Friends of Narconon is a non-profit, public benefit, charitable organization providing anti-drug abuse information, education and rehabilitation services to reduce the drug problem in society. http://www.friendsofnarconon.org Tue, 21 May 2013 19:08:05 +0000 FeedCreator 1.6 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/images/M_images/mos_rss.png http://www.friendsofnarconon.org Friends of Narconon Intl http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_104/ Good Drugs or Bad Drugs?When your kid is being wheeled out of the operating room after having his appendix surgically removed and the medical personnel are getting ready to administer morphine to ease his pain, are you going to say, Drugs are bad. Don't do drugs. ? When your kid gets married and the guests raise their glasses of champagne to toast the bride and groom, are you going to say, Drugs are bad. Don't do drugs. ? As you gulp down a cup of coffee to kick start a rough morning or sip a martini to help you relax at the end of a tough day, are you going to look your kid in the eye and say, Drugs are bad. Don't do drugs.”?This is a common theme in our society today. We are groomed from very early years to the idea that there are good drugs and bad drugs. This line of thinking in many cases leads to a major misunderstanding of what drugs are. So as you look over you life and wonder whether or not your kids... jed@getcured.org Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:21:42 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_103/ Clueless About Drugs and EmotionEarlier we had done a quiz on What emotion does drug use begin with? At that time 62% had answered incorrectly and 38% answered correctly - Boredom. The follow-up quiz to this was What is the cause of Boredom . We had a lot of great answers on this quiz and I wanted to share the results with you:75% answered incorrectly. 25% answered correctly with Lack of Goals, No Goals, no worthwhile goals . Emotion plays a big role in drug use and most kids start using drugs because they are bored. And when you trace this back you find that the reason they are bored is because they have not defined any goals for themselves. In our new film Drugs and Emotions, Mr. Wiggins explores the various emotions that we experience in life and educates kids on what they are and how to spot them. This new film also explores what goals are and how to achieve them. As you can see from the survey results above, most of our kids will be clueless about emotions and what causes boredom. Knowing this it is easy to see that this information is vital for all kids to have. It has been discovered that without goals kids have no direction and with no direction kids fall prey to those who would push drugs on them for lack of nothing better to do. In the many interviews I have personally conducted with former drug dealers and users, it was a common theme that they had nothing else better to do at the time and decided to have some fun with their friends etc. We are embarking upon the final production phase of our new film Drugs and Emotions . We need your help now more than ever. jed@getcured.org Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:24:32 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_102/ Who's Job is it Anyway?When we think about family and we think about our home and who keeps it all together, many of us can agree that mothers are usually the ones to do that. Whether there is a problem within the marriage or not, when kids are involved, most times mom is the one they come running to. This seems to hold true when it comes to drug abuse. A study from Penn State University revealed that teenagers have a preference of which parent they prefer to talk to about the subject of drugs:70% of teens are more at ease when talking with their moms. 12% of the teens in the survey favored talking with their fathers. 7.4% preferred talking with their grandparents. 7.4% favored talking with siblings. 3% preferred talking with other extended family members. Whether it is the mom or the dad that kids turn to, there is one thing that parents must be certain about; what to say when your kids do ask you about drugs. While sometimes it may be difficult for parents, I have found that honesty in communication with your kids about drugs and even your experiences with them will go a long way to gaining your kids trust in what you say. However, for many parents it just seems like a tough thing to confront. Most of the parents I have spoken to confessed to me that they would not know or did not know what to say about drugs to their kids. Many parents I have spoken with would never believe their kids would even do drugs. You could say they were in denial about their kids drug use. In fact, I even documented this in the feature called Why Parents Are The Last to Know included with the Marijuana The Myth DVD. With school back in full bloom it is inevitable that your kids and family members are going to be faced with issues regarding drugs. It is important that you and your family get fully educated on the subject of drugs in order for you to handle the situations. jed@getcured.org Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:43:30 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_101/ Iraq is Not The Only War Costing America BillionsWhat problem costs the American economy more than $100 billion every year? What problem causes employers to incur a 300 percent increase in medical costs and benefits? What problem is being addressed by large companies but neglected by small businesses?The answer is substance abuse in the workplace, including alcohol abuse as well as illicit drug use. And it's a bottom line issue that is only getting worse for our nation's small business owners. Research shows that substance abusers are:5 times more likely to file a workers' compensation claim. 2.5 times more likely to have lengthy absences from work. 3 times more likely to be late for work. Likely to use 2.5 times more medical benefits, and One-third less productive. According to the Labor Department, five million of the country's estimated nine million employed substance abusers work for small companies. This may well be a conservative estimate, as those workers most at risk for substance abuse are more likely to be employed by small, rather than large, firms. For example, small companies hire a greater percentage of young personnel than do large businesses, and surveys show that in general, marijuana and cocaine abuse are more prevalent in this age group. And the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimates that ... jed@getcured.org Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:56:23 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_100/ Are We Making A Difference?This is our 100th briefing and I decided that we should do a quick check to see if this good work we are all doing is making any difference. So I looked up some recent research that means something. While we gather successes from schools week in and week out, all the staff here at Friends of Narconon have a keen focus on one major statistic. That is whether or not the NATIONAL drug use is dropping.In order for you to really understand what this means it is a good idea to understand the universe we are working in. In the USA the population just went past 301,139,947. Of that there is just over 50 Million school kids. So our current target audience is 50 Million students spread out across more than 100,000 schools (public and private). These are very LARGE numbers indeed. So when we are talking NATIONAL drop in drug use, this is no small task. So, would you like to know how things are going on the national drug scene?Would you be interested in knowing if all your support is making a difference? (This briefing is longer than usual, but trust me, you'll want to know this data!) jed@getcured.org Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:34:13 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_99/ Marketing Drugs to The MassesIn a previous article we talked about a natural hallucinogenic drug that was easily available over the internet. These types of websites actually are called No Prescription Websites (NPWs) which offer to sell controlled substances without a valid prescription. NPWs were first recognized by the U.S. Justice Department in 1999, indicating that such sites had been operating at least through the late 1990s. NPWs enable dealers and users to complete transactions without direct contact. While many NPWs accept credit cards, others only accept cash thereby further reducing any paper trail. Many NPWs are hosted in countries in which specific categories of controlled substances are locally legal (e.g. prescription opioids in Mexico), but because of the global nature of the internet, NPWs are able to do (mostly illegal) business with customers around the globe. In addition to prescription opioids, stimulants, and sedatives, steroids are often widely distributed. To date, no websites have been found offering directly to sell illegal drugs like heroin, illegal amphetamine or methamphetamine derivatives, or cocaine, however the police have uncovered several instances of dealers/drug rings using Craigslist personal ads to solicit drug business using code words and phrases. All other categories of drugs are readily available online.As you can see our kids have more access to ... jed@getcured.org Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:29:50 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_98/ Once it was thought that a person was a drug addict or alcoholic only if he needed the drug daily, or if he went through withdrawal symptoms (vomiting, seizures, cramps, death) when he abruptly stopped using the substance.It was thought that alcoholics and drug addicts were unemployed, poor, and from the inner city. These are misconceptions. Many drug addicts do not use drugs or alcohol daily and do not experience physical withdrawal when they stop using. The majority of addicted people are employed and appear to be functioning normally.This can help parents understand how it is their kids can go to school, seem to get good grades, appear to be doing well, and then all of a sudden - bang! Their kids drug problem is out of control. It can happen very fast sometimes and parents need to be on the alert for all the various signs and symptoms. While many of you undoubtedly feel you have things under control with your kids, and I do appreciate that. But I can tell you in all my years I have spoken to many parents, very upstanding moral people, who felt they had it under control, only to nearly lose their kids to drugs. And the common thing they say to me is I had no idea . So as we start a new school year, I want to provide all you parents, friends and family members with some very important tips to spotting signs and symptoms of drug use. jed@getcured.org Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:28:10 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_97/ Nearly 10 Million Kids Reached!I wanted to share with all of you some good news. I just tallied up the total number of kids that Friends of Narconon has reached with our Narconon Drug Education video program since 1995. Are you ready? 9,168,955 students reached, this is a cumulative total. Nearly 10 Million!!!!!!!This briefing is dedicated to all of our sponsors and supporters over the last 13 years. The expansion that has taken place and the number of kids reached with the truth about drugs would not have been possible without your support. I would like you all now to read the highlights I am giving you and realize that you had something to do with this. (If you haven't yet, that's ok, I know you will)* In 2003 FON launched a campaign to put all videos into Hawaii schools. * In 2004 FON begins pre-production research on Xtasy The Real Story. * In 2005 DVD versions of MTM and TAD were made available for public. * In 2005 FON compiles the pilot binder for the new Science Study. * In 2005 FON wraps principal photography on Xtasy The Real Story. * In 2006 Hawaii became the first state to have all schools using our video program. * In 2006 Xtasy The Real Story Part 1 2 was completed and tested in 447 schools. * In 2006 Xtasy The Real Story wins the prestigious Aurora Award-Platinum Best of Show! * In 2006 1,792,127 school students received our drug education program. * In 2006 1,126 New schools were registered and received our drug education video program. As of 2006 our Drug Education video program is in 6,385 schools with more added weekly. So, just last year alone we reached over 1.7 million students! And I can tell you the success stories... jed@getcured.org Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:55:22 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_96/ Will History Repeat Itself? As we look over the halls of history we find that in the early days, before there were laws on various drugs, governments had their hand in the cookie jar of the drug trade. In the last article we talked about a War that took place between the British and Chinese. But lets now look at what lead up to that war. How did it come about and what role did governments play in its eventual outcome? What Role Has Government Played in the Drug Trade? We can speculate and I am sure we all have our conspiracy theories about this, but lets just take a look at some known facts in our history books.In looking for other possible commodities, the British soon discovered opium, and production of opium was subsidized in British India.Between 1821 and 1837 imports of the drug to China increased five-fold, as a result of the British reversing its previous decision to respect the Qing governments ban on opium which dated back to 1729. British importation of opium in large amounts began in 1781. The drug was produced in India under a British government monopoly (Bengal) and in the Princely states (Malwa) and was sold on the condition that it be shipped by British traders to China. Alarmed by the epidemic of addiction (an estimated 2 million Chinese were habitual users), the Qing government ... jed@getcured.org Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:49:00 +0000 http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/news/latest_news/friends_of_narconon_president%27s_briefing--issue_95/ Not a single thing was stirring, not even a mouse! If you have ever had mice in your home, then you no doubt tried many things to catch them. Cheese is among one of the well known items used to catch mice. Well now drug dealers are using Cheese to catch young teenagers.It's a mouse trap that's catching kids by the dozens!Aside from being a favorite addition to any sandwich, Cheese has taken on a whole new meaning for drug dealers. Now they are marketing Cheese Heroin to our kids. You heard right. Cheese heroin is formed by combining heroin with crushed tablets of certain over-the-counter cold medication, such as Tylenol PM. Such a cold medication contains acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, and the antihistamine diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl. (An allergy relief medication)This highly addictive drug has killed 21 teenagers in the Dallas area over the past two years, and authorities say they are hoping to stop the fad before it spreads across the nation. On April 15, 2007, The Dallas Morning News published the results of a lengthy analysis of autopsy results between 2005 and 2007, conducted in concert with the Dallas County medical examiner's office, which suggested that the 21 deaths among adolescents during that period were attributable to cheese heroin. Cheese is typically found folded inside a .... jed@getcured.org Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:27:01 +0000