Chief Clinical Editor for Narconon, Claire Pinelli
Claire Pinelli has been a teacher and counselor for over 45 years. Claire has always been interested in helping others, even while working on her degree in mathematics. Eventually, Claire took a year off to follow her passion, then returned to finish her degree graduating Cum Laude for Brooklyn College, CUNY.
Throughout the 1970s Claire continued to counsel others, moving to Los Angeles before eventually settling in New York City where she married. While in New York Claire began a new chapter in her life by teaching in the New York City School System, where she helped establish the first computer science curriculum for the New York City School System. Despite her busy schedule, Claire found the time to earn her Master of Science Degree, Cum Laude, in Computer Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York (now New York University).
In 1985 she left New York with her husband and moved to Los Angeles finding herself managing a multi-specialty medical clinic in Los Angeles. As time went on, Claire’s family grew to 3 children and with her husband, they made the decision to move to Northern California for her children to have a quality education. It was here that Claire began one of the most fulfilling chapters in her life when a local Narconon drug and alcohol rehab center asked for her help. She agreed, and it was there she realized her passion and ability to use her counseling skills to help those addicted to drugs and alcohol as well as their families. While there, she was able to put in a standard withdrawal protocol and double the program enrollment.
In 2004 she moved on to work at a larger Narconon facility in Oklahoma. Here she was met with a new challenge. Over the course of her 2-year tenure, Claire saw the enrollment double as she supervised treatment for over 200 clients at a time. Her skills as an administrator as well as a counselor were put to good use as she helped thousands of addicts discover how to live life free from drugs and alcohol. After ensuring a smooth transition, in 2007 she decided to move to Houston, Texas, where she and her family live today. In Houston, she and her husband founded Q.U.A.D. Consultants of Texas, Inc. A Texas corporation whose goal is to help people Quit Using Alcohol and Drugs by treating and educating not only the addict, but the counselors, the family and the facility as well.
Over the years, she never stopped learning and advancing her knowledge and certification to increase her expertise and skill to help others. She became an LADC with Clinical Supervision Certification from the Oklahoma Board of Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors; an Internationally Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ICAADC) and a Certified Clinical Supervisor (CCS) from the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium; a Registered Addiction Specialist (RAS) from the Breining Institute in California; and a Master’s Level Certified Addiction Professional and Certified Addiction Professional (MCAP) from the state of Florida.
Claire has been doing talks and lectures on drug addiction and treatment as well as classes for professionals since 2005.
She currently is living in Houston with her family and consulting for several facilities and creating and delivering Board Approved Continuing Education training for professional and lay people alike.
In recent years, a movement has grown in both the U.S. and Canada to recognize the alleged “benefits” of hallucinogenic drugs. The language surrounding this movement is dangerous because it serves to normalize drugs that have known harms and long-term risk factors.
Some teens are choosing to vape marijuana products because they are nearly undetectable. But both parents and teens alike should know the damage that’s occurring to the lungs as a result of vaping marijuana, tobacco or simply flavored oils. This damage has been fatal for dozens of people.
Employees struggling with drug or alcohol abuse rob every company of their profitability as well as risking their own lives. When companies take on the role of identifying abuse and offering help, they can save valued employees and increase their own productivity.
It’s shocking but true. In several states across the U.S., when fatalities are measured per capita, more Americans are dying from drug-related harm in counties designated as rural than in counties designated as urban.
We know that families suffer terrible losses as a result of drug or alcohol abuse and addiction. But how does this situation affect our nation's health as a whole? We will catalog some of the impacts of this social problem.
Some people are able to maintain the appearance of productivity for quite a while after they become addicted. This ability has generated the myth of the high-functioning addict. Is there really such a thing?
Xylazine is in the news for causing overdoses, deaths and addiction in several U.S. states and Puerto Rico. But many people don’t even know it’s in their supplies of heroin, fentanyl or cocaine. In this case, what they don’t know can kill them.
Consider this: Purdue Pharmaceuticals/the Sacklers versus thousands of plaintiffs nationwide. It was one of the most closely watched pharmaceutical litigations of our time, and it just came to a close. While there were some small victories in the case, many see its outcome as a loss for those who suffered at the hands of Purdue’s addictive opioid painkiller, OxyContin.
Truly understanding our losses to drug overdoses means taking a longer look at the numbers. That’s where the tragedy becomes crystal clear, along with the necessity to take more immediate action.
Using marijuana by itself presents risks. But when other drugs are added into that marijuana, the substance becomes far, far more dangerous. Sadly, that’s exactly what is occurring in cities all across America.
Anyone who has loved an addicted person knows: Addiction comes with enormous costs. Some of these costs are emotional and mental. The addicted person suffers from the overwhelming compulsion to use drugs and the physical sickness and deterioration that accompanies the use of alcohol and drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
When a pregnant woman uses illicit drugs, drinks alcohol or misuses prescription drugs, they immediately increase the risk of birth defects. That’s why it’s vital to help pregnant women and women of child-bearing age find an effective rehab program as soon as possible. We’ll take a look at some of the risks.
To prevent your home from becoming a source of addictive substances for a young person or susceptible family member, it’s important to know all the types of drugs that should be locked away and where someone might be looking for them.
Knowing what signs of drug use to watch for when there are teens or pre-teens in the home means monitoring the changes in the illicit drug market and patterns of use. Check out the 2020 numbers for drug use among 8th, 10th and 12th-grade students.
Though the War on Drugs has been waged in the U.S. for 50 years, it has never been effective in curbing drug addiction. In fact, America's drug problem has only gotten worse.
Heavy drug or alcohol abuse or addiction are tough at any age. When it affects those who should be completing their educations, it can derail the entirety of their future lives.
Even as marijuana legalization continues to advance across the U.S., there is an accumulation of evidence that marijuana is harmful, (possibly permanently damaging), for youths. What must be done to protect adolescents from a drug that is detrimental to them, one that is becoming easier to obtain?
Public health experts usually agree that preventive efforts should be used as a front-line defense against health problems. In the case of drug and alcohol addiction, Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs are useful preventive tools that states can use to reduce the diversion of pharmaceuticals into the hands of addicts.
The subject of heated debate and an ongoing discussion regarding its legalization, marijuana has become a common talking point at American dinner tables, in school classrooms, and on political stages. And though many states have moved towards legalizing the substance, doing so may have harmful implications for young people.
