Denial in The World of Corporate Addiction Recovery

Denial in The World of Corporate 

Addiction Recovery

      Denial is not just a problem limited to alcoholics and addicts. The huge corporate addiction recovery “Industry” has a serious “denial” problem of its own! Most of the “industry” revolves around one simple and age old 12-step program known as AA, that was started decades ago by two recovering alcoholics. Today, those involved in these secular 12-step addiction recovery programs, have turned them into false idols and will worship and  defend them to the bitter end, claiming great success, because they cannot “see the forest for the trees.” 
      If secular 12-step addiction recovery programs are so successful, why is drug and alcohol use and abuse spreading at such an alarming rate? Anyone with a pulse can see that the numbers keep rising year after year, decade after decade, like a runaway train, like a rising tsunami, so how does someone defend and justify the effectiveness and success of these programs? How do we call something a success, when millions of men, women, and children are being added annually to the rosters of the “Anonymous” alcoholics and addicts worldwide? Those who are overcrowding our jails and prisons, hospitals and mental institutions, the thousands upon thousands of various recovery homes and facilities, the homeless shelters that overflow into the streets, alleys, and gutters, and finally those who end up alone in a body bag on the way to a morgue or a grave? 
      In Washington, D.C., we have the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” In every other town and city in America we have millions of unmarked graves for the unknown, “Anonymous” alcoholics and addicts, whose country let them down by just not giving a damn, and a failed 12-step recovery program whose last words to many of the dead and dying are, “keep coming back, it works”! Well guess what? It doesn’t work! If it worked you wouldn't have to keep going back! And it never has worked, and the unconscionable  increase in the numbers mentioned above is proof! 
      Sure a few will find lasting sobriety, usually after many years of relapses, after many divorces and broken relationships, after many lost jobs and careers, after many illnesses, and finally you put together a decent stretch of sobriety only to discover now that you have cirrhosis of the liver! How does one consider a program a success, after spending 5, 10, or 20 years or more in it suffering from relapse after relapse? 
      The answer is as simple as the fact that the sun will rise tomorrow! The answer is that the addiction recovery “industry” has become a huge “for profit” billion dollar a year business! If you think your “best interest” is in their “best interest,” you might need to check your calendar, this is 2013! As in any billion dollar a year business, the only “interest” is in “the bottom line”! And whether it’s consciously obvious or not, your early recovery is not in the best interest of their “bottom line” or profit margin. There are tens of thousands of business owners, corporate executives, and staff, who rely on your addictions and constant relapses to “bring home the bacon,” to pay the bills, and maintain the yacht and villa in the Bahamas. The owners and corporate execs bonuses depend on a quick turn around for more profits. You're little more than “inventory” in their eyes! And dollars in their bank accounts! You're sobriety takes a backseat to their profits! This is the primary reason why addictions in this country are rising exponentially. It’s why we're beginning to see some states legalizing drugs. Sadly I live in one of those states, and have had a birds eye view of the political rallying and wrangling  around the corporate funding, with no regard for the “best interests” of the general public or those with addictions. While the politicians and corporate leaders get richer, many of the anonymous victims of addictions just get closer to death. 
      Unless there is radical and monumental change in our culture, the dark road we've been on for decades is just going to keep getting darker. The slide into moral decay and depravity that we've been on will just keep getting steeper and deeper. If you're fortunate enough to live in the sober, clean, and straight world, where the word addiction is foreign to you, and you rely on the public news media for information about addictions, you'd be led to believe that the problem only exists in Hollywood, politics, and professional sports. Where victims spend millions of dollars in addiction recovery programs at beachfront and mountain vista resorts, over and over again, after relapse after relapse. Well you've got that part of it right. That is exactly how it works with the rich and famous. For the rest of the millions who don't make the headlines every time they relapse, there’s far less help available, and only to the employed middle and upper class who have insurance that will pay for recovery programs, (whether they work or not). And again, whether it’s the rich and famous, or those with insurance, it’s all about the money, paying for programs that have never had very much success. 
      The system is broken, and has been broken for decades, but as long as the rich can benefit from it and get richer, there is no incentive to fix it. Besides, most of the victims are unknown and anonymous. Most of those who fail to recover will eventually end up burning bridges with their families, unemployed, homeless, sick, and finally dead. Unknown to anyone but the Coroner. And because of their anonymity, they can't even be counted as a statistic.