Flunked Out of Rehab
We had been guardedly optimistic. My step-daughter who is a 19 year old heroin addict had been in a rehab for the past six weeks. In general, she liked it and wanted to stay for several more months, but had trouble obeying the rules, especially smoking. Today, she was caught smoking once too many times in the bathroom and is being discharged.
Her mom is heartbroken. I console myself with the fact that it was not a drug or alcohol relapse. She had gotten the boot from her first rehab for alcohol. This place was much more strict about cigarettes than other places. There was no smoking from 9AM to 3PM.
The plan now is to get her back into day treatment until we can find another rehab, one without so many smoking rules.
Even though this was "only" smoking, I'm still bummed because we've learned over the last few months that she has trouble with rules and for her, breaking small rules often leads to breaking the big ones. Her last relapse began when she decide, "Gee, I can have a drink or two." Within a few weeks that led to full scale heroin use again.