Update on the newcomer "Gabriella"

I am working with the newcomer Gabriella and her mother. Today her mom went down to the Orange County Jail and visited. Gabriella has a lot of resentment toward her mother so it is difficult for them to communicate.

We are trying to get Gabriella to leave her south Orange County stomping grounds and come live in Riverside county. We are offering her a place to live as well as get her into cosmetology school.

There may be exceptions but, in general, an addict is better off in early recovery being away from their old "playmates and playthings".

At this point, we are not sure if she is willing to relocate and abide by the rules we will establish. It is not looking promising. She is scheduled to be released on June 12.

I don't believe she will be able to stay clean unless she relocates. And I won't be willing to help her go to school if she cannot agree to that.

Perhaps she will have to suffer a little more before she is willing to listen to someone.

Remember her in your prayers

Tough Love

Another update on the newcomer "Gabriella". I am not as optimistic as I was about her.

She called me during the week after court. I had put $40 on the books for her several weeks ago. She asked for money and I refused. I asked her why she wanted more money and she said she didn't want to suffer while in jail. I told her that I thought a little suffering was good for her at this point. And therein lies the rub.

Apparently, she got very resentful towards me over the remark. Her present situation in jail came about as a result of the woman who was ennabling her kicking her out and showing her some tough love. It resulted in her being homeless and the current charges and sentencing against her. She is resentful towards that woman for her tough love and resentful towards me for the same reason.

At today's visit she stormed out saying, "I am done with tough love people".

The truth of the matter is that I wasn't all that tough with her. $40 on the books is probably more than I should have given her. It certainly wasnt all that tough.

Anyway, that is where she is at.

Her plan of recovery after she is released on June 12 is to "crawl into bed" with some "friend" of hers who will let her stay there.

In other words, she plans on prostituting herself to avoid being homeless.

Doesn't sound like all that good of a recovery plan to me.

This is actually a very sad,sad situation. I am trying to encourage her to go to Teen Challenge for a year. Prayers for her will be appreciated. Working with newcomers can be hard on the heart.

Working with the Newcomer

Another update on "Gabriella", my friends daughter who is in the Orange County Jail on Possession charges. On monday she plead guilty to possession charges and resisting arrest, and the possession of controlled substance paraphenalia and unauthorized Possession Hypodermic Needle charges were dismissed.

I believe they gave her 90 days in jail and three years formal probation with drug testing. Also some heavy fines and the possibility of prison or more county time if she violates probation.

Because the jails are so overcrowded she is scheduled to get out on June 11. Frankly,I am a little disappointed that she is staying in jail such a short time. I would have prefered she at least do a real 90 days. This is a woman who has not really experienced lot of jail time and I believe it would be good for her. Courts are not doing drug addicts a favor when they are too lenient on them. At any rate, it is what it is.

I see some good things in this young woman, and some things that are not so good. She called me on the phone after sentencing and she is glad she is clean now.

Time will tell, but, right now, I have a good feeling about her.

Update on Gabriella

Just an update on Gabriella, my friend's daughter who is in jail on possession of heroin charges. She is in the Orange County Jail. It appears the prosecutors are going to also charge her with Driving under the influence.

I have been a little bit out of the legal loop in California due to living in Oregon for 12 years. The laws have changed since I was using drugs in the 60's or 70's. Most notably proposition 36 which gives addicts chances at treatment.

Anyway, Driving under the influence apparently does not qualify for proposition 36 so Gabriella will not be getting out of jail soon.

Frankly, I believe that is a good thing for her. She is 35 years old and been doing drugs since she was 17 and has not suffered a lot of legal consequences. She has not done much more than 90 days in jail or so. So in her case, I think jail is a very good thing.

I often say the worst thing anybody can do for an addict is to take their suffering away. It is the suffering of the addict life style that can cause a drug addict to want a new way of life and to cry out to God.

So, Grabriella, I hope your suffering does its job and that God watches over you to see no permanent harm comes to you.

Friend's daughter in Jail -Gabriella

Well, for the last 35 years or so, I have had very little to do with drug addicts except for involvement with Narcotics Anonymous.

However, I have a friend who has a daughter who is a 35 year old heroin addict. I met with her and her daughter about 2 weeks ago. The daughter was high on heroin at the meeting. I followed up with her about a week later in a seperate meeting. We were trying to get her into detox and a drug treatment program but were not able to do so.
Regular readers of my blog will know I don't think too highly of most of the so-called treatment programs. But they have their place. The truth of the matter is that most people do not want a junkie around if they are clean so without the treatment programs where would they go?

Anyway, several days after my last meeting with the young lady (whom I will call Gabriella) she was busted. The charges are :


11350(a) HS F Unlawful possession of controlled substance 1 148(a)(1) PC M Resisting public or peace officer
11364 HS M Possession of controlled substance paraphenalia 4140 BP M Unauthorized Possession Hypodermic Needle

At this point,I do not know if she is ready to be helped. But I do believe that God can help most anyone when they are ready.

I will be going down to the Orange County Jail again tommorrow to met with her. I plan on giving periodic updates on her progress or lack thereof.

Stay tuned if you would like to know more. It will either be a success story or a story of continuing tragedy; I hope it is the former.