So much for the alcohol-sensing anklet

Salon reviews the Lindsey Lohan media coverage and highlights our own Jim Balmer:

The Detroit Free Press was among the few who put Lohan's rather spectacular relapse in the context of real-life recovery. For one thing, relapse is common to begin with, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "It's tough enough to recover from an addiction. To have to do it in a fishbowl, it's daunting," said Jim Balmer, president of Dawn Farm, a treatment center in Ypsilanti, Mich. "Celebrity stints in rehab centers often seem to be little more than public relations stunts, more geared toward rehabbing a star's image than dealing with an addiction. That doesn't help with public understanding of addiction recovery," the Freep added. (Some people also question the effectiveness of resortlike rehab centers; L.A.'s ABC affiliate pointed out that fancy digs are usually the only way to prune away excuses and lure celebrities in. That way they can't say, "I can't go there because it's a dump," said one facility director.) The Freep also makes clear that people don't leave treatment centers "cured." Rather, that's when the process of learning to manage their problem in the real world begins.