Happiness

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NARCONON REALIZATION

Here is a Narconon realization for the day from a Narconon drug treatment student. He is hoping that addicts read this because he knows that it is very important to talk with someone who has walked the path. He wants you to know that there is the opportunity for you to leave the confusion of your mind and gain your true position in life.

Happiness that you can share is truth and honestly with others. Here is the success:

“Everything and everyone that I am in contact with is within my control. I control when the interaction occurs, for how long in which direction, if the interaction needs to change and if so how, when where degree etc. I also control when it stops.

From now on my first priority in everything in my world will be that I must be positive for me and to fit my moral and ethical codes, health opportunity and circle of influence.

I can and will forever be conscious of impulse reactions (avoiding them) and life my life with the aforementioned decisions.

It is amazing as my buddy and I have gone through this course – the yesterdays and errors of my drug use have been pushed far away from me and really let me look at getting involved with all the life around me.

I enthusiastically want to continue to chase life.

Narconon 877-413-3073

For those who need treatment with cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, pot and alcohol abuse.

Intervention

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NTERVENTION

It would be nice to tell you that I did it on my own. It would be nice to tell you that I made some spiritual breakthrough and saved myself, but the fact is that I didn't. "

These are the actual words of someone whose life was saved through an intervention.

Many of us have heard of intervention and have perhaps seen the TV show INTERVENTION. In this reality program, a professional interventionist works with the family and addict to get the addict to agree to rehab. The interventionist does a good job, often rescuing the family and addict from a living hell within the one hour allotted for the show. Is it any wonder that many wish for a fairy godmother that will provide a happy ending before the final commercial break?
Successful approaches that result in treatment for the addict happen within the framework of an intervention; that is a family meeting. These meetings must be carefully planned beforehand. A family that has already been through hours of defiance, despair, rage, arguments, threats and tears, may have difficulty with this careful planning. Fortunately, help is available.
Some families may be more confident with the help of an outside interventionist. The person chosen should have a good track record and access to a rehab program with a high recovery rate that is immediately available. (Narconon of Georgia will admit eligible candidates immediately.) The family should feel comfortable with the personality of the interventionist.
An intervention with proper planning and carried out correctly will result many times in an addict agreeing to receive help. Call us. We will send you written a written intervention study guide, coach your family and help with planning where all possible scenarios are thought out and prepared for. And for those special situations where you need an outside interventionist, we can help you with that too. The point is - YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS SITUATION AND CHANGE THINGS FOR THE BETTER.
"My family and friends guided me and forced me into rehab and for that I will be forever grateful because I am alive. I live. I enjoy every day now, especially knowing where I would have been had I been allowed to go where the drugs were leading me. My family's help will always be a debt I owe because without it I'd be gone."
Here are a few suggestions from those who have done successful interventions.

Choose an appropriate rehab program before the intervention and ensure that there is immediate availability. Workable rehab prevents relapse.
Decide who is going to be there. Family members or friends that the addict knows well and respects should be there, not those who will only create hostility because of their own anger towards the addict.
Help the addict identify reasons that they must get help. These reasons must be real to the addict. There are issues that are significant and devastating to the addict - get them to talk about them.
Force the addict out of their "addiction comfort zone". An addict who is being provided money, a car and a place to freely live and do drugs is not likely to quit. Let the addict know they will no longer receive this type of assistance. Take away any "help" that is actually killing the person.
The optimum time for an intervention is just after a major event, such as an incarceration, job loss or spouse leaving. It should be done when the addict is sober
The tone of the intervention should be one of concern and love, but not sympathy. It must be unwavering in communicating that the family will no longer standby and watch the addict kill themselves.
Have a staff member from the chosen rehab available if possible, if there is no interventionist.
Before the intervention, have the addict's bags packed and travel arrangements made. There should be no delay.

 

NARCONON OF GA 1-877-413-3073

What is National 420 day?

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For some people, smoking marijuana makes them feel good. Within minutes of inhaling, a user begins to feel “high,” or filled with pleasant sensations. THC triggers brain cells to release the chemical dopamine. Dopamine creates good feelings—for a short time.

"Many people don't realize that while marijuana, as many illegal drugs, may make you feel good for a while, in the long wrong, marijuana usage can have serious effects," comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab Georgia. "The facts pertaining to marijuana usage are quite clear- marijuana usage can cause serious problems, including drug addiction and the elevated chance of abusing other drugs."

Imagine this: You're in a ball game, playing out in left field. An easy fly ball comes your way, and you’re psyched. When that ball lands in your glove your team will win, and you’ll be a hero. But, you’re a little off. The ball grazes your glove and hits dirt. So much for your dreams of glory.

Such loss of coordination can be caused by smoking marijuana. And that’s just one of its many negative effects. Marijuana affects memory, judgment, and perception. Under the influence of marijuana, you could fail to remember things you just learned, watch your grade point average drop, or crash a car. Some people may suffer sudden feelings of anxiety and have paranoid thoughts—which is more likely to happen when higher doses are used or when it is taken orally. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell what the effects of marijuana will be for any given person at any time, becional ause they vary based on the person, their drug history, how much marijuana is taken, and its potency. Effects can also be unpredictable when other drugs are mixed with marijuana.

Also, since marijuana can affect judgment and decision making, using it can lead to risky sexual behavior, resulting in exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, like HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

What Are the Short-Term Effects of Marijuana Use?

problems with memory and learning
distorted perception
difficulty thinking and solving problems
impaired coordination
increased heart rate

THC Impacts Brain Functioning

THC is up to no good in the brain. THC finds brain cells, or neurons, with specific kinds of receptors called cannabinoid receptors, to which it binds.

Certain parts of the brain have high concentrations of cannabinoid receptors. These areas are the hippocampus, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia, and the cerebral cortex. The functions that these brain areas control are the ones most affected by marijuana.

For example, THC interferes with learning and memory—that is because the hippocampus—a part of the brain with a funny name and a big job—plays a critical role in certain types of learning. Disrupting its normal functioning can lead to problems studying, learning new things, and recalling recent events. The difficulty can be a lot more serious than forgetting if you took out the trash this morning, which happens to everyone once in a while.

Do these effects persist? We don’t know for sure in humans, but studies in rats show that exposure to THC for a long period of time can damage neurons in the hippocampus. So, is it really worth the risk?

Smoking Marijuana Can Make Driving Dangerous

The cerebellum is the section of our brain that does most of the work on balance and coordination. When THC affects the cerebellum’s function, it makes scoring a goal in soccer or hitting a home run pretty tough. THC also affects the basal ganglia, another part of the brain that’s involved in movement control.

These THC effects can cause disaster on the highway. Research shows that drivers on marijuana have slow reaction times, impaired judgment, and problems responding to signals and sounds on the road. Studies conducted in a number of localities have found that approximately 4 to 14 percent of drivers who sustained injury or death in traffic accidents tested positive for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana.

Marijuana Use Increases Heart Rate

Within a few minutes after inhaling marijuana smoke, an individual's heart begins beating more rapidly, the bronchial passages relax and become enlarged, and blood vessels in the eyes expand, making the eyes look red. The heart rate, normally 70 to 80 beats per minute, may increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute or, in some cases, even double. This effect can be greater if other drugs are taken with marijuana.

Source: teens.drugabuse.gov

“Someone suffering from marijuana addiction needs as much help as someone suffering from any other drug addiction,” comments Ms. Rieser. “Get them the help they need.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with an marijuana or other drug problem, contact Narconon today for immediate assistance.  Visit www.drugsno.com or call 1-877-413-3073.

Copyright © 2009. Narconon of Georgia Inc. Call 1-877-413-3073. All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and are used with its permission.

narcononofga@yahoo.com
www.drugsno.com

420 Controversy

Marijuana has been touted since the 60's as a 'safe', 'natural' drug used to help people relax and have a good time. While cigarettes have been denounced as cancer-causing, dangerous, and a second-hand menace to anyone in the vicinity, and rightly so, it seems that marijuana has escaped any social stigma and is the 'cool' drug to take in high school, just as cigarettes were back in the days of '56 Chevies and sock-hops.

"What are the real risks of smoking marijuana in today's youth?" asks Mary Rieser, Executive Director of Narconon Drug Rehab Georgia. "The real risk is the perception that marijuana is harmless and the real facts are often not known. Marijuana use can lead to marijuana addiction, health probleems, and the use of other drugs. Know the facts. Among marijuana users today, known as 4-20, is a symbolic day for users to spark one up. '420, National Weed Day' is celebrated, albeit informally, across the world. Know the facts."

Many of the things Americans “know” about marijuana are myths or misperceptions. People need to know the truth about this harmful drug.

M Y T H 1

Marijuana is harmless.

Marijuana is far from harmless; in fact, recent scientific findings about the drug are startling.
Most of the drug treatment for young people in the United States is for marijuana alone. Marijuana emergency-room mentions have skyrocketed over the past decade, and the drug is associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, even when personality traits and pre-existing conditions are taken into account.

FACTS:

Health Consequences

• Marijuana smoke contains 50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. Using marijuana may promote cancer of the respiratory tract and disrupt the immune system.
• Marijuana smokers have a heightened risk of lung infection.
• Long-term use of marijuana may increase the risk of chronic cough, bronchitis, and emphysema, as well as cancer of the head, neck, and lungs.
• Mentions of marijuana use in emergency room visits have risen 176 percent since 1994, surpassing those of heroin.
• In 2001, marijuana was a contributing factor in more than 110,000 emergency department visits in the United States.
• Marijuana can cause the heart rate, normally 70 to 80 beats per minute, to increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute or, in some cases, even to double.
• In a 2003 study, researchers in England found that smoking marijuana for even less than six years causes a marked deterioriation in lung function. The study suggests that marijuana use may rob the body of antioxidants that protect cells against damage that can lead to heart disease and cancer.
• Marijuana affects alertness, concentration, perception, coordination, and reaction time— skills that are necessary for safe driving. A roadside study of reckless drivers in Tennessee found that 33 percent of all subjects who were not under the influence of alcohol and who were tested for drugs at the scene of their arrest tested positive for marijuana. In a 2003 Canadian study, one in five students admitted to driving within an hour of using marijuana.
• Smoking marijuana leads to changes in the brain similar to those caused by the use of cocaine and heroin.
• Marijuana users have more suicidal thoughts and are four times more likely to report symptoms of depression thanpeople who never used the drug.
• The British Medical Journal recently reported: “Cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, consistent with a causal relation. This association is not explained by use of other psychoactive drugs or ersonality traits relating to social integration.”

Social Consequences

• Heavy marijuana use impairs the ability of young people to concentrate and retain information during their peak learning years. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active chemical in marijuana, changes the way sensory information gets into and is processed by the part of the brain that is crucial for learning and memory.
• Animal studies indicate that marijuana use may interfere with brain function and create problems with the perception of time, possibly making the user less adept at tasks that require sustained attention.
• Marijuana use has been associated with poor performance in school. One report showed that youths with an average grade of D or below were more than four times as likely to have used marijuana in the past year as youths with an average grade of A.
• Marijuana users in their later teen years are more likely to have an increased risk of delinquency and more friends who exhibit deviant behavior. They also tend to have more sexual partners and are more likely to engage in unsafe sex.

Economic Consequences

• Use of marijuana and other illicit drugs comes at significant expense to society in terms of lost employee productivity, public health care costs, and accidents.
• Americans spent $10.6 billion on marijuana purchases in 1999.

Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy

“Someone suffering from marijuana addiction needs as much help as someone suffering from any other drug addiction,” comments Ms. Rieser. “Get them the help they need.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with an marijuana or other drug problem, contact Narconon today for immediate assistance.  Visit www.drugsno.com or call 1-877-413-3073.

Copyright © 2009. Narconon of Georgia Inc. Call 1-877-413-3073. All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and are used with its permission.

narcononofga@yahoo.com
www.drugsno.com

Is Marijuana Addictive?

Marijuana has long, controversial past. From the first part of the 20th Century, where "reefer smokers" were demonized in the press, to the "Summer of Love" where pot was promoted as a way to "chill out", many myths and theories on marijuana use abound.

One common misconception is that marijuana is a safe, non-addictive drug.

"Many people, particularly teens, are lead to believe that marijuana is safer than alcohol or cigarettes," comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab Georgia. "This is why although cigarette use is down in schools, the rate of marijuana use is steady. Kids think it's safe. What they don't realize is that marijauna smokers are many times more likely to move on to harder drugs, such as cocaine or heroin, than those who don't smoke marijuana."

The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that marijuana has been proven to be a psychologically addictive drug. Scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse have demonstrated that laboratory animals will self-administer THC in doses equivalent to those used by humans who smoke marijuana.

So is marijuana addictive?

Consider these facts:

• Marijuana is much more powerful today than it was 30 years ago, and so are its mindaltering effects. Average THC levels rose from less than 1 percent in the mid-1970s to more than 6 percent in 2002. Sinsemilla potency increased in the past two decades
from 6 percent to more than 13 percent, with some samples containing THC levels of up to 33 percent.

• Subjects in an experiment on marijuana withdrawal experienced symptoms such as restlessness, loss of appetite, trouble with sleeping, weight loss, and shaky hands.

• According to one study, marijuana use by teenagers with prior serious antisocial problems can quickly lead to dependence on the drug. The study also found that, for troubled teenagers using tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, progression from their first use of marijuana to regular use was about as rapid as their progression to regular tobacco use, and more rapid than the progression to regular use of alcohol.

A study by Dr. Alan Budney and colleagues at the University of Vermont in Burlington found that marijuana smokers who stop using the drug while in their home environment suffer withdrawal symptoms that appear as severe as those associated with tobacco-smoking.

"These findings represent a significant step toward general acceptance of withdrawal as a key aspect of chronic marijuana use," says Dr. Jag Khalsa of NIDA's Center on AIDS and Other Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse. Treatment providers may not address the problem of marijuana withdrawal because the condition is not currently included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the standard reference published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Budney and his colleagues evaluated withdrawal symptoms in 12 adult marijuana smokers (7 male, 5 female, average age 30 years) over 3-day abstinence periods that followed 5-day periods when participants could smoke marijuana at will. "We found consistent emotional and behavioral symptoms that increased during abstinence and dramatically decreased when marijuana smoking resumed, suggesting that these types of symptoms are the hallmark of acute marijuana withdrawal," Dr. Budney says. "The symptoms most closely resembled many of those observed during nicotine withdrawal.”

“Someone suffering from marijuana addiction needs as much help as someone suffering from any other drug addiction,” comments Ms. Rieser. “Get them the help they need.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with an alcohol or other drug problem, contact Narconon today for immediate assistance.  Visit www.drugsno.com or call 1-877-413-3073.

Copyright © 2009. Narconon of Georgia Inc. Call 1-877-413-3073. All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and are used with its permission.

narcononofga@yahoo.com
www.drugsno.com

Going Shopping

GOING SHOPPING?

Lower prices? Higher quality? In this economy we are all looking for lower prices and higher quality, whether we are buying a car or tomatoes – or even cocaine.

It is easy to look at stats and speculate whether the cocaine cost less and is more potent. We can talk about this all day long and some experts might come across as sounding pretty educated on the topic of cocaine price wars. The difference is that these price wars are fought with guns and people die.

I suggest that these “experts” leave the ivory tower for a moment and figure out how to reduce the demand for cocaine. It might take a little bit of work, but it is possible and desirable if one cares at all about human life.

It starts with effective drug education. It works and there are studies to prove it.

Narconon Drug Treatment and education 877-413-3073

The Drug (Statistics) War: Is Cocaine Getting More Expensive?

By Marc Lacey

To show that President Felipe Calderon of Mexico is making inroads in his battle against drug traffickers, the United States government points to the rising price of cocaine. The average price per gram of cocaine in the United States increased 21 percent, to $117.72 from $97.01, from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2007, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

But the Washington Office on Latin America, an advocacy group in Washington, takes issue with the D.E.A.’s analysis.

In a report released this week, WOLA points out that there has been a general downward trend in cocaine prices in recent decades, despite the occasional spikes, indicating that crackdowns on cocaine trafficking are not working. Cocaine purity has largely held steady, the group says, citing new data released by the Obama administration:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/the-drug-statistics-war-cocaine-prices/

Dreaming

 

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NARCONON REALIZATION

Here is a Narconon daily realization for the day – shared here with the hope that anyone who has a problem with cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, pot or any drug of abuse can have good days like this too. 877-413-3073.

“Today has been a very special day for me. I have had one win after another. I shared my win with my mom and she told me that she has seen such a positive change in me that it is like I am a new man.

I see life so much differently than I ever dreamed. Life can seem boring – but you can face it with a pleasant face and a good attitude. Before when I thought something was “boring” I would get high. But Narconon is teaching me how to work through situations without making the wrong decisions.

Now I have control of myself in a more than positive way. My decisions are the right now. I am living in the day – and I know that doing this every day is going to make my future a great one.

Everyone who means anything to me can see the new and totally improved me. This is a feeling I will never let go of!”

Narconon drug treatment is the New Life Program.