It’s a new year, a new decade and it could be a new phase of your life if you are currently living with drug and alcohol addiction and you’re ready to get clean and sober. Drug and alcohol addiction treatment can provide you with medical treatment for physical and emotional drug dependence. There’s no better time than the present to make the change you’ve been wanting to make for years.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment: The Opportunity of a New Start

You open up a world of opportunities for yourself when you choose to enroll in a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center. Holistic addiction treatment especially provides more than just medical detox. You also get a number of different therapies and treatments that provide recreation and exercise. From hiking and beach walks to swimming and equine assisted therapy, you will have the opportunity to create new habits, get involved in new hobbies and build a life for yourself outside of drug and alcohol addiction.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment Options

The number of drug and alcohol addiction treatment options available means that no one need walk away without the help they need this year. There inpatient crystal meth rehabs, outpatient heroin detox, short-term alcohol detox, methadone clinics, sober living homes, long-term cocaine addiction treatment… the options and combinations are almost endless.

Your options are increased by the fact that for every type of drug and alcohol addiction treatment services available, there are different styles of providing that service. You can find high end or luxury drug rehabs or public, basic options. You can find religion-affiliated detox and addiction treatment programs for almost any religion or non-religious rehabs. You can find non-profit organizations offering treatment or private companies offering more of a resort-style option. From seven-day detox programs to year-long inpatient treatment, you can find a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center to suit your needs.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment: Take Back the New Year

New year’s resolutions are usually great intentions and nothing more. At best, they’re promises that are kept for a week or even a month before they are broken. Don’t be one of the masses. If you are living with heroin addiction, prescription drug addiction, cocaine addiction, crystal meth addiction or addiction to a combination of drugs and alcohol, then resolve to get clean at a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center this year and make it happen right now. Call The Canyon to get started.

When you are physically dependent upon any drug, including alcohol, detox can be an extremely difficult experience. More than just a physiological response to the lack of drugs in your system, drug detox is emotionally and psychologically exhausting as well.

If you are about to enter drug detox or if you are currently detoxing off of your drug of choice, here are a few safety tips to help you make sure you are detoxing healthfully and effectively.

Drug Detox Safety Tip #1: Medical Supervision

Of primary importance is your health as you go through drug detox. The only way to ensure this is to begin and end your drug detox under medical supervision. At inpatient drug detox or drug rehab facilities, you will have onsite medical supervision as you begin your drug detox all the way through until your withdrawal symptoms are gone. Should you experience any complications due to underlying or co-occurring medical disorders, you will be protected.

Drug Detox Safety Tip #2: Don’t Binge

Many are tempted to overindulge in their drug of choice right before entering a drug detox program. They view it as a “last hurrah” before getting clean and sober. Unfortunately, this will only make your detox experience worse. It also increases your chance of drug overdose, which may ultimately mean that you never make it to drug detox at all. It’s just not a good idea.

Drug Detox Safety Tip #3: Don’t Relapse

One of the biggest risks during drug detox is relapse, yet another reason why it is important that you enroll in a medically supervised drug detox program before you begin. The risk of relapse is highest during detox due to the intensity of withdrawal symptoms. Unfortunately, the largest percentage of drug overdoses occur after a period of sobriety and relapsing during detox is significantly more dangerous than regular drug use. The chances of death or coma due to overdose after abstinence is much higher.

Drug Detox Safety Tip #4: Positive Support

The support of people who love you and want the best for you as well as from people who have been through what you’re going through is invaluable. For many, this is the only thing that keeps them involved in the program and fighting through the hard parts of each day. If you feel like relapsing or if you find yourself wondering why you started this in the first place, if you can’t seem to remember what it is that you’re getting clean and sober for, then calling a supportive friend, counselor, a 1-800 hotline or a sponsor will help you get back on track.

Drug Detox

If you’re ready to get started on building a new life without drugs and alcohol, then The Canyon can help. Give us a call or contact us by email for more information about our drug detox program today.

Drug detox is something no drug addict or alcoholic looks forward to. A person needing drug detox goes through an uncomfortable, sometimes painful withdrawal from the drug as it leaves their body. The withdrawal process can be so difficult that many people end up staying on drugs because they can’t tolerate the symptoms well enough to stay clean for long. Unfortunately, a person does have to go through this if they decide to get sober. Fortunately, there are many great drug detox services available today, both as independent facilities and as part of drug rehab centers. Here are some of the things you need to know about drug detox.

Difference Between Drug Detox and Drug Rehab

Drug detox is not drug rehab. Detox is simply detoxifying the body from the chemicals, nothing more. Drug rehab is a more long-term therapeutic service done by trained drug addiction therapists. Drug rehab involves individual talk therapy, group therapy sessions, twelve step principles, sometimes holistic therapies like yoga and meditation, and is often done in a 30-90 day residential setting.

Drug detox services will be much shorter, usually just a few days. Some drugs create withdrawal symptoms for several days to a few weeks after the majority of the drugs have left the body. However, the addict may still stay only through the worst couple of days at the beginning until the symptoms are more manageable.

Drug detox services have caring professionals that offer medical and emotional support. However, they do not provide the important personal therapy work done at a drug rehab center. Drug detox is an important part of getting sober, but it is only a small part of the big picture. Drug rehab is usually necessary to create a foundation for lasting sobriety.

Drug Detox More Comfortable But Not Perfect

Drug detox, however well done, can still be uncomfortable. The ultimate goal with drug detox is to make withdrawal symptom-free. But no medicine can take the place of good rest, good nutrition, and a healthy body. Medicine and a comfortable location will certainly make the detox process more tolerable, but it does not guarantee that an addict won’t feel some discomfort from the process. Drug detox still makes much more sense than a cold turkey approach. The emotional and medical support can make the withdrawal step successful rather than another frustrating cycle.

Use Drug Detox And Start A Sober Life

If you know you are facing drug withdrawal at some point, do it in a professional drug detox setting. What once may have been a roadblock can be a point of inspiration and courage in your life. You can overcome an important hurdle to your sobriety. For best and longest lasting results, do your drug detox as part of a comprehensive drug rehab stay. Contact your local drug rehab or drug detox center to see what your options are and to ask questions.

Earlier this week, we talked about drug addiction in prison here, specifically opiate and heroin addiction, and how poorly the justice system handles those who are arrested while strung out and/ or released when they have a history of drug addiction issues with a very few exceptions. But there’s a phenomenon of self preservation and a sort of tribal protection that happens inside that we haven’t talked about, one that often saves the sanity and physical and mental wellbeing of those inside but, in one recent case, has meant an unnecessary death.

Methadone Death of Prisoner in Canada

Not that it doesn’t happen in the United States, but the incident reported recently occurred in Canada: one prisoner died of a methadone overdose after his cellie, or cellmate, smuggled methadone back to their cell, methadone that he had been prescribed and received at the jail health center but hadn’t swallowed.

The Unlikely Sad Result

The cellmate who provided the methadone in this particular case in Canada which sparked the change in policy was charged and convicted of manslaughter for giving his cellie the drug that ultimately killed him. His sentence? Three (more) years in jail.

While it is necessary for it to be clear that there are consequences for breaking the rules, consequences that are serious enough to want to avoid, it is also important to see the big picture. In this case, as in many others like it, if the original person receiving methadone received a comprehensive detox and addiction treatment while incarcerated, he wouldn’t have been receiving the methadone in the first place. He wouldn’t have been in a position to give the drug to someone else, and that person may not have wanted the drug if he had undergone the same detox and treatment program upon entry.

Again, drug rehab in the prison system would be beneficial for everyone involved, saving lives and money for the state at the same time.

The Resulting Change to Canadian Jail and Dosing Policies

Since, apparently they weren’t doing it before, their solution in the Canadian provincial jails was to institute a policy of watching the inmates take their prescribed medication, actually laying eyes on them as they swallow the pills and then searching them before they return to their cells.

Hmm. Good plan. But this is common policy in jails and prisons across the country and yet it still happens that inmates routinely smuggle their medication back to their cellmates, back into general population.

Recommended Change to Any Country’s Drug Policies

The solution seems obvious: drug rehab in the prison system. I know plenty of people who are hardcore addicts who somehow manage to stay clean while they’re inside. They don’t want to be ‘that guy.’ They want to keep their edge and remain alert. They don’t want anything beyond the prison system itself in control of their lives. Why not reinforce this positively with a regimented drug rehab, something that provides them with relapse prevention tools to stay clean when they get out? It’s another way to choose control and to give them the ability to maintain this desire for control when they leave. And for those who don’t break their addictions when they’re inside and live off of the smuggled medications and dope that they get at any cost, drug rehab offers them a way out.

What’s your recommendation? What would you do differently?

That’s right! It’s official: September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. That means that the focus this month by many local organizations and groups is on raising awareness of drug addiction and its effects on the individual as well as the community.

What is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month?

According to the official website, National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month is “ an annual observance that takes place during the month of September. The Recovery Month observance highlights the societal benefits of substance abuse treatment, lauds the contributions of treatment providers and promotes the message that recovery from substance abuse in all its forms is possible. The observance also encourages citizens to take action to help expand and improve the availability of effective substance abuse treatment for those in need.”

Every year there is a different theme and the website is like a central hub where people from across the country can get ideas, downloads and see what others are doing to promote awareness and lobby for more access to drug and alcohol rehab programs for those who need it.

National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month: Celebration

For those who have successfully completed drug and alcohol rehab and are living a life of abstinence as a result, this is a month to speak out. At rallies and special programs across the country, those in recovery are asked to talk about their experience, their difficulties and their successes. September is a month to celebrate the good that comes of drug and alcohol rehab treatment, all the saved lives, relationships and families that come with getting the medical treatment you need.

It’s also a celebration of the people who are building drug addiction treatment programs, who work in outreach, who are substance abuse treatment counselors and others who give their lives to helping those who are struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Drug treatment centers often celebrate this month and honor the counselors and substance abuse treatment professionals who serve those who require treatment.

National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month: Awareness

Education is another key goal and focus of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. It’s not just about making it clear that drug and alcohol treatment are available but lobbying for more access to treatment and laws that offer drug rehab in prison and as an alternative to prison sentences. Disseminating information to the community about the dangers of drug abuse and drug addiction as well as information that serves to break the stereotypes surrounding drug addiction and those who are addicts is also a priority.

Go on the website and find out what’s happening in your community and get involved!

There’s been a lot of talk on this blog about how to fix what ails us—depression, chronic pain, anxiety, et cetera—when it is no longer an option to continue taking the prescription drugs that began as a remedy for those conditions and ended up creating a drug addiction that required nothing short of a thorough drug detox and rehab.

At a certain point, the consequences of drug addiction outweigh the benefits taking the prescription drug to fight the original issue. Additionally, when prescription drug addiction is in effect, it is often the case that the drugs aren’t working the way they should so that addiction and the original issue are both actively causing problems.

Even though it may seem intuitive that the next best step at this point is to go through drug detox, it is the opposite of ideal when it comes to your state of mind as well as the state of your body. Making the choice to get help can be the most difficult part…especially if your physical issue is insomnia.

Whether or not you are currently addicted to prescription sleep aids, you can practice the following tips for falling asleep without narcotics. They may enhance your medication making a lower dose of a prescription medication more effective and, in some cases, they may take away your need for any medication at all.

Non-Narcotic Options for Sleep

• Yoga – Since relaxing your body and mind are the first step to falling asleep, it makes sense that yoga would be a good idea. None of that energizing, super sweaty yoga, though. Opt instead for the slow, stretchy kind. There are some videos available with 20-minute relaxing routines that are meant to be done before bed.
• Exercise – Earlier in the day, some good rigorous exercise will help to wear your body out naturally so that when you’re ready to go to bed, your body is, too.
• Avoid cigarettes before bedtime – In addition to staying away from sugar, chocolate, coffee, soda and other ‘upper’ type substances, avoiding cigarettes a few hours before bed is recommended when you’re having trouble sleeping.
• Big meals or no meals – Not eating at all can keep you awake as much as eating way too much. Make sure you eat something a few hours before bed so that you don’t wake up starving but not so much or so close to bed time that you’re body is focused on digesting rather than relaxing.

Remember: consistency and patience is key. None of these will work the first time you try it. And the more tips you can apply, the better your chances of getting to sleep without a prescription. Come back next week for more tips for falling asleep without prescription drugs.

Here’s another case of someone being charged with murder when their “crime” is giving their prescribed medication to a friend. And in this case, the person being charged is a big-eyed 19 year old boy, Nikolas Ramiro Flores. He was charged with second degree murder of 19-year-old Christopher Thomas Waters back in January and is currently awaiting trial, according to BlueRidgeNow.com.

What Happened?

Christopher Thomas Waters was found dead in his home of an apparent overdose on methadone pills. It was later discovered by police that Waters got those pills from Flores. Rather than ruling the death an ‘accidental overdose’ or ‘suicide’ as it may have been called in past years, deaths like these are being associated with the provider of the drugs and called ‘homicide.’ As homicides, the deaths are now the fault of the person who provided the drugs and not the person who chose to take them, which is marks a significant shift in our culture in terms of taking legal responsibility for our own actions.

Do Dealers Get Charged With Murder?

The drug in question here was methadone and Flores was not prescribed the drug that he passed along to Waters. Does it matter whether or not he sold the drug to him or just gave it to him? It sounds like they were friends and the last post where we talked about a similar case in which a guy died after a friend gave him her methadone prescription was definitely not a sale situation. So why is it that you can get charged with murder when you give someone your prescription or a pill that you obtained illegally but you don’t get charged with murder necessarily when you get picked up for selling drugs?

And what about doctors who prescribe drugs that ultimately end in overdose? If it is determined that they acted negligently enough to lose their medical license, why aren’t they being charged with murder as well?

Flores is Not Alone

And Flores is not the only kid getting charged with second degree murder for sharing his pills with friends who ultimately died from abusing them. In the same county, as a matter of fact, James Michael Arnold, a 23 year old, was charged with second degree murder for the death of Justin Kane Anderson who died of a Fentanyl overdose last July. Is it ethical to ruin the lives of these kids because of the bad choices that their friends made? The people who died were adults in their own right and should be responsible for their decisions, in my opinion.

What do you think?

It’s a fine line when you’re trying to help someone you love who is addicted to drugs and/ or alcohol. Too much help can be termed “codependent,” essentially making their addiction possible by providing them with a place to stay, money to feed their habit and helping them to lie and cover up addictive behavior in front of others. Too little help and your friend or family member may not realize that there is a way out of addiction through detox and treatment.

Offer Medical Help Instead of Financial Support

One way to help your loved one not only realize that there help is available but also recognize that they have a problem that is affecting their life and the lives of those around them is to organize a drug addiction intervention. A staged meeting that includes close family, friends and community leaders like clergy who are close to the person suffering from addiction is most common. A neutral mediator is often invited to help everyone maintain focus and keep things short and specific.

The Goal of a Drug Addiction Intervention

The point is of an intervention is two-fold. The first goal is to give concrete examples of events that illustrate how the addict is hurting herself and others. This is usually done first to help the person being confronted understand the depth and severity of the situation.

The second goal of an drug addiction intervention is for the addict to choose drug rehab—immediately. An ultimatum is usually made: go to drug rehab or lose something specific and important. This “something specific and important” can be a spouse saying, “Get help or I’m divorcing you,” or it can be a parent telling a child, “Get help or move out.” The point is that the consequences for not choosing to get help immediately—that is, walk out the door, get in the car and drive directly to a drug rehab like The Canyon—are dire and also immediately effective.

Though it may sound harsh, a drug addiction intervention can be a valuable way to help your loved one get the help they need now. If you need assistance, check here the rest of the month for more tips or contact The Canyon if you would like a professional interventionist to assist you in approaching your loved one on the subject of drug addiction treatment.

There’s no doubt that in 99.9 percent of cases, the first use of any recreational drug is voluntary. Even the use of an addictive prescription drug, ultimately, is voluntary. But what about addiction? Do you choose to use or is it an uncontrollable compulsion?

What the Experts Say About the Nature of Drug Addiction

The answer is: a little bit of both. The compulsion to use and the craving for a drug of choice are both characteristics of drug addiction as a medical disease. Yes, the first step to developing this disease—like smoking that leads to lung cancer—is voluntary, but once the disease has developed, it’s pretty much out of your hands. You started it, opened the door to its manifestation, but now that it’s here, it is a medical problem and not one you can erase with apologies and promises not to do it again.

Voluntary Drug Use Versus Involuntary Drug Addiction

When does the voluntary action cross the line into compulsive behavior? That is different for everyone. Tolerance levels vary in each individual, as does the predilection for addictive behavior. The drug used plays a part as well as the dosage, the length of time the drug is taken, how often, and other drugs it is mixed with. All of these factors dictate when and to what extent the brain is changed and at what point the idea to use becomes a craving.

Tracking The Evolution of Drug Abuse Into Drug Addiction

No matter when it happens, this transition occurs unbeknownst to the user. No one intends to get addicted, but when it happens, treatment is the only way to put the disease into remission. If you’re not psychologically addicted, treating the physical addiction with a substitution and detox drug like buprenorphine is all you need to get back on track and shake the cravings without going through withdrawal.

If you have a drug addition, you already know the most uncomfortable part – withdrawal. Not every drug has physical withdrawal symptoms, but practically every addictive drug has a psychological addiction. Much of the power of addiction is it’s affect on your thoughts and beliefs. When you face an ugly withdrawal period, you could go to a drug treatment center that provides medically supervised drug detox, or go cold turkey on your own. Let’s look honestly at both sides.

Privacy

Cold Turkey – Certainly this option would provide a lot of privacy. You could choose to isolate yourself completely and you would have no interruptions. You could ask a friend to check in on your after a couple of days. However, it pays to look at the rest of the list to see if being totally alone is really the safest idea.

Drug Treatment Center – Doing a drug detox at a private drug treatment center gives you about as much privacy as you could get with some important benefits. No one from outside the drug rehab will know you are even there unless you give express permission to release information. Most importantly, you can be assured a safe medically-assisted detox experience.

Discomfort

Cold Turkey – The pain and physical discomfort of the withdrawal experience often draws people back into their addiction. Depending on the drug you are withdrawing from, those hours and days can be anywhere from miserable and annoying to unbearable and dangerous. Many people simply go back to the drugs because they can’t handle the withdrawal symptoms and can’t see the end in sight.

Drug Treatment Center- Going the professional route doesn’t guarantee a pain-free experience. But for some drug withdrawals, a doctor can prescribe medications to ease the physical cravings and lessen the overall discomfort. This is most commonly done with opiates due to their highly physically addictive nature.

Emotional Support

Cold Turkey – You may feel like your willpower and desire to be done with drugs will be enough to get you through. But keep in mind how emotionally fragile you are from being on drugs in the first place. What happens when it gets really tough? Can you count to your friends who are on drugs and understand the experience? Can you turn to friends and family who are sober and want you to come through it, but may not know how to help you?

Drug Treatment Center – Professionals at a drug treatment center have helped many people in your situation. They won’t get rattled by the emotional things you say or do. These folks are also trained to help you stay encouraged, listen to you, and give you accurate information on your progress to give you hope. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Something Going Wrong

Cold Turkey – Most people are not at risk of dying from attempting a cold turkey detox at home (although it might feel like it). It can be extremely uncomfortable, but it rarely becomes fatal. However, if you have untreated medical problems and you try detox on your own, you could be putting your life at risk.

Drug Treatment Center- The advantage of going to a drug treatment center is knowing that your health is being carefully watched. If anything should get difficult, you can be transferred to a nearby hospital until you are out of danger.