NARCONON BLOG

DRUG REHABILITATION

Using Health Insurance to Fund Addiction Treatment

One of the most critical factors in determining the success of a recovering addict’s stay at a residential treatment center is the amount of time they get at that rehab.

DRUG INFORMATION

New Research Shows Opioid Overuse Harms Hormone Levels

It seems like every year we hear about another adverse side effect of pharmaceutical opioid drugs. Yes, there is the rampant death toll from these drugs. The fact that pills are supposed to help people and instead end up killing them is a frequent headliner...

DRUG REHABILITATION

Treating More Than Opioid Dependence—Why Residential Treatment Is Critical to Recovery

Overcoming hardships is a part of the natural process of life. I don’t think anyone could say that life is “easy” for anyone. Challenges and obstacles are things we must all face from time to time. It’s just a part of life on planet Earth. Welcome...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Portugal Finds Value in Diversion of Drug Addicts to Treatment Instead of Incarceration

Imagine the worst possible drug den, the ultimate cesspool of addiction and drug-related misery. That was Portugal in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. Then, in just a matter of a few years, the country completely turned their drug problem around...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Meth Surge Now Rivals Opioids for National Headlines

Most of the headlines I see on America’s addiction crisis are related to the opioid epidemic, and rightly so. Opiates account for a significant portion of our nation's drug crisis. But it’s not the only drug to be aware of.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

HIV Outbreaks, Opioid Misuse, and Small Town America

When we hear the words, “HIV outbreak” odds are we think of Africa, or maybe the United States in the early to mid-1990s. Even if we consider an “HIV outbreak” as occurring on American soil, we instantly assume cloud-shrouded high rises, sprawling...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

What We Can Learn from the Overdose Capital of the U.S.

I saw a headline yesterday that read “City with the Most Per Capita Overdose Deaths in the Nation Begins to Recover.” It caught my eye.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Michigan’s Drug Problem and What a New Grant Could Do to Stem the Tide of Addiction

Throughout our history, the individual states of the United States of America have gone through their ups and downs. Sometimes these issues have mirrored what was going on in the country at large, and sometimes they were unique to the state.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Taking a New Look at Alcohol Consumption

We know that there are unintended consequences of alcohol consumption. We know that drinking alcohol can lead to poor choices, drunk driving, fights, public drunkenness, legal issues, unhealthy sexual decisions, bad hangovers, failed drug tests, career...

DRUG INFORMATION

The Connection between “Tamper-Resistant” Opioids and Skyrocketing Communicable Disease Crises

Opioid painkillers are a class of drugs which started off seeming like a good idea but which instead ended up creating the worst addiction epidemic that our nation has likely ever seen.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Did Hawaii Become the Meth Capital of the U.S. and How Can We Help?

Crystal meth. Meth. Ice. Speed. Crank. Chalk. Glass. Wash. Pookie. These are all slang names for methamphetamine, a drug which grows in global public use every year. Across most parts of the United States as well, use of meth has increased.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Three Countries and Their Drug Problems

We hear on the news these days that the U.S. struggles with an “opioid epidemic,” “an addiction crisis,” or a “national public health emergency.” All of this is true. But what we don’t hear about are the addiction struggles of other countries.

DRUG REHABILITATION

The Implications of One’s Environment in Addiction Recovery

An addict is a creature of habit, someone who tends to use drugs and alcohol in the same places, usually even at the same time of day. It’s called a habit for a reason.

DRUG INFORMATION

The Real Cost of Marijuana—A 200 Billion Dollar Problem

Does marijuana use relieve nausea or cause it? For as many as 2.75 million people each year, it may cause not only nausea but also severe abdominal pain and intense vomiting. But the treatment is simple: Stop smoking pot.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Work, Community, Family, and How Social and Economic Disparities Affect Addiction

“Addiction does not discriminate.” How many times have we heard that line? But what if I said to you that addiction does discriminate? What if I told you that discrimination in addiction is part of the fundamental reasons why we have such a cataclysmic...

DRUG REHABILITATION

Friends and Addiction—How to Help

One of the most common questions I hear is, “How can I help my friend with their drug habit?“ To people who don’t use drugs and alcohol, a substance abuse addiction can seem strange and confusing. Why would your friend continue to use a substance...

DRUG REHABILITATION

How a Recovering Addict Can Use Decision-Making, Life Skills, Personal Ethics, and Other Tools for Staying Sober

Life in recovery can sometimes be difficult and challenging. But the struggles of life in general are why recovering addicts need to have the tools for staying sober.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Is Criminalizing Drug Use During Pregnancy the Answer?

I was surfing through U.S. News the other day when I came across a news story that really caught my eye. U.S. News posted an article titled, “Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Pregnant Women Abusing Drugs is Not Child Abuse.”Having worked in addiction...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Can We Mobilize to Reduce the Opioid Epidemic?

In light of what may be the country’s worst substance abuse epidemic, the American people look high and low for answers on how they can do their part to resolve the addiction crisis. This is especially true if they had addiction touch their own life...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Can We Use Diplomatic Solutions for Reducing Drug Trafficking?

Let’s talk about diplomacy, a word that gets lost in translation too many times to count. More specifically, let’s talk about diplomacy and how the U.S. could use a diplomatic methodology to reduce drug trafficking from foreign nations.