Drug TReatment centers Need Treatment

Well, sorry for the blurred picture but I wanted to post this anyway. This is at
Homeless Connect Day. There were alot of people out as you can see. I will have more pictures tomorrow.
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People want to know about drugs. People want to know about recovery.
People want to know about recovery on Skid Row. I just saw a young man today. His name is Tyree. He slept across from me at the Transition House. He was in the STRIVE program and then he left. After a while he relapsed. He was on the streets for a few months. I saw him and tried to convince him to return to the program.
He did not. He returned today.

I was so glad to see him. He would tell me to keep writing. It is rather amazing how people keep telling me that. I do not know why but they do.

He and I talked about rebuilding ones life after drugs. "Walter, you know what the real deal is down here. These programs are a joke. There success rate is a joke. They do not do anything. They sell drugs in the same buildings where the so called treatment centers are. I see drug counselors go into crack houses around here and purchase drugs and they are still working. Some are selling drugs. It is crooked down here. Everybody knows it is crooked down here. You have to help yourself. YOu have to find a way to help yourself because the case managers no nothing.
WAlter, these program make you worse than before you register in them. They make you more dependent. They make you dependent on them and then the stretch you out so you become more dependent. And the whole time, there are several counselors that are waiting for you to buy drugs from them or their sellers. Every one knows this is going on on Skid Row. It is the dirtiest secret there is."

I am afraid to tell you but Tyree is not the only one that says these things. Everybody says the same things. The drug treatment centers really are not drug treatment centers. They are shelter bedswith a few cocaine anonymous meetings thrown in. Then you have to jump through hoops to prove you are ready.
You have to wait a period of time before you can get a job to prove you are clean.

That is so cruel. You are a drug user so now we have power over you. "When we say jump, you say "how high?'. I have to confess. I have seen that attitude. IT is not a rare one. It is quite common on Skid Row.

I am saying this because very soon you will hear this for yourself. Don Garza and I have opened up a web site Skidrowbroadcasting.com. We will have live streaming video interviews with the people on Skid Row. You can see and hear their own words. To be honest I have cut out some aspects of the quotes. The full quotes are shocking. You will hear them for yourselves. we will also stop people randomly on the street and ask them.

Drug programs are a racket. They need to be monitored. IT is a crooked business and everyone down here knows it. If you want to be clean, you have to do it yourself. There is no counseling. The counselors relapse more than the clients.
How can this go on unchecked.