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"Intervention/treatment should consider the whole patient including spirituality. "Affiliation with a highly structured group espousing a coherent belief system be it Alcoholics Anonymous, the catholic or protestant or LDS church seems to correlate with abstention from illicit drugs or alcohol"(24 ). Rest stops on the road Another standard for current drug polices is "Alcoholics Anonymous." Though spirituality is important AA has drawbacks and won't work for all people. It may not work for people who Obama choice for Drug Czar, Jim Ramstad backed a group called "Teen Challenge ". the group could not meet basic educational standard for qualified counselors, and its tactics have been called outdated and abusive (26 ).
"Teen Challenge" seems to be more of a religious conversion to their version of Christianity. John Castellani, president of Teen Challenge mentions "completed Jews", ie Jews who have accepted Jesus as their savior. He also said "A personal relationship with Jesus Christ permeates everything we do," (27 ). Should tax dollars be spent on conversion to anyone's particular brand of faith? Teen Challenge purports a 86 percent success rate. Yet this is misleading. 25 to thirty percent drop out, by the end of eight months another ten percent leave (28 ). So Teen Challenge isn't for everyone, there are people who reject their conversation to their particular religion or tactic and others who are quite happy being incomplete Jews. |
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