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Certainly the destruction of the Iron Curtain and the opening of trade and cultural exchanges with other countries brought many benefits to the Russian people. At the same time, this shift provided new turf for international crime and drug trafficking organizations that saw an untapped market for their wares.
Economic and civil chaos followed the conversion of the U.S.S.R. to its separate components. Law enforcement bodies were poorly organized and managed. And satellite countries suddenly lost funding, staffing and management influences from the former state government. Good or bad, these influences did lend a certain amount of stability to such activities as border and customs policing.
In this less-regulated environment, drug traffickers established new trade routes from the poppy fields in Afghanistan to the rich consumer markets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and other cities.
Chemicals Flow In, Drugs Flow Out of Afghanistan
Internationally, the chemicals needed to turn poppy resin into heroin flow toward Afghanistan. There are hundreds of refining labs situated along the Tajikistan border, converting that resin into a salable product. Both opium and heroin cross from Afghanistan into Tajikistan and from there are conveyed into Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan shares a long, utterly porous border with Russia. In some regions, the border is just a dirt road through bare mountains, with nothing more than a wooden rail barring the way. A couple of poorly-trained and even more poorly-equipped border guards are all that exist to prevent the flow of addictive drugs into Russia.
One charity group raised the money to buy some of border guards drug-sniffing dogs. The dogs starved when the guards sold the dog food for the cash they could get for themselves.
After the U.S.S.R. broke up, many of the newly independent countries had little industry to support their populations. This economic stress encouraged more people to seek employment with the drug traffickers. Kazakhstanis or Tajikistanis willing to take a risk may load their donkeys with illicit drugs and cross the frontier, making more in one trip than their friends are making in a month at a legitimate job, if they can even find one. Others, especially in Kazakhstan, will swallow condoms filled with heroin and fly into Russia, where they drink down cheap alcohol and vomit up the packages of heroin.
Corruption among law enforcement officials and border or customs authorities also contribute to the relative ease with which drugs make their way into Russia. It’s estimated that no more than ten percent of the drugs being smuggled in are detected.
Open Borders Begin to Create More Addicts
As these new channels of trafficking stabilized and expanded, the ones who suffered most were those who sought the oblivion of heroin use and then became addicted. One indicator of the increase in drug use is the number of drug-related crimes. The Russian Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics reported that by 2006, this type of crime leapt to a level fifteen times that of 1996. Added to this rise was a ten-fold increase in the number of drug users known to the government. And the number of regions acknowledging a problem with “serious abusers” grew from four regions in 1985 to more than thirty by 2000.
Many addicts in Russia register with the state in the hope of obtaining addiction treatment. But registration has its downside. Registered abusers can’t get some types of jobs and will not be issued a driver’s license. Registering often confers few benefits as evidenced by the fact that most people are removed from the list when they die, not because they recover from their addictions. The life expectancy of a Russian heroin addict is between four and four-and-a-half years.
Russia’s young people are the ones suffering from the highest rate of opiate addiction, which may be due in part to the shortened life expectancies. Additionally, the average age at which they first use drugs keeps dropping. In the last ten years, it fell from 17 to 14 years of age.
Of those who register with the state, perhaps ten percent will finally enter addiction treatment. Russian drug addiction treatment is referred to as “narcology” and is an heir to old Russian psychiatry. In many cases, the entirety of addiction treatment is a medical detoxification in which other drugs are used to speed detoxification. The addict is then likely to be discharged with a handful of antipsychotic medications or barbiturates to take home. If further treatment is administered, it will probably be in the form of hypnotic commands that convince the addict that if he drinks or takes drugs again, he will die. Some reports estimate that 90 percent of treated addicts relapse in the first year.
Only a third of Russia’s regions possess an addiction treatment facility. As Russia stretches across six and a half million miles, this leaves many millions of people far from any help. While official estimates vary, some reports state that 70,000 Russians die annually from drug overdoses and 50,000 more die from alcohol abuse.
In light of this desperate scene, it becomes understandable why, a few years ago, the Mayor of Moscow suggested that Russia implement laws like those in Singapore that allow drug traffickers to be executed for their crimes.
The people of any society deserve drug rehabilitation that works, not something that buries the spirit under more drugs or hypnotic commands. The outdated technology of narcology in Russia needs to be replaced by a more updated, effective and most importantly, humane technology that actually helps restore the citizens of Russia to productive citizenship and the enjoyment of life to which they are entitled.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Oklahoma City at a Drug Trafficking Crossroads
Oklahoma City didn’t ask to be placed a major crossroads of drug trafficking activity but that’s what it got. Oklahoma, Cleveland and Comanche Counties are all part of the North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), a federal designation that enables more funding and personnel to be assigned to combat this problem.
As part of the pipeline for drugs being funneled across the border from Mexico and through the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Oklahoma City inherits also some of the drug traffickers, gang activity and drug abuse-related violence. From this HIDTA, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and diverted prescription drugs are distributed to Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Shipments destined for points as far away as New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Florida and Michigan have also been interdicted.
According to the US Department of Justice, Oklahoma City suffers from increased property and violent crime as a result of ample supplies of powder and ice methamphetamine and crack cocaine. Most of the law enforcement agencies in the area report that the highly addictive methamphetamine is the greatest threat to peace and safety. Meth addicts are known for criminal activity carried out so they can continue to obtain more of the toxic substance to which they are addicted. They specialize in property theft, identity theft and credit card fraud.
To Revert These Trends, Those Who are Addicted Must Find Effective Drug Rehab in Oklahoma City
Citizens in Oklahoma City who have fallen prey to the plots of drug trafficking organizations can often only escape by finding an effective Oklahoma City drug rehab. There are 48 drug rehabs in Oklahoma City or within 50 miles. This may sound like a lot but it still leaves a huge treatment gap. In 2009, there were 245,000 people needing alcohol or drug rehab in Oklahoma. But across the state, only about 17,000 people found help at an Oklahoma City drug rehab or one elsewhere in the state. This literally leaves hundreds of thousands of people in the state who are compelled by intolerable cravings to buy and use more addictive substances, no matter what it takes.
The number of people entering treatment includes those who are addicted the most common and most legal drug of all: alcohol. Nearly 7,000 of those who entered substance abuse treatment in 2009 were there for alcohol, either as a primary drug or as a secondary drug they were having trouble with.
Drug addiction even reaches young Oklahomans. In 2009, four children 11 or under entered drug rehab programs to get help for marijuana addiction.
Compared to the rest of the US, Oklahomans were more likely to seek addiction treatment for marijuana abuse, smoked cocaine, methamphetamine and prescription pain relievers. They were slightly less likely to seek drug rehab in Oklahoma City or the rest of the state for alcohol, but this still left 191,000 Oklahomans out of control of their drinking and not entering rehab. Sadly, the top reason these people did not find a rehab service to help them was that they didn’t think they needed help, despite the damage being done by alcohol abuse.
Controlled Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse is a Growing Problem
As if illicit drugs didn’t create enough of a problem, in the last couple of years, more stolen and otherwise diverted prescription drugs have been distributed throughout the state. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of people entering Oklahoma City drug rehab and rehabs in other parts of the state for addiction to prescription opiates alone has more than doubled, rising from 768 to 1533. In drug rehabs in Oklahoma City and the immediate area, prescription opiate treatment admissions doubled just between 2007 and 2009.
Also in 2009, 248 people lost their lives to prescription drug abuse before they could find an Oklahoma City drug rehab or one elsewhere in Oklahoma that could help save them. Most of the deaths were caused by hydrocodone products (such as Lortab and Vicodin) or oxydocone products such as OxyContin. The other drug that caused too many Oklahomans to lose their lives in 2009 was not a prescription drug but was illicitly-manufactured methamphetamine, smuggled in from Mexico or created locally in small, toxic labs.
One thing is for sure: Oklahomans need help with effective drug rehabilitation that will create lasting sobriety.
As part of the pipeline for drugs being funneled across the border from Mexico and through the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Oklahoma City inherits also some of the drug traffickers, gang activity and drug abuse-related violence. From this HIDTA, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and diverted prescription drugs are distributed to Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Shipments destined for points as far away as New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Florida and Michigan have also been interdicted.
According to the US Department of Justice, Oklahoma City suffers from increased property and violent crime as a result of ample supplies of powder and ice methamphetamine and crack cocaine. Most of the law enforcement agencies in the area report that the highly addictive methamphetamine is the greatest threat to peace and safety. Meth addicts are known for criminal activity carried out so they can continue to obtain more of the toxic substance to which they are addicted. They specialize in property theft, identity theft and credit card fraud.
To Revert These Trends, Those Who are Addicted Must Find Effective Drug Rehab in Oklahoma City
Citizens in Oklahoma City who have fallen prey to the plots of drug trafficking organizations can often only escape by finding an effective Oklahoma City drug rehab. There are 48 drug rehabs in Oklahoma City or within 50 miles. This may sound like a lot but it still leaves a huge treatment gap. In 2009, there were 245,000 people needing alcohol or drug rehab in Oklahoma. But across the state, only about 17,000 people found help at an Oklahoma City drug rehab or one elsewhere in the state. This literally leaves hundreds of thousands of people in the state who are compelled by intolerable cravings to buy and use more addictive substances, no matter what it takes.
The number of people entering treatment includes those who are addicted the most common and most legal drug of all: alcohol. Nearly 7,000 of those who entered substance abuse treatment in 2009 were there for alcohol, either as a primary drug or as a secondary drug they were having trouble with.
Drug addiction even reaches young Oklahomans. In 2009, four children 11 or under entered drug rehab programs to get help for marijuana addiction.
Compared to the rest of the US, Oklahomans were more likely to seek addiction treatment for marijuana abuse, smoked cocaine, methamphetamine and prescription pain relievers. They were slightly less likely to seek drug rehab in Oklahoma City or the rest of the state for alcohol, but this still left 191,000 Oklahomans out of control of their drinking and not entering rehab. Sadly, the top reason these people did not find a rehab service to help them was that they didn’t think they needed help, despite the damage being done by alcohol abuse.
Controlled Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse is a Growing Problem
As if illicit drugs didn’t create enough of a problem, in the last couple of years, more stolen and otherwise diverted prescription drugs have been distributed throughout the state. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of people entering Oklahoma City drug rehab and rehabs in other parts of the state for addiction to prescription opiates alone has more than doubled, rising from 768 to 1533. In drug rehabs in Oklahoma City and the immediate area, prescription opiate treatment admissions doubled just between 2007 and 2009.
Also in 2009, 248 people lost their lives to prescription drug abuse before they could find an Oklahoma City drug rehab or one elsewhere in Oklahoma that could help save them. Most of the deaths were caused by hydrocodone products (such as Lortab and Vicodin) or oxydocone products such as OxyContin. The other drug that caused too many Oklahomans to lose their lives in 2009 was not a prescription drug but was illicitly-manufactured methamphetamine, smuggled in from Mexico or created locally in small, toxic labs.
One thing is for sure: Oklahomans need help with effective drug rehabilitation that will create lasting sobriety.
Narconon International President Commends the UNODC on Carrying Forward the Debate on Drug Legalization Internationally
On June 23, 2011, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released their annual report on the state of drug trafficking and abuse around the world, the 2011 World Drug Report (WDR). This report covers such diverse topics as the Afghan opium poppy blight, South American drug cartels moving their wares through West Africa on the way to Europe and the number of people around the world using amphetamine-type stimulants.
For the first time, the WDR was released at UN headquarters, signifying the importance being placed on drug trafficking as a factor in every major international situation: terrorism, security, development, health and human rights. At the report's launch, the Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon made this relationship perfectly clear: "Traffickers break more than the law, they break the human spirit. They fuel terrorism and insurgency."
This year's report provided details about the decline in the US cocaine market that was offset by a surging demand for the drug in Europe, the reduced opium poppy crop in Afghanistan that was mostly compensated for by an increase in production in Myanmar, and the growth in demand for synthetics and prescription drugs. In short, though there have been areas of improvement, worsening situations in other areas mean that there is a status quo in the worldwide drug abuse problem.
Is Legalization the Answer, as Some People Claim?
There are those, such as the proponents of Proposition 19 in California, the 2010 attempt to legalize marijuana, who claim that legalization of some drugs will seriously damage the cartels and bring in additional tax revenues. It's also argued that if some often-abused drugs were made legal, some people would lose interest and substance abuse figures would drop. At the same time, billions of dollars are spent in the US and abroad to fight cartels and dealers and get their goods off the street. What's the right thing to do?
According to the Executive Director of the UNODC Yury Fedotov, it's not legalization. During the question-and-answer period after the release of the WDR, he was asked about the fight against drug trafficking by the Mexican government and whether or not this fight that had cost so many lives was the right tactic. Without criticizing the Mexican government's policy in any way, Mr. Fedotov answered, "If we should give up addressing international organized crime, we must be prepared to go farther into legalizing not only drugs but also corruption, human trafficking, money laundering and all other criminal activities. I think it would not be the right way to deal with the situation."
Narconon International President Clark Carr commented regarding Mr. Fedotov's statement: "The trafficking and sale of drugs are serious crimes against human beings that result in 200,000 deaths each year," Mr. Carr said. "Millions of people around the world lose their integrity and self-respect, their families, their possessions and their hope due to illicit and prescription drug abuse. Legalization is not a viable option."
"The truth," Mr. Carr continued, "is that Narconon does not and should not take a political stand on the issue of drug legalization or decriminalization. Narconon International's sole focus is to promote the validity and urgent need for more drug rehabilitation and drug education worldwide."
During the press briefing concerning the WDR, one of its authors Dr. Thomas Pietschmann cited the Rand Corporation's 2010 study of the likely outcome of legalization of marijuana in California. Shortly before Proposition 19 went to a vote in November 2010, the Rand report concluded that legalizing marijuana might cut the drug cartel's profits 2% to 4%. That's hardly the major impact some people were touting.
In his statement accompanying the release of the report, Mr. Fedotov defined a more workable solution. He stated, "Since people with serious drug problems provide the bulk of drug demand, treating this problem is one of the best ways of shrinking the market."
In its forty-five year history of providing drug rehabilitation and prevention services, the international network of Narconon centers has been fighting the drug problem by attacking just this point. Mr. Carr explained: "When someone has become addicted, there is no way to reason with him. The only solution is to break the grip that drug addiction has on him so he has a choice. Until that happens, he is going to be a steady customer of the products the cartels are moving - and from which they are raking in billions of dollars in profits. Around the world in more than 150 centers, daily we fight addiction by rehabilitating addicts and educating the young so they never become customers, no matter how persuasive drug dealers might be."
The Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program has proven its effectiveness in defeating the efforts of those who wish to distribute these deadly wares. "Seven out of ten of our graduates stay clean and sober after they complete this long-term residential program and return home, and that is good news." Mr. Carr concluded. For more information on the Narconon drug addiction recovery program, contact 1-800-775-8750.
For the first time, the WDR was released at UN headquarters, signifying the importance being placed on drug trafficking as a factor in every major international situation: terrorism, security, development, health and human rights. At the report's launch, the Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon made this relationship perfectly clear: "Traffickers break more than the law, they break the human spirit. They fuel terrorism and insurgency."
This year's report provided details about the decline in the US cocaine market that was offset by a surging demand for the drug in Europe, the reduced opium poppy crop in Afghanistan that was mostly compensated for by an increase in production in Myanmar, and the growth in demand for synthetics and prescription drugs. In short, though there have been areas of improvement, worsening situations in other areas mean that there is a status quo in the worldwide drug abuse problem.
Is Legalization the Answer, as Some People Claim?
There are those, such as the proponents of Proposition 19 in California, the 2010 attempt to legalize marijuana, who claim that legalization of some drugs will seriously damage the cartels and bring in additional tax revenues. It's also argued that if some often-abused drugs were made legal, some people would lose interest and substance abuse figures would drop. At the same time, billions of dollars are spent in the US and abroad to fight cartels and dealers and get their goods off the street. What's the right thing to do?
According to the Executive Director of the UNODC Yury Fedotov, it's not legalization. During the question-and-answer period after the release of the WDR, he was asked about the fight against drug trafficking by the Mexican government and whether or not this fight that had cost so many lives was the right tactic. Without criticizing the Mexican government's policy in any way, Mr. Fedotov answered, "If we should give up addressing international organized crime, we must be prepared to go farther into legalizing not only drugs but also corruption, human trafficking, money laundering and all other criminal activities. I think it would not be the right way to deal with the situation."
Narconon International President Clark Carr commented regarding Mr. Fedotov's statement: "The trafficking and sale of drugs are serious crimes against human beings that result in 200,000 deaths each year," Mr. Carr said. "Millions of people around the world lose their integrity and self-respect, their families, their possessions and their hope due to illicit and prescription drug abuse. Legalization is not a viable option."
"The truth," Mr. Carr continued, "is that Narconon does not and should not take a political stand on the issue of drug legalization or decriminalization. Narconon International's sole focus is to promote the validity and urgent need for more drug rehabilitation and drug education worldwide."
During the press briefing concerning the WDR, one of its authors Dr. Thomas Pietschmann cited the Rand Corporation's 2010 study of the likely outcome of legalization of marijuana in California. Shortly before Proposition 19 went to a vote in November 2010, the Rand report concluded that legalizing marijuana might cut the drug cartel's profits 2% to 4%. That's hardly the major impact some people were touting.
In his statement accompanying the release of the report, Mr. Fedotov defined a more workable solution. He stated, "Since people with serious drug problems provide the bulk of drug demand, treating this problem is one of the best ways of shrinking the market."
In its forty-five year history of providing drug rehabilitation and prevention services, the international network of Narconon centers has been fighting the drug problem by attacking just this point. Mr. Carr explained: "When someone has become addicted, there is no way to reason with him. The only solution is to break the grip that drug addiction has on him so he has a choice. Until that happens, he is going to be a steady customer of the products the cartels are moving - and from which they are raking in billions of dollars in profits. Around the world in more than 150 centers, daily we fight addiction by rehabilitating addicts and educating the young so they never become customers, no matter how persuasive drug dealers might be."
The Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program has proven its effectiveness in defeating the efforts of those who wish to distribute these deadly wares. "Seven out of ten of our graduates stay clean and sober after they complete this long-term residential program and return home, and that is good news." Mr. Carr concluded. For more information on the Narconon drug addiction recovery program, contact 1-800-775-8750.
Springdale is Dead Center in Arkansas’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
Springdale, Arkansas is dead center in a section of Arkansas that has been designated a component of the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). This means that this region has a sufficiently pronounced drug trafficking problem to warrant additional personnel and funds to combat it.
Springdale straddles the county line between Benton County to the north and Washington County to the south. These two counties make up the northwest corner of Arkansas and are the only two counties in this part of Arkansas to be part of the HIDTA. This corner of Arkansas is the also second most populous region in the state. Its population continues to grow at a fast rate, expanding from about 46,000 in 2000 to 70,000 in 2010.
Springdale in particular is home to large manufacturing plants, such as Tyson, the chicken and meat packing company; Kawneer, a subsidiary of Alcoa Alumium; Rockline Industries, maker of paper products; Newly Wed Foods and several others. Each of these companies requires trucking to deliver their products and so Arkansas has a huge trucking industry to match their manufacturing and food processing. In Arkansas, one in thirteen people works in the trucking industry.
Businesses Attract Ethnic Groups but Also Let Drug Traffickers Conceal Their Activities
Ethnic groups are attracted to – and are often specifically recruited by – large meat packing plants in the Midwest and South, and Springdale is home to several national companies. A decade or two ago, Asians moved into the area to work in these plants. But now, the primary ethnic group being added to the employment rolls by these plants is Hispanic. As a result, more than 35 percent of Springdale residents are now Hispanic, an increase of 174 percent since the 2000 Census.
What these completely innocent factors mean is that it is easy for not-so-innocent Mexican drug traffickers and their shipments to blend right into this environment that has packages and trucks moving up and down the highways to all the nearby major cities: Kansas City, Tulsa, Memphis, St. Louis, Jackson and Dallas.
Unfortunately, drugs being moved through the area also mean that there are supplies for local consumption.
Most of the drugs moved into the area are the responsibility of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) who are trafficking a diverse supply of drugs these days: methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine (some of which is made into crack cocaine), small amounts of heroin and prescription drugs. Drug busts involving sizeable groups of people working together, some of them Mexican citizens but residents of Arkansas, are not uncommon.
In May 2011, four people were sentenced in northwest Arkansas for distributing meth. One of them was a Mexican citizen who was illegally in the US, who routinely received shipments of methamphetamine from Mexico. In June 2011, 14 people from Southern Missouri and the Springdale area were arrested, also for distributing methamphetamine. Four of those arrested were citizens of Mexico living in Arkansas.
Eliminating Drug Problem in the Area Requires More than Law Enforcement
Law enforcement alone will never be able to arrest enough people to wipe out the drug abuse and addiction problem in this city of 70,000 people. To serve these Arkansans and all the people living in rural areas around the city, there are only four Springdale drug rehabs. Only one of them, the Veterans Administration hospital, offers residential treatment but lists no addiction specialists on their staff. Two of the Springdale drug rehabs specialize in offering methadone or buprenorphine for addiction treatment, which means that further addictive drugs are given to people who wish to kick their addictions.
What people in this area who are looking for Springdale drug rehab need are choices. That is why www.arkansas-drugrehab.org was created. When Arkansas families are up against the addiction of one of their members, by contacting www.arkansas-drugrehab.org at 888-816-0667, they have the opportunity to discover their alternatives for drug rehab Springdale.
In some cases, it is best to move an addicted person out of the immediate area in which they were abusing drugs. That way, old drug-using friends and the drug dealer who does not want to lose a customer can’t readily reach them. This facilitates the recovery process, allowing the person to focus on recovery, not fending off a threat from their former drug dealers. Springdale drug rehab should be a positive experience, in which the recovering addict can focus completely on their drug-free future.
When drug rehab in Springdale is hard to find, www.arkansas-drugrehab.org can help you by accessing its database of more than 10,000 facilities in Arkansas and beyond. The recovery you seek can be yours. The staff at www.arkansas-drugrehab.org have helped thousands of people realize the dream of sobriety for themselves or a loved one and they can help you through the process of finding drug rehab in Springdale or outside the area.
Springdale straddles the county line between Benton County to the north and Washington County to the south. These two counties make up the northwest corner of Arkansas and are the only two counties in this part of Arkansas to be part of the HIDTA. This corner of Arkansas is the also second most populous region in the state. Its population continues to grow at a fast rate, expanding from about 46,000 in 2000 to 70,000 in 2010.
Springdale in particular is home to large manufacturing plants, such as Tyson, the chicken and meat packing company; Kawneer, a subsidiary of Alcoa Alumium; Rockline Industries, maker of paper products; Newly Wed Foods and several others. Each of these companies requires trucking to deliver their products and so Arkansas has a huge trucking industry to match their manufacturing and food processing. In Arkansas, one in thirteen people works in the trucking industry.
Businesses Attract Ethnic Groups but Also Let Drug Traffickers Conceal Their Activities
Ethnic groups are attracted to – and are often specifically recruited by – large meat packing plants in the Midwest and South, and Springdale is home to several national companies. A decade or two ago, Asians moved into the area to work in these plants. But now, the primary ethnic group being added to the employment rolls by these plants is Hispanic. As a result, more than 35 percent of Springdale residents are now Hispanic, an increase of 174 percent since the 2000 Census.
What these completely innocent factors mean is that it is easy for not-so-innocent Mexican drug traffickers and their shipments to blend right into this environment that has packages and trucks moving up and down the highways to all the nearby major cities: Kansas City, Tulsa, Memphis, St. Louis, Jackson and Dallas.
Unfortunately, drugs being moved through the area also mean that there are supplies for local consumption.
Most of the drugs moved into the area are the responsibility of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) who are trafficking a diverse supply of drugs these days: methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine (some of which is made into crack cocaine), small amounts of heroin and prescription drugs. Drug busts involving sizeable groups of people working together, some of them Mexican citizens but residents of Arkansas, are not uncommon.
In May 2011, four people were sentenced in northwest Arkansas for distributing meth. One of them was a Mexican citizen who was illegally in the US, who routinely received shipments of methamphetamine from Mexico. In June 2011, 14 people from Southern Missouri and the Springdale area were arrested, also for distributing methamphetamine. Four of those arrested were citizens of Mexico living in Arkansas.
Eliminating Drug Problem in the Area Requires More than Law Enforcement
Law enforcement alone will never be able to arrest enough people to wipe out the drug abuse and addiction problem in this city of 70,000 people. To serve these Arkansans and all the people living in rural areas around the city, there are only four Springdale drug rehabs. Only one of them, the Veterans Administration hospital, offers residential treatment but lists no addiction specialists on their staff. Two of the Springdale drug rehabs specialize in offering methadone or buprenorphine for addiction treatment, which means that further addictive drugs are given to people who wish to kick their addictions.
What people in this area who are looking for Springdale drug rehab need are choices. That is why www.arkansas-drugrehab.org was created. When Arkansas families are up against the addiction of one of their members, by contacting www.arkansas-drugrehab.org at 888-816-0667, they have the opportunity to discover their alternatives for drug rehab Springdale.
In some cases, it is best to move an addicted person out of the immediate area in which they were abusing drugs. That way, old drug-using friends and the drug dealer who does not want to lose a customer can’t readily reach them. This facilitates the recovery process, allowing the person to focus on recovery, not fending off a threat from their former drug dealers. Springdale drug rehab should be a positive experience, in which the recovering addict can focus completely on their drug-free future.
When drug rehab in Springdale is hard to find, www.arkansas-drugrehab.org can help you by accessing its database of more than 10,000 facilities in Arkansas and beyond. The recovery you seek can be yours. The staff at www.arkansas-drugrehab.org have helped thousands of people realize the dream of sobriety for themselves or a loved one and they can help you through the process of finding drug rehab in Springdale or outside the area.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Drugs in Schools Tend to Affect the Entire Student Body
Parents may try their best to educate their kids to avoid drug use, but if they then send them to a school where drugs or alcohol use or trafficking is common, their efforts are more likely to fail. This is according to a 2008 survey from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
According to this survey, one-third of parents surveyed felt that the presence of drugs in the child’s school would not increase his or her risk of drug or alcohol use. But in a 2007 report, CASA stated that eighty percent of America’s high school students and 44 percent of middle schools students have personally witnessed drunk or high students or illegal drug use, dealing or possession on school grounds. And that on average, students who go to schools with higher rates of drug abuse themselves manifest higher rates of illegal drug or alcohol use.
This year, for the first time, teens reported that it is easier to get prescription drugs to abuse than it is to obtain beer. And 43 percent said that they knew where to buy marijuana within a day.
“Drugs are out there and our kids know it very well,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon Arrowhead is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, located in Canadian, Oklahoma.
“It helps to keep out our kids safe to educate them on the true dangers of drug abuse and to stay fully involved in their lives by sharing experiences with them and having family dinners,” added Mr. Hallmark.
To read the rest of this article, please go to: Drugs in Schools or visit the Narconon website.
According to this survey, one-third of parents surveyed felt that the presence of drugs in the child’s school would not increase his or her risk of drug or alcohol use. But in a 2007 report, CASA stated that eighty percent of America’s high school students and 44 percent of middle schools students have personally witnessed drunk or high students or illegal drug use, dealing or possession on school grounds. And that on average, students who go to schools with higher rates of drug abuse themselves manifest higher rates of illegal drug or alcohol use.
This year, for the first time, teens reported that it is easier to get prescription drugs to abuse than it is to obtain beer. And 43 percent said that they knew where to buy marijuana within a day.
“Drugs are out there and our kids know it very well,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon Arrowhead is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, located in Canadian, Oklahoma.
“It helps to keep out our kids safe to educate them on the true dangers of drug abuse and to stay fully involved in their lives by sharing experiences with them and having family dinners,” added Mr. Hallmark.
To read the rest of this article, please go to: Drugs in Schools or visit the Narconon website.
Prescription Drugs in the Home are the Key to Abuse by Teens
While figures for some kinds of drug use among teens have dropped slightly over the last several years, prescription drug abuse shows no signs of letting up. Supporting this abuse is the ease with which our young people can lay their hands on prescription drugs to abuse, particularly prescription pain relievers.
A recent report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University shows that one-third of teens who know prescription drug abusers say that these kids get their drugs from home. Another third say they can get these drugs from a friend or classmate.
The annual survey of teen attitudes on substance abuse drew the conclusion that probably half of all prescription drugs being abused by teens are coming from someone’s home medicine chest.
And this ease of acquisition showed in the statistics on prescription drug abuse. By 2007, one in every twenty high school seniors had found and tried OxyContin, a powerful narcotic painkiller with a high, when abused, similar to heroin. While this is bad enough, the statistic of seniors who had abused Vicodin, a painkiller containing hydrocodone, was almost twice as high.
“Prescription pain relievers are addictive, whether it’s teens or adults abusing them,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon Arrowhead is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, located in Canadian, Oklahoma. “We help people of all ages, from eighteen to seventy-five and up, recover the drug-free life they lost. Seventy percent of our graduates remain drug-free after graduation, as a result of our holistic program that addresses the three main barriers to recovery: the cravings, guilt and depression experienced by every addict.”
To read the rest of this article, please go to: Drugs in the Home or visit the Narconon website.
A recent report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University shows that one-third of teens who know prescription drug abusers say that these kids get their drugs from home. Another third say they can get these drugs from a friend or classmate.
The annual survey of teen attitudes on substance abuse drew the conclusion that probably half of all prescription drugs being abused by teens are coming from someone’s home medicine chest.
And this ease of acquisition showed in the statistics on prescription drug abuse. By 2007, one in every twenty high school seniors had found and tried OxyContin, a powerful narcotic painkiller with a high, when abused, similar to heroin. While this is bad enough, the statistic of seniors who had abused Vicodin, a painkiller containing hydrocodone, was almost twice as high.
“Prescription pain relievers are addictive, whether it’s teens or adults abusing them,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon Arrowhead is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, located in Canadian, Oklahoma. “We help people of all ages, from eighteen to seventy-five and up, recover the drug-free life they lost. Seventy percent of our graduates remain drug-free after graduation, as a result of our holistic program that addresses the three main barriers to recovery: the cravings, guilt and depression experienced by every addict.”
To read the rest of this article, please go to: Drugs in the Home or visit the Narconon website.
Drug Abuse by Teens: Parents Are Both Part of the Problem and Part of the Solution
A recent study from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) shows that many parents fail to take essential actions that prevent drug use or drinking by their teenaged children. At the same time, the study shows that parents who do take these actions have children with lower rates of drug or alcohol use, meaning that they can be part of the solution. The study is the annual Back to School Survey, published each year in August 2008.
The factors found to discourage substance abuse by teens were:
• Being engaged in the teens’ day-to-day life
• Relaxing with them
• Frequent family dinners
• Supervision, especially of time spent with friends on weeknights
• Setting positive examples of healthy behavior.
On the other hand, neglect of these factors was found to coincide with greater drug use.
The study found that 46 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds typically leave home to hang out with friends on school nights, but only 14 percent of parents say their kids usually leave home on these nights. The later that teens are out, the more likely it is that they will be around alcohol and drug use while they are out and the more likely it is that they will join in. Apparently, many parents miss the fact that their teens are leaving home at night.
A startling new result in this report was the increase in the percentage of kids who could quickly obtain marijuana. Twenty-three percent of teens can get it in an hour or less, the highest figure yet. Forty-two percent could get it in a day or less. Of those who could get it in an hour or less, nearly half of the teens surveyed had used the drug.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration reports that almost two and a half million people initiate use of marijuana each year, more than half of them 12- to 17-year-old children. And many of these people will go on to use other addictive drugs. The director of CASA, Joseph Califano, reports that “Twelve- to seventeen-year-old children who used marijuana were eighty-five times more likely to use cocaine” than those who did not.
“A certain number of young people who start abusing drugs early will wind up addicted and in need of rehabilitation,” commented Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead.
To read the rest of this article, please go to: Drug Abuse by Teens or visit the Narconon website.
The factors found to discourage substance abuse by teens were:
• Being engaged in the teens’ day-to-day life
• Relaxing with them
• Frequent family dinners
• Supervision, especially of time spent with friends on weeknights
• Setting positive examples of healthy behavior.
On the other hand, neglect of these factors was found to coincide with greater drug use.
The study found that 46 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds typically leave home to hang out with friends on school nights, but only 14 percent of parents say their kids usually leave home on these nights. The later that teens are out, the more likely it is that they will be around alcohol and drug use while they are out and the more likely it is that they will join in. Apparently, many parents miss the fact that their teens are leaving home at night.
A startling new result in this report was the increase in the percentage of kids who could quickly obtain marijuana. Twenty-three percent of teens can get it in an hour or less, the highest figure yet. Forty-two percent could get it in a day or less. Of those who could get it in an hour or less, nearly half of the teens surveyed had used the drug.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration reports that almost two and a half million people initiate use of marijuana each year, more than half of them 12- to 17-year-old children. And many of these people will go on to use other addictive drugs. The director of CASA, Joseph Califano, reports that “Twelve- to seventeen-year-old children who used marijuana were eighty-five times more likely to use cocaine” than those who did not.
“A certain number of young people who start abusing drugs early will wind up addicted and in need of rehabilitation,” commented Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead.
To read the rest of this article, please go to: Drug Abuse by Teens or visit the Narconon website.
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