rehab
Narconon Arrowhead’s Major Role in Saving Addicted Lives Over 47 Years
In 2013, the international network of Narconon drug rehabilitation facilities celebrated its 47th anniversary of fighting drug addiction. In Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead joined the celebration with a ceremony that included staff and students at the facility and a representative from the international management office.
In addition to the successes of the students that week, the group applauded for the tens of thousands of graduates that have been through the Narconon program since its founding in 1966. That was the year that Arizona State Prison inmate William “Willie” Benitez made the firm decision to help other addicts recover from their addictions they way he had. Willie had discovered the written works on the mind and life of L. Ron Hubbard and had applied them to himself to get his life straight at last.
It took many months and applications to prison officials before Willie was allowed to start the first inside-the-walls rehab program but he persisted and finally had more than a dozen inmates in his program. When many of them had the same success he did, he traveled to Los Angeles after his release and opened the first Narconon facility.
From that humble beginning, the Narconon network has expanded to more than three hundred centers and groups around the world. From Willie Benitez and his small group of inmates, the number of graduates from the program now exceeds 38,000.
As the flagship rehab facility of the network, Narconon Arrowhead has provided life-saving services to thousands of people from Oklahoma, Texas and all over the country. This makes it a major contributor to the international success of the network.
On Friday, March 8th, during the usual weekly celebration of student successes, staff and students took the time to reflect on the ways that Narconon has helped push back against the rising tide of addiction and the destruction that accompanies it. It might have been the first time that those in recovery realized that they were actually part of a movement that was much larger than themselves.
“We want to thank the executives and staff of Narconon Arrowhead for their two decades of contributions to our international success,” stated Clark Carr, president of Narconon International. “Not only do they save addicted lives, they also serve as a training facility and model for officials from all over the world who want to see this rehabilitation protocol in action. But our real reward comes from seeing someone who arrived at one of our centers totally addicted and unhealthy and see them leave strong and focused on a sober future. We will continue to offer this effective program as long as there are people who need the help.”
There are fifty Narconon rehabilitation centers located on six continents, and an additional seventy drug education and prevention groups. For more information on Narconon, please visit www.narconon.org or call 1-800-775-8750.
Twenty Years Later, Narconon Vista Bay Celebrates its Two Thousandth Graduate
As Narconon Vista Bay celebrated two thousand completions of its recovery program, community leaders were welcomed and acknowledged for their help.
Anyone in law enforcement knows the toll that substance abuse takes on a community. For twenty years and two thousands graduates of its rehab program, Narconon Vista Bay has been able to help reduce that toll. On Friday, March 1, Narconon Vista Bay in Watsonville, California invited in officials from their local community to help them celebrate this milestone.
Every Friday night at Narconon Vista Bay, there’s a graduation ceremony that announces the names of those who have completed steps of the recovery program and the overall program. Families of the final graduates are often present and sometimes add their comments about the occasion. When sons or daughters thank the parents who never gave up on them, or when mothers welcome their now-sober children back into their lives, these are always emotional moments. When a father who’s graduating says that this is the first time in twenty years he hasn’t wanted a drink and his children put their arms around him, this is the moment the Narconon staff live for.
For the March first graduation ceremony, two important individuals from the community were invited to join in. A Watsonville city councilwoman was there to present the two graduates of the night with certificates of recognition for their accomplishments. For the entire twenty years of Narconon Vista Bay’s operations, the councilwoman has worked with the center to cooperatively fight the local drug problem.
Also in attendance was a Sheriff’s Deputy from the County of Santa Cruz. Rigo Ubilius from Narconon Vista Bay presented the deputy with a plaque acknowledging him for work to keep the community safe from drugs and crime.
“Every day, our local law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to protect honest citizens from the effects of substance abuse,” said Mr. Ubilius. “We can’t thank them enough for their constant support and defense so we can continue our work.”
In Los Angeles, Clark Carr, the president of Narconon International, praised the work of Narconon Vista Bay. “It’s never an easy task to help addicted persons recover,” stated Mr. Carr. “But the rewards of saving their lives are enormous. When they return home sober, healing occurs for the former addict, for the family, for the entire community. We are exceptionally proud of the work of the Vista Bay staff ”
Description: Narconon Vista Bay celebrated twenty years of saving lives from drug addiction and two-thousand drug rehab graduates. Many parents and members attended to support the celebration. Awards were given out to show appreciation.
New Family Guide to Overcoming Drug Abuse and Addiction is Available from Narconon International
When families struggle for years with a loved one’s substance abuse problem, lives are in danger and the emotional and financial cost can be staggering. This new guide for families can help.
When loved ones become addicted to drugs or alcohol, some families spend years “hoping it will go away.” Other families provide endless financial and emotional support in the hope that this will bring back the person they used to know. Without effective rehabilitation to bring the addiction to an end, this pattern of substance abuse and resulting life problems can go on for a decade or more. To help families end this destructive pattern, Narconon International offers the Family Help Guide, Rescuing a Loved One from Substance Abuse and Addiction.
The way the guide can help is by walking a family through each of the points of understanding and decisions they need to come to a real resolution. What type of drug is being abused? How serious is it? Is it addiction or could drug education resolve matters? How can a rehab center be located? These questions and more are answered as a family works through the steps of this guide.
“Families struggle because they don’t know the signs of substance abuse and can’t identify which drug is being abused,” observed Clark Carr, President of Narconon International. “With this guide, more families will be able to grasp when drug rehab is the right solution. This can definitely save lives.” Mr. Carr referenced a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on what is called treatment lag. “According to SAMHSA, an average of nearly 16 years passes for most people between the time they start abusing an addictive substance and the time they start treatment,” he said. “Families who think they might be dealing with an addiction problem should use our guide to reduce the danger to their loved one.”
Statistics released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and the National Institute on Drug Abuse revealed that nearly 104,000 Americans lose their lives each year due to alcohol abuse or drug overdose.
When more families understand how to approach the problem of substance abuse of a loved one, more of these lives can be saved. Download the Family Help Guide or call 1-800-775-8750 today.
Narconon Newsletter January 2013
Here is the latest Narconon Newsletter.
Check out what the Narconon centers around the world have been doing to help prevent drug abuse and get people off drugs throughout the holidays.
Holiday activities, expansion, new videos and more.
Narconon Newsletter December 2012
Featuring Narconon Arrowhead, Vista Bay, Georgia and Red Ribbon Week activities.
Narconon Newsletter September 2012
Here is the latest Narconon Newsletter about what Narconon has been doing around the world to help raise drug awareness and rehabilitate the lives of those addicted to drugs.
Narconon Western U.S. centers record highest ever number of program graduates in one week
Narconon Vista Bay’s 19 drug rehab program graduates lead the way — all completing in the same week.
Narconon centers hold graduation ceremonies weekly. This last week Narconon Vista Bay’s with three centers in Northern California was especially long as they had nineteen graduates. Along with high production in other centers, this lead the Western U.S. Narconon sector to record their highest-ever weekly number of “Drug Free Lives,” the term used for full program graduates.
The Narconon drug rehabilitation program is a social education model which takes three to six months to complete, depending on each student’s needs and capabilities. After withdrawing physically from drugs, the Narconon student studies a course on communication and confronting skills and then spends a few weeks cleaning drug and other toxic residuals from the body in an exercise, nutrition, and sauna sweat-out program. The rest — and majority — of the Narconon program is intensive study, development, and practice of life skills. Before graduating, the student’s whole program is reviewed and compared to what he or she has to address upon returning to family, work, school, or the community. With that “Battle Plan” in hand, a new drug-free life begins.
One of the 19 Vista Bay graduates this last week was A.D. During her daughter’s emotional graduation ceremony, A.D.’s mother spoke to the assembled students and staff: “There was no joy when my daughter was on drugs. I had been a happy person all my life until this happened. Now the joy is back. And all of you are responsible. Not only for yourselves, but for all the people who care about you and love you, so you can make your mamas happy. I thank my daughter. I have always believed in her. I never doubted her for one second. She is going to go out and change the world, with her singing and joy. It’s her time now.”
Another Narconon Vista Bay graduate, J.B., wrote, “There was a time when I was depressed all the time. All I could think of was my next drink or pill to help me stop thinking at all. I completely stopped caring about my husband, my children, and my parents. I am now a completely different person. My whole life has been transformed! I laugh. I sing and I LOVE life again!! Most importantly, I love myself. The staff and the Narconon program has given me back my family and my dreams. I truly have never felt so good. Once again I am positive and outgoing. I now have a new goal in life — to help others and make a difference in this world!!! Watch out world, here I come!!”
Dr. Alfonso Paredes, Professor Emeritus of UCLA in Psychiatry and an addictionologist, is also a member of the Narconon International Science Advisory Board. He describes how Narconon produces its felicitous results: “…The Narconon program consists of a series of educational courses designed to help gain the skills needed to interact constructively along a range of life situations. These require processing of information and learning as well as coping with social situations of varying complexity and ethical or moral significance. Throughout, the student is also helped to gain a sense of self-worth and dignity that he might have lost during his addicted career.”
For more information on the Narconon program please call 1-800-775-8750 | 1-323-962-2404.
You may also send us an email at info@narconon.org.
Narconon Spokesperson Exposes Why “Cocaine Vaccine” Will Fall Seriously Short
A steady stream of stories about animal and human tests with new “cocaine vaccines” may have some positive results there’s a real reason why they will never replace rehab.
The buzz about “cocaine vaccines” keeps increasing as media like Time Magazine and US News & World Report report on recent developments. But despite the buzz, multiple trials involving both humans and animals are finding that most people do not benefit from the vaccine, but even for those that do, the vaccine wears off in four to thirteen weeks.1
The vaccine attempts to help cocaine addicts by blunting the ability of the drug to affect the brain its usual manner. There are different vaccines being tested, some using norococaine, a substance resulting from a breakdown of cocaine, bonded to inactive cholera toxin. The vaccines are then injected between one and five times, the number of times varying depending on the exact formula and the procedure being used by the trial.
Can the Vaccine Spur Cocaine Overdoses?
In one trial, men addicted to cocaine were given crack cocaine to smoke after they had received the vaccine. Some of them still tried to get high by using far more cocaine than usual – up to ten times the amount the researchers had ever seen before. As noted in the Time Magazine article, it is possible for this kind of test to result in people overdosing on cocaine in an attempt to get high despite the presence of the vaccine in their bodies.2
This is not the only time that a medication-assisted drug treatment program put the participants at risk of overdose. One study published by the American Journal of Public Health noted that more than half of those in a trial of methadone for heroin addiction treatment still tested positive for heroin.3 Those taking methadone or Suboxone may inadvertently overdose on heroin or prescription opiates if they try to achieve a high over the effects of the prescribed drugs. The prescribing information for Suboxone notes that a person can die of an overdose if they use other opiates, benzodiazepines, sedatives, tranquilizers or even alcohol.4
The Basic Omission
“The most important omission in the plan to create a cocaine vaccine is that it misses the psychological reasons people use drugs,” explained Bobby Wiggins, longtime drug educator and spokesperson for Narconon International. “They began abusing drugs because there was some apparent relief for them. It could be they escaped from problems they didn’t feel they could face or they thought their lives would be more exciting or maybe they were running with a crowd where everyone else was indulging. To fit in, they used the drug too. This motivation doesn’t go away just because a vaccine blunts the effect of the drug for a few weeks.”
The Narconon program offered in fifty locations around the world takes a holistic approach to addiction recovery. The program includes methods of repairing the damage done to body, mind and life by addiction, building the life skills that enable one to stay sober, and reducing the cravings that might drive a person back to use drugs. No drugs are ever used as part of the treatment protocol.
“A person who still feels they need that relief or excitement will just find another way to get it unless they truly recover from addiction,” added Mr. Wiggins. “It takes time, one-on-one work with a recovering addict and an effective pattern of treatment to help a person achieve lasting sobriety. You don’t find that in a needle.”
For more information on the holistic method of recovery at a Narconon facility, call 1-800-775-8750.
Related Article:
Good News for Crack Offender’s Family
Resources:
2 http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/05/new-hope-for-an-anti-cocaine-vaccine
3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1615273/pdf/amjph00439-0085.pdf
4 http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/UCM225677.pdf
Narconon Spokesperson Explains Why Reformulation of Addictive Drugs is an Ineffective Solution
As addiction rates and overdose deaths remain high, US government officials request reformulations as a solution but this fails to strike at the heart of the problem.
Once again, an addictive painkiller has been reformulated to try to save people from overdoses. Reformulation creates a pill that is harder to abuse because it cannot be crushed or dissolved. But this action failed to save people from addiction or death the last time it was done and it is just as likely to fail this time.
The drug in question this time is Opana, known generically as oxymorophone. Those abusing to the strong painkiller OxyContin turned to Opana in 2011 after OxyContin was reformulated into a pill that turned gummy when it was crushed. Opana is twice as strong as OxyContin and soon began to kill people, particularly in the Midwest. According to a New York Times article, one county in Indiana saw 14 Opana-related deaths in the first six months of 2011.
OxyContin Went Through its Own Reformulation in 2010
OxyContin, on the market since 1996, was reformulated in 2010 in an attempt to deter people from abusing it. As reported in the New York Times article, this change simply drove many people to abuse other substances like heroin. Heroin is cheaper and often easier to get as it does not involve seeing doctors and falsifying symptoms to get a prescription.
But it soon became clear that heroin wasn’t the only alternative people were choosing. When deaths involving the painkiller Opana began to rise, Endo Pharmaceuticals was asked to reformulate their pill in the same way. Endo announced their new formulation in December 2011.
Reformulations Do Not Get to the Cause of Addiction
But will this new solution reduce the number of people addicted to opiates? According to a spokesperson for Narconon International, a non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse, probably not.
“A person who craves opiate as intensely as they crave food or air will never be deterred by reformulations, they will just switch to a new substance to abuse,” explained Bobby Wiggins, longtime spokesperson for Narconon International. “In fact, they will not be deterred by the threat of arrest or the anger of their families. Addiction is overwhelming. To be overcome, it must be addressed comprehensively, helping a person first to lose the cravings, then to repair the damage done by addiction and finally to learn sober living skills.”
Mr. Wiggins pointed out that many rehabilitation programs keep a person on opiate drugs as part of their treatment. “When a person is prescribed methadone or buprenorphine, an ingredient in Suboxone, it is referred to as medication-assisted treatment but in fact it keeps a person addicted to an opiate-type drug, sometimes for years. At Narconon drug rehab centers, we have developed a way that an opiate addict can be tolerably withdrawn from the drug and recover a bright, drug-free outlook on life once again.”
The Narconon program utilizes a sauna-based drug detoxification program to flush out old, stored drug toxins that can contribute to cravings for drugs, resulting in fewer or even no cravings when it is done. This is followed by life skills training that helps people develop sober living patterns to maintain their recovery after they go home.
“Helping a person overcome cravings and recover their interest in their futures eliminates the need for substance abuse,” concluded Mr. Wiggins. “With this kind of help, they can stay sober. Just changing the formula for a pill is not likely to even make a dent in the problem.”
For Narconon drug help, contact Narconon International at 1-800-775-8750.
Resources:
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/08/22/addicted-in-hollywood-expensive-oxycontin-one-most-abused-drugs-among-moneyed/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxycodone
US Emergency Room Visits Due to Prescription Drug Poisonings Reach Epidemic Levels
According to a study, prescription drug poisonings kill more people than traffic accidents in many states, leading a drug rehabilitation expert from Narconon to encourage more drug prevention and education.
The study released in March 2011 reports on the hundreds of thousands of people each year who experience such serious problems with substance abuse that they must take themselves to the emergency department (ED) of their closest hospitals. The study also reported on the decade-long rise in these statistics.
The new study was issued by researchers and the Center for Injury Research and Policy at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The records were collected from emergency rooms in every corner of the US in 2007. According to this study, 2007 saw nearly 700,000 ED visits related to drug poisonings just in the hospitals included in this report, resulting in costs of nearly $1.4 billion. This means that every day, at least 1,900 people walk into an Emergency Department with either illicit drug or prescription drug poisoning.
Prescription drugs were involved in hundreds of thousands of these emergency visits. Antidepressants and tranquilizers were involved in nearly a quarter, and pain and fever control medications were associated with 23 percent of them.
This study also turned up a startling realization: The rate of visits for drug-related poisonings is three times as high in rural areas as it is in urban or suburban areas.
Showing up in growing numbers were visits related to misuse of methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone, dispensed in ever-increasing numbers and moving briskly on illicit markets as well.
But Study Omits Millions of ED Visits from its Scope
“As tragic and alarming as this report is, this is only part of the story,” stated Wiggins, the Director of Narconon Drug Education. “This particular study only encompasses the emergency department reports of 27 states. A more accurate look at the problem can be obtained by reviewing the reports from the Drug Awareness Warning Network which includes more visits in its scope.” Narconon is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and drug education.
The Center for Injury Research and Policy study encompassed 27 million ED visits. The Drug Awareness Warning Network (DAWN) includes 116 million ED visits from 2007. Of these, DAWN reports that 1.9 million were associated with drug misuse or abuse.
Some visits involved pharmaceutical drug poisoning alone and other visits involved a mixture of pharmaceuticals and alcohol or illicit drugs.
 31 percent of the visits involved abuse of pharmaceutical drugs by themselves
 10 percent mixed alcohol with the pharmaceutical drugs
 8 percent mixed illicit drugs and pharmaceuticals
 4 percent mixed all three categories |
As in the Center for Injury Research and Policy report, the DAWN report also found that the most frequently involved opioids were methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Anti-anxiety medications occurred in almost a third of these visits, with alprazolam (marketed as Xanax) being the most common benzodiazepine found present. More than 80,000 people who used this drug in 2007 needed to visit the emergency room.
“Of course, some of the blame for this problem can be assigned to practitioners who dispense their drugs too indiscriminately,” added Bobby Wiggns. “But there is another situation contributing to this problem that has nothing to do with the practitioners. And that is the fact that too few people are well-educated on the deadly problems that can be associated with drug abuse, misuse of prescription drugs, and mixing illicit drugs, alcohol and prescription drugs.”
Narconon Centers Around the World Offer Classes Aimed at Preventing Just these Kinds of Statistics
“Narconon centers around the world help people learn to live clean and sober lives after addiction, but that’s not enough,” Wiggins explained. “Completely wiping out the addiction problem will take place on many fronts. You must have no household with addictive medications lying around that could be abused, you must have every young person educated on the dangers of abusing prescription drugs and the adults in the household must be explicit and clear about a zero-tolerance policy that is checked up on and enforced. And that’s just for starters.”
Bobby also described the Narconon drug rehabilitation program and the eight-part drug education curriculum. “Both the Narconon rehabilitation steps and the educational curriculum are based on more than 40 years of helping recovering addicts get their lives back. In the Narconon drug education classes we offer, students are taught that drugs are fat-soluble and so tend to stick in the fatty tissues of the body.”
But there is a solution to these lodged drugs. The Narconon drug rehabilitation program has a sauna and exercise portion of the drug recovery program called the Narconon New Life Detoxification program. This phase flushes out the lodged drug residues. Wiggins added, “Many recovering addicts say that this step helps them overcome the cravings that can make recovery so difficult.”
The Narconon drug education curriculum covers every aspect of drugs, from the media attempts to covertly coerce young people into being attracted to drugs, to the effects drugs can have long after a person stops using them.
The Narconon drug education curriculum was itself the subject of a peer-reviewed study. In trials in Oklahoma and Hawai’i, groups of students were surveyed in detail about their attitudes on substance abuse and incidence of drug use. The students then received the entire eight-part curriculum and their attitudes after six months were compared to another group that had not yet received the education. In every category of drugs, use in the educated group dropped and attitudes about substance abuse had grown healthier.
“Since it has been proven that education can reduce substance abuse, we must provide effective drug education appropriate to grade level to our school children,” Wiggins summed up. “With education at the front end and effective rehab for those who have fallen into addiction, we can anticipate a future that is free from these hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits due to drug poisonings.”
Related Articles:
Substance Abuse Growing Problem For Older Adults
Real Extent of Teen Marijuana Abuse
Resources:
https://dawninfo.samhsa.gov/files/ED2007/DAWN2k7ED.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/health/research/08hazards.html?_r=2
http://www.sciencedirect.com/ ED visits for drug-related poisoning in the United States, 2007
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