Methamphetamine Addiction
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The number of persons who used methamphetamine for the first time in the prior 12 months did not differ significantly between 2002 (299,000 persons) and 2004 (318,000 persons) but did decrease significantly between 2004 and 2005. In 2004, an estimated 318,000 persons aged 12 or older first tried methamphetamine in the year prior to the survey compared with 192,000 persons in 2005.

Combined data from the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2002 to 2005 were used to examine demographic differences in methamphetamine use. Persons in large metropolitan areas (0.5%) were less likely to have used methamphetamine in the past year than those in small metropolitan areas (0.7%) and in non-metropolitan areas (0.8%).

Higher rates of past year methamphetamine use were found in the West (1.2%) than in the Midwest (0.5%), South (0.5%) and Northeast (0.1%) for the total population aged 12 or older.

With more states passing laws restricting the sale of over-the-counter drugs containing pseudophedrine and other ephedrine-based products (used to make methamphetamine), there has been an increase in the availability of crystal meth, also known as "ice."

 

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Prescription Painkiller Addiction
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National Surveys on Drug Use and Health indicate that the nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers (analgesics) among persons aged 12 or older did not differ significantly among the years between 2002 and 2005. The number of persons who used prescription pain relievers nonmedically for the first time in the past year of the survey also did not differ significantly - - with 2.3 million persons initiating use in 2002, 2.4 million in 2003, 2.4 million in 2004 and 2.2 million in 2005.

Combined data from 2002 to 2005 were used to examine the patterns of nonmedical prescription pain reliever use in general and the nonmedical use specifically of oxycodone and hydrocodone products. Oxycodone products include Percocet®, Percodan®, Tylox®, OxyContin®, and other pain relievers containing oxycodone that respondents specified that they used nonmedically. Hydrocodone products include Vicodin®, Lortab®, Lorcet®/LorcetPlus®, generic hydrocodone, and other pain relievers containing hydrocodone that respondents specified.

An annual average of 4.8% of persons aged 12 or older (11.4 million persons) used a prescription pain reliever nonmedically in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Of the persons aged 12 or older who first used pain relievers nonmedically in the past year, 57.7% used hydrocodone products and 21.7% used oxycodone products.

Additionally, there has been an increase in recent years in the number of people being prescribed methadone for chronic pain relief. Methadone is one of the most addictive and deadly prescription drugs available. It is also one of the most difficult painkillers to withdraw from, as the lingering effects of methadone can remain for months causing joint aches and soreness as well as delayed sleeplessness.

 

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Marijuana Addiction
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Contrary to some popular belief, marijuana can be addictive and does have a very definite set of dependency and withdrawal characteristics. It is the most widely used illicit drug in the nation, and its use is somtimes promoted in certain pop sub-cultures.

Based on SAMHSA's 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.8% (1.7 million) youth aged 12 to 17 used marijuana in the past month and 3.5% (891,000) smoked "blunts" (cigars with marijuana in them) in the past month.

In 2005, about half (52%) of past month marijuana users aged 12 to 17 also used blunts in the past month with males more likely than females to have smoked blunts (55.6% vs. 47.5%).

Among past month marijuana using youths, rates of smoking blunts in the past month were highest in the Northeast (62.5%) and the South (54.4%) than in the Midwest (48.3%) and West (43.1%).

The criminal justice system was the principal source of referral in the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) for substance abuse treatment admissions reporting marijuana as their primary substance of abuse. The proportion of criminal justice referred treatment admissions increased from 48% of all marijuana admissions in 1992 to 58% of all marijuana admissions in 2002.

 

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Heroin Addiction
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Based on theTreatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), annual admissions to substance abuse treatment for primary heroin abuse increased from 228,000 in 1995 to 254,000 in 2005. However, the proportion of primary heroin admissions remained steady at about 14% to 15% of all substance abuse treatment admissions.

The proportion of primary heroin admissions who injected heroin declined from 69% in 1995 to 63% in 2005. The proportion who inhaled heroin increased from 27% among the primary heroin admissions in 1995 to 33% in 2005.

In 2003, there were 237,000 substance abuse treatment admissions for injection drug use (13% of all admissions reported to the Treatment Episode Data Set [TEDS]). Opiates (primarily heroin)accounted for 77% of admissions for injection drug use.

Often times many heroin addicts and their family members fall into the additional trap of drug replacement therapy, such as methadone. What the doctors and clinics don't tell them is that approximately 3,000 people each year die from methadone overdoses now days. New drugs such as brand name buprenorphine is now being pushed as a form of replacement therapy as well, but the same result occurs - the person is still addicted to another drug.

While medication may help in the initial withdrawal stage, any long-term drug replacement is still dangerous and addictive. The best overall results come from drug-free rehabilitation methods.

 

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The Cause of Relapse

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Why Addicts Cannot Stop Using Drugs or Alcohol
This section contains vital information that you need to know in order to fully understand drug and alcohol addiction. Once you understand addiction, you will see how simply it can be overcome. It would be best if you could read this section several times to get a full understanding of the cause of relapse. There are two basic causes for continued addiction;

The first of these is the long term effects of drug residuals in the body. The Mental and Physical cravings caused by drug residues which remain in the body, even long after a person quits using the drug, simply drives the addict to use more of the drug. This cause of continued addiction is thoroughly addressed and treated with great succes on our program.
The second of these causes is the "Biochemical Personality". This is the "way of thinking" that is caused by drug addiction and the lifestyle an addict adopts to get drugs and live with a drug habit. This cause of continued addiction is also specifically addressed with great success on our program.
These two situations are linked with one feeding the other, and both must be recognized and dealt with before a person can fully be free from the addictive effects of drugs.

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Drug Residues: What they are and how they work
The addict can "just say no" a thousand times, but it only takes saying "yes" one time to start the cycle of addiction again.

Several decades ago, the biochemical aspect of drug addiction were discovered. This biochemical breakthrough has led to the most successful approach to rehabilitation in existence.

In essence, when a person uses drugs over a period of time, the body becomes unable to completely eliminate all traces of them. The traces that remain are stored in the fatty tissues. Called "drug metabolites", these traces re-enter the system and trigger cravings for the drug along with the "Biochemical Personality" traits that are a non-optimum way of life.

Left unhandled, these manifestations will haunt a person for years even if they have sobered up. Left untreated, they can trigger a serious relapse.

These unresolved symptoms and manifestations, whether physical or mental in origin, create an underlying low-level type of stress which cannot be completely ignored by the addict. The addict can "just say no" a thousand times, but it only takes him saying "yes" one time to start the cycle of addiction again.

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Drug Residues Remain in Fatty Tissues
Drugs are broken down in the liver into substances called metabolites. Although removed rapidly from the blood stream, metabolites can become trapped in the fatty tissues. The one thing in common-and the problem that needs to be addressed-is that these drug residues remain trapped for years.

Tissues in our bodies that are high in fats are turned over very slowly. When they are turned over, the stored drug metabolites are released into the blood stream and reactivate the same brain centers as if the person actually took the drug. The former addict now experiences restimulation of a drug episode (or "flashback") and subsequent drug craving. This is common in the months after an addict quits and can continue to occur for years, even decades.

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The Cycle of Quitting, Withdrawal, Craving And Relapse
When the addict initially tries to quit, cells in the brain that have become used to large amounts of these metabolites are now forced to deal with much decreased amounts. Even as the withdrawal symptoms subside, the brain "demands" that the addict give it more of the drug. This is called drug craving.

Craving is an extremely powerful urge and can cause a person to create all kinds of "reasons" they should begin using drugs again. He is now trapped in an endless cycle of trying to quit, craving, relapse and fear of withdrawal.

Eventually, the brain cells will again become used to having lowered drug metabolites. But, because deposits of drug metabolites release back into the bloodstream from fatty tissues for years, craving and relapse remain a cause for concern.

Left unhandled, the presence of metabolites even in microscopic amounts cause the brain to react as if the addict had again actually taken the drug and can set up craving and relapse even after years of sobriety.

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Handling the Drug Metabolites
Narconon utilizes a combination of exercise, induced sweating in a sauna, and nutritional supplements to eliminate the traces of drugs, or metabolites, stored in the fatty tissue.

No drugs of any kind are used at Narconon, such as "addiction substitute drugs" like methadone.

The results of this phase of the program are:

Reduction or elimination of drug and alcohol cravings.
Reduction or elimination of many symptoms associated with drug addiction and alcoholism. These can include depression, irritability, and fatigue.
Ability to think more clearly.
Improved memory and attention span.
Increased energy.
Increased sense of well being.
Enthusiasm toward Life.

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Handling the "Biochemical Personality"
After successfully eliminating drug traces from the body, we move through a series of specialized study courses that complement and expand on each other to help the addict recognize the old addiction life-style and thought processes.

These unique cognitive and objective therapies are followed by life skills training, delivered in easily understood phases designed to complement and expand on each other.

The California drug rehabilitation program is complete when the former addict recognizes and accepts responsibility for old habit patterns and "reasons why". The person's relationships with and understanding of himself, his family, friends and environment are fully examined and rehabilitated.

On the person's own self-determinism, and with no physical or mental "hooks" into past cravings and behavior, he or she is no longer an addict and has regained his or her own true nature.

As so many California drug rehabilitation program graduates say, "The future is once again accessible, and anything is possible."

Call 1-877-212-2070 today to speak with a Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor today.

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The piece of the puzzle of depression comes from addiction's destructive effects on an addict's life. There are broken relationships and often, problems with the law or finances. The individual starts to distance himself from the people he loves and becomes more and more detached. He may lose his job or start experiencing serious health problems. Ordinarily, addicts lose everything they care about: their homes, their families, cars, possessions, jobs and friends. Addiction is destroying the addict's life. No one would be happy about this happening.

Depression is an appropriate emotional response, considering the misery that the addict is faced with. Some psychiatrists and medical doctors will diagnose this depressed state as a mental illness and prescribe psychotropic medications. These medications will never do anything more than mask the depression temporarily. On the other hand, so will the addict's preferred drug or brand of alcohol.

Psychotropic drugs do not help a recovering addict restore their relationships or build a sane, drug-free life. They do nothing to help the person rebuild his or her health, in fact, they add more toxins to the person's system since all drugs have some toxic effect, even if minor. Medical personnel in the addiction treatment field treating this depression as a "mental illness or disease" expect that somehow their prescribed medications will "fix" the person. Then once "fixed," the person could then fix these situations in their life. This is an irrational assumption, if you think about it.

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the presence of drug metabolites in the addict's system and how metabolites play a role in stimulating memories associated with drug and alcohol use. The addict's brain also identifies the chemicals in drugs or alcohol as substances that restrict or enhance the release of naturally-occurring chemicals in the brain. In some cases, the brain identifies the chemicals in some drugs as superior to the body's natural chemicals. The body normally creates its own chemicals to act as a reward system that makes eating, exercising and procreating enjoyable. Other naturally-occurring chemicals act as painkillers that kick into action when we get hurt or experience pain. These natural chemicals are directly involved with promoting our physical well-being in one way or another.

Drugs and alcohol are composed of such strong chemicals that they can overpower the body's own natural chemistry and create intoxication and euphoria.

When a person uses drugs on a regular basis, his or her body becomes depleted of key nutrients and amino acids (amino acids are the building blocks for the body's natural chemicals). These nutritional deficiencies prevent the body from receiving the nutritional energy that it needs to produce and release the natural chemicals.

In short, drugs take over the functions of the body's own natural chemicals. The brain and body are fooled into thinking that the drug or alcohol is the natural chemical it needs.

When drugs or alcohol are present in the addict's system, the perception is that the body chemistry is working and all is well. When the drugs or alcohol leave the addict's system, the brain and body perceive a shortage of natural body chemicals. This perceived shortage adds to the lethargy and lack of enjoyment experienced by the addict when he or she is not under the influence of drugs. This condition then contributes to the compulsion and drive for an addict to take more drugs or alcohol, despite the frequently life-threatening circumstances an addict faces on a day-to-day basis.

The drug or alcohol gets misidentified as an aid to the production and release of the natural chemicals when, in fact, it is suppressing the body's ability to manufacture them.

 

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