Getting hammered on the drunk bus to Delray Beach may sound more like a passage from a Carl Hiaasen novel than a piece on recovery, but it seems many on their way to Delray Beach, recovery capital of the US, booze it up as a tactic to increase the odds that insurance will cover the detox portion of their treatment.
The rehabs run regular shuttles, known as the ‘drunk buses’, to Fort Lauderdale airport to pick up each new wave of incoming addicts. Many are told to get hammered on the flight, because private insurance companies will only pay for rehab if patients are still in danger of having seizures as they detox (a not-uncommon risk). If they have already sobered up, they won’t be considered a medical emergency. Cocaine addicts often have to pretend to be drunks so that they can get insurance cover. ~ Guardian
While I know it seems this sounds like a travesty, trust me, 90% of those headed for a treatment center are going to be pulling a last hurrah regardless if they have insurance or not.
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Over the past year Delray Beach has gotten quite a bit of press from the likes of The New York Times, The Observer, and The Miami Herald over its status as a recovery Mecca. The Herald has a pretty good video on the subject although I think it’s a little ironic that the mandatory ad you have to sit through is basically a promotion to “come and drink a cocktail with us” in Miami!
Having over 40 residential rehabs, hundreds of 12 step groups a day, and thousands recovering in transitional sober houses around the area it’s no wonder area business and social centers cater to this demographic.
Here, even in the midst of fighting for sobriety, addicts can go dancing at popular clubs that hold sober nights, sing karaoke at a sober coffee house, listen to live music at a sober juke joint, call in to recovery radio shows, roar into the sunset with a sober motorcycle club and pray at a Bible study just for them. ~ Miami Herald
But having this many addicts and alcoholics in one location also means that the community has to deal with the inevitable relapses and the sometimes deadly repercussions.
A bigger concern, said Detective Gary Martin in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, is drug overdoses — 218 in 2006 and 241 during the first nine months of 2007. “I consider close to one overdose every 36 hours a big problem,” Detective Martin said. ~ NYTimes
Well obviously you can’t have the good without the bad, and the very fact that people are relapsing means at least they are trying to maintain a measure of sobriety. In the world of addictions, I take the good news any where I can find it. So if you are tilting one up on the drunk bus to Delray Beach, here’s a sincere wish from The Discovering Alcoholic that it will be your last.
