Often times, and especially in the military, prescription drug abuse starts with an injury. The medication is prescribed to allow the person to continue on with their life, without being sidelined with pain. However, what tends to happen is that the person becomes addicted to the medication and cannot refrain from using it. Even after the pain is gone, people still seek out the drug.

Regardless of how a person starts abusing prescription medication, it is vital that they enlist the help of an effective drug rehab to learn how to live life. More and more people are realizing that prescription drug abuse is a nation-wide epidemic, because of this, there is an increased focus on effective drug rehabs. The key to determining whether or not a rehab is effective or not is to look at their approach to addiction.

One rehab with one of the highest success rates for permanent sobriety (76%) attributes their success to their non-disease approach towards addiction. , Narconon , acknowledges that a large majority of people who are abusing prescription pain medication started off with an injury.

Armed with this knowledge, Narconon works one on one with their clients to figure out what problem or problems led to addiction in the first place. Once this problem is isolated and handled, clients no longer feel the need to abuse medications like OxyContin, Vicodin, or Percocet.

Additionally, using the same detoxification method that the police force in Utah uses to purify their bodies after dealing with toxic meth lab cleanups, clients enrolled in the Narconon program sign up for several sessions in a dry-heat sauna. The sauna, combined with light exercise and a regimen of vitamins and nutrition, allows the drug metabolites to dislodge from the system and escape through the sweat glands. These drug metabolites are the reasons for cravings, so this method of detoxification allows the person to live life without the constant threat of cravings, which is one of the biggest reasons why people relapse in the first place.

Our soldiers, our loved ones, and friends do not have to live life addicted to prescriptions. Prescription drug abuse does not have to go unhandled. If you or anyone you know is in need of help for a substance abuse problem, please contact Narconon at 800-785-4962 for more information.

Stress is very often a trigger for drug addicts, whether real or imagined. In a rehab center, the stress factors are removed. They are in a safe, controlled environment. They have no access to their drugs or friends who use drugs. They are there 24 hours a day. There are out-patient programs, but they are far less successful than in-patient or residential centers. A drug addict must be removed from their regular environment until they are ready to go back to it.

Addiction is multi-faceted so the treatment has to be as well. While in rehab, they learn what their triggers are. They also learn how to avoid the situations and people which may contribute to their drug use. Where before, their entire lives were about getting and using drugs; now their lives are about ridding drugs from their bodies and lives.

Residential and in-patient treatment is proven effective. Cognitive -Holistic, 24 hour submersion in ridding the body, mind and soul of drugs and learning to live a healthier, happier life is preferable to a half-minded attempt in out-patient. A drug addict trying to become drug-free needs all available opportunities. Residential programs offer these opportunities and more. Being away from the environment in which the addiction started is essential in learning to beat the addiction.

Narconon offers a long term
residential drug rehab program Narconon is a drug & alcohol rehab center which offers a very successful cognitive- holistic rehabilitation program located away from the addict’s usual environment. Our rehab centers have been effectively helping individuals throughout the USA and Canada since 1966 .

An Associated Press review of drug overdose data shows that so-called “black tar” heroin – named for its dark, gooey consistency – and other forms of the drug are contributing to a spike in overdose deaths across the nation and attracting a new generation of users who are caught off guard by its potency.

“We found people who snorted it lying face-down with the straw lying next to them,” said Patrick O’Neil, coroner in suburban Chicago’s Will County, where annual heroin deaths have nearly tripled – from 10 to 29 – since 2006. “It’s so potent that we occasionally find the needle in the arm at the death scene.”
Authorities are concerned that the potency and price of the heroin from Mexico and Colombia could widen the drug’s appeal, just as crack did for cocaine decades ago.
The Latin American heroin comes in the form of black tar or brown powder, and it has proven especially popular in rural and suburban areas.
Originally associated with rock stars, hippies and inner-city junkies, heroin in the 1970s was usually smuggled from Asia and the Middle East and was around 5 percent pure. The rest was “filler” such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, even brick dust. The low potency meant that many users injected the drug to maximize the effect.
But in recent years, Mexican drug dealers have improved the way they process poppies, the brightly colored flowers supplied by drug farmers that provide the raw ingredients for heroin, opium and painkillers such as morphine. Purity levels have increased, and prices have fallen.
Federal agents now commonly find heroin that is 50 percent pure and sometimes as much as 80 percent pure.
The greater potency allows more heroin users to snort the drug or smoke it and still achieve a sustained high – an attractive alternative for teenagers and suburbanites who don’t want the HIV risk or the track marks on their arms that come with repeated injections.
“That has opened up heroin to a whole different group of users,” said Harry Sommers, the agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency office in St. Louis.
Among the drug’s casualties was William Henderson, a 29-year-old welder from rural Missouri who died in his sleep in 2009, hours after snorting heroin. A bear of a man at 6-foot-1 and 300 pounds, he had tried the drug only a few times.
His wife recalled waking up to find the alarm buzzing. Her husband’s body had turned blue, and his stomach was cold to the touch.
“I kept telling him, Will, you’re late – get up!” said Amanda Henderson of Winfield, Mo., northwest of St. Louis. “But he wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing. I called 911, but I knew it was too late.” She and her three small boys were left destitute.
An increasing amount of the deadliest heroin appears to be coming from Mexico. Although the vast majority still arrives from overseas, Mexican dealers appear to be chipping away at the U.S. market.
As recently as two years ago, state and federal drug agents saw heroin arriving from Colombia, Asia and Mexico. But as the availability and quality of cocaine and methamphetamine have declined, Mexican smugglers have stepped up heroin shipments to the U.S.
Independent Mexican smugglers have the market largely to themselves because the major drug cartels only dabble in heroin, preferring to focus on locally grown marijuana and Colombian cocaine, according to a DEA official in El Paso, Texas. The agent spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns and his ongoing role in active drug investigations.
Heroin metabolizes in the body so quickly that medical examiners often cannot pinpoint the drug as a cause of death unless there is other evidence to back it up – say, a needle or a syringe found near the body. Also, many victims use multiple drugs and alcohol, so citing a specific substance is often impossible.
At the start of the decade, roughly 2,000 people a year died from heroin overdoses nationwide, according to records kept by the Centers for Disease Control. By 2008, the drug was blamed for at least 3,000 deaths in the 36 states that responded to records requests from the AP. Deaths from 2009 have not yet been compiled.
The AP contacted agencies in all 50 states, as well as officials in the District of Columbia and New York City, including medical examiners, coroners and health departments. The survey showed that heroin deaths rose 18.2 percent from 2007 to 2008, and 20.3 percent from 2006 to 2008.
Law enforcement officials and drug-treatment experts believe those statistics woefully undercount the actual number of deaths. And they fear the problem is getting worse: Seizures of heroin along the U.S.-Mexico border quadrupled from 2008 to 2009, from about 44 pounds (20 kilograms) to more than 190 pounds (86 kilograms).
In the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, more than 20 deaths were blamed on heroin in 2009. DEA analysis of heroin purchased undercover found the drug was nearly 60 percent pure – the highest average purity in the U.S. At the same time, the price was among the lowest.
“This is consistent with how crack cocaine was introduced in the 1970s, when it was a high-purity product sold at a low price,” said Carol Falkowski, director of the alcohol and drug abuse division for the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

To hook new users, dealers are selling heroin cheap – often around $10 a bag. The new users included Billy Roberts, the 19-year-old son of a retired Chicago police officer. Last September, he slumped over dead of a heroin overdose at a friend’s house.

John Roberts had moved his family to Will County when Billy was just entering high school.
“I thought I was moving away from problems like that,” Roberts said. “These kids out here are being introduced to real serious drugs, dirt cheap, and they don’t know how pure and dangerous they are.”

Roberts now speaks to high school and civic groups about the dangers of heroin.
Independent Mexican smugglers like Jose Antonio Medina Arreguin pay the cartels for access to lucrative trade routes used to sneak drugs across the border and along U.S. highways.

Medina, also known as “Don Pepe,” was arrested earlier this year in Mexico on suspicion of running a $10 million-a-month heroin smuggling business from the western Mexico state of Michoacan. With the permission of the area’s powerful La Familia cartel, he is believed to have shipped as much as 440 pounds a month into the U.S. for street sales from San Diego to San Jose.

Glendale, Calif., often ranks among the safest cities of its size. But police are concerned about a growing heroin problem tied to Mexican street gangs from nearby Los Angeles. Gang members make the quick drive up Interstate 5 to deliver heroin straight to high school kids.
“They tell them, Just smoke it. It’s just like smoking a cigarette. It’s just like smoking marijuana,’ ” said Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. Once the kids are hooked, “they’ve got a customer forever.”

The trip up I-5 also leads to Oregon, where state Medical Examiner Karen Gunson said the heroin problem is worst in communities along the interstate. The state had 131 heroin-related overdose deaths last year – 42 more than three years earlier.
The dead simply didn’t know the risks of the heroin they used, she said.

“We’re seeing it sometimes 80 percent pure,” Gunson said. “There’s no FDA approval on this stuff”. If you’re using it every day, your chances grow and grow that it’s going to kill you.”

That’s what happened to Nikki Tayon. A decade ago, she helped lead the high school softball team from Winfield to second place in the state. But it wasn’t long after high school that she began using drugs such as marijuana and meth. A couple of years ago, she turned to heroin.
Last April, her mother, Sue Tayon, got a call from a ranger at Cuivre River State Park.

Nikki’s purse and cell phone had been found, and rangers were looking for her. Hours later came the gruesome news: Nikki’s body was discovered in a ditch. She was 28.
She had overdosed on heroin that was 90 percent pure, her mother said. Police said her boyfriend panicked and dumped Nikki from the car. No charges were filed.
“I know she was doing it,” Sue Tayon said. “But she didn’t deserve to die this way.”

Anyone who has witnessed drug addiction first hand understands that addicts lead a life of pain, sorrow, loneliness, and isolation sometimes ending in death and sometimes (if they’re lucky) they come out the other side a changed person. While there are significant, life-changing experiences to be had in drug and alcohol rehab, not everyone gets that chance. Some people are sent to jail, some people die before they can be helped and some people just continue to abuse drugs and/or alcohol. For those who have been able to attain success from drug rehab they will attest that nothing feels better than being able to live life the way it was intended. It is that type of success that we need to push. It is that type of mentality that we, as a country, need to have in order to finally stop the destruction and chaos that the illegal drug trade brings about.

There are thousands of rehabilitation facilities around the country that will help struggling addicts overcome their addiction, however there are a select few that have been commended for their unusually high success rates for permanent recovery. The Narconon Program has been in operation since the sixties, and was one of the first inpatient drug rehabs in the country. One of their premier facilities, Narconon Louisiana has also attained success in the field of recovery by proving that clients can break away from the life of an addict and lead a better, more fulfilled life without drugs.

Narconon has 140 centers in 44 countries ,This long-term, inpatient drug rehab has been in operation since 1966 and still maintains a 76% success rate. One of the biggest contributing factors to their success is that they do not follow the disease concept for addiction. Instead, clients work one on one with a trained drug and alcohol counselor to figure out what problem drugs and alcohol were a solution for in the first place. Once that problem is isolated and handled clients no longer feel the compulsion to get high as a way to get through life. This intensive counseling paired with a body detox and slew of other courses geared towards raising a person’s responsibility, ability to spot potentially dangerous situations, and repairing different relationships that were affected by the drug and/or alcohol use, is what makes the Narconon program so unique and successful.

So instead of focusing on war that had dragged on for way too long, let’s focus on getting our loved ones, our neighbors and our friends some long lasting help.

The testimonials are designed to help the recovering addict to admit their addiction and while they can be useful for the addict who had not received help to hear, they are usually met with a defensive tone and a denial of any similarity. We as humans are defensive creatures and have a hard time hearing the truth, if you have had 4 accidents this year and your insurance company raises your rates calling you a high risk, while it is true, you will still be very defensive with them. Why would it be any different when approaching someone who is abusing drugs? If you try to tell an addict they need help, they will insist that they do not.

So, what do you do?

This is a problem many loved ones and family members face each second of everyday. It hurts them to push and when they see their loved one hurting or becoming angry they back off. Addiction intervention is one of the best methods for addicts to actually seek help. The motive is not to push the addict, it is to remove safety cushions you may have been providing and leaving them with little option. Enabling drug addiction is the largest problem addict’s face, if left to their own devices most addicts could not function. Family members and loved ones hand over money in fear they will steal it or put their self in harm’s way if left to get it on their own; they house them, drive them, feed them and ignore the problem. It is not helpful to the addict to assist them in their self destruction, it may be tough but the only way to allow them to make a decision for help is to allow them to hit rock bottom.

Support and assistance should always be offered for the addict wanting to seek help, and only for the ones wanting help. If you continue to aid and abet the addict while they are using, you are helping to dig their grave, not saving them.

For More Information

For more information on drug addiction and rehab issues see our articles on drugs as toxins and the detoxing the body of harmful drugs and toxins, articles on drug addiction and youth, articles on drug addiction and adults, and articles on drug addiction and rehab issues.

We had no idea that the next step was going to be drug addiction. She refused to be taken off the pain medication even when her doctor told her she no longer needed it. She changed doctors several times and would have more than one at any given time. Her personality would change once we walked through the doctor’s doors, from the woman who walked straight and looked to be fine to the woman who was hunched over with tears in her eyes from the pain. Her drug seeking behavior was no more attractive than a crack addict who was begging on the streets for money to pay for their next hit.

When we formed an addiction intervention and tried to get her help she was angry, angrier than I had ever seen her. She screamed at us and cried, used guilt to try to dissuade us. I actually felt sorry for her thinking maybe she did need the drugs for all her pain, and thought maybe we were making a mistake. What is drug addiction anyways? What did I know?

My family pushed forward even though I was feeling guilty for making my mother angry and the guilt of not understanding her pain was strong in my heart. She did finally agree to get help although it felt more like it was out of spite than anything else. I do believe she thought she could talk her way out of treatment and into getting more drugs for her long past injury.

When my mother walked out of the drug rehab clinic with my father all I remember is her smile. We drove all the way home with laughter and happiness, I got my mother back. I was so grateful that my other family members pushed harder and that my mother was strong enough to overcome her addiction.

When I ask her about it now she is honest about her problem and appreciated the addiction intervention, she says that without it she may have never realized how bad she needed help on her own. She had never done drugs in her life, had never considering herself an addict. She said she justified it as self medicating herself and now knows that she was a true drug addict.

For More Information

For more information on drug addiction and rehab issues see our articles on drugs as toxins and the detoxing the body of harmful drugs and toxins, articles on drug addiction and youth, articles on drug addiction and adults, and articles on drug addiction and rehab issues.

With so many drugs being prescribed for injury and illness it has become entirely too easy for anyone to find themselves addicted. This also makes addiction intervention much harder as the addict will argue they are not doing anything wrong. It is hard to admit you have a problem when you are doing something legal. The fact that they are abusing prescribed medication does not mean they are not addicted or the doctor has neglected their addiction.

Drug addiction intervention is a necessary step in recovery and should be handled with care. The addict needs to be surrounded by people who love them as well as someone there to offer support through a drug rehab program or addiction recovery clinic. In most cases the loved ones will share feelings and fears they have for the addict and explain how the addiction has affected them and their life. The addict is there to listen and to be extended a helping hand only if they agree to seek help immediately.

The addict will normally try to put it off saying they can stop on their own and want the chance to prove it, in most situations this does not happen and they will often times become worse. The feeling of having loved ones close in on you will leave a scent of betrayal and frustration. The pain they feel without the drug will be a crutch to make you feel sorry for them and enable their behavior.

The addiction intervention is a painful but necessary process to go through in order to get the addict to seek help. It should have an end result of the addict going directly into a drug recovery program and if the addict refused they need to understand that their behavior will no longer be condoned or assisted. It is hard for both parties involved but the outcome is a better life.

For More Information

For more information on drug addiction and rehab issues see our articles on drugs as toxins and the detoxing the body of harmful drugs and toxins, articles on drug addiction and youth, articles on drug addiction and adults, and articles on drug addiction and rehab issues.

There are millions of people who have had success through addiction recovery centers and have flooded the internet sites with letters of gratitude and drug rehab testimonials. You can read about parents of young teenage children who were afraid they would lose them forever until they were offered an extended hand. There are children writing in to thank the centers for giving them their parents back and even the addicts are giving thanks to receiving a second chance at life.

Drug addiction is a real problem and needs treatment, no different than cancer needs chemo, drug addiction needs rehab. The drug rehab testimonials show that there are successful addicts and that people lives can change. There is no shame in asking for help and the truth is without it, there is no real chance for recovery.

Understanding drug addiction is what the centers specialize in and their experienced staff will assist in finding the root cause of the addiction. The simple task of taking away the drug never fixes the problem entirely, there has to be a reason for the behavior and until it is resolved the behavior will continue.

If you or a loved one is suffering from a drug addiction and would like to learn more about getting help, you can read some of the touching and inspirational drug rehab testimonials online and see what others have had to say about the programs that are offered.

You can research the drug and alcohol rehab programs available and even have a specialist assist in finding the right one for your needs. There is no need to wait, the sooner you seek help, the sooner your life can be given back.

Be sure you ask what programs are available and compare all the treatment methods and the offered services. You want to ensure that you are in an environment that is suitable for you to make the recovery a more comfortable and easy one.

For More Information

For more information on drug addiction and rehab issues see our articles on drugs as toxins and the detoxing the body of harmful drugs and toxins, articles on drug addiction and youth, articles on drug addiction and adults, and articles on drug addiction and rehab issues.

Drug addiction is characterized by compulsive and uncontrollable behavior. It turns even the mildest of people into drug seekers who will do almost anything to obtain their drug.

Drug addiction can become chronic which means that even after long periods of abstinences the addict can relapse back into the addiction.

The progression of acute drug use will create this pathological condition and develop into a harmful and dangerous lifestyle for the addict.

Drug addiction is categorized in three stages:

1. Preoccupation/Anticipation: The addict will display drug seeking behavior, they cannot focus on anything but obtaining the drug.
2. Binge/Intoxication: Once the drug is found it is taken until the affects are visible to the addict and intoxication is reached.
3. Withdrawal: When the drug begins to leave the addicts system this can cause a very negative affect resulting in illness and severe pain.

There are many things in our daily life that can be considered to be drug addictions, caffeine for instance or nicotine are legal and bought over the counter at any local store. These are common addictions and do not require rehab treatment, so what is drug addiction that needs special treatment?

• Amphetamine
• Methamphetamine
• Cocaine
• Alcohol
• Barbiturates
• Benzodiazepines
• Opiates
• Morphine
• Codeine
• Heroin
• Oxycodone
• Methadone

These drugs in some instances (except alcohol and cocaine) are prescribed by a doctor to the patient to relive pain from an injury or to treat depression. Some of these drugs are prescribed long term and as the patient builds up a tolerance more is needed. Many of these “medical” drugs are also abused as street drugs.

Street drugs such as heroin or cocaine can create an addiction with the first use as the person wants to attain that first initial euphoric feeling again and again. The drugs such as codeine require that the patient be exposed to them for a much longer time frame before addiction usually occurs. The slow progression of the pills becoming a staple in their life can lead to a very difficult time trying to overcome the addiction. In any type of drug addiction, a drug treatment clinic should be located and the addict admitted for a speedy recovery. If you were wondering “what is drug addiction” because a loved one or friend is in trouble, do not hesitate to take the initiative to get them help.

For More Information

For more information on drug addiction and rehab issues see our articles on drugs as toxins and the detoxing the body of harmful drugs and toxins, articles on drug addiction and youth, articles on drug addiction and adults, and articles on drug addiction and rehab issues.

For More Information

For more information on drug addiction and rehab issues see our articles on drugs as toxins and the detoxing the body of harmful drugs and toxins, articles on drug addiction and youth, articles on drug addiction and adults, and articles on drug addiction and rehab issues.