So you’ve heard of the chicken and egg debate… you know, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Well, this type of ‘which is the instigator and which is the instigated’ sort of debate in the drug addiction treatment and law enforcement community is common as well: which came first, the drug dealers or the drug buyers? If we take away the drug dealers on the street, will those who want the drugs just find other sources or will the problem be taken care of? If we eradicate drug addiction, will we put drug dealers out of business or will they just create new addicts? Ultimately, the big question is, which group do we target to mitigate the cost and damages done to communities due to drug addiction?

Drug Buyers Fuel Worldwide Drug Trade

According to TimesCall.com, “When a person in America lights up a joint, injects heroin or methamphetamine, swallows a pill of ecstasy, snorts cocaine or takes any other controlled drug, he or she is contributing to a world of drug trafficking and violence.”

Though some drugs are made or grown in the United States (like crystal meth or marijuana, respectively) there are more than 146 countries on the CIA’s World Factbook as sites of drug trafficking, growth and manufacturing. Unfortunately, the destination for a great amount of the drugs grown in these countries is none other than the United States. It’s our demand for the drugs that keeps these countries—and their illegal abuse of children and local resources and reign of international terror—in business.

Stop Drug Manufacture and Growth

In my opinion, if you stop drug addicts from buying, you simply fill up the prisons with nonviolent offenders and waste the community’s money. Meanwhile, new drug addicts are growing in their place. If there were no drugs to experiment with, then there would be fewer addicts, right?

But if we take out the drug dealer in the community—someone who likely started out as an addict, someone who must get money from somewhere to continue to support his or her habit and likely won’t be able to hold down any legitimate job—then we are again putting more people in prison and opening up a spot that someone else will just quickly fill.

So why not start with more stringent control of international trade? The Coast Guard routinely takes down ships traveling international waters toward the United States with literally tons of cocaine and marijuana. Stepping up the search of incoming vessels and packages should be the focus of federal funding, while state funding should go toward treating our addicts and increasing the education of children and teens on the devastating effects of drug abuse and addiction.

Drug Addiction Treatment

The Canyon offers highly personalized drug addiction treatment that speaks to the need of anyone who is struggling with any kind of drug of addiction. Be it cocaine, marijuana, heroin, crystal meth, alcohol, club drugs or a combination thereof, you can find a drug addiction treatment program that

Freedom and drug rehab – that doesn’t sound like much of a match at first. Sounds like drug rehab would be more like a prison than a place of freedom. Your perspective on drug rehab and addiction recovery really matters here.

Drug Rehab Has Rules But No Confinement

Actually, most people might think of drug rehab as a confining place with lots of rules. That’s why you’re there, right? You’ve ruined your life out in the real world so you have to go to this place to get better and stay alive. Things are so bad you can’t even live at home while you get drug treatment.

Well, yes, there are certainly rules at drug rehab. The average drug addict has probably broken laws, promises, and many social rules. Having rules is really a good thing. It brings order to the chaos, provides something stable to fall back on when there is uncertainty.

Living At Drug Rehab Has Benefits

Living at the drug rehab is helpful for several reasons. First, drug addicts that are newly sober may experience health problems and side effects from withdrawal. Also, mental illness issues can present themselves at all times of the day or night. It’s important for addicts to know they have support and quality care at all times. Until they are able to function on their own, this round-the-clock availability is necessary.

When you really live somewhere for more than a few days, you tend to develop emotional attachments and let a few “roots” sprout. The common atmosphere and community spirit of drug rehab is its own healing force. Outpatient drug treatment and twelve step support groups can be marvelous for many people. But there’s no substitute for the connection of a community that lives and shares together like the people staying at a drug rehab.

Drug Rehab Helps With Freedom From Addiction

The key to freedom at drug rehab is being able to loosen the grip of addiction on your life. When you can develop trusting relationships and share pain, your loneliness can get better. When you find that you can stay sober longer than you ever have before, you can celebrate with people who really understand. When you finally get treatment for your bipolar or anxiety problem, you can finally know relief from the pain.

A drug rehab set way out in the hills on a lonely road may be the last place you’d expect to find freedom. It seems like this could be confining and regimented. On the contrary, the drug rehab professionals are there to help people unlock themselves from the prison of their addiction. They may find they had the keys to their own prison cell all along. Drug rehab just showed how to use them.

It’s the stuff that a CSI or Law & Order episode is made of: a lawyer is caught lying and cheating, abusing and addicted to illegal drugs and all eyes are on the trial, waiting to find out if Ken Lawson, the lawyer in question, will go to jail or be put on probation. The burden is on a federal court judge to make the decision and it seems that the choice will depend on just how deep the conspiracy went.

Prescription Painkiller Conspiracy

That’s right. I said it: conspiracy. That’s what this case is all about. It was a criminal conspiracy to obtain hundreds of thousands of prescription painkillers. But that’s where the agreement on events ends. No one disputes whether or not it was a conspiracy. The question before the court is exactly how deeply involved was Lawson, the lawyer on trial.

Federal Prosecutor’s Story on the Prescription Painkiller Conspiracy

The prosecution says that Lawson was not just a key player in the prescription drug conspiracy, but its ring leader. They contend that he coordinated a Cincinnati doctor to write prescriptions for painkillers in other people’s names, knowing that Lawson would end up with the pills. The names used included those of clients, his friends and family, even his five children. The prosecutor wrote in a court filing that: “These children were taught that you ‘did what daddy told you to do’ and were clearly unduly susceptible to the illegal wishes of the defendant.”

The conspiracy was the source of 2500 fake prescriptions which yielded 450,000 doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone. But for what purpose did he intend this number of pills? The prosecution says that the sheer numbers demand that the court at least consider a possible intent to distribute.

Lawson’s Story About the Prescription Painkiller Conspiracy

Lawson will be the first to tell you: he was a drug addict, addicted to prescription painkillers, and that to feed that he habit he did whatever he had to do, including lying, cheating and manipulating. In short, he did everything that drug addicts do. And he got caught for it. He’s more than willing to pay the fines associated with that prescription drug fraud. But, he says, he never sold anything and never had any intention to do so, an assertion that would preclude a prison sentence. He has been clean and sober for two years.

His lawyer wrote in a sentencing memorandum: “His conduct … has not only demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, it has demonstrated self-sacrifice, devotion to the needs of others, and positive contributions to the well-being of the community.”

Other Factors in the Prescription Drug Addiction Case

For one thing, the defense would like you to know that the doctor who was prescribing these pills illegally should take some blame. Also, that doctor was under investigation for providing illegal prescriptions well before Lawson began his prescription drug fraud, bartering free legal services for illegal prescriptions. In fact, the defense intimates that the prescription drug addiction likely began due to the doctor actively prescribing Lawson these medication in an effort to get him hooked and elicit free legal services to fight these federal investigations.

The prosecution, on the other hand, says that that is not only untrue, but that Lawson misled the doctor into believing that he needed the prescriptions and then threatened him in order to keep the pills coming when the doctor wanted to stop the conspiracy.

Lawson faces up to four years in prison if he is convicted of leading and perpetrating the conspiracy through threats. He is hoping to receive probation and be remanded to a prescription drug rehab.

There’s a old saying that goes like this: Adversity doesn’t build you character, it reveals it. The choices you have made up to this very moment have made you what you are. If you are going through drug treatment, you are probably learnin a lot about yourself. Is this good news or bad news? Regardless of what you learn, understanding your character is important for your drug addiction recovery.

Drug Rehab Is About Honesty With Yourself And Others

Drug rehab is about being honest with yourself and others. It can be tough and painful, but it’s a necessary pathway for healthy recovery. People with drug addiction have attempted to deal with emotional pain by covering it up or fuzzing it out. This brings dishonesty to a person’s character.

Drug treatment counselors know how difficult the revealing process of rehab can be. They are direct, but show respect and warmth to those struggling with the process. It’s times like these when character traits can become more clear. And when they emerge in an environment of trust, it’s easier to take an honest look at them.

Drug Rehab Helps You Learn About Your Choices

For example, you may finally realize the impact of your untrustworthiness through drug rehab. Through counseling and quiet reflection, you might understand the impact of your choices in the past. You may more clearly see how you have let down others and yourself.

This kind of realization can be hard to stomach, hard to believe. This can hurt even more if you felt like you used to be quite trustworthy before your addiction. Or, you may have always wanted to be more trustworthy but couldn’t break out of bad habits. But here’s the good news. Your choices brought you to this point, and your choices can take you in another better direction. The way you act from the current moment on
forward determines what your character is. Establishing healthier habits can help your character trait change from untrustworthy to trustworthy.

You may also find some helpful character traits that you didn’t really know were there. After hitting a low point, you might discover fierce determination to get your life back. Your determination might have been expressed in more negative ways such as rebellion against authority or conflict in relationships. But when you can apply determination towards your drug rehab and addiction recovery efforts, this character trait can push you through the difficult times.

Clarify Values Beliefs And Actions In Drug Treatment

You are in control of your character through your beliefs, values, and actions. When you line up your beliefs and values with good emotional and physical health, your actions are more likely to follow. When your actions line up well with your beliefs, you have gained another character trait – integrity. It takes time and practice to keep these things lined up, but with support you can do it. No one can take these choices away
from you except yourself.

You might learn some unpleasant things about yourself during drug treatment. However, this is a great learning opportunity. Revealing your character gives you something to build from no matter what you find.

The Rockefeller drug laws in New York have meant that the state has some of the strictest minimum sentences for drug-related offenses in the country. Activists who believe that the laws do nothing more than fill up the prisons and cost taxpayers money rather than being of any real help to anyone have been fighting them for years. Finally, it looks like repeal may be on the horizon.

A New Bill for New York Drug Laws

One of the changes that the new bill makes is the elimination of the mandatory minimum of a year-long sentence for first offenders with Class B felonies, which includes the intent to sell with possession of up to ½ ounce of cocaine or heroin. Another change expands the options to remand drug offenders to drug treatment so that they get the help they need as opposed to throwing them in jail, as long as they are addicted to drugs.

It is estimated that this change could not only keep a large number of people out of prison, but that it may allow about one-eighth of New York’s 13,400 drug prisoners to successfully apply for reduced sentences.

Caitlin Dunklee is an activist with the Drop the Rock campaign, a group campaigning to repeal the laws. She says, “I think it’s a really positive step forward. It is not the end of the Rockefeller drug laws, but hopefully, it’s the beginning of the end.”

Why the Rockefeller Laws Don’t Work

Like Third Strike laws that seek to deter those who would commit multiple crimes, the Rockefeller laws are in place with the hope that fewer people will commit drug-related crimes in order to avoid the harsh sentences. Unfortunately, that has not been the result. Rather, not only has crime and addiction been reduced not one iota since the institution of the Rockefeller laws but the New York prison population has increased on a massive scale.

Research shows us that drug offenders make up 20 percent of New York’s incarcerated men and 33 percent of the its incarcerated women. Of these, about 40 percent are locked up for possession of a drug only, with no intent to sell or distribute.

The Caveats

It is important to note that the accused drug offender will have to plead guilty to possession charges; no contest won’t fly. Plus, they also have to prove that they have an issue with drug addiction in order to be remanded to drug addiction treatment.

Also, the Rockefeller law’s originally instated 15-years-to-life sentences remain intact for those who were determined to be drug ‘kingpins’ and were convicted of selling $75,000 worth of illegal substances or more.

Drug Addiction Treatment for Drug Addiction as Opposed to Prison

Though naysayers are loudly against the easement of the Rockefeller laws, calling it a Drug Dealer Protection Act and predicting an upward swing in drug abuse and related crimes, it must be argued that a truly just system will reflect the deed and the cause and motivation for the deed. If you are feeding an addiction, you need treatment or else you will only be sent off to prison to increase your addiction and meet more drug dealers and then released to repeat the crime.

The Canyon offers drug addiction treatment for those who need it. Whether you have been remanded to treatment or would like to avoid prosecution for your addiction, get the help you need at drug rehab before it’s too late.

Kurt Cobain killed himself when I was in college. It was April 5, 1994, and his death was all over TV when I went to dinner with friends that night. Yeah, he was edgy and had some life drama, but suicide? It was a shock because it sounded gruesome and because it happened at the height of his fame? What went wrong? What made his life so painful he couldn’t live another day?

Bipolar Diagnosis and Family Problems

According to a family member, Kurt had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He also tried lots of addictive drugs when he was younger. He reportedly had a painful digestive disorder that went undiagnosed for a long time. He found that drug use finally gave him relief. Also, his parents divorced when he was eight years old. He began to withdraw and feel ashamed much of the time. He experimented with marijuana and
heroin.

In the early years of Nirvana, Cobain and future wife Courtney Love got to know each other while using drugs. The strain of performing and dealing with his stomach condition wore on him. And before long, he no longer used heroin occasionally. He was fully addicted to heroin.

Cobain Tried Drug Rehab But Didnt Stay Sober

Cobain finally went to drug rehab in 1992. However, his sobriety didn’t last long. He relapsed and survived a heroin overdose a few months later. In 1994, he had another drug and alcohol overdose. This was reportedly the beginning of the suicidal attempts leading up to his death. He was once reported to have a bottle of pills and a gun in the bathroom.

Family and friends set up a drug treatment intervention for Cobain. He agreed to go to a detox center, but left not long after her got there. He flew back to Seattle, but family and friends lost track of him after that. Cobain was found dead in his home from an apparent shotgun wound. He had heroin and Valium in his body, and had been lying on the floor for days when police found him.

What If Cobain Had Stayed With Drug Treatment

I really enjoyed his music and wish he’d been able to give detox and drug rehab another shot. I wish drug rehab had been more helpful for him. I’m sure in some way his mental illness and drug addiction gave him a lot of fuel for his musical style and lyrics. They were edgy, raw, and sometimes embarrassing to say out loud. But that’s the world he lived in and it all became too much.

Who knows how much influence Cobain and his band could have had in the future had he lived? Drug rehab might have even given him a greater variety of song material to work with. Or he might have given up the music industry altogether. Fame, love, success – none of it was enough to balance out his bipolar and drug addiction.

It’s tragic, it’s confusing, and it’s unfortunately not uncommon for someone with bipolar and a drug addiction. Impulses are out of control, and drugs take away inhibitions. When a mood swing comes along and the person feels enough pain, it’s hard to know what they will do. For Kurt Cobain, it turned out to be the end.

There’s been some research done lately that has shed light on the fact that a medication used to treat alcohol addiction may come in handy when helping kleptomaniacs control their urges. So this news begs the question: is kleptomania an addiction? And if so, will those who suffer from kleptomania respond to addiction treatment like those who benefit from drug and alcohol addiction treatment?

What is Kleptomania?

Kleptomania is a compulsion to shoplift or steal despite the risk of negative consequences. Many who suffer from kleptomania steal despite the fact that they are in no financial need. They could easily afford the things they steal, but take them without paying, anyway. Many are otherwise responsible citizens with jobs and families and are quite embarrassed by their issue with kleptomania.

What is Addiction?

Addiction has both physical and psychological characteristics. The biggest psychological component of addiction is the craving for the object of addiction. Be it a drug, a video game, another person, or an action, addiction occurs when you obsess over it, constantly figure out new ways to indulge in your addiction, and also indulge in your addiction to the exclusion of everything else, despite the negative consequences.

So can kleptomania become an addiction? Yes, if the above characteristics of addiction apply to your need to steal things, then kleptomania, like anything, can become an addiction.

What is the Medication That Treats Alcohol Addiction and Kleptomania?

The medication that is often used to treat alcohol addiction cravings and has been successfully applied to kleptomania in recent research is Naltrexone. Naltrexone has been a popular object of study for years in terms of its effect on compulsive behaviors, behaviors like the compulsive stealing that defines kleptomania as well as the compulsive nature of gambling addictions and drug and/ or alcohol addiction.

How Naltrexone works is that it blocks the nerve interactions in the brain that occur when the addictive behavior occurs and stops the feelings of euphoria or pleasure. It also helps to get rid of the rush that stealing (or indulging in the addictive behavior) provides. It also significantly decreases the desire to indulge in the behavior.

In the study, Dr. Jon Grant, an associate professor of psychiatry, divided 25 men and women into two groups. All of the participants indulged in stealing for at least one hour per week. For the eight-week long study, Grant gave half of them a placebo and the other half, he gave Naltrexone. When the study was complete, those who took the Naltrexone exhibited a significant decline in their stealing behavior, far more so than those who took the placebo.

Though Grant does not believe that Naltrexone alone is a cure for kleptomania (just like it is not a cure for alcohol addiction), he does believe that when used together with therapy and counseling as well as other addiction treatment support measures, it can be very effective.

Addiction Treatment at The Canyon

The Canyon provides drug and alcohol addiction treatment in a certified and licensed dual diagnosis program in southern California. If you suffer from drug and/ or alcohol addiction as well as kleptomania, you can find help here. Don’t wait. Get the help you need before addiction ruins your life.