Success Stories
Former meth addict and Narconon Graduate urges parents; "Before school starts I hope parents will take time to talk to their kids about the dangers of drugs to health and goals."
"August marks our daughter's fifth year since conquering meth at Narconon California" comments Susan, mother of five and teacher who recalls living with a meth addict; "One day she'd be very nice and the next you'd have thought Satan walked through the door."
A middle-class family, active in their church with no history of drug or alcohol abuse in the family... until their daughter's. An honor student active in sports, Edee earned a collage scholarship. But three weeks after high school graduation a close friend died of an overdose. Susan recalls "Edee shared with me years later; she wanted to experience what her friend had. So began two years of hell-raising. She tried ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, alcohol & smoking. Meth hooked her."
"For a while we didn't know what was wrong. She was short-tempered, couldn't hold a job. Out all night, sleep all day; stopped going to church. Finally we realized: drugs! You worry all the time. Will she kill herself, or someone else? Edee tried a 28-day program. It replaced illegal drugs with legal drugs. She reverted." added Susan.
Edee's grandmother continued searching the internet and found Narconon California, a drug-free life skills program. "What impressed us," Susan says, "was the sauna part; drugs are sweated out of the body. Edee told me she could see sticky tar coming out in her sweat. This helped eliminate physical cravings."
"Soon after arriving, Edee wanted to go to church, the staff was happy to take her. With the local Bishop and congregation helping, Edee rediscovered her faith. Today she enjoys full fellowship with her church" says her proud mother.
"She's been working ever since, paying us back and now happily married." Susan makes time for drug education and answers questions from parents of addicts. "Narconon saved my daughters' life!"
Daughter Edee adds: "Before school starts I hope parents will talk to their kids about the dangers of drugs to health and goals. And Mom — thank you, for going through all you had to with my addiction, for believing in me, and getting me help. Our relationship is better than ever. You are my best friend!"
Although I have been clean for over 7 years, I can still vividly remember the pain of being addicted to drugs. I grew up in the most loving and caring home one could ever hope for. However, all the love in the world wasnt enough to keep me from experimenting with drugs. I started smoking cigarettes at 15 and eventually moved on to smoking marijuana too. When I attended college in the fall of 1998, I fell in with the wrong crowd and began using all sorts of other drugs. I experimented with LSD, mushrooms, ecstasy, nitrous oxide, opium, and prescription drugs.
At that point, I was recreationally using drugs on the weekends. Then one night I tried cocaine. From that night on, my entire life centered around getting and using cocaine. I went from having a lot of friends to only a select few who used as much coke as I did. When it came to my appearance, I looked like a different person. Im 55, and by the time I attended Narconon I had wasted away to 90 lbs! When I look back at pictures, it makes me ill to see how thin and sickly I had become. However, at the time I didnt see it that way. None of those things mattered to me. I was completely obsessed with using.
After using cocaine every single day and night for almost a year I had become someone I didnt like. I had lost my job, I was lying to everyone including myself, and I was high all the time. One morning I woke up with a realization, I was addicted to cocaine. I knew there was no way I would be able to stop using on my own, I had already tried and failed to many times to count. I decided to tell my parents the truth and ask for their help. Not only did they welcome me with open arms, but they had found me a drug rehab program. They had suspected that I had a serious drug problem and had started to take action to find out how to help. Within 24 hours of telling my parents that I needed help, we were driving from Tucson, Arizona to Orange County, California to enroll me in the Narconon California program.
I was so scared to leave my life in Tucson, even though it was full of pain. The unknown is sometimes scarier. When we pulled up to Narconon California the panic really set in, I was so far from everyone I knew. Once my parents and I walked through the door I was overcome by how friendly and welcoming everyone was. Even though there is no physical withdrawal from cocaine, the emotional withdrawal I went through was extremely hard for me. During that time, the staff and students were so supportive and caring. It was amazing how fast I went from feeling all alone and overwhelmed to the outgoing and social person I had been before my addiction.
While in the Narconon California program I learned so much about how to be a better person and remain drug-free. Basic life skills that had fallen by the wayside during my years of using were re-instilled in me. I also found that after completing the sauna portion of the program I felt clear headed and cleaner physically in a way that I never thought possible after taking so many drugs. As the months passed I became the person I had once been before I started using drugs. I was able to look people in the eye and not feel ashamed of who I was and what I was doing with my life.
The day I graduated from the Narconon California program means more to me than even my college graduation. It is because of the lessons I learned while in the program that I am alive today. Since completing Narconon Californias drug rehab program I have been sober for over 7 years. During that time I went back to college and graduated in 2004. I was also able to quit smoking cigarettes, which was almost as hard as quitting cocaine. A couple years later I married the most wonderful man. He knows my history and helps me stay strong when times get tough. The most wonderful accomplishment is that six months ago my husband and I welcomed into the world our first child, Gavin. My life is everything I wanted it to be now that I have my sobriety. I know it is because of what I learned while at Narconon California that I have become who I am today, a woman who is happy with her life and loves sobriety.
Living through my daughter's drug addition was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. As a parent you love your children with all your heart unconditionally, you raise them to be honest productive people with values. When they are "using" none of those qualities exist, and it is so hard to comprehend how we got here. I say "we" because it affects the family as a whole. When they are using it makes it very hard to live your life, to provide for other members of the family, it affects every aspect of your life and your family. You fear for the child in the midst of their addiction, and you fear for their siblings. There are no set rules for handling drug addiction; you will hear everyone's opinion. If you have a loved one who is an addict you have my heart felt sympathies; I have felt your pain. Please understand you are not alone.
While my daughter was at home and we were dealing with her addiction there was not a minute in the day that I was not on edge. You just never knew what was going to happen next. She could be gone for days or show up on your doorstep out of the blue. You worry if they will live or die, you try to prepare yourself for anything, the inevitable. You worry about what your other children may have to deal with from their peers; you worry about their mental and physical safety. You wonder if you can possibly provide a normal life for them. As parents you do not always agree on the next step. I believe the addict prefers the chaos they create in the family as it provides a diversion to what they are doing. Everything of value must be under lock and key, or more. We actually purchased a large safe to keep anything of value in, which included car keys.
When my daughter called in the middle of the night to ask for help, there was only one type of help we were willing to provide, long term, in- house rehab treatment. If she would not agree we would not help. She entered Narconon California; it was what we had been looking for.
My daughter is now days short of being 18 months drug free. Although she does not live with us; we do have constant contact with her. She is now a hard working productive, individual. Every time we see her she is 100% better than the last time we saw her. It is amazing the progress she has made as a person.
Narconon California brought back our beautiful, wonderful, loving, daughter.
Dear, Kia
Before my Dad went into the Narconon California program on July 7th 2006, he was living in a small town and was addicted to crack. There was nothing that he wouldn't do to get high. Being on drugs set him on a path of stealing, lying, and neglecting his family. He would get up in the morning and his day would start off with him doing any thing to be able to find crack. He would steal from stores, and pawn anything in the house that he would think would get him enough money to get drugs. He would lie to his job and wouldn't go into work because he was too busy looking for an extra dollar to get high.
While being on drugs he would neglect his family. Not anything that would happen with the family would matter unless it had to do with getting high. We would come down to visit to make sure everything was going okay, and my Dad would leave to go find drugs while we sat at the house and waited. We would be sitting there and sitting there and the hours would go by and still there would be no sign of my Dad. When my nephew was born none of the rest of the family would go and get Dad because they thought it wouldn't be worth it because he wouldn't stay around long enough to see the new baby anyway.Not only was his life going bad but his health was too, he had lost a lot of muscle that used to be there and he wouldn't eat on a regular basis. Being on drugs really put my dad as an outcast of the family. He missed out on a lot of things that I wish he could have been apart of.
Now after the Narconon California program, I have my real dad back. Seeing my Dad sober for the first time in years made me the happiest man alive. He now cares about what goes on in my life, he calls just to make sure everything is going good.We get e-mails and things on a regular basis talking about family and love. He even flew back to North Carolina from California to come to be "best man" at my wedding. He got to meet my son Dillon for the first time and sat on the floor and played with him which could have made me cry. On occasions he will send money down to us just to help us with bills and stuff. He also got a job and goes to work everyday instead of ditching work which he was doing before. Since my dad has been off of drugs he has been caring for him self such as eating healthy, exercising and lifting weights. My dad has gotten back to the size he was before he started on drugs.
After doing the Narconon California program, my Dad became the man I new that he could be; caring, loving, and happy to be sober.
Dear Dena,
Gosh! Where do I begin? I think the best word, if there really is one that could describe what has occurred in the past few years would be "rebirth". That kind of sums things up from my perspective, Dena. There was a time, years ago, when there was a huge part of our lives that was just missing. Like a puzzle with a big piece that had been lost. It was so much more than just "missing my sister", which I truly did. There was a gap in our lives. I very often had no idea where you were at any given moment and, although I had a pretty good idea what you were doing, I was so lost. So sad.
Dena, a family isn't just a bunch of people that see each other on holidays and whatnot. A family is a unit. A living, breathing entity that needs all of its parts healthy and active to be whole. Your absence was felt by each and every member of our family. It was worse than a death in that, death has finality. It has, to use a cliche, closure. When you were gone, it was worse than that.
The day you finally made the decision to go to Narconon California, there was an immediate change. There was a "rebirth". We all knew that it would be a difficult time in your life. We all worried. But, we also rejoiced. The joy came from the rebirth. Like a new baby brought into the family, you gave us the most special gift you could possibly give; you. I got back my sister and bonus; I got a person I could look up to and be so very proud of. A person that showed me there is always hope and there is great strength in love. You have inspired me in ways that YOU know very well. You have made our family whole again, too.
Thanks, to all the Staff at Narconon California.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter as a mother who almost lost her daughter to alcohol addiction. In June I saw my daughter at her lowest point in life, I didn't know if she was going to live through the day. Every holiday seemed to bring on a week binge for her and I knew that she would be dead on the 4th of July if we did not do something to save her life. Through her addiction our family lost a friend, a daughter and a sister. She turned into someone we didn't know anymore. She stopped talking to us, telling us the truth and showed up in and out of our lives for years. She had lost all confidence in herself and drive to achieve. She went into hiding from herself and the world. She was settling for environments and people that where so out of her characteristics it scared our family to even trust her to be around.
On June 18 my husband and I drove our daughter to Narconon Rainbow Canyon. This was a huge financial decision that we had to make because we knew that it would prolong my husband's retirement but our selling decision was that this was much cheaper than a funeral. We had searched the internet for hours and called many different rehabs and this was the one. Narconon Rainbow Canyon offers a guarantee something that no other rehab could offer. She had tried AA meetings, she had gone to other group meeting and nothing short term was working. She needed long term and long term results.
After 3 weeks of her being at Narconon Rainbow Canyon we saw a drastic change in her and her attitude. She has continued to grow since then.
It has been years since I have been able to sleep at night peacefully and I have that now. I can answer the phone with out the fear of it being the police or finding out that she was somewhere dead in a ditch. Now I answer the phone looking forward to hear from my daughter, my friend. Each day she continues to grow. When she started the program I felt like I was watching my baby take her first steps into life and now I am watching her walk into life with the life that she deserves with confidence and drive to achieve. We are so thankful for Narconon Rainbow Canyon and the staff for all of their efforts and care each day that they put into saving lives and bringing families back together.
Sincerely,
Sheila T.
Dear Erica,
I can remember what an energetic child you were and how often I had told you as long as you do the right thing, good things will happen. As life went on you choose several paths that were not what you were taught or the lifestyle that you came from. It started at around 15 when you attend a drinking party by sneaking out of the house and your father and I received a phone call from a police officer that you had been in a really bad accident and that they could not locate you. We soon found out a person had died and we thought it was you and that they were not telling us the truth. You soon appeared at our door, drunk and disoriented with cuts on your face. I thought that after an experience like this that you would never get involved with drinking or drugs. That was the first time I had experienced what it felt like to almost lose a child.
This experience did not stop you. I found re-occurring empty alcohol bottles in your closet. You stopped attending soccer practice and games (you were so good). During this time you had told me, that "you're only young once" and you need to have as much fun as you can. Your fun was taking you on a very dangerous trip. Then you finally graduated and immediately took up with D. I was so disappointed. I knew this was a big mistake. That you would be further from home and we would lose communications with you. I can remember one of the first holidays you appeared to be anxious and I ignored it. The next holidays we would find D. sleeping and you were running around with your head chopped off (too much energy). I knew there was an issue. I was just not sure how big and what to do. Then when you finally admitted that you had a problem and needed help. You had explained how you and D. were going to get help. I know of three rehabs that you attended. At those times, I would say, she will get clean. I believed this with my whole heart. It was short lived. You would finish the rehab and continue to lie to your family on how well you were doing; ask for money, make arrangements to meet for shopping trips or promise to come over for a holiday. It got to the point I would tell our family that you were not showing up for a holiday, even though you promised you would. I would tell them you were working. I was lying for you. I hated to lie for you; it made me feel like I was accepting who you were becoming. Then your dad and I starting getting calls for money to keep you out of jail. I was mortified. I would never have dreamed that my grown child would go to jail. Your dad and I gave money to bail you out of jail and visited you in jail. You have no idea how demeaning it was for me to be in that place visiting you. After that experience, I told you to never call me to bail you out or to come see you in jail again. I was at the point I did not even want you to call. I then began to blame myself, what kind of mother was I? What did I do wrong? Do you realize how humiliating it was to tell others that my daughter works at a strip joint? No, I never admitted to them you were stripping, because you lied to me and told me you were only a waitress. I truly wanted to believe you, but the truth was you were supporting a drug habit for you and D. and stripping was a way to big $. It broke my heart to know you would put yourself in that environment - my God you were my daughter! The worst part was to trying to explain to your Grandfather and Uncle that you were only working at a strip joint to earn big $. It was at this time I was once again lying to Grandpa. I know he knew because he had seen me cry when he would ask how you were doing and that he missed see you. The nightmare continued, you were my daughter and I could not get through to you.
Then tragedy strikes. H. is on heroin. Then Sara dies and now I am in panic mode. Who will I lose next? Do you realize how beat-up and disappointed I felt? You did not even try to help H. when you knew how devastating this drug was. I went through a funeral realizing my next oldest (you) may be in that casket next. I would ask myself why did I have children? for pain? My God would it ever stop.
The next step after pulling myself together was to get help for H. H. was recovering at Narconon California and was pushing me to get you help. H. told me "I know Erica is in big trouble, she needs help now or she is going to die." I told H. she has to come to me for help. I told her I am not sure she can break away from her drugs or D. I did a lot of crying and feeling very lost. I could not stand that thought of losing another child.
Then the call came. You said, "Mom, I need help and I am afraid." I told you we would help you if you were serious and you had to show up at your Dad's before I would reserve a ticket to fly you to Narconon California. It took you forever to get to your Dad's house. I knew if you were strong enough to get to your Dad's house you had a chance. I remember you called me throughout the night assuring me you were going to Dad's. It took you 10 hours to get to your dads. It was only an hour and 1/2 drive; tops.
I even helped you at the airport (we won't go there- yes I would do it again to save you) to be assured you would get on that one-way plane out of Hell. You had every opportunity to jump off the plane and go back to MI, and you did not. You had made the most important decision of your life and kept your first promise to me for the first time in many years.
I know your trip through the Narconon California program was difficult at first; you were scared, depressed and had a hard time letting the past (people) go. You are learned it's part of finding YOU. YOU had been gone for many many years. You have been so strong during you up hill climb. There were times you wanted to leave, when you wanted to reach out to those enablers and go back to what you thought was an easy life style. Look at what you have done, you have made it almost to the top of the hill, you are ready for more responsibility and a new beginning. Erica I will never truly know how hard your climb was, but I do know that without it, you would not be here. I am so very very proud of you and your accomplishments. Remember I have been following you on your climb. You are excelling within the Narconon California program, you care about your family and you show it, you want to come home to be with us (you miss us), you made your promise to get clean and you are doing it, you have caste out those individuals that helped to cause your pain and did not help you, and you finally feel the loss of your sister.
Do not ever sell yourself short or let someone control your life as you have in the past, you have been through more than an individual will go through in a life time. You are now a butterfly having the opportunity to come out of your cocoon to enter a brand new world.
I love you with my entire heart,
Mom
"My brother and I have always been relatively close, but a few years back, he began slowly fading into the background of my life. I didn't exactly notice it at first, and when I did, I chalked it up to me growing up and us being at different stages in our lives.
We continued to drift apart for months, and during this time, my brother spent more and more time at work or out with his friends. He would be out all night, come home, and sleep until he had to get up and go to work. I missed him. I knew there was something off with him, but I really had no idea what it could be. One weekend, my brother just up and told my mom that he was doing drugs and that he wanted to get help. When my brother sat me down to tell me, I wasn't expecting it in the least. But once he did tell me, everything sort of clicked in to place.
My mom got him help right away and he flew to the Narconon California program. I missed him like crazy, but the first time I talked to him when he called home, made me know for sure that he was going to get through everything. It was a very long, very hard struggle, for all of us, but especially my brother. But this crazy struggle ended up bringing us closer again. He would call a few times a week and tell me about what he was learning and talk to me about my life, and I felt like I had my brother back.
When he graduated the Narconon California program, I wish I could have been there. Even though I wasn't there, it is still one of the things I admire most about my brother. When he came home, he was so excited. About everything. He wanted to teach me how to study the way he learned and it was fun. He wanted to know all about everything he'd missed.
I was ecstatic and he really was here. Home. Whole. Himself again. Even better than he had been before the drugs. I am continually amazed at the recovery my brother has gone through, the strength he has and the person he has become, completely blows me away.
Susan D.
To whom it may concern,
"Over the course of several years, I have watched my son, Josh; go from a very happy, intelligent, goal oriented person to a depressed, moody, drug addicted person. He could never save any money and always lived paycheck to paycheck.
Over the last year, he began looking very unhealthy and was on a spiraling path of destruction. He had lost so much weight. He stayed out very late every night and then couldn't wake up in the morning to go to work.
In July 2008, he agreed to go to Narconon Rainbow Canyon. Once there, Josh was determined to beat his addiction. He was very much focused and set his goal to complete rehab. During this time, I have seen such a change in his demeanor and attitude. Our conversations have gone from small talk to long meaningful talks. Josh has accomplished his short term goals and is continuing to set new goals and accomplishing them.
Josh is such an inspiration to me. He continually helps me to become a better person by sharing and explaining what he has learned and how he's applying it to his every day life. I am applying to my own life the same principals and techniques that I learn from him.
Josh graduated and is now doing an internship at Narconon Rainbow Canyon. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. He is helping others and the extra time there allows him to continually work on applying the principles and techniques that he's learned to his life. Josh is a much stronger, happier, healthier, more confident young man with a very promising future.
Thank you, Narconon Rainbow Canyon. Your program is the very best program available by teaching better communication skills, accountability, social and anti-social characteristics, and common sense guidelines to live by instead of treating addition like it's a disease."
Sincerely,
Rhonda K.
To Narconon California,
Once upon a time I had a cheerful little daughter she loved to help others and made lots of fun plans for the future everybody wanted to be around her. But something terrible happened to her that caused her a great loss. She became ill from this loss and started using vicodin to deal with the pain of what had happened. She found a way to cope with life and the pain but got lost in a very dark place. She became addicted to the drug for many years in quantities that could kill anyone. She got worse and worse. She could not take care of her children, she could not hold her marriage together and she could not keep a job to support herself. She was so smart and so able and really wanted to become cheerful again and wanted to make lots of fun plans for the future but could not. She was in the grip of the drug. She was sad most of time because she could not be with her children so she tried many, many ways to get well again through program after program. Each program worked for a bit which gave her, her children and me hope that it was going to be alright before it was too late.
But it wasn't all right. Every program went to fell by the wayside and would not stick; she began to use the drug again. She had several bouts with death and bouts with being in the hospital for many heath problems. When she couldn't get vicodin she would turn to anything she could that would numb the pain and help her stay lost.
The drug addict behavior went on and on for over 18 years.
Then one day I discovered Narconon California and I began to hear story after story of people recovering from drugs and alcohol with long term success. I knew Narconon California used a technology that had not been tried in the other programs my daughter had tried and maybe just maybe it might work this time. I decided we must find a way to help her get to Narconon California and give it one more shot before she finally did herself in. At least at that point we would have tried everything in our power to save her life. We found the funds needed to get her on an airplane and send her to Narconon San Diego. I knew it must be a distance away from family and friends because many were helping her to stay lost. I put her on that plane and somebody picked my drunken daughter up at the other end from Narconon California. She began the first step, detox with great pain and discomfort but finally made it to the next step and next and the next. Narconon California technology started to take hold for my daughter; she starting sounding cheerful and hopeful again, like she when she was a young girl.
Each time she would come home for a visit I could see a little more progress I knew it was working. She would talk about all the great tools she had learned to use when life got rough. She graduated the Narconon California program six months later and was herself again.
Able-bodied now, my daughter left Narconon California this year. She is handling life very nicely. I know things come up for her but she uses the tools from the Narconon California technology to pull from when they do. She is cheerful most of the time and giving to others the way she has always wanted. She has a great job and is back in her children's lives working to repair any damage she has caused. But most of all I have my daughter back she is her cheerful, helpful, productive self and for that I can not thank Narconon California and their technology enough. She is so fun to be with and tries to bring everybody else up around her. They saved her life.
The reason I am writing this in story form is because the pain was so great while living in this drug addiction with my daughter and my grandchildren I could not hear it that way again. So I decided to keep it light.
My name is Sheila W.
Dear Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, Brothers, Sisters, Cousins and friends:
I was once right where you are now. Wondering if my son was going to live to see another day wondering if I was going to make it through another day. I felt like I was watching my son die in slow motion. It was like watching a semi truck barreling down the road and your child is running out in front of it. You know what's coming, you almost kill yourself to save your child, but the truck keeps on coming. You see the three year old, five year old, eight years old you've watched grow, flash before your eyes. You don't see the emaciated gaunt person your child has become. That's what it felt like. I didn't know this Michael; the one who stole money, stole my camera, television, tools, and my friend's laptop computer and the Michael who lied more often than he told the truth. My Michael has a soft heart, loved children, was artistic, and had a great sense of humor. He was my GQ young man. He is the oldest of my five children and has always held a place of honor in my heart for this very reason. I loved him first and the longest.
Last year, I was at a point where I couldn't sleep, I was going to counseling, and taking medication to help me get through the day. I was an emotional wreck because I was watching my son destroy his life and the lives of all those around him. My youngest just left to serve a tour of duty in Iraq in April 2007. By the end of May and my work year, I work in the school system, I thought somebody was going to lose their life and I wasn't sure who would go first. I kicked Michael out of my home then my mother took him in (his grandma). He lied and used at her house. She ended up kicking Michael out after she became a physical and emotional wreck. Then, his other grandparents took him in. He did the same thing there and he kept getting worse and worse. We ended up calling the police one time because he threatened me and his grandparents. The last straw was when Michael stole my friend's laptop. It was his livelihood and it had sensitive work information that compromised his entire career. Michael ended up selling it for a bag of crack. I ended up going and withdrawing $150 from my bank account to retrieve the laptop. We made the police report and I was done.
I had been on the internet looking for programs that dealt with addictions, but never called. Michael had already been through rehab, but that was a 28 day program. He did well and stayed sober and clean for a period of time. Then, the events of the previous year started all over again, progressing to the point where the last straw event prompted me to call several places, narrowing choices to two. I spent hours on the telephone with different people. All of whom gave me so much hope.
I decided on Narconon California because of their holistic approach in dealing with addiction. It was physical, mental, and emotional healing. There was no set number of days, weeks or months in which the person had to achieve sobriety and wellness. Michael talked with an intake counselor and agreed to fly to California. Little did he know that I made the plane reservation for the next week! He arrived in California drunk, but I received the call that he was there and his arriving drunk was not that atypical. It was the first real peace I felt in a long time. We were able to visit with Michael after the initial period of time in sauna. He looked better and better every visit. I had hoped he would consider doing an internship upon graduation from the program, but Michael informed me he would be more than ready to come home (Did I say I moved from IL to AZ to provide a safer haven for him?).
A couple of weeks before he was to graduate, we learned my youngest would be returning from Iraq to attend Michael's graduation from the program. On October 19th, I received several blessings. I saw my youngest for the first time in seven months and I watched my oldest get up in front of a group of people to accept his graduation certificate from the Narconon program. Two sets of grandparents, his dad, his siblings, his niece, and I were present for that moment. Michael also decided to stay and complete a six month internship. He signed a one-year contract to stay and work for Narconon California. I have never seen Michael as healthy and full of hope and peace. He is proud of what he is doing at Narconon California and is making plans for his future. I can't believe he is the same person. He is an adult taking care of his own needs and taking responsibility for his life. He is so healthy and is definitely GQ material! (He is so handsome!) I thank God every day for the programs like Narconon California. Some of Michael's siblings, me, and his niece (who he is very close to) traveled again to Narconon California in May of this year to watch Michael receive his six month certificate. It was Mother's day weekend. It was the best Mother's day present I've ever been given. I didn't think I'd see another mother's day with Michael.
For those of you considering this program, I highly recommend and encourage you to have faith in Narconon California. It has been a miracle for our family. The program works!
God bless you all! Debbie
This letter today, which is overdue, is to offer hope to family members that think there is no hope. It is a letter to every single staff member of Narconon California with our deepest gratitude for helping our daughter.
Our life was idyllic with our only child in the Hudson valley region of New York, until addiction took over. Looking back, we think it started towards the end of her junior year at high school, starting with over the counter cough syrups, marijuana, and alcohol.
Our home became a living nightmare. We screamed, we raged, and we threatened. We went to our own meetings and tried the "tough love" thing. We took her to so many "professionals," none of whom helped a bit. We dragged her to 12-step meetings, but my daughter responded by becoming a crack addict.
Crack took over her life and ruined ours. She lived in "flea bag" motels with who knows, she came to our home to shower, change clothes, and to take some of our food.
"Fortunately," she finally stole from us. We searched the internet, found a referral service, and by the grace of a Higher Being, we were told that there was only "one" program that would work - NARCONON CALIFORNIA. Our daughter was then given an ultimatum, enter Narconon or pack your bags and forget you ever had parents.
In February, my husband flew with our very strung out daughter to California. She fought the program every step of the way but hung in there. Until, one day all the tools that Narconon California was teaching had finally "clicked."
Five months later, in July, we were watching her graduate from the program. How happy we were, finally, after six years of nightmares. Narconon California gave us the chance to re-establish a relationship with our daughter.
Our daughter, Michelle, has emerged into a lovely young woman, whom we are so very proud of. We are thrilled to also say that she is a staff member of Narconon California. That was enough for us. However, life has even gotten better!
We are ecstatic to also tell you that Michelle has become engaged to another staff member of Narconon and she will be coming home for her wedding.
In closing, we would like to tell family members, "If it happened to us, it can happen to you!"
With our heartfelt thanks,
Dale & Jerrold B.
To Whom It May Concern,
My son was addicted to drugs and in all kinds of trouble with the law. He no longer had a driver's license due to multiple DUI's nor did he have a vehicle due to accidents. His father and I were at our wits end and basically cut him out of our lives. He was living on the streets and getting into more legal trouble. If anyone would have asked us 2 1/2 years ago where our son would be today, we would probably have said "dead" or at the very least, "in jail". We honestly believe that Narconon and his willingness to help himself saved his life.
One day he was stopped for jay walking and was arrested for outstanding warrants. We were told that he was probably looking at 18 months in jail. I knew in my heart that jail was not where he belonged and would do nothing to turn his life around.
A year earlier, a woman I knew had told me about Narconon California. She sent her addicted son there and also talked her brother into sending his addicted son there. She was very happy with their son's progress and recommended them highly. My husband and I decided that we would look into Narconon California. I talked to them and got all the information sent to me. I also talked to a local rehab and had their information sent. I reviewed both and quickly felt that Narconon California was the place for our son. Their program was long term and in house. The local rehab was a 30 day program in house but also right in town where temptation was all over. I also felt that a 30 day fix was never going to work. Narconon California had a 30 day (or however long it took) sauna program alone that would extract the drugs from his system which needed to be done before any change in behavior could even start. Their program didn't include those RaRa (what I like to call them) group sessions where they sit around together and try to one up each other. I thought the individual process of looking deeply into himself and what he wanted out of life felt like the best path for him. I was looking for something that would make him realize he had a long life ahead of him and his possibilities were endless if he could only think with a clear, drug free head. He is a very smart young man and we knew he had value not only to himself but to the world. We decided that Narconon was the best choice.
We bailed him out and with the courts' permission and drove him directly from jail to Narconon California on Nov. 3, 2006. He had some very rough days and we had phone calls trying to convince us that they weren't doing things right in his mind which made us feel they were making progress and we made the right decision.
I am very happy and proud to say that he graduated the program in a few months. He was accepted into the Internship Program and began his Training and after a few months was accepted onto staff. This made his father and I elated to know that he was truly turning his life around.
I eagerly invite anyone with reservations or who simply just wants to talk to someone who has been there to call me.
I will be more then happy to help in any way that I can.
My name is Joanne W. and I am once again very proud to say Ryan is my son!
To Whom It May Concern,
My brother Gordon has been an addict for over 24 years. He drank alcohol like a mad man, chased women and basically destroyed almost every positive relationship that he ever had.
Once the blast of crack cocaine was involved, all hell broke loose.
Thanks to Narconon California , Gordy has his life back. He is a responsible, caring person and has taken cause over his life. Narconon California changed his behavior, but more importantly Narconon California changed the way he views life.
When Gordy went to Narconon California my family was at wits end. We have finally found a place different from the 12 step. Narconon California offered that choice. Instead of blaming his genes, family, job, and society-Gordy now takes control of his situation and knows that he is the master of his domain.
He is NOT powerless. He realized now that HE caused the problems and HE made the choices. He is more independent today then I have ever known him. He is a pleasure to be around. His responsibility level is off the charts.
I can't thank Narconon California enough. You gave me my brother back.
Narconon California's approach to addiction is, too me, the best possible solution. It teaches the addict to take control over his life and raise his responsibility level.
That is just what Gordy has done and we will always be grateful to Narconon California for bringing out Gordy's potential and God given talent.
Douglas V.
To whom it may concern,
Prior to our oldest daughter going to Narconon California it was like playing the game of life with several cards missing. Our family was not whole. Life goes on but the game is not the same. We were successful in so many ways but an all important part just was not there. Her brother, sisters, nieces, nephews . . . we all missed her terribly. She was not only lost to us but her own young family; husband, son and daughters. After a while we kind of gave up on the drug problem after years of trying. It gets to be worse than trying to pound a square peg in a round hole. It becomes seemingly impossible. There gets to a point of no answer.
We had this child we conceived. She meant more than any fortune could buy when she was born. We tried to raise her well with all the love and guidance we could. Certainly the same love and guidance we used with our other children. But we were young too . . . was that it? Where did we go so wrong was a constant question? After all we sure were not perfect parents. But this . . . why?
Our daughter went to Narconon California by recommendation and things changed actually fairly quickly. Soon we got word she was doing well. I might add for the first time in years. Soon we heard from her but not the same old thing. She meant it with certainty that it was working for her. It has worked for her exceptionally well.
It has been several years now and we have our little girl back. We have the missing link to our family as a whole. We have the fabulous daughter we knew forty years ago would grow up well adjusted and happy.
When our daughter was born there were no tests to tell whether it was a boy or girl. We never cared. Our only concern, right hand to God, was he or she will grow up well adjusted and happy.
Narconon California has made that wish come true for us. Has the worry, time, heart ache and expense been worth it? Yes . . . she is worth more than any fortune could buy . . . priceless!
And once something so valuable is lost it becomes more valuable given the opportunity to have it again. Priceless is not enough of a word to explain the joy, pride and value given to our lives once again after knowing for certain it was lost.
Narconon California and our dearest daughter . . . thank you!
Sincerely,
Russ
Dear Narconon California,
I just wanted to write to you and tell you what our lives were like before I found Narconon California for Michael.
Everyday was so scary, not knowing if our son would be safe from drugs. Every time he left our home, I would dread answering the phone. Sometimes it would be his work calling to say he hadn't shown up and they were worried; which would put me in a panic wondering was he ok?
How many times did my husband and I call the hospitals to see if he had been admitted, or called jails to see if he had been arrested? We would get in the car at all hours of the night to search for him. We could not sleep or carry on a regular family life with Michael on drugs. He would lie, steal and sneak out the window in a panic for drugs; it consumed all aspects of his life. He lost our trust, but never our love for him. We wanted him safe and free of drugs.
That's when I found Narconon California. I am so thankful that I made that first
Phone call. The staff at Narconon California was so reassuring and confidant that they could help our son.
They were so right! We have our Michael back. He is happy and living a productive full life without drugs. Narconon California gave Michael a second chance on life. The Narconon California program works and we are so thankful to them. Our daily lives are peaceful, and I can say quite normal again.
Sincerely,
Patricia S.
Dear All,
My husband and I would like to express our gratitude toward your organization and the group of selfless individuals who run it day in and day out. Our son Frank was a good person all of his life up until his early teenage years. Even through his remaining teen years he was a good kid but we could tell that things were changing and not for the better.
Slowly but surely as Frank grew older he started to attract the wrong crowd of people and he became less and less the person we always knew he was. He started to seclude himself and of course wound up using drugs and alcohol to excess. It started on a smaller scale in the beginning but progressively grew to a stage where he needed help. At first we thought it was just recreational and that he'll grow out of this stage and move forward in life. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We knew over the years that he had dabbled with drugs and alcohol but did not for a second see what was coming.
One day he came to us upset and crying and asking for help. We found out that he had an addiction to pain medication that he was buying for "partying" purposes and just having fun. Of course we as parents did what we felt was right and helped him find an outpatient program. He attended this for a while and we figured that the problem was handled. Again, we didn't know the magnitude of what he was involving himself into. Frank eventually did a few inpatient programs for short stints of time because his addiction then became heroin and he still hadn't handled anything that got him into this situation. It was a gradual downfall for him that wound up getting him hooked and dangerously to this potentially lethal drug that he was buying from horrible people on the streets.
Our son had fallen apart. Nothing worked. My husband and I supported and assisted him in anything we thought would help him and of course got swindled into believing anything he told us. Meanwhile nothing was changing for the better. It got worse. He wound up in jail at least a couple of times that we knew of and still that didn't wake him up. Our son had become some kind of mechanical being that seemed to have no true feelings and no remorse for the pain that he instilled into anybody who loved him or showed concern or care for his well being. He simply didn't care.
His wife desperately struggled to keep him from harm's way but he was on some type of destructive mission and wouldn't be stopped. Some of the horror stories that his wife would tell us of the manipulation methods he pulled on her were simply astounding. How could someone so intelligent use all ingenuity to slowly kill himself? And furthermore how could he not even care about himself enough to stop when all things that kept happening were without a shadow of a doubt killing those around him?
Finally we had received a phone call from a friend of Frank's who had gone through a program in California to get her life straightened out.
It had worked for her. She was living the good life that her family deserved and that she deserved for herself. She gave us the name and number and we called Narconon California in Newport Beach. We had never heard of this place and for that matter we had never really had a need to know of any place of this nature. It took a hell of a lot of effort to get Frank to drop everything and agree to go but we did it. We didn't take no for an answer. The truth is, whatever he had left at that point was about to be lost regardless and that included his wife and our support. It was simply tearing us into pieces and our lives were not our own anymore. It wasn't easy but he finally got onto the plane and made it to California. I flew with him to make sure he wouldn't run off. It was that bad. We were met by Narconon California staff at the airport and they took him to their facility to start his program.
Frank spent about 3 1/2 months in California to do this program and this was back in 2000. Frank is still clean today and hasn't turned back at all. He took on the opportunity to stay out there and work for the organization. My husband and I missed him greatly but felt a great sense of relief that he was out there and not back here killing himself anymore.
My son today has a beautiful 2 year old daughter coming from his wife who stuck with him through all of this. Our son is happy, his family is well and happy, we are happy and our son lives every day to help other people. He stayed with Narconon California. We have been out there to visit many times and every time we do, we are more and more proud of our son. He is truly showing his colors that we knew were always there. It still took a while to trust our son as there was so much damage prior to him leaving, yet we have found that trust again in him. To a parent, that means the world.
I can count on my son! I know that what he tells me is true and that he'll back that up anytime. We know that the indescribable and hideous past that we all shared with Frank through his drug addiction is over and has been for quite some time now.
Sending Frank to Narconon california was worth every dime that it took to do so. We really thought that our son was going to die. We really started to prepare for that. We didn't have hope anymore. Then we were contacted by one of the Staff named Dave who mentored him through his program and then some. Dave wasn't alone. Frank raved about the staff there and showed a true caring for people that we haven't seen or heard from him in years. It seemed like his inner self had returned. Slowly but surely he became more and more responsible and I believe that he is a better person than he's ever been.
Narconon California truly gave us our son back!
Catherine A. R.
Proud parent of a Narconon California graduate
"How do I start? Our family is like most families. We are close and care very much what happens to each other. Being large in number we do have many different problems and challenges. I have 5 brothers and only one sister. My sister and her husband have worked very hard to build their lives and provide for their family. They started with nothing and have built a successful business and family of their own. The rest of the family was so proud and happy for them. They have 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. They have been given much. Their folks wanted them to have what they didn't as children. So yes, they were spoiled, they looked like they had it all and were doing so well.
My niece, Michelle, is their second child, she was so sharp, did well in school, and loved her family dearly.
Why was it she who turned to drugs?
In our eyes she had it all. Remember we are a large family; I have two brothers who use drugs and alcohol. They are lost to the family. They bring heart ache and pain to us all. Sadness and sorrow is felt for them.
It is a hole in the heart of the family.
So when our niece turned to drugs it was devastating to us all.
How, HOW, could this happen? The hurt and loss we were feeling were unbearable. The thought of this evil taking another one of us was so over powering, the hurt so painful. Why do they choose this over us? To see a young healthy, sharp, vibrate girl turn into a sunken, crashed, broken body, what a shame, what a shame on us we thought.
I am not sure quite how it happened, but the choice for her to go to Narconon California was chosen. So far from us all but a choice was made. Hope was in sight and to know she was in a safe place. Narconon California gave us hope and she started the program. We all learned. Not easy, not quick, not even sure, but slowly we got our niece back. We all learned that we can make good choices and live up to them. We are in control of our own lives and bodies. We must be responsible for our own choices and life.
Narconon California to me has brought me back a niece I thought we had lost and didn't know why. I know now choices, responsibility, clean living and to give back.
Narconon California is a program which can teach and relearn the value of life.
Who we are and how to be a productive person in society. Choices and where they take you. Narconon California was that choice that saved my niece and bought her back better to us. She is better then before because she knows the value of her life and how it is intertwined with us, her family. She knows now that she is in charge of her choices and what happens to her body and soul.
The mind is clear; Narconon California has taught her this and has given her, her life back and ours too.
Narconon California does not use drugs to get them off drugs.
They re-teach them to be themselves and to be healthy; to be aware of the reality of life. I have been to the San Diego and Newport Beach facilities, both are safe clean places. NO fancy frills or extra stuff just a place of hope and choices. I am so glad for the choice of Narconon California and again I say I have my niece back, to me, better the before. For she knows her choice and why and I know why too."
Sheila H.
Gillette, WY
To Whom It May Concern,
My daughter had been a concern since high school when she first started pot. We got her into a drug treatment program and she supposedly did well. We did not realize that a strict follow-up was needed and a change in thought.
After another treatment in a 30 day program 4 years later, the thought was this was it and all was well. The problem is that the treatments did not focus on what to do afterward, mainly no association with past friends and a whole new way of thinking was needed. Life was a turmoil prior to Narconon California's help.
Luckily, our child did not die but hit bottom with continued drug use. A program that was greater than 30 days was needed as well as follow-up and strict adherence to the program. The impact on the family is really indescribable. Health, money, energy, and relationships were lost. I do not think that a lot of that is restored and somehow you go on. It is usually due to self-preservation and care for other family members. Really it is a form of getting a cancer. The fight is on.
Narconon California was a great help. A change of thought was needed to break the cycle and Narconon California teaches that. We finally have a hope that addiction can be altered with a set plan. The constant turmoil is gone and we can finally begin to heal. The education that is being taught at the Narconon California program is so valuable to the addict. A way is shown to pull out of a dead end way of life. Most important a better way is shown through an extended stay longer than 30 days program.
Sincerely,
Joan Z.
Memories from a Mother
"Our son Laurance was born in 1960. He was an adorable baby named after his Daddy and Uncle, (who died when the USS Wasp (carrier) sank in World War II.)
Our boy was loved by his grandparents, cousin, and everybody he would be with. His winning smile and infectious laugh was something else. I've always wished I had a recording of his laugh.
When we went to adopt a little boy in 1963, at the Children's Home, Laurance said, "Well, let's take him home!" The family was very close.
The boys had many little friends in the neighborhood. My husband would bring home big furniture boxes and yell "boxes!" Then, the whole gang had a good time breaking them down and sliding.
In high school, a class trip was the start of his downfall because the kids smoked and drank. In those years of public high school, he smoked pot, etc. I threw away pipes when I found them. His dad even grounded him when he found booze in his room the night of the Prom.
College wasn't any better. He was using even more. He was drinking, doping, and spending money on things he couldn't pay for. He went to rehab for 30 days, but it didn't cure him.
It wasn't until 2006, when he gave his life to Christ in the County Jail. He told me later that he read the Bible 3 times. We sent him to Narconon California and we rejoiced with him on his wise decision. Then a little while later we flew out for a visit and found a son who was a totally different person, our clean and loving boy was back to his mom, dad, and family.
All those 30 years I knew things were not right and I couldn't fix it; but God did. Narconon California was the answer to our prayers for the entire family.
This is a wonderful day for me!
Laurance is now a proud dad and granddaddy!
A special thanks to everyone at Narconon California,"
"This is the "thank you" I meant to write you long ago. It is from both Alicia & I. One fine day, many years ago, you met us at LAX airport. That was the beginning of the end of Alicia's drug abuse. You took 1 scared, addicted teenager, and guided her through a process that saved her. You said to me if Alicia stays here & participates in this program, she will never need another drug-rehab again. You were so kind, so positive, explaining the Narconon Program, reassuring me there was always hope. When Narconon told me of all the drugs Alicia used -- heroin, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, uppers,
downers, Ritalin, Special K, & most at the same time, I thought this was an
impossible situation.
Remember when she ran away & you went out after her? Above & Beyond! I know she was a tough one to have around all that time, after all, I lived with her all those years. She kept messing up, she was always on "Ethics" with Pat! You told me she only knew how to self-destruct & self-sabotage. She never experienced success, so this was the only road she knew. You all were trying to show her another road to travel. How about how long it took her to graduate! When I finally flew to Narconon for her graduation, the room was filled with well-wishers. If Alicia could graduate, anyone could.
She thinks so highly of you, all of you at Narconon. She lives by what you taught her. She resides & works in Santa Barbara. She is going to college there. She is a straight A student & does not use drugs! She is so happy she is still smart & did not fry her brains! So Larry, I am eternally grateful to you & Narconon, for all the wonderful work you do. For I handed you a drug addict, & you handed me back my daughter."
P.C.
I began using marijuana at the age of 10. My parents had divorced. My father moved away. I was angry and confused about life. I wanted to escape. I wanted friends.
As the years went on, I gravitated toward kids that were in similar circumstances as myself. Kids who were from single parent households, who stole, who used drugs, and who had little responsibility.
I started to sell marijuana by age 14. It started out small and eventually went into large quantities. All of my hopes and dreams faded away. I lost the motivation to work and succeed in a legal occupation. I had no goals and no self-esteem. To deal with this along with the increasing anxiety of being a drug dealer, I started to go out to clubs to drink, I also started using ecstasy and crack. I found myself in a deeper and deeper pit. I finally realized I needed help when I ruined a nine-year relationship. I was depressed over the loss and the partying only made me feel worse. I didn’t know where to go for help.
I went to Narconon and it has been the best thing I have ever accomplished. I no longer sell or use drugs. But that’s only half of it. I now enjoy going to work, because I am a Drug Education Lecturer for Narconon. I go out to schools across Southern California to educate children on the dangers of drugs, helping to ensure they make better choices in life and use their education to achieve their goals.
-G.M.
9/2/02
To Whom It May Concern,
I wish to offer my testimony of the Narconon organization and the marvelous work these dedicated people do. Having been asked to give an understanding of my background, I offer the following:
My mother was the granddaughter of Dr. Willard, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who loved the prophet Joseph Smith and was with him at Carthage when he was murdered by a mob. As a child I sat at the feet of my grandfather many times to hear stories his father told him about his good friend, Joseph Smith. With an unbending testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I served a full time mission and was 2nd counselor to the mission president.
After being sealed to a choice companion in the temple, we have enjoyed bringing 6 lovely children into the world; I have been called to 4 high councils in the LDS Church, 3 stake presidencies, served twice as a bishop and once as a stake president. As chairman of the Denver Temple District, with a membership of 84,000 people, I was responsible for the site selection, zoning, preparation, and daily observed the construction of the Denver Temple. I was released as stake president to serve in the first Denver Temple presidency.
Five of our children lived very straight moral LDS lives --- which has included temple marriages for each and full time missions for 3 boys and 1 girl. We now adore 18 happy grandchildren who are all active in the church.
One of our children, our youngest son, got involved with liquor, nicotine, and drugs early in junior high school. For ten years we struggled with this terrible experience. Satan had total control. We were on our knees continually and attended the temple weekly, placing his name on the temple rolls. By the time he had reached college age, we had to ask him to leave our house and make his own way. We would love him always but could not contribute financially to his downfall nor allow him to destroy the spirit in our home.
When he finally discovered that he could not support his habits by working 4 jobs and trying to get an education, and after a short stay in jail, he woke us up in the middle of the night and asked for a blessing. He said that he wanted to go on a mission (being the only one in 5 generations not to do so weighed heavily) but that he needed and finally wanted our help.
We had a friend, Dr. Fila, who has studied drug addiction and rehabilitation for many years. We followed his advice and took our son to Narconon in Newport Beach. After 3 months at Narconon he was free from all addiction but the nicotine habit.
He was so committed to his Narconon experience that he accepted employment with them. With the loving help of a family friend, who was a bishop in the area, he was able to overcome all of his problems including the nicotine. After two years of hard work, he received the mission call that had become all important to him. This past March he was honorably released from that mission.
Our son is returned to us -- he is his old, loving self and now goes to the University of Utah full time. What a thrill it was for our family to have all six children seated with their mother and me in the temple prior to his mission and again upon his return.
We cannot say enough good about Narconon. They saved our son?s life. We now receive calls on a regular basis from people who are looking for answers. The staff at Narconon are dedicated only to saving the lives of those in trouble. We are so convinced that the Narconon experience is the answer to eliminating substance abuse through their unique sweat program where weeks on end are spent in a sauna. This is the key. Without this portion of the program, drug addicts never rid themselves of the drugs stored in the fatty tissues of the body. We think this is vital.
I believe that the program is divinely inspired and would strongly recommend it to anyone.
Sincerely,
J.B.
To Whom It May Concern;
I wanted to take the time to write you this letter of thanks. Three years ago, I sent my son to Narconon. At that time, I had lost all hope that my son Patrick would ever recover from addiction to crack cocaine. I am a very successful business man. I started my company the year my son Patrick was born, in 1967. I started my company from a one room office in Cleveland, Ohio. At this point in time, Minute Men Staffing Services is the largest privately owned staffing service in the country. It was my dream that one day my four sons, including Patrick would be running the companies that I had worked so hard for. I wanted my sons to have a good life, and to know the value of hard work and what it means to truly sacrifice in order to accomplish your goals.
Patrick was always a hard working young man. When he was in school, he always had a job and although I was well off at the time, he wanted to be self-sufficient. This made me very proud. Upon his graduation from high school, Patrick attended flight school. It was his dream to be a commercial pilot. Although I wanted him to follow in my footsteps, it made me very happy knowing that he was pursuing something that he truly loved. When he was in his mid-twenties, after receiving an honorable discharge from the Air Force, he came to work for me. About one year after he started, I began to notice that something was not quite right. He was losing weight, and he would call in sick often. He was also struggling financially, which I would not understand because he was making good money. At first, I thought that perhaps he was just under a lot of stress because his marriage was failing. He then started to disappear for days, coming up with unbelievable excuses for his absence. I did not want to face the truth, but I knew that my son might be on drugs. I would ask him if he was having a drug problem, and he would deny it. It was difficult because I did not have much reality with this sort of thing. He was always such a good person, why would he lie to me?
One day his wife called and told me that she was concerned. She said that Patrick had left the house on Friday night and had not returned home. It was Sunday night. I asked her if she thought that he was on drugs and she replied yes. We then started to make plans to get him into treatment. When he returned home, his brothers and I confronted him, and he admitted that he had been using crack cocaine for the last six months. He agreed that he needed help.
To make a long story short, the next three years were a living hell. We sent him to eight different rehab centers, some of which were supposed to be the best in the country. He would get out of treatment, and soon afterwards he was on cocaine again. I could tell that for the most part, he seemed as though he wanted to stop, but he could not maintain any long-term stability. I gave him opportunities, including accepting him back to work more times than I would like to recall. It got to the point where the family just did not know what to do for him anymore. All that we wanted was our Patrick back. I would have given anything that I owned if I thought that it would cure him.
It was something that he seemed to really enjoy. While he was in Florida opening up an office, I received a call that he had not shown up for work for a couple of days. I immediately knew that he was using cocaine. I was furious. At that time, I was at my wits end. I still loved my son, but I hated him for what he was doing to himself and the family. We brought him back home to Cleveland, not knowing what we were going to do. A friend of mine had seen an ad for Narconon on the internet. He knew of Patrick?s problem, and I had to give my son one last chance before I decided to totally withdraw from him for my own sanity.
We called Narconon and were very impressed by your caring attitude and your knowledge of addiction. I sent my son to you as my last option.
You told me that you could help my son, and you did. I sit in my office writing you this letter three years later with the sincerest of thanks and gratitude for what Narconon has done for my son. His life is stable and he is doing what he truly loves to do, helping other drug addicts achieve sobriety with your organization. I cannot thank you enough. If there is anything that I can do for Narconon, please let me know and I will be happy to help.
Sincerely,
S. G. L.
September 4, 2002
To: Shannon
I am writing this letter to let you know what a positive experience I have had talking to the staff at your facility and how Narconon has really helped me and my son Jason heal our relationship. I had put Jason into many drug recovery programs in the past, but he never responded to his treatment. He relapsed over and over again. I had become a very sick person physically and emotionally while he was using drugs. I had almost lost hope for him and myself. Our family members were upset and could not accept him or his behavior any longer. I found out about Narconon from the Internet one day while I was desperately looking for something to help him recover. I called the phone number and spoke to Larry. Larry was very understanding and kind. He took as much time as I needed to explain the program and how it could work for Jason. Jason had been through 12 step programs and they had not helped him at all. Once I saw Narconon was not a 12 step program I spoke to Jason and asked him to try a different type of recovery program, a program that would give him a positive attitude about his recovery and teach him coping skills.
Jason left for Narconon in Newport Beach in 1999. He went through the program and I noticed a change in him even in the first few months. He found the self-esteem he had lost. Jason really liked the staff and the classes he took. He started talking about his own recovery when we spoke on the phone and when he wrote me letters. Jason was starting to grow up and through Narconon?s wonderful program, Jason became a responsible, loving young man again. I would recommend this program to anyone who has a loved one who suffers from substance abuse. It turned my son?s life around and has let my family become close again. The staff at Narconon are a special group of people who are dedicated to helping those who want to be helped.
Sincerely,
E.J.
July 23, 2002
To Whom It May Concern:
As a nationwide businessman, I am writing to strongly encourage you to approve the proposed application of the Narconon facility for Warner Springs, CA.
I can tell you first hand, as my son went through their treatment program, what a quality, full service organization Narconon is, not only to the patient but also the family of the individual going through treatment. With organizations like Narconon and the dedication of the people who run them, hope is given to the entire family that their loved one may return to being a productive, contributing individual to society.
Sincerely,
C. J. E.
September 5, 2002
To Whom It May Concern;
Approximately two years ago, my daughter Sabrina, was suffering from depression, an eating disorder and methamphetamine drug addiction. She had low self-esteem, saw herself as having no future, and was ready to give up and surrender to drug addiction as a way of life.
Being a father who has built a very successful business as the exclusive developer for the Sandwich Franchise in the State of Arizona, and had achieved financial security with 220 open Restaurants in Arizona plus another 30 added each year, still as a parent, I felt a certain helplessness that I couldn?t keep my daughter off of drugs.
Sabrina had some experience with the traditional twelve-step drug rehabilitation program with little success. I was looking for something different. . . . A program that could teach Sabrina about the basics of life, how to re-invent her life, find her own path to happiness and also to beat drug addiction.
After much searching we found out about Narconon on the internet. The program sounded like what I was searching for: A life strategy program with the intent to help Sabrina beat drug addiction for life.
Today, with the help of the Narconon program and a lot of hard work, Sabrina is drug free. Narconon provided Sabrina with a foundation of strategies to help her achieve success in life. Sabrina is a changed person with goals, confidence in herself and a bright future. In short, I believe Narconon provided Sabrina with the skills that saved her life.
Sincerely,
R. V. S.
Dear Shannon,
Please accept this as an open letter of appreciation to Narconon and it?s staff for their successful efforts on behalf of our son Chris.
As a successful entrepreneur and businessman responsible for million dollar payrolls and hundreds of employees, I always felt confident about my abilities to face and manage problems and issues. I was equally confident that I could deal with whatever issues and problems were involved in building a marriage and helping to raise our 3 sons. In fact I was very confident about ?life? until our son Chris became involved with DRUGS in his freshman year of high school.
The lectures and discussions on the dangers of smoking pot seem like they took place yesterday, but it was actually 25 years ago. Unbelievable! It didn?t take long for that confidence to give way to frustration and futility. Unfortunately we all became slaves to his addiction.
It didn?t take 25 years to recognize:
1) the distance traveled between smoking pot and becoming a hapless crack addict is barely perceptible
2) ?Getting clean? means nothing without being given the ?hands-on, real life? tools necessary for that addict to make life style changes.
My message to you is simply that Chris has been in a great many formal and informal rehab programs, ONLY NARCONON has provided a program that includes ?getting clean? but more importantly has provided those tools that result in restored self esteem, self confidence and independence.
Contrary to what some may say, Narconon teaches the student ?how to think? not ?what to think?. This then becomes the foundation of learning how to recognize your options and trusting in yourself to make the right decisions. Add those facets of the program to the opportunity for that student to continue on as part of the staff to utilize that knowledge to benefit others and to begin to make those life style changes in a secure environment make the program that much more valuable.
Shannon, as you know Chris is currently part of the staff. The fact that he is a productive part of society and making a contribution is a credit to the Narconon program and his desire to overcome his addiction. We are most grateful to you and to Narconon.
Respectfully,
G. S. C.
September 6, 2003
To Whom It May Concern;
In 1995 my husband and I were overwhelmed with worry, guilt and anger because of our son?s drug use.
We did not know his drug of choice and we did not know the extent of his habit. What we did know is that he was lying to us continuously and his choice of friends was questionable based on their appearance and social behavior.
Ed always was concerned about his appearance and that never changed, but his surroundings and those around him showed a total disregard for his family, our privacy and, our belongings. By 1995, Ed could not hold a job or continue with his own business as a contractor. He would be gone for 2-3 days, come home, and pretend to be working on a project or going to school for a new career.
At this time, Ed was 26 years of age and the only hope we had, was that he came from a good family with strong values, and we hoped that his foundation and family love would bring him around to get help.
We continued to accuse, ask, pry, yell, cry, and beg for him to get help. He would tell us he did not have a drug problem and he did not drink. Things were going to get better after this class, or another job opportunity was on the horizon. There was always a good story. A good excuse. A reason for the insanity. When you love someone, you allow yourself to have a lot of hope. You want to believe, that all will get better. How could we have raised a son to be so totally useless? One that would lie? A son that showed no remorse for his behavior. A son that showed no awareness of what he was doing to his brother, parents and other family members.
During this time, I would make several calls to drug rehab centers, but no one wanted to talk to the mother of an adult with a drug problem. We got counseling from friends, family and professionals. They suggested tuff love, ?He will change when he is ready? or ?When he wants to get it together he will?. We considered having him leave and move out of our home. I could not do this because then I feared our next call would be from the morgue. It now sounds so ridiculous but at the time these were real fears.
In September of 1999, my husband arrived at my office to tell me that Ed was in jail. That night, after the tears, we slept well knowing that he was not doing drugs and knowing he was not dead and knowing that a call was not coming tonight.
While Ed was in jail, I again tried to locate someone who could give us some hope regarding a rehab program. Our attorney advised us to locate Ed in a drug treatment center far away from home. Now we had to locate a facility and make a big decision.
I started my newest research on the Internet. I went to a search engine and pulled up multiple drug rehab facilities. Some were for 28 days and some were gender specific, some were reaching out from specific religions. My psychology degree armed me with the knowledge that someone is probably not going to change behavior in 28 days. I wanted a long commitment, a minimum of 3-4 months.
I wrote to all of the centers with programs that had the smallest suggestion of hope. I gave my home number, my cell number, and my office number. These were all private programs. I was looking for a program that had a good location because I knew someone coming up again to face the world, needed to have a good feeling about themselves and their physical surroundings. I liked the information the Narconon program provided. I was impressed with the time commitment and the promises which all came true.
Within 24 hours, someone from Narconon called me. It was the first voice that offered us help. I was a mother losing her son; I was starving for assistance.
Ed was in jail for approximately one week and two representatives from Narconon stayed in touch with me. They called me daily, sometimes twice a day. They would no let me lose hope. They told me what to expect. They told me what Ed would say when he was released from jail. They told me that we had 24 hours to get him into a program before he would be repeating his behavior and starting the cycle again. They were right! Their detailed analysis and their caring to stay in touch with us daily gave us the strength to get Ed from Northern California, to Southern California. We took their advice. We delivered Ed to the Narconon facility in Newport Beach in September of 1999.
The Narconon program worked for our son. We noticed a major difference in Ed within a month. Ed had been using methamphetamine (speed). It was not an instant change but after the sauna portion, he admitted to feeling better and he showed great promise to becoming the young man we all knew who did not use drugs. Ed was beginning to look at us with eyes wide open and a smile. A smile that needed dental work, a smile that needed to make a lot of amends. He had legal problems because of the drug abuse, and Narconon counseled us with more advice.
My husband is a retired fire fighter and I am the owner of a Real Estate Office in Northern California, I am also the President of my local REALTOR Association. We are active in our community and with our families.
The Narconon program has given Ed a new chance, which he is embracing. As his parents we are proud of him for his success and his hard work. We are confident that the past will not be repeated. Ed is now showing genuine concern for his brother and their relationship. I believe his involvement with the Narconon organization has given Ed the strength to develop as a person so he can love and be loved. And we love him.
D.S.
September 5, 2002
To Whom It May Concern;
Our son was in a 12-step rehabilitation program for heroin addiction, prior to coming to Narconon. The 12-step program did not work for him. Narconon was his saving grace. Narconon helps the students become productive members of society and helps the student set achievable goals as they progress.
Narconon is a program that does not use drugs to end drug addiction. During our son?s stay at Narconon, we saw a transformation in him as he progressed from step to step. He cleansed his system of the drugs through the sauna and vitamin therapy.
As he progressed through the steps involved in the program, we saw the son we always knew, emerging again. The supportive environment and staff dedication at Narconon is most impressive. The camaraderie among the students is awesome; they all support one another on their journey to sobriety, thanks to a dedicated and enthusiastic staff.
Our son has been drug free for 14 months; Narconon has given us our son back and kept our family intact. It is a program that really works. We are forever grateful to Narconon.
M.W.
For over the last 10 years of my life I have been killing myself with drug use or I've been struggling to get off them for good. Regardless, my life has been plagued with anything but happiness and freed living. The daily habits and routines of drug dependency are extremely difficult to let go of to say the least. I truly believed I was the only one, the only who truly who had a unique conflict that didn't allow me the luxury of ever learning to trust myself enough to unconditionally confront life without drugs. I had to learn for myself I can handle, right or wrong, anything that came my way in life. I had finally hit a point of complete and uncontrollable disaster about 4 months ago. Prior to that, I had been through a rehab. In Miami FL. and it just didn't help my situation. I found the help I needed here, where above all else, I have been able to regain the control in my life that I need in order to be happy. I need to forever say thanks to John, Nick, Larry, Shannon and especially Dave... I will miss you all.
-E.C.
When I first arrived at Narconon I was scared, but I knew I was going to get off drugs totally. The staff were wonderful and whenever I needed them they were there. The program was effective and accurate. It has answered so many questions I have wanted to answer about myself. It has taught me how to pick my friends and how to help myself with situations in life I need to handle. It has shown me what drugs do and how to accomplish goals in life without drugs.
-L.Y
I never knew it could feel so good! And it's without drugs. They said it would happen and it did. I can't wait to start my new life like this. I've gotten so many good tools to work with now, I know I'm going to do great. I really am thankful to everybody for all the help, I needed it. It's really nice to find out who I really am and I'm sure some people back home are going to be pleasantly surprised.
-M.L.
Just a short note to say 'many thanks' for the helpful tour of your facility. Both my wife and I were impressed with the program and the dedication of the people involved.
More impressive is the result we have seen in our son. With your help (and that of our Creator) he has gained back his life after twenty years of lost time. Enthusiastically he is looking forward to productive and enjoyable remaining years. Even I have learned from watching his growing maturity during the four years since he left Newport Beach.
-J.S.B
I first came to Narconon on November 18, 1998. I am from Mexico City and I have been in four different rehabs and that did nothing for me but accumulate a lot of anger toward my family for putting me there. ( I didn’t want to change at the time) I was lucky enough to have a friend of my family come to my house, knock on the door and introduce Narconon and the purification part of the program to me. I was instantly interested. I knew then that I had a chance. Something different. For once, something that I wanted. I was dying, desperate for a change in my life.
Here while doing the program, something inside me clicked. I knew then that this would work. All I needed was someone to tell me how to do it; how to stay away from drugs. I knew that the rest was up to me.
I now know that the ability has always been within me. The problem was I didn’t realize it was lying dormant. Now with the technology of L. Ron Hubbard and the guidance of the great staff at Narconon, my life has changed dramatically. I can now confront problems in my life, and I found out that my life is worth living. That living is beautiful. Now, any problem, or better yet, any situation that I might encounter, I will find a solution with the technology that I learned here. I know that applying it to my daily life, the condition of my life has bettered 100%. Even more! I now see opportunities, when in the past I saw them as problems. Of my 22 years of addiction to cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol, I don’t regret a moment of it because without having gone through it I wouldn’t be here at Narconon.
Because of me doing this program, the communication with my entire family has been restored. I am grateful for this because they all were there for me. I was the one who had withdrawn from them. I’m back as a whole human being. I am grateful.
-R.S.
By the age of 32, I had abused alcohol for 16 years. At that time, I had lost a career, a spouse, and was on the verge of never being able to see my 3-year-old daughter again due to the fear that had been created in my ex-wife over my lack of control regarding my drinking. My mother was at wits end, and was also soon to wash her hands of me.
In taking one final chance to salvage her son, my mother brought me to Narconon. After spending a few days of detoxing from the alcohol, I awoke to a miserable state of mind regarding myself. I was 32 years old, a complete failure in life and in rehab. I wanted to die and not face the misery that I had put others through as well as myself through. I felt utterly alone and had no idea of how to go about fixing anything about these relationships, and hence, wanted to just give up on life.
Fortunately, I had around the clock care. This was probably the most vulnerable time in my life, and with me by my side 24 hours a day during this time was a dedicated staff member of Narconon to assist me in my recovery. During this time, I was treated with dignity. I was nourished, exercised lightly, and soothed and calmed by professional treatment. I was in a place where somebody was actually going out of their way to tend to my needs. I was bewildered as to why anybody would treat me in such a manner. I felt as if I did not deserve this treatment, and was shocked that it was actually being delivered to me.
After a few more days of this treatment, I was gradually integrated into the actual program that Narconon had to offer. I was started on a regiment of communication exercises that further calmed me and brought me back into reality. I was starting to get to know some of the other people that were involved in this program and soon began to recognize that they were some pretty good people that (to me) didn’t seem to have any problems. I thought to myself “what are these people doing here?” I soon started to understand that these people were just like me. They had just been through the program a little bit longer and had handled themselves much more than I already had. They encouraged me to just stick with the program and apply myself to it, and I would turn my life around. Yeah, right, I said to myself.
After getting through the communication exercises and that had helped me to calm down to a strong degree, I was informed that I would be doing the sauna portion of the program. Okay, I was feeling a bit better, so I figured I’d give it a shot and last it out a little bit longer. I still didn’t feel as if I was cured. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t even started addressing alcohol in the two weeks that I had been there. I hadn’t talked about it once to any of my counselors, and therefore didn’t feel as if I was making any progress.
In doing the sauna portion of the program, I started to feel much better physically and mentally. I started exercising and was on a strong vitamin regiment combined with sweating the impurities out of my body. By the time I was done with this portion of the program, I had regained some confidence in myself. I could actually run several miles relatively easily and was overall just feeling physically fantastic. Hmm, there might actually be something to this stuff after all I thought.
From this point on, I started focusing on the technology and learning what I could from it. I had been around for just over a month by now, was feeling very good, had a clear head, and was starting to feel that life was pretty manageable after all. The materials that I learned from this point on made a tremendous amount of sense to me. Much of what I was learning also had a familiar sense to me as well. Like I had known it through my upbringing, but just never had it explained to me in such a concise manner.
These materials emphasized such things, as making sure you understood something when you read it, treating others the way that you would want to be treated, establishing a good sense of the reality of the world around you, developing and staying with a moral and ethical code, and staying away from negative influences in your life. By the time I had read all of these materials, I was recognizing within myself that I was not a terrible, awful person, but just somebody that had gone against the basic principles that my family and friends had instilled in me as I was growing up. Well, I could correct these negative traits about myself, and with each new principle read, I indeed did so.
I was also helped during this time in putting these principles into application with my family and friends. I was encouraged to restore communication with my loved ones. I was terribly afraid of doing so at first. The anxiety that I went through the first time that I called my ex-wife was incredibly strong. By the time I was done with that first phone call, I was extremely grateful for those communication exercises that I went through in the beginning. These allowed me to be as comfortable as I possibly could despite the anxiety. The amazing part of it was, with each phone call, it became easier and easier to communicate. I was beginning to recognize more so, that my loved ones really did care about me and were just interested in me doing the right things in life and not causing any havoc in any of our lives.
By this time, I began to recognize that alcohol was not the problem. It was all of the social skills that I had been lacking in that was the true problem. With each correction of my skills, I was soon becoming quite confident in my ability to deal with the everyday problems of life without turning to alcohol to escape them. And with each new victory in confronting these problems, my confidence grew, until finally, I had completed the program that had been laid out.
I felt very, very good. I had been doing the right things for about four months. I had restored the good feelings of my family, my friends, and most importantly in my life at the time, my daughter. For the first time in my life, I knew I had the capability of being a father. I also knew that I had the ability to be a friend, an employee, a husband, or anything else that I so desired.
Since the day that I graduated the program, there have been many, many situations in life that I have had to face that were difficult. But I had learned that life is made of situations and problems that need to be sorted out and dealt with. I had learned that if I didn’t solve these situations with the best resolve that I had, that I would not feel good about myself. But that if I did solve these problems, I would feel much better about myself. Pretty simple, actually, succeed or fail. And I had been given the tools to succeed, again. Once by my upbringing, and again through Narconon. And what I chose to do is succeed.
I am forever grateful that I was given the opportunity to turn my life around for the better. I don’t believe that I would have ever done so on my own accord. I know that regardless of whatever occurs in life from here on out, that alcohol and/or drugs is not the solution to the problem, and that these could only make the matters worse. I enjoy the confidence of family and friends alike, that I will do all in my power to ensure that I never betray, and won’t through alcohol or drugs. Life is too good and enjoyable when one is doing the right things and displaying the reasons why one is loved.
I’m proud to say that I have now been sober for almost six years now. I have my head on straight, I think with the foresight of the consequences of my actions, and only act with the best interest of others in mind. Without a doubt, I never would have felt or behaved this way if it weren’t for the fact of doing the Narconon program. It is truly a life-changing course of action that I support fully.
-D.W.
My name is Ed. I’m 30 years old. I started using drugs when I was 15 years old, smoking pot. By the time I was 20 years old, I was using speed (methamphetamines) and cocaine. I began to manufacture methamphetamines and was busted and put in jail.
When I was in jail by myself, I was thinking that this is it. It’s over, but how do I really get out of it. For years my parents had asked me to get help. I would say, “No, I’m fine.” So, when I asked my parents to get me out of jail, they asked me if I was ready for a program. I said I would do whatever it takes. They got me out of jail and into a rehabilitation program, Narconon Newport Beach.
I have to say that when my parents said that it was a 3-4 month program, I thought my life was over. It sounded like forever because I really didn’t want to change yet.
For the first few weeks of the program, I was very negative. But, after seeing how nice the people are and teaming up with another student, the program started to work for me. After a month, I knew that I was never going to use drugs again.
Now, after learning the technology from Narconon, I not only know that I won’t use drugs, but I also won’t commit crime. Narconon gave me my life back. I am happier. I have better relations with my family. I have better friends. I am able to see how screwed up my life really was, and how much I have hurt people. I know after finishing the program that life is much better for myself and everyone around me.
-E.S.
I grew up on the east coast in a tight-knit, highly educated Catholic family. I went to Catholic schools until I graduated from high school and flew off to attend U.C. Berkeley. There I studied physics, calculus, and English. In my second year of college, I became an alcoholic and began an odyssey that led me to Narconon Southern California—Where I got the education of a lifetime.
When I was 26 I found AA, a fine institution; and I stayed sober for some seven years. That was not enough; that was not real sobriety; something was clearly wrong. During my years of sobriety I finished my BA and MA and earned CA Teaching Credentials and started my career as a language teacher. I had and took the opportunity to work throughout California, the Caribbean, and South America. I did professional research and delivered presentations at international conventions, but I never nailed what wasn’t quite right in my life, and I ended up drinking again.
This started a roller coaster of drunkenness and dryness, of horrible times and okay times. It ended in lost jobs, a failed marriage, DUI’s, a stint of homelessness, and a jail sentence. No matter what I—or others—tired, I could never put together another entire year of sobriety.
Narconon Southern California was highly recommended to my family who were desperate to find me help. I had already gone through several twelve-step type recovery facilities with only varying degrees of success; nothing stuck. I was willing to take the hand my family extended and try one more time. But I didn’t expect anything different, anything new; I just went to satisfy my family and to organize my thoughts.
Not too long into my three-month stay as a student at Narconon, I began to realize how very different this program is from any other I had ever known or heard about. I realized how phenomenal Narconon’s simple technology is. I began to understand that Narconon is not a place that was going to just get me to stop drinking and doing drugs. Narconon was the place that was showing me how to live my whole life forever.
The eight-course program, built book upon book, literally showed me the way to happiness. The courses and the people who delivered the program to me utterly empowered me in every aspect of my life. At Narconon I didn’t just recover from addiction, I recovered from wrong living, from unethical behavior, from poor communication habits, from not understanding my own condition or my own responsibility for it, and especially how to get out of it.
Every time I left other twelve-step program, I left them sober and with good intentions. But I always reverted to my old ways. That is because the other programs did not help me discover the cause of my addiction, the why of all my problems and the how of handling them. Narconon did.
When I graduated from Narconon, I graduated understanding my conditions in every aspect of my life and having usable tools with which I can keep on improving my conditions every day. There is no other program like this on earth, I am sure of it. The people who delivered the program did so tirelessly; they are absolutely dedicated professionals. The Narconon technology itself is so remarkable and life changing that when I graduated I decided to change professions. After years and years as a public school educator of all levels from grades seven through university, I knew that there is no education more imperative to impart than that which Narconon delivers—the technology that saved my life and the lives of so many others in much more than one way. Sending me to Narconon was the best decision my family ever made, and joining staff at Narconon is the best decision I ever made.
God Bless,
J.A.
I always thought of myself as a philosopher. From as early as I can remember I’d been looking for truths that would make my life make sense to me. I grew up in a religious family, a Quaker family, and in a family that liked to help other people. My search led me into different locations and into different schools of thought, and finally to experimentation with drugs.
I sought out drugs in order to expand my world, but I ended up totally trapped and confused. I had no idea, nor could I fathom the complexities of that trap. I always considered myself to be well disciplined, a good athlete, a good musician, and a good friend—yet that discipline and strength that I was so proud of was just not there when confronted with the trap of drug addiction. I spent fifteen years trying to find my way out of this seemingly unsolvable maze.
Somehow, and I consider it a miracle, I found Narconon and it’s technology. It has now been fifteen years since I last used. My life is as full as I once imagined it to be. I am achieving the dreams and goals that I had pursued in my younger days before my drug use. I’m happy, and now, again, I’m well disciplined, a good athlete, although my body doesn’t always agree anymore, a good musician, and a good friend.
-N.K.
I would like to write this success story attesting to my completion of the Narconon program. When I came to Narconon in September of 1999, I was in a state of desperation because I did not want to use drugs anymore, but no program that I had tried was able to help me, and I was beginning to lose hope. I always knew that I was a good person but I could not obtain any long-term sobriety. The program that Narconon offered me has changed my life. It not only helped me to stop using drugs, but it taught me how to really live again. I had the ability, but they helped me to see it, and most importantly, how to get and maintain control in all areas of my life. This has been the experience of a lifetime. Thank you
-P.L.
Just the other day, my best friend, who also happens to be my older brother said to me, "you truly are back and in better shape than ever before." To understand the significance of this statement you would first have to understand the years of disappointment, concern, and disgust my drug addiction caused to those I care about and even eventually to myself. It wasn't enough that I disappeared from their lives, but that I only reemerged when it served my need, to ask for money or favors or even to blame them for my own mistakes.
Thanks to the basic life skills that the Narconon program is built upon, I progressively gained more and more confidence to confront my life and restore to my family, friends, and myself the stable, outgoing, charismatic person that was missed.
I can not tell you how empty I was inside or how dim my future looked while on drugs because I barely remember myself. I can tell you I was all consumed with chasing my chemically induced high which preoccupied a 15 year span of my life. This was my pursuit of happiness. Since gaining the viable tools to battling my abberated behavior I have gained back all those lost years and lead, by example, a very productive and fulfilling existence in which everyone wins from my hard work. And in response to my brothers statement, "You bet I am!"
-G.F.
I have been a cocaine addict for 20 years nonstop. Everyday, every night for 20 solid years. During that time I tried to quit, but of course after 2-3 days I failed. Also I tried NA and AA, but that failed. I also tried a sober living house, but that also failed. I was doomed to either be an addict the rest of my life or die. Dying looked like the best way out at the later stages of my addiction. I called my mother one last time and she said there is a place that had a 78% success rate. I jumped at the chance to have a cure. I came into Narconon willing to do whatever was needed of me, but it was easy - no meetings, no sponsors. The first thing was the sauna, the sauna took away the physical cravings and also I quit biting my nails after 35 years. Then the book work made me realize I am responsible for my condition and I can and have the ability to improve my condition. Today I am 2 years clean and no longer an addict - I owe my life to Narconon.
-J.E
"This is a letter of thanks and recognition to all those associated with the work, endeavors and promise of Narconon. It is our sincere hope to reach out to families and friends of loved ones still inside the downward spiral of drugs, alcohol and self-destructive addictions. Narconon gave and continues to give our daughter a second chance at life.
As Christian parents we struggled with concerns over Narconon’s creator, L. Ron Hubbard and the possibility of enrolling our daughter in a “cult.” We watched intently and followed the overall detoxification process, course content and concepts very closely. Happily and gratefully we concluded that the staff and, indeed the concept of Narconon, have all of humanity’s noblest interests at heart. The tools given our daughter are universal and not religiously specific. Communication with family and positive influences are encouraged on a regular basis. We applaud and commend our daughter’s tremendous efforts to make it happen and stick to it until she completed the first phase of the program. We also appreciate the comfort zone offered by Narconon’s philosophy that “it takes as long as it takes” to be cured. There is no specific number of days in which the student must return to the world again before he/she is ready.
Our twenty year old daughter reached the bottom with a smorgasbord of drugs, raves and destructive lifestyles. Most of her friends only added to the spiral of lies, cheating and misinformation that take up all of an addict’s time when relating to those who love them. Loss of her job, loss and distancing from productive friends, her feelings of worthlessness and emotional depression brought the whole family perilously close to a tragic ending.
As we approached the reality of a tragic end for our daughter, an internet web search and analysis brought Narconon to our attention as a very different concept in treating addictions. While the Narconon concept has been around for decades, it is new to the uninitiated who never had a need for it! Narconon works on the whole individual and gives its in-house students the tools for life to overcome both the physiological and psychological holds of addiction. Narconon’s different concepts allow its students to say and believe that they were addicts before Narconon and that after they graduate, if they practice the precepts of the training, they are no longer addicts and are able to lead happy, productive, addiction-free lives.
In the end it is up to the individual addict to want to rise up from the hell of their addiction. Our daughter now has the opportunity to be a happy, productive member of society. That chance is directly a result of the love, care and tools provided by the staff of Narconon. We thank Narconon for giving our daughter that chance.
Both my wife and I stand ready to communicate through Narconon with anyone who requests or needs to share our experiences. No system is perfect and, ultimately, it is up to the individual to make his/her way in life. Narconon provides one answer that can and does work to make the world a better place."
-J.O., A.O.
"I have spent the last 6 years in a constant state of panic and worry over my daughter's life style. She has been through treatment program after treatment program and would only manage to stay off drugs for two or three weeks and than she would fall. Night after night I would go without sleep worrying if my child was in jail or god forbid even dead. I will never forget the day I first learned of the Narconon program. I was watching TV and the announcement came on. After hearing the testimonials from the graduates of the program a renewed feeling of hope for my daughter's sobriety came over me. I knew Tracie needed to be at Narconon and that it was her only hope. Thank god she made it into Narconon's hands. I have my daughter back now. She speaks with confidence now. We have never been able to communicate in such a meaningful way as we do now. I can honestly say that Narconon saved my baby's life and I will be thankful to Narconon for the rest of my life."
-M.K.
"John is my son, and I love him very much. But up until a year ago, I thought I’d lost him forever. He had gotten addicted to cocaine, and no matter what we did, he couldn’t seem to stop. He’d become a different person, an unreliable, angry, selfish young man who didn’t seem to care how badly he hurt our family or himself. We stood by him while he went through treatment after treatment. But it seemed hopeless. He’d stay clean for a few weeks or months and then disappear. Pretty soon we’d get a call from the hospital or the police or his girlfriend, telling us that John was in trouble again. It didn’t seem like John was going to be able to stop using drugs on this side of the grave and it was tearing us apart. I’m a doctor, and I felt that if anyone should be able to help, it should have been me. But the cravings were just too strong for him to overcome. Things seemed pretty grim. Then we heard about Narconon New Life Center. The counselors there told us that they could help me get my son back. They explained addiction to me in language that made sense. They told me that they could help, and I believed them. I decided to give it one more try and today I’m glad I did. Today I have a son again.-Dr. L.A.
My name is Marlene. I’m the sister of someone who went through the Narconon program. We live in Surinam, South America. In October of 1996, I came with my brother to Narconon. Within four days my sister and I could see the difference in him. During the following four months, he would call home often and wrote letters in which we could read how excited he was and how grateful he was to be part of the Narconon family. I came back in March, and found a new man. I got my brother back and so much happiness that it was almost too much to comprehend ... Narconon, you are a gift from Heaven!
-M. C.
The first time I walked in the Narconon office I was desperate. My son had not spent more than a few months out of jail at any given time period for over five years and all of his incarcerations had been directly related to drug and alcohol offenses. Counseling, and even hospitalization, had not helped. You were my last hope. As I read the letters on the wall in the waiting room I remember my eyes stinging with tears. I wondered if I would ever be able to write a letter thanking Narconon for the successful treatment of my son. That was almost two years ago and with a happy, grateful heart I am writing you and your dedicated, wonderful, committed staff to let you know that the program proved successful. The nightmare of drug and alcohol abuse is finally in the past. My son has become a happy and confident individual, with your assistance. The program established itself as the best investment we could have ever made. Would I recommend Narconon to anyone? In a heartbeat! May God bless each and every one of you. Keep up the great work.
-Parent of Narconon Graduate
Narconon has a program that works. I know. I did it. It saved my life.
-Kirstie Alley
This is a great program. It had been so long since the time when I wasn't doing one type of drug or another, that I always felt "if I'm not high, I'm not happy". Well, this just isn't so anymore. I'm not high on drugs and I'm happy. This is a great success for me. All the staff members here helped me each in their own different way. They put up with me and helped me with my problems one by one. I thank each and every one of them for their time taken and will remember them forever. This is not an easy job and they all deserve sincere congratulation. And for me, I now have myself back to start a new life without drugs.
-A.M.
I was not your typical drug user, but then again maybe I was because there are a whole lot of people that abused drugs that came from "good" families. My parents, both physicians, were also both alcoholics and prescription drug users. I went to a fine private school right here in California. By the time I was 16, I had already been to Europe, Hawaii, Africa, Japan, China, Greece and South America. I had a car when I was 16 and carried a 3.8 grade point average in school. I was a national merit scholar and high school All-American. I was even accepted to play on the US National Volleyball Team. I also used drugs on a daily basis from the time I was 15 years old. I came back to California because my mother was dying of cancer. A year later she and my father both died within 40 days of each other. Thus began 4 years of "hell" in which I spent close to 1 million dollars of money and merchandise on crack. I was smoking about an ounce of crack a day. I got pregnant 3 times, losing 2 babies, and at seven months pregnant I was arrested twice facing a jail term of at least three years. On Feb. 17, 1993 I entered the Narconon program. 2 months later I had what I never dreamed possible... a life without drugs! To top that off, I had borne a beautiful daughter, Michelle, drug free.
-K.P.
I am 52 years old. I began using drugs when I was around 13 years old. By the time I reached Narconon I was taking 5 to 10 bags of heroin a day or whatever I could get. I had ruined my relationship with my family and friends and lost everything I cared for. My worst day on drugs was the day before I came to Narconon. I was going to kill myself. That same day I watched a television program about Amanda Rice and the Narconon Program. I called and by some miracle I talked to the right person, and she got me out to Narconon by train. It was a real journey. When I came to the front door of Narconon I was greeted with loving arms and the rest is history. I haven't used drugs since.
I have tried 10 other programs before I came to Narconon and they did not give me much attention, but they gave me drugs to get me off drugs and this did not work.
During my withdrawal from heroin I was given no drugs. Narconon did this with vitamins, minerals, healthy food and 24 hour counseling. At first I said to myself "Oh lord... what am I going to do? I am going to get real sick in my heroin withdrawal." When I came here I was reeling in pain, but with the help of the vitamins, minerals and nonstop help, I did make it through. I have not had a pain since.
Then came the communications training routines (exercises) which were just amazing. From there I went into the Narconon New Life Detoxification Program. When I completed, my mind was clear. While I am an older person, I feel great.
What Narconon has done for me up to this point is give me the knowledge to handle my situations. It has given me back a lot of things that I had lost. Narconon gave me back my confidence. As an addict I could not trust anyone. I did not trust anyone and no one trusted me, this all has now changed.
I cannot express what these people have done for me. This is the best program in the world.
-B.A.
Narconon is a great program. When I came in I could not even go a day without doing cocaine. Now I have control of my life and can confront the society I live in. This program taught me a lot about self-confidence, morals and ethics; basic living requirements! Narconon should be commended.
-M
For 20 years I don't think I ever told my parents the truth. Maybe part of the truth, sometimes, but realistically my relationship with them was based almost entirely upon lies. I've realized that this makes life very complicated! Which lie are we talking about today Mom? I had to have this huge additional mental filing system just to keep track of what I had told my folks.
At Narconon I found that standards of ethics do exist. Not moral platitudes enforced on me by someone else, but basic, commonsense guidelines for honesty and happy living. I apply these basic standards to how I live my life now. It has improved my condition on a very broad scale. But especially it has improved my relationship with my parents. I am completely straight and honest with them now, and feel more closer to them than ever before. After all they've done for me, I think I owe them at least that much.
-B
I don't know exactly what to say about the Narconon program except that it worked thoroughly, miracles do happen. This program has given me more than I could have ever possibly imagined - much less write.
-T.B.
Being drug free is the most wonderful feeling in the world. Go for it! I have learned so much along the way. Narconon gave me back my life - better than ever.
