Thursday, March 1, 2012

INTERVENTION SERVICES


Intervention Services

You have the power to help and to heal your loved one with just one call.


When your loved one is suffering from an addiction, it’s hard to know who to turn to for help and support. But you and other family members and friends can make a difference in your loved one’s life and help them recover by arranging for intervention services.


An intervention set up through intervention services, performed properly by trained and proficient experts, will help your loved one recognize and admit that they have a problem. When an individual is suffering from an addiction, whether to a substance, a bad habit, or unhealthy activities, it rules their life, influencing all decisions they make, without allowing them to clearly see the effects of their actions. A professional intervention is a catalyst for change, showing the person suffering from addiction that they have a problem, one that they cannot tackle on their own, and that they need professional help, and finally providing them with the support they need to take the next step in their road to recovery.


Prior to the professional intervention, intervention services will have the professional interventionist instruct any family or friends on what to say and what to do, in order to ensure a successful intervention for your loved one. The ultimate goal of any intervention is to guide your loved one to seek to professional rehabilitation treatment. Although you may want to keep your loved one close to home during their rehabilitation treatment (and sometimes there is no other choice) studies have shown the best chance for a lasting recovery i when your loved goes out side of their local environment and familiar surroundings and temptations and regular routine and daily influences.


Your loved one is suffering, and you no longer need to stand by, helplessly watching them destroy their lives and potentially the lives of those around them who are also the ones who love them most.
Take the first crucial step right now by contacting us for our intervention services so we can schedule an intervention for your loved one today!


Call the National Intervention for Drugs and Alcohol right now Toll-Free 24/7 at (800) 567-5986 to start the process of getting your loved one back and finally freeing them from the chains of their addiction before it's too late!
Toll-Free 24/7 at (800) 567-5986

Keeping Teens Safe from Incredibly Destructive and Addictive Crystal Meth



Incredibly addictive, and also one of the most destructive substances a person can put into their body, even recreational users of crystal meth are at great risk for dependency and personal tragedy. The long term health effects of crystal meth abuse are an extremely accelerated aging of the body and mind, a ruined appearance, and a severe and lasting period of psychological depression and despair. Of all the drugs out there, crystal meth is arguably the most dangerous and destructive, and it's also increasingly used by American teens today.


A recent commissioned study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) puts the number of teens experimenting with the drug at about 3%, which is significantly higher than previous studies had indicated. Because the drug is so addictive and so incredibly destructive, the key to successful treatment and abstinence is early intervention; and parents need to be aware of the dangers presented by meth use, and on the lookout for characteristic signs of abuse.


Meth use and abuse cannot be tolerated, and parents who have any suspicions of use need to get immediate professional help and intervention.
Some Signs of Meth Use


The following signs do not necessarily indicate meth use, but they may be considered strong evidence of experimentation or abuse. Parents cannot ignore warning signs of abuse, and teens need immediate intervention should they be experimenting with crystal meth.
Parents should be concerned if they observe:
Very unusual sleeping patterns. Kids using meth may stay awake for days straight and then sleep for days on end…this is not normal adolescent behavior. Teens that seem incredibly alert and energized even after having been up all night may well be using meth.
Nervous tics or behaviors. Scratching at the skin or twitching are warning signs of meth usage.
Loss of appetite and extreme weight loss. Meth users often avoid food, and as a result become emaciated.
Burns on the lips or fingers. Kids using meth often smoke it out of a pipe than get very hot.
Lying and withdrawal. If your teen is suddenly always lying or secretive about behaviors and no longer wants to spend any time with family or old friends, this can be as a result of meth usage.
Sudden carelessness about appearance. Teens always care about how they look, even if their choices of dress seem odd to you. If your teen is no longer concerned about personal hygiene or dress, they may be experimenting with meth.
Aggressive or violent behaviors. Meth can induce uncharacteristic behaviors of aggression or violence, even in previously peaceful kids. This is also not a normal behavior of adolescence.
Missing valuables or money from the home. Although meth is priced at a level conducive to experimentation and recreational use, heavy meth use can get very expensive, especially as a teen develops a tolerance or dependency. Missing valuables may be sold to fund an increasing need for drugs.
The Risks of Crystal Meth for Teens


Few drugs can derail a promising future faster than crystal meth. Heavy crystal meth use destroys the appearance and the teeth, and a few years of meth use can add decades to a person's face. The lasting psychological despair and depression induced by a meth addiction can endure for years even after meth use has stopped, and some people can never recover completely from their meth addiction.


Meth is extremely addictive, even occasional recreational users are at great risk for dependency and addiction.


Meth use damages the organs and the heart, and greatly increases the risk for heart attack and stroke. Additionally, cognitive functions, including memory are extremely distorted by meth use, and a few years of meth use can induce severe cognitive and memory impairments.


Meth use also puts addicts at a greatly increased risk for HIV and other STDs, for involvement in the criminal justice system, and for exposure to violent assaults.


Meth destroys the body, the mind and the soul; and does it faster than any other drug of abuse.
Intervention and Treatment


The earlier intervention and treatment ensues, the better the eventual probability of success and sobriety. Because of the dangers, parents who suspect meth use or abuse cannot wait before acting, and need to get their teen into treatment as soon as possible.


Teens do best in treatment specific to teens, and with age appropriate therapy and true peer support groups. Teenage meth treatment needs to be intensive and long lasting, and needs to occur on an inpatient basis, away from access to meth.


Teens do not need to consent to treatment or even to a need for treatment for it to be effective, and many reluctant participants in therapy come to see the value of drug treatment only after achieving sobriety and through intensive therapeutic participation.


The single greatest predictor for success in teen drug treatment is extensive family support and involvement, and parents and siblings need to participate fully in all offered family counseling and educational seminars.


Meth is very scary, very destructive and even a short period of abuse can have health repercussions for life. Meth addiction can also be beaten, and people are overcoming meth addictions everyday. There is always hope for a better future, and parents need to make sure they stay involved, stay alert, and get their kids any needed treatment at the earliest possible opportunity.



Read more: Keeping Teens Safe from Incredibly Destructive and Addictive Crystal Meth

For Parents: The Dangers Of Prescription Medications

by ChooseHelp

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© ThomasThomas


A recent survey by The Partnership For a Drug Free America, has found that not only are parents talking to their kids less than before (Currently 49% of parents engage their kids in discussions about the dangers of drugs which is down 6% from a year ago) they also seem uneducated as to the true dangers lurking for their children.


Only 36% of parents had spoken to their children about the dangers of pharmaceutical medications, and a mere 33% had talked about the risks of abusing over the counter medications such as DMX containing cough syrup. The study reported that there was a common misconception among parents that prescription or over the counter medications were safer than illicit or street drugs.


Another recently released study indicates that one in five high school seniors in America have abused prescription medications to get high.


The fact is that after alcohol abuse, the most commonly abused drugs in America are prescription opiate type pain pills, and a whopping 6 million or more Americans are currently abusing and dependent on these serious drugs.


While an opiate from a laboratory is at least free from contaminants, any opiate once inside the body is largely indistinguishable from any other opiate, and hence the difference between abusing vicodin from the medicine cabinet and snorting a line of heroin is slim.


Today's prescription medications are incredibly addictive, available and destructive; and savvy kids know just how easy it is to source their next high. When parents are so woefully uniformed as to the true dangers of abuse, it's hard to be optimistic about a reduction in the numbers suffering addictions to pharmaceutical opiates any time soon.


That more than half of all parents never speak with their children about the dangers of drugs is in my opinion shocking and irresponsible, but I'm not sure who is really to blame for the misperception of the real risk surrounding easily available pharmaceutical medications. When we are bombarded with advertisements that seem to indicate the safety and efficacy of drugs of all shapes and sizes, maybe it's not surprising that parents, and their kids, think that these drugs are a lot safer than they really are.


Maybe pharmaceutical companies marketing these drugs owe some responsibility for the fates of the many millions of Americans suffering with addictions to these same drugs, and maybe a small portion of the profits made off of the suffering of millions needs should be mandated back to advertising revealing the true dangers of the misuse of these pills.


Drug makers and doctors claim that these medications are safe when taken as directed, and that only through the misuse of these pills is addiction probable. Essentially, "we are not responsible for people trying to get high off of our legitimate drugs". They have a point in some ways, and we do need to maintain some standards of personal accountability; but when companies promote their products in such a way as to cause the massive mis perception of their dangers, can they not be on some level faulted when patients fail to follow the small print directions?


Parents…talk to your kids about the dangers of both over the counter and prescription medications; they are arguably the greatest danger to abuse in our high schools today.


Government…take action to better the current desperate situation of dependency, and hold the companies raking in record profits off of these drugs (6 million addicts makes for a good return!) somewhat accountable, and require a better presentation of the real risks involved with pharmaceuticals as addictive as heroin.



Read more: For Parents: The Dangers Of Prescription Medications

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

12 STEPPING TO RECOVERY DAILY THOUGHT!!

STEP 1
     Getting to step one can and will take many years of pain sorrow and hardship.  Taking a look at one self in the mirror of life and reviewing how you look at you can and be painful.  Thirty two years I spent living life the way I wanted and when anyone tried to tell me I was wrong it was look out.  Pride is one of the biggest and most blinding hurdles we will have to get over getting to step one.  We live life one way for so long it becomes who we are.  Our hearts become hardened because of hurts, people letting us down, parents not being there, etc.  We have to come to a point in our life where we are not going to let circumstances of life determine who we are.  Step one, once reached will bring humility and that will lead to teach ability and finally responsibility.

Teens Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana






By Join Together Staff | February 23, 2012 | 6 Comments | Filed in Drugs &Youth





According to a recent study, nearly one in five (19 percent) of teens say they have gotten behind the wheel after smoking marijuana.


As reported in USA Today, the national study of nearly 2,300 11th- and 12th-graders was commissioned by Liberty Mutual Insurance andStudents Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). It showed that a growing percentage of teens do not see marijuana use as a distraction while driving, with 70 percent of teens saying it is “very” or “extremely” distracting, down from 78 percent in 2009.


Stephen Wallace, senior advisor for Policy, Research and Education at SADD, said the findings reflect a “dangerous trend toward the acceptance of marijuana and other substances compared to our study of teens conducted just two years ago…both in terms of the increased use of marijuana and from the perspective that many think this is not a danger.”


Other studies, like the University of Michigan’s “Monitoring the Future” of 47,000 eighth-, 10th and 12th-graders, reflect this trend. That study revealed marijuana use rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year, with daily use at a 30-year peak level among high school seniors.


Of those teens who have driven after smoking pot, 36 percent say it presents no distraction when operating a vehicle. Nineteen percent say alcohol is no distraction, and 13 percent of teens report driving under the influence of alcohol.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Suspicious Death of a Toddler, Meth Lab Found in the Home


Suspicious Death of a Toddler, Meth Lab Found in the Home


A 17-month-old boy was found unresponsive in Akron on Sunday. When police arrived on the scene, the toddler was dead in his crib. They found a working meth lab in the basement. The toddlers mother, along with 3 others, were arrested. Other children also lived in the home. Neighbors were not surprised they had a meth lab, and one neighbor describes them as “shifty.” The 4 people face multiple charges involving methamphetamine, as well as child endangering charges.


Read the full story here.


Image courtesy of Ohio.com.

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