Drug Rehabilitation

Partnership for a Drug-Free America: Helping Parents Raise Healthy Kids

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Alcohol Abuse, Drug Abuse Treatment, Drug Addiction, Drug Rehabilitation, Raising Healthy Kids on July 1st, 2010

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is an organization that seeks to connect with parents, scientists and communications professionals to campaign for a healthy and drug-free environment for children. The Partnership aims to prepare families with prevention methods and information to fight against the dangers and temptations of drug and alcohol abuse among others.

Partnership for a Drug-Free AmericaDrugfree.org is the resource center where the group offers an interactive center for those who want to get the most recent scientific information regarding teen alcohol and drug abuse. Through this valuable tool, parents are given the opportunity to interact with one another, to share information and to help one other in fighting for healthy, drug-free homes.

The Partnership offers several programs that cater to the different kinds of situations that parents can be in.

TimeToTalk is an award winning campaign and program that encourages parents to take time to have frequent and constructive dialogue with their children regarding the dangers and consequences of drug abuse and alcoholism.

Time To Act is a program that offers a step-by-step drug and alcohol guide teaching parents proper intervention when they suspect that their child is drinking or using illegal drugs. With videos and reading materials from experts, parents can learn effective ways of dealing with these difficult and sensitive situations.

Parents360 is a program specifically designed for community education, particularly targeting the parents and caregivers. This program is designed to help them prevent or take action if their child or someone they know is taking drugs.

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Country Singer Mindy McCready Bounces Back

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Addiction, Drug Rehabilitation on June 24th, 2010

It is a story that we have heard time and again — star falls from grace, picks up the pieces and rises again. Regardless of the number of times that we hear the story, we should certainly wish only the best for the person involved – celebrity or not.

Mindy McCreadyOne such story is that of country singer Mindy McCready. At 18 she was one of the rising stars in the country music scene; her debut album, “Ten Thousand Angels,” sold two million copies, according to a feature on CBSNews.com.

She was, however, unable to sustain that first success. While she did come out with three more albums, they were all considered as failures commercially. The problems were not confined to her career and life in the limelight; her personal life was also in disarray, and she suffered from a substance abuse problem.

Entertainment Weekly senior writer Whitney Pastorek told CBS News: “It really seemed like McCready became more of a tabloid headline than a music headline, and that her scandals started to outweigh the significance of her singles.”

She has since tried to put her life back on track and was one of the stars who appeared on the VH1 reality show Celebrity Rehab. The show became part of her conscious effort to rid herself of her substance abuse problem, an issue that has reportedly led to attempts at ending her life.

On trying to commit suicide, McCready said: “I didn’t knowingly ever try to kill myself… It was after there had been a depressing moment or…  a crushing thing had happened to me that… I would drink too much and I don’t really remember making those decisions.”

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Eminem Raps About Drug Experience in New Album

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Addiction, Drug Rehabilitation, Prescription Drug Abuse on June 23rd, 2010

Artists do have a convenient outlet for their emotions – their experiences certainly help them with their craft. For Eminem, his battle with substance abuse made for an “addictive” hip-hop album, based on a review by USA Today.

eminemIn the track Talking 2 Myself, the rapper shares: “Encore, I was on drugs / Relapse, I was flushing them out.” He used details from his experiences in the album, with the review indicating that he went more for “substance versus shock value.” He also tackles his insecurities in the track Going Through Changes and his “inner demons” in the track Not Afraid. He also dealt with his uneasiness with celebrity in Almost Famous as well as with the hip-hop industry in 25 to Life.

The album is deemed as a great comeback album for the rapper, whose career took a bit of a slack as he struggled with substance abuse, depression and grief.

A post on Testing It Up from last March shared how Eminem turned to – and received help from – another celebrity who also had a personal experience with substance abuse: Elton John. The rapper had admitted to abusing a variety of prescription drugs such as Ambien, Vicodin and Valium.

Recovery was released on June 22 and marked his return to the limelight. TubePotato.net shared the following quote from Village Voice contributor Chris Weingarten: “He’s rapping again, he’s a beast again. It may not be the hottest album. The choruses are still a little corny, but he’s rapping like he was in the ’90s, when he was doing ridiculous punch-line rap on Rawkus [Records] stuff. He’s back to being a crazy wordsmith. He’s being very clear and focused, and it shows.”

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Changing the Drug-Related Reputation of Santa Cruz, California

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Abuse Treatment, Drug Rehabilitation, Drug Testing on May 25th, 2010

The city of Santa Cruz, California, has the not-too-desirable reputation of being a “haven for heroin.” And the Santa Cruz Sentinel – as a conclusion to a series of reports – has a few ideas on how to change that notion.

santa cruzFirst up is a challenge to the District Attorney’s Office: put drug dealers in jail, and keep them there. The Santa Cruz Police reportedly shared to the Sentinel that the reason why drug users seem to thrive in the city is that they were under the impression that the law was soft on drug-related crimes. If drug dealers are not allowed to strike up plea bargains in order to go back to business, this impression may change.

The second suggestion is to adopt a strategy that is known to work, and for Santa Cruz that strategy seems to point to an option where addicts are subjected to close supervision and made to suffer consequences. This will include the more frequent utilization of Drug Court, which provides frequent reviews, outpatient treatment, drug testing and attendance in 12-step meetings.

Then there is the need to provide funding for the local methadone clinic. The clinic provides immediate and street level-level help; the Sentinel reports that it is cheaper to allocate $335 a month to put addicts on methadone as opposed to placing them in the health care system, as is usually the case when addicts get back on heroin.

Lastly, the Sentinel suggests that everyone pitch in to help local police in cutting off the supply of drugs as well as putting an end to the culture of illegal drugs. Something as simple as a citizen immediately reporting illegal drug activities can help.

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Lindsay Lohan Blames Dad for Lost Passport

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Addiction, Drug Rehabilitation on May 21st, 2010

There is never a moment without drama in the Lohan family chronicles, and this episode has a court, a warrant of arrest and a conspiracy involving the theft of a passport to prevent one of the leads from making it to court.

lindsay lohanIn a previous post, we already shared with you how Lindsay Lohan might not make it to her mandatory court hearing after she allegedly lost her passport while at the Cannes Film festival. We know that stars usually go to these shindigs every year, but can’t Lindsay just decide to miss this one just so she doesn’t annoy the judge handling her case any more than it seems she already has?

In the end, Ms. Lohan did fail to show up in court – and no matter what her lawyer said, Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel did not fall for the reasons and issued a warrant for her arrest.

As for the mystery of the vanishing passport, a report on Today revealed that Lindsay accused her father Michael of having something to do with the theft of her passport through an e-mail sent to Us Magazine. Lindsay reportedly wrote: “I always said my father had someone do it.”

Michael Lohan’s lawyer Lisa Bloom quickly released a statement from the actress’ dad, which effectively denies the insinuations made by his daughter. The elder Lohan said that his pushing Lindsay to go into rehab has angered the actress and led her to blame him for her problems. The statement also reads: “Michael wishes Lindsay the best regardless of what she may say about him, and stands ready, willing and able to help her at any time.”

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From Paul and Cheryl Vanacore: Signs of Addiction

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Addiction, Drug Rehabilitation, Drug Testing on May 19th, 2010

In a previous post, we shared with you the decision of Paul and Cheryl Vanacore of Lancaster, New York, to share their experience with their son Joshua – who is serving a prison sentence for drug-related robberies – in order to help other families. Among the experiences that they shared are the warning signs they noticed before they learned about their son’s addiction.

One of the signs started in May 2005; Joshua was no longer able to pay his car loan on time. He eventually admitted to his father that he was experimenting with painkillers and heroin. Their family doctor, however, said that Joshua did not seem to be addicted.

heroin addictionThen, other signs emerged – including money missing from the house. An over-the-counter drug test revealed that Joshua was “clean”; they were unaware, however, that the reason why it came out clean was that the drugs have already cleared his system at the time he took the test.

Paul Vanacore recalls: “He said, ‘I swear to God.’ That phrase will resonate in my head forever… ‘I swear to God, I’m not doing anything. I swear to God I didn’t take any money.’” They believed Joshua, and the clean test made them hopeful. However, when they noticed that Joshua was wearing a hoodie on a hot day, they found needle marks on his arm when they asked him to roll up his sleeves.

He underwent a five-day rehab program at the Erie County Medical Center, but he was back on heroin after a couple of weeks. He was unable to pay drug dealers – who beat him and threatened his then-pregnant girlfriend. His father at one time paid the dealer so that the threats would stop.

Eventually, they stopped giving him money – so he resorted to robbery.

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