it, Paxil (like Prozac) is basically a synthetic immitation of heroin. And yet, just as with opium eaters before the Harrison Narcotics Act, Prozac habitues generally either lead normal, productive lives as addicts or they seek to end the addiction without any coercion whatsoever.

No doubt, declaring certain (unpatentable) drugs illegal is the cause of most of the problems that we tend to associate with drug use. I've often heard that marijuana is this nation's #1 cash crop. It's hard to track any comodity that's illegal, but I think it's plausible that this is a true statement. It costs practically nothing to grow the stuff. But a successful grower can get at least $100/ounce retail or $1000/lb  wholesale. That's a LOT of cash for very little effort.

If the stuff were legal under the alcohol model, the price would drop down to practically nothing. Anyone who wanted to could grow enough for personal use--I think w/ beer and wine, the limit is something around 20 or 40 gallons per year per adult in residence. So even though more people would probably smoke and some people would probably smoke more often, the amount of money invested in the industry would be reduced down to mere chump change--no better than any other legal product.

Same with all other currently illegal drugs. None of them were causing anywhere near the trouble when they were legal that they do now.

[ladyjerrico]

O.k. I don't want to start a political discussion here, but I just want to put my 2 cents in.
I take Paxil on a daily basis and I found it to be a wonder drug for depression.. I have been on nearly 15 different kinds, including Prozac .. Prozac worked for about a month and then caused me to have suicidal tendencies and I could no longer use it.

Paxil may or may not be addicting, I don't know for sure, but I do take 20 mgs. every other day.. and if need be I can ween myself off of it which I have done in the past.

I don't see how it's possible to be in the same catagory as herion. I think maybe Vicadin could be considered like heroin because that stuff, to me, is addicting as all hell..

just thought I would give my two cents.