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A new study is making the rounds of professionals in recovery centers about how men behave when they reach the codependent stage of a relationship. It describes the family therapy that men should receive when their partners are in rehab treatment. Authors Dan Griffin and Rick Dauer have published “Rethinking Men and Codependency” in the online Addiction Professional journal, and they express some surprising viewpoints about male codependency and addiction.

Some Codependency Is Natural

The first posit is that codependency makes up a natural part of any relationship—that all relationships comprise independent, interdependent, and codependent interactions. However, based on the theory that men lack skills in relationship maintenance, their codependency often manifests in ugly and undesirable ways.

The authors assert that we all benefit from some level of codependency in our relationships. If codependency means that we take away a good feeling from the fact of the relationship, there is no harm in some level of codependency. The negativity of codependency comes when relationships are defined by one partner’s self-worth based upon the behavior of the other partner.

In terms of addiction, this means that the male codependent feels validated when he responds to save the addict from herself. Since addiction can be such an all-consuming force in the life of the addict—and the people around her—it’s not long before her partner gets sucked into an ever-widening spiral of codependency that obliterates the balancing forces of independence and interdependence.

The Male Behavioral Model

The next posit of the authors surrounds the behaviors that boys are taught as they grow into men: Don’t cry. Be tough. Never give way. Don’t ask for help.

Men generally do not work to sustain relationships in the same way as women.  They are not good at interpersonal skills like communication, conflict resolution, setting healthy boundaries, identifying personal needs, self-care, emotional expression, intimacy, or a willingness to ask for help.  

Codependence can generate feelings of being powerless, vulnerable, fearful, and insecure. But men express those feelings with arrogance or detachment. They are good at hollering and raging around the house. They are manipulative and controlling or even paternalistic.

When Codependency Takes Over

If you are the male half of a relationship in which your partner is using alcohol or drugs, your codependent behaviors will soon become the dominant part of your relationship. By their very nature, you are most likely to express your feelings by avoiding intimacy or cheating outside of your relationship. Your actions toward your addicted partner will involve verbal abuse and threats. You will watch her carefully and try to control everything she does. Your fear of abandonment—nobody wants a relationship to end simply because of addiction—could result in a lasting distrust in your own instincts and a cynicism toward others.

Family Counseling for the Male Codependent

The authors of this study say that a healthy relationship is one that can adapt to the needs of the partner. If your partner is in a recovery center, you should be willing to adjust your needs and schedule so that she can receive the treatment she requires. However, you are not responsible for her recovery—that’s up to her.

The professionals at the recovery center can work with you in family sessions to achieve a better level of interdependence in the relationship and less codependence.  You can develop improved skills for communicating with your loved one. You can learn fair ways to resolve conflicts and how to set boundaries for acceptable behaviors. You will need to recognize your own personal needs and allot some time for your own self growth. That’s your job: Participating in family counseling is up to you. When loved ones participate in the Family Program they gain understanding of how addiction has impacted their lives and can begin their own recovery in a sense while supporting their loved one while in treatment.  For more information on the Family Program at Vista Taos Renewal Center contact them at 1.800.245.8267.

Residents of Colorado can expect a new kind of tourist spending money to fill up their state coffers: They are about to receive visits from all kinds of people who want to smoke dope. The legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado puts a whole new spin on the words “Rocky Mountain High.”

In Colorado, the new law allows each resident of the state to cultivate six plants, only three of which can be mature. If this law goes unchallenged by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, a husband and wife team recreationally using marijuana could own a total of 12 plants.

In addition to the growing plants, each person can possess up to an ounce of harvested marijuana and can give—as a gift—up to an ounce of marijuana to another person. Visitors to the state are also permitted to possess small quantities of marijuana for personal use.

That brings a new kind of carpetbagger to Colorado: Where some states have casinos and others offer internet betting cafes, organized and well financed businessmen are looking to cash in big time on tourists coming for recreational marijuana in Colorado. You can bet that the people who bankroll these recreational operations will keep a close rein on their interests.

Almost 55 percent of voters approved the measure in November. However, the highest concentrations of yes-votes came from tourist centers such as Aspen, Vail, and Telluride. Residents of urban areas such as Denver were less enthusiastic.

An excise tax of 15 percent will be charged on the wholesale cost of nonmedical marijuana, and establishments that want to process it or sell it must pay an application fee of up to $5,000. Facilities that are already approved for the manufacture or production of medical marijuana will not have to pay more than $500 for the license. The new amendment requires that the first $40 million raised shall be allocated to the Public School Capital Construction Assistance Fund.  There is also the promise of less money spent on prosecuting adults who possess small quantities of the drug.

The new law regulates the concentration of THC to be no more than 0.3 percent of the cannabis product. Individuals who grow it must do so behind locked doors and not in public view. Licenses, required for cultivation facilities as well as production plants, testing facilities, and retail establishments, will not be issued until October 2013.

That gives plenty of time for opponents of the amendment as well as federal officials to debate the merits of this new state law. About 20 million people smoke marijuana in a given year, and according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 9 percent of them will go on to become addicted. NIDA states that chronic users exhibit poor memory retention and substandard learning aptitudes that can last for many weeks.

Clinicians who treat addicts express additional concerns about their patients in substance abuse treatment who have used marijuana regularly over extended periods. Typically they suffer from panic attacks or anxiety attacks, and they lack motivation to do positive things with their lives. Now they will be told this drug is legal.

If you have concerns about a friend or family member who is already using marijuana—even as Coloradoans wait to see how the federal government will respond to this law—contact a substance abuse treatment center. Recreational marijuana in Colorado or in Washington, where it has also been approved, instigates serious repercussions that will need to be addressed.

Reaching your goal of recovery involves a lot more than just stopping the use of alcohol or drugs. It means learning once again just who you are and what you stand for in this world. There’s no better place to work toward that goal than in a rehab center in New Mexico, a place where recovery can happen.

New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment. It is a place filled with the lore of the native wise ones gone before us, a sanctuary for deep exploring rituals that teach us who we are. Embedded into the culture of this area among the people who know how to make a difference is a sense of Earth stewardship. The Earth matters. The animals are important to us. We are here to help one another as well as ourselves.

You cannot attain the next level of recovery if you do not believe in yourself. As you work toward a natural, holistic healing of your body and soul, you will begin to remember the things about yourself that were true a long time ago, things you haven’t thought about in ages: You were good at writing. You loved to draw. You knew how to set words down as poetry.

No matter what your skills were, the things that made you unique, you will rediscover them as you move closer and closer to your goal.  You never really lost those skills; you just buried them beneath the layers of addiction. As you move further away from addiction and dependency, you will slowly reawaken and remember the person you actually are deep inside. 

Recovery begins when you come to New Mexico and experience an infusion of hope. It flows into your body as you approach the city of Taos. There is truly no sight on Earth as stunning as driving up the Rio Grande Canyon, and, at the top, coming upon the gorge bridge. You experience a spiritual chiaroscuro of your somber past limned—enlightened—by the muted, majestic reds and browns of the earth and mountains before you. The blue skies embrace the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the distance.  

When you come to a rehabilitation center in New Mexico, you are not far from the Taos Pueblo, home of the Tiwa Native Americans for over a thousand years. They are a people steeped in spirituality, and they believe the single most important event in their history has been the recent restoration of Blue Lake to their lands. Their legends hold that the Tiwa people originally came from the lake itself.

Characteristic of the Tiwa is their feeling of community, the feeling that they are “all in one nest,” as they say. Each adult in the community has a responsibility to provide service for others from time to time, to ensure that no single person’s desires can ever eclipse the good of the community. 

The beauty of the land, the spirituality of the Tiwa, and the power of the mountains will imbue in you a sense of belonging to a therapeutic community as you enter into recovery. Treatment is holistic, and recovery becomes natural. You can meditate and you can lift your face into the sun. Adjunct therapies including equine therapy restore you emotionally and acupuncture, if you choose it, can make a physical difference. You can relearn who you once were in a rehabilitation center.  New Mexico is a place where you can begin to heal. For more information contact Vista Taos at 1.800.245.8267.

Whether you’re seeking help from a drug abuse treatment center or you’re the family member of someone who is using, it will help you to understand the connection between the addict and her drug.  There is a relationship between the addict and her drug of choice that is more important to her than any of the relationships she has with the people in her life.

Think about the obstacles she overcomes to maintain her use:  She’s fighting with people, struggling to sustain some semblance of a daily life, and possibly even backed into a legal corner. Despite those negatives, she really enjoys the way that substance makes her feel. It’s a relationship that she never wants to end.

She puts more work into that relationship than with any of her real-life relationships.  Consider the qualities that go into a relationship: You think about commitment, dedication, faithfulness, honesty, and communication. But those qualities demonstrate themselves in a kind of twisted way when it comes to drug addiction.

She lies to the people in her life because she is committed to maintaining her addiction. She is dedicated to maintaining a façade that will protect her ability to use.  No matter what opportunities are presented to her, she remains faithful to her addiction.

Just how does that relationship become such a reality for the addict? As she descends into an ever-deepening abyss of addiction, she rationalizes her drug use by telling herself that she is different from other people and she can handle the drugs. That means that people are wrong about drugs being bad.

She has to believe that in order to maintain a positive self-image. The alternative is accepting that drugs generate negative behaviors, and she will have to despise herself for her use.  She must then despise the people who love her because, since she’s not worthy of love, the people who love her must be stupid. All of this unhealthy reasoning is exacerbated by her use.

Loved ones ask, “Why are you doing this to us?” Initially the addict promises over and over again to stop using. But she doesn’t stop. The satisfaction she gets from her high becomes the primary motivation in her life. Nobody and nothing matter as much as the substance of choice.

How does she shut down the people who are interfering with her drug of choice, the real love in her life?  You’ve heard that the best defense is a good offense: So the addict responds by lashing out at her family members.

She’ll begin with something like “I’m not hurting anybody but myself.” But she will spiral downward to horrible things like, “I don’t want you to interfere in my business” and “I hate you—I will never forgive you—leave me alone” and even “Why don’t you die.” She will say and do anything to get family members to back off.

If you are dealing with an addict and you feel that you are not as important to her as her addiction, you are correct. That’s why recovery requires involvement of the entire family. The addict is still fighting you when she says “I got myself into this—you can’t help me get out of it.” Recovery is not something she can do alone. A drug abuse treatment center can bring her to communicate with honesty. Only when she accepts the truth that her addiction affects her entire family, and only when she begins to work with her loved ones instead of against them, will she truly be able to achieve recovery.

One of the most recent fads in drug abuse is the ingestion of dextromethorphan—a common ingredient in cough and cold medications. So, just what is the biggest risk of DXM? The very fact that it’s a legal substance, contained in over-the-counter cough-and-cold medications, renders it very dangerous. When you ingest mass quantities of it, your brain forgets to tell your lungs to breathe. And then you die.

It’s Not New

Dextromethorphan crossed the radar of the drug-using public in the 1950s, and it didn’t take long for people to find out it could get you high. Once codeine was banned from over-the-counter cough syrups, drug manufacturers settled on dextromethorphan as a favorite new active ingredient. By the 1970s people began sharing exciting stories about the great highs they got from cough syrups like Robitussin and similar brands.

Nobody wants to single out Robitussin as the sole culprit, because other brand names (Delsym, for one) include DXM as well. Abusers also go for generics because they are more affordable. The point is that the Robitussin brand name became assimilated into users’ vocabulary—to druggies, “robotripping” means you’re up for a good time.

DXM dropped off the popularity scale in the 1990s, overshadowed by other ways to get high.  Lately it has re-emerged as a favorite drug of choice because it’s easy to access, both legal and cheap.  

Myths and Misconceptions About DXM

• First and foremost, people think they can take a safe trip as long as they look for cold pills that are mostly DXM. They think that DXM by itself is not harmful.  

• They have no idea how to calculate an effective dose for their high. The effect of DXM depends on body weight. That means the dose that puts a 150-pound person on a pretty neat high can be deadly for his 120-pound friend.

• People also believe that since DXM comes in commonly available over-the-counter medications it cannot possibly harm them. After all, the government wouldn’t put anything on the market that could kill them, right?

One Dose Leads to Another

Once someone goes down the road to dextromethorphan abuse, he may begin to explore ways to maximize his high. That’s when a user takes the cough syrup and cooks it down to extract pure DXM. The process involves the use of hazardous chemicals like naphtha, a flammable solvent used by wood workers.

If it weren’t so dangerous, it would be almost amusing to hear DXM abusers caution one another against ingesting anything except pure DXM. They simply don’t worry about blowing up their kitchen trying to extract it.

People tire of drinking so much cough syrup just to get high, so they often look for cold pills. Taking somewhere between 10 and 20 cold pills gives them a feeling of being drunk. When they take higher doses, 30 or more, they experience actual hallucinations. Taking more than that will put them face down on a sidewalk—or face up in a casket.

The Dangers of “Other” Ingredients

Most DXM products come with added common ingredients that are harmful when taken in excess. There is acetaminophen (think Tylenol), chlorpheniramine (an antihistamine), and guafenesin (an expectorant). The repeated ingestion of large amounts of Tylenol damages the liver permanently. Chlorpheniramine induces rapid heartbeat, and it also has been associated with seizures and coma. Guafenesin causes vomiting.

If you are using DXM or you know someone who needs treatment for dextromethorphan abuse, side effects include muscle spasms, panic attacks, delirium, loss of motor coordination, and, of course, that fatal suppression of the respiratory system. Don’t stop to take a breath—get help now.

Money doesn’t mean you can keep your children safe and sober. Just ask Michael Douglas, whose son Cameron Douglas, age 34, is back in court appealing an addition to his 5-year jail sentence. The actor’s son was sentenced in January 2010 when he pled guilty to narcotics distribution charges. Now a judge wants to add almost 5 more years to the sentence because he obtained drugs while in jail, and he lied to the court about how he got them.

The younger Douglas’s problems started way back when he was 13. Was he enabled by rich parents too busy to care for him? That’s the claim of Paul Schechtman, Cameron’s lawyer, in a brief filed during the appeal of this extra sentence. 

An enabler is someone whose actions make it possible for a person to get away with some negative action, such as substance abuse. Do you ever wonder, are you an enabler? Consider these statements:

• You overlook the person’s negative behavior, but just to keep peace in the house.
• You tell yourself that the problem is not really that bad.
• You have the patience of a saint, telling yourself that sooner or later things will change.
• If you’re guilty of anything, it’s of covering up for the person who’s using.
• Things would be better if that person would just do everything you say!

Who knows if Michael Douglas and his then-wife, Diandra Douglas, were guilty of enabling? It’s hard to know the truth of any family’s inner dynamics, especially when the people involved wield both money and power. But Manhattan Judge Richard M. Berman has cited Michael Douglas’s repeated staged interventions as an indication that the father had indeed taken notice of Cameron’s flagrant and increasing use of drugs. When those attempts failed, Douglas cut Cameron off from access to family funds.

Nevertheless, Cameron has undergone two decades of drug treatment. His longest period of sobriety occurred during his incarceration.

As a teenager, Cameron drank and snorted cocaine. He claimed his drug use prevented panic attacks and depression. By the time he was 20, he was injecting cocaine, and a few years later he turned to heroin. By the time he was arrested in 2009, he was mainlining up to six times daily.

At that point he was put on house arrest and placed at his mother’s home, but soon after he talked a girlfriend into bringing him heroin. He was caught and jailed. Instead of the 10-year sentence that the charges carried, he texted his suppliers and led law enforcement officials to two of them. Their arrest cut his sentence in half.

But even before the ink was dry on his court papers, he had sweet-talked a lawyer into smuggling Xanax pills into prison. Then he was caught again, this time with Suboxone and heroin, which he claimed he found on the floor of a chapel during a church service. Did you ever hear a better story told by any druggie? Unfortunately an unnamed “cooperator” told officials that he actually brought the stuff to Douglas in his cell. And now Douglas is trying to squirm out of his additional 4.5-year sentence.  

Michael Douglas, in the meantime, seems happy to know that his son is safe in a jail cell. It’s true that Cameron has suffered a broken femur sustained during a handball game—maybe courtesy of a drug lord who reached into jail to punish him for snitching. But he’s safer in jail than he would be on the street, dealing with the worst kinds of people and putting poison into his veins.

Douglas has stated for the record that his son’s prison sentence is a blessing in disguise. It’s hard to reach that level of peace and self-assurance of your actions when you have to help a loved one seek drug treatment. But if you wonder, are you an enabler, test yourself and get your loved one some help. You just might save his or her life.

Everyone knows that cops have the best dope, right? We’ve been hearing it from the movies for years: There was Donald Sutherland’s turn as a cop in love with Jane Fonda’s prostitute smoking dope way back in 1971’s Klute.  As recently as 2008 the hilarious Pineapple Express took us on a ride with a marijuana dealer and a corrupt cop committing murder.

But there’s nothing funny about law enforcement officials selling marijuana in New Mexico. It was no joke when a juvenile probation officer, Saul Velasco, was placed under arrest at a checkpoint of the U.S. Border Patrol located on U.S. Route 70 just a couple months ago. Allegedly he met with a dealer just north of El Paso and paid $2,500 for almost ten pounds of marijuana, supposedly with an intention to sell it in nearby Alamogordo.  The marijuana was divvied up into ten bundles for easy distribution.

At the time of the arrest, Velasco was driving the government-issued vehicle that he used regularly on the job working with juvenile probationers. After he purchased the grass he then kept appointments with a couple of his clients, visiting them in their homes, even with the stash of grass in a large gym bag that he left in the rear of the vehicle.

The day after his arrest, Velasco was released on his own recognizance in a deal that is keeping him on the warm streets all the way through the holiday season. Normally, when someone is arrested but not indicted by a grand jury, the government must present its evidence to a grand jury within 30 days. However, Velasco waived the routine hearing, which adds 75 days to the government’s limit for jury presentation for a total of 105 days free on the streets. Altogether, Velasco will not have to answer charges until mid-January of 2013. In the meantime, there’s sure to be a plea in the works.

Most likely, Velasco is looking at felony charges. Presumably he can plea guilty, not guilty, or no contest. The government also has the option to dismiss the case. But what about someone who is selling marijuana in New Mexico who works within the framework of law enforcement?  What about getting arrested while on duty with the drugs in a government vehicle? Should he even be allowed to take a plea?

According to Duane Barbati’s piece in the online edition of the Alamogordo Daily News, Velasco talked to a group of high school students at the high school in Alamogordo just the week before his arrest. Ironically, he advised them to consider their actions and the consequences of being held responsible for those actions. Maybe Velasco should take a long look in the mirror.

Following the arrest Velasco was placed on administrative leave with no pay. Hopefully his fellow probation officers will take a position protesting his actions and speak out against his return to the probation department. There is much more at stake than the availability of marijuana in New Mexico. Probation officers often serve as role models and mentors to their clients in the community, especially when they are juveniles. Velasco’s prosecution could affect a whole generation of people who are, right now, deciding whether to choose a straight life without drugs and crime—or not. 

People who are getting high from salvia are taking a big chance with a one-way ticket to psychosis. While long-term disabilities from use of this drug are not widely reported, there is evidence that even when someone comes down from a salvia high, he is likely to bounce back off into insanity. What’s up with this drug?

Salvia Divinorum is actually a cousin of the sage plant, native to the regions of the Oaxacan Mountains and used by Mazatecan shamans in their practice of mysticism and religion. Tribal priests either chewed the leaves or brewed them into a tea. Simply smoking the leaves produces little effect, but purveyors of this drug will doctor leaves with liquid salvia so that people can smoke the substance in higher concentrations. It can even be liquefied and added by drops into someone’s beverage.  Salvinorum A is the actual active ingredient in this plant.

Its high is different from that of spice or marijuana; it produces more of a hallucinatory effect including out-of-body experiences and flashbacks. The National Drug Intelligence Center reports that people experience feelings of traveling through time and space or the sensation of merging with inanimate objects.  Because sellers control the strength of the product, the high can be a short one or it can last for hours.  A professional from a drug treatment center has stated that many people use it once and then avoid it because they have unpleasant experiences. However, others view it as “any high in a storm.”

People who sell it—some from head shops but mostly on the Internet—will be quick to tell you that it offers medicinal benefits to treat diarrhea, headaches, and even rheumatism. In 2008 researchers acknowledged it had potential to reduce pain without the negative side effects of opioid analgesics and possibly reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, depression, and schizophrenia.

Medical researchers are eager to study it but they are put off by reports of this drug’s after effects. In Delaware, a mother blamed use of salvia for her son’s suicide. The actual cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.  She campaigned with success to have it outlawed in her state.

A psychiatrist at a California hospital-based drug treatment center reported in 2011 on an adult male who presented in the emergency department with active psychosis. He was admitted to the hospital and attempts to wean him from drugs were unsuccessful; he remained actively psychotic due to salvia.

Kate Daily from Newsweek reported that Jared Loughner, the Arizona shooter responsible in 2011 for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ injuries and the deaths of six people, purportedly ingested salvia prior to that shooting. Experts believe that a user will be too incapacitated to commit harmful acts while he’s high, but the drug can trigger a person’s capacity for psychosis and push him over the edge afterward.

Most states now outlaw salvia or categorize it as a Schedule I drug, but the problem, as with spice, continues to be an inconsistent scope of laws across the states.  Exceptions include states that allow its sale when not intended for human consumption, including Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. A couple of those states specify that salvia is approved for landscaping. There are also states that allow it for sale to adults only, including California, Maine, and Maryland. Wisconsin prohibits its possession but not its sale or delivery.

Like most people who abuse substances, those who use spice or salvia will over time develop a relationship with their substance of choice. Only referral to a licensed, certified drug treatment center can help someone learn how to beat his addiction and maintain recovery.  For more information to seek help contact Vista Taos Renewal Center at 1.800.245.8267.

Read More About It

Dailey, Kate. Newsweek online, on The Daily Beast, U.S. News, 1/13/2011, at http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/01/13/salvia-and-the-arizona-shooting.html

Join Together Staff at Drugfree.org. Researchers’ Fears Among Salvia Concerns, at http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/drugs/researchers-fears-among

Families of three clients who died at the Narconon Arrowhead rehab center located in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, have now filed civil lawsuits for wrongful death against the center. According to Randy Ellis writing for the Oklahoman’s online news service, NewsOK, the mother of the third decedent filed suit just one day shy of the anniversary of his death.

Gabriel Graves, age 32, died in his bed at the drug rehab center in Oklahoma in October 2011 following a series of sauna treatments along with administration of high doses of niacin, also known as Vitamin B3. The other two deceased clients were both young women, ages 20 and 21, one from Oklahoma and one from Texas.

The rehab center embraces the philosophy of the Church of Scientology, and its clients are referred to as “students” because they must immerse themselves into the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard during their stay in treatment. According to Anne Schechter writing for NBC’s Rock Center, the clients are required to purify themselves in a sauna up to five hours per day for 30 consecutive days. They are also commonly given up to 5,000 milligrams of niacin per day.

Pros and Cons of Niacin

The theory behind the niacin administration is that toxins from abused substances are stored in the body’s fat cells. Because fat cells can never be completely eliminated, even with a healthy diet and exercise, a high dose of niacin will cause the fat cells to burst, with toxins then eliminated.

Doctors who subscribe to niacin therapy generally advise beginning at the recommended daily dose of 30 milligrams and then building up slowly. According to LiveStrong.com, only in extreme cases and after an appropriate upward titration should a maximum dose of 5,000 milligrams be administered.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that high doses of niacin can indeed cause adverse effects. It has been successfully used and is “likely effective” at a 500 milligram dose for helping to lower cholesterol, when used in conjunction with diet, and for treatment of vitamin B3 deficiency syndrome manifested by diarrhea, skin lesions, mental aberrations, and even death.

Niacin has been deemed “possibly effective” for preventing osteoarthritis, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cataracts, and hardening of the arteries. There is “insufficient evidence” that niacin administration helps with anything else, although it has been used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, migraines, dizziness, depression, motion sickness, acne, and alcohol dependence.

However, the NIH concludes that niacin at doses in excess of 3,000 milligrams can result in liver problems, gout, digestive tract ulceration, heart dysrhythmias, blindness, high blood sugar, and even stroke. Considering that people who persistently abuse drugs or alcohol have a higher incidence of abnormal liver function, it seems that niacin would not be a recommended treatment for them.  Although Mr. Graves’ therapeutic regimen is undisclosed, he complained of headaches and vomiting just prior to his death.

Alternative Therapies

Whether Narconon Arrowhead drug rehab center in Oklahoma and its affiliated centers will revise therapies remains to be seen. According to Schechter’s story, Hollywood’s most famous Scientologists—Tom Cruise and John Travolta—stoutly defend Narconon’s treatment modalities because Scientologists “…are the authorities on getting people off drugs.” The Scientologists believe that Narconon’s methods for engaging clients in detox and withdrawal plus a series of Scientology courses are far more effective than traditional 12-step programs.

Yet there’s no doubt that working the 12 steps can lead a person to successful recovery without sweating out drugs in a sauna or inducing fat cells to rupture. Successful therapies involving art and music aid the addict in refocusing on natural skills and improving concentration techniques. Guided imagery teaches people how to relax and visualize a better future. Massage therapy, yoga, and even acupuncture or communing with animals such as dogs or horses can take the recovering addict toward a brighter future.   For more information read about complementary therapies at www.VistaTaos.com or call 1.800.245.8267.

Ellis, Randy, for NewsOK. Third Lawsuit Filed in Narconon Arrowhead Deaths in Oklahoma, http://newsok.com/third-lawsuit-filed-in-narconon-arrowhead-deaths-in-oklahoma/article/3721980

Schechter, Anna, for NBC’s Rock Center. Families Question Scientology-Linked Drug Rehab After Recent Deaths, http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/16/13312825-families-question-scientology-linked-drug-rehab-after-recent-deaths?lite

Langton, Nicole, for LiveStrong.com. Is Too Much Niacin Bad For You? http://www.livestrong.com/article/511859-is-too-much-niacin-bad-for-you/

NIH Medline link: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/924.html

Years ago, when people named the drugs most seriously abused in the United States, they immediately thought of marijuana, cocaine, and—that most despicable of all drugs—heroin. Drug rehab was for people with needle tracks climbing up their arms. If someone was an addict, you knew he lived a life so lowdown he didn’t even know how low down he was.

You can’t be so quick to generalize these days. The business manager wearing the perfect suit with the waistcoat or the fashionista who teaches at the art institute might well be abusing drugs. They’re not using heroin or methamphetamine or ecstasy. According to Mike Gallagher in the Albuquerque Journal Online, in Prescription Drugs Kill More in N.M. Than Heroin http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/08/14/news/prescription-drugs-kill-more-in-nm-than-heroin.html, there are more people in New Mexico dying from prescriptions drugs than from heroin or cocaine.

Gallagher reports on Dr. Harris Silver, a surgeon who got a prescription for pain killers for a disc problem in his neck. When his back problem was resolved, he kept seeking new prescriptions, going from doctor to doctor.  His drug abuse went on for twenty years. He was caught only when an astute pharmacist noticed that he was presenting prescriptions from a variety of doctors and turned him in. 

Nobody thinks they’re “abusing” prescription drugs. Your doctor writes an order so that you can go to the drugstore and pick up something to help you sleep, help you relax, help you quit biting your nails. And then you give some to your spouse—“just try some of this”—or someone else in your family helps themselves to it.  According to the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health quoted by Gallagher, 55 percent of pain medication abusers get their drugs for free by taking them from a friend or relative.

When someone like Dr. Silver gets a prescription for pain medications, he is likely to have difficulty getting multiple refills. Either his doctor or his insurance company will balk at continuing the prescription. That’s when earnest, ordinary people begin stealing from friends and family members, or they turn to drug dealers for something to take the place of the prescription meds.

The three most commonly abused categories of prescription medications include opioid pain relievers, central nervous system depressants, and stimulants. Let’s take a look at each of them.

• Opioids. If you’ve heard of Percocet, Hydrocodone, OxyContin, or even Tylenol with Codeine, then you’ve heard of opioid pain relievers. They are commonly prescribed for postoperative pain or dental problems.  They are dangerous because they cause users to be drowsy and utilize poor judgment, rendering them prone to automobile or other accidents. However, possibly their biggest danger occurs when they depress the respiratory system. You can take painkillers, pass out, and die.
• Central nervous system (CNS) depressants include common, well known benzodiazepine medications such as Valium and Xanax, used to relieve stress and panic attacks. Sleep aids such as Lunesta or Ambien are not classified as benzodiazepines but they work on the same receptors in the brain. There is also a category known as barbiturates, which are better controlled than other CNS depressants. However, since they are sometimes used for surgical patients or for treating seizure disorders, they are still somewhat readily available. They are just as deadly as opioids.
• Stimulants. As you would think from the name, stimulants increase your heart rate, alertness, and overall mental focus. Today they are most often prescribed to treat attention deficit disorder, and they are also very carefully controlled. However, they are popular among people who take them for weight loss and also among college students who want to heighten their alertness when they are studying or taking a test. Aside from the euphoric energy a user will feel, he is also likely to experience paranoia and aggression, and when he comes down from the high he will feel draggy and depressed.  They won’t make you pass out like the other two categories, but how about being “stimulated” all the way to a heart attack?

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) reported in 2008 that 52 million Americans had abused prescription drugs at least once, and 35 million of them had abused pain killers. Over 6 million had used them in the one-month period just prior to the survey.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimates that over 6,000 people per month have their first experience abusing prescription drugs.

In New Mexico, Gallagher reports, most of the people who die from prescription drugs are between the ages of 44 and 64. That’s a far cry from the young street punks, right? Among women, more die from prescription drugs than from illegal drugs.

Today Dr. Silver, after successfully completing drug rehab, has switched his specialty to epidemiology, which is the study of disease patterns in the general population. He testified before New Mexico’s Legislative Health and Human Services Committee last year that focusing on drug prevention is twice as cost effective as treatment. 

Gallagher also reports on the case of another man who graduated from painkillers for dental pain to heroin. He went through one drug rehab center and relapsed immediately after his release. Both Dr. Silver and this second young man are also doing well at this time in their recovery. Both of them tell people that drug rehab isn’t easy, that addiction is a complex brain disease that disables a person’s ability to make good decisions.

Rehab isn’t easy. But it’s possible!  Call Vista Taos to begin your road to recovery at 1.800.245.8267.

References

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/prescription-drugs/trends-in-prescription-drug-abuse/how-many-people-abuse-prescription-drugs

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm220112.htm

http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/minutes/lhhsminnov2.11.pdf