NARCONON BLOG

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Many Americans are REALLY Addicted to Opioids?

It’s no secret that America suffers from its highest-ever level of dependence on prescription and illicit opioids. But are we thinking with the right number for how many people are affected by this problem? One expert thinks we should double our estimates....

ADDICTION

Tools for Preventing Drug Use in One’s Community

The subject of drug and alcohol abuse is one that we don’t like to talk about much, probably because it always feels like the “Unsolvable Problem“ of human nature. Case in point, there is the general datum that just about everyone knows that they...

DRUG INFORMATION

All About Natural Drugs—Very Not Safe Organic Substances

There is this very common, very dangerous misconception on the drug use scene, that drugs which occur naturally (i.e. organic drugs) are okay, safe, or are in some way “acceptable” to use. This is a misconception, and a dangerous one at that, because...

DRUG REHABILITATION

Experiencing a Loss While in Recovery and Preventing the Threat of Relapse

One of the most misunderstood factors of drug and alcohol addiction recovery is that getting off of drugs and alcohol is a journey, it is an ongoing quest, a lifetime adventure that one will continuously work on.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Drug Trafficking from China—A New Look at a New Drug Threat

The American people face a new threat in the drug scene, yet another development in the constantly growing and expanding drug problem of the 21st-century. After decades of contending with illegal drug trafficking from Mexico and other South and Central...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How New Orleans Libraries are Offering Courses on Drug Abuse Prevention

Here’s a news story that we can all get behind, a news story that focuses on good things and good news, instead of bad. And not only is this a news story, but this is a story that we can learn from.

ADDICTION

Parental Advice for Raising Kids Who Do Not Use Drugs

Parents worry about their kids constantly. It’s just a part of being a parent. No matter their kids’ age, parents seem to worry, showing concern for their kids from birth into childhood, to adolescence, to their teen years, and even through adulthood.

DRUG REHABILITATION

Why Is Methadone the Wrong Way to Treat Addiction?

It’s becoming clear that America is facing a problem with prescription drugs. What is not clear to anyone is that using one medication to stop using another is simply not the right way to treat addiction.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

How Some Countries are Cracking Down on Addiction

Iceland has been able to reduce their substance abuse rates to unprecedented lows by making after-school programs for youth of all ages a mandatory requirement for graduation.

DRUG REHABILITATION

How to Talk to Someone About Their Addiction

Let’s have a conversation, about a conversation. More specifically, let’s talk about how to talk to someone about their addiction.

ADDICTION

The Importance of Taking Care of Our Health Without Falling Prey to Overmedication

We live in a very peculiar, very unique time in society right now. Let’s look at this. In the United States, our medicine and our approaches to health are more incredibly advanced than they have ever been in our history. Yet in that same token, the problems...

ADDICTION

Addicted, Alone, and Nowhere to Go—A Guide For Pulling Yourself Out of the Trap

If you or someone you know is addicted to drugs, you are probably no stranger to feelings of loneliness, hopelessness, and overall feelings of total misery and despair. These feelings are totally normal, as addiction is itself akin to the physical universe...

ADDICTION

Are Teens Less Likely to Misuse Drugs and Alcohol?

Any area or arena of drug and alcohol misuse is concerning and unpleasant, but few areas are as concerning or as unpleasant as teen drug use is.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Drugs Throughout History, the Current Drug Crisis, and Why We Need to Talk About It

It would seem that year after year, the U.S. drug and alcohol addiction problem has only grown more complicated and more difficult. It always seems like every time we approach a position where we might be able to overcome this problem, another drug comes...

DRUG INFORMATION

What Does it Mean to be a Poly-Drug Addict and How Do We Help Such Individuals?

One of the problems that we are seeing now more so than perhaps ever before is the problem of poly-substance abuse. This is also called poly-addiction, or poly-drug addiction. What it means is simply to have multiple addictions at once.

ADDICTION

How Our Underestimation of Opioids Lead to an Epidemic

At this point, it is pretty clear to me that the United States of America is suffering from a crippling and extremely derisive opioid addiction epidemic. Sometimes, we have a hard time swallowing this bitter truth.

ADDICTION

The Dwindling Spiral of Addiction—What Happens When Addicts Don’t Get Help

Drug and alcohol addiction is a growing problem, a crippling health epidemic that has expanded across all aspects and areas of American health and life.

DRUG REHABILITATION

Identifying a Loved One’s Drug Use May be Trickier than You Think

There’s all kinds of articles about the signs and symptoms of drug use. But if your loved one is clever about hiding his or her drug use, you may have to look deeper to find the real source of problems.

DRUG REHABILITATION

Medication-Assisted Treatment: A “Solution” that Has Never Solved the Problem

Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is the use of prescribed drugs to help a person break free from addiction to some other drug. While MAT makes plenty of money for pharmaceutical companies and prescribers, it may not be so great for those taking the...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Unhurried Devastation from our National Drug Problem

What if, in a flash, the entire population of Denver was vaporized? Or Seattle, Washington, D.C. or Boston? That would equal the number of Americans we lost to drug overdoses between 1999 and 2017. We take a look at this ultra-slow phenomenon that makes...