Is WWE's Rehab Program Being Used Properly?

The recent deaths and arrests of wrestlers has surely gotten a lot of people talking. The talk has been about who is to blame and who is responsible and therefore, who is liable for these deaths and the saturation of drug use in wrestling. Linda McMahon has seemingly replaced Vince McMahon as the figure head of WWE because of her run for the U.S. Senate. Linda McMahon's Senate run has placed a spotlight on wrestling drug use and deaths but what is still missing through all the finger pointing and blame is the fact that no one is coming up with viable solutions.

The bickering gets so loud that the dead and the users get drowned out in the background. There is a tool available right now that should be helping save lives and that tool is WWE's rehab program. We have heard of many wrestlers including the recently deceased Lance Cade going into WWE's rehab. However, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse(NIDA) 40 to 60 percent of drug addicts relapse. A main cause of relapse is the length of time or lack thereof, the addict spends in rehab. We have seen over and over again wrestlers that go in rehab come out and at some point relapsing. WWE has not said how long wrestlers stay in rehab but 90 days seems to be the standard however, that length of time is not producing long lasting, intrinsic change. The NIDA website states;

Individuals progress through drug addiction treatment at various rates, so there is no pre-determined length of treatment. However, research has shown unequivocally that good outcomes are contingent on adequate treatment length. Generally, for residential or outpatient treatment, participation for less than 90 days is of limited effectiveness, and treatment lasting significantly longer is recommended for maintaining positive outcomes. For methadone maintenance, 12 months is considered the minimum, and some opioid-addicted individuals continue to benefit from methadone maintenance for many years.

Good outcomes are contingent on adequate treatment length.

Teddy Hart was recently admitted into a Texas rehab facility on WWE's dime and was apparently told by his Uncle Bret Hart that Bret would lobby WWE to hire him if Teddy completed rehab and stayed on the right path. This idea of dangling a WWE spot in front of an addict is not the way to get true life changing events to take hold in these men. The WWE schedule and the wrestling rockstar lifestyle has been identified as the main cause of drug abuse in wrestling. Why give a person re-entry into the lifestyle that led him down the path to rehab in the first place? Drug abusers need to get away from the environment that created them, perhaps some of these guys should not wrestle nor be around wrestling ever again to avoid relapsing and premature death.

Long-term drug use results in significant changes in brain function that can persist long after the individual stops using drugs.

 

Understanding that addiction has such a fundamental biological component may help explain the difficulty of achieving and maintaining abstinence without treatment. Psychological stress from work, family problems, psychiatric illness, pain associated with medical problems, social cues (such as meeting individuals from one's drug-using past), or environmental cues (such as encountering streets, objects, or even smells associated with drug abuse) can trigger intense cravings without the individual even being consciously aware of the triggering event. Any one of these factors can hinder attainment of sustained abstinence and make relapse more likely. 

Lance Cade's Father was livid about WWE firing Cade after he completed rehab but at that point his son was clean and was away from the environment that put the need for drugs in his life. WWE's wellness policy has no transparency and WWE needs to state outright that going into rehab doesn't mean you're getting a spot on the roster, keeping your spot on the roster, getting a legends deal, a DVD, a toy, a guest shot on Raw, nothing. Wrestlers going to rehab need to be told that they are going for their own well being and should not come out and get on the gas to bulk up for a WWE run. They need to be separated from wrestling as much as possible. So many guys have gotten rewarded by being given a WWE job for going to rehab and placed back into the same environment that started them self medicating and abusing drugs in the first place. 

WWE's rehab program was instituted mainly to insulate WWE from further responsibility in wrestlers drug use and premature deaths. That does not mean that the program shouldn't be used to its fullest potential but there is something that just isn't working. The truth of the matter is that some of these men and women may need to move on from wrestling to save their lives. Is WWE determining who can continue wrestling without relapsing and who cant? Are they keeping addicts in rehab long enough? WWE has to monitor these men and women long term outside of wrestling and helping them find an environment that doesn't spark their addiction. Changes need to be made and WWE should re-evaluate the employment of wrestlers who need rehab because it just might be WWE that makes them addicts. Some may say that is cold hearted but its better to dream, fail and dream again than to have only one dream that kills you.