Alaska: Achieving Sobriety on America’s Frontier
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As remote as Alaska is, it is by no means free from the same types of drug and alcohol problems as the Lower 48. Alcohol abuse is a pervasive problem but there is plenty of demand for other drugs like heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, prescription drugs and marijuana. And they can all be found in urban areas and small towns all over this frontier state.
It makes sense that alcohol is by far the top drug sending people to rehab in Alaska. It’s the most easily obtained drug in the state – and it’s legal. Alcohol is the greatest contributing factor in violent crimes, including domestic violence, sexual assaults and accidental deaths.
Fully 50% of women in the state have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault or both and alcohol is very often involved. In fact, 68% of domestic violence involved alcohol abuse by the abusers or the victims. When it comes to property crimes, however, then alcohol and drugs are both contributing factors.
Despite the long distance from Mexico, some heroin does make it to this frontier. Between 2008 and 2013, heroin-related deaths more than tripled and admissions to treatment, while relatively low, are rising.
Just as in all other quadrants of America, drug and alcohol use is driving down the quality of life for those who consume these substances as well as those in the communities in which they live.
Returning to Sobriety Does Not Require More Drugs
There are many drug treatment programs in Alaska and elsewhere that administer drugs as part of the recovery program. Methadone, Suboxone, naltrexone, Antabuse, benzodiazepines, or nalmefene may be offered, some of them for alcoholism, others for opioid addiction or other mental afflictions said to occur at the same time.
At Narconon Facilities we do not use drugs to achieve recovery.
As soon as that is complete, a deep, sauna-based detoxification step follows to flush out the residues that drug or alcohol use leave behind. The presence of these residues have been shown to cloud one’s thinking for years, because the body is never fully able to eliminate them. Our combination of moderate exercise, a precise regimen of supplements and time in a low-heat sauna does the trick and the toxins are washed away. At the end, it’s common for our clients to talk about how much brighter their outlooks are, how much clearer their thinking is and how much their cravings are now under their control.
Up to this point, it’s like the drugs were doing the thinking for a person. When the glass was empty, the person had to refill it. When heroin withdrawal began to show up, there was nothing to do but get more of the drug right now. Once a person begins to think clearly again, he (or she) can begin to take his life back.
An Objective Look at Life and Restored Skills
One of the problems that accompanies addiction is that the individual has suffered extensive trauma. It’s hard to look at life as having promise. The next step begins to bring a person out of the past and into the present again, where life is really lived and where accurate decisions can be made. If one always makes decisions based on the pain of the past, there is little hope of objectivity (wouldn’t “success” be a better word? - H).
The next step of the Narconon program is called the objectives. This is where the anguish of the past can begin to fade away and be replaced by self-determinism. A series of exercises brings a person gradually into a state of better perception of the present time environment. As perceptions improve, so does control of oneself, one’s choices and even one’s thoughts.
With a brighter perception of the world, a person next addresses the life skills he lost during addiction – or never learned if addiction started in his teens. He learns who makes safe associates and how to deal with those whose motivations are harmful. He also learns how to recover his own personal integrity – a huge relief to a person plagued with guilt over the way he has harmed himself and others. And he learns how to rebuild relationships and overcome obstacles to an enjoyable life. At the end, he uses these tools to plan out his re-entry to the life he left behind.
Alcohol and Heroin are Not the Only Problems
In addiction to alcohol and heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, prescription drugs, and marijuana also make their way into Alaskan communities. Of course, many people indulge in more than one drug at a time, a practice referred to as poly-drug use.
A person bringing methamphetamine or cocaine into the state can reap huge rewards because of the increase in price the further north the drugs are trafficked. The same is true for people bootlegging alcohol into a dry community. So far, 109 communities have outlawed the sale of alcohol, most of them rural. A person smuggling a $10 bottle of alcohol into a remote, dry community can sell it for $150 to $300. The temptation to traffic drugs or alcohol into Alaska towns is intense.
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For Those Alaskans Who Need Rehab
When a person needs rehab in Alaska, there are only 158 practitioners offering recovery services in all of Alaska’s 663,000 square miles. Narconon offers another option for the person seeking holistic, drug-free recovery. Narconon rehabs are located in Colorado, Southern California, Michigan, Oklahoma and Florida, offering the same quality, holistic rehabilitation program in each facility. An individual from Alaska seeking a new sober life is welcome at any of our Lower 48 facilities. To learn more, call Narconon International today at 1-877-782-7409 today.
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