First Came Alcohol
John’s first experience with any intoxicating drug was stealing bottles of whiskey and other hard liquor from his grandparents’ basement. He shared his haul with his buddies and tried some whiskey himself. He was thirteen. All that happened was that he got a headache and felt lousy and resolved never to drink whiskey again.
Then Came LSD, Opium and Hashish
He steered clear of more alcohol or drugs until he was 16. By that time, he was going to parties with friends and getting drunk on beers from time to time. But he was against drug use despite the fact that his friends were smoking marijuana. A few years later, on the Fourth of July, friends of his brought LSD, opium and hashish to the party and he got his first taste of these drugs. That was the end of any hesitation about using drugs or alcohol.
Then the Beginning of Drug Addiction
He took his new taste for drugs back to college with him. He was drinking and smoking marijuana while he was back in school and managed to still maintain good grades. But then he changed schools, moving to a university in Florida. At this new school, drugs became an everyday habit for him. That was the beginning of his addiction.
He said, “It got pretty bad. It was Ecstasy and LSD every day, every single day.” He went to parties or concerts with his friends every day or raves on the weekend. He still managed to go to school and his job for the most part.
Cocaine and OxyContin added to the Mix
His junior year, he finally withdrew from school and got a job delivering food, followed by construction or waiter jobs. He settled down to just using marijuana or drinking, and then added cocaine to the mix. This was followed by exposure to Oxycontin. His first use was snorting. He liked the way it made him feel.
Then Came Heroin and Pain Pills
Again, he tried to get away from the drugs by moving out of the area. It worked for a little while but the drugs wouldn’t let him alone. Pretty soon he was on heroin and pain pills.
Short-Term Rehab
Somehow in the midst of all this, he managed to get his college degree but messed up an opportunity for an internship and career. A short-term rehab helped him stay sober for several months until he went to Spring Break and had a beer. Before he knew what happened, he had drunk a dozen beers and that was the end of that sober streak. This pattern continued with heroin and OxyContin abuse and repeated rehabs. The rehabs prescribed Suboxone and buprenorphine along with other drugs they said were needed for personality disorders, but the cravings never let up. He stayed clean only as long as he was in the facility.
Heroin Relapse
When he passed out in his car in a gas station after picking up a batch of heroin, it was pretty obvious that something was seriously wrong. While he was unaware of the severity of his problem, his parents knew that he needed a different kind of rehab that would break the grip of addiction for good. They found the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. John chatted with the intake people at Narconon but continued to use opiates.
Realization
When his friend’s girlfriend had to be rushed to the hospital from a heroin overdose, he began to realize that someone could die from the heroin abuse, and that it might be him. Soon after, he decided to commit to the Narconon program and get clean.
Free from Drugs
It was not a short process after such a long history of drug abuse. But each of the individual steps of the program added up to the realization that he could live his life free from drugs for the first time in a very long time.
Narconon Drug Rehab Completion
Once he had that realization, he never looked back. He went through the Narconon heroin detox program and completed the rest of the Narconon program. He built a positive life free from drugs and now helps others recover from addiction to heroin, Oxycontin, alcohol or other kinds of drug abuse.
If you would like to find out how Narconon helped John and others recover from heroin and opiate abuse, keep reading here: http://www.narconon.org/drug-rehab/heroin-detox.html