Ending Addiction to Alcohol and Other Drugs
By John S. Duff
President of Narconon International
After 25 years of work with the Narconon Program in the field of substance abuse prevention and treatment there is one thing of which I am certain. There is hope for those addicted to alcohol and other drugs and that you can end addiction for good.
Our goal to end or cure addiction permanently is often met with disbelief and criticism, yet this is what we are actually doing quite successfully. It is not an easy job but it can be done and we have been doing just this for the last 30 years.
Theories on Addiction
There are various theories on what addiction is. One common theory of addiction is that alcoholism is a disease that is somehow genetically passed from generation to generation. This is the disease or genetic theory of addiction. Many apply this theory to drugs other than alcohol.
Whether there is any genetic link or not, you cannot ignore the powerful environmental and sociological influences that permeate society.
For example, a child brought up in a home where tobacco and alcohol use are norms portrayed positively in the media and by peers, will be influenced by these norms.
There are as well mental and physical compulsions that occur with drugs through experimentation and further use.
One important link to addiction that Narconon is addressing has really remained hidden. That link has been the role of drug metabolites that accumulate in the body’s fat tissue.
American author and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard not only realized this in his research on the effects of drugs, he developed a detoxification protocol in which to do something about it. The Narconon New Life Detoxification that utilizes a unique regimen of nutrition, exercise and sauna to sweatout drug residues from the body’s fat tissue plays a significant role in the success of the Narconon Program.
Narconon ends addiction with a method of substance abuse treatment that has been described as decades ahead of its time by one of the field’s top research physicians, Dr. Forest Tennant, Executive Director of Community Health Projects, Inc.
Thirty years ago Arizona State Prison inmate, William Benitez, contacted L. Ron Hubbard after reading one of his books asking for help with his 19 year addiction to heroin. Mr. Hubbard had been researching a drug free approach to substance abuse treatment and gave Mr. Benitez permission to utilize the fruits of his research in this new program called Narconon (meaning “narcotics-none”) that started inside the walls of Arizona State Prison.
The Narconon Program addresses addiction and the effects of drugs on the body, the mind and the person himself. The program starts with a drug-free withdrawal assisted by vitamins and minerals and counseling techniques that make the use of replacement drugs unnecessary in most cases. This vitamin assisted withdrawal program was completed in 1973 and was incorporated into the social education program of counseling and life skills courses on communication, study, ethics, morals, goal finding and goal setting.
In 1978, after postulating that LSD flashbacks were a biochemical, not a mental phenomenon, Mr. Hubbard piloted his initial research on what became the sauna sweatout protocol. By having LSD drug cases take specific vitamins, and exercise wearing rubberized suits which caused profuse sweating, flashbacks were produced, and from this Mr. Hubbard knew he was right.
What Mr. Hubbard found not only applied to LSD but prescription drugs, street drugs, and the many thousands of environmental toxins that our populations are exposed to, and which remain in the body. He went on to develop the Narconon New Life Detoxification which has been done by tens of thousands of people who today remain drug free.
By getting the drugs cleaned out of the body’s fat tissues we greatly enhance the person’s ability to accomplish a drug free life through completion of the full program.
Positive results have been experienced at Narconon time and time again. The research has been done and well documented.
Narconon’s ability to end addiction can be found in its methods that have been hard won through years of research and development by L. Ron Hubbard. Dedicated staff around the world are bringing these methods to those in need.
John Duff is president of Narconon International and co-author of The Truth About Drugs, The Body, Mind and You. The Narconon Program is an effective drug prevention and treatment program developed by the well known author and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard.