This includes disease and injuries to the drinker himself, and through his dangerous actions such as drinking and driving or violence, those injuries he causes to others. Alcohol is a direct cause factor in more than 60 types of diseases and injuries and a component cause in 200 others.

Alcohol is indeed the most popular drug on the planet and kills far more people worldwide than any other drug. It is the cause of death in nearly 4% of all deaths worldwide, greater than those caused by HIV/AIDS, violence or tuberculosis. While not everyone who drinks alcohol is abusing it, so many are that it is a public health problem of global proportion.

Taking into account how many people are thus affected by alcohol abuse, it would be wonderful if there were an effective alcohol rehab program that really works!

An Effective Alcohol Rehab Worldwide

Fortunately, there is an effective alcohol rehabilitation program worldwide. It is called Narconon, and has been in existence for over 45 years. It was started by a man named William Benitez in an Arizona State Prison, as he needed help to recover from his own heroin addiction that kept landing him in jail and saw that other prisoners needed similar help. It is based on the research and work of humanitarian and author L. Ron Hubbard.

A Narconon alcohol treatment center is not a typical drug and alcohol rehab center. At Narconon each person entering the program is treated as a student, not as a patient. During the entire Narconon program each student is learning more and more things about himself and about ways of dealing with life without the need for alcohol or drugs. One learns to take control over his previous alcohol or drug solutions to problems he would not confront directly. In the course of the Narconon program, one goes through eight individual courses, each of which gradually gives back more of the person’s own personality and his desire to live a drug and alcohol-free life.

In the first step, he is withdrawing from the alcohol while being given plenty of one-on-one assistance and nutritional support and supplementation with vitamins and minerals. In this environment, it is possible for the person to begin to see that life can be lived without the crutch of alcohol.

In the next step, he will go through the Narconon New Life Detoxification Program, which gets the residues of drugs and alcohol out of the fatty tissue of the body, where it has been stored. Without the residual toxins in the body, it is far less likely that the person will crave the drugs or alcohol he once was addicted to.

Outside Influences Can Help Create More Alcoholics

One problem which alcoholics who are not able to control their drinking often engage in is called “binge drinking.” This involves consumption of five or more drinks in one sitting. This trend has been increasing recently among young people. It has even taken its place in the social media networks. For example, on Facebook, alcohol abusers are bragging about how much they can drink in one sitting, a factor that some researchers say adds to the increasing alcohol consumption and binge drinking among youth.

Alcohol abuse is a societal problem and one that we need to take much more seriously. Although pervasive, it rarely ranks as a top concern until it affects you, your family, or your loved ones. When that happens, there is a solution. Narconon drug and alcohol rehab centers exist on six continents in more than 50 locations worldwide.

It is possible to find an effective alcohol rehab program at Narconon. Call today!

Resources:

Global status report on alcohol and health.
World Health Organization. ISBN 978 92 4 156415 1 (NLM classification: WM 274)
© World Health Organization 2011.

This study’s research team followed 437 young women from high school graduation through freshman year of college. They found that of the women who reported that they had never drank heavily in high school (if at all), nearly half admitted to heavy episodic drinking — commonly called binge drinking — at least once by the end of their first college semester. Young women who were already engaging in binge drinking in high school continued that pattern when in college.

More importantly, binge drinking was linked to students’ risk of sexual victimization — regardless of what their drinking habits had been in high school.

Of all young women whose biggest binge had included four to six drinks, 25 percent said they’d been sexually victimized in the fall semester. That included anything from unwanted sexual contact to rape.

And the more drinks those binges involved, the greater the likelihood of sexual assault. Of those women who’d consumed 10 or more drinks in a sitting since starting college, nearly sixty percent were sexually victimized by the end of their first semester. Though young women are not at fault for being victimized – the blame lies squarely with the perpetrator — if colleges can make more progress in reducing heavy drinking, they may be able to prevent more sexual assaults in the process.

The study also underscores the fact that even kids who don’t drink in high school are yet at risk of heavy drinking once they head off to college, Maria Testa, lead researcher of the study, from the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions, said.

For parents, the bottom line is to talk with your kids about drinking before they go to college — whatever you think their drinking habits have been in high school, according to Testa. And after they’ve left for college, keep talking. “Parents still do have an impact on their kids after they go to college,” Testa said. “Parenting is not over.”

But what if your child, or other family member of any age has already walked down the road to heavy or binge drinking? How to get them turned around and get them out of alcohol addiction is a dilemma faced by many parents and other members of the family. Once someone has gone into heavy drinking you may wonder if you are dealing with an alcoholic.

The characteristics one may use to identify alcoholism include:

• Alcohol consumption has become so strong that the person has cravings, or a strong urge or need to drink
• Person losing control; unable to impose discipline on his or her drinking
• A physical dependence and symptoms of withdrawal if the person quits consuming alcohol

Developing a tolerance and thus needing to drink greater amounts to get the same effect as lower amounts gave before.

If these characteristics describe someone you know or love, Narconon may be the answer you’ve been looking for. Narconon has successfully been helping alcoholics and drug addicts to get and stay clean and sober since 1966. There are no Narconon meetings to attend but, there are Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers on six continents of the world that can help with alcohol abuse.

If you or someone you needs help with alcohol abuse, contact a Narconon drug rehab center today..

Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health, World Health Organization, 2011.

The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration definition of alcoholism.

The World Health Organization also adds that when the drinker tries to cut down on use, he or she is unable to, even when the habit is having a destructive effect on their life.

Furthermore, in 2009, a quarter of persons age 12 or older said they participated in binge drinking (drinking 5 or more drinks on one occasion) in the 30 days prior to being surveyed.

While not all alcohol drinkers are alcoholics, there are nearly 20 million people in this country in 2009 who needed assistance to quit, but only a very small percentage of them (less than 10%) sought and got help in that year.

So, why do so few seek help? What can you do if one of those people who drinks excessively or can’t control his drinking is your spouse, child, or close friend? With so many people affected and not seeking help, the problem may be that one doesn’t know where to turn to find effective help. There are many programs out there, but which are effective?

Alcohol Solutions to Alcoholism

The Narconon drug rehab program has been effectively helping drug and alcohol abusers for over 45 years, and offers an effective solution to drug and alcohol abuse and addiction. Narconon is a unique program which is drug-free, and doesn’t substitute one drug for another. Many families have been able to restore their happy homes after the alcoholic completed the alcohol recovery program at Narconon.

While some students in school are so concerned about their test performance and ability to concentrate on their studies that they are resorting to study drugs, such as Adderall and other amphetamine-type drugs, other students resort to alcohol to escape from their worries. In 2009 nearly 15 percent of those aged 12-17 reportedly used alcohol, and nearly 42 percent of those young adults aged 18-25 reported binge drinking in that year. Clearly, some students are using alcohol as an escape from facing the facts of what they are confronting in school and in their lives.

Narconon offers a holistic program in that it takes into consideration the whole person, and what they need to function successfully in the society, as well as addressing the issues that led to their addictive pattern. Narconon alcohol treatment is a comprehensive program which takes as long as needed to rehabilitate the person so that he no longer feels the compulsion to drink or use drugs. By the end of the program, the participant regains the needed life skills to rebuild his life as a fully functioning member of his family, his community and when he has regained respect for himself.

Narconon saves everyone in the family the stress of alcoholism. This program is offered in Northern California at Narconon Vista Bay, in Destin, Florida at Narconon Gulf Coast, and across Europe. Other centers are located in Latin American, Asia, Australia and South Africa.

In only a matter of months, an alcohol-addicted person can reverse his downward trend and turn his life around. It is being done every day at Narconon centers all over the world. The Narconon program for alcohol and drug rehabilitation can help one to find his way back to an enjoyable and productive life.

Results from the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Volume I. Summary of National Findings, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, http://oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k9NSDUH/2k9Results.htm

In 2008, the NHTSA found that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and that one out of every three of those deaths is alcohol-related. More significantly, teen alcohol use and abuse kills about 6,000 people each year, more than the total caused by all illegal drugs combined.

However, the NHTSA found that a young driver having an accident after drinking isn’t the only thing his or her family should be concerned about. When a young driver drinks, it is often true that the accident is far more severe than an accident caused by a young, non-drinking driver. Which means a much greater chance of a fatality.

An examination of 2008 statistics tells the story:

That year, only two percent of the drivers under 21 years of age who were involved in property-damage-only crashes had been drinking.

Four percent of those involved in crashes resulting in injury had been drinking.

But a whopping twenty-two percent of those involved in fatal crashes had been drinking.

When alcohol affects your own family, it is often very personal and the result of not dealing with this issue can be devastating. The question becomes “How do I prevent my own child or his friends from driving when drinking? How do I prevent or stop him or her from drinking at all? What do I do to educate my child to protect him from drunk drivers?”

If you think your teen or young adult is involved in drinking, particularly binge drinking (defined as five or more drinks at one sitting), start off by talking to them. Make it clear that you are concerned about their safety and the safety of their friends and associates. Ensure that they know the impairment that can be caused by even a little drinking (buzzed drinking and driving still kills).

Cover this point too: They should never allow someone else who has been drinking to drive. Also make sure your child knows that it is safe to call for a ride home at any time of the day or night. This one point alone could save his or her life.

If you think he is already drinking excessively, he may need to go to an effective drug and alcohol Narconon program. Narconon has been successfully helping drug and alcohol addicts with its drug free methods for forty-five years in 50 countries around the world.

For more information about Narconon and its effective alcohol rehab  program, call today.

Traffic Fatalities in 2010 Drop to Lowest Level in Recorded History, A Press Release, from Ê NHTSA 05-11, Friday, April 1, 2011, DOT Estimates Three Percent Drop Beneath 2009 Record Low, http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-05-11

(Hingson and Kenkel, 2003) Full cite: Hingson, Ralph and D. Kenkel. “Social and Health Consequences of Underage Drinking.” In press. As quoted in Institute of Medicine National Research Council of the National Academies. Bonnie, Richard J. and Mary Ellen O’Connell, eds. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.

Her death was not ruled a suicide by the London coroner because she presumably didn’t realize that by drinking so much she pushed her blood alcohol level over five times the legal limit for drunk driving, and that this level was potentially fatal.

Her tragic death points out the actual risk factors involved in chronic excessive alcohol abuse. Amy was trying to battle the addiction according to this report, and had been prescribed, among other drugs, the sedative Librium to help her cope with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, but clearly she couldn’t cope with those symptoms and literally drank herself to death.

Excessive drinking can cause death in many ways. One is the aspiration of vomit which can lead to asphyxiation; another is poisoning of the respiratory center in the brain. Of course, fatal automobile accidents and fights and violent crimes resulting in injury are some others.

Sadly, many college students and other young people who watch others drink excessively or even laugh at others who are passing out due to alcohol, later say they wish they’d sought medical attention for their friends. In many cases, these students end up feeling guilty for alcohol-related tragedies which could have been prevented.

Knowing the signs of alcohol poisoning would help, and also knowing what to do if one suspects someone they know has alcohol poisoning are crucial educational measures to prevent more needless deaths.

There are common myths about sobering up including taking a cold shower, drinking black coffee and sleeping it off. But these don’t work and could be dangerous as they overlook the fact that alcohol levels can keep climbing after drinking stops.

The only thing that reverses the effects of alcohol is time, which unfortunately is something your friend may not have if he is suffering from alcohol poisoning. Also, because many different factors affect the level of intoxication for each individual, it is hard to gauge exactly how much is too much alcohol consumption for one person.

Here is what happens to the body when it gets alcohol poisoning:

Alcohol depresses some of the nerves involved in involuntary actions of the body like breathing and the gag reflex which prevents choking.

Vomiting is a common response to alcohol drinking to excess, as alcohol is a stomach irritant. A person who is unconscious due to intoxication can inhale this vomit and therefore die of asphyxiation.

After a person has passed out in a drunken stupor, the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) can continue to rise in their body. This is because the alcohol in the stomach and intestines keeps being absorbed into the bloodstream and it circulates throughout the body. Therefore it is dangerous to think the person will be okay if you just let them sleep it off. Their BAC can reach such high levels that they stop breathing before the body can break down the alcohol into harmless components.

So, what should one do if you suspect your friend has alcohol poisoning? First, know the danger signs, such as mental confusion, stupor, coma, vomiting, seizures, slow breathing and irregular breathing. Also, hypothermia is a symptom of alcohol poisoning, which can be evaluated by the paleness or bluish color of the skin, as well as a cold feel to the body.

Second, don’t wait for all these symptoms to present themselves in your friend. If you see one or two, it is time to call 911 and get help. If your friend is unconscious due to excessive alcohol consumption, they may never wake up.

You can take action also by seeing that any friend or family member who uses alcohol to excess gets help at a reputable and effective drug and alcohol rehab center. Surprisingly, in a 2009 study, nearly two-thirds of all alcohol addicts never even seek help to recover from their addiction.

Narconon has been helping alcoholics and other drug addicts to get sober and straight and stay that way for over 45 years on six continents of the world.

Call a Narconon alcohol treatment center if you know someone who needs help with alcohol abuse.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/story/2011-10-26/amy-winehouse-pathologist/50927104/

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/otheralcoholinformation/factsaboutalcoholpoisoning.aspx

It is fairly well known that drinking and driving is a significant factor in automobile injuries and deaths in the U.S. In fact, alcohol was involved in forty percent of traffic crash fatalities and seven percent of all crashes in 2003, which tallied more than 17,000 fatalities and over 275,000 car accidental injuries, according to the NHTSA study of 2004.

In 2008, the NHTSA study found that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and that one out of three of those deaths are alcohol-related. Moreover, teen alcohol use kills about 6,000 people each year, more than all illegal drugs combined.

If you or your family members have been involved in one of these accidents, you understand quite well the desire to get drunken drivers off the road, and more to the point, prevent them from drinking and driving in the first place. Many organizations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and others have sprung up and are working very diligently to lobby against drinking and driving.

It is evident that alcohol and its repercussions have potentially devastating consequences for both the individual and society.

But, how does this situation change? Is it just by better laws or enforcement of the existing laws? The NHTSA study states that while laws exist that restrict sales to intoxicated patrons and at events like “happy hour”, they can reduce alcohol-related harm only if they are adequately enforced. Enforcement or rather, lack of enforcement of these laws becomes one key to handling the issue.

Many states have program that try to increase compliance and enforcement, and some of these could be used as models for other states to adopt.

Prevention of drinking to excess by adequate educational programs early in school is another key to reducing alcohol-related destruction. Effective education which gets at the youngest children, as early as elementary school, is needed to change this behavior pattern.

By junior high school it is already too late. Although recent trends show that younger teens are binge drinking less (reduced from 9% to 6.4% among 8th graders in a recent study), there are still 15% of 10th graders reportedly binge drinking, and 22% of high school seniors who report that they have drunk 5 or more drinks in a row in the last two weeks, according to the 2011 study.

When one has an alcoholic in their midst, or when one’s family has been involved in these tragic accidents, the issue becomes very personal. If you are faced with the personal wreckage that living with an alcoholic brings, or if you want to help someone to successfully stop abusing alcohol or other drugs, there are several effective programs you could choose.

Narconon is one program which has been helping to broadly educate young people and getting people off drugs and alcohol effectively and with great success for over forty-five years. In over 50 countries around the world, Narconon has safely and successfully used its drug-free methods to help tens of thousands of addicts and alcoholics to live sober and drug-free lives.

We do not have Narconon meetings, but for more information and to learn how the Narconon drug and alcohol rehab program works, please read this article: http://www.narconon-news.org/program/narconon-alcohol-rehab-program.html.

DOT HS 809 878 Revised February 2005, Preventing Over-consumption of Alcohol Ð Sales to the Intoxicated and “Happy Hour” (Drink Special) Laws, National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/alcohol/pireweb/images/2240pierfinal.pdf

(NHTSA, 2009) Full cite: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Traffic Safety Facts 2008: Young Drivers”. DOT 811 169. Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811169.PDF

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2004). Traffic Safety Facts 2003: Alcohol. DOT HS 809 761.

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/809897.PDF

Hingson, Ralph and D. Kenkel. “Social and Health Consequences of Underage Drinking.” In press. As quoted in Institute of Medicine National Research Council of the National Academies. Bonnie, Richard J. and Mary Ellen O’Connell, eds. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.

http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html

http://drugabuse.gov/newsroom/11/mtf11overview.html

When the woman feels sick or dizzy after fifteen or 20 minutes, the rapist can then help her to her car or offer to take her home, where he then completes the rape. The young woman wakes up the next morning, knowing something is very wrong, feeling sick, but not being sure what occurred. According to one estimate by the Department of Justice, there are 375,000 drug or alcohol-facilitated rapes just among women on American colleges.

“A rape of this kind is just one of the many things that can go wrong in an environment of substance abuse,” warned Bobby Wiggins, spokesperson for Narconon. Narconon is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and drug education. “Especially among college students, there are also much higher rates of accident, injury, failures in school and even death among those drinking or using drugs.”

Drugs that are Used

Some of the drugs used to make women unable to defend themselves against rape include: Rohypnol (flunitrazepam), a benzodiazepine, but much stronger than the more common Xanax: In American states along the southern border, Rohypnol is easy to get as it is sold across the counter in Mexico. In other areas, it sold by prescription for sleeplessness.

Alcohol: Its big advantage is that it is legal and considered an “excuse” for unacceptable behavior, particularly on college campuses.

GHB: This drug is often used by body builders to burn fat. It may be stored in a small dropper bottle for easy addition to someone’s drink.

Ketamine, a veterinary anesthetic: This drug acts as a dissociative, meaning that it can cause hallucinations or a dreamlike or detached state.

Ecstasy and methamphetamine may also be used to facilitate rapes. In a circular fashion, drug-facilitated rapes may themselves engender more substance abuse. Women who have been raped are thirteen times more likely to abuse alcohol and 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.

“While some women are slipped a drug without their knowledge and then raped when they are unable to resist, far more women experience sexual assaults after they have willingly consumed drugs or alcohol,” advised Wiggins. “By far the best way to prevent assault is to avoid drug or alcohol abuse entirely. This keeps a young woman safe from addiction, drug or alcohol-related health problems, assault and unwanted pregnancy.”

For more information on the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, call and speak to one of drug rehabilitation counselors.

Resources

• http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/club/index.html
• http://www.library.northwestern.edu/news/2010/march/drug-facilitated-incapacitated-and-forcible-rape
• http://www.pcar.org/about-sexual-violence/stats
• http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/sexualassault/drugrape.htm
• http://www.rainn.org/statistics

• Holidays Less Critical Than Saving Son’s Life from Addiction, Says Dad: Ten days before Christmas, Victor’s son arrived at Narconon Arrowhead in Canadian, Oklahoma. Four months later the family got the results they were praying for, Victor’s son was drug-free.
• What Is Addiction: According to Narconon Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation and Education Centers, addiction is defined as a condition characterized by repeated, compulsive seeking and use of drugs, alcohol or other similar substances despite adverse social, mental and physical consequences.
• Narconon Drug Rehab Graduate Living Drug Free: Two years ago, when she thought things could not get any worse, Brandy overdosed on prescription pain medication. When her family found her she was unconscious and barely breathing. Brandy reports that a visit to the hospital to get her stomach pumped saved her immediate life and the Narconon drug rehab program gave her life back.
• Cravings – The Downfall of Sobriety: The Narconon program in Louisiana recognizes how vital it is to address cravings in an individual in order to permanently stay off drugs and alcohol. Cravings result when an individual has consumed enough drugs and alcohol that their body requires it.
• Guilt Is One Main Reason Addiction Increases During Holiday’s: The Narconon program in Michigan directly deals with the factors behind the guilt through precise techniques that have been developed and are in use in the Narconon program that enable an addict to obtain relief from his past misdeeds and obtain a new fresh viewpoint of life.
• Narconon Delivers Effective Drug Education During The Holidays: This past week on Bobby Wiggins, the world renowned drug education expert, spoke on behalf of Narconon Freedom Center as a special guest at an elementary school near Marshall, Michigan.
• Holiday Increase Feelings of Guilt For Those Addicted: They are forced to look at the damage they’ve created and as a solution they will use more and more drugs or alcohol in an effort to not have to face this. “The more the individual uses drugs, the guiltier they feel so the more they have to keep using,” explains Jeff Lukas, Executive Director of the Narconon program in Louisiana.
• Addiction Can Be Source of Holiday Depression: Rehabs, like the Narconon program in Louisiana, work with the individual to free them of depression in order to achieve permanent sobriety from drugs and alcohol.
• The Most Effective Solution For Alcohol Addiction: “At Narconon we see a lot of clients with alcohol problems that have tried other methods to stop drinking but until the underlying issues are really handled, things like alcohol monitoring bracelets merely act as a temporary deterrent.”

Narconon report of recent news

The conference had a long name – HOPE 2008 International Conference on Alcohol/Drug Abuse, HIV/AIDS, Environment, Population, and Human Rights. Over 100 persons from 11 countries attended the conference held in October in Mumbai, organized by Dr. Yusuf Merchant, president of DAIRRC (Drug Abuse Information Rehabilitation & Research Centre).

“Yusuf was wise to expand the scope,” said Clark Carr, president of Narconon International. “Drug abuse affects AIDS, AIDS affects population and human rights, and everything interacts with environment.” Carr delivered a paper on the ‘biochemical personality,’ outlining Narconon^® drug rehab case histories which demonstrate a promising pattern of positive personality changes when recovering addicts cleanse toxic drug residuals from their bodies.

It’s not just drug toxins that are depressing us, of course. Speakers from Switzerland to South Africa discussed the dwindling spiral of environmental damage and population growth. Flying in from New Delhi to address the attendees was also keynote speaker, the Honorable Mrs. Meira Kumar, Minister of the Dept of Social Justice and Empowerment, a co-sponsor along with the National Institute of Social Defense. “There are two root causes of all five targets of the conference,” she said, “human greed and human deprivation.” She gave a blistering critique of those who “look down on the deprived.” “Our caste system is a human rights violation, a social injustice,” she continued, “but non-violence and education are our hopes and greatest tools.” The Minister said she preferred NGOs to tackle these problems, endemic not just to India but the whole world. “Government can’t do it. The NGOs are so passionate and dedicated.”

With its more than 145 centers delivering drug rehab or prevention services in 45 countries, Narconon was perhaps the most international organization present. “I’ve been fortunate to work with Yusuf on several occasions,” said Carr. “Several years ago we collaborated delivering drug education lectures to half a dozen Mumbai colleges.” The only permanent Narconon installation in India so far is a drug education unit in New Delhi, although Carr said they hope to open a residential drug treatment center in India in 2009.

Dr. Rosy Chhabra, another colleague of Merchant and DAIRRC, reported on a study funded by the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of DAIRRC’s successful alcohol and HIV education project. “It was totally collaborative with schools and communities,” she said. “It was because the community took charge that it was successful.”