You know how Mackenzie Standifer is pretty much the most hated person on Teen Mom right now?
Yeah, that reunion special didn’t really help things much.
In both the first and second parts of the reunion, Mackenzie came on with Ryan Edwards to talk about his drug addiction and his coparenting relationship with Maci Bookout.
If you watched, then you know Mackenzie did most of the talking while Ryan sat beside her with those wild eyes of his.
They claimed a bunch of different things in their segments, but when you compile all the stories together, one thing becomes clear.
There seems to be a very, very small chance that Ryan is actually clean these days.
Lots and Lots of Drugs
As you’ve probably heard, Ryan was dealing with a pretty severe heroin problem last year. He was shooting up, Mackenzie claimed he was spending around $10,000 a week on his habit, and at one point last spring he was even arrested.
Turning Things Around
But after nodding off while driving himself and his bride to their first wedding, he went off to rehab for a few weeks. Yep, just a few weeks — he checked out early, and after he did, he was seen knocking back beers and badmouthing Maci. Not a great look for someone in his position.
It’s All Maci’s Fault
But as soon as Ryan came home from rehab, he and Mackenzie both felt comfortable putting so much blame for everything on Maci. She triggered him into doing heroin, she knew he was doing heroin and didn’t directly discuss it with the people who lived with him and saw him regularly, so basically Ryan’s entire drug problem was her fault. Because that makes sense.
… Come On
They slammed Maci for refusing to let Ryan spend time with their son until he was able to pass a drug test, and they even made fun of her for admitting that she’d cried many times over Ryan — because to them, that meant she was still in love with him, not that she was afraid her son’s father could die.
Hmmm
Then, leading up to the season finale, Ryan began acting strangely — he seemed depressed about Mackenzie’s pregnancy news, telling her to call him when the kid turned three and even suggesting at one point that they separate for the duration of her pregnancy. He also complained of feeling sick, being very cold, and needing to lie down throughout her ultrasound.
Oh, Ryan …
Considering all these things together, many Teen Mom fans became convinced than Ryan had relapsed. He may have been irritable because he’d rather be getting high, he was feeling sick because it had been too long since he’d doone drugs, that kind of thing.
All Downhill from Here
In March, Ryan was arrested for violating his probation, and while we’re still not clear on how exactly that happened, many reports claim it had something to do with a failed or missed drug test. But before the arrest, he filmed the reunion special. And … well, it wasn’t great.
Not Enough
In the first part of the special, Dr. Drew asked Ryan what he’d been doing since he left rehab, and he admitted that all he does is speak to a counselor “every once in a while.”
Too Famous
Dr. Drew pointed out that he was positive he’d been instructed to do more than that to ensure he wouldn’t relapse, and Ryan said that he had, but that he wasn’t able to get a regular counselor because he was simply too famous.
Lies
Mackenzie backed him up, claiming that “they just said addicts are selfish and Ryan is selfish and this show makes him selfish and so he couldn’t be a part of the group unless he quit his job, which, whatever.”
Close, But So Far
Pretty much everyone was able to deduce that what actually happened was that Ryan had probably been told that doing the show wasn’t a great idea for him, or at least that he couldn’t be filmed in therapy or group sessions, but he twisted that since it doesn’t seem like he’s interested in quitting the show or even in taking his health all that seriously.
More Drama
After failing to explain why he wasn’t doing any sort of aftercare after getting out of rehab, Ryan also refused to be onstage at the same time as Maci. They’re still not getting along great, see — a few weeks after this was when Maci filed her order of protection because she said he’d been threatening and harassing her.
Enter Jen and Larry
Instead, Ryan and Mackenzie sat back down with his parents, Jen and Larry, and that’s how the second part of the reunion kicked off.
Suboxone
This was when Ryan revealed that he does take Suboxone, a medicine prescribed to people overcoming opiate addictions. However, he did say that he’s not taking it as prescribed, that he just “uses it for bad days,” which Dr. Drew thought was a bad idea.
Important Details
The thing about Suboxone is that you have to take it daily or you can go through withdrawals, and most doctors monitor patients closely to make sure they’re taking it as directed. When people do take it sporadically, it’s usually so they can keep doing opiates and then take Suboxone if they can’t get their drug of choice to combat withdrawal.
So Sad
There’s just no real reason why Ryan would only take Suboxone every once in a while. It doesn’t make sense, and since Dr. Drew has been working as an addiction specialist for years and years, he knows that. And he definitely wasn’t buying whatever Ryan and Mackenzie were trying to sell him.
Ugh
Mackenzie got upset with Dr. Drew because she felt he was too much on Maci’s side in this whole feud — at least we think that’s what she was upset about, she wasn’t expressing herself too clearly. But basically she snapped at Drew for no good reason.
Such Patience
Dr. Drew took it in stride though, telling her that if Ryan would take a medication like Suboxone as prescribed by his doctor, then he’d tell Maci that he was doing well with his sobriety, because he would be. But since he’s taking Suboxone “ad-lib,” he can’t exactly do that.
Real Talk
“If he’s not doing treatment,” Dr. Drew told the whole family, “he needs to be on medication management, because it’s very dangeroud otherwise.”
Sigh …
Ryan’s mother said that he is on medication management, even though he’d already admitted to not taking it seriously, and here we are. A few weeks after filming this, he was arrested, and it seems clearer than ever that he’s in a bad way again. Like we said: it’s all very, very sad.