Hope for Alcoholism Treatment
Many families have learned the frustration of trying to help an alcoholic family member when they did… [more]
Crack Cocaine Recovery
The devastation that crack cocaine wreaked on America in the late 1980s was about as destructive of families… [more]
Teen Alcohol and Prescription Drug Use May Create Need for Rehab
It may come as no surprise to parents of teenagers that there is often a hidden world among teens that… [more]
Should Parents Use Drug Tests if More than Half of All High School Students are Abusing Drugs?
In light of recent study results that show that more than fifty percent of schoolchildren have abused… [more]
How Pain Killers Can Lead to Addiction
How Pain Killers Can Lead to Addiction It can often happen that one inadvertently gets hooked on pain… [more]
The Benefits to Your Community of Effective Drug Rehab
If one looks at the costs of drug treatment, law enforcement, the judicial system and welfare costs due… [more]
Celebrities Affected by Prescription Drug Abuse
Another one of many celebrities struggling with prescription drug abuse is Matthew Perry, former star of “Friends” TV show and current star of ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine.” He has had a history of substance abuse and has gone twice to rehab for treatment of prescription pill addiction.
Celebrities aren’t the only ones fighting the battle with prescription drugs. In the state of Florida, prescription drug abuse is an epidemic. In fact pills are involved in 75% of all the drug-related deaths and on average, 11 people die daily in Florida from prescription drug overdoses.
In the United States, more people are now abusing prescription drugs than heroin, cocaine and ecstasy combined. The drug of choice for a growing number of users is oxycodone, a synthetic opioid sold under the brand name OxyContin. OxyContin is essentially synthetic heroin made in a lab by pharmaceutical companies. Oxycodone has become the most-abused prescription drug in the United States, with hydrocodone coming in second, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s annual count of drug seizures sent to police drug labs for analysis.
Current TV’s series Vanguard aired a disturbing documentary, The Oxycontin Express, in which South Florida was labeled “the Colombia of prescription drugs” and exposed the difficulties facing law enforcement in dealing with prescription drug abuse in what is truly a national epidemic.
Florida’s Gov. Rick Scott finally signed a bill into law in June of 2011 penalizing doctors who overprescribe painkillers, and authorizing a database that monitors prescription drugs in an attempt to control the state’s widespread “pill mills.”
How to Overcome Drug Addiction
But what if you, a loved one or a family member is faced with this highly-addictive drug problem? What would you do? How do you tell if a rehab program is effective? What will work to get one off of drugs for good? Is there a drug-free solution?
Fortunately there is help available. One can rid oneself of the addiction and live a productive, drug-free life again. Narconon is a very effective program, founded more than 45 years ago, which helps the prescription pill addict find his way back to health and sobriety. Narconon drug rehabilitation centers exist worldwide, on six continents and specialize in drug-free detoxification and treatment methods.
The Narconon program consists of two phases. In Phase one, the recovering addict will experience a physical rehabilitation. During the first part the person entering a Narconon will have one-on-one counseling and assistance and plenty of nutritional supplements to replace those destroyed during drug use. This makes for a more tolerable withdrawal. This is followed by the unique Narconon New Life Detoxification Program composed of daily exercise, time in a dry-heat sauna, and more nutritional support. Upon completion of this part of the program, many recovering addicts report fewer cravings for drugs.
However Narconon rehabilitation does not stop here, as this is just the first phase. The issues which led the person to abuse drugs have to be handled in order for him to return to a drug-free life. In Phase two, the student at Narconon studies several life skills courses helping him to rebuild his self-esteem, ability to communicate and control of self and his environment. In doing this, he handles the underlying reasons the person used drugs in the first place.
The Narconon program differs from many others in that it does not substitute one drug for another, and it offers the life skills necessary to live a drug-free life. Once a person graduates the program, there are no Narconon meetings to attend. The person is able to apply the life skills attained to live drug-free.
If you or a family member has a prescription drug abuse problem, call a Narconon rehab center for assistance.
Is Addiction a Disease?
By some specialists, addiction is stated to be a disease comparable with other diseases like diabetes or hypertension. With this mindset, patients who come in for drug abuse and addiction treatment can be told that this disease is incurable and the best that can be done is to “manage” the addiction with other drugs.
Several drugs have been tested and a few have been approved by the FDA for treating certain drug addictions, such as methadone, buprenorphine (brandnamed Suboxone or Subutex), benzodiazepines and Antabuse. These are used to treat addiction in some treatment centers, making it easier for them to bill insurance companies for their rehab treatment.
Unfortunately what this treatment actually does is prolong a dependency on drugs, just substituting different ones than those the patient came in on. Curing drug addiction with drug addiction certainly doesn’t offer a lasting cure.
In fact, there are countries where a heroin addict, for example, is given access to free clean needles, safe houses, and even free drugs at times, so he can maintain his drug habit but avoid some of the other public health perils that his addiction can lead to. HIV, AIDS, hepatitis and other life-threatening diseases are common in drug addicts and are often the result of injecting themselves with contaminated or reused needles.
The theory underlying this type of treatment is that drug addiction is not only a disease, but an incurable one, and once one is a drug addict, he will remain one for his lifetime.
Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers do not believe that drug addiction is a disease at all. In fact, it is not their experience that addiction is incurable. From all reports, both staff and people who have undergone the Narconon program found it is fully possible to recover from drug addiction and enjoy a healthy and productive life. It is even commonplace at Narconon that people completing the program resume their lives with a totally fresh outlook, free from the cravings that drove them to constant drug use before rehab.
Seventy Percent of Narconon Graduates Stay Drug-free
This may sound unrealistic to some people, but it is the common experience of hundreds of thousands of people who have been helped to break the addiction cycle at Narconon over the past 45 years. Seventy percent of Narconon graduates stay drug-free and sober after completing the program. Narconon offers real help for drug addiction.
Narconon does not use legal drugs to help people recover from illegal substance addiction.
In the Narconon drug-free program, one first goes through a surprisingly tolerable withdrawal period, followed by an intensive detox on the unique Narconon New Life Detoxification Program. It is during this stage of the program that many participants report a much lower desire for drugs or even no cravings at all after this part is completed.
Then, Narconon ensures that the person will be able to maintain his drug-free state by learning important life skills. These include the skill he needs to face and handle those reasons he originally became addicted to drugs. He works at improving his communication skills; he finds out the reasons that people experience ups and downs in life; and he learns who to associate with instead of those who helped him become or stay addicted to drugs.
He also learns how to take responsibility for his past actions, including making up the damage done to loved ones. And, before he completes the Narconon program, the student has charted his own course for his future drug-free, healthy and productive life.
Narconon exists on six continents and there are more than 50 Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers around the world.
Call a Narconon rehab program today for more details or to get some information about Narconon school drug education programs.
What is Addiction?
The definition of addiction is a condition that consists of a repeated, compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance despite the adverse social or mental or physical consequences. Often this is accompanied by a physical or a psychological dependence and tolerance, and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal.
The person addicted to drugs or alcohol may truly desire to quit and may make many promises to do so, but despite his sincere desire to stop and get clean, he cannot seem to do so. In these cases, the problem is addiction, and the individual needs professional help to get and stay sober.
There are many drugs of choice, and one can become addicted to any one of several illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine or marijuana. One can be hooked on “speed” type drugs such as methamphetamines or amphetamines, or to any form of alcohol. Lately there has been a huge increase in addiction to prescription drugs, particularly the opioid painkiller oxycodone, sold under the brand name OxyContin.
In fact, people can even become addicted to inhalants, which are “huffed” or inhaled, such as compressed air for cleaning computers and spray paint.
Another category is the synthetic drugs often referred to as “club drugs.” These include GHB, Rohypnol and ketamine. These have addictive properties too, although one might consume them initially unintentionally (such as Rohypnol, which is known as the “date rape” drug). And many people become addicted to more than one drug.
You Can Overcome Drug Addiction
Whatever drug one is addicted to, when one has decided to actually get free of the addiction, there is help available.
The Narconon program is a drug-free program which has helped many tens of thousands of people to get off drugs and stay off them for the past 45 years. It consists of two main phases.
In the first phase, one rids the body of the harmful effects of drugs, and detoxifies it with a very effective yet tolerable program. The newly arrived person to a Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation center will be given plenty of good nutrition and supplements such as vitamins and minerals. In addition he experiences one on one counseling and physical assists, much like gentle massages which make this first withdrawal phase much more tolerable than one might expect.
After the initial withdrawal, he is ready for the unique Narconon New Life Detoxification program. This deep detoxification consists of daily moderate exercise, time in a dry-heat sauna, and more nutritional supplementation. The length of time needed to fully rid the body of the toxins and drug residues lodged in the fatty tissues of the body will vary from person to person, but following this step, most Narconon students (not patients) report reduced or no drug cravings.
After completing this step, the Narconon student goes on to the second phase, where he will study six more courses giving him several key life skills needed to return to a life without dependency on drugs or alcohol. His former addictive life choices are replaced with healthy drug-free alternatives. He learns how to confront, communicate and control his life without resorting to drugs for escape. During this time in the program, he also really regains his self-respect and his own moral compass, and only graduates the program when he has a workable plan for living a drug-free and alcohol-free life.
Seventy percent of Narconon graduates remain drug and alcohol-free two years after completion of the program. When you or a loved one is ready to overcome drug addiction, call a Narconon rehab center and a representative will assist you.
