Drug Addiction: Treatment or Incarceration?

Study Finds Treatment a Viable and Cost-Effective Option

Atlanta, GA 8/28/2008 09:42 PM GMT (FINDITT)

A study completed by the Justice Policy Institute shows that providing drug offenders with treatment is a more cost-effective way of dealing with substance addicted drug and nonviolent offenders than prison.
“Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia was started as an alternative to incarceration,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director. “Instead of incarcerating someone suffering from drug addiction, they did our program and did well. Drug addiction does not mean a life of suffering or incarceration. It can be succesfully addressed.
“Nationwide, studies by the nation’s leading criminal justice research agencies, including the RAND Corporation, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Little Hoover Commission, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University have shown that drug treatment, in concert with other services and programs, is a more cost effective way to deal with drug offenders.”
Drug treatment offers several benefits:
It is cost-effective.

Drug treatment in prison—such as in-prison therapeutic community programming, or that
same program with community aftercare after the person leaves prison—yields a benefit of
between $1.91 and $2.69 for every dollar spent on them.

By contrast, therapeutic community programs outside of prison—typically work release facilities—yielded $8.87 ofbenefit for every program dollar spent. The reason for the difference versus in prison treatment programs was mainly due to higher program completion rates and lower recidivism. In writing of the non-prison therapeutic community option, WSIPP writes “the economics of this approach appear quite attractive.”
Other kinds of non-prison programs also yielded significant benefits. Community-based substance abuse treatment generated $3.30 of benefit for every dollar spent, while drug courts yielded $2.83 for every dollar spent. Treatment oriented intensive supervision programs yielded $2.45 worth of benefit for every dollar spent, and was far more cost effective than simple supervision alone.
RAND found that drug treatment is a more cost effective way of achieving the goal of reducing drug abuse than arresting and incarcerating our way out of our society’s drug problem.
This treatment-alternative-to-incarceration model saves large amounts of money—savings of up to $22,500 per offender per year.
It reduces crime.

The ADAA reports that the people in its treatment programs commit fewer crimes.
“Arrest rates during treatment were substantially lower than arrest rates during the two
years preceding treatment, and completion of treatment was associated with the greatest
reductions in arrest rates.”

According to the federal NTIES report, offenders who went through treatment showed a
nearly two-thirds decline in overall arrests and an over 50% drop in drug possession
arrests. More importantly, criminal behavior—self-reported to NTIES by these former
offenders which did not necessarily result in arrest—also declined. “The results show
substantial, and statistically significant, reductions in both criminal behavior and arrests
after treatment, with a somewhat smaller decrease in the percentage of clients mostly
supported through illegal activities.”

It reduces recidivism.
While research by the US Justice Department shows that while two-thirds of drug offenders leaving state prison will be re-arrested within three years (almost the same rate as for all inmates), and that nearly half of released drug offenders will be returned to prison either through a technical violation of their sentence—such as failing a drug test—or on a new sentence, the percentage of drug rehab clients arrested for drug possession declined by 51 percent while the percentage arrested for any charge declined by 64 percent. Changes in criminal behavior were larger, between seventy and ninety percent.

While imprisoning offenders may provide comfort to some in terms of public safety, it does
little to reduce the cluster of issues which will see these people cycle in and out of the
nation’s corrections system. What is needed is a solution less costly than building more
prisons and more effective at reducing recidivism. The good news is, the solution already
exists.

Call Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia at 1-877-413-3073

Copyright © 2008 Narconon of Georgia Inc. (www.drugsno.com) All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better living and Education International and are used with its permission. Narconon of Georgia is a non-profit 501© public benefit corporation.

narcononofga@yahoo.com
www.drugsno.com

Drug Addiction Facts

Drug Addiction Statistics

Atlanta, GA 8/28/2008 08:14 PM GMT (FINDITT)

"Many people witness the human side of drug addiction," comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director of Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia.
"What they don’t see are the ramifications of the lack of effective treatment for drug addiction.
"If you have a drug addict in the family get them into a drug addiction treatment facility now, or chances are they will wind up in prison."
Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia discloses these statistics on drug addiction:
The United States has the highest number of citizens locked up per capita than any other country in the world.
The greater percentage of those locked up are in prison because of drugs. We continue to fail our citizens when we lock them up for falling into a trap that is sometimes easier to fall into than to avoid.
When more people are searching the web for basic ways to cook methamphetamine and meth recipes than healthy diets, and prescription drugs are simple to obtain illegally on line, we have a problem.

And 7.2 million Americans will be incarcerated this year for lack of real answers to the problem.
An estimated 45 billion dollars will be spent on prisons this year in the US without a raised eyebrow from most politicians or taxpayers.

According to Join Together Tim Lynch of the Cato Institute, the latest figures “demonstrate that we have lost our way when our laws require such a massive amount of incarceration.
“When you lock up a bank robber, a child molester or a mugger, you’re removing a career offender from the street. When you lock up a drug dealer, he is immediately replaced. We tried this with alcohol during Prohibition and it didn’t work.”
There is hope though. Studies show that increases in admission to substance abuse treatment are associated with reductions in crime and incarceration rates. Our citizens are safest when there is effective treatment available.
The obvious solution is effective drug treatment. It is the only alternative to incarceration. Whether the incarceration is impending or the offender is not yet on the radar screen, any drug abuser is on a high speed highway to jail unless they are stopped by someone other than a cop.
"If you know someone who is abusing drugs get them into rehab. Don’t count on them to do it themselves – they need your help."

For information on drug addiction signs, call Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia at 1-877-413-3073

Copyright © 2008 Narconon of Georgia Inc. (www.drugsno.com) All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better living and Education International and are used with its permission. Narconon of Georgia is a non-profit 501© public benefit corporation.

narcononofga@yahoo.com
www.drugsno.com

Drugs easier to get than beer

“Years ago, the main concern parent’s had was that their teens might raid their liquor cabinet,” states Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia. “Now they have another cabinet to worry about: the medicine cabinet.”

A recent survey among 12-to-17-year-olds by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) showed some startling results:

Getting prescription drugs was easier than getting cigarettes or beer.

Of those teens abusing prescription medications:

· 31 percent said they got these from friends or classmates;

· 34 percent said they got these from home, parents or the medicine cabinet;

· 16 percent said other;

· Nine percent said from a drug dealer.

“Parents need to be aware that they may be unwittingly contributing to drug addiction by not locking their medicine cabinet,” comments Ms. Rieser. “It is one thing for a teen to drink, which is bad enough. It is another to be hooked on OxyContin, Xanax, Percocet, or any other drug that may be in the medicine cabinet. These are not drugs to play around with. Withdrawal is very painful, and in the case of Xanax, can be deadly. The addicted teen will do anything to stop the withdrawal symptoms. Anything.”

Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia advises that there are things that can be done:

Lock the medicine cabinet. Properly dispose of any unused prescription medications.

Be aware that even such seemingly benign over-the-counter drugs containing DXM, such as cough syrup, can be chugged to get a high.

Monitor your child’s behavior- The CASA survey showed that 50 percent of those children staying out after 10 PM drank, smoked or got high.

Educate your children on the dangers of drug abuse, even medical drugs.

“Kids think that because these are prescribed by a doctor, they are safe,” comments Ms. Rieser. “There is only one problem. The difference between the amount they take for a high and the amount that causes an overdose is very little.

“One small thing that the survey showed is very simple: Have dinner with your children. The CASA survey noted that 23 percent of teens who ate fewer than three dinners a week with their family had used marijuana, compared with 10 percent when the family ate together five or more times a week.”

For more information on drug addiction rehabilitation, over the counter drug abuse, or drug education, call Narconon of Georgia at 1-877-413-3073.
 
Copyright © 2008. Narconon of Georgia Inc.(www.drugsno.com) Call 1-877-413-3073. All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and are used with its permission.

Operation Medicine Cabinet

While there are growing trends of prescription drugs being abused illegally, and children as young as 12 years old are raiding medicine cabinets to abuse medicine found there, effective steps can be taken to curb this trend. Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia applauds the initiative taken by Broward County, Florida, as part of the National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month.

“We don’t have to sit back and watch as drug abuse occurs in our homes or communities,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia. “Steps taken around the house, in your neighborhood, in your community, can make a big difference.”

“Operation Medicine Cabinet” was an idea brought to reality by Sgt Lisa McElhaney of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. Shocked the increase of overdose deaths and drug addiction caused by medicines normally found in medicine cabinets, she came up with an idea to address this key drug diversion problem.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse, contacted several retail pharmacy chains. They set up a voluntary prescription drug return, manned by sheriff’s deputies, at strategic community locations throughout the county.

The operation was simple: voluntarily bring in any unused pharmaceuticals to a community location, drop them off, and receive a $5 gift certificate from the participating pharmacies. No questions asked.

Working in cooperation with the Sheriff’s Office and United Way, CVS, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart participated in this landmark operation.

“This shows that we can all do something to prevent drug abuse,” comments Ms. Rieser. “Whether organizing a operation such as ‘Operation Medicine Cabinet’, demanding that local convenience stores stop carrying drug paraphernalia, or educating our children, together we can do something about drug addiction and drug abuse. Congratulations to Sgt McElhaney and all those who helped.”

For more information on drug rehabilitation, prescription drug abuse, or drug education, call Narconon Drug Rehab of Georgia at 1-877-413-3073.
 
Copyright © 2008. Narconon of Georgia Inc.(www.drugsno.com) Call 1-877-413-3073. All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and are used with its permission.

Oxycontin – usefull but deadly if abused

Oxycontin- Useful, But Deadly if Abused

National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month

Atlanta, GA 8/26/2008 06:58 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

 

Narconon Drug Rehab of Georgia, as part of National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, explains the dangers of generic Oxycintin®.
“When people buy OxyContin®, more than likely it is under prescription and used to treat pain,” explains Mary Rieser, Executive Director of Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia. “However, many people don’t realize that OxyContin® and generic OxyContin®, can be highly addictive, and can lead to overdose and death. If you buy OxyContin®, make sure you follow the directions carefully, and dispose of any left over. This is a dangerous drug to have around. Don’t keep unused pills in your medicine cabinet.”
The general public is by now familiar with the dangers and potential for abuse posed by the extended release drug oxycodone hydrochloride ER, which until recently was only available by the brand name OxyContin® . In March 2004, however, a generic version of OxyContin® became available by prescription as an approved pain medication. Soon after its release in the pharmaceutical market, “generic OxyContin®” entered the illegal drug market as well. When abused, this drug represents an old threat in a new form – it has the same dangerous effects as OxyContin® when abused, but it looks different.
Many people remain unaware of this threat – poison control centers across the country have received a significant number of calls from citizens asking about this drug. Parents and teachers should familiarize themselves with this new product and be on alert for signs of its abuse. It is important to realize that the generic version may pose more of a threat because it is only available in 80 mg. doses, whereas OxyContin® is available in 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg. doses. Users may mistakenly believe that they are consuming a smaller dose than they actually are, increasing the potential for serious overdose or even death. Below are more important facts about the generic form of OxyContin®.
Generic OxyContin® is a generic version of the same drug that makes up OxyContin® . It is a time-release pain medication that, when abused, is dangerous and habit-forming.
Generic oxycodone HCl ER abuse produces the same negative side effects as OxyContin® abuse:

1. Long-term usage can lead to physical dependence.

2. A large dosage can cause severe respiratory depression that can lead to death.
Withdrawal symptoms include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, cold flashes with goose bumps, and involuntary leg movements.

3. Oxycodone HCl ER comes in small oval, light green tablets. One side of the tablet is labeled “93,” the other side is labeled “33.”
4. Oxycodone is prescribed as a pain medication that is not illegal if prescribed and used correctly. Patients who have been prescribed oxycodone or OxyContin® should be careful to safeguard their medication – because of their potential for abuse, these drugs are sometimes stolen from patients.
5. Oxycontin® is a 12 hour time release medication. Normally pain medication is taken every three to four hours. Oxycontin abusers dissolve the time release coating. That means when they take it, they get a huge euphoric rush, much like the rush a person would get if they took heroin. Because, it basically is synthetic heroin.
6. One way to buy way of buying OxyContin® is through the internet. Recent investigations show that 85% of online pharmacies don’r require a prescription in order to fill an order.
*Source: usdoj.gov
Find out the truth about those you love and call us if the truth is hard to face.

For more information on drug rehabilitation, over the prescription drug abuse, or drug education, call Narconon Drug Rehab of Georgia at 1-877-413-3073.

Copyright © 2008. Narconon of Georgia Inc.(www.drugsno.com) Call 1-877-413-3073. All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and are used with its permission.

National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month

August Named National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month
July 29, 2008

From:
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)
625 Slaters Lane, Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314
Tel: 1-800-54-CADCA
www.cadca.org

Washington, D.C. – Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) are pleased to lend their support to S.Res. 614, a U.S. Senate resolution designating August as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. Sponsored by Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Del.) and Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), this initiative calls for community involvement and participation in efforts to educate parents about the dangers of medicine abuse among teens.

Recent studies have spotlighted medicine abuse, including the abuse of over-the-counter cough medicines, as an alarming trend among young people. Where OTC cough medicines are concerned, some teens are intentionally taking excessive amounts — sometimes up to 50 times the recommended dose — to get “high” from the active ingredient dextromethorphan. When used correctly, dextromethorphan-containing medicines have a 50-year history of being safe and effective. But when abused in extreme excess, dextromethorphan can produce dangerous side effects, especially when combined with alcohol, illicit drugs, or certain prescription drugs.

“Consumers have trusted the makers of over-the-counter medications with the health of their families for many years. National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month presents a timely opportunity to build community awareness and alert parents and teens that abusing medicine to get ‘high’ is very dangerous,” said Linda A. Suydam, D.P.A., president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.

In recognition of this designation, CHPA and CADCA will be hosting town hall meetings nationwide with local anti-drug abuse advocates, substance abuse treatment experts, healthcare professionals, and policy makers. The town hall format offers opportunities for community residents to join the discussion and ask questions of the panelists.

“While surveys show that overall illicit drug use among youth is on a downward trend, unfortunately the rates of over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse are holding steady,” said Gen. Arthur T. Dean, CADCA Chairman and CEO. “Designating August as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month will help bring this issue to the radar screen, and I hope community organizations take advantage of this opportunity to raise awareness about this dangerous trend.”

Town hall meetings scheduled during August include Seattle, Washington; San Antonio, Texas; and Miami, Florida. This designation, if passed into law, would mark the second annual National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. In all, CADCA and CHPA have hosted a total of 13 town hall meetings nationwide since August 2007 as part of our campaign to prevent over-the-counter medicine abuse. Localities interested in hosting their own town hall meetings have access to all materials via DoseofPrevention.org. For more information on efforts to help curb cough medicine abuse, visit StopMedicineAbuse.org.

Crystal Death – Methamphetamine Addiction

http://www.drugsno.com

NIDA – research study on drug relapse

Subconscious May Play Role in Relapse – Join Together . com

Research Summary

Researchers say that showing subliminal images of cocaine to addicts triggers activity in the limbic system, a part of the brain involved in emotional response.

In a study funded by the

“This is the first evidence that cues outside one’s awareness can trigger rapid activation of the circuits driving drug-seeking behavior,” said NIDA director Nora Volkow. “Patients often can’t pinpoint when or why they start craving drugs. Understanding how the brain initiates that overwhelming desire for drugs is essential to treating addiction.”

“We have a brain hard-wired to appreciate rewards, and cocaine and other drugs of abuse latch onto this system,” noted researcher Anna Rose Childress of the University of Pennsylvania. “We are looking at the potential for new medications that reduce the brain’s sensitivity to these conditioned drug cues and would give patients a fighting chance to manage their urges.”

The study was published in the Jan. 30, 2008 issue of the journal
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), researchers flashed images before addicts for just 33 milliseconds, then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor their brain activity.
PLoS One.

This article summarizes an external report or press release on research published in a scientific journal. When available, links to the sources are provided above

Click Here to read more about the Narconon Program and how it works to stop drug cravings.

Lunesta

Next time you can’t sleep you might want to call on the sandman or count sheep. Inviting the sleep butterfly into your dreams might cause more trouble than its worth.

 

Apparently many weary eyed individuals are turning to Lunesta as an alternative to Ambien and it is becoming one of the most highly searched for drugs on the web. With online pharmacies lining up to be the first to appear on the Lunesta search, chances are there is some abuse or curiosity about the high that Lunesta can provide. This drug recently showed up on the horizon and we need to pay attention.

 

Perhaps the popularity of the online pharmacy sales has to do with the fact that Lunesta can cause drowsiness and dizziness. Driving to the pharmacy for your next prescription could be dangerous.

 

It may be an alternative sleep med, but the overdose symptoms of sleepiness, blurred vision, headache, slow hear beat, seizures and unconsciousness sound a little too familiar.

 

 

Side effects of Lunesta include an irregular or fast heart rate, rash, flushing, hallucinations and eye pain. Difficulty breathing and closing of the throat are also mentioned along with headache and dizziness as side effects.

 

The other less serious side effects are actually more likely to occur than those mentioned. These include, headache, dizziness, weakness, nervousness, nausea and difficulty urinating.

 

Relax, take a deep breath and talk to your doctor about your general health. Maybe health problems are keeping you from sleeping. If problems at work are keeping you awake, maybe there is another way to address them that won’t create more problems in the long run.

 

If you see a butterfly trying to get in, shut the window and think it over. What kind of life do you want waiting for you in the morning and you are ready to greet the day?

Convenience Store Crack Pipes

In a series of undercover reports, News 12’s Kristen Cosby questioned a number of local convenience store clerks about selling the roses in glass tubes that police tell us are being used to smoke crack.

But it was this exchange that drew a strong response from one viewer:

Kristen: Well, you know what they’re used for, right?
Clerk: Not really I don’t. To be honest with you I don’t.
Kristen: I bet he knows what they’re used for.
Customer: What?
Kristen: Those glass roses.
Customer: Crack pipes.

Chase in Hephzibah writes:

“Was it because he was black that she “bets he knows what they are used for”? What made her confident enough to bet that he knew? Is it because all black people know about crack and crack utensils? Would she have said the same thing if a young white boy or man was standing there? Would she have made the same bet?” -Chase/Hephzibah

Does everything have to be viewed in terms of black and white these days?

We all know there are plenty of white people who are using crack cocaine.

The point is, that guy just happened to be standing there…and he did know.

Obviously, the better way to phrase the question is: “What about you? Do you know what these things are used for?”

If he had been 70 years old, you can bet he would not have known.

It’s about generation, not race.

Focus on that one exchange and you’ll miss the whole point…

They’re selling crack pipes in convenience stores!

And investigators say selling them does not make their job of fighting the drug problem any easier.

Questions? Comments?

Richard Rogers

News 12

Go to http://www.drugsno.com for more drug abuse information.