Narconon Points Out The 3 Signs That Treatment Isn’t Finished

Posted on April 18, 2013 by narconon

Each different treatment philosophy holds a different opinion on the role of “relapse” as a part of the recovery cycle. Some say relapse is inevitable, while others consider it to be a necessary step towards lasting sobriety.

As any addict will tell you, relapse is devastating. It isn’t always nice to hear that you have relapse to look forward to on your already difficult road towards recovery.

Rather than consider relapse important, necessary, inevitable or any of these things, we choose to focus on the important task at hand—getting through the most comprehensive rehab program possible. And when this happens, evidence has shown that someone formerly addicted can achieve permanently and lasting sobriety with no relapse. Continue reading →

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Narconon Discusses The Role Of Addiction With Hypertension

Posted on April 18, 2013 by narconon

For many years it has been known that addiction to drugs, as well as heavy drinking causes disease and health problems. One of those problems is hypertension.

If you have been diagnosed with hypertension, a condition which is also commonly referred to as high blood pressure, it is important for you to take the time now to learn about the basic actions which you can take to alleviate the symptoms. At least as important is for you to know what steps you can take to actively avoid increasing your blood pressure and thereby exacerbating the condition.

The most important thing to know at this point in time is that hypertension is not something which you can expect to treat and then be cured of. In all likelihood, you will now be managing your blood pressure for the rest of your life, and it is to a large degree in your own hands how well you are able to do this. The next major thing to know is that you cannot simply rely on your medications to handle your blood pressure. There is no magic pill which will treat the condition; you have to make meaningful changes to your lifestyle.

Fortunately, these changes will probably not only help you to reduce your blood pressure, but will also lead to higher overall levels of health and a more enjoyable and longer life for you. Continue reading →

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ADHD Drug Abuse Increases Among Teens And College Students

Posted on April 10, 2013 by narconon

High school and college students in the United States are demonstrating less concern about the nonmedical use of Adderall and other stimulant drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a recent survey conducted and published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The number of students who responded to a survey question regarding their ideas of the perceived risk of Adderall abuse dropped by 6 percent in 2012 as compared with the previous year, representing a noteworthy increase in the general conception of the safety of such drugs.

The findings of this research were the focus of a recent report on Charlotte, North Carolina television news station WBTV. This trend is cause for great concern among parents, educators, health care professionals and law enforcement, given that Adderall, Ritalin and Concerta are all potentially addictive, and the dropping rates of concern in connection with their abuse portends increases in the numbers of young people who will be entering their adult years already addicted to drugs, whether they stay on the ADHD drugs or transition into traditional street drugs.

High school and college students are commonly under enormous amounts of pressure to perform well in school, while also trying to find a way to juggle the demands of social and family life and in some cases working. Between school days that start early in the morning, heavy loads of homework, writing term papers and studying for tests, there often simply is not enough time in the day to get it all done. Students who have a prescription for Adderall or Ritalin often learn quickly that they can stay up longer and focus better by taking more of the drug than they have been directed to by their doctor. Continue reading →

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Stimulant Drug Use Growing Concern

Posted on April 10, 2013 by narconon

Bismarck, North Dakota NBC affiliate KFYR-TV news carried a story in late February on the growing trend of stimulant drug abuse among young people throughout the United States. The drugs which were the primary focus of the report were Ritalin and Adderall, the two most commonly prescribed medications for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children and young adults in this country. According to statistics provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly 8 percent of American high school seniors admitted to abusing Adderall and other stimulant drugs in 2012, a figure which is up by 2 percent over the numbers from 2009. The ADHD stimulants are widespread among high school and college students of the current generation, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that there are 55 million prescriptions written for such drugs on a regular basis.

The fact that Ritalin and Adderall are prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder presents something of a contradiction, given that they are both powerful stimulants. Ritalin is to a large degree identical to cocaine in its chemical structure and mechanics of effect on the brain, while Adderall is a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. They may be medications, but both of them are listed in Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act, a group which includes such infamous drugs as cocaine and opium. ADHD stimulants have a high potential for abuse and dependence, particularly when students start taking them in amounts which exceed the recommended dosage.

A common scenario is that a young person with a prescription for one of the drugs will start taking additional pills in order to get an extra boost during studying, such as to stay up late to write a paper or to perform better on a test. In other cases, a teen with a prescription will start sharing the pills with friends for the same purpose, as a study aid and academic performance enhancer. It is not long, however, before the young person who starts using stimulants non-medically will begin abusing the drugs. A common route for abuse is to crush the pills in order to snort the powder just as if it were cocaine, and often with the same effects. In this form, Adderall and Ritalin easily transition from being medicine into party drugs, allowing young people to stay up all night with their friends.

Worse, many will mix the drugs with alcohol, motivated by the fact that the stimulant effects will work to offset the drowsiness that sets in with drinking, so that users can drink far more and get outrageously drunk before passing out. Continue reading →

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Study Suggests Kids With ADHD More Likely To Use Drugs

Posted on April 8, 2013 by narconon

A new study of 600 children diagnosed with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the age of about 8 has found that those kids are at a significantly higher risk for substance abuse 6 to 8 years later in life than are kids who are not diagnosed. The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, found that there was no difference in the rates or risk of addiction for boys or girls diagnosed with the problem.

Some medical experts and researchers have hypothesized that the increased risk of substance abuse that accompanies ADHD diagnosis in young kids is the result of the manner in which it is treated, whether with prescription medications like Ritalin and other stimulants or not. Some researchers think that the medications themselves are to blame for later drug and tobacco habits, and some researchers think that the medications do not do anything to counter the increased risk kids with ADHD have for substance abuse issues.

However, this newest study does not deny that these medications may be a factor in susceptibility to drug, alcohol, or tobacco abuse. The research highlights the need for new non-medical approaches to related substance abuse issues, including earlier detection of the risk factors and new ways of educating and informing those found to be at risk. Continue reading →

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Ways To Keep Your Kids Drug Free Without Relating Past Drug Use Stories That Backfire

Posted on April 8, 2013 by narconon

In an effort to relate and empathize with their children and to try to give the issue a personal perspective, parents sometimes relate stories of their own drug-use and the things they learned not to do, the lessons that they learned. Sometimes these parental anecdotes of past drug use are an attempt to make the situation seem more comfortable and to provide the adolescent or teenager the sense that their parents can relate to their lives and their problems, concerns, and questions regarding drug use. Many parents simply assumed that disclosing their own experiences with drugs to their children was a clever and effective tactic for preventing teen drug use, but a new study suggests that those parents were wrong. The reality, according to the study, seems to be that when parents tell stories of past drug use to their kids those kids are more likely to develop relaxed attitudes regarding drug use and are also more likely to use drugs.

In the study, which was published in the February 2013 issue of Human Communication Research, researchers interviewed 561 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders regarding their views on drug use and the manner in which their parents had talked to them about drug use. The study set out to confirm earlier data from studies that indicated teens were less likely to use drugs if their parents had told them anecdotes and even cautionary tales regarding their own drug use. The new study did not confirm these earlier studies however; in fact, it pointed in the opposite direction and suggested that parents who relate stories of past drug use to their children, even in a cautionary and “lesson learned” kind of way, have children who are in fact more likely to use drugs because of these very conversations regarding drugs. Continue reading →

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Why So Many Babies Are Born Addicted

Posted on April 8, 2013 by narconon

A look at the painkiller epidemic and its generational impact.

A new study conducted by the University of Michigan and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that the number of babies born with addictions to prescription painkillers has more than tripled in the past decade. Tennessee and Florida, the study says, have especially high rates of children being born addicted to opiate-based painkillers or to heroin or morphine. In Florida, the study notes, a state some people already refer to as the “pill mill” state and home to the so called “Oxy-Express”.

The occurrence of babies born addicted to drugs has increased substantially—500 percent—in the last half decade or so. The Tennessee Department of Human Services reports that the first decade of the millennium saw the rate of children born with addiction to an opiate-based drug multiply by 10 times. The University of Michigan study estimates that one baby is born addicted to some sort of opiate every hour in the U.S. and that 13,539 babies are born with NAS [Neo-Natal Abstinence Syndrome] each year. Continue reading →

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Is There A Link Between Alcoholism And Depression

Posted on March 26, 2013 by narconon

It is a matter of common sense that depression and alcoholism often go hand in hand, but until recently it has not necessarily been well established just exactly to what degree this is the case. Obviously, not all depression is caused by drinking, since in many cases it is the result of major life stress, the sudden loss of a loved one, poor diet or other factors.

On the other hand, many alcoholics chalk up their drinking problem to the fact that they are depressed, saying that they are driven to drinking by their mood disorder. A new study which was published in the February 12 edition of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs appears to have shed some light on the issue, providing us with greater insight into the extent of the relationship between alcoholism and depression. Based on the findings of the study, it appears that it is actually common that a person will develop depression as a result of drinking, rather than the other way around. Continue reading →

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Researchers Link Smoking Synthetic Marijuana To Increased Risks Of Kidney Failure

Posted on March 26, 2013 by narconon

Once every week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia publishes its Morbidity and Mortality report, with the purpose of alerting the general populace as well as those working in the fields of healthcare and public health of recent trends and developments in the subjects of death and disease across the country.

The report for the week of 15 February made headlines as far away as France, as evidenced by the fact that the English language edition of French newspaper La Tribune made room for a short article on the CDC report. The topic of this noteworthy report was the incidence of acute kidney injury among those who smoke synthetic marijuana. The drug has been the focus of increasing levels of negative attention over the past year, with large numbers of people being reported as suffering serious health side effects, while at the same time synthetic marijuana is on its way to becoming the most widely abused illicit drug in the United States. This new series of acute kidney injury cases is only the latest in a long line of potential hazards which have been linked to the drug.

The events which led up to the CDC taking action to warn us about the risk of suffering acute kidney injury after using synthetic marijuana began in Wyoming. Public health officials in that sparsely populated state received three separate reports of individuals who had been admitted to the emergency room with symptoms of kidney injury. Common signs of this condition include pain in the abdomen or flank, nausea and vomiting, as well as back pain in some cases. Sometimes, the symptoms will begin a few hours after smoking synthetic cannabis, while in other cases it may take several days. After learning of the fact that several locals had been injured by synthetic marijuana, the Wyoming health officials moved to warn the CDC, in the event that other states may be experiencing similar problems. As it turns out, they were right. After putting the word out, the CDC discovered that there had been no fewer than 16 cases of acute kidney failure caused by synthetic marijuana use nationwide.

All but one of the patients were men, and they all were between the ages of 15 and 33. More than a third of them were in Oregon, though they were spread out across the country in states ranging from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas to Rhode Island and New York. After careful screening, none of the patients were discovered to suffer from a preexisting kidney condition and none were taking other medications which are known to interfere with the kidneys. Continue reading →

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How Synthetic Marijuana Is Causing Permanent Disability

Posted on March 26, 2013 by narconon

A 16 year old girl from Cypress, a small suburb of Houston, Texas, was recently admitted to the intensive care unit at a local hospital after she made the mistake of trying synthetic marijuana for the first time. In the aftermath of the incident, her brain function was reduced by nearly three quarters. She now has great difficulty in performing even routine tasks as simple as feeding herself without assistance, and is currently confined to a wheelchair. The young woman from Cypress is not alone in her suffering from having tried synthetic marijuana.

Many others who use the drug experience major dangerous side effects which can include seizures and even heart attacks. Despite the fact that this drug is so dangerous, it is steadily becoming one of the most popular in the United States. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reports on a recent survey which found that 11.4 percent of American high school seniors used synthetic marijuana last year, making it the second-most widely used drug among 12th-graders nationwide, with the number one drug being cannabis.

At the same time that synthetic marijuana, which is commonly referred to by the popular brand names Spice and K2, is exploding in popularity across the country, shocking numbers of people are suffering from the negative effects associated with the drug. In 2010, there were 2,906 poison control center calls in relation to synthetic marijuana, while this figure more than doubled to 6,959 in 2011, and was on track to surpass even that amount in light of numbers reported by the American Association of Poison Control Centers at the beginning of 2012. Part of the reason that synthetic marijuana is associated with such widespread health consequences is that it is to a large degree unpredictable.

While naturally occurring marijuana is bad enough, it is at least relatively constant in its chemical composition and its effects on the body.

Synthetic cannabis, on the other hand, is manufactured by criminal chemists who fashion whatever compounds they can which will mimic the effects of THC, and who often make changes to the formula in order to avoid legal bans on specific chemical substances. To put it simply, users rarely, if ever, know exactly what it is that they are taking. Further, synthetic marijuana is typically found to be anywhere from 2 to 10 times more potent than its naturally occurring counterpart. Users often are overwhelmed by the power of the drug, and as reflected in the statistics above, they frequently end up needing medical attention as a result.

Why Is Such A Dangerous Drug So Popular

The weekly student newspaper for the University of California, Santa Barbara, The Bottom Line, recently carried a report on the subject of synthetic marijuana. The issue was considered to be of particular concern to the local community, given the fact that marijuana has been recognized as being common on the campus and surrounding areas for several decades. There is obvious concern that this even more dangerous drug may soon become widespread in the UC Santa Barbara community as well as in universities around the country.

Students who were quoted in the article voiced concerns over the potential health risks of synthetic marijuana, while also stressing the importance of the individual user’s own informed decision. The feature concluded with a quote from a student who compared the rise of new and increasingly dangerous substitutes for marijuana to the proliferation of bootleg liquor during the era of Prohibition.

While making drugs illegal clearly does not keep them off the streets, it does create a market for more readily available substitutes which often cause even worse effects, whether it is moonshine whiskey that causes drinkers to go blind or synthetic marijuana which sends high school students to the emergency room. Clearly, it is not enough to make drugs like marijuana illegal; what is needed is effective solutions to addiction and to the factors which lead people into using drugs in the first place.

To get more information on the dangers of synthetic marijuana or to find a Narconon rehab facility contact us now.

Source: http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2013/02/k-dying-to-get-high-synthetic-marijuana-severely-disables-teenage-girl

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