Drug Use

How does one go about determining when drug use crosses the line into drug abuse and addiction? Drugs are used as a solution to pain, be it mental, emotional, or physical. Fore instance one takes a painkiller and physical pain subsides or one take a street drug and the emotional pain of feeling like an outsider goes away. There are many motivations but they all come under the heading of handling pain in one way or another. Drug abuse sets in when the drug is being used more and more to mask and cover up the pain rather than addressing the actual causes of the pain itself. From abuse one quickly moves on to addiction where tolerance to the drugs builds up to the point where the individual can’t conceive of life without them for fear of unbearable pain of one type or another. Ones life then becomes centered on acquiring and using more and more drugs at any cost or sacrifice. Along with this comes all the cravings, guilt and depression that results from harm done to self, family, loved ones, careers, etc.

Each drug or substance can of course have its own symptoms of abuse and addiction; however there are a couple of general points that can be made about addiction. Addiction generally is a condition characterized by repeated, compulsive seeking and use of drugs or alcohol despite adverse social, mental, and physical consequences. It is usually accompanied by physiological and physical dependence with the appearance of withdrawal symptoms when the drug or alcohol is rapidly decreased or terminated. When addiction exists, the drug use controls the individual rather than the individual controlling the usage. With addiction life more and more revolves around getting and using the drugs. Family, health, career, finances, all take more and more of a back seat as important factors in life as the addiction continues to increasingly absorb the addicts attention and energies.

A substance abuse rehab should probably be more correctly labeled a Substance(s) abuse rehab. The individual has what is called his drug of choice or primary addiction. Rarely in this day and age does someone come for addiction treatment without having several substances needing to be addressed. Alcohol abuse is quite commonly mixed with other drugs of abuse such as heroin, cocaine, or meth, to mention only a few. Prescription drug abuse is beginning to take on epidemic proportions in the country and throughout the world. Painkillers, anti-depressants, and anti-psychotics are showing up more and more as drugs abused along with street drugs, but are also showing a major increase as being the drug of choice or primary addiction. These substances can build up tolerance in the system quickly and many have life threatening side effects. Multiple drug abuse rehabilitation has become the order of the day.

All drug rehab programs are not created equal; there are many different types and formats. There are long term, short term, in-patient, out-patient, traditional 12 step, and non traditional to name but a few. One big difference to be aware of is whether or not the drug rehab programs you may be looking at are drug free or whether the program embraces the use of other or substitute or additional drugs and ‘medications’ in an effort to control or alleviate addiction. Narconon Arrowhead is a long term, non traditional, drug free approach to the problems of abuse and addiction. These points set us apart from many of the other drug rehab programs available. We start with the assumption that the being is basically good and despite any appearances to the contrary actually wants to attain a completely drug free productive life. The Narconon program embraces many, many different factors that stop or inhibit the individual from reaching this goal. The majority of Narconon staff are ex-addicts and alcoholics themselves and know what it takes to get lasting results – we’ve been there! When examining the various drug rehab programs look for one thing – LASTING results and success.

Drug treatment centers are not all equal. There is long term, short term, 28 day, in-patient, out-patient, to say nothing of different approaches used by various drug treatment centers. At Narconon Arrowhead Drug Treatment Center we find a long-term, in-patient, non-traditional approach is the most workable for insuring a drug free and productive lifestyle for a lifetime. Narconon Arrowhead uses an empowering approach to rehabilitation. Addressing not only drug use cessation and a detoxification program second to none, but a fully handling of the three factors of cravings, quilt and depression found to be the core elements in achieving lasting recovery. At Narconon Arrowhead Drug Treatment Center each addicts individual situations and issues are fully explored and the individual is trained to resolve these for him or herself, as well as gaining all the tools necessary to maintain a drug free and productive life!