NARCONON AUTHOR

Ren

After working in addiction treatment for several years, Ren now travels the country, studying drug trends and writing about addiction in our society. Ren is focused on using his skill as an author and counselor to promote recovery and effective solutions to the drug crisis. Connect with Ren on LinkedIn.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

One in Ten Americans Admit to Drug Use: The Epidemic in Numbers

According to a U.S. Health Report by the National Institutes of Health, about one in ten Americans of the age of twelve or older are now addicted to drugs or alcohol. This is addiction at never before seen levels, a crippling trend of substance abuse unlike...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

FDA Approves Purdue Pharma’s “New” OxyContin

One would have had to have been living under a rock not to know about the 21st century opioid epidemic that our country is struggling with. It’s been terrible, it’s been all over the news, it’s been a constantly growing and expanding problem, and...

DRUG INFORMATION

Facts About Heroin: What You Need to Know

Heroin. Just the name of the drug itself creates concern and perhaps a touch of morbidity in those who hear it. Heroin has been the bane of life for millions, one of the oldest and most deadly drugs still in use today.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Causes of Fatal Injury in the United States: Drug Overdoses Near the Top

As is the nature of human beings, we don’t like to dwell on the grim truth that is the hardships of our fellows and the struggles that so many Americans face. But we have to look at these issues. We have to sit side-by-side and face them, for only in...

ADDICTION

Tips for Parents; How to Prevent an Adolescent Overdose

Parents are always concerned about their kids’ well being and safety, completely normal feelings for parents to have. From birth to childhood, to adolescence, to teens, to young adulthood, and even beyond that, parents always have concern for their kids.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

Millennials and Addiction: What Happened to Our Generation?

What happened to our millennial generation? Why are millennials more prone to drug abuse than older adults are? Why are young people in this day and age the most at risk for hard, street drug use, alcoholism, and drug-related deaths? The truth is, there...

DRUG INFORMATION

New Study Reveals that One in Ten Teens has Tried Hashish

What are the kids doing now? Every year it seems, young people find a new drug to abuse, a new way to get high, or something different to experiment with. Or, if it is not a “new” drug, young people seem to “bring a drug back” that had been in...

DRUG INFORMATION

Why Substance Abuse and Pregnancy Often Go Hand-in-Hand

Though it is a grim and miserable topic to discuss, it’s time we had a serious conversation about substance abuse and pregnancy.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Opioid Epidemic Was Declared a National Emergency: Now What?

President Trump declared opiate addiction in the U.S. a national emergency in late October 2017. In fact, he declared opiates a, “State of National Public Health Emergency.” This label does not get thrown around much, and for it to be attached to something...

DRUG INFORMATION

Synthetic Marijuana; What it Is and Why It’s Dangerous

Marijuana and cannabis products have been around for decades and are nothing new to the American drug scene. However, synthetic marijuana is a relatively new drug, a substance that presents mystery and a plethora of unknown effects.

ADDICTION

How to Relieve Pain and Not Get Addicted to Painkillers

According to research, approximately one-hundred million Americans suffer from some form of regular, recurring pain problem. That is almost one-third of the entire population of the United States.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

The Opioid Epidemic: How Did We Get Here?

Few Americans at this point are unaware of the opioid epidemic that our country faces. Finally, after years of deaths, economic burden, and misery among millions of American families, we are starting to understand the true severity of this problem.

ADDICTION

Is Drug Abuse Hereditary?

Here we have what might be one of the oldest debates on the subject of drug abuse and alcohol addiction. Is drug abuse hereditary? Is alcoholism hereditary? Why do some people become addicted to drugs and alcohol and others do not? What is the critical...

DRUG REHABILITATION

Is Drug Abuse a Mental or A Physical Issue?

This is likely the most heated and debated topic in drug and alcohol addiction. When people struggle with a substance abuse habit, it encapsulates them and slowly ruins them, but where did it start? In a mental crisis or a physical craving?

STATISTICS & TRENDS

While Other Substance Abuse Trends Amongst Teens Fall, Prescription Drug Abuse Skyrockets

Since the turn of the century, drug abuse and alcoholism have more or less reduced amongst young adult, teen, and adolescent age demographics. This is something to be proud of, as the 1980s and 1990s saw some of the worst substance abuse habits amongst...

ADDICTION

Random Tests in Schools—Valid Strategy or Invasion of Privacy?

As drug use has become more prevalent amongst young people, a proposed solution to the problem has also brought on a huge controversy. This is the proposed solution of using random drug tests in schools . Drug testing occurs just about everywhere else.

ADDICTION

Is It Even Worth Talking to Teens About Drugs?

Parents face a veritable plethora of challenges and scrutiny when it comes to raising their kids. This scrutiny comes from their kids, from other parents or peers, and from the parents themselves. Sometimes, it can seem like there is no right answer here,...

STATISTICS & TRENDS

America’s Drug Addiction Epidemic and its Effect on Foster Care

Foster children are met with struggles and strife quite unlike anything else, their lives having been smitten with a struggle that none but foster kids have to face.

ADDICTION

What Every Parent REALLY NEEDS to Know to Prevent Overdoses in Teens and Young Adults

While some areas of drug use in the U.S. have decreased considerably amongst young adults, one significant figure that has not decreased is that of teen overdoses.

STATISTICS & TRENDS

National Pharmacy Chain Responds To Opiate Epidemic with Stiffer Controls

As our nation suffers from the single worst opiate epidemic that it has ever faced, the American people are practically in a mad state looking for solutions to the problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specified that the problem took...