alcohol
Deadly Combination of Factors Drives Up Adolescent Use of Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol
Narconon® Drug Prevention Specialists say teens desperately need information to help them abstain from drug use.
There has been a radical change in how drugs are perceived by American adolescents, which has caught some educators and parents off guard. The study was conducted by the Partnership at Drugfree.org (formerly the Partnership for a Drug Free America). The prestigious organization has released the 22nd in a series of annual surveys involving 2,500 high school students in the United States.
Veteran drug prevention specialist Bobby Wiggins at Narconon International says the results of the survey are not surprising. “If drug prevention is not pushed aggressively and consistently, if teens and preteens are not advised of the factual dangers of using drugs, the likelihood that young people will fall prey to drugs before they reach adulthood is substantially increased as we have seen by this report.”
Overall teenage use of drugs and alcohol declined from 1998 to 2008. However, even during that time, the use of ecstasy and marijuana rose. At the same time, the percentage of teens claiming they drink to combat stress also rose.
Wiggins says that kids today are more inclined to encourage their peers to do drugs because they believe they are not harmful. At the top of their “not harmful list of drugs” are no surprise, alcohol, ecstasy and cannabis.
One in four teens smoked marijuana between 2008 and 2010 – an increase of seven per cent. The use of ecstasy in the past year rose from six to 10 per cent. Almost 50 per cent of high school students did not view heavy drinking as a “great risk.” Six in ten said they had their first full alcoholic drink by age 15. One in five claim they drink because of school stress.
Slightly better news – there’s been little evidence of relaxing attitudes regarding methamphetamines, cocaine or heroin amongst those surveyed.” Overall, teens are wary of drugs they believe are addicting; but it is wishful thinking that this will protect them once they engage in drug use,” says Wiggins. ”
The survey also found that parents feel unprepared to respond to underage drinking by their children and almost a third felt there is very little parents can do to prevent their kids from trying alcohol.
“We know that when we give teens straight information about drugs and alcohol they are far more inclined to make the decision to stay drug and alcohol free. But if they lack vital information about drugs and their effects, they are extremely vulnerable to invitations to use drugs,” says Wiggins.
Narconon’s experts urge parents and educators to renew commitment to drug prevention education. Narconon drug education presentations have resulted in drastic change in the attitudes of teens and preteens toward drug taking. For those who have already gotten caught in the trap, Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Centers can help young people get back on track. “It is a terrible thing to stand by while your child’s life unravels because of drugs,” says Wiggins, “It doesn’t have to happen.”
If you want to help someone or have questions, please call 1-800-775-8750 or email info@narconon.org.
Narconon International Sheds Light on Alcoholic Psychosis
Is it the drug talking or the alcoholic when language goes toxic?
Warm cozy holiday scenes of friends sharing alcoholic beverages lure many to partake of their drink of choice. Even mead, or honey wine, which led to more than a few sorry drunkards in the 15th century has made a comeback with homey websites, revealing treasured recipes and gently smiling advocates praising its qualities. It is easy to forget the ugliness of alcohol addiction that remains hidden behind closed doors until violence breaks out and it suddenly becomes news.
Severe alcoholic psychosis was exposed a few months back when the media revealed taped rants of A-list actor Mel Gibson. The tapes were portrayed as unforgivable betrayal of an international community because of racial slurs and anti-semitic remarks Gibson made. However, a more fair description was offered by an AP wire reporter, Raina Kelley, who described what was on the tapes as “incoherent, devastatingly cruel, illogical, self-pitying, nonsensical—punctuated by curse words and weird breathy noises that sounded like threatening, though asthmatic, growls.”
“As a culture we rely on alcohol to aid social interchange, yet it is a drug that can bring about despicable treatment of one human being by another,” says Clark Carr, President of Narconon International. “We need to realize speech and actions by out of control alcoholics is the drug, not the person. However, recovery hinges on whether the alcoholic can take responsibility for the damage caused while under the influence.”
The Narconon® program resolves alcoholism through an education model that handles this crucial factor. Nutrition includes calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins and a proprietary detox regimen restore health and clear thinking. Then a series of courses brings alcoholics back to full control of their lives, including the ability to repair the damaged caused by what is often years of abusive behavior. “To watch this positive transformation is one of the most exciting experiences I can imagine,” says Carr. “Nothing reveals more clearly that the alcoholic’s artificial personality merely covers the true personality, which is fully recoverable.”
This statement from a graduate of the program gives further insight into the bitter lash outs of an alcoholic. “How do you describe this insanity in such a way to make others understand just how devastating it really is? How do you explain a life without pride or integrity or peace of mind, not even a little? How do you describe the guilt and alienation from life?”
After the Narconon program graduation, emerges a person ready to move on: “I am successful and happy and I have a future. I can see again and have restored faith in myself. I can look people in the eye and be proud. I can smile and enjoy even the smallest of simple pleasures.”
“We hope a man as truly gifted as Mr. Gibson finds a way to walk that road back as so many others have done,” says Carr.
The Narconon Program has been effectively helping alcoholics and drug dependent people for more than 40 years through a network of over 100 drug rehab centers and drug prevention/education centers around the world.
For more information about Narconon drug prevention and rehabilitation call 1 800-775-8750 or visit www.narconon.org.
Substance Abuse Warning During Prom and Graduation Season
With spring break gone, the next major hurdles for substance abuse and other risky behaviors for America’s teens are prom and graduation season. As the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) points out, this is often the time of year where celebrations get completely out of hand and can cause serious harm, or even death.
The combination of alcohol with young people celebrating the end of a school year, or even the end of high school, can lead to excess. While many of these seniors and other teenagers expect to have rules-free, fun-filled celebrations with their friends, if they have not earlier learned self-control without adult supervision. The result too often is risky behaviors, such as underage drinking, promiscuity and unprotected sex, drug use, physical and sexual assault, and impaired driving.
Narconon International works with parents and teachers to help educate students about the severity of these behaviors and the probable consequences they could face. Its drug and alcohol prevention programs don’t use scare tactics, but instead seek to inform young people and arm them with the knowledge they need to assist them to make better decisions for themselves, their friends and loved ones.
“We have found it very effective not only to teach students the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse, but also to provide them a real understanding of what happens to their bodies and minds when they are under the influence of these substances,” remarks Bobby Wiggins, Director of Drug Education for Narconon International.
The Narconon® program uses the drug-free rehabilitation and education methodologies based on research by the late American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. The organization has been successfully rehabilitating former addicts and educating people of all ages for more than four decades. It is one of the largest non-governmental drug treatment and prevention groups in the world with programs in 44 countries.
More information about the Narconon drug rehab and prevention programs.
Narconon Helps Restore Honesty and Trust to Former Addicts
Los Angeles, CA — It is no secret that alcohol and drug abuse lead to risky behavior on the lighter side and a total depletion of honesty and virtues on the most severe. From promiscuity and theft to a lack of production at work and even murder, those who fall in the trap of substance abuse and addiction are largely responsible for the declining moral fabric of our society.
Narconon is considered by many to be the most comprehensive drug rehabilitation and education program in the world. In addition to prevention efforts to keep youth away from drug abuse and their successful drug rehab programs, Narconon’s holistic approach deals with all areas of life to help keep former addicts from returning to old patterns or routines that led them to substance abuse in the first place.
As part of its overall curriculum, Narconon uses a book called The Way To Happiness, which is a non-religious, common sense guide to better living that was written by American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. The booklet has been translated into 90 languages and distributed to tens of millions of people worldwide. A new video covering the 21 precepts has just been released and is also being used to accompany the book in Narconon rehabilitation centers.
“The application of these principles is vital to restoring addicts’ self-respect and responsibility,” comments Clark Carr, President of Narconon International, “These unbiased values, when applied, can not only keep people away from relapsing to drugs, but also help make life at home and in their communities better for themselves and others around them. This is especially important for reuniting families this holiday season.
Narconon reminds people that all drugs are basically poisons for a person’s body and that the amount taken determines the effect. This is true for over-the-counter medications, alcohol, prescription drugs and of course illicit street drugs. Having a broader understanding about what drug and alcohol abuse do to an individual and how it impacts his or her life is a key element to creating better communities. Narconon’s educational approach helps not only restore honesty and trust, but also increases competence and ability.
For more information about The Way To Happiness book or video, or to find out more about Narconon’s drug rehabilitation and education programs, visit www.narconon.org today. Don’t let another Holiday Season be destroyed by alcohol or drug abuse. Get help now.
Alcohol The Acceptable Addiction
Find a Narconon center for alcoholism treatment.
Related article article: Women and Alcohol
The use of alcohol, as a drug, is a historically ageless. Alcohol has been part of our culture since its beginning with fermented drinks coming from nearly every 
fruit, vegetable and grain available. It is easy to assume that the tendency to escape from reality rather than confront and solve problems is part of the human condition.
Our European roots view alcohol as a normal part of life and used by almost everyone at nearly all social events. The legal age for beer consumption in Denmark is fifteen and the French and Italians begin allowing toddlers to sip of their parent’s intoxicants.
Because of the religious foundations in American history, we have had a love/hate relationship with alcoholic beverages, which have polarized our culture into those who view alcohol as an acceptable part of life and those that abstain and are critical of its use. Americans have blamed alcohol for the sins of society and attempted to make it illegal, only to discover that conditions worsened when it was forbidden. Today, alcohol accounts for more direct and related ills and deaths than any other drug or activity, yet more money is spent on alcohol promotion than that of any other product.
Research has shown that the public and especially its youth will make their most responsible decisions about drug use when they know the truth about drugs. Therefore…
What is Alcohol?
Chemically there are different forms of alcohol that can be used as cleaners or solvents, but ethanol, (ETOH), or grain alcohol, is the form that is consumed in alcoholic beverages and is not as poisonous as the others. Ethanol is created when grains, fruits, or vegetables are fermented, a process that uses yeast or bacteria to change sugars into alcohol.
What is the Effect of Alcohol?
When Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream, it affects the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) as a sedative which blocks or changes the perceptions, emotions movements, vision and hearing.
Short Term Effects: Moderate alcohol intake produces dizziness and talkativeness. Larger amounts of alcohol consumption cause slurred speech, disturbed sleep, nausea, vomiting and hangovers.
Long term Effects of consuming large quantities of alcohol leads to:
- Permanent damage to vital organs
- Several different types of cancer
- Gastrointestinal irritations, like nausea, diarrhea and ulcers
- Malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies
- Sexual dysfunctions
- High blood pressure
- Lowered resistance to diseases
- Mothers who drink during pregnancies are high risk to have infants with fetal alcohol syndrome
What is Alcoholism and How Do I Know if a Person is an Alcoholic?
Alcoholism is alcohol addiction. Alcohol is both physically and mentally addicting. The more one consumes and the younger one starts are directly related to the development of alcohol addiction. More than 40% of those who begin drinking before age 15 eventually become alcoholics.
Alcoholism has four symptoms:
- Craving: a Strong need or compulsion to drink
- Loss of control: The inability to limit one’s drinking on any given occasion
- Physical dependence: Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness and anxiety occur when alcohol consumption is stopped after a period of heavy drinking
- Tolerance: the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to get “high”.
Why is Alcohol Seen as one of the More Deadly Drugs?
In 2006, 19% of drivers 16 to 20 who died in motor vehicle accidents were driving under the influence of alcohol.
1,746 children ages 0 to 14 were killed in traffic accidents in 2006. 17% involved alcohol impaired drivers.
Mixing alcohol and medications can cause increased risk of overdoses, fainting, changes in blood pressure, breathing difficulties, liver damage, stomach bleeding, blood clots, strokes, elevated blood pressure, heart attacks, increased risk of seizures and death.
Conclusion:
Anyone can see the danger and poisonous nature of alcohol abuse and dependence (addiction/alcoholism), yet, as a culture, we collectively condone and support “acceptable” forms of drinking and allow the alcohol industry to promote and indoctrinate our youth into believing that you must drink to have fun. As a society, and thanks to Mothers Against Drunken Driving (MADD), we have matured in our responsibility of not allowing those who drink and drive to freely endanger others, but we are still remiss in teaching that alcohol is just another drug and will ruin lives as quickly and permanently as other drugs. We are responsible for getting a new message of truth about alcohol into our vernacular.
Women and Alcohol
Here are the Facts:
- Women appear to be more vulnerable than men to many of the adverse consequences of alcohol use.
- Women achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood and become more impaired than men after drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol.
- Research suggest that women are more susceptible than men to alcohol-related organ damage and to traumas resulting from traffic accidents and interpersonal violence.
Surveys indicate that alcohol use is more prevalent among men than women in the U.S. Among drinkers surveyed, 10% of women and 22% of men consumed an average of two or more drinks per day. Why then are women more vulnerable to the adverse consequences?
Women absorb and metabolized alcohol differently than men.
- Women have less body water than men of similar body weight, therefore, women achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood after drinking equivalent amounts.
- Compared with men, women develop alcohol-induced liver disease and cirrhosis over a shorter period of time and after consuming less alcohol. (Studies indicate that estrogen increases the risk of liver damage.)
- Women will have the same alcohol-associated heart muscle disease with 60% lower lifetime alcohol consumption than men.
- Women metabolize alcohol more slowly than men, leaving their tissues and organs exposed to higher levels of alcohol for longer periods of time.
The consequences of heavy alcohol consumption is extremely damaging to the body and since alcohol affects women more severely than men, they are more likely to demonstrate the severe effects of chronic alcohol abuse.
The liver is the chief organ responsible for breaking down alcohol into harmless byproducts and clearing it from the body. Prolonged drinking fatigues the liver and causes cirrhosis, which harms the brain, leading to serious and potentially fatal brain disorder known as hepatic encephalopathy. This disease causes sleep disorders, mood and personality problems; anxiety and depression; severe cognitive effects such as shortened attention span; and problems with coordination, and, ultimately, causes a person to slip into a coma and death. (more drug information)
Of course, there is one other area of differentiation that must be mentioned. Drinking during pregnancy can lead to a range of physical, learning and behavioral effects in the developing brain, the most serious of which is a collection of symptoms known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Children with FAS may have distinct facial features and are markedly smaller than average. Their brains may have less volume, accounting for fewer brain cells and abnormally developed brains, leading to long-term problems in learning and behavior.
Even in small amounts, alcohol affects women differently than men. In some ways, heavy drinking is much more risky for women than it is for men. Some women should not drink at all, including:
- Anyone under the age of 21
- People of any age who are unable to restrict their drinking to a moderate level
- Women who may become pregnant or who are pregnant
- Women who plan to drive, operate machinery, or take part in other activities that require attention, skill or coordination
- Women taking prescription or over-the-counter medication that can interact with alcohol
In summary, women need to be more careful about alcohol consumption than men because:
Women are at greater risk than men for developing alcohol-related problems
Alcohol passes through the digestive tract and is dispersed in the water of the body, which dilutes the concentration of alcohol and its effects on the body. As a rule, men weigh more than women and, pound for pound, women have less water in their bodies than men. Therefore, a woman’s brain and other organ are exposed to more alcohol and to more of the toxic byproducts that result from the metabolism of alcohol, which cause more severe and rapid damage to their bodies than seen in men.
Women need to recognize these differences and behave accordingly.
This data should be used to help intervene on alcoholic women to help them understand that addiction treatment is essential to arrest further physical and emotion damage. It is obvious that time is not a friend to women that are abusing alcohol.
Narconon International Drug Information Department
Narconon Trois-Rivieres Drug Rehabilitation Program
Situated in a distraction free rural area of Central Québec, Narconon Trois-Rivières has had the privilege of helping people for the past ten years, who were battling problems with drug and alcohol addiction. This drug rehab centre is proud to be a leader in the field of drug and alcohol addiction within Canada, and has been helping people from all across the country. This centre is also very fortunate to have welcomed and served many people from other countries over the years. The Narconon program delivers a 100% natural drug treatment method, which allows an addict to fully handle the physical and psychological problems that are involved with drug addiction. Combined with a biophysical detoxification method and in-depth cognitive therapy and life skills, the Narconon Trois-Rivières drug rehab centre is able to deliver a 70% success rate.
Narconon Trois-Rivières has dedicated and caring staff whom go above and beyond to help every person who comes through its doors. This dedication and care shown by the staff is what has made this rehab centre an ideal location and fit for anybody who has been struggling with drug or alcohol addiction. Many addicts looking for treatment tend to choose a drug treatment centre that is away from their present environment, and doing this will only increase their chances of success. Drug rehabilitation should be the opportunity for anybody addicted to drugs and alcohol to truly give themselves the chance to move forward with their lives, eliminating the drug or alcohol problem. Narconon Trois-Rivières offers the perfect non-stimulative environment for any individual to accomplish this.
Taking into great consideration that a person will be away from home for a minimum of three months, Narconon Trois-Rivières has gone through much length to make its centre as comfortable as possible for all of its clients. Narconon Trois-Rivières provides all the amenities and necessities needed for a truly comfortable environment. This is a temporary home away from home for all of the people who are working to achieve a drug-free life. Achieving life long sobriety is possible, and Narconon Trois-Rivières provides the best opportunity to accomplish this.
Video of a live Narconon graduation from Narconon Trois-Rivieres. And a video of a Narconon graduate who’s life was ruined by crystal meth addiction.
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