Drug Addiction and Drug Rehab Help for Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs has been voted the second-best place to live in the United States multiple times, according to national surveys. This popularity is a testament to its beautiful locale which includes 14,115-foot tall Pike’s Peak to the west, along with ski resorts and National Forests. A short drive to the north takes one to Denver.

Within Colorado Springs, you’ll find the Air Force Academy, an Olympic training facility, Space Force headquarters and a University of Colorado campus. None of this protects the city and the area from the problems of drug trafficking, drug abuse and addiction.

Every city has these problems and those along the nation’s interstates generally have a greater problem than others. That’s because traffickers utilize these roads to move products. Major cities like Denver that lie along the intersection of a north-south interstate and an east-west interstate tend to have even more severe problems due to higher supplies.

Finding Help to Stay Sober

Every city and every state must develop its own solutions to trafficking, abuse and addiction, and Colorado Springs is no different. Here are some of the different types of recovery support in the area.

• There are twenty-five drug rehab facilities in and around the area. Most of these provide outpatient or intensive outpatient services. Some of these programs also support patients through the critical detoxification period. This is where a person comes off the drugs they were using so they can enter a drug rehabilitation facility with no drugs in their systems. If a person has been drinking heavily every day or using a drug like Xanax, they may need medically-supported detoxification to protect their health. Withdrawal from either of these drugs can trigger fevers or seizures.

• In any city, there are also dozens of community, charity and church-sponsored support groups that meet regularly. There are millions of people that rely on these cost-free support systems around the world. In Colorado Springs, there are more than 40 meetings supporting those determined to stay sober.

• There are also a few therapeutic communities (TC), also called sober living communities. In these communities, the participants must get a job or volunteer in the community, pay a small monthly sum, attend meetings and help maintain the facility.

• El Paso County also offers those who have run into problems with the law the chance to stay out of jail by working with their local drug court. Drug courts offer a program that helps offenders avoid incarceration and get access to treatment. Their sobriety is monitored. These programs often have a high graduation rate, which gives participants a chance at keeping or getting good jobs, regaining custody of their children and accessing other benefits.

• For many people, inpatient or residential drug rehab has the greatest chance of success. It’s not easy to resist the cravings for more drugs or alcohol when your cravings have ruled your life for years or perhaps even decades.

• A well-run residential drug rehab facility has 24-hour staffing to provide assistance if a person feels like giving up. Also, when a person is in a drug rehab all day, they can devote their time to counseling, life skills training and mutual support. Visit any residential rehab and you will find that those doing well are busy encouraging the newcomers, telling them it’s possible to get through the struggle if they just work the program.

Spotlight on Colorado Springs’ Challenges

The solutions that are available in Colorado Springs are not sufficient to save all lives from addiction and overdose. Unfortunately, this is true in any city. There are always those who put profits from selling drugs above their own humanity. And so there can be reports like the following that tell of the devastating effects of drugs.

• Losses to fentanyl overdoses in this area have been doubling each year since 2017.¹

• Opioid overdoses account for nearly two out of three overdose deaths in Colorado.²

• The total number of overdose deaths has more than tripled since 2000, reaching a rate of 24.8 deaths per 100,000 population, up from 7.8.²

• Fox12 News reported that Colorado has the highest cocaine use in the nation.³

• An analysis of Colorado’s overall drug abuse problem rated the state seventh in the country for having serious problems.

In slightly more positive news, there’s this:

• While the State of Colorado has legalized both medical and recreational marijuana, Colorado Springs opted out of allowing recreational businesses.⁴ That could mean a slightly reduced supply of this drug that gets so many youths started on the road to addiction.

• News sources routinely report on the larger situations related to drug dealing and addiction that face residents of Colorado Springs. Meanwhile, individual situations can tear the hearts out of both families and communities, such as the 2022 arrest of a high school teacher who sold fentanyl to a 16-year-old student. That young girl then began overdosing in class and passed away in a hospital.⁵

• Two brothers similarly ignored any messages from their consciences and sold drugs out of centrally-located Austin Bluffs Plaza Liquors. In 2022, they were arrested with 2,000 fentanyl pills, more than two pounds of cocaine and two pounds of marijuana as well as Xanax and oxycodone pills.⁶

• In 2021, a 14-month-old boy died from an overdose of fentanyl, apparently picked up from the drugs his parents were using.⁷

To save our communities and to save our children, we must get those who can’t stop using drugs or alcohol the help they need. This action can begin to thwart the efforts of those who want to pump drugs into our communities.

No One Wants to Be Addicted

When a family realizes that one of their beloved members is addicted to drugs or alcohol, they naturally try to convince that person to get help. But drugs have a terribly depressing effect on a person’s mind, spirit and morale. Once they are fully addicted and have probably already tried several times to quit, they give up hope. It’s common for an addicted person to refuse help because, in their hearts, they feel they are not worth helping. Some people, when they reach for drugs the next time, tell themselves that they don’t care if they live or die.

But in their hearts, they really do care. It may take weeks of drug rehab before they can contact any sense of hope in their own hearts. Once a person gets into a good drug rehab and they commit to that program, their family can gradually see the person they love coming back to them.

That’s why a family should never simply accept a refusal to go to rehab. If every one of their arguments in favor of drug rehab falls on deaf ears, it is still possible to make drug rehab happen with a professional intervention. A professional interventionist has already seen it all and will not yield to threats or pleas from the addicted person. They can tell this person exactly what lies ahead if they do not get help. The three fates that await them are death, jail or sobriety.

Very often, this is enough to get through to the addicted person and get their agreement to start drug rehab. In Colorado Springs and elsewhere, persistence and insistence that a loved one get the help of effective drug rehab are necessary to save lives.

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