I love this story. A Colorado man by the name of Gene put technology to work when he needed help intervening on behalf of his girlfriend’s drug addiction. He purchased a live Rover tracking device from RMT Tracking and installed it on her car to monitor where she was going to buy drugs.

Usually used for tracking fleets of company vehicles, recovering stolen cars, and locating missing persons, this might be the first time a GPS device has been used in conjunction with drug addiction.

The Mission: To Monitor and Protect Her Life against Drug Addiction

Her exact location, speed and direction of travel, along with a complete tracking history could be viewed from his personal computer. The device also created an electronic geo fence which logged her travel routine outside of a particular area.

Every time she went out to buy drugs, he just followed the virtual scent she left behind. “I would show up and nobody knew how,” he said. Dealers stopped selling to her because they knew Gene would be following close behind.

He credits the device with allowing him to help reach out to her and give her the impetus to get the help she needed. “You can’t imagine all the things she said to me when I told her – but of course, that was the addiction talking, not the person.”

The Need for Innovative Drug Addiction Interventions

Gene makes an excellent point – addiction makes it impossible for a person to behave rationally. Simply suggesting to a loved one that they seem to be having a problem with drugs or alcohol can be easily dismissed or covered up.

• If you suspect that something’s going on, act on it. Look into it yourself rather than rely on the person to provide you with the answer you want to hear. Ask yourself if what you’re hearing fits the pattern of what you are seeing. Question every move and ferret out the hidden motivators. Look at every rational explanation and try to blow it out of the water. Don’t take no for an answer.
• Friends and family are on the front lines when it comes to the war on drugs. Educate yourself on the behaviors of drug addicts, the physical as well as the psychological symptoms, and compare what you know about your loved one with what you read about from the experts.
• Secrecy and denial are the biggest roadblocks to recovery. When we can face reality about our loved one’s situation, we can help them realize it isn’t as shameful as we once thought.

Did Gene have the right idea for intervening? Do you wish someone would have done something similar to help you? Or do you think it’s intrusive?

As much as we would all love to do things amicably, there are times when showing that you love someone means you have to get tough with them. The Encarta North American Dictionary defines tough love as “a caring [and] strict attitude adopted toward a friend or loved one with a problem, as distinct from an attitude of indulgence.” If you feel like you’re talking ‘till your blue in the face, the words just aren’t getting through, and the chaos is escalating, then it might be time to take a different approach with your efforts at intervening.

The Need for Tough Love Interventions

If your loved one is known to have a history of any of the following:

• Violence
• Mental illness
• Multiple drug addictions
• Threats to self or others
• Emotionally unstable reactions

it’s a good indication that they are already under immense strain with their personal life and may react in such a volatile way that personal safety becomes top priority.

Any involvement that elicits physical, emotional or verbal abuse is counter-productive for everyone involved. Lashing out in kind only adds fuel to the fire, and sitting back and taking it puts all your control in the hands of the abuser. Assertiveness, on the other hand, allows each individual to claim control over their own actions without bulldozing over anyone else.

Mentally Preparing for Tough Love Interventions

Realizing you are the master of only your actions and no one else’s is the first step in being able to separate from the situation and observe what’s happening from a distance. Thinking over the risks associated with getting involved vs. doing nothing, can you live with yourself if someone gets hurt – or worse?

Take the time to talk over your options with a pastor, mentor, therapist, or good friend who has experience with drug abuse and interventions. Explore the possible reactions that could surface when your loved one discovers you’ll no longer play the role of the victim or enabler. Know ahead of time how you will respond to assertively defend your decisions.

Tactical Maneuvers for Tough Love Interventions

When faced with a crisis situation, your first priority is to protect yourself from harm. Teach family members and children to call 911 for threats of violence or suicide, any type of physical assault, and loss of consciousness (drug overdose). These are legitimate emergencies that need to be handled promptly by paramedics and first responders.

Notify law enforcement when you suspect drugs are on your property, or your loved one is driving under the influence. Report thefts, trespassing, vandalism, and truancy immediately and press charges whenever possible.

Ignoring the problem will not make it go away; it rewards the behavior by allowing a free ride for unaccountability. Responding assertively brings a new awareness of consequences and sense of responsibility to a drug addict’s chaotic world. Eventually – hopefully - they will begin to understand the reactions to their own behaviors and realize that it is up to them to change the pattern by getting help for their problems.

Personally, I’ve been “intervened upon” and in some instances, it was laughable and in others, it really made me think. Have any of you ever been the subject of an intervention and “tough love” methods? What happened? Did it work? What would you recommend to a mother or husband or friend who wants to help their loved one get help for drug addiction?