Owens abused cocaine, alcohol and prescription drugs, and later, heroin. By age 21, after numerous arrests on drug-related charges, he entered a 30-day treatment program. It was the first of 34 hospital stays he would experience over the next two decades, each time relapsing after the monthlong treatment ended.
"They would clean me up and I would start to get back on my feet again, mentally, physically and spiritually," he says. "Then I would get out and go right back where I came from -- the same friends and the same places. With these rehabs, you just get started before they let you go."
At one point, Owens, who is now 50, stayed clean for seven years. But after his brother died unexpectedly, he relapsed. He was living in Atlanta at the time and heard of Promises in Malibu. Twice he entered for 30-day stays -- stints that were followed by relapses. When he flew to Los Angeles for a third try -- about five years ago -- he was so addled by drugs that he got on the wrong plane and ended up in restraints in a hospital psychiatric ward. He was released to Promises and told a therapist, "If you let me stay here, I'll do anything you say."
He agreed to 30 days of hospitalization followed by five months in a sober-living house from which he was free to come and go but where he also received daily counseling. After leaving the sober-living house, he attended a nine-month intensive outpatient group and completed a 12-step program.
The year he devoted to getting well "was the best thing that ever happened to me," says Owens, who now lives in Los Angeles and runs a nonprofit group that supports rehab for people who are homeless, as well as women with children. "I got a chance to get on my feet the first 30 days and then I got a chance to get used to being clean and sober and staying away from the people I used to drink and use with. I was able to let go of the past and apologize to the people I've hurt. I became a free man."
However, it's tough to convince some addicts or their family members that three to six months of treatment offers the best chance of success. People argue that they can't leave their jobs, school or families for that long, Sack says. They want to put the problem behind them as quickly as possible.
"They want to believe it will be fixed up very quickly and they can go back to normal and not have to talk about it," he says.
Instead, he compares addiction to any chronic disease, such as heart disease or diabetes, in terms of the attention and perseverance needed to remain healthy.
