Drug Addiction Treatment Blog

CANTON TOWNSHIP — The biological mother of a 2-year-old girl who died of blunt trauma fled a drug rehab recovery house Monday after learning the toddler’s foster mother was charged with her murder.

Now, family and drug rehab workers fear she is on a crack binge or dead.

Anne Marie Hirsch, 26, was making another effort to kick her five-year habit and seemed committed to regaining custody of her daughter, Allison Newman, family members said. Her outlook changed after she buried the brown-eyed girl Friday, said her father, Craig Hirsch.

“At the funeral she had a rude awakening and she showed a lot of remorse,” said Hirsch, 64, a Canton mechanic. “Anne has been suicidal, but I am hoping that we don’t have another funeral to go to.”

The fears arise as more details emerge in the sad case.

In foster care three months after her birth because both biological parents are drug addicts, Allison was placed by Lutheran Social Services this summer with Alan and Carol Poole. On Sept. 22, Carol called 911 from her $320,000 house to report the child wasn’t breathing and injured her head the previous day.

Monday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy charged Carol Poole with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and first-degree child abuse. Alan Poole was out of town at the time of the death and faces no charges.

The announcement prompted Anne Hirsch to walk away from Stanford House, a 12-step drug rehab program for women drug users, her father said. She didn’t return after she was let out on a pass to visit a nearby library, said Val Davis, director of the drug rehab facility.

“She was excited about the new addiction treatment plan at Stanford House,” Davis said. “Her behavior worsened after leaving the hospital with Allison. She was very hopeless and immediately she became in denial of her drug disease.”

Anne Hirsch, who always wears her hair in a ponytail, was dressed in a dark overcoat, a red and white striped shirt, blue jeans, and brownish black ankle boots the day she left the recovery house.

Craig Hirsch said a warrant could be issued for her arrest if she doesn’t return to Stanford because she is to appear in the 35th District Court today on domestic abuse charges for allegedly punching him in the face.

Allison isn’t the first child Anne has lost; she has a 7-year-old daughter who was taken from her by the father’s family, said Melissa delaGarza, Anne’s aunt.

“It hurts that we never got a chance to get to know (Allison), delaGarza said. “The hope was that with Allison she would get her life back together and make a home for her daughter. Now that is gone and she may not have the motivation she once had.

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Alcohol Rehab and Drug Rehab

Drug and alcohol abuse can be successfully treated in drug rehab. Rehab has saved millions of lives. Drug rehab has been around for well over sixty years. There are many different types of rehab, all of which have the same goal of helping the alcoholic or drug addict learn how to live without using drugs or alcohol. Most drug rehab programs today include a medical, psychological as well as the 12-step component. Drug rehab always starts with detox, if necessary. Until the alcohol or chemical is removed from the person’s body, rehab cannot begin. Once medically detoxed and stabilized, the drug rehab process includes education about addiction or alcoholism. Some drug rehab programs incorporate cognitive, behavioral modalities. Group therapy is generally a part of all rehab programs. The 12-step model was started by Alcoholics Anonymous and its co-founders, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. Most drug rehab programs support and encourage the 12-steps, as the most proven and effective means of long term, successful recovery. One of the reasons the 12-step model is so effective is the vast infrastructure of free meetings which are currently in place throughout the United States. Recently, alternative rehabs programs have emerged which are not based on the 12-steps.

Rehab, short for rehabilitation, is the therapeutic and educational process which begins recovery from alcohol or substance abuse. Rehab is also referred to as treatment. Drug or alcohol rehab covers a wide range of options and variables. Generally speaking, rehab starts with detox. Detox is the physical process of removing the alcohol or drug from the body. Detox is critical for several reasons. First, having the drugs or alcohol in the body often causes a craving for more of it. This cycle of using and withdrawing is why people can’t just quit on there own. Detox for alcohol and many drugs must be done under medical supervision to insure this process is completed safely and painlessly. Also, while a person is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, they are not ready to participate in drug rehab.

Rehab, being primarily educational, is like school. Rehab teaches a person about the problem and what needs to be done to stop using drugs or alcohol. Inpatient, detox rehab is the initial, full time component. Inpatient rehab is where the person checks in and resides at a facility, on a full time basis. Partial, known as PHP, is half days are spent at a facility. Outpatient rehab is done on a part time basis, for a few hours several times a week, usually for several months. A complete assessment and evaluation, done by a professional, will usually determine the right level of rehab to begin. 28 days of residential rehab is usually enough time to learn the necessary principles of recovery. Rehab removes a person away from their old habits and environment, which allows then to break the cycle of using alcohol or drugs. If someone has been through rehab before, more than 30 days should be considered.

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How Addiction Affects the Brain
What happens physically—in the brain and body—when one is addicted? Drugs have three basic effects on the body:

stimulation or a feeling of being “high” or energized
depression or a feeling of being calm or even sleepy
distortion of the senses
When any chemical enters the brain, it is absorbed into the brain through receptor sites. When the body is getting a drug from an outside source, the brain stops making some of its own chemicals, such as dopamine and endorphins, that is makes naturally. The brain then becomes dependent on the outside source of drugs. At the same time, as the brain adapts to the drug’s presence, the individual using the drugs must take more and more of most addicting drugs to try to reach the same feelings that they got when they first started using the drugs. (However, they almost never can get that initial feeling again.)

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What Is Drug Addiction?
Addiction may be defined as a pattern of compulsive drug use characterized by a continued craving for drugs and the need to use these drugs for psychological effects or mood alterations. Many abusers find that they need to use drugs to feel “normal.” The user exhibits drug seeking behavior and is often preoccupied with using and obtaining the drugs of choice. These substances may be obtained through legal or illegal channels.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine considers addiction “a disease process characterized by the continued use of a specific psychoactive substance despite physical, psychological or social harm.”

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