Drug Addiction Prevention

Drug Addiction Prevention

Addiction prevention brings to mind an analogy: in the film “War Games” the climax of the story centers on a young hero playing “tic-tac-toe” against a computer. The screen flashes bright light as the computer begins to play itself over and over.

Finally after a long sequence the computer stops playing the game, the lights on the screen go dark and the computer says something to the effect,

“Interesting game. The best move is not to play.”

In a perfect world, the best drug addiction prevention is "not to play". But it isn’t that easy. Not just street drugs

When we think about drug abuse prevention, we usually think about illegal street drugs, but we don’t always think about drugs that are taken initially for legitimate medical purposes, and then later abused.

Physicians prescribe narcotics to control pain, or medications to control emotional swings. Taken as prescribed, under a doctor’s care, these drugs can be effective. However, they are all too often abused. Because the doctor’s prescription calls for a safe dosage, but the user exceeds that safe dosage.

Prevention not always top of mind

Thinking about drug addiction prevention, we think of those who are already in the throws of addiction, but we don’t necessarily think in terms of prevention. It’s more thinking about how to deal with the problem. If an ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure, drug addictionprevention programs become very important.

Drug abuse prevention begins early

It’s never too early to start talking to children about the dangers of drug abuse, as the drugs are everywhere. Parents’ needs to have a clear and open dialog with their kids about drugs and listen to what the kids are saying. Adults need to listen carefully to pick up nuggets of information that may lead to a preventative move down the road.

One of the best ways of communicating with children, and other adults, is to be the example. If I don’t want you to use drugs or alcohol, I should not use them in the presence of an impressionable person. It’s like smoking cigarettes. If mom and dad smoke, chances are the kids will smoke.

Parents are encouraged to have an open dialog and to try to be objective about their children. “My little Johnny would never take drugs” is a seriously short-sighted statement when examined from the standpoint that every child is a potential drug abuser and addict. You can see that denial plays a big role in dealing with potential hazards.

Strong Parenting is KEY!

The best prevention measure for children is strong parenting, and drug addiction prevention initiatives in schools, churches and the community. Prevention programs need to adapt to the environment where the effort is taking place.

In addition to programs in schools, programs can be tailor made to meet the needs in churches or community centers that deal directly with people who live in the area.

As in any form of communication, those who work the programs need to be sensitive to the people they are trying to help. They need to have an awareness of socio-economic conditions, culture, language and be respectful of all the contributing factors. It’s not just a money issue withdrug addiction prevention programs; it’s also an issue of orientation.

Good programs exist for schools

School programs have been implemented, such as the Narcotics Anonymous presentation, which gives kids an open and frank discussion about drugs. Many of the presenters are former addicts, who can speak directly to the terrible side-effects, loss of relationships and the destruction of their lives.

The narcotics anonymous program has also been a valuable research-gathering effort, as they have learned about how children think about drugs, why they use, why they quit and in doing so, how to speak their language and communicate effectively.

The sooner the better

Drug addiction prevention efforts can be successful even after a person has started to use, but the earlier the better. Adults and children alike need to be given the facts and information they can use every day to avoid the pitfalls of abuse and addiction.

Programs need to be real, not sugar coated and the information presented needs to reflect the needs of the community. It is true that some programs can be applied to two or more situations, but the first need is to connect with individuals in specific situations.

Must accept there is a problem

Drug addiction prevention is a difficult issue because in order to prevent something one must first realize that there is a problem, or the potential for a problem.

The first of the 12-Steps is an acknowledgement that “our lives had become unmanageable.” Without awareness, without education, without personal and community involvement, drug abuse and drug addiction are unmanageable in the community. Look around. Talk to people. What is happening where you live?

How to Beat Drug Addiction

1.  Decide that you do really want to stop using drugs.Unless you have desire to change you will never be able to.

2  Be completely honest with yourself and others. Your chances of recovery are not good if you cannot face yourself and deal with confrontations from others.

3  Be patient with yourself. It usually takes at least three months before significant improvement occurs, so don't give up if you don't get instant results. [1]

4  Remove influences that enable your drug use from your life.

5  Avoid relying on someone to stop doing drugs with you, as he or she may not have the willingness to change. You must be willing to stop spending time with people who use drugs, and to avoid temptation. Learn to walk away from those that insist on using or talking about using in front of you. It may require you to be alone for a while or find a whole new set of friends to hang out with. It will shock you to find out how much healthier your friendships will be once you are not using drugs to smooth out the rough spots.

6  Stock up on nutritious, easy-to-eat foods such as soup to keep your strength up while clucking (going through withdrawal). Be especially sure to focus on your protein intake. This will help keep your blood sugar level stable, which in turn helps keep your mood on an even keel.

7  Find a group in your local area such as Narcotics Anonymous or SMART Recovery. It will help you deal with the issues that come up when stopping drugs. Narcotics Anonymous is not actually specific to narcotics - users of all kinds of drugs, including marijuana, attend Narcotics Anonymous. Recovering users of all kinds are also welcome at open meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. SMART Recovery helps addicts learn to abstain from drugs, alcohol, and addictive behaviors using self-management techniques, and may be a good alternative for people who do not feel comfortable with 12-step groups.

8  Get in touch with a reliable friend who does not take drugs, if you have one. Ask him or her to stay with you to help out while you go through the worst of your withdrawal.

9  If you feel you cannot deal with withdrawal by yourself, then see a doctor or go to a hospital emergency room.

10  Write down a list of things you enjoyed doing before you started using drugs or things you've been interested in doing that you haven't done yet. Drugs have been a big part of your life and it will be easier for you if you plan ahead to fill the void that their absence will create.

11  Identify your triggers, which are people, places, things, events, activities, emotions, times, dates etc., that make you think of using; therefore placing you at a higher risk of using. After you identify your triggers, avoid them.

12  Identify your relapse warning signs, which are changes in your behaviors and/or attitude that signal a chance that you are close to using.

13  Educate yourself on the dangers to your mind and body.

14  Find a support system.

15  Make a list of health goals and read it every day.

16  Develop a crisis plan.

17  Develop and use positive self talk.

18  Find healthy activities to replace drug usage.

19  Focus on your health and taking care of your family.

How to avoid drug errors on Kids

Your Teen's Drinking Starts With You

First step to stopping your teen from drug use, begins with you and your actions. Your children watch you and want to emulate you and your actions. If you joke about drugs or drink excessively, if you make it seem like using alcohol or drugs is the only way to enjoy yourself, then your teen will absorb that and reflect it in her actions. Instead, limit your own drinking and provide nonalcoholic beverages with meals and parties.

Communicate

Communication is essential. If your teen feels safe talking to you then you have a better chance of weighing in on her choice of whether or not to use drugs. Encourage her to avoid using completely and let her know that if she gets into a situation where everyone around her is using that she can call you. The ability to call you without fear of repercussions could be the difference between her getting in the car with an impaired driver and coming home safely.

Strategize

There are a number of other things you can do to help keep your teen from using drugs. These include:

Watch for signs of depression, anxiety, loneliness or stress. Your teen may want to 'escape' from problems in her life by using. Intercede and help her find non-drug solutions.

Know what's in your medicine cabinet and keep potentially addictive painkillers out of sight and out of reach.

Know what your teen is watching on TV and online. These can provide clues to your teen's state of mind and intentions.

Remind her that she is a strong individual and her own person. She doesn't have to do what everyone else does. Let her know that rather than trying to fit in with everyone else, her friends should try to fit in with her.

Suggestions About Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention

The prevention of substance abuse, especially among youth, has been of major concern since the 60s; however, many prevention programs are not found to reduce drug use in our youth. The NARCONON drug education curriculum for high school students has been shown to be an exception to that problem, according to an article written in the Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, a professional journal. The NARCONON drug education curriculum for high school students is based on some hypothesis not found in some of the other programs, and include the precepts below.

Double Standard

The NARCONON prevention initiative does not recommend the imposition of a double standard between youth and adults. Instead, the program holds that messages indicating some substances are okay for adults, yet harmful to young people, tend to cause young people to want to use the drugs, rather than decrease drug using behavior. It also shows that sending a message that a drug is licit to adults and illicit for young people, causes youth to mistrust, and reject the entire message as being exaggerated or entirely false.

Marketing

The NARCONON prevention program exposes young people to the impact of marketing related to legal substances such as nicotine, and alcohol, and helps make them aware of the contrast between what is exhibited in commercials promoting the products, and the reality for those who use, and abuse alcohol, or nicotine over time. The program exposes young people to medical facts concerning the damage done to the bodies of heavy drinkers, and cigarette smokers, but encourages the youth to draw their own conclusion about the information. It does not preach or tell the young people what to think.

Research encouraged

When using the NARCONON prevention approach, research should be encouraged, with the understanding that the learner will draw his or her own conclusions from what is learned. The approach is always open ended, never authoritative, or legalistic. Small steps towards abstinence are both accepted, and encouraged, never punished because they are not complete. The result of allowing youth to do their own research, and draw their own conclusions, has been positive, and evaluation questions administered to youth after the treatment process has terminated, have yielded overwhelmingly positive responses to the prevention treatment approach.

Tips on Avoiding Drug Use

Refusing Drugs

It can sometimes be difficult to say no to friends or peers without offending them. Here are some tips on refusing drugs.

Be Polite, But Firm

You can be clear that you don't want to use drugs without telling others that their decisions are wrong. It can feel good to stand yoAur ground when you know you're right. And you could earn more respect from other friends who also want to avoid drug use.

Give Reasons. There are lots of reasons why people don't use drugs. Here are some common ones:

I don't want to.

I don't feel like it.

I have asthma. (Or bronchitis, or any other health problem that could be made worse by drug use.)

I have to be home soon and I don't want to get in trouble.

I have to go to work soon.

I don't have any money.

Talk About What's Important to You

Drugs interfere with the other parts of your life. Things like sports, relationships, music, family, work, school or other activities. Pick something that's important to you and tell people you don't want to mess it up by using drugs.

Avoiding Drug Situations

Drugs are more likely to be present among certain groups of people and in certain locations. Here are some tips on reducing the chances of being offered drugs.

Hang out with people that are less likely to use drugs.

Spend time in places where you're less likely to encounter drug use.

Drug court grads look back at a life-saving choice

Darryl Smith had a choice to make. The year was 2003 and the city native was back in jail for dealing drugs -- this time for a five-year stretch. Now he was being offered the chance to trade his sentence for a five-year intensive drug rehabilitation program run by the county courts.

"I had to decide if I wanted to get help or just do my time and go back to the streets," Smith said.

He chose the rehab program and has never looked back. At least not until yesterday when he joined 13 other Drug Court graduates who collected their diplomas and reflected on how the program changed their lives.

"Without it, I'd be dead," said Smith, 43, who works full time and attends community college. "This program turned my life around and gave me direction."

Similar stories of triumph and redemption were recounted by the men and women who made up the 10th graduating class of Mercer's Drug Court. Some tearful, some jubilant, the proud graduates thanked their counselors, probation officers and drug court staff for helping them navigate the rocky road to recovery.

"Today is the tomorrow I dreamed about yesterday," said Scott Church, as his proud family cheered for him. "Not only did drug court give me the opportunity to find out who I am, drug court gave me back my family."

"I am so proud of myself and all of us graduating today," said Jennifer Williams. "I've come a long way. Drug court was the best decision I've made for myself in a long time."

Operated in states across the nation, drug courts divert non-violent, substance abusing offenders from prison and jail into treatment. In a blending of justice, treatment, and social service systems, drug court participants undergo an intensive regimen of substance abuse treatment, case management, drug testing, supervision and monitoring, and immediate sanctions and incentives while reporting to regularly scheduled status hearings before a judge with expertise in the drug court model. To increase the probability of participants' success, the program also provides ancillary services such as mental health treatment, trauma and family therapy, and job skills training.

Mercer's program, implemented in 1999, has graduated 21 participants. Currently there are 148 men and women in the program.

Superior Court Judge Gerald J. Council, who presides over Mercer's Drug Court, lauded it as a way to break the cycle of substance abuse, addiction and crime by getting non-violent, addicted offenders the help they need instead of merely banishing them to jail.

These are people's lives. It's serious. It's life and death," Council said." With Drug Court people become meaningful members of society."

Council's role in the program is clearly hands-on. As program participants filed into the ceremonial courtroom of the criminal courthouse to watch the graduation -- their presence was mandatory -- Council was there to greet them with slapping handshakes and hugs.

"What's up, money? What's up man?" Council joked as he admired outfits and exchanged good-natured ribbing with the men and women.

When the ceremony got under way before a packed crowd, Deputy Public Defender Vernon Clash marveled that this year's graduating class of 14 was the biggest ever.

"When you reach this phase, you've reached a level of self-discipline that allows you to come back and help other people in the program," Clash told the graduates. "It's a struggle, people have doubts. They don't think they can do it."

County Executive Brian Hughes, told the crowd that he knows personally the importance of getting help with addiction.

"I'm entering my 19th year of recovery," Hughes said. "That's something I don't often talk about in public but I talk about it here. It keeps me in the place where I need to be. Recovery isn't just a one-time thing. For me, I had to go back and practice a couple times. I'm here before you as county executive because there was one person in my life who reached out their hand and said 'I'm not going to let this one go.' That's what Drug Court is about -- giving people an opportunity, giving them a path."

Many of the graduates admitted they were less than cooperative when they first entered the program.

"I struggled. I fought authority. I didn't want to change," Nicole Sanders told the crowd after claiming her diploma. "But I finally got my act together. I shut up. I got sober and I started listening to people."

Many of the graduates credited a big portion of their success to Council, who was moved to tears throughout the program.

"If it wasn't for him, I would not be where I am today," said Laurie Woody. "I have a job in Mercer Hospital because of him. I have my own little apartment because of him."

Gary Colston thanked Council for being tough on him.

"You sat me down when I needed to be sat down. Thank you," Colston said.

Man out of rehab faces new drug charges

A man who had reportedly just been released from a drug rehabilitation unit in the Twin Cities has been charged with multiple drug offenses.

Matthew P. Betters, 37, 519 Chippewa St., Chippewa Falls, has been charged in one complaint with three counts of possessing an illegally obtained prescription, possession of narcotics, marijuana, cocaine and drug paraphernalia and one count of bail jumping.

A Chippewa Falls man said he let Betters stay at his residence about a week after Betters was released from rehab in exchange for some work around the house. Instead, Betters reportedly went to the Twin Cities to find heroin, and two fur coats valued over $10,000 were missing from the residence.

An investigating officer found drugs among Betters’ personal items left behind. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

In a separate complaint, Betters is charged with forgery and bail jumping for allegedly forging his estranged wife’s name on checks.