Drug Use in Area Rises, says Executive Director Narconon of New London

NEW LONDON - Drug use has probably tripled in the area since a 1974 survey, Patricia Moher, executive director of New London Narconon told the Kiwanis Club this week.

Denying published reports of a decrease in drug abuse, she said that although there has been a decline in the use of hard drugs, other drugs are available and judging from the leniency of the courts, socially acceptable. There has also been a growth in the popularity of beer, she added.

There is ready access to marijuana, “speed”, animal tranquilizers, LSD, barbiturates and mescaline, in junior high students and even elementary students, Ms. Moher said, and the youths deal with each other, she added.

Narconon is a nationwide rehabilitative agency, that is trying to educate the public that “There is something better than needles, pills, alcohol and jail.”

Narconon headquarters in New London is at 253 Captain’s Walk. Patients go through a screening process, receive information on the damage of drugs, a “vitamin bomb,” physical exam, and one-to-one counseling plus an assortment of study courses.