Unfortunately most crack cocaine abusers do not end up entering treatment without some form of crack intervention. Crack addicts tell themselves that every time they get high it will be the last time. Crack addiction is more difficult than other hard drugs as far as the substance abuser realizing they have a problem and need to stop. Most crack intervention calls we get are for binge crack users, that is, they will disappear and get high for 3 or 5 days, sometimes even a week and then come home and sleep for 2-4 days and then appear to have normal behavior, at least for a little while. It is 
not uncommon for crack addicts to have jobs and families, although neither is probably going well. Crack intervention sees many addicts in denial because unlike alcohol or heroin that is mentally and physically dependent, crack addicts typically do not go through withdrawal with uncomfortably physical pain. Because of this mild withdrawal, many crack users try to convince us during the crack intervention that it will be the last time they will use and it will never happen again. Unfortunately, many families will buy into this. It is not uncommon for someone to control a crack addiction for weeks or even months in between binges. The sad part about this is, that right about the time the families start believing the crack user is going to stay stopped, the inevitable happens and the substance abuser disappears on another crack run and the checking account is run dry. Families need to ask themselves, how long I am going to live this nightmare before I stage a crack intervention. Unless the family steps in and does something on their terms, there will be some form of intervention on the terms of someone or something else. Your loved one probably can not abuse crack forever and you probably can not live with it forever.
Intervention for Crack Addiction
When do families realize they have had enough promises and that the crack addiction most likely will not correct itself? Families that call us for crack intervention have come to the realization that they can not live in the cycle of insanity that their loved one and the crack addiction has brought on. Your loved one has been missing for days, the checking account is down to nothing, and mom is left praying that this will be the last binge. Chances are it isn’t the last one, unless a crack intervention is staged the crack abuser will be gone again after 3 days of sleeping, a shower, and a few good meals. The timing of the crack intervention is one of the more strategic preparations of all the interventions. This is because a crack addict is at their most vulnerable point right after coming back from a long crack binge. We usually stage family day or pre-intervention the day after the crack user comes home. The actual crack intervention then takes place within hours after your loved one awakes, and then is taken to treatment for crack addiction almost immediately to avoid another crack run along with more broken promises. Just because the crack intervention becomes easier when the substance abuser is at their most vulnerable state, does mean it is easy to do at all. Many families make the mistake of trying to intervene themselves at this time and end up once again giving into the promises of the crack abuser only to be let down again days later.
Why Crack Intervention
Because families have a bottom also. Crack addicts medicate their problems with drugs, families take their loved ones crack addiction head on. Families are probably the last group left that is in a position to help the substance abuser. If the family does not step in to do a crack intervention, who will? If you were in need of help, how long would you want your family to wait before they stopped you from going over the edge? It is not the families fault that your loved one has a crack addiction, however it could be the families fault if they do nothing about it. That means, it will probably not get better on its own, so stop waiting for that to happen. The last thing a family needs is their loved one telling you that they owe their drug dealer large amounts of money and if they do not pay they will come to they house to settle. For families in the late stages, this type of threat may have already of happened. The family has the right to continue to live in fear and discomfort if they choose, however they do not have to. A crack intervention could help the family avoid all of this insanity by making the addiction the crack abusers problem and not the families problem. Unless a crack intervention is staged the problem will almost always remain untreated and push everybody in the family group past their breaking point leaving the addict still high and the family broken.