When Mary’s daughter was fourteen years of age they moved to Roswell GA from Chamblee. They lived right near a Waffle House and they would go to eat there from time to time. One of the teenage waitresses that worked there also went to Mary’s daughter’s school. Mary’s daughter became friends with her over time. The girl was sixteen. They would have spend the nights and do the usual things that teenage girls would do.

Girl Goes Missing

After a couple months Mary noticed that her daughter had not had her friend over for a while. She asked her daughter why and her daughter told her mom that she had not seen her friend in a while. She had not been in school either and had not been to work for a few weeks. Her daughter thought that maybe she had moved or something but was unsure of what had actual happened.

This uncertainty did not last very long however. Within a couple weeks of Mary’s concern, the girl showed up on her doorstep. She told Mary and her daughter that she had been kicked out of her home and she had no where to live. Mary felt very bad for the girl and told her that she was welcome to stay with them as long as she kept up with her studies. Mary had no idea of what was actually going on.

Mary Finds out About Crack

It soon came to light that something was going on with the girl that Mary had taken into her home. She would keep very odd hours and a couple of times Mary caught her skipping school. Mary confronted the girl and asked her what was going on. The girl admitted to Mary that she had been smoking crack and that was the actual reason that she had been kicked out of her mother’s home. The girl admitted that she had not really ever done drugs before, except for a little marijuana a few times. She said that her boyfriend had offered crack to her and she did not know what it was when she tried it. She said that she immediately became addicted and now she did not have any idea of how to stop using.

Mary Researches Addiction Treatment

Mary immediately called the girls mother and told her of the fact that her daughter was addicted to crack and asked her if she would help get her into treatment. The mother informed Mary that she knew and she did not care and she did not want anything more to do with the situation. Mary, having worked as an RN previously, then asked if the mother had insurance for the girl. The mother said that she did and Mary got the necessary information.

It just so happened that while Mary was looking for an appropriate drug treatment center for the girl, a good friend that Mary had not talked to in years, called her. When she asked her friend what he had been up to, he told her that in the twenty some odd years they had not spoken, he had become addicted to opiates and also gotten off of them. Mary asked how and he told her that he had gone to an excellent program called Narconon drug rehab. He said that he still worked there and he loved it.

Mary told him about the situation with the girl that she had taken in and asked him if he thought that the center where he had gone would be good for her also. He said yes and proceeded to help Mary make arrangements to have the girl go out to the Narconon which was located in Oklahoma.

Mary Meets Narconon

While the girl that Mary helped was at the Narconon center, Mary flew out to Oklahoma to visit her. She immediately fell in love with the center and knew that Narconon was something she had to have part in. She began flying out once a month to the Narconon in Oklahoma and began to get trained in running one.

Narconon of Georgia is Born

Meanwhile back in Atlanta, Mary came in contact with a local judge in the area through her business consulting company. One day they went to lunch and they began to discuss the drug problem in Atlanta and the alarming recidivism rate in the court room. Mary told the judge about Narconon and how well it had worked for the people she had seen go through it. The judge said he wished there was a program like that in Georgia because it really was needed. The light bulb went off above Mary’s head and she went about researching how to start a Narconon in Georgia.

The next time that Mary went to Oklahoma she met a pastor from Georgia who was going through the Narconon program for addiction. They got to talking and he told her that his family had a rehab program back in Atlanta that he wanted to incorporate some of the Narconon techniques into it when he returned. He said that Narconon was the only rehab that had ever really helped him with his crack addiction. Mary told him that she had talked to a local judge who was interested in starting a Narconon also and that maybe if they worked together they could make the dream become a reality.

When the pastor returned to Georgia, he and Mary set out to start Narconon of Georgia on a farm that his family owned. Mary and the local judge she knew had decided that they would do a pilot program with some of the people who had been convicted of drug charges in his court room. If it worked, they were going to look into getting state funding for the program and use it as an alternative sentence to incarceration for those people who had been convicted of small possession charges. They did the pilot and it worked, unfortunately they were denied funding from the state. Narconon of Georgia is now considered a private pay program, although they do still take people who have small possession charges as alternative to incarceration. Narconon of Georgia has moved to a very nice area of Atlanta where it continues to serve its community. Thank you Mary for you service to Atlanta!

Narconon Georgia is working to be that voice. On the fourth of July the organization put up a tent in the middle of a local town square, along with other community groups. The theme was freedom from drugs.

Hundreds of kids arrived for the face painting and Frisbees waiting for them if they read, understood and agreed to the drug free pledge, which reads as follows:

I pledge allegiance to myself and who I want to be. Because I can make my dreams come true, if I believe in me. I pledge to stay in school and learn the things I need to know, to make the world a better place for kids like me to grow. I pledge to keep my dreams alive and be all I can be. I know I can, and that’s because, I pledge to stay DRUG FREE!

The kids had a good time and so did the parents, most of whom insisted that their children really understand what they were reading and agreeing to, when they signed the pledge.

Inside the Frisbees was a printed copy of the TEN THINGS YOUR FRIENDS MAY NOT KNOWABOUT DRUGS.

Kids will be reminded of facts such as “All drugs affect the mind” When a drug wears off, the person wants more and “drugs ruin creativity”, every time they throw their Frisbee. Staying off drugs is associated with fun – not drudgery of a drug education lecture at school.

A few teachers and even a Girl Scout leader requested for similar fun presentation of drug education with the kids they work with and Narconon intends to oblige.

The fourth of July for Narconon drug treatment center was a time to celebrate all freedoms – the freedom to do, be and think. A mind scrambled with drugs cannot think clearly enough to take advantage of freedoms afforded by society.

As recovered addicts at the event explained, drug addiction is an entrapment. A drug addict is enslaved, even if living in a free country. One gentleman described how his family moved to the United States from another country to take advantage of the freedoms and opportunities here. They started a business and are doing well. However, this individual started using drugs and spent all his teenage and adult years addicted. He describes a life of slavery to drugs. The drugs took over his thinking to the point, he wasn’t even aware of what opportunities this country had and never really understood why his family moved here. Having been clean for a year, he has now opened his eyes to all the opportunities available and is creating a life for himself. For the next year, he intends to reach out to as many kids as he can through schools and civic groups and let them know the real truth about drugs.

The stats in this country demonstrate that this young man has his work cut out for him.

44 percent of middle school kids (five million) and 80 percent of high school kids (eleven million) attend drug infested schools. (This is according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse, conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.)

Another study found that teens report that the number one reason they use drugs is to deal with the pressures of school. The reasons have changed from wanting to have a good time, to trying to deal with the stress of schools. Parents underestimate the impact of stress on their kids. (This study is released by Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

Research indicates that more than anyone, parents have an effect on whether their kids will use drugs or not. Narconon of Georgia realizes that where possible, drug education should be a family affair. When drug education is in the schools it should be interactive and fun. Materials should be sent home to the families so they can also stress a drug free life for their kids.

The Fourth of July is a celebration of freedom from tyranny. Drug addiction is its own kind of tyranny and Narconon of Georgia is doing its best to fight it.

Georgia Faces Growing Prescription Drug Abuse Problem: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Narconon sent the message that this problem can happen to anyone.

John Paul, former wrestler, underscored the fact with the story about his own life.  John had played pro hockey for a brief period, was an airline pilot and added wrestling to the list of accomplishments.    It was the injuries from the wrestling that got him involved into prescription drugs.  Off camera, John described a situation where he couldn’t even go into the ring without being shot up with 100 mg of Demerol.  The abuse escalated, as he needed more and more drugs to beat the pain caused by a profession that required getting pounced on at least 300 days a week.   He stated it is a problem that almost the entire profession of wrestlers has.

Years of taking pain killers turned into an addiction that required large amounts of opiates to even maintain.   Now, he wants the world to know that this didn’t have to happen to him and it doesn’t have to happen to anyone else.    For those who find themselves in the throes of addiction – they can beat the rap and get into treatment.

Off camera, John stressed the point that it took someone who really cared for him to say NO.  He described how his girlfriend, with her tough love approach put her foot down and insisted that he get treatment.  Were it not for her, he never would have arrived to Narconon for the drug free treatment that he is receiving.

Many aren’t as lucky as John.  Some are hiding in the shadows, going to get their medication when their families aren’t looking.  Some fool themselves that they can stop whenever they want, but deep inside they know there is a problem.

Narconon will continue to get the word out about this epidemic and the cause of it.

For those who watched the show and know that they need help – Narconon drug rehab staff are only a call away.

Read the news article here.

Narconon of Georgia

It doesn’t take experts from Yale to discover what Narconon and other drug treatment centers have come to know; doctors simply don’t know enough about addiction and its treatment.  The statement could be expanded to include the fact that some doctors are actively contributing to the rising addiction problems across this country.  Prescription drug abuse overdose and deaths now rank higher than overdose from illegal drugs.   Not always, but usually, what you find at the other end of a prescription is a “prescription pad” and behind that is a doctor.  So it is logical and safe to assume that a vast number of doctors don’t understand addiction – lest they wouldn’t be contributing to it so heavily.

The medical field is advised to be a little humble before just diving into a field that others have been working successfully in years.  Statistically, in actual fact, the best results in the field of addiction are to be had by “para professionals”.  These are the guys and gals who most usually were addicted themselves, successfully overcame their problem and decided to help their fellows, by becoming sponsors and getting trained.

According to educators at Yale School of Medicine and other U.S. medical schools, doctors-to-be require a lot more training to address substance abuse than they currently receive, HealthCanal.com reported Jan. 6.

Substance use disorders are at the root of a staggering array of medical, behavioral, and social problems, said the authors. In the U.S. alone, drug and alcohol abuse caused more than 100,000 deaths and cost the country more than $300 billion annually.

“Despite the fact that the substance use is responsible for an enormous burden of disease in their patients, and evidence-based screening approaches have been developed, physicians often fail to identify and treat substance abuse routinely,” said Patrick O’Connor, M.D., chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine at Yale and lead author of the paper.

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It will be with a wary eye that the field of drug treatment will watch doctors try to make their entre as “experts”.   It is a little bit like expecting Dr. Kevorkian to develop an elixir to extend life.   His history just doesn’t show that he would be very interested.

As always, Narconon and other treatment centers will keep on their path of trying to treat and prevent addiction

Josh Hamilton

While many people have their eyes focused on the World Series there is one player that is just thankful to be alive to play in it.

Drugs and alcohol addiction almost destroyed Hamilton’s professional baseball career. He started it in 2001 and, with repeated suspensions, lasted well until 2005, when his grandmother Mary Holt confronted him.  With the exception of one incident in 2009, Hamilton has been clean, and is tested for drug use three times a week, a schedule he reportedly favors as it reassures those who have faith in him. At the end of the win against the New York Yankees, he celebrated by drinking ginger ale.

Outfielder John Hamilton of the Texas Rangers hasn’t been silent about his drug addiction.  He wants to make sure everyone know that there is help out there and if you reach for it you can do it.

Drug addiction treatment centers applauds Mr. Hamilton on his admission to his drug use and getting his life turned around.

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According to Defining the Addiction Treatment Gap, a CATG review of the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and other national data sources, addiction continues to impact every segment of American society.

“Drug use is on the rise in this country and 23.5 million Americans are addicted to alcohol and drugs. That’s approximately one in every 10 Americans over the age of 12 – roughly equal to the entire population of Texas.  But only 11 percent of those with an addiction receive treatment. It is staggering and unacceptable that so many Americans are living with an untreated chronic disease and cannot access treatment,” said Dr. Kima Joy Taylor, director of the CATG Initiative.

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While I acknowledge the good intentions of those who’ve sought drug treatment for drug addiction, I can’t in good conscience celebrate the drug rehab community as a whole. A celebration is best reserved when victory is at hand or, at the very least, to acknowledge a job well done. Neither has happened.

Drug abuse rampages through society unchecked laying waste to users and their loved ones alike. Cocaine, crack, heroin, meth and prescription drugs abound. Drug addiction outwits feckless drug rehab programs. While a few addicts recover, the majority never do.

Most of the students at Narconon Georgia came from other drug rehab programs. They failed rehab before, though it’s fairer to say that these other drug rehab programs failed them. And not just once or twice. Many have gone to three or more programs before they came here.

But why? Why do so many addicts fail so many drug rehab programs so often? I believe the reason is evident in the following quote:

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, public health advocates promoted the view that mental illness and substance abuse are rooted in neurobiology. While 54 percent of respondents believed that major depression had neurobiological causes in 1996, 67 percent believed that a decade later.

Source

The view that addiction is a disease, widely promoted but never proven, lies behind the ineffectiveness of most drug rehab programs. Participants who are called patients in such programs are indoctrinated to believe that there’s nothing they can really do to beat addiction. Such belief provides all the excuse they need when tempted by drugs and alcohol.  Relapse is inevitable. What do you expect? They’re sick.

Narconon Georgia succeeds in part because we don’t treat drug addiction as a disease. It’s not; it’s a condition, a condition that you or someone you love can do something about. Now that’s something to celebrate.

Reza Graduate Success

Rezza is a 22 year old Narconon graduate who has decided that he wants to devote his time to helping others get off drugs, due to the miraculous benefits he experienced while at Narconon.

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in Florida but I was raised in northern Virginia.  I grew up in Fairfax Virginia with my grandparents until I was in the fourth grade.   It was a pretty normal and happy life.  I moved in with my mom and step dad when I was in the fifth grade and I had difficulty adjusting to my new environment, though my mother and step father were supportive.   My life was pretty normal.

When did you first begin abusing drugs?

I tried my first drug when I was fifteen when I smoked opium.  I was soon experimenting with other drugs, like hallucinogens.  I started because I was curious.  I wanted to know how these drugs would make me feel.  I saw other kids using drugs and they seemed to be doing OK.  It was socially acceptable.  I didn’t realize how unhealthy these drugs were or that my friends were actually hurting themselves.

I got addicted to opiates when I was 19.  I started with Oxycontin, but soon learned that heroin was cheaper so I started using it.  The first couple of times I used it, I snorted it.  It started losing its effect so I started to inject the heroin.  As soon as I injected it, I was hooked and my life started to crumble.

I quit going to school and was just hanging out with other people who were doing drugs.  My whole life was centered on getting drugs.  I lost grip and started doing stupid things.  I ended up getting arrested with heroin, opium, hash and cocaine and charged with intent to distribute.  I was in jail for 8 months, got out and immediately started using drugs again.

I kept working, but my salary was not enough to pay for all the drugs I was using.  I was stealing and pawning in addition to using all my money for drugs.  This went on for two years and I was miserable the whole time.   I wanted to quit, but I couldn’t.  I tried NA and court ordered rehab, but neither worked for me, so I kept using drugs.  I lost the trust of my family.

How did you arrive to Narconon?

My mom had a friend whose family member had graduated from the Narconon program and he was still doing well, after several years.  He was working at Narconon of Georgia and called me.  He  told me about Narconon and convinced me to come.  I thought it might work because of the bio-physical aspect of the program that he described.  I arrived here in March of 2010.

How did the Narconon program help?

“I lost my cravings for drugs on the Narconon Sauna and Exercise Program and I regained an appreciation for the simpler things in life.  The program raised my awareness of my physical being and now I really want to take care of myself.  I want others to do the same.  I know now that there is life after drugs.

The life skills taught me how to handle all aspects of life in a rational way, so I did not have to use drugs if I get into a tough situation.  I have the tools to tackle every problem.

What would you want to tell other people who are thinking of coming here?

This place has taught me that I am not a slave to my addiction.  Drug use is a choice.   You have control over your body and your choices.  Nothing in your environment or society will be able to tell you otherwise, once you do the Narconon program.

If you have tried other programs, but are still using drugs, don’t give up.  Come to Narconon and you won’t be disappointed.  Our success rate is real.  If someone as bad off as I was can do it, then anyone can.

Call me personally and I will help you get here.

DJ And Family

Darla, DJ’s mother, worried why she was getting frantic calls throughout the night from his friends, asking how he was.   After all, last time she checked, he was upstairs asleep in his bed.  What she didn’t know was that he had been shot in a drug deal gone bad and was lying in his bed, wounded.  The next morning she learned the truth about what had happened.   Somehow DJ was OK despite the fact that a bullet had gone clear through his shoulder, missing his skull by inches.  There was even evidence in the way of a bullet hole in her truck.  DJ was lucky this time, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before his luck would run out.  In fact, there were times she felt so hopeless about DJ’s drug addiction that she had selected which songs to be played at his funeral.

For years, it had been the same pattern.  DJ would disappear for long periods of time – periods when his mother didn’t even know if he was alive or dead.  Finally she got a tracking device placed on his phone so that even if he didn’t call, she could track if he was moving and where he was moving to.  She figured that if the tracking device was still working, he was still alive.

“I cried myself to sleep almost every night, and I prayed and prayed.    One time I located him via the GPS a block from our house.  I drove all around the neighborhood but couldn’t find him.  I pulled over to a church parking lot, crying and praying at the same time.  I called him and begged him to call me back.  When he finally answered he said he would meet me at our house.  What I didn’t know is that one of his connections lived a few blocks from the house and that is where he had been – getting drugs.

From time to time, he tried to clean himself up.   He would come home, stay a few days and get some sleep.  But he always left again, sometimes for months.”

But, after he got shot, even DJ knew that it was time to do something.   He had seen so many of his friends go to 30 day rehabs, only to return home and use drugs the very next day.  He had told his mother through the years, “Don’t waste your money.”

However, there was one person DJ knew who had stayed clean after drug treatment, his friend John.  All DJ knew is that his friend went to a drug rehab somewhere around Atlanta, stayed for four months,  came back home clean and never used drugs again.   DJ wanted to go to this place if they could find it.  DJ’s mother knew John and knew that he had had a severe drug problem.  “I thought that if this place could help John, as bad off as he had been, then it could certainly help my son.”

Darla searched through the internet to find this magical place.  But the only clue she had was that it was a four month program.  She thought she had found it, packed DJ in the car and headed for Atlanta.  But once they arrived at the rehab and DJ received his intake interview he told his mother “This is not the right place – I know it’s not and I’m not staying here.”   Determined to get the treatment that he wanted, DJ called John and put his mother on the phone.  When she asked John for the name of the treatment center that had helped him so much, he started crying.

“John started crying – he was so happy that DJ was going to get help.  He told me the name of the place.  It was Narconon . Amazingly, we were right down the road from it and we drove right there.

DJ was responsive from the beginning.  He learned how the sauna and life skills programs worked.  This made sense to him and he checked in.  He completed the program and has been clean ever since.”

That was three years ago and a lot has changed for DJ.

He has custody of 2 of his sons ages 5 and 3 and they live with him full time. His mother reports that he is a great single dad.  On top of being a single full time parent he runs a successful business.

Winning Car

After he completed the program, DJ finally completed a project that he had been working on for years, when he was on methamphetamine.

He built a car that won first prize in a huge car show.

This was a car that he worked and worked on while he was on methamphetamines, but could never complete.

His mother recalls the car lying in pieces. “While he was on meth DJ would tear his car up over and over.  When he left for rehab, the car was sitting in pieces.    Within the first year of being out of rehab he put the car together and won top prize at a huge car show.  In three years he has opened a body shop and he does the car shows for his hobby.”

Just recently Darla sent another person to the same treatment center.  She learned that the fiancé of one of her relatives was addicted to crack.  Though Darla did not know the girl or the family well, she knew what she had to do. “I knew I had to offer this help to this girl and I did.  It was as though God put this message in my heart and I couldn’t’ ignore it.  I felt I had a direct line to God and I was being told to help her.  After she graduated and I knew she is going to make it, I couldn’t have been happier.”

Darla has helped to save the lives of two individuals, but doesn’t want to take all the credit   “I want to give thanks for the remarkable change in DJ’s life and Kate’s life to God. I truly believe that through the power of prayer, God guided us to the wonderful people at Narconon who helped DJ professionally once he got there.  There really are angels on this earth and several of them work at Narconon.”

What would Darla say to other families facing the same tragic situation she was in three years ago? “If I can know that I have just helped even one family by telling you this story, I would be repaid.   I want them to know that there is hope – there really is.”