Anthony’s Act Petition – 90 Days Inpatient Treatment
Anthony P. Fiore died Saturday, May 31, 2014, at his home in Warrington. He had lost his battle with addiction. His parents, Cris and Valerie Fiore, are working to spread the word about heroin addiction and to gather signatures on their Anthony’s Act Petition to urge Congress to pass an amendment to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to provide a minimum of 90 days inpatient drug or alcohol treatment.
Why is the opportunity for a minimum of 90 days inpatient drug or alcohol treatment so important?
Because addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease, and we don’t heal a brain – the organ that controls everything a person thinks, feels, says and does – of this disease in 28 days, just as we don’t heal cancer in 28 days nor heart disease in 28 days.
To learn more about addiction and effective treatment, please visit The Addiction Project, a collaborate effort of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and HBO, or read NIDA’s, “Principles of Effective Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide (Third Edition).”
Please find the following is guest post by Anthony’s father, Cris Fiore…
Fighting for a Minimum 90 Days Inpatient Treatment for Alcohol or Drug Addiction
Anthony Fiore
My son Anthony died from heroin May 31, 2014. He was 24-years-old. Almost immediately and almost without discussing it, my wife, Valerie, and I both decided we wanted to “go public” with the cause of his death. His obituary began:
Anthony P. Fiore died Saturday May 31, 2014 at his home in Warrington. He had lost his battle with addiction.
In the days immediately following Anthony’s death, when friends and neighbors called or visited, the phrase I heard most frequently, after the obligatory, “sorry for your loss,” was “I have a (child, spouse, cousin, nephew, friend) struggling with heroin addiction.” It was a real eye-opener as to how prevalent heroin was in my suburban, middle class neighborhood.
Knowing that many young people – both friends of Anthony and of his younger brother, Nick – would be in attendance at his funeral, I felt led, as I wrote the eulogy I would deliver, to address what I called the mantra of the young: “It’s my life and I’ll do what I want. I’m only hurting myself.” This, in part, is what I said:
Every time another young person says, “It’s my life,” Satan smiles.
“It’s my life and I’ll do what I want.” Yes, of course you will. But your actions have consequences and sometimes your mistakes are irreversible.
“I’m only hurting myself.” Really? I wish I had words strong enough and true enough to convince you of the staggering selfishness of that remark. And how wrong it is.
Almost exactly one week ago my lips were pressed against Anthony’s cold, pale lips, trying desperately to breathe air into lungs too full of fluid to receive it. For the last week his mother has carried one of Anthony’s unwashed shirts around with her, holding it to her face so she can smell him. She sleeps in his bed with his shirt and a framed photograph of Anthony. Everywhere she turns something else reminds her of Anthony. The leftovers from the last food he bought – food was a very big thing with Anthony. The stale remnants of the last soda he ever drank. She wants to die, so she can see her first born again.
* * *
But, hey, it’s your life. Do what you want. But before you ever again dare say, “I’m only hurting myself,” look at your mother, look up the word ‘inconsolable’ and remember Anthony’s mother.
Here is the text of the full eulogy
On June 8, 2014, the day after Anthony’s funeral, I posted the eulogy I delivered on my Facebook wall, along with a picture of Anthony taken just a few weeks before he died, hoping it might strike a chord that hadn’t yet been struck with some addict somewhere.
Since then, I have posted it I everywhere I can think of; on hundreds of private and public Facebook pages. Many people shared it. Some of their friends shared it, and some of their friends. The last time I checked it had been shared over 8,000 times. I’ll spare you the math discussion, but the power of social media means that it has probably been seen by well over one million people, and counting. Somehow, it reached “Abby.”
On June 12, 2014 I received the following private message:
“Your son died on my birthday. I just turned 23 and I have been addicted to heroin since I was 17. I don’t want to ruin my mother’s life by dying. But I can’t stop.”
We messaged back and forth. She gave me her phone number and we talked. Eventually she agreed to join a private Facebook group I created for addicts and their families called “The Left Behind,” where she has shared her story and become a strong leader. Abby has been clean for over four months now. Detoxing was rough. Because of some previous bad experiences, she refused to go to a clinic, choosing instead to detox on her own with the help of her best friend. She relapsed a number of times. But each time, she got back up and went right back to the hard work of regaining her sobriety. She knows she is not “cured.” She knows she has to work to stay clean every single day, but she is determined to do it and I believe she will.
Recently Abby told me that reading Anthony’s eulogy was her “breaking point.”
Then there is “Catherine,” a single mom with a young daughter, a recovering pill addict who told me my eulogy saved her life. Catherine said she has read and watched my eulogy and looked at Anthony’s picture so many times that Anthony is “in her head” and that his presence there has helped to keep her clean.
Anthony struggled with addiction for more than six years before he died. He overdosed and almost died. His friend overdosed and almost died in front of his eyes. Both were hospitalized in the local ER. He was arrested. He overdosed again. He was arrested again. He spent a week on the street and a month in prison.
He was in rehab three times. Three unsuccessful short-term treatment programs, 28 days, 21 days and seven days, which was all our insurance would pay for.
The insurance industry has defined addiction treatment as 28 days or less. We want to change that definition. The 28-day model of treatment has absolutely no basis in science. It was established by the U. S. Air force as a matter of simple bureaucratic convenience. Air force regulations provided that service men and women would have to be re-assigned if they were away from duty for longer than 4 weeks. Solely to avoid this logistical inconvenience, when drug and alcohol treatment protocols were established by the Air force back in the early ‘70s, the treatment period was set at 28 days. It’s worth noting that the doctor who helped establish the Air force treatment program has since repudiated the 28-day treatment model.
Research tells us that effective in-patient treatment leads to long term sobriety and fewer relapses. Ninety (90) day residential drug rehab is suggested as the minimum length of time for effective treatment.
In Anthony’s honor, and with the help of MoveOn.org, I recently started a petition, Anthony’s Act – Providing Those Suffering With Addiction a Real Chance at Recovery, seeking support for an amendment to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to provide for a minimum of Ninety (90) days inpatient drug or alcohol treatment.
Here is the petition – Anthony’s Act.
To date we have over 22,000 signatures, but we will need many, many more, if we are to convince our “do nothing congress” that they must act to save lives.
Anthony Fiore and his mom, Valerie.
My wife, Valerie, has begun speaking at schools and rehabs as part of a program put together by the Philadelphia police department. She introduces herself as “Anthony’s Mom,” and she shows the kids she speaks to, a picture of Anthony and a picture of his grave, and pointing to the grave, she tells her listeners that this is where she goes to see her son. She tells them that Anthony was in recovery and that he appeared to have his addiction under control. He was working, cooking meals for his family, going to the gym and hanging out with his younger brother. Then, apparently, he decided to try his old friend heroin “just one more time” and that one more time proved fatal.
Please Help Provide a Minimum of 90 Days Inpatient Treatment for Drug or Alcohol Addiction
Sign the Petition – Anthony’s Act and encourage your friends and followers to do the same.
Check out a related article on The Fix, “Anthony’s Act Pushes for Minimum 90 Days Inpatient Drug Treatments.”
Follow Cris Fiore on Facebook, or contact him via email at crisfiore2010@gmail.com, or call him at (267) 629-1477.
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Thank you Lisa and Cris for sharing Anthony’s story and for spreading the word about the importance of the Anthony’s Act. I’m so sorry for the loss of your son, Cris. It is so amazing to hear about the work that you and your wife are doing in your son’s memory to help others. I know your speaking out has touched and I’m sure saved many lives.
Thank you for this call to action, this human rights issue to deal with our plague of the 21st Century. I’ve signed the petition and will pay it forward. Blessings and condolences to the Fiore Family.
I agree. Not enough words can expess the sadness I feel when a other person becomes victim to the lie of, “JUST ONE MORE TIME”
So sorry for your loss…this is a petition that needs to be seen and signed…i will share it everywhere possible.
As a parent of an addict in recovery, I totally agree. There should be no 30 day programs, they are a waste of time and money. My heart breaks for your loss..
Share this…..share it a million times. The people, the citizens and this country can do so much more. This is an illness. The brain is an organ in the body. People need help…not obstacles.
You are so courageous to post how your son died. Heroin addiction is a tragic circumstance for every person in and around the addicts life. Let’s hope “Just one more time” will be changed to “the last time…”
What a great cause and would be amazing to see, unfortunately with what it took to get the bill passed in the first place, I don’t think it will be amended in any reasonable amount of time. There is always hope though, in the long run it could save the USA a considerable amount of money if you plan for treatment rather then incarceration!
WHAT TO DO ABOUT HEROIN ADDICTION
Enlightenment in the form of prison reform is finally taking root. After fifty years of scapegoating, the politicians and their failed war on drugs, are realizing that the choice between viewing drug addiction as primarily a criminal offense or a psychological illness is a no brainer. It is now painfully obvious that long term incarceration is prohibitively expensive in addition to too often reinforcing the negative behavior and attitudes it was intended to correct. Additionally is the unfairness and injustice of the penalties imposed disproportionately on minorities, youths, and the poor compared to those imposed on the rich, and people in power.
Fifty years ago (1967) as a budding psychologist I experienced my baptism of fire at a therapeutic community – the original Odyssey House – an innovative treatment center treating heroin addicts in New York City. At the time there was an epidemic of heroin addiction with only minimal treatment. In the air were some radical ideas about treating addicts in therapeutic communities but setting one up was largely experimental. Led by a psychiatrist- and lawyer of thirty one years old with a caring small staff of five professionals and a determined group of ten hard core heroin addicts desperately wanting to get themselves together, plus a few benefactors who gifted an old building on 6th street and first avenue on the lower east side, plus an all-out dedication to learn what works to enhance effective treatment – the first Odyssey (mother) House was born. In the first six months the program expanded to over one hundred heroin addicts. The population consisted of a third white, a third black, and a third Puerto Rican – about two thirds males, and one third female – all hard core heroin addicts with extensive rap sheets, and virtually all of them suffering from severe psychological problems.
The program was structured to enable each of the residents to learn how to create a self – structure. A typical day consisted of each resident assigned to a job to maintain the integrity of the house (cooking, cleaning, repair, construction, transportation etc.). The afternoon was dedicated to group therapy. The night offered opportunities to learn various skills. The program was structured according to five levels. The first was induction in which a new addict had to be willing to come into the house for six months with no contact with the outside. They had to go cold turkey (usually in three days suffering nothing more serious than flu like symptoms and anxiety)- and agree to follow the rules of the house. Then they would begin to ascend the various levels gradually learning how to become an ex addict leader. During this time there would be endless groups including three day marathons where the residents learned to trust themselves and others, learn what makes them tick, move from being reactive (impulsive) to reflective (informed choices) as they gradually learned how to bear increasing dosages of anxiety, frustration, depression, stress, not knowing, feeling overwhelmed, weak, confused, ambivalent, helpless, hopeless, and all the rest of so called inevitable life limitations without the use of drugs. In focusing on this task virtually all of the residents who persisted began demonstrating significant attitudinal and behavioral changes in as little as six months.
Although we were largely improvising we rapidly learned what worked and what did not. Although there were a number of negative staff members the more positive ones had a greater influence on treatment outcome. I worked first a psychologist and then as an Assistant Director. By the time I left after 17 months there were notable treatment successes. Some forty years later when I followed up treatment outcomes there were a number of original core group members who not only were solid tax paying citizens but who had become leaders of their own or others addiction treatment programs. The point of this summary is to clarify some important issues which are – some fifty years later – in the glare of public priorities.
The following lessons have been learned (1) – The core motivation for taking heroin and abusing other drugs is quite simply an escape from the inevitable limitations of real life. The major problem is a lack of a solid identity coupled with ego weakness combined with a lack of basic trust. Effective treatment is providing the conditions and psychological tools for creating psychological infrastructure. Heroin addicts are dominated by the pleasure principle (the conventional measure of childhood success) – I want what I want when I want it and I hate the word no – no limits, no limitations, no hard work, no intimacy, no responsibility. In this light, a major goal of treatment is to help the addict how to grow up – to combine the pleasure principle with the reality principle – that adult success is obtained by mastery of the task at hand by a dedication to struggling with struggle. Crucial for treatment success is that those who administer and treat must be trustworthy, caring, empathic, tough and tender, fair and reasonable. Thus there must be accountability, managed training, constant evaluating the good or bad effects of all interventions. (2) The excuse of we don’t know what to do is a thinly veiled justification for laziness and ignorance. Much knowledge of effective treatment is known. (3) It is good that finally a measure of justice seems to be rapidly happening with the talk of prison sentence reform. But the ex “offenders” and the public at large should be warned. Many of those who will be getting early release need a positive structured transitional experience.
I know of no better transitional experience than the creation of a wide spread implementation of the therapeutic community treatment model. This would have major ripple effects helping to solve many pressing problems. Among these ripple effects would be massive job creation of addiction counselors, doctors, social workers, administrators, ex addicts. Additionally in an enlightened program there might be utilized large numbers of volunteers or possibly part time paid teachers, tutors, mentors, consisting of grandmothers and grandfathers who dispense care and wisdom to a needy group hungry for such nurture. Additionally companies might sponsor skills training including computing, art, music, whatever. We are finally on the threshold of a wholesale shift in our collective attitudes to criminality, punishment, rehabilitation, mental health, substance abuse, a reevaluation of our priorities, a long overdue need to discuss how to implement our stated fundamental values as a country dedicated to struggling with struggle for the attainment of quality and meaningful connections.
We are on the edge of a golden opportunity to truly make some significant social progress for the good of all of our citizens. I sincerely hope the next fifty years will usher in a time of enlightened collective care and focused intelligence to finally implement a truly significant and successful war on drugs.
Gibbs A. Williams Ph.D. 2015 http://www.gwilliamsny11@aol.com
I really appreciate you sharing this Dr. Williams! I am also going to contact you about submitting it as a guest post.