Sobriety Bracelets Patches & Pills

Ankle bracelets, and patches, and pills - Oh, my! Step aside drug rehab, ankle bracelets, patches, and pills have been the latest attempt to keep people sober.

Lindsay Lohan was court ordered to wear the SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring) ankle bracelet to keep her from drinking alcohol. The cause of Lohan's "false" alarm after the MTV awards remains to be determined, however in yet another scandal she has modeled the SCRAM for the paparazzi in a bikini.

Reportedly, Lohan will be posing nude for her fashion line, sporting only her SCRAM. The SCRAM ankle bracelet senses alcohol in the perspiration the skin regularly produces and then sends a signal to the remote monitoring agency if alcohol is detected. Currently, there are 125,000 offenders court ordered to wear the SCRAM.

hen, there is the breathalyzer. Many have tried to tamper with the court ordered breathalyzer installed in their homes and vehicles. Some alcoholics may have had their lives turned sober after ordered to use the device, however to others the breathalyzer appears more like an obstacle than a deterrent.

Baclofen is a medication that is in trial to reduce cravings and withdrawal. Baclofen is a daily pill and in the past was used for epilepsy. It is a muscle relaxer, however studies have shown it has an anti-craving effect on alcoholics and drug addicts.

The "alcohol patch", mimicked after the "nicotine patch", is an addition to other products to help alcoholics refrain from picking up a bottle of booze. In theory, you just put a patch on and your cravings for alcohol are curbed. Trials have been under way for the alcohol patch.

Anabuse (aka disulfiram) is a daily pill that, if you drink alcohol, your body can react with vomiting, nausea, sweating, and other uncomfortable bodily symptoms. Anabuse used to be a court ordered medication to prevent alcoholics from drinking. However many states have abandoned Anabuse due to liability reasons. If you drink on Anabuse, it could be deadly.

Naltrexone, another pill you can take daily, is supposed to block cravings for alcohol. With Naltrexone you can supposedly drink your-self sober. The dubbed "Sinclair Method" diminishes your craving for drinking and is replaced with controlled drinking behaviors. Naltrexone is ingested daily in a pill form or you can pay $700 for a shot.

And, there is a vaccine-like shot that is showing promise to help fight cocaine addiction. Basically, after five shots of a cocaine vaccine, your body develops enough cocaine antibody levels high enough to prevent cocaine high.

But, can these devices keep people sober? All these contraptions fly completely counter-intuitive and totally against AA's total abstinence and non-medication philosophy.

Ankle Bracelets, and patches, and pills don't, by themselves, keep people sober. They may assist, at first, however a thorough inventory of self, admittance that one is powerless over cravings for drugs and alcohol, and treatment keeps people sober.

Addicts and alcoholics cannot wear these devices and ingest these pills forever. They must learn how to stay sober by following a recovery plan, understanding relapse and triggers, denial, and other educational and supportive means. Once the ankle bracelets, patches, and pills disappear, relapse could still be lurking somewhere over the rainbow (as Judy Garland who died of a drug overdose might attest).