Once you have opened the Pandora’s Box of drug addiction, it can seem impossible to quit. Yet many do, and they will tell you that the road to recovery really begins with that moment when you decide to cover new ground. It will be difficult, possibly the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but you can do it.
But once withdrawal is over, is it really the end? Many addicts embarking on a recovery program ask the question: Can I truly be happy after addiction? Continue reading
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Prom: tradition or trouble? While it is an exciting rite of passage for all American teens, it can also turn into a night of bad decisions that can affect them for the rest of their lives. Drugs and alcohol have become common party favors at Prom, and parents and teens alike find themselves unprepared when that moment comes. Here are a few tips to prevent the worst on Prom night.
Most parents don’t know that they set the tone of the night and that their actions (or neglect) can lead to a night in the emergency room or bailing their children out of jail. After the photos are taken and goodbyes are said, parents often don’t know where their children are or what they are doing for the rest of the night.
It is important to talk to your child before Prom night about the dangers and potential for drug use. Make sure that they understand everything that could occur–peer pressure, overdose, sexual harassment, drinking and driving–and that they are prepared.
Find out who is going together before and after Prom, and get phone numbers and other contact info.
Make sure your child knows that he can call you if he is in trouble. Promise that no matter how difficult or embarrassing the situation, you will pick him up whenever he needs it and will forego a lecture until the following day. Make it safe for him to call you.
Do not rent hotel rooms or serve alcohol for your child or his friends.
Arrange a specific time for your child to check in with you after prom.
Contact any parents hosting parties before or after Prom and find out what the environment will be like and what the level of supervision will be.
No matter how prepared you think you are for Prom, drug use can catch you off guard. Consider all the possible scenarios. What if your boyfriend offers you ecstasy? What if your best friend overdoses? What if you get in a car with someone who has been drinking?
Remember that this night could affect the rest of your life. Not only could your health be in danger, a night in jail would land you a criminal record. State police are much more on guard during Prom night, using Facebook and other means to track parties and watch the roads.
Do not drive drunk or high. Do not text while driving. And do not get in the car with someone high or drunk; take their keys.
Keep a charged cell phone on you at all times, and don’t be afriad to call your parents if you need to.
Stay in touch with your parents about your plans for the night and let them know if they change.
Don’t be afraid to speak your mind if something doesn’t feel right to you.
For more information on how to stay sober this prom season check out our drug prevention tips on www.narconon.org.
Source:
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/04/warnings_about_prom_night_dang.html
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The ripples of addiction are far-reaching. It damages the body, destroys families and shatters dreams. And while treatment options are sundry, most addicts don’t reach for help until it is too late. Continue reading
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More and more teens are abusing prescription drugs than ever before. Not only are they easier to get access to in most cases, they are also potent and pure, and usually highly addictive. They can be easily obtained by going to mom or dad’s medicine cabinet or by “doctor shopping” to find a doctor who will prescribe powerful drugs to those who say the right things.
With statistics continuing to rise and many parents scared about the risk that this problem poses to every teen, what can be done to decrease the risk that a teen will abuse prescription medications? Continue reading
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The term ‘holistic treatment’ or ‘holistic medicine’ refers to treatment of not only the physical symptoms of the substance abuse issue, but also attempts to resolve emotional components of the issue as well. Whether it’s through certain techniques allowing the addicted person to take responsibility or simply education, this type of treatment can be very effective.
In the context of drug addiction, ‘holistic treatment’ would include addressing the physical problems of withdrawal, a long term detox plan and working out solutions to overcome obstacles mentally that lead or contributed to addiction. ‘Traditional treatment’ in the context of drug addiction would encompass a few things. One example is to provide someone addicted with medication to “alleviate” immediate symptoms or mask cravings. Another is enrollment in a tradition program like a 28 day, 12 step method of treatment. Continue reading
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The effects of drugs or alcohol can be far reaching. A person’s whole life can be turned upside down including their friendships and intimate relationships. It can be difficult to know how to repair a relationship that has been destroyed by substance abuse, or even if it is possible. Many groups have been formed and steps created to try to help people learn about the effects that substance abuse has. The effects it has on the person abusing as well as the people around them.
What exactly the best way to do this is hard to say but there are certain points which are held in common by many and which seem to be the most effective. Continue reading
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When going to choose a drug rehabilitation facility is important to know what factors to consider and what important things to look for. Not all facilities are going to offer the same types of care or the same level of quality when it comes to the program. While a facility is responsible for maintaining its own standards, facilities also have to become certified. Certification is a way of showing that you value the level of care given and received in your facility and that if an issue should arise you are willing to go the extra step to ensure it is fully handled.
There are different types of certifications that a facility can attain. There are organizations like the local Department of Mental Health have personnel visit centers with a checklist that will determine licensing. This is based on a number of things including cleanliness, care and administrative procedures. Continue reading
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College is very competitive these days and students rely on all sorts of tricks and tactics to keep themselves at the head of the class. Some simply rely on coffee and other legal stimulants to help them stay awake and focused in class, for late night study sessions, and while trying to beat deadlines for papers and essays. For others students, however, coffee and energy drinks are not enough and they begin to use stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin that were designed to treat the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
And while these drugs may or may not be effective in treating ADHD, they are certainly very dangerous and addictive if used for the wrong reasons, whether with or without a prescription. Essentially, some feel that these medications increase a person’s focus level and attention span for any number of hours, seeming “extremely helpful” effects for someone who has to pull an all-nighter studying or writing. For someone diagnosed with ADHD the medication is touted as simply bringing them back up to a normal operating level. But for someone without ADHD promotion of the drugs say that they allow for extreme concentration, focus, and alertness that many students believe constitutes an unfair, albeit very dangerous, advantage. Continue reading
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Dangerous drugs don’t have to come from the streets, a drug dealer’s house, or a locker at school. They don’t have to be smuggled into the country or sold illicitly. It turns out that dangerous drugs are as near as the workbench or storage area in a garage, the arts and craft bin, or the junk drawer at home. These drugs are in fact familiar household substances like rubber cement and model glues, pressurized keyboard cleaners like Dust-Off, cans of whipped cream, paint thinners, gasoline, spray paint, and hair spray, just to name a few.
Substances that can be “huffed” fall into four classes: volatile solvents like paint thinner and glue, for example; gases like compressed air from a can of whipped cream or propane, for example; aerosols like spray paint or deodorant, for example; and nitrites. These substances are ingested via a method known as “huffing”, also known as “bagging” or “dusting”, where chemical vapors are inhaled after a chemical substance has been poured onto a rag, applied directly to the mouth or nose, or left in the container.
The huffing method, and the types of substances that are ingested via this method, have long been in existence, but it appears that recently more and more teens and adolescents are huffing anything they can get their hands on, and given the familiarity and availability of many of the substances used for huffing, it is no wonder young people are easily locating, securing, and using these dangerous drugs. Continue reading
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Often when people think about gateway drugs, they imagine a series of more and more dangerous and damaging drugs and substances, one leading to the other in a progression, or a downward spiral really, from drug to drug, each one worse than the last. For example, most people imagine this slippery slope starting with tobacco and alcohol and leading to marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, among other types of drugs, synthetic or even prescription.
But the results of a new study flips this imagined progression on its head, suggesting that marijuana use can increase the risk for nicotine addiction down the road. It seems marijuana may be a gateway drug for tobacco, not the other way around. There is some anecdotal evidence that supports these findings. Some marijuana users have said that being stoned makes them fiend for a cigarette to a greater degree than they would sober. Other marijuana users have said that smoking marijuana makes stopping smoking more difficult.
The Study On Pot And Nicotine Addiction
The study, which involved mice in a lab setting, was quite complex. To begin with, the study involved dosing mice with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the active ingredient in marijuana—or a placebo over a period of several days. Researchers then attempted to teach these mice how to access nicotine through a small hole in their cage where it was injected into their blood stream each time they poked their noses through. Researchers hypothesized that the mice who learned quickly how to repeatedly access the nicotine—not all the mice did learn how—and who also sought out the nicotine portal with greater alacrity, did so because they were extra motivated by their addiction to nicotine.
It turns out that 95 percent of the mice who were given THC figured out how to obtain the nicotine and did so with greater frequency and more determination. Only 65 percent of the mice who had been given the placebo learned how to access the nicotine and those that did were not willing to work as hard for a dose of nicotine as were the THC mice. In short, the results showed that nicotine was more valuable to the THC mice and that the THC mice were more prone to addiction to nicotine than the placebo mice. Research that has been conducted in the past has failed to find this connection between marijuana use and tendency towards addiction to other drugs like cocaine and heroin. Researchers note that there may be many reasons—social factors mainly—that someone who smokes pot may be more likely to become addicted to nicotine.
Certainly this study needs corroboration from other studies and the relevance to humans needs to be more firmly established, but given what stoners have been saying for years about how pot makes them feel about cigarettes, this study establishes a pathway for new research.
What It Means
Given the serious health issues that can result from tobacco use—heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema to name but a few—and given the fact that tobacco use has been and continues to be the number one cause of preventable death in the United States, these new findings are alarming for many people.
Many experts agree that more work needs to be done to prevent substance abuse on any level and that the notion of gateway drugs maybe isn’t helpful because it makes some drugs seems more dangerous than others when in fact they are all dangerous and potentially destructive. These findings also press the need for more research into medical marijuana and the potential negative side effects of the medical applications of that drug.
Contact Narconon today for more information on this topic and others. Call us now at 800-468-6933 for information on enrollment for marijuana or other drug problems.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/03/25/smoking-pot-may-lead-to-nicotine-addiction/
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