NARCONON BLOG

DRUG INFORMATION

Are We Replacing an Opioid Epidemic with a Stimulant Epidemic?

As long as I have been working in the field of addiction recovery, the entire industry from the top to the bottom has been playing a massive game of whack-a-mole. That’s the carnival game where a mechanical animal head pokes out of a panel with multiple...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

On What Dark Day Did the U.S. Reach 100,000 Annual Overdose Deaths?

While America has been preoccupied with other situations, our drug overdose losses have kept mounting. Using statistics published by the CDC we can calculate the date on which America passed a horrific milestone: 100,000 overdoses losses in one twelve-month...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

South Carolina Prosecutor Sends Addicts to Treatment, Not Jail

A South Carolina prosecutor is using a federal grant to send drug addicts who’ve committed nonviolent crimes into treatment programs, not incarceration. It is becoming more and more common for people addicted to drugs to be directed towards treatment,...

DRUG REHABILITATION

Is Someone You Know Relying on Drugs or Alcohol to Get Through Their Days?

Do you know how to identify when a friend or loved one is struggling with addiction? If someone you know is relying on drugs or alcohol to get through their life, you can help them by spotting the real source of their problems.

DRUG INFORMATION

New Heroin Abuse Trend Leads to Deaths and Brain Damage

Heroin is not a new drug. It’s been a life-threatening substance plaguing the streets of America for decades. But a fatal overdose is not the only risk of using heroin. New data shows that users who smoke heroin are at risk of serious brain damage.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How the Sackler Family Got Away with Denying Any Responsibility in the Opioid Epidemic

The litigation of Purdue Pharma/the Sacklers is now over. One of the key aspects of the case that deserves full scrutiny is that Purdue’s owners threatened to withdraw settlement funds if they did not achieve personal immunity. In the end, they won.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Are Drug and Alcohol Addiction Fatalities the Next American Epidemic?

Words and terms like “epidemic,” “pandemic,” and “national health emergency” have become commonplace in American society. These terms often make one think of the dangerous spread of communicable diseases and illnesses. Yet with almost 200,000...

DRUG INFORMATION

Why You Should be Concerned About Hallucinogens

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...

DRUG REHABILITATION

Important Aspects of a Solid Foundation for Sobriety

Building a solid foundation is much harder if you lack the right tools for the job.

DRUG INFORMATION

Why THC Vaping Can Destroy Young Lungs

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...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Drug and Alcohol Abuse Are Invading Our Workplaces

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.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Per Capita Deaths from Substance Abuse Now Higher in Rural America

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.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Indigenous Communities are Robbed of Their Land and Their Lives by Drug Trafficking and Addiction

Indigenous Americans in both North and South America spent much of the last 500 years subjected to land theft at the hands of settler-colonial powers. Today’s Indigenous communities face a similar existential crisis, this time in the form of land grabs...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Impact of Drug Use and Addiction on America’s Health

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.

DRUG REHABILITATION

Dealing with the Seemingly “High-Functioning” Addict

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?

STATISTICS & TRENDS

CDC Guidelines Suggest More Conservative Opioid Prescribing, but Is it Enough?

In the wake of the ongoing opioid addiction and overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published conservative prescribing guidelines for U.S. doctors to follow. And while there have been some welcome reductions in prescribing...

DRUG INFORMATION

A New Drug Alert: Xylazine in Fentanyl, Heroin, Other Illicit Drug Supplies

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.

ADDICTION

Things Not to Say to Someone in Addiction Recovery

If you meet someone in recovery, I would advise against saying any of the following statements to them.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Sackler Case Comes to a Close; Final Analysis and the Importance of Holding Pharma Companies Accountable

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,...

ADDICTION

Setting Priorities in Recovery

When getting sober, it is critical to establish new priorities for living a life of recovery.