Drug rehabilitation is best handled in a residential setting, where the clients have no access with the outside world. Mobile phones, Internet access and phone calls are not allowed. This is to prevent clients arranging illicit supplies and undoing all the good work being done.

They are not rest homes and many addicts find the regime unpleasant, but that is only to be expected with any system that deprives them of their daily drug needs.

Before sending an addict for treatment you should visit the center and assess for yourself the level of care and treatment provided. Having made a careful decision you will have to harden yourself against your relative's complaints.

Drug addiction is physical as well as a mental dependence on drugs. A drug addict's body has adjusted to cope and expect the daily dose of whatever substance the addict is using. The body shows unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that the addict has to go through.

A rehab center will have medical, nursing and care staff to cope with the needs of the addicts. This should reassure addicts? relatives, who will have no contact at all for the first month or so, and only limited contact after that.

The cost of drug rehabilitation is high, but worthwhile to the addict's parents. The high cost is inevitable with residential treatment and the cost of nursing and medical staff wages. The treatment will only be permanent however, if the addict has made the decision to come off drugs him or her self.

Permanent rehabilitation means that the client will need support after leaving the rehabilitation center. He or she will need a job and some positive leisure activity that will ensure total removal from the circumstances leading to the previous addiction.

Addicts and relatives need to be aware that one dose of the drug that caused the addiction is enough to undo all the hard work and send the addict back to square one. Drug addiction, like alcoholism is permanent, there is no cure, only help to get through the withdrawal symptoms.