Friday, October 19, 2018

Beautiful Boy: An Interview with Nic Sheff | The Fix

Beautiful Boy: An Interview with Nic Sheff | The Fix: 'A really cool expression of the family bond in the film is how the love survives everything that the disease can throw at it. Despite so much trauma, at the very end, you see that that core love never goes away.'

How Do You Define "Recovery"? | The Fix

How Do You Define "Recovery"? | The Fix: Our time would be better spent trying to help people recover in whatever way is most effective for them rather than pushing and shaming everyone into one particular recovery pathway.

National Prison Strikers Demand More Drug and Mental Health Treatment | The Fix

National Prison Strikers Demand More Drug and Mental Health Treatment | The Fix: Effective drug and mental health therapy requires sincerity and trust. But prison is not a trustworthy environment for inmates. For example, all 'therapeutic' prison spaces are recorded.

She Recovers Brings High End Feminist Recovery to Los Angeles | The Fix

She Recovers Brings High End Feminist Recovery to Los Angeles | The Fix: I could say a hundred things about every incredible woman I encountered over the weekend and it would not hold a candle to the inspiration I felt. The only catch? The price of admission.

Using Love as a Drug | The Fix

Using Love as a Drug | The Fix: I used drugs and alcohol to control my feelings and gave up on relationships early on since people are harder to control than substances. As I felt the other person pull away, my urge to control increased.

News

Top Drug & Alcohol News of the Week

FDA Investigates Whether E-Cigarette Companies are Illegally Marketing Products

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether e-cigarette companies are marketing their products illegally, according to The Washington Post. Read More

Rural Americans Say Drug Addiction is Most Urgent Health Problem

Rural Americans say drug or opioid addiction is the most urgent health problem, according to a new poll. They are as concerned about opioid addiction in their communities as they are about local jobs and the economy. Read More

Sales of Recreational Marijuana Begin in Canada

Sales of recreational marijuana began this week in Canada, NPR reports. Anyone over the age of 18 is allowed to possess less than 30 grams (just over an ounce) of the drug. Read More

Help Us Continue to Empower Families:

Donate Now

Tell a Friend

Five Doctors Charged With Writing 8.5 Million Unnecessary Opioid Prescriptions

Five doctors in New York have been indicted by federal authorities for writing more than 8.5 million allegedly unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions, NBC News reports. Read More

Deadly Heart Infection Jumped 10-Fold in People Injecting Drugs in North Carolina

Cases of a potentially fatal heart infection have increased 10-fold among people injecting drugs in North Carolina, HealthDay reports. Read More

Other Headlines of Interest

Herbert D. Kleber, Pioneer in Addiction Treatment, Dies at 84 (The New York Times)

With Gratitude to Our Long-Time Friend, Dr. Herb Kleber (Partnership for Drug-Free Kids)

A Mother’s Pain, a Daughter’s Addiction (The New York Times)

VIDEO: Addiction (NOVA on PBS)

Medical Marijuana for Chronic Pain (The New England Journal of Medicine)

What Happens To Immigrants Who Face Addiction (Forbes)

Opinion: We cannot let e-cigarettes become an on-ramp for teenage addiction (The Washington Post)

How to take a break from alcohol so you'll actually stick with it (NBC News)

Heineken to introduce nonalcoholic beer nationwide as health-conscious consumers ditch beer (CNBC)

Opinion: We can't nibble around the edges of the overdose crisis (The Baltimore Sun)

Here’s what happened when I quit drinking a year ago (The Washington Post)

ABC's 'The Conners' Spotlights Drug Addiction Issues With Death Of Roseanne Barr's Character (Forbes)

Obituary for woman with opioid addiction inspires donations (Associated Press)

Mom of 3: I got addicted to opioids after my caregiver was paid to prescribe them (NBC News)

Opinion: ‘Take Charge’ of your recovery from addiction (Gallipolis Daily Tribune)

How Ohio voters could upend the state’s war on drugs this November (Vox)

State, county launch program to hire workers recovering from addiction (Dayton Daily News)

New Discussion Guide for “Beautiful Boy” (Partnership for Drug-Free Kids)

Parent Toll-Free Helpline: 1-855-DRUGFREE
drugfree.org

"I can remember when I was a young boy I woke up happy. I was free and full of life and dreams. The world was at my feet. I played baseball, basketball and football with my friends and I loved them all. Being part of something bigger made me happy on the inside.
“My parents would take my sister and me on vacation every year for a couple weeks and that made us feel loved. I went from a happy and carefree boy who had amazing dreams of what life could be, to a teenager who sat in the back of the classroom with the troublemakers. By 8th grade, I had started smoking tobacco and pot. It was at that point in my life when I started to skip school.
“Going into high school, I started to steal beer and cigarettes from my parents. My sister, however, was a straight A or B student, involved in school activities and didn’t get into trouble. I was the one always telling lies and floating my way through school. I was dangerous by the time I was 16, a completely different person than that hopeful boy. I was in and out of detention centers and finally, my father had enough of me and my lies. A court date of mine came, I was handcuffed and in shackles. When my turn came to speak to the judge my father stood up and said “My son is out of control, he is stealing and using drugs. Can you please help me?” The judge responded by saying “Yes, I can.”
“I was then sent to a place until I was 18 years old, a youth center for minors. The only thing I learned at this boot camp was new ways to manipulate and lie. When my 18th birthday came, my family came to pick me up.
“I immediately went back to my old ways, getting high, stealing and then back to jail. I then progressed to shooting up drugs.
“At that point, all the signs of that happy child were gone and only a monster remained. I felt a constant need to feed that monster. Next came felony charges for stealing. My parents got a lawyer and spent thousands for this was a serious charge. I got probation and still used drugs.
“I didn’t pay back my parents and they had to clean up my messes over and over. I had no concept of responsibility.
“In May 2012, my father died just 6 days after my birthday. On that birthday, I didn’t eat or spend time with my father. I just sat there. In fact, the last Christmas I had with him, I got a card that had no cash in it. I yelled at my father and took the rest of un-opened gifts and threw them outside. The last thing I said to my father was that I hoped he’d die. I went and got high and came back and apologized.

“My sister was also diagnosed with cancer. Needless to say, I wasn’t there for my family, I was getting high. This is something I regret. I held on to that for a long time. My mother also filed a protection order against me. I violated that while high and went back to jail.
“I then wound up homeless, on meth and living out of my truck. My mother still hadn’t given up on me and she found Narconon in 2017. I knew deep inside my heart I needed help, I wasn’t happy. My mother worked it out, so I had another chance.
“I had the desire to be that happy person who had dreams and enjoyed life. I was honest and wholeheartedly participated in the program. It didn’t happen overnight. It was a long road and took months.
“The staff was always right by my side if I needed anything. I had their support. I now had a home. I had incredible wins while doing the program. On the first step of program, sauna, I really started getting honest.
I wrote down and told the staff what was really going on with me.
“I didn’t need drugs to sleep or function anymore; my body was released from that cycle. I then moved on to objectives. This was like going from high school baseball to the major leagues. I learned how to control my thoughts and emotions and get in present time and not be in the past. I broke down a few times but came out of it in an amazing way. I felt emotions I hadn’t felt in years due to drug use.
“After that, I moved to the Life Skills part of the program. This helped me overcome situations in my past that I still held on too but didn’t confront. I became more open and honest and handled my past. I felt release. I took responsibility for all the wrong I had created and owned up to them. This is not an easy step but it’s personal and helps you see the damage you created, and then handle it. I did it honestly despite the danger of being judged by the people I hurt.
“I have never felt better about myself. I owned up to my lies and wrongdoings. I am no longer a manipulator playing the victim thinking the world owes me everything. I no longer need to hurt people to make myself feel better for being a drug addict. I realized I used drugs to run from my problems and hide from my friends and family.
“The Narconon program and staff in Louisiana helped me in so many ways. The staff never gave up on me. Even when I tried to run from my problems, they loved me more and continued to help me get to the center of what I was trying to run away from. They helped me find out why I was running and exactly what it was that got me to using drugs in the first place.
“From everything and everyone in my life, I am proud to say Narconon Louisiana and the staff saved my life. This is my story and I am going to be very successful in life because of this program.”
M. K.

Narconon New Life Retreat offers beautiful and comfortable facilities matched with a highly successful non 12 step program which results in higher success rate

Finding The Music

The journey back from drug addiction is different for each of us. No matter where we come from or how our addiction affected us we can all learn from each other.

Stepping Stones to Recovery

Life before Narconon was pretty much a big game to me, just not a survival one. Life got to the point that I started to get amused by pain and I didn’t even care about anything anymore

Got My Life Back

How does someone wind up addicted to drugs? The truth is each person’s descent into drug addiction is different. This amazing story shows us a different perspective on how a person becomes addicted to drugs.