What Sets Narconon Apart

The decision to name the new drug rehab program “Narconon” was founded upon the fact that Mr. Benitez was taking an approach that was different from the one that so many other rehab treatment programs do. Instead of using drug-replacement therapy and similar medication-based strategies for treating addiction, the new program would enable participants to take on the challenge of fighting their addictions with no drugs; thus “narco-” (drugs) + “non.” Most rehab programs focus on the ways in which the individual is a victim of his or her addiction. This may be manifested by explanations of addiction as a disease. Others assume that the person will not be able to do anything about the addiction and use other drugs to replace the drug of addiction. Even programs that do not use medicated treatment will often require the participant to admit that he or she is powerless to overcome the addiction and to pray for help from outside sources. This is one of the primary differences between Narconon and most other rehab programs, and is also one of the keys to its success. Instead of focusing on remedying disability, Narconon focuses on improving ability. In Mr. Benitez’ own words, “I found that if a person rehabilitated and applied certain abilities, that person could persevere toward goals set, confront life, isolate problems and resolve them, communicate with life, be responsible and set ethical standards, and function within the band of certainty.”

Narconon Earns Recognition

It took a full six months before William Benitez was able to persuade the prison administration to allow him to implement his plans for a new drug rehab treatment program. When they finally did grant permission, the results demonstrated that it was a wise decision. With nothing more than two-hour meetings on Thursday nights, the program was able to help the 18 inmates who participated in the inaugural run to change their lives. Instead of simply continuing with the dreary monotony of prison life, the participants were finding a way to feel better, to become more competent, to help others and receive help and to achieve a greater ability to confront life. Within months, news of the effectiveness of Narconon spread outside the walls of the prison and into the community at large. For example, the local newspaper carried a story on the program shortly following its inception, and only four years later a California newspaper was heralding Narconon for the fact that its graduates had a recidivism rate of only 14 percent, less than a third of the national average of the period. Over the past 40 years since its inception, the program has spread across 6 continents and has helped countless numbers of people to turn their lives around. From its humble beginnings in an Arizona prison cell, Narconon has come to be recognized as among the most effective programs in existence.

For more information on Narconon beginnings and that first Arizona State Prison study go to our Narconon video page today.

UNDOC Findings Project Global Trends

Reflecting on some of the keynotes of the UNDOCÕs annual report on illegal substance trends, we are given a snapshot of the global substance abuse problem:

* The UN predicts approximately 230 million people have consumed illegal drugs (one or more times) since 2010.

* Nearly 30 million people worldwide are considered Òproblem drug users,Ó and 200,000 people die from substance abuse annually.

* According to the UNDOC, there are somewhere between 120-220 million marijuana users in the world, making it the most popularly consumed illegal drug in the world.

* Amphetamines (stimulant drugs) like cocaine, meth and stimulant prescriptions are the second most popularly abused drug worldwide.

Youth Drug Trends in the US

It seems every nation shares some common denominators in substance abuse trends, but across the globe we find that each country possesses its own specific burdens, challenges and ‘fads.’

The US is no exception to this. American youth today face some very dangerous substances which trend throughout communities small and large, and high schools both public and private, showing no signs of discrimination or being selective.

Synthetic Drugs
Synthetic marijuana (also called K2 or Spice) and Bath Salts (a synthetic methamphetamine-LSD-ecstasy hybrid, also called Ivory Wave) took American youth by storm when they first became popular a few years ago. These life-threatening substances are considered highly dangerous because their chemical contents are mostly completely unknown, making their side effects and reactions wholly unpredictable.

Household Items
Most disturbingly, some teens have reportedly turned to common household items like hand sanitizer and nutmeg, for a high. Also on the watch list are cough/cold medicines, cough syrups, freon gas (from A/C units) and

Prescription Drugs
Sadly, a large number of teens who are prescribed stimulant prescriptions like Adderall and Ritalin engage in abuse of the substances or give their pills to friends and/or buyers. Adderall is comparable to cocaine and methamphetamine, both in its degree of addictiveness and the mental effects produced. The US Drug Enforcement Agency has classified these pills accordingly, based on these dangerous trends.

Global Use Expected to Increase

If illegal drug use continues to grow in the way it has been, the UNDOC projects the number of substance abusers to increase by an additional 25% by the year 2050. This amounts to approximately 65 million additional chemically dependent individuals. Further, although male drug abusers have historically outnumbered women in the arena of abuse, female abusers are expected to increase as well.

Because underdeveloped countries lack the same treatment and prevention resources, these are the populations the UN expects will be hit hardest by the projected increase of substance abuse in the coming decades.

Although the UN makes these projections, there are actions individuals and communities can take to prevent, detect and treat addiction.

* Parents, talk to children and teens about drugs
* Responsibly store and dispose of medications
* Support drug education programs in local schools
* Stay up to date on trends affecting your community
* Watch for signs of abuse in your friends, family and loved ones, and act quickly when they manifest

These UN projections for worldwide substance abuse trends are nothing short of deadly. Learn the signs of abuse, and take care to ensure the youth in your life have preventative education early on.

Source:

http://world.time.com/2012/06/28/illegal-drug-use-around-the-world-5-things-you-need-to-know/

Narconon measures the program success and effective recovery by the same standards of achievement as established by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). In 2012, SAMHSA published the following definition for recovery: “A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” In a recently published information compilation, four decades of independent studies—all varying in location, time frame and test group size—stastistics have continued to show that a vast majority of Narconon’s hardworking graduates continue to live healthy, happy and purposeful lives outside of rehab.

Components of Success

Our students’ success is our mission, and we tackle this challenge by facing underlying issues as well as present-day obstacles head-on. We also encourage students throughout various stages of the program to plan ahead and consider the challenges of the future. In alignment with the components that SAMHSA considers most important for a life in recovery, the Narconon Program focuses on a wide variety of issues relating to drug abuse and alcoholism, all under the umbrella of these key components:

• Health

Many drug addicts and alcoholics are physically worn down and suffer from a great deal of health issues, nutritional deficiencies, etc. In the most basic stages of the program, Narconon students are given individualized guidance to better their personal health.

• Purpose

Throughout each step of the Narconon program, students are encouraged to cultivate their own goals, plans and objectives. Every subject taken up and studied on the program is designed for practical use, and a tremendous part of recovery is again becoming and feeling like one has a purpose in life. Book 7 of the program provides students with step-by-step instructions on how to make goals a reality, improve a gradually declining situation or start up a new project.

• Community

The importance of a support structure cannot be understated. Having positive friends, family and loved ones makes a journey towards lifelong recovery much more easy to achieve. On Book 5 of the program, the Overcoming Ups and Downs in Life course covers:

• The importance of supportive friends

• Ways to eliminate the seeming “roller coaster” feel of life

• Key tips to spotting unsupportive and anti-social individuals

• Characteristics to look for in making new friends

Narconon Program Goals

Throughout Narconon’s network of successful treatment centers worldwide, we consider our first and utmost goal the meaningful recovery of those we treat. Recovery and rehabilitation are often misunderstood to mean merely “getting a person off drugs.” We take a unique and multi-faceted approach at treating addiction by working from the ground up. Cellular-level physical addiction is addressed on the Sauna Detox step, and Life Skills are covered towards the end of the program. Every step in between is a journey of self-exploration and establishment.

Our program is largely based on personal responsibility, integrity, morals and integrity. While we strive to restore physical health and freedom from chemical dependency, we also aim to return our students to a completely new level of happiness, success and functionality. As a fully rehabilitated, responsible member of society, lasting sobriety is a readily achievable goal. For more information or to see our video search visit our YouTube channel on Narconon.

Source: http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-approaches-drug-addiction

Every year, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) publishes its Monitoring the Future survey. For the 2012 survey, 45,449 students from nearly 400 public and private schools across the United States participated. The good news is that alcohol use has dropped to what NIDA describes as “historically low levels.” The bad news, however, is that the use of many other drugs is on the rise among teenagers. The most popular drug by far is marijuana, which 36.4 percent of high school seniors admit to having used in the past year. Marijuana use had been decreasing over the course of about a decade, but in the mid- to late-2000’s it began to shoot back up again. The second-most common drug after marijuana is one that is actually nearly the same as the first one on the list: synthetic marijuana. This drug, which is commonly referred to by the brand names Spice or K2, is an artificially manufactured version of cannabis which produces a similar high yet is reported to be anywhere from 2 to 10 times stronger and often results in overdose or calls to poison control centers. Synthetic marijuana was reported to have been used by 11.3 percent of 12th-graders. Counting natural and synthetic cannabis together, they are more than 6 times more common than the next most widely used type of drug.

Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse Is Common Among Teenagers

Pharmaceutical drugs, including both prescription and over-the-counter medications, were used by 14.8 percent of the young people who responded to the survey, and this category accounted for 6 out of the top 10 drugs. Out of these, the stimulant ADHD drug Adderall — a preparation of amphetamine which is essentially medical speed — was the leader, and was used by 7.6 percent of 12th-graders. The next-most common pharmaceutical drugs are reported as being Vicodin, cough medicine, tranquilizers, sedatives and OxyContin. In some cases, adolescents who abuse pharmaceutical drugs get them by raiding the family medicine cabinet and finding a parent’s or grandparent’s painkillers or tranquilizers. In other cases, such as with Adderall, the students are directly provided with the drugs with a prescription and either become addicted through normal use or after experimenting with a friend’s prescription. In spite of the vast amounts of effort and money that go into keeping kids off drugs, many of them are getting started on the road to addiction by taking the very drugs that parents are choosing to give them at the urging of a teacher or doctor. After marijuana and the different types of pharmaceutical drugs, other street drugs are far less common. For example, only 2.7 percent of high school seniors report having used cocaine, and this number has dropped by nearly half over the past 5 years.

Source:

• http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/high-school-youth-trends
• http://www.bettyfordcenter.org/treatment/doctors-office/when-do-people-start-using-alcohol-and-drugs.php

Staging an Intervention for an Addicted Friend

Helping your friend to quit will most likely depend on you staging some type of intervention. Depending on the circumstances and the nature of your relationship with the other person, this may consist of an intimate conversation between the two of you, or if could be a formal meeting at which many people attend. You have to make the judgment call based on whether you think your friend will respond more strongly to a private and one-on-one intervention or if you expect that it will take the voices of several friends and family members to impress on your friend that it is time to quit. Should you choose the latter course of action, it is wise to invite people whom your friend respects and looks up to, since their opinions will typically carry greater weight. In either scenario, make sure that you do not take an accusatory tone towards your friend; this approach will tend to only make the addict defensive and resistive to help. Instead, focus on how the addict’s behavior is affecting you, how you feel that you are losing him or her and the concerns that you have for the person’s safety, happiness and health.

It is of vital importance that you plan ahead of time before you begin an intervention. Without a plan and a roadmap in place, the meeting is liable to get out of control and wander all over the place, potentially getting off track and devolving into an argument. Another reason you should have a plan in place is that it makes it easier for you to persist towards your goal when your friend balks. Finally, you need to have a specific goal in mind that translates into actual action. Simply getting your friend to agree to quit is not enough; he or she is liable to wake up the next morning and to slip right back into the established routines and patterns of behavior. Instead, have a goal that at the end of the intervention, your friend will not only agree to quit but will actually move forward with checking into rehab. The help that you can offer to a friend who has an addiction does not, however, end with going to rehab. As soon as your friend checks out, you need to be ready to assist him or her in transitioning back into the outside world, a world where drugs and alcohol are freely available. Help your friend to avoid situations and places where he or she would normally have consumed alcohol or drugs. Life after rehab will be enormously different for your friend, and you can provide invaluable assistance by being there to help him or her to readjust and move forward.

Source: http://drugabuse.com/library/how-to-help-a-drug-addict/

How do you know which one is right for you? How can you choose the one that will work and potentially save you or your loved one from the dwindling spiral of addiction? The most reliable way to tell whether or not a rehab treatment program is capable of delivering the results you need is to look at whether or not it has a proven track record of success in helping people in your situation.

What Rehab is All About

Drug rehab is about more than quitting drugs. Getting over the symptoms of withdrawal and managing to spend a day, a week, a month or longer sober is one thing. Staying sober in the long term, and avoiding the problems which led one to addiction in the first place, is another challenge. A proper rehab program addresses these issues, and not only helps the participant to quit drugs, but to stay off of them for life. In 2012, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a federal agency which is the governmental authority over drug and alcohol treatment programs nationwide, issued its definition of recovery from addiction. According to SAMHSA, recovery is, “[a] process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” SAMHSA also delineated four components of a life in recovery, which include:

• Health – No drug or alcohol abuse, making decisions which promote physical and mental health
• Home – Having a stable and safe place to live
• Purpose – Engaging in meaningful activities on a daily basis and having the income and resources to actively participate in society
• Community  – Having relationships that provide support, friendship, love and hope

With these criteria in mind, you should evaluate any rehab program you are considering to determine whether it stands up to the test of helping participants to recover from addiction. Our results in treatment, just released shows some of the indicators of successful treatment.

The Narconon Results Study

Our recent study indicates that our program has been extensively tested and evaluated over the past 40 years, and has consistently produced some of the best results in the field of addiction recovery. Numerous studies have demonstrated that Narconon participants enjoy the benefits of recovery as outlined by SAMHSA. For example, a 1977 Michigan Reformatory Evaluation found that 100 percent of prisoners who participated in the program enjoyed a grade point average increase of at least one point in their studies.

The 1981 Narconon Stockholm Case Study found that 76.9 percent of participants were gainfully employed or enrolled in school 4 years after the program, while this number was improved to 86 percent in the 2007 Narconon Arrowhead Routine Outcome Monitoring Report. The same report also found that 97.1 percent of participants were crime-free 6 months following the program completion, and that 76.5 percent continued to be drug-free. Every one of the program participants who were monitored in the Stockholm study had a criminal history, yet 77 percent of them had avoided criminal activity for 4 years following the program. In fact, a sampling of 11 different studies ranging from 1972 to 2007 demonstrated that an average of 79 percent of Narconon graduates were able to stay out of trouble with the law.

A 1974 report issued by the California Institute for Women stated that 75 percent of participants remained drug-free for 6 months to a year following the program, while a 1977 Narconon Boston case study demonstrated that 91 percent of participants were sober after 10 months. With results such as these, you can have confidence that our program produces results.

For information on Narconon click here.

Source: www.samhsa.gov

The DEA won’t stand for it any more. In its aggressive fight against drug diversion, a federal probe has been initiated, and UPS admitted its involvement and agreed to pay a $40 million settlement.

Shady Dealings

Since 2003, UPS has known from its employees that Internet pharmacies were using its services to ship medicines being distributed illegally, without prescriptions. Yet they did not make any motion to close these shipping accounts, according to the Justice Department. Drivers were even complying with instructions to drop the packages in suspicious locations such as the side of a highway or parking lots.

Regardless of employees’ level of involvement, it is clear that UPS did not conduct due diligence. Minimally, they were lacking in proper screening procedures, as they should have known whether or not the businesses were shipping pharmaceuticals illegally. For example, United Care Pharmacy became a client of UPS in September of 2005. That same month, authorities sent them a list of illegal pharmacies, and United Care was on their list. UPS continued to service the business and only removed the pharmacy from its list after the senior executives of the pharmacy were arrested two years later.

Is Justice Served

UPS admitted its involvement and signed a non-prosecution agreement with the United States. For two years, UPS will be required to comply with the DEA and follow a program to prevent illegal Internet pharmacies from using its shipping services.

On the bright side, UPS has been in compliance with investigation by authorities since 2007. FedEx Corporation is facing a similar probe and has been responding to grand jury subpoenas, though they are confident that they have not violated federal law.

How This May Be Affecting You

While the settlement with UPS is heartening, it brings to light the fact that drug diversion is more common than one might think. In fact, an increasing number of teens are ordering prescription drugs online and having them delivered to friends’ homes or other locations. Illicit use of pharmaceuticals is rising in popularity among teens. They crush them in order to be smoked or injected. Opioids like OxyContin and Percocet act like Heroin, causing euphoria and drowning out pain. Psychostimulants like Ritalin and Adderall are used like amphetamines. They are shared at parties and teens ride the high at school.

Another unexpected package may include synthetic drugs, new substances with mind-altering effects. Drugs like bath salts and Spice can be ordered online and will show up at the front door.

Be wary of unknown packages showing up at your front door, and do not be afraid to act nosy for the sake of your child.

Source:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-29/ups-settles-probe-of-illegal-online-drug-shipments-u-s-says.html

There is a significant risk that they will start drinking or using drugs, and that this could lead to addiction and other tragic consequences. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that the summer months of June, July and August see the highest rates of fatal car accidents among teens aged 15-19 years old, and many of these accidents may be attributed to the use of drugs or alcohol. What can you as a parent do to keep your teens safe from addiction this summer? Here are three tips which may help:

Tips From Narconon On Keeping Teens Safe

There are many tips that can aid in preventing drug use amongst teens. These include:

Help Them Get a Job

The “summer job” is a teenage tradition dating back decades, and it is very often a rite of passage. Finding a job to work at during the summer is perhaps less common now, with more teens choosing to spend their summer days inside playing video games and surfing the internet, but it is something which can be of great value to any young person. To begin with, there is the simple fact that your teen will have less free time. Even a part-time job can eat up a considerable portion of the weekly schedule. Your teen can also enjoy a boost in self-confidence based on the fact that he or she is now entering the adult world, living up to obligations outside of the house and performing a valuable service. Getting paid a weekly wage can also give your teen a boost in self-esteem, and as he or she is more capable of affording purchases, your teen is likely to experience a spark of purpose and drive.

Holding down a job can also serve to distract your teen from the “problems” which young people so often find themselves getting wrapped up in. Finding a job may be more difficult in today’s economic recession or depression, but your teen can experience the same or even greater benefits from volunteering with a community service organization which provides help to a cause that he or she cares about.

Make Sure They Know About All Kinds of Drugs

No doubt your teen knows that marijuana, cocaine and heroin are drugs. What he or she may not realize is that many of the prescription medications which are so widespread in America today are at least as dangerous as street drugs, and some of them even more so. Adderall and Ritalin, for example, are chemically identical or similar to speed and cocaine, respectively. Prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin are both derived from opium and as such they are cousins to heroin. Many teens start abusing prescription drugs, thinking that because they come from doctors and have FDA approval they are somehow less dangerous. Similarly, there is an increasing trend among young people of using the new synthetic drugs such as bath salts and synthetic marijuana. These drugs are frequently marketed as “herbal incense,” “plant food” and “bath salts.” Despite their innocuous sounding names, they are powerful drugs which can have harmful side effects. Make sure that your teen understands that all of these substances are drugs and are no safer than any other type of drug

Spend More Time With Them

While your teens may have enormous amounts of free time during the summer, you still have to work. You should not, however, pass on the opportunity to spend more time with your children over the summer months. Find a way to fit more family time into your busy schedule, both in the evenings during the week and on the weekends. By doing so, you will be increasing the level of parental supervision which your teens receive, since you will be able to ask them more about what is going on in their lives and will have a chance to spot warning signs when they come up. You will also have the opportunity to form closer bonds with your children.

Every moment spent playing a board game, hiking, playing sports outside, working on a project around the house, cooking a meal or doing anything else together is a moment when you can build a stronger relationship with your children. They will feel more loved and supported and will know that they can come to you for help, rather than turning to drugs or alcohol when they feel stressed. They will also feel more motivation to avoid doing things which would let you down, including engaging in chemical substance use. Today’s busy world makes it harder for mothers and fathers to really be parents to their children, but you can use the summer break to spend more time with your kids and to help them stay away from drinking and drugs.

For more information on how to prevent teen drug use or if you have someone addicted that does need help go to www.narcononcenter.com.

Source: http://coxenterprises.mediaroom.com/2012-06-05-Tips-To-Keep-Your-Teen-Safe-While-Driving-This-Summer

Among the many causes of concern, there is the very real chance that your child may end up drinking or using drugs on the night of the prom. Peer pressure and the desire to fit in are perhaps never stronger than on prom night, and these factors are only compounded by the atmosphere of a “special night” which seems to provide an excuse to cut loose and do something which the would not normally do.

The decision to drink or get high, however, could easily have tragic consequences for your teen. He or she could be arrested on alcohol- or drug-related charges, could be involved in a date-rape incident, or could be injured or killed in a drunk driving accident. While most teens make it through the prom safely, a few are not so fortunate.

A recent report published by the American Medical Association cites alcohol as being a favor in 40 percent of teen traffic crashes during prom season and two-thirds of sexual assaults during the same period. As the parent of a teenager, you always worry about drug and alcohol use, but you are justified in experiencing an even greater level of concern when prom night is approaching.

Narconon Lists Out Signs That Indicate Drug Use

Fortunately, there are several signs which you can watch for which may indicate that your teen is planning to drink or use drugs before, during or after the prom:

• Your teen is making plans to attend a party after the prom
• You notice that your teen is bringing a bag along which may be used to transport bottles of alcohol
• Your teen is speaking in hushed tones when discussing the event with friends or is otherwise being secretive regarding the topic
• You notice that alcohol is missing from your own liquor cabinet at home
• Your teen is planning to chip in with friends to rent a limousine
• Your teen wants to rent a hotel room to stay in with friends after the dance

Talk About Drugs and Alcohol Before Prom Night

Even if you do not notice any of these signs, however, you should not assume that your teen will not be drinking or using drugs. It does not matter if your child has never previously gotten drunk or high; all it takes is a momentary decision on the big night and everything could change. We have found at Narconon that whether or not you have reason to suspect that your teen will be drinking or using drugs on the night of the prom, it is vital that you take the time beforehand to discuss the matter.

Talk about the many potential dangers, in addition to working out strategies for avoiding drugs and alcohol and even a back-up plan for what to do in case he or she does end up drinking or getting high. Your number-one priority is getting your child home safely on prom night, and the most effective action you can take is to make plans ahead of time.

For more tips on how to stay drug free during prom season or for parent prevention tips check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/narconon.

Source: http://www.safercommunity.net/images/PDFs/Kids_safe_prom_grad_season.pdf

Cardiac Effects of Using Drugs

When you use drugs, whether you smoke, snort, swallow or inject them, they travel through your bloodstream on the way to your brain, where they have their intoxicating effects. The drugs in the blood veins and arteries will eventually pass through the heart, and once there they often have effects which can cause serious and potentially fatal consequences. This is an often overlooked aspect of the physiological effects of drug abuse, yet it is one of the most important to know about, particularly for addicts who are looking for motivation to finally quit.

A 2000 study which was released in the Western Journal of Medicine detailed the cardiac effects of using many different types of drugs, beginning with cocaine. When snorted or consumed in other ways, cocaine causes the release of dopamine and other chemicals known as catecholamines, in addition to inhibiting the reuptake of these substances. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which is associated with feelings of well-being and euphoria, and it is by thus increasing the levels of dopamine in the brain that cocaine gets a person high.

Cocaine use can increase the levels of dopamine and other catecholamines by as much as five hundred percent, and as a result it can impair the ability of the muscles of the heart to conduct electricity and to contract. The drug can also cause endocarditis, which is inflammation of the inner lining of the heart, as well as myocarditis, a condition of inflammation of the heart muscle. Acute symptoms can include tachycardia, which is an abnormally high and often dangerous heart beat, as well as constriction of the blood vessels.

This can result in myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack, or even heart failure. Amphetamine, which is commonly known as speed and is also one of the primary ingredients of Adderall, and its derivative ecstasy, produce similar results as cocaine since they also increase the levels of dopamine and other catecholamines in the bloodstream. They can also cause hypertension (high blood pressure) by suppressing the action of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for regulating the body’s fight-or-flight mechanism. The toxic effects of the drugs can also cause ischemia, a condition in which the blood supply to the tissues of the heart is restricted.

Opioid Drug Abuse and Heart Health

Whereas cocaine and other stimulant drugs can cause heart problems which primarily have to do with high blood pressure and elevated heartbeat, opioid analgesics generally have the opposite effect. These drugs are all derivatives of opium, and they include morphine and heroin, as well as the opiate prescription painkillers hydrocodone (Vicodin) and oxycodone (OxyContin).

One of the most common consequences of opioid drug use is bradycardia, a condition of having a slow heartbeat, while such drugs also commonly cause hypotension, low blood pressure which can deprive the organs throughout the body of the blood supply that they need to operate. In some cases, opioid users will even suffer noncardiogenic pulmonary edema, which happens when the lungs fill with fluid, while others may contract bacterial infections of the heart as a result of injecting the drugs. Individuals who experience cardiac complications as a result of drug use will frequently end up in the emergency room. Unfortunately, they often will be unwilling or unable to explain to the doctors and nurses what drugs they were using, a fact which makes it far more difficult for the medical personnel to render the appropriate treatments. Given the potential health risks, drug use is simply far too dangerous to justify doing. If you are addicted and are concerned about the health hazards of using drugs, get help now.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071198/