The Hansford County Reporter-Statesman

2-1-1 Texas Helps Make Life Easier

Need a job but don’t have the right skills? Looking for someone to deliver meals to your elderly parents? Have you, or someone you know, been diagnosed with cancer? 2-1-1 can help you find the assistance you need.

This service works every day to connect children, families and neighborhoods with services from 20,000 agencies and many volunteers.

“The system works through area information centers that look at the total picture of what a customer needs,” said Beth Wick, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s state coordinator for 2-1-1. “Its technology provides access to a tremendous amount of help — but just as important is the human touch you get from talking to a live human being who has a real passion for their work.”

So when you’re looking for help, just call 2-1-1 or go to www.211Texas.org and learn about the variety of local and state resources available.

Who calls 2-1-1?

Disaster victims seeking housing, food or counseling.

Teachers, clergy and agency staff seeking help for their clients.

People seeking help with food, clothing or shelter for their families.

Adult children seeking services for elderly parents.

People who want to donate time, money or goods to a nonprofit organization.

Information is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year in more than 90 languages. Because services offered through 2-1-1 vary from community to community, the system’s resource specialists have specific expertise on resources in different areas of the state.

“2-1-1 might be able to help someone get oral health services from a dental school or medical care on a sliding fee scale from a community health clinic,” Wick says. “It just depends on what’s available in the community.”

Here are just a few examples of the many health and human services programs that 2-1-1 helps connect Texans to:

Basic human needs resources: Rent assistance, food banks, food stamps, shelters, utility assistance, clothing closets and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Support for seniors and people with disabilities: Adult day care, home health care, Meals on Wheels, homemaker services and long-term care assistance.

Employment support: Job training, education programs and financial assistance.

Physical and mental health resources: Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and other public health programs, crisis intervention services, drug and alcohol intervention and rehabilitation, support groups, counseling and maternal health resources.

Child care and education services: Head Start, after-school programs, child care centers, tutoring, protective services and financial assistance for child care.

Much like making a telephone call, www.211texas.org also offers information any time of the day or night for those seeking help with broader needs such as transportation, financial assistance, state agency and program information, plus thousands of other benefits and services provided locally. The information from both the telephone and website is free, confidential and available anywhere to residents in Texas.

“My message to all our people is that 2-1-1 already is a great social utility for professionals and the public alike,” Wick said.

To get assistance with state and community resources in your area, call 2-1-1 or 877-541-7905 (toll-free).  More information is available online at the HHSC “Finding Help in Texas” website at www.211texas.org.

Related Links:

Texas Health and Human Services Commission
2-1-1 Texas, Connecting People and Services
http://www.211texas.org

Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Your Texas Benefits
Medicaid, Food Stamps, CHIP Benefits and more
http://www.yourtexasbenefits.com

Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Office of Inspector General
Reporting Waste, Abuse and Fraud
https://oig.hhsc.state.tx.us/Fraud_Report_Home.aspx

Texas Health and Human Services Commission
2-1-1 Texas, Connecting People and Services
Area Information Centers
http://www.211texas.org/211/AIClinks.jsp

Texas Online
Texas at Your Fingertips
http://www.texasonline.com/

Texas Online
Texas a su alcance
http://www.texasonline.com/?language=esp

Texas State Library and Archives Commission
TRAIL:  Texas Records and Information Locator
http://www2.tsl.state.tx.us/trail/

Texas Homeland Security
http://www.texashomelandsecurity.com/

The following article is the first in a five-part series written by Gary W. Smith, C.C.D.C., who has over 30 years experience in the chemical dependency treatment field. Mr. Smith is the Executive Director of the Narconon Arrowhead Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation and Education Center in Canadian, Oklahoma.

Whether a person is genetically or bio-chemically predisposed to addiction or alcoholism is a controversy that has been debated for years within the scientific, medical and chemical dependency communities. One school of thought advocates the "disease concept," which embraces the notion that addiction is an inherited disease, and that the individual is permanently ill at a genetic level, even for those experiencing long periods of sobriety.

Another philosophy argues that addiction is a dual problem consisting of a physical and mental dependency on chemicals, compounded by a pre-existing mental disorder (i.e., clinical depression, bipolar disorder, or some other mental illness), and that the mental disorder needs to be treated first as the primary cause of the addiction.

A third philosophy subscribes to the idea that chemical dependency leads to permanent "chemical imbalances" in the neurological system that must be treated with psychotropic medications after the person has withdrawn from their drug of choice.

The fact remains that there is some scientific research that favors each of these addiction concepts, but none of them are absolute. Based on national averages, there is a 16% to 20% recovery rate, the message is pretty clear that these theories are just that theories and we have a lot more to learn if we are to bring the national recovery rate to a more desirable level.

There is a fourth school of thought which has proven to be more accurate. It has to do with the life cycle of addiction. This data is universally applicable to addiction, no matter which hypothesis is used to explain the phenomenon of chemical dependency. The life cycle of addiction begins with a problem, discomfort or some form of emotional or physical pain a person is experiencing. The person finds this very difficult to deal with.

Here is an individual who, like most people in our society, is basically good. He has encountered a problem that is causing him physical or emotional pain and discomfort that he does not have an immediate answer for. Some examples would include difficulty "fitting in" as a child or teenager, puberty, physical injuries such a broken bone, a bad back or some other chronic physical condition. Whatever the origin of the difficulty is the discomfort associated with it presents the individual with a real problem. He feels this problem is a major situation that is persisting and he can see no immediate resolution or relief from it. Most of us have experienced this in our lives to a greater or lesser degree.

Once the person takes a drug he feels relief from the discomfort, even though the relief is only temporary, it is adopted as a solution to the problem and the individual places value on the drug or drink. This assigned value is the only reason the person ever uses drugs or drinks a second, third or more times.

There is a key factor involved in this life cycle scenario that determines which one of us becomes an addict and which one does not. The answer depends on whether or not, at the time of this traumatic experience, we are subjected to pro-drug or alcohol influences via some sort of significant peer pressure that influences our decision making process in regards to how one will find relief from the discomfort. Peer pressure can manifest itself in many different ways. It can come from friends or family members or through some venue of advertising or promotion which, when combined with the degree of relief we receive from the drug or drink, determines the severity of the use. Simply put the bigger the problem the greater the discomfort the person is experiencing. The greater the discomfort the more importance the person places on relieving it and the greater the value he assigns to that which brought about the relief.

For those that start down the path of addiction they will encounter other physical, mental and life style changes along the way that will begin to disintegrate the individual’s quality of life. If the drug or alcohol abuse continues unchecked, eventually the person is faced with so many unpleasant circumstances in their life that each sober moment is filled with so much despair and misery that all he wants to do is escape these feelings by medicating them away. This is the downward spiral of addiction. At this point for most there are only three eminent outcomes; death, prison or sobriety.

Overcoming the mental and physical cravings for drugs is the first challenge of any drug rehabilitation program. Cravings are uncontrollable desires to use drugs or alcohol again. The addict is driven by physical and mental impulses to use that they cannot control.

To get an idea of what drug cravings are like, remember a time when you went for a long time without eating a meal and you were really hungry. Hunger is a mental and physical experience that is triggered when the body needs nutritional energy. It is a craving for food that is driven at a physical level which in turn stimulates memories of eating food which is followed by a strong desire or compulsion to consume food. Usually when a person is hungry they will think about their favorite foods and if they get hungry enough, they can sometimes even smell and taste certain foods. If one is hungry and goes long enough without food, eventually the thought of food and the physical reaction (for example, growling stomach or shaking) to not having the food will become so great that they will drop whatever they are doing and arrange to get food and eat it. As soon as the food is consumed the hunger pangs stop and one feels good about satisfying their hunger.

A drug craving is similar but the desire to use drugs is much stronger and more intense than hunger pangs. An addict who is craving drugs will feel like life itself is dependent on them getting their drug of choice. They will do and say almost anything to get the drug to feed the craving they have for it. Once they feed the craving, they feel relief from the physical and mental drive to use until the drug wears off and the craving returns.

Today it is fairly common for many companies and federal agencies to drug test their employees. These drug tests are done through urinalysis. Through testing a person’s urine one can determine if they have taken drugs and if so what type of drug it was. Drug tests identify drug metabolites present in the urine. The drug metabolite is like a fingerprint of the drug taken. Cocaine produces a cocaine metabolite, opiates produce an opiate metabolite, alcohol produces an alcohol metabolite and so on. This is an important fact to remember as we look at what causes drug and alcohol cravings.

The origin of drug cravings begin with the way the body metabolizes chemicals. Drugs and alcohol are broken down and filtered in the liver. There is a by-product from this filtration process called a metabolite. A metabolite is a molecule that is produced when the body processes and filters food or chemicals that are ingested. When drugs or alcohol are filtered and processed, some of the remaining metabolites will leave the body through the sweat and urine and some of these metabolites will remain in the system in the fat stores of the body. Drug metabolites are like a finger print of the drug taken. Cocaine produces a cocaine metabolite, opiates produce and opiate metabolite, alcohol produces an alcohol metabolite and so on. It is upon this principal that drug test through a urine sample can determine what type of drug a person has taken.

The next component of the drug craving has to do with memory and the mind. Each time a person consumes drugs or alcohol they develop a complete recorded memory of that life experience. Whether good times or bad, happy or sad, all emotions, feelings and sensations that were present at the time the drug or alcohol was ingested is filed away in the person's memory. Even if a person is in a blackout, the experience is still recorded in the mind. Those that are dependent on physically addictive drugs like opiates, alcohol, tranquilizers or sleeping pills will have a series of memories that contain the pain and discomfort associated with drug withdrawal.

The body will metabolize and burn fat cells any time a person undergoes a situation in life that causes the heart rate to speed up. Stress can do this as can strenuous exercise or intense emotion. Most of us experience some or all of these things on a fairly regular basis. When an addict’s body metabolizes fat, if the fat cells contain metabolites from past alcohol and drug use, the drug metabolite will activate back into the person's bloodstream.

Keep in mind that each type of drug produces its own metabolite. When the metabolites of past drugs or alcohol are released into the bloodstream, a person’s body will be reminded of that past drug use at a physical level. This reminder then triggers recorded memories of drug-related experiences and discomforts from the past. The person remembers feeling and thinking like they did in the past when they were under the influence or will remember experiencing pain and discomfort when they were coming down from the drug and so are prone to use again at these times.

Special Note: Scientists have recently discovered that fat is actually a vital organ that produces hormones that affect our moods, energy levels and immunity. Chronic use of drugs or alcohol has been shown to disrupt this function. This disruption is one of the physical factors that cause cravings as the body attempts to correct the disturbance by craving what it lacks or a similar substance, such as the drugs that originally caused the disruption.]

Depression is another factor that keeps an addict harnessed in his addiction. Depression is the source of a constant and significant amount of discomfort that prompts continued use. It is also the second major barrier to successful recovery for those seeking help through treatment.

Some of the traditional medical- and psychiatric-based programs rotely diagnose and treat the depression an addict is experiencing as the root cause of the person’s drug or alcohol problem. In actual fact, more times than not, it is a symptom of the problem that manifested itself after the person had become addicted, not before. Oftentimes, in the course of treatment, psychotropic medications are used which temporarily mask the symptom but does nothing to cure it. As these medications wear off, the depression returns, oftentimes magnified. This makes the recovery process much more difficult, if not nearly impossible, for the addict in treatment.

There are physical and mental mechanics at play that create the state of depression and lethargy an addicted person experiences. At a physical level, most addicts are in a declining or poor state of health. When they are high they are in a euphoric, painless state of mind and are numb to the damage drugs and/or alcohol are causing to their body. When they are sober they have no energy and minor aches and pains are intensified. They are physically spent as a result of the severe nutritional deficiencies that follow long-term drug or alcohol abuse. It is these deficiencies that accelerate poor health and put the person in a physically lethargic condition.

At a mental level, they have a difficult time finding joy or happiness in anything while they are not under the influence. An addict at some point surrenders to the idea that they must be high in order to experience anything at an emotional level. They must be high to celebrate an accomplishment, to escape sadness. They must be high to solve problems, to enjoy sex, to have meaningful relationships, to work or to play. The addict really believes and operates on this principle, numb to the actual fact that the quality of their life and relationships with others are on a downtrending spiral.

To give a layman’s explanation of how and why this barrier of depression exists, let’s look at what is happening to a person’s mind and body as the addiction develops. There is another biophysical aspect to this scenario which is created by the drug's interaction with the body's natural chemistry. Some of the body's natural chemicals act as a built-in reward system that encourages us to eat, exercise and procreate. Other natural chemicals act as painkillers that activate when we physically injure ourselves or are experiencing pain. These natural chemicals are directly related to our drive to maintain our physical well-being in one way or another.

In addition to the presence of drug metabolites in the system and the memories associated with drug and alcohol use as described in Part II of this editorial series, the physical brain of the addicted person also identifies the drug or alcohol as an aid that either enhances or restricts the release of these natural chemicals. In some cases the brain identifies some drugs as superior to the body’s natural chemicals. The brain then substitutes the body’s natural chemicals with the drugs or alcohol. As the person starts to use drugs or alcohol on a regular basis, the 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 necessary to produce and release the natural chemicals.

In short, the drugs take over the functions of the body’s natural chemicals and the person’s brain and body gets fooled into thinking that the drugs or alcohol are the natural chemicals. When drugs or alcohol are present in the addict’s system, the physical 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 deficit of the natural body chemicals which adds to the lethargy and lack of enjoyment an addict experiences when not under the influence of drugs or drink. This condition is what adds to the addict’s compulsion and drive to do more drugs or drink more alcohol, despite the often life-threatening consequences an addict is faced with 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.

One final piece of the depression puzzle is what is actually happening in the addict’s life. There are broken relationships, sometimes problems with the law or financial problems. The individual starts to distance themselves from the people they love and becomes more and more withdrawn. They may lose their job or start experiencing serious health problems. Basically their life is going down the toilet and the addict deep down is not happy about it. They are depressed about these circumstances that for the most part are present because of the individual’s addictive life style. Depression is an appropriate emotion considering the misery that they are faced with in their life.

For some medical practitioners in the treatment field to address this depression as a “mental illness or disease” and expect that prescribed medications will some how fix the person so they can fix these situations in their life seems somewhat irrational if you think about it. It is a fact that these prescribed medications will mask the depression temporarily, but so will their drug of choice. Neither one helps the person restore their physical health or helps them develop the life skills to repair these real life problems, which is the only real cure for this affliction.

There are different methods utilized in substance abuse counseling to bring about positive moral change in an addict. Probably one of the most commonly used is the Twelve Step approach practiced by the Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous groups.

In this method steps 4 and 5 and steps 8 and 9 deal with life inventory of the wrong deeds done and who was affected by them. In addition to this, the addict then makes up the damage done as a result of these negative actions.

This method is effective in recovery so long as the person's addiction has not progressed to the point where the individual has lost his or her ability to confront and communicate or to identify and solve problems. If an addiction persists long enough, an addict will lose even the basic social skills needed to perform in group therapy and to admit their wrongdoing.

In cases where drug addiction began in the adolescent years, individuals have not had the opportunity to develop these life skills. As a result, they do not perform as well in a Twelve Step program or other traditional treatment settings. In these cases, the addict needs to be educated or re-educated in these basic life skills before there can be any real hope of success in raising moral standards and permanent sobriety.

When conventional approaches are not working with a drug-addicted person, there are effective alternatives to pursue in recovery before one gives up. What has not proven effective is substitute drug treatment, e.g. methadone, anti-depressants or other prescribed medications designed to mask the symptoms of addiction mentioned in this article. This, in effect, just trades one addiction for another. It does not aid the addicted person in developing the life skills necessary to raise their moral values or their quality of life. Nor does it provide them with the necessary tools to remain sober. Thus relapse becomes inevitable.

One effective alternative method to recovery is the life skills training and moral inventory used by the Narconon program. This program provides a specific course of treatment which includes training in communication, a full body detoxification process, counseling in problem identification and solving, as well as a structured course of action to restore personal values and integrity. These programs help individuals to accomplish heightened moral standards and sobriety with an improved quality of life.

Forty years ago, author and researcher L. Ron Hubbard identified the basic barriers to successful recovery which have been discussed throughout this series of articles on addiction. Through his research, he developed a means of treating them successfully. When Narconon was founded in 1966 by William Benitez, it was based on Mr. Hubbard's research and developments in the field of drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Benitez developed a working relationship with Mr. Hubbard and together they established the first Narconon program in Arizona.

Narconon has been using this treatment method successfully for more than thirty years. It has only been within the last few years that the scientific and medical research has caught up with these methods of treating addiction. It is now acknowledged by the medical community that drugs do store in the body in the form of metabolites and that the chemical imbalances created by drug addiction are nutritionally driven. Further, nutritional program components have been added to just about every type of treatment method and are recognized as a valid form of therapy in chemical dependency treatment.

If you know someone in need of help, I recommend that you research all of your treatment options. Take the time to thoroughly inspect the treatment programs available. Determine how these programs address the mechanics of addiction. Find out what their long-term recovery rates are. Drug rehabilitation does not have to be a revolving door if you take the time and effort to pick the right recovery program.

If you have been following this series of articles, you have learned how opium and its derivatives morphine and heroin made their way into America's channels of commerce. In time, each substance acquired an expanding customer base, anchored by the addictiveness of the drug. In the Twentieth Century, the popularity of cocaine in its various forms would prove to reach much deeper and farther than any drug to date.

Cocaine is derived from the coca plant, a plant that grows wild in the high mountain ranges of South America. Natives of these areas chewed coca leaves for the stimulating effects that enabled them to perform heavy labor at high altitudes. The use of coca leaves as a stimulant stretches back more than 2000 years.

In 1860, an Austrian scientist developed a way to process the coca leaves and so extract the first sample of cocaine. By the 1880s, the medical world recognized many uses for cocaine. As cocaine has a numbing effect, it was used for surgeries of the eye, nose or throat. An early advocate for this drug was world-famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. Freud broadly promoted cocaine as a safe and useful tonic that could cure depression and sexual impotence and in 1884, announced that it could be used to treat morphine addiction.

Cocaine got a further boost in acceptability when, in 1886, John Pemberton included cocaine as one of the main ingredients in his new soft drink, Coca-Cola. It was cocaine's euphoric and energizing effects on the consumer that was mostly responsible for skyrocketing Coca-Cola into its place as the most popular soft drink in history.

If you have read the earlier articles in this series, you read about Civil War veterans who became morphine addicts after being treated for their war injuries. In fact, John Pemberton was a Civil War veteran and a morphine addict, just like thousands of others. He drank his own beverage in an attempt to cure himself of his addiction, and advertised it as a cure for exhaustion, headaches and addiction to morphine.

From the 1870s to the early 1900s, cocaine- and opium-laced elixirs, tonics and wines were openly consumed by men and women of all social classes. American society was, in fact, pervaded by a drug culture. Even celebrities such as Thomas Edison and the famous actress Sarah Berhardt promoted the "miraculous" effects of cocaine elixirs.

Because there were no restrictions placed on acquiring these drugs in the early 1900s, narcotic use was an acceptable way of life for a large number of people, many of whom were people of stature. Pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis sold a kit for the administration of cocaine, promoting that the drug "can supply the place of food, make the coward brave, the silent eloquent and... render the sufferer insensitive to pain."

Cocaine was a mainstay in the silent film industry. The death of a number of young starlets, a director and an actor, linked or rumored to be linked to drugs, broadcast the drug and alcohol habits of the industry. Then as now, celebrities are role models that can and do influence the masses.

With the world's most famous psychologist, the man that invented the light bulb, a stable of Hollywood silent film stars, and the inventor of the most popular soft drink in history all on the "Cocaine Is Good" bandwagon, the message was unmistakable. Even Pope Leo XIII endorsed the excellence of cocaine-fortified wine in advertising posters.

As had happened with opium, morphine and heroin, cocaine began to be used as an active ingredient in a variety of patent medicines and remedies. Dr. Tucker's Specific contained 1.5 percent cocaine and As-ma-syde contained 16 percent cocaine. But Ryno's Hay Fever and Catarrh Remedy measured 99 percent cocaine! And Cocaine Toothache Drops promised "Instantaneous Cure!"

For many years, tonics and remedies containing cocaine, sometimes mixed with other narcotics, were administered freely to young and old alike. It wasn't until some years later that the dangers of these drugs became apparent.

In fact, it was the negative side-effects of habitual cocaine use that was responsible for coining the phrase "dope fiend." This term came about because of the behavior of a person abusing cocaine for prolonged periods of time. Cocaine is such a powerful stimulant that prolonged daily use of the drug creates severe sleep deprivation and loss of appetite. A user might go days or weeks without sleeping or eating properly, finally breaking into psychotic behavior. They may hallucinate and become delusional.

Withdrawing from cocaine causes severe depression, so much so that the person withdrawing will do just about anything to get more of it, including murder. Or if the drug is not readily available, cocaine-dependent users may attempt suicide. A study in New York City later in the century found that 29 percent of all suicides aged 21 to 30 tested positive for cocaine.

As the dangers of cocaine use and addiction became more and more apparent, a public outcry arose to ban the social use of cocaine. This public pressure forced Pemberton to remove cocaine from Coca-Cola in 1903. The country's legislators took notice, and cocaine was added to the list of narcotics outlawed by the Dangerous Drug Act of 1920.

Unfortunately, as with the earlier narcotics, the dangers of cocaine abuse were recognized by law makers after the cocaine habit had become deeply entrenched in the American culture. This habit is still with us today.
In the late 1970s, a new twist on the old habit came to light. Drug dealers had a method of testing cocaine for purity that involved cooking the cocaine so as to concentrate the active ingredient. The resulting rocks of crack cocaine could then be smoked, resulting in an almost-instant high.

Unfortunately, crack cocaine was even more addictive than powder cocaine. In 1985, for example, the number of Americans ages 12 and older who admitted using cocaine in a national survey increased from 4.2 million to 5.8 million. The next year, cocaine-related hospital emergency room visits more than doubled.

Crack cocaine is the most popular type of cocaine being sold and consumed today. With its intense addictiveness, crack has destroyed millions of lives and devastated millions of families since it was first introduced to the streets of America.

But even the pervasive influence of cocaine in the early 20th Century and the subsequent arrival of crack cocaine would not define the drug problems that have assaulted Americans for the last few decades. From the 1970s to the end of the millennium, drug abuse found dozens of new forms and millions of new users. Pharmaceutical companies seemed to participate in the developing disaster by distributing painkillers, sleep aids and mood elevators that were addictive and prone to abuse – without emphasizing the addictiveness in their briefings to the doctors who would administer them to patients. Sophisticated drug trafficking channels meant that whatever type of drug was desired would probably be available anywhere in the country that one found himself located.

As there is no place to hide from the supply and abuse of drugs in this country, the only protection comes from understanding the problem and knowing how to solve the problems of drug abuse and addiction when they arise. We will address these points in upcoming articles in this series.

This article is the fourth in a series presented in the public interest by Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country's leading drug education and rehabilitation centers, located in Canadian, Oklahoma. For more information on the rehabilitation and educational services of Narconon Arrowhead, call 1-800-468-6933 today or visit the website www.stopaddiction.com. The Narconon program was founded in 1966 by William Benitez in Arizona State Prison, and is based on the humanitarian works of L. Ron Hubbard. In more than 120 centers around the world, Narconon programs restore drug and alcohol abusers and addicts to a clean and sober lifestyle.

Unhappily, the second half of the Twentieth Century proved to be a pivotal point in America's war on drugs. New drugs, new high levels of users and addicts, new trafficking channels – it's been an all-out assault that shows no signs of relief.

In the late 1960s, an entirely new drug consciousness arose, particularly among young- Caucasian middle-class Americans. Recreational use of marijuana, LSD, mescaline and other drugs were linked with the desire for an alternative lifestyle and were glorified in magazines and movies. Films such as The Trip in 1967, I Love You, Alice B. Toklas in 1968 and Easy Rider in 1969 brought this new consciousness to the big screen. 

In 1969, psychiatrist Dr. Robert DuPont began a testing program to determine how many prisoners entering the Washington D.C. jail system tested positive for heroin. When 44% of the prisoners tested positive, Dr. DuPont was able establish the first methadone program for these heroin addicts. While methadone took these addicts out of the illegal trade of heroin, it kept them addicted to an opioid drug.

In Vietnam, the heroin problem with GIs began to escalate. By mid-1971, U.S. Army medical officers estimated that that about 10 to 15 percent or 25,000 to 37,000 of lower-ranking enlisted men serving in Vietnam were heroin users. And when those GIs returned to America, many of them brought their heroin habits with them.

A few years later, cocaine channels between Columbia and the U.S. became more sophisticated, transporting a higher volume to both coasts. Newsweek even ran an article glamorizing the use of cocaine at fancy cocktail parties. Before the end of the decade, the highly profitable cocaine trade began to spawn violent shootouts and murders in Miami and along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the mid-1980s, crack cocaine exploded into the public consciousness in New York City, soon to spread across the country. More than eight million Americans have tried this drug at least once, and currently, more than half a million are regular users.

The problems with cocaine were underscored by the shocking death of Len Bias, the young basketball star, in 1986. New awareness of the risks to health came to light, particularly the risk of heart attack or cardiac arrest when using cocaine.

Despite increasing drug enforcement budgets, the Drug Enforcement Agency and local and state forces were unable to stem the increasing tide of drug use. In the last few decades, a rash of new drugs aggravated the problems: methamphetamine, easily produced in a lab in your kitchen, GHB and Ecstasy appeared. Purer heroin in smokable form hit the street in the 1990s. The popular catch phrase among the drugs users was coined "chasing the dragon" referring to smoking heroin, broadened the drug's use by eliminating the less socially acceptable practice of injecting the drug with a needle. At the same time, prescription drugs became drugs of abuse, starting with Miltown (tranquilizers) in the 1960s, followed by Valium, Xanax, OxyContin, Ritalin and a long list of other drugs.

America fought back with new laws. The Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986 set mandatory sentences for convictions for dealing marijuana, LSD, crack and other drugs.  Just after the new millennium, more laws were passed to make some of the necessary ingredients for methamphetamine hard to get. But since the demand for the drug didn't decrease, the only thing that happened was that small "mom and pop" meth labs went out of business while trafficking of Mexican methamphetamine skyrocketed.

Despite some improvements here and there, drug use statistics have hit new highs in recent years. Government surveys in 1996 estimated that 13 million Americans were current drug users (meaning they had used an illicit drug or abused a prescription drug in the prior 30 days). That was 6.4 percent of those aged 12 and older. Each year thereafter, this number crept up slightly until 2002 when it jumped to more than 19 million, constituting 8.3 of the population. In 2006, the number of current users was over 20 million.
Even the internet got involved in the growth in drug use. In the last few years, it's become possible to order addictive pharmaceutical drugs such as OxyContin, Valium, Adderall and Ritalin from internet pharmacies which remain unregulated and difficult to bring under control.

As the drug scene penetrated our society more and more, it showed no respect for the Drug-Free Zones surrounding our schools. The Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported in 2007 that 11 million high school students and five million middle school students had seen illegal drug use on their school campuses.

Most law enforcement personnel facing this grim scene will tell you that the problem will never be solved with enforcement alone. Drug use must be dealt with on many fronts, from effective drug rehabilitation for those who become addicted, to drug education for young people that communicates the real danger of drug use in a way they can understand and accept, to a revolution in the way drugs are treated on television, in movies, magazines, music and other media.

Another essential component in the fight against drug abuse and addiction is the strong role families can play. Studies by the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse found that teenagers who ate dinner with the family five times a week were far less likely to drink or use marijuana than those who only ate with the family twice a week

Every minute of every day, around the clock, five people try an illicit drug for the first time. That adds up to nearly three million people per year. Tragically, more than half of these initiates are under 18.
People using drugs go through several stages on their way to full-blown addiction:

Stage 1: They're curious about drug use; they may ask questions or ask to join those using drugs. They willingly listen to stories about the effects of drugs. They watch others obtaining drugs or using them.

Stage 2: They experiment with drugs and discover the effects. This is usually social, recreational use carried out as part of a group, usually on weekends. The peer pressure of the group use is enough reason for many people to continue to use drugs.

Stage 3: Now the drug user has discovered the "benefits" of using drugs. Perhaps they alleviate boredom or anxiety. Problems and stresses may seem to disappear. Girls or women may use stimulants for weight loss and males may use steroids for appearance enhancement. When the positive effects outweigh the risks or any negative effects, these individuals may become regular users. They acquire a supply of drugs and drug paraphernalia. They have regular contacts they can rely on for more supplies. They may use drugs more frequently, no longer restricting their use to weekends. Their behavior and activities begin to change. School, work or family affairs may seem less important. They may change their friends to associate with others who use drugs. Legal complications may appear.

Stage 4: They now become preoccupied with drug use. Behavior changes become more pronounced and obvious. The user may be found to lie frequently and may begin stealing or dealing drugs to support drug use. As drug tolerance increases, the user may start using stronger drugs to get the same effect. More neglect of school, work or family affairs will show up. The user will become secretive, hard to reach and is likely to neglect former interests completely. Legal and financial complications often worsen.

Stage 5: At this point, the user is dependent on their drug of choice. He or she can't face daily life without drugs and uses them just to function or feel "normal." They deny the problem and present a completely false face to their family and environment. Physical problems worsen. Financial and legal complications are often severe. They may sever ties with family and former friends. They are now addicted. There are only three possible outcomes to addiction: early death, prison or sobriety.

Being an educated parent or family member is one of the best things you can do to prevent this progression toward addiction. When you suspect that a family member is abusing drugs or alcohol, the right thing to do is to look for yourself, rather than believe everything you are told. The wrong thing to do is to hope that it's not that bad and will all go away on its own.

And when drug use has marched forward into addiction, what is needed is a drug rehabilitation program that addresses and eliminates the true causes of addiction. The Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in Canadian, Oklahoma treats the whole person and the reasons they began to use drugs as well as the effects those drugs had on the body and the mind. The result is a happy, productive person who has the life skills to live a completely drug and alcohol-free life.

For more information about addiction or if you would like a free copy of the Life Cycle and Mechanics of Addiction five-part series, call 1-800-468-6933 or email Megan Bedford at megan@stopaddiction.com.