AHS Views

A girl who wrote to since you asked … on Salon.com just found out her boyfriend is a crackhead. She’s been going out with him for a year, thought a few things were odd along the way, and finally found out what the problem is. Now that she knows, she says she’s sticking by him and going to see him through whatever addiction help services he needs.  But she’s in a dilemma - she knows there’s a possibility that he’ll never stop taking drugs and, although they love each other, this was not the future she had in mind.

I have a few words of advice - don’t do a drug rehab program that doesn’t get to the bottom of why he’s taking drugs and resolve those issues. Don’t get involved in addiction help that makes God or any other entity responsible for keeping him clean.  And don’t get involved in a program that forwards the idea that ‘once an addict, always an addict.”

Thousands of people, perhaps hundreds of thousands, have been truly rehabilitated - by which I mean no longer takes drugs, no longer wants drugs, no longer needs drugs, is no longer tempted by drugs no matter what the situation, no longer even considers drugs to be solution.

If you settle for anything less - you’ll either wind up with someone who relapses over and over again, someone who believes they cannot stay off drugs unless they attend endless meetings for the rest of their life or, worst of all, believes the only hope they have is holding their addiction at bay - in other words, they cannot really change. They cannot really get better. They can only act better.

While it’s true that many people have gotten addiction help through programs like the above - some of them would no doubt be dead without it - it is the absolute bare minimum help you can get. There’s really no rehabilitation, there is simply control. And it lasts a lifetime, and requires endless support.

Real addiction help means you are no longer an addict. Period. And that’s what I would advise she ensure her boyfriend receives.

Addiction help is needed by tens of thousands of people who are addicted to or dependent on prescription drugs. Those drugs certainly include OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and Lortab, to name a few. But as prescriptions run out and Afghanistan produces more heroin, how many people with prescription drug addiction and dependency will turn to heroin instead of getting the addiction help they need.

In a recent article, Mohammad Reza Jahani, the deputy head of Iran’s Drug control Headquarters estimates that Afghanistan’s opium fields will produce 8,200 tons of narcotics in 2007 - up from 6,100 tons during 2006. His worry is that 2,500 hundred tons will end up in Iran. He says that 700 tons will stay in Iran for use by Iranians and that 1300 will be transported elsewhere.

Some 500 tons will be found and confiscated and the drug dealers will probably face some harsh penalties.

The concern that I have is that as heroin production increases, it has to be sold somewhere. And, more than likely, that is going to be in the U.S.

As the DEA becomes more aggressive in dealing with doctors and distributors of prescription drugs, addicts will be left out in the cold trying to support their addiction with expensive prescription drugs. They will either get the addiction help they need, or they will find alternatives. And some prescription drug addicts have already discovered that heroin is far less expensive and easier to get.

In other reports some experts have estimated Afghanistan’s heroin production at twice the amount necessary to supply the world’s heroin use. My question would be what do the opium farmers and producers see that would cause them to lower the price and produce twice as much?

It could be the weather, better farming or higher yield from their crops, or it could be that someone sees that more people are addicted to opiates then ever before and there’s no one else to supply this growing market.

As we move forward into 2008 and beyond, my hope is that people are addicted to prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs get the addiction help they need.
Addiction Help Services can put you, your family or friends in touch with a successful drug rehab program.

Not too many people paid an awful lot of attention to methadone when it was used primarily as a substitute drug for heroin addicts. But now that it’s used as a painkiller and the death toll is rising, it’s in the news. Perhaps the increase in methadone-related deaths will prompt the right people to realize what an abomination methadone ‘treatment’ really is and heroin addicts may start to get the addiction help they need instead of being put onto another addictive, dangerous drug.

What took them so long? I suspect that junkies dying didn’t come as a surprise to anyone, and wasn’t particularly newsworthy. You don’t see too many stories about how many junkies are dying from methadone, although the number of methadone-related deaths have been about double those related to heroin. And many more people take heroin than methadone.

Thinking of getting into a methadone maintenance program? If someone is telling you that’s the way to go, forget it. Contact a medical drug detox program that can get you through withdrawal and into drug rehab. And if you’re already on methadone, do the same. You don’t have to settle for replacing one drug addiction for another. Get the addiction help services you need.

I don’t know of many drug addicts who want to get arrested, but I came across a story about NASCAR driver Aaron Fike who reportedly told a judge that he was thankful for an arrest that got him the addiction help he needed to handle his problem with heroin.
 
According to the article, Fike was arrested while shooting up in an amusement park parking lot and was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of heroin. After four days in jail, Fike was admitted into a drug addiction treatment program where he spent four months.

Fike had struggled with addiction for many years. It started with him taking prescription painkillers to handle a physical injury. He got hooked on them very quickly, then graduated to OxyContin, and then started shooting heroin.

After his arrest he was thankful for the opportunity to get addiction treatment help to handle his substance abuse issues. Today, although he still may face some sentencing for his arrest, Fike is trying to deliver drug education to schools, racetracks and other community venues in order to reduce his charges.

His personal story shows what can happen when a person gets the addiction help services they need.

A $2.3 million grant has just been given to the University of Houston, Texas, to study the effects of drug abuse on older Latinos. Personally, I don’t see the point. There’s nothing about Latinos, or the fact that they’re older, that would make the effects any different from anyone else, and they’ll still need the same drug addiction help anyone abusing drugs needs.

What else could that money be used for? Well, $2.3 million could get an awful lot of those older Latinos actually through drug rehab so they can be free of drugs. Seems a much better use of the money than studying them to see if there’s anything different about Latino drug addicts than addicts within other ethnic groups.

If you know someone who’s abusing drugs, contact a good drug rehab program counselor who can help you find the addiction help services they need. Latino or not, I can guarantee it’s going to be drug rehab. 

I’ve heard of many different types of drug rehab, but never before have I seen people trying to get addiction help being filmed throughout their drug rehab and the films being released on TV – which is what the new reality TV show Celebrity Rehab is all about.
 
The show began filming in September and will feature Jessica Sierra and, possibly, other celebs who were at the drug rehab center at the time. Although the others are not confirmed, they could include Daniel Baldwin, pro-wrestler Chyna, and even a porn star.

God knows what effect this will have on the viewpoint of the public regarding drug rehab.

If you or someone you care about is on drugs, realize that this is not reality TV – it’s the real thing, and it’s dangerous. Contact a drug rehab program counselor to find out how you can get the addiction help services you need.

When you’ve struggled with drug addiction for years, as I have, Thanksgiving takes on a special meaning. Drug rehab is one of the major things I have to be thankful for – without the addiction help I received, I might not be here today.
 
When you’re addicted to drugs, it seems like it will never be over but, as a fully recovered addict, I want to tell you that addiction really can be overcome if you get the right treatment.

Millions of others have been through what I went through, and those who were lucky enough to get into a drug rehab program are having dinner today with friends and family.

If someone you care about is addicted to drugs or alcohol, contact a drug rehab counselor to figure out how to get them the addiction help services they need. Although they may not be with you this Thanksgiving, next year they could be fully recovered and sitting beside you at your dinner table.

I’ve often wondered why the government and other entities continue to throw money at drug detox and drug rehab facilities and treatment models that are unsuccessful. I think one of the reasons may be that they actually believe ‘relapse is part of recovery.’  I don’t know who the ‘expert’ is who decided that, or how the word got spread around, but it’s certain that it didn’t come from someone who is an expert in addiction help.

It more than likely came from someone who has had a number of failures in trying to get people off drugs. Somehow, they just got to the point where they didn’t believe there was anything wrong with their treatment model, or their facility, or their skills - it’s just that ‘relapse is part of recovery.’

It’s not uncommon for someone who has failed at something to try to make others believe that the thing they’re failing at is impossible.

In fact, when it comes to drug rehab, it’s not. There are very successful drug rehab program centers around. And plenty of people actually kick the habit.

If you or someone you care about needs help getting off drugs, contact an addiction help services counselor. He can guide you to something that really works. 

How they can be a drug rehab expert and not know how to get someone to stay off You have probably heard ‘relapse is part of recovery’  being offered as the reason why some drug rehab programs are unsuccessful - they are unsuccessful, relapse is part of recovery. a reason for relapse and for the failure of drug rehab programs. Anyone who says this really doesn’t know what it takes to make drug rehab successful. What else are they going to say? They don’t know What does that mea 

“You have to want to stop, and you have to stop believing drugs are the answer to your pain,” Dale Gordon, a recovery addict and director of treatment for the Yukon territory’s Alcohol and Drug Services unit told the Whitehorse Star in a recent article. “My experience is that people who recover have a way to do that.”
 

When it comes right down to it, you’re the only one who’s going to educate your kids on drugs and alcohol and ensure that your kids, family members and others you care about get the drug addiction help they need. And the first thing you have to do is recognize that there is a problem.

An article today about the Kentucky forum on drug abuse, entitled “Not My Child! (Are You Sure?),” featured Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force Director Cheyenne Albro. Winning the war on drugs requires success in three areas, says Albro, enforcement, education and treatment. Law enforcement, while active, is obviously not solving the problem. So, if your kid is in trouble, it’s up to you. “Drug abuse is a devastating disease. It’s got a death grip on our nation. The cure for that disease is you, the public,” said Albro.

‘Not My Child! (Are You Sure?)’ is probably what almost every parent thinks when they hear their kid is doing drugs. It may be just as shocking to you – but, nevertheless, if that’s what’s going on, you need to know about it. And you need to do something about it fast. Drugs ruin lives, and sometimes they end them. Don’t let it happen to someone you love. Contact a drug rehab counselor and get the addiction help treatment you need.

Getting someone who needs help with alcohol or drug addiction can be difficult. In fact, 95% of alcohol and drug treatment candidates think they don’t have a problem. But, they do. They have a problem with alcohol or drugs, and they have the problems that got them into alcohol or drugs in the first place. And the only way to resolve those problems is through a successful alcohol and drug rehab program.

But how do you convince them of that fact? Sometimes the addict is afraid the person will think less of them if they discuss it, sometimes they think the person couldn’t possibly understand what they’re going through, and sometimes the relationship between the addict and the person trying to convince them to get help is not that great.

That’s when you need outside help – someone who understands what the addict is going through, has worked with hundreds or thousands of alcoholics or drug addicts in the past, and can convince them to get into alcohol or drug rehab.

If you need help getting someone into treatment, call a drug rehab program counselor. They’ll help you determine if an interventionist is needed, and will also help you find the right treatment program.