The Firely Foundation (501c3) is creating a Scholarship Fund to support a new initiative that will help women defeat opioid addictions through a successful program of detox and long-term rehabilitation who cannot afford the high cost of an essential extended care program to beat the addiction for good. Addictions to opioids are often misunderstood today. In the past, most heroin addictions began with other narcotics such as LSD. In 1996 OxyContin was introduced which was touted as a non-addictive pain medication based on the long-prescibed oxycodone (which is extremely addictive) and was promoted as the most effective painkiller for post-operative or other chronic pain. Unfortunately, it was anything but NON-addictive, and by the early 2000’s 80% of heroin addictions started with prescription pain medications like OxyContin and Fentanyl. Once prescribed addiction can occur in as little as one-week to these painkillers. The addiction crisis has effected all age groups, socio-economic, and ethnic backgrounds. In other words it has become the epidemic of our time.  To give you an idea of how Ineffective current treatment programs have been, Those who choose to leave immediately following detox have a less than 5% recovery rate. The typical stay after detox for most rehabilitation centers is only 28-days because that is all that most insurance will cover. The recovery rate unfortunately isn’t much better at less than 7%. A recent study by the National Institutes of Health indicates that “most opioid addicted individuals need at least 3-months in treatment to significantly reduce or stop their drug use and that the best outcomes occur with longer durations of treatment” (6-months is considered “optimal”).  Sadly, this is why rather than helping people to beat the addiction, the client becomes an “income stream” for the rehab center because of the revolving door that is created. The approach of our partner, Ancora Spero (Anchored in Hope) is MUCH different. Since many cannot afford to stay beyond the 28-days, we offer the benefit of The Firely Foundation’s Scholarship Fund (donations to this fund are fully tax-deductible) to provide scholarships to those who cannot afford the full extended program (up to 6-months). In effect, we want to STOP the addiction cycle and BREAK the revolving door for good!

We would like to thank some very special individuals and businesses who have generously supported this new Scholarship Fund of The Firely Foundation. Please support these donors whenever possible (for additional information about any of these companies just click on the logo):