Because I tried drug treatment in Florida, I am finally clean and not using anymore today. I had been in and out of drug treatment centers over the last three years. All of my previous failed attempts at rehab occurred at local drug treatment centers in New York or New Jersey. My parents wanted me to go locally, because they could check it on me during my treatment. Well, that turned out to be a huge mistake on their part. By staying locally (within a couple of hours of where my family lived) it allowed my friends to smuggle drugs into me during my drug treatment at every local rehab facility I attended!

Growing up in Jersey, I have always loved the ocean. In the summer months my family would vacation at the jersey shore. There was a calmness I always felt being around the ocean that made me feel at one with myself. But in Jersey, the summer months are short and the other 3/4ths of the year, when the ocean is not warm or inviting, can sometimes actually feel torturous.

It just so happened that my last failed attempt at drug treatment occurred during the previous winter months. My parents informed me that it was time for me to try something different. They told me that they had researched online and read that it’s better not to go to your local rehab whenever possible. So this time they arranged for me to go for drug treatment in Florida. Of course my parents never knew the real reason why the local treatment centers weren’t working for me. How I was having drugs smuggled in to me from my friends back home each time my parents sent me to a new local drug rehab. But eventually, I reluctantly agreed to go, and, after thinking about it for awhile, thought it might be nice to be around the surf, the sun, and the sand.

My drug treatment in Florida was incredibly different in so many ways from any other drug treatment I had received in the past. Just being around the ocean put me in a positive frame of mind and brought back my good memories of summertime happiness. I know that just going for drug treatment in Florida was not the main reason that I finally successfully completed my drug treatment and stopped using. Of course, the main reason for my success was my drug treatment in Florida was too far away for my friends to get any drugs to me during my treatment there! But, it certainly didn’t hurt being around the Florida surf, sun, and the sand either!

Sean J.