Oklahoma Meth Addiction

Oklahoma is a state strongly steeped in its family values and pioneer spirit. Its citizens manifest a simple, sturdy, honest spirit that is often lacking in big cities. Oklahomans are so tied to traditional values that many families work fulltime jobs just so they can keep the family farm or livestock breeding operation running.

In small town after small town across the largely rural landscape, Oklahomans help each other and keep the vital American spirit strong. Churches across the state remain important parts of their communities. Many young men still marry their high school sweethearts and stick around their hometowns to raise their kids.

Cutting right at the heart of this peaceful setting is Oklahoma’s severe drug problem. At the top of the list is highly addictive and physically damaging drug methamphetamine. Meth is so addictive that a young Oklahoman may just try this drug a few times at the urging of an acquaintance and wind up addicted.

Drug Rehabilitation in Oklahoma

Oklahomans are fortunate to have the largest Narconon center in the world right in their midst. Just north of McAlester, Oklahoma, about 90 miles southwest of Tulsa lies the campus of Narconon Arrowhead. This rehab facility is located in beautiful Arrowhead State Park, on a crest overlooking Lake Eufaula. Once a vacation destination, the elegant property now houses students recovering from addiction, and also includes lodging for the staff on the premises. As they make their recoveries from drug or alcohol addiction, students can enjoy the change of seasons, a walk in the woods, sports such as tennis, basketball or volleyball, a workout in the weight room, or the constant parade of songbirds and wildlife such as deer, turkey, and sturdy little armadillos.

Those in recovery at Narconon Arrowhead drug rehab center are called students rather than patients because they are learning to live a new drug-free life by obtaining new life skills. They learn how to choose their friends wisely, how to reconcile with family and friends they may have turned away from before and how to successfully face and deal with life’s setbacks that might have driven them back to drug use in earlier days.

Addiction Recovery Solutions in Oklahoma

Addiction recovery doesn’t happen overnight. Addiction treatment doesn’t consist of taking more pills. Addicted lives are rebuilt one new life skill at a time. At Narconon Arrowhead, students pursue a thorough addiction recovery program that helps them recover physically, mentally and spiritually from the damage done by drug or alcohol abuse. Taking eight to ten weeks to complete, on average, the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program has proven successful for many graduates of the program who go on to live drug-free lives.

Meth Addiction in Oklahoma

Making a batch of meth is as simple as collecting up a couple of bottles of cold pills, some rubber tubing and lithium batteries, salt, coffee filters and a few other items for about $100. Then a person who doesn’t care about the consequences can manufacture about an ounce of methamphetamine that would retail on the street for $1000 by the ounce or as much as $2800 if sold by the gram. Across the state, most law enforcement officials list meth as their biggest drug threat.

(More information about meth addiction)

Oklahoma Drug Trafficking

Oklahoma’s central location and its criss-cross of interstates make it an appealing transshipment point for Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs). Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine are brought up from the Mexican-American border (often through the Laredo, Texas port of entry) and are stashed in Oklahoma to be repackaged for shipment to Chicago, the Mid-Atlantic region or the South. In the urban areas such as Tulsa or Oklahoma City, DTOs leave the retail work to Oklahoma’s street gangs who are the source not only of drug dealing but also a high number of violent criminal acts, including home invasions, kidnapping, and murder.

Adding to the misery generated by these addictive drugs is the problem in the state with diverted prescription drugs. Through pharmacy or hospital theft, “doctor-shopping,” prescription fraud or Internet purchases, rising numbers of Oklahomans are acquiring prescription drugs to abuse. The most recent trend is to combine hydrocodone (a painkiller) with Xanax (an anti-anxiety medication) and soma (a muscle relaxant) to achieve a heroin-like euphoria.

Using drugs may seem to some like a way to shed one’s troubles for a little while, but every drug mentioned so far and many more not yet mentioned are capable of causing addiction. Addiction destroys Oklahoma’s families and often results in illness, arrest, incarceration and even death. What is needed is an effective drug rehabilitation program that provides a real, lifetime solution to addiction.