Mother and Son Get Their Lives Back

My son is alive and doing well, thanks to the Narconon program.

My son had been using drugs for two years before I discovered it. He was a teenager and had gone out a lot with friends, so it took a while for me to catch on. The first sign that something was wrong was that he started to get messy. Then I discovered he was smoking pot in his room. But what I didn’t know is that he had already tried LSD and was taking all kinds of drugs that he was getting from school. He was my son and lived in my home, yet there was so much I didn’t know about him.

I knew he was getting high, but I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten or how bad it was going to get. When heroin crossed his path, that was it—heroin was the drug that took my son out.

Heroin use resulted in a massive change in my son, he looked exhausted, would sleep all day, and lost his job. I found weird paraphernalia in his bathroom. I knew he wasn’t functioning but couldn’t quite look at the problem head-on. I did not want to confront the reality of heroin abuse.

Eventually, I enrolled him in a wilderness program. It didn’t take long to realize that this wasn’t going to work. We tried three different drug rehab programs, but he left each one because the cravings were too bad.

My son started to look so bad that I thought he would die in front of my eyes. He had lost weight and was constantly in pain. He would try to come off the heroin on his own but couldn’t. It was horrible, and I didn’t know what to do.

I wasn’t doing well either. I constantly worried, lost sleep, and couldn’t accomplish tasks in my own life.

Thankfully, we found Narconon. I immediately discovered that the staff were more helpful than other places I had taken my son. They seemed to understand just how bad my sons addiction had become and they knew what it would take to handle it. They knew what I had been going through and seemed to honestly care about me as much as they did my son. I felt like I had a whole team on my side, and ultimately, that is what it took to get my son clean.

“Narconon staff helped me to find the strength to overcome his protest...”

It wasn’t easy to get my son to agree to go to another rehab, especially after three failed attempts. There were many ups and downs, but there was always a Narconon staff member to talk to for guidance. One day I looked at my son and knew I had to get him into rehab. It had become life or death. That day someone from Narconon called me every 15 minutes until we made it into the car and were well down the road. My son was fighting me every step of the way because he feared the withdrawal. Narconon staff helped me to find the strength to overcome his protest. Of course, deep down, he wanted to live—but he was fighting with his addiction. We all were. Narconon staff made sure that we won.

The program is unique and comprehensive. The New Life Detoxification addresses cravings, and the courses teach life skills and ethics. I saw my son transform throughout the program. He gained weight, he looked good and his communication skills greatly improved. But the most significant success for me was that he finally took responsibility for his condition.

Not only did my son get his life back, but I got my life back too. I would recommend Narconon to anyone without hesitation.