“Eventually it escalated into the use of methamphetamine. I thought it would give me energy to “workout”. This stuff ruined my life for quite a few years. I lost my woman and went to prison twice.

“I could write all day about it, but I have seen NOTHING good EVER come out of ANY drugs whatsoever. It ruins people’s lives of any who dabble in it.

“I KNOW that the methods of NARCONON are the best methods for an actual cure of drug addiction.”

Clintweeks2000

As a youth at the age of 13 I started using drugs; as time went on my drug use became more serious everyday. I am now a woman sitting in a rehabilitation center at the age of 30 trying to pull the pieces of my shattered life back together. Drugs have completely destroyed my life, my children’s lives and my relationships with close friends and my family’s lives.

I ask that you think about this and make the right choice before you pick up or touch any form of drug. Life is a precious gift and in order for you to live life to the fullest you need to be drug free. Things can and will get out of control really quick and before you know it, you will be much older, finding yourself asking where all the time has gone or worse dead.

I have come close to death myself and have lost a huge amount of friends to the drug lifestyle. I would never wish the pain I have been through on anyone in my life. The more pain you go through the more you want to use drugs to hide your pain. This is nothing but a lose-lose situation, nobody wins; not you, your parents or loved ones.

Please think before you chose drugs over life, before you chose drugs over family and before you chose drugs over whom you really are as a person. I ask that you please listen to your parents and the positive people in your life that are trying with every ounce of love to guide you in the right path.

Thank you for listening.

Your friend,
I.R.

No matter what addiction one has, if it is an addiction, one has to suffer. A very old saying says anything in excess is bad and that is how addiction becomes inevitable bad. Basically addiction is something in which an individual gets very much used to a particular thing or commodity. In addiction, the commodity one gets addicted to become a daily need of the person and it becomes hard for the person to survive or be normal without that particular commodity. This disruption in the normal activity of an individual is termed as addiction.

This addiction becomes more dangerous if the commodity one is addicted to is dangerous. One such commodity is drug. Drug addiction is said to be the worst addiction possible. One addicted to drugs is said to become more dead every time he or she consumes it. It gradually reduces the body and mind co-ordination and that is the reason it becomes really hard for one to recover from the addiction of drug. But still there are many organizations all over the world which are in the process helping out all those who really want to repent and revive from their drug addiction. However apart from those organizations, everyone amongst us needs to behave with the recovering drug addicts in a special way so as to help them in recovering from this curse.

A recovering drug addict may be weak and under immense pressure. Under such circumstances, any human requires strong motivations as well as encouragement. Thus, our behavior should clearly show them that we are trying to favor and appreciate their strong effort towards recovery. We all are aware that it is not easy to move oneself away from drugs dependency. It cannot be done instantaneously and requires ample amount of time as well as support. The process is gradual and we should uplift and boost the person’s confidence level to recover.

We should make  the recovering drug addicts realize at every moment that they are strong enough and can recover from the addiction.

Unfortunately at some point in this journey we call life, most of us will be affected by either drug or alcohol addiction at least once.   It doesn’t necessarily mean that we will become addicts (although the only people exempt from these problems are the ones who don’t indulge in the first place), but it could mean that someone we love is affected.  As you know, alcoholism and drug addiction doesn’t just affect the addict, but can touch everyone in that persons circle of friends and family in some way or another.

* Sometimes, we find that we live in one part of the country and the person who is struggling with addiction lives in another.

That makes getting help a little more difficult, especially if we aren’t familiar with the facilities in that particular area.    Often times, there are alcohol rehabilitation facilities within your area who are willing to work with other States in order to help the addict get the help they need.

An example would be if you lived in Delaware and someone you love has an alcohol problem and would like help, but she lives in Texas.   If you aren’t familiar with the facilities in Texas, you could contact a local alcohol rehabilitation facility and they could work together with the State of Texas in order to get the alcoholic the help that they need.

“Often times we tend to forget that not everyone lives in the same neighborhood, city or even State as their loved ones, which is why it’s important to know that even though you may not be in the same location as the person struggling with alcoholism, there is help available.“

* It’s important to know that you can still offer your love and support and help find them the inpatient facilities they need in order to begin the road to recovery.

As difficult as it may be, especially when you can’t be there physically to help in other ways, try to avoid sending money which could enable the alcoholic to further their addiction.  It won’t be easy, but it’s the only way you can ensure that you aren’t enabling their addiction.  Remember there is help available regardless of where you may reside, whether it be for you, or someone you love.

At the police station was a scared young girl sitting beside me, I guessed that she had just been arrested for the first time because her eyes were filled with tears. Looking at her reminded me of when I was arrested for the first time; it was Christmas Eve and I wasn’t even 21 years old at that point and I had been caught shoplifting. Basically, I was from a poor family and my mom and dad had been killed in an accident.

When I was in the tank, I met a woman who I thought was around 30 or 35 years old. I was wondering why she had been arrested. Slowly, she moved towards me and started talking. I was surprised when she told me that she was 25 years old. As time went on, we became much closer and started talking about her life and she told that she was a prostitute.

* I asked her how she could do it.

She told me that it was simple and said that she got some help from her little friend. She told me about heroin and how it made it easier for her have sex. She was also very passionate about sex because it was a way to make good money. She said that she made more than a 600% profit every day but it still wasn’t enough for her.

As my eyes got wide, she explained how heroin helped her have sex with customers. I mumbled something about wishing that I had the nerve and right then they called her name. She was being released. As she walked away, she turned and asked me if I was serious. I was desperate to get into that life, which seemed like a happy fantasy.

* An hour later, they called my name.

I was surprised that I was being released. When I got out, I saw the woman that I had been talking to an hour before—she had bailed me out. She took me to her hotel room and gave me some heroin. By the next morning, I had done my first trick.  Before long, I was so desperate for heroin that I would take a trick at any price to get money that I would spend just as fast as it had been earned, just to get that feeling that heroin gave me.

I turned and looked at the terrified girl next to me and I tried to convince her to do the same but she wasn’t convinced. I told her my story but after hearing it, she said she wasn’t interested and advised me to stop using. She was later bailed out and went away, but her advice haunted me and it was then that I wanted to get out.

If there is a heroin addict in your home, you need to take action now.  With heroin, there is no such thing as an occasional hit to get by, although that is exactly the excuse the addict will use. * What do you do when you find out your child or mate or other beloved family member or friend is a heroin addict and is in your home? Here are several suggestions, all of which can be greatly successful if followed.

Making a call to a reputable drug rehab center is the best thing for the heroin addict and the rest of the family

Suppose you are doing laundry one day and like always, you double check pockets.  A small bag pops out of your son’s jeans.  As your heart works to find some logical explanation, your mind already comprehends what you have found.  This explains the intensity in your son lately, the mood swings, the desire to stay in his room and not interact with the family, the reason his buddies haven’t been around and what that new friend you feel uneasy about has.

While your first instinct may be to confront him, the best thing to do is immediately call a drug rehab center.  Explain to the counselor on the help line what you have found and everything you have observed with your loved one.  The counselor will help you set up an Intervention and walk you through the steps to get help for your family.

* It is important to schedule this intervention as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, make sure that money and prescription medications are locked up.  Someone with a heroin addiction will feel the need to get something in his system in order to fight off the withdrawal effects.  Make sure the younger children in the home are supervised and do not go on excursions with the addict during the time before the intervention and residential treatment.  Take the keys to the car if it is a teenager and the car belongs to you.

* Having a heroin addict in the home can be stressful to everyone who lives there.

Many families have combined in second marriages and if one of the stepchildren has a problem, this can wreak havoc on the family unit and the parents’ relationship with each other and the children/stepchildren.  The thing to concentrate on in the immediate future is getting the addict help as quickly as possible.  Making a call to a reputable drug rehab center is the best thing for the heroin addict and the rest of the family.

* It is a call made out of love for all involved !

It leads to many serious problems not only for the addicts, but also their family members. The sooner it is diagnosed, better are the chances to get rid off this problem. Nowadays there are various drug addiction tests available, making it convenient for anyone to easily find out whether they are suffering from drug addiction.

* Basically, there are five kinds of drug addiction tests that are in use off late.

They involve testing the urine, blood, saliva, sweat and hair of the addicts. These laboratory tests are accurate and have the ability to reveal all kinds of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, alcohol, marijuana, opium, morphine, etc. More extensive and detailed tests could also detect other serious drugs like methadone, vicodin, Librium etc. There is also another type of test which is known as “self test”, where some questions are present and the person has to answer them sincerely. The score of the test tells whether the person is a drug addict or not and if he is a drug addict, then what is his level of addiction.

* Urine Test is an inexpensive drug addiction test, hence extensively used by most of the employers, legal enforcements and also the house hold people. There are also some home based urine test kits available for individuals to take the test on their own, but the results may not be accurate. Most of the urine tests have the ability to detect the drug usage within the past week or up to 30 days later, but not beyond that.
* Saliva Tests are also reasonably priced, but they are only able to detect the drug usage within few hours. Although there are no cut-off concentrations for the confirmation of the drug usage and nationally accepted standards, this test is also commonly used.
* Hair Tests are the next inexpensive tests and are best suitable to detect the usage of drugs for longer periods – where they beat the urine tests. The only disadvantage with these kinds of tests is that there is a possibility of it giving false result for the people who are present in a room where there was a marijuana smoke.
* Sweat Tests are uncommon and rarely used as there is no guarantee that they give accurate results as such tests heavily relies on the contamination of the skin surface.
* Blood Tests are the most expensive and accurate of all drug addiction tests.

In United States, it is a rule that middle and high schools should conduct such drug addiction tests randomly to detect and prevent the spread of drug addiction in students.  However, the more number of tests that are getting invented and used, the more number of ways the teens and students are discovering to escape from them.

Many youngsters are falling prey to this drug that slowly poisons. This illegal drug is also known as methamphetamine and it is a member of the amphetamine medicine family. When the drug is in its crystalline form, it is known as crystal meth. This addictive drug is also available in a coarse powdered form. It is formulated with a highly combustible combination of chemicals, which may include household cleaning products. When crystal meth is consumed in even small quantities, it can produce effects that linger as long as 10 to 20 hours depending on the dosage and the manner in which it is used.

* Effects of Using Crystal Meth

There are several effects that are linked with using methamphetamine. The use of this highly addictive drug has several risk factors associated with it that can extend beyond those mentioned here.

+ General instant effects:

• Improved concentration and alertness
• Exhilaration
• Nausea and diarrhea
• Reduced appetite
• Insomnia, jaw clenching and tremors
• Irritability, panic, agitation, violence, mystification, loquaciousness and compulsive interest in recurring tasks
• Contraction of arteries
• Improved blood pressure, heart beat, body temperature and blood sugar level
• Excessive sweating
• Increased libido

+ Effects linked with persistent use:

• Addiction to the drug
• Short-term weight loss
• Depression and anxiety
• Tolerance to the drug with more usage required to achieve the same effect
• Tooth decay and tooth loss known as “meth mouth”
• Psychosis due to prolonged drug use

+ Effects of an overdose:

• Brain damage
• Hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and headaches
• Muscle cramps and kidney failure
• Cardiac arrest, sudden stroke and high body temperature

* The Risks of Using Crystal Meth

There are several risks that are involved with the prolonged use of crystal meth. Some of the threats of using this highly addictive drug are:

• Insomnia and a disturbed mind after taking this drug
• Frequent use of methamphetamine may lead to addiction and dependency on the drug
• Regular use may lead to extreme weight loss, damage to the immune system and metabolic changes
• Persistent use may lead to dental problems and speed up the aging process
• Using unsterilized or used syringes may often lead to contracting HIV other STDs

“Crystal meth falls under the Class A addictive drug category and it is illegal to possess, produce and supply this drug or let anyone use this drug. Crystal meth is a highly addictive drug that may lead to serious health problems when it is used for a prolonged period. Methamphetamines that are prescribed by doctors for obesity or mental disorders are legal, but crystal meth is illegal.“

Is good to know that this kind of treatment really helps!

That means, over some period of time patients get addicted to those substances leaving the actual drugs to which they were addicted. However, not all such substances will give negative results. Treatments involving Subutox Detox is an example for that and in this article I will explain about such substances.

“The medical term used to refer Subutox is Buprenorphine and is one of the FDA approved medicated formulations for the treatment of drug addictions such as Opioids.“

This is the first medicated substance among other Opioid partial agonist medicated substances to receive such approval. The unique and effective properties of Buprenorphine are the reasons behind the success of Subutex Detox. These substances take place the human organs with strong power that are affected by the misused drugs and thus block the external opioids from entering. They make good use of the already present substances in reducing the cravings for the drugs and so significantly help in reducing the painful withdrawal symptoms.

* What are the properties that are making the Subutex detox work efficiently in helping the people to come out from the drug addiction?

As said above this is the Opioid partial agonist medicated substance. There are three kinds of drugs when classified how they react in the presence of Opioids. The first one are the Opioid Agonists, when used, activate the already present drugs on the Neurons. Repeated usage of these drugs makes the persons more dependent and less tolerable on them. Heroin and Methadone are part of Opioid Agonists. On the contrary there are Opioid Antagonists, which completely block such substances. Naltrexone and Naloxone fall under this category.

The properties of Buprenorphine make it fall under Opioid partial agonist medicated substances which also block the drugs but not as extremely as Opioid Antagonists do. However, increasing the dosage of Opioid partial agonist medicated pills such as Subutex never make the person get addicted to this. This is the reason behind the success of Subutex Detox.

Methadone is a prescribed medication which is an Opioid, generally used to treat the heroin and other dangerous illegal street drugs. Main intention of this medicine is to provide relief from severe pains and was initially manufactured and used by the German Pharmacies during the Second World War. This is still used as pain reliever but occasionally. The effect of this substance can last for 24 hours and so the usage of this pill is limited for only once in a day. However, many people without knowing the actual effects of excessive dosage tend to take more, leading themselves to a stage of Methadone Addiction.

* In many cases, death can occur in the drug addiction recovery treatments in which Methadone is involved.

The side effects of Methadone alone resemble those of the entire group of Opioid substances so you can imagine how vulnerable this substance is. Methadone Addiction has serious adverse effects on one’s health and it can result in dangerous diseases such as concomitant diseases, pneumonia, hepatitis, hypotension etc.

“Other problems include respiratory depressions, constipation, nausea, vomiting, sedation etc. Human Body builds up certain tolerance level beyond which it can not react and as a result it requires more dosage than normal.“

Methadone Addiction affects the entire body system and almost all organs. For example nose, eyes, ears and throat are affected and so they suffer from pale blue skin, bluish fingertips and nails. Similarly it affects the heart showing out the problems such as low blood pressure and low pulse rate. Nervous system is also touched resulting in the drowsiness disoriented and sometimes can also lead to coma state. Methadone Addiction also causes the physical and psychological dependence.