Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Program

Narconon (from non-narcosis, or (“No-Drugs!”) is used both to refer to the Narconon Drug Rehab Program as well as to the international network of Narconon rehab centers. The Narconon program is designed to get drug or alcohol abusers off drugs and back in control of their lives. Drug abuse is a hellish problem. It degrades individuals, destroys families, and corrupts communities. None of us are free from its effects. Many of us have watched it consume someone we love.

Utilizing the research and developments of American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, Narconon was founded in the Arizona State Prison by an inmate and former heroin addict, William Benitez. The original group of ten inmates expanded to over one hundred within the first year and due to unprecedented success of the program, Narconon rapidly spread to other prisons. In 1971 the program was made available to the public with the opening of the first street program in Los Angeles. After much success in the early days of the Narconon Los Angeles program, we have since grown into facilities that are more modern and are geographically better located. Today we are recognized as Narconon Southern California, Inc. in Newport Beach, California. Narconon has continued to breathe new life to thousands of substance abusers and their families for over 30 years, and will continue to be a vital part of our society for years to come.
Today there are Narconon centers throughout the Western world, in Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia, as well as across the United States.

According to one study by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the majority of patients treated for heroin addiction or heavy cocaine addiction were using drugs again. Reports showed that drug use was at least once a week within a year after they finished treatment. These findings are unfortunately typical of most treatment methods.

In these times of failing drug treatment programs, Narconon deliver results documented by social research groups. An independent Spanish study done by Tecnicos Asociados de Investigacion y Marketing showed that 70% of Narconon graduates stayed off drugs. An independent American study reported that 86% of Narconon clients were still off drugs two years after their programs.

A Narconon graduate is not left with the urge to relapse, nor does he need to be put on other medications to make him stable. Narconon graduates are brought back to life with confidence, control, and the ability to achieve their goals without the use of drugs.

For millions of individuals personally caught up in the trap of drug addiction or alcoholism, and the millions of others who are also directly or indirectly affected, Narconon drug rehab centers provide a real and workable route back to freedom from drug and alcohol abuse.

“The addict has been found not to want to be an addict, but is driven by pain and environmental hopelessness… As soon as an addict can feel healthier and more competent mentally and physically without drugs than he does on drugs, he ceases to require drugs.”

-L. Ron Hubbard

A Narconon Program Graduate is someone:

Who has completed the Narconon program;

Who knows he or she is, in fact, capable of living a drug-free life thereafter;

Who has improved his or her ability to learn and thus can accept new ideas on how to change life for the better;

Who has personally absorbed the fundamentals of ethics and morality well enough that he or she can be productive and contributive to society and will have no further troubles with the justice system;

Who knows how to solve the problems of life in a rational manner to the best of his or her ability, without the use of mind altering drugs.

Narconon expects every student, no matter what the severity of his or her earlier life experience, to achieve and to live a stable, drug-free, and ethical life.

There is no such thing as a “victim” in the Narconon way of thinking. Even if life has dealt one a bad hand of cards, the road out is through personal recognition of responsibility for one’s own condition.

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Drug-Free Withdrawal

Certain drugs such as heroin and alcohol can not normally be discontinued without considerable physical discomfort. With a pre-medical evaluation, Narconon provides a safe, 24-hour care procedure for a drug free withdrawal.

Since its beginnings in the cellblocks of Arizona State Prison, Narconon has championed drug rehabilitation without resorting to alternative drugs. However, the early program established by William Benitez did not deal directly with the traumatic throes of drug withdrawal.

In response to this need, L. Ron Hubbard researched and developed methods to help addicts through the anguish of withdrawal without the use of potentially addictive drugs. In 1973, Narconon adopted this “drug-free withdrawal” procedure, using vitamin and mineral supplements along with special techniques to ease the mental and physical symptoms.

During this step of the program, the individual is put through a carefully designed withdrawal program that enables him to come off drugs without experiencing the usual agonizing withdrawal symptoms. Drugs and alcohol deplete the body of vitamins and minerals. We utilize a specific nutritional compound, which helps to rebuild the individual physically. An individual in withdrawal is under the careful supervision of a Withdrawal Specialist 24 hours a day until the physical and mental discomfort associated with drug and alcohol withdrawal is no longer present.

“I am still alive! Even though its only been 5 days, I’m OK and with no dope! The withdrawal process was remarkably mild. I have never successfully completed a withdrawal for some years. I could not deal with the withdrawal, the depression, and the long pain. That’s why I was on methadone for so long. Now I am clean and looking forward to the sauna to complete the process. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but that is a goal that I think would really brighten my outlook on myself and my future. Thanks!”

-JP

Narconon Therapeutic TRs Course

“TRs” are training routines. Said by some to be the universal solvent, this course is all about communication. It is comprised of drills and other practical steps that enable students to improve their ability to confront situations in life through communication. People with drug and/or alcohol problems typically have a difficult time being honest with themselves and others about what they may see as an unpleasant subject. When forced to confront difficult issues, they withdraw from friends and family. There are eight training routines on this course (called “TRs”). Each TR is a specific drill taking into account the many different aspects of communication. This therapeutic approach extroverts students by helping to develop focus whereby a person is capable of resolving problems with others easily and frankly.

“The therapeutic training routines were amazing! I was at the tail end of withdrawing from heroin and was feeling sick and aching. I started doing the 2nd drill, which deals with confronting another person. After a while, all the sickness and aches disappeared. I realized at the end that most of my drug use was due to my inability to confront people and situations. I knew I could live without drugs at that point… something I didn’t think was possible before doing this course.”

-GS

New Life Detoxification Procedure

In 1978, Narconon adopted Mr. Hubbard's second and truly pioneering innovation, the New Life Detoxification Program. The program utilizes intensive sweating in dry sauna, in combination with plenty of fluids and nutritional supplementation, to reduce drug residuals from the body. Drug residues, including medicinal drugs, can remain in the body for years. These residues can trigger drug cravings and depression. A vital step in the successful rehabilitation of substance abuse is flushing out these accumulated toxic residues so that the person no longer experiences unwanted adverse effects from the drugs he has taken.

The Narconon New Life Detoxification program produces spectacular results by removing the root causes of future physical restimulation. One of the cornerstones of our treatment methods, is the New Life Detoxification program. Research has established that many types of drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, Valium, PCP, amphetamines (crank, crystal, meth, ecstasy, etc.) alcohol and medicinal drugs such as narcotic painkillers, tranquilizers and sleeping pills, can remain in the body for years. Over time, these residues and metabolites of these drugs can become stored in the fatty tissues of the body. When this happens, these stored residues can make it difficult, if not impossible, for the addict or alcoholic to remain drug-free.

These residues can trigger a variety of symptoms, including drug cravings and depression. These cravings and the obsessive need to use drugs that they create, are so difficult to resist that the addict will do almost anything to get even the most illegal of drugs. The result is always trouble. A vital step in the successful rehabilitation of substance abuse is flushing out these accumulated toxic residues. An exact regimen of medically supervised exercise, periods of time sweating in a dry sauna and nutritional supplements are used to rid the fatty tissues in the body of these drug residues. The results can be spectacular. In many cases, completion of this portion of the Narconon Newport Beach program results in greatly reduced cravings for drugs, or elimination of these cravings entirely. Mental alertness and clarity of thinking improve while drug-induced depression often vanishes.

"I have acted as Medical Consultant to the Narconon program for 15 years. For the past decade, I have studied the results obtained with a detoxification method used by Narconon that utilizes vitamins, sauna baths and exercise. While this detoxification method is strenuous, it is easily and safely accomplished under the supervision of trained personnel. Narconon students, with histories of moderate to extremely heavy substance abuse, show a marked improvement in alertness, clarity of thought and general health by undergoing this treatment. Most report a substantial reduction in their craving for drugs or alcohol. Published scientific studies of the technique have shown it successful in reducing the variety of toxins and contaminants in the body tissues. I highly recommend its continuing use as an effective tool in the treatment of addictions."

-Kathleen Kerr, M.D

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Learning Improvement Course

This course provides the student with the ability to study and retain knowledge along with the ability to recognize and overcome obstructions in the study and learning process. The student learns data on three common barriers to study. He/she learns how to “clear” a word in a dictionary so that it is fully understood, how to do realistic demonstrations of concepts, and how to spot and handle any gradient difficulties in his/her study. The Learning Improvement Course literally teaches the student how to incorporate the rest of the Narconon program into daily living for the rest of his/her life.

Phase II of the Narconon program includes effective therapies to restore abilities to focus on real goals and to return self-control to the addict. It helps a person snap out of traumatic events in which he may be stuck, and increases his ability to deal with the realities of life.

“Even after years of college, I never realized how inadequate my learning skills really were. This course illustrated to me that I still had a lot to learn about learning. I just wish I had had these skills before I went to school, because I would have gotten much more out of it.”

-CY

The Communications and Perception Course

Addicts use drugs to change the way they feel - their perception of reality. Drugs can and do numb the addict and provide him with a false escape from unwanted feelings and sensations. When not on drugs, addicts typically try to ignore or alter their feelings. The problem with drugs is that when they wear off, the addict becomes introverted and feels worse than before. Past experiences and upsets can stick with him, making it difficult for him to deal with reality. This course utilizes exact procedures, which focus the student’s attention onto the present, as opposed to being stuck in past experiences? It improves the student’s perception of his environment, and gets the student into better communication with others. This course improves one’s ability to better control his life and be more ably “causative” over his/her environment instead of being affected by it.

Objective Exercises

This is a form of dynamic therapy unique to the Narconon program. The purpose is to "unstick" the addict's attention from events and traumas that can cause him to be obsessed with the past.

Drugs, as a type of painkiller, can make one numb to the present realities of life. An addict becomes unable, because of his drug abuse, to be comfortable with the everyday emotions and experiences of life. He/She then tends to withdraw from the present. Since the present is unbearable, he tends to dwell on past sorrows and upsets, or to live in a fantasy world of the future. Because he is not living in the here and now, he sacrifices the ability to control his life. He/She cannot achieve future goals, have stable relationships, or deal with responsibility.

"Before I came to Narconon, I didn’t have an objective viewpoint on anything. Drugs had clouded my ability to see things as they really were. All I saw when I looked at someone, even my own family, was someone I could get money from for drugs. The Communication and Perception course pulled me out of past bad experiences that were affecting my thinking and behavior. My past is a chapter that is now closed, and for the first time in 25 years I’m free to be and do what I choose.”

-LD

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Ups and Downs in Life Course

Phase III rehabilitates the addict’s sense of self-esteem. It is a cleansing experience that set him/her free from the chains forged by past misdeeds. After completing this phase of the program, the student has a restored sense of self-worth and will find it much easier to confront problems in life by knowing how to handle them effectively.

Addicts and alcoholics are often especially vulnerable to negative influences in their lives. In this course, students learn the characteristics of social and anti-social personalities in order to evaluate objectively and choose those people in their lives who need to be avoided. A course that enables the evaluation of these behavioral, constructive and destructive characteristics, along with the appropriate methods to handling them is a major part of being able to remain stable and off drugs.

“I‘ve never been really good at picking the right type of friend. I always seem to get mixed up with people who were bad for me and regretted it later. This course has taught me how to stay out of situations that would lead me back to drugs.”

-LD

Personal Values and Integrity Course

One of the first things addicts and alcoholics sacrifice in getting and using their particular drug is their own sense of personal integrity. The life-style that goes along with addiction is one that almost always involves lying to friends or family, and almost as often involves the commission of illegal acts. After a time, it can seem as if the addict never knew any other way to live. The restoration of personal integrity is not a moral issue, it is a matter of survival. It is a fact that until one can confront and be honest about ones past, a person will be haunted by it. Until these types of misdeeds are dealt with, the addict will continue to be plagued with:

Unwillingness to communicate
Withdrawal from family and friends
Unhandled hostility toward those who try to help him or her
Feelings of resentment towards authority
A sense of being uncomfortable around ethical people
Inability to have stable relationships

There is even such a thing as a “drug personality.” It is artificial, and created by drugs and alcohol. Choosing the wrong friends and acquaintances can become something that is destructive and difficult to handle. Drugs and alcohol apparently change the attitude of a person from his original personality to one secretly harboring hostilities and hatred he/she does not permit to show on the surface. An entire section of the Personal Values and Integrity Course has been developed to handle just this. How to choose and live with the type of people best suited for long-term survival. How to develop and maintain these relationships, nurturing them to produce what truly is needed and wanted by the recovering addict.

“All through my life I never really liked or felt comfortable with other people. I was pretty sarcastic and had few close friends. I always felt that I was treated unfairly and that my drug use was justified because there wasn’t much in life worth experiencing. Well, I was wrong. This course made me realize how my own dishonesty made me withdraw from those I loved and made it impossible for me to truly care about anyone else. It was hard, but I cannot imagine anything more valuable than feeling like a human being again.”

-LL

This course restores to the client his basic sense of right and wrong and the ability to live honestly again. Values and purposes are recovered and strengthened. Students often experience a strong feeling of relief, and a newfound feeling of freedom and self-respect because of this course.

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The Changing Conditions in Life Course

Making tough decisions about life can be difficult for anyone, but the inability to make these decisions can be deadly for addicts. This course gives the student the exact formulas to use to evaluate objectively and improve conditions having to do with himself, his family, the groups he belongs to, and other areas of life. He learns that any condition can be changed for the better as long as it is correctly addressed. On this course, the student takes specific actions to repair past and present conditions in his life, and is given the tools with which he can continue to improve conditions and situations in the future.

“I have always had difficulty in dealing with real-life situations because I became confused about what was the “right” thing to do. How to deal with family, girlfriends, bosses, etc. This course taught me specific ways about how to decide on a course of action for any situation. I am certain that I can now make the right decisions, now matter what… something I was never able to do in the past!"

-ST

The Way to Happiness Course

It would be nice to be given a “How to Live Life” instruction manual when we are born, but for most of us, we simply feel our way through by trial and error. Ignorance about or failure to abide by the common moral precepts of our society can lie at the root of many of the addict’s life problems. This course introduces the student to a common sense moral code that he can use in living a new drug and alcohol-free life.

“I’ve never seen a program like this. It’s amazing... The book "Way to Happiness" made me feel alive, as if I want to help others, and be a good person. Since doing this program I realize that alcohol is a thing of the past. I will never use again. To live and not be happy is NOT living! Thanks Narconon!”

-GL

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This review phase is designed to confirm that maximum gains were achieved at each step of the program.

Final Program Review

This is comprised of two essential components tailored to meet the needs of each student.

1. A comprehensive review to ensure the student has thoroughly completed all phases of the program.

2. Additional course work is assigned based on specific student needs to prepare the student to deal with life situations after graduation from the program. This includes such issues as marriage, the parenting of children, problems of work, how to resolve conflicts, basic information on money management, and other life issues.

It is the complete incorporation of the Narconon Southern California, Inc. program steps listed above which produce a drug-free, productive and ethical individual. Although each action of the Narconon Southern California, Inc. program produces significant gains, it is the combined effect of all these steps collectively which result in full and permanent recovery. Thirty years have shown this true. Narconon can proudly claim and has demonstrated with thousands of case histories that addiction can be ended.

Follow-up Program

A comprehensive long-term follow-up program is designed and implemented to assist the student through the first year of recovery. This is accomplished through regular contact with the student and family members. Narconon counselors assess student stability and progress after his discharge from the program. The student may be required to return to Narconon should he/she face life situations that may threaten his sobriety. The student will receive special assistance in addressing these life issues so he or she may maintain a drug and alcohol-free life.

Everything in detail is handled on a case by case basis to establish confidentially a comfortable entry into the treatment process of drug and/or alcohol addiction. The entire Narconon program takes between 3-5 months to complete. The difference in time depends on each individual and what is required for them. We have a motto here at Narconon Newport Beach which says: "It takes as long as it takes!".