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« on: July 08, 2009, 03:13:19 PM »
It is not that surprising that people who went through Straight can have very different experiences. Depending on which host home you were assigned to, tension levels within the group, staff attitudes and whims, one person could have a very different take on things than another. I went through Atlanta Straight in the 80's and I have talked to quite a few people who were there also. I have noticed that most people who were put in real young seem to have been more traumatized than those who were a little older. Maybe the older kids just had a few more natural barriers built up already so as to be able to disassociate themselves from the horror around them in a way that the very young simply can't. I have also noticed different attitudes about Straight depending on whether or not the person is an actual drug addict and or alcoholic currently "clean and sober". I was not and am not now addicted to any drug, yet I spent a year and a half of my life being told what an addict I was. That year and a half in Straight was the worst experience of my life bar none. I was 15 years old and I can truly say that Straight was child abuse on an epic scale. Yet I have spoken to others who would kind of trivialize what they saw there by describing the program as "tough" or "12 steps on steroids". It was brainwashing and extremely damaging cult-like indoctrination. That is the truth and whether or not some AA member can see that is irrelevant because the rest of us know what we saw and what we did.