shares his mentor’s gene for optimism. But, then, if your profession were treating addicts, you couldn’t survive otherwise. “We’ve added a men’s program since Dr. McKenzie left,” he said to me, and went on to explain that the numbers were still good. Fewer relapses than those who came straight out of jail and at a lower cost. “Locking people up is expensive,” he said. The alternative is familiar, by now, to all. Group therapy. Job training. Close supervision. And, in some cases, alternative medications like methadone. McGuire made a face when that subject came up. How, after all, can you not be an addict if you need a fix of some sort every day? “But you do what works,” he said. “For some people, nothing else works.” I recalled something that Prouty had said to me about how he knew that every day, he had at least one encounter with someone who was on a maintenance program. A waitress. A bank teller. A store clerk. “That’s true,” McGuire said. “It is about learning to make good decisions.” He walked me through the basics of the program he uses. Something called Moral Geoffrey Norman is the author of 12 books of fiction and non-fiction and many articles for periodicals to include the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, Esquire, Men’s Journa l , the Weekly Standard , and others.
Yes, Vermont was fighting the good fight. And gaining some ground. “We” are not losing any longer.
Reconation Therapy (MRT), which is describes in its literature as “a systematic treatment approach that seeks to decrease recidivism, or the tendency of a convicted criminal to re-offend, among juvenile and adult offenders by increasing moral reasoning.” As McGuire told me about MRT, I found myself thinking, “whatever works.” And MRT worked for him and for a good percentage of the people in his program. Near the end of our conversation, I told McGuire about that moment when I sat in on his predecessor’s staff meeting and was told that addicts were being “enabled” by the system. He agreed, but not happily. For a moment, we were both silent. I imagine we were both thinking the same thing: “Yeah. But what are you going to do?” Yes, Vermont was fighting the good fight. And gaining some ground. “We” are not losing any longer. And if we are not winning gloriously, then perhaps it is a stalemate. Or maybe we are even doing a little better than that. If so, it is thanks to people like Matt Prouty, Dr. Cheryl McKenzie, and Eric McGuire. Who are – and may the good Lord forgive me for saying so – a lot better people than the junkies deserve.
56 June 2018
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