Des Moines, Washington Drug Rehab Information

Narconon Arrowhead is an adult drug rehab, meaning the minimum age for enrollment in our program is 18 years old. Other than that age limitation, individuals come from varied backgrounds and experiences. We range in age from 18 to 80; individuals hail from all around the world, and run the entire gamut of educational, financial, and career backgrounds. We find the melting pot to be extremely advantageous in handling the addiction problem. Addicts and alcoholic are generally very selfish and self centered at the height of their addictions. As the new person moves through our program they find addicts helping addicts, which is a very strong force, as nobody knows the condition better than someone who has been there. Gaining the ability and desire to help another is a key point in extroverting the addict once again in preparing them to re-enter home or society.

Many people and even professionals hold the opinion that marijuana is not addictive. This is simply a misunderstanding and not true. Marijuana addiction, especially on a mental or emotional level has been on the increase in terms of numbers and severity for some time. The potency of marijuana such as Canadian ‘BC Bud’ and hydroponically engineered pot is many times that of the marijuana of past days. Inability of users to control their use of this substance and Narconon Arrowhead statistics show a steady increase in the number of program participants with marijuana as their main drug of abuse and addiction.

Chemical dependency rehab is an all inclusive term which covers addiction rehabilitation for a full array of drug and chemicals. Alcohol of course is included in any discussion of addiction and whenever drug addiction is spoken it should be understood that this includes alcohol – which can be one of the roughest addictions to treat and recover from. Illegal street drugs such as heroin, crack, and meth would come under this category of chemical dependency. One of the fastest growing areas of chemical dependency, abuse and addiction is coming from prescription drugs. More and more people entering a chemical dependency rehab are reporting prescription drug abuse in addition to their alcohol or illegal drug addiction and also as their primary drug of abuse or addiction. Many of these prescription drugs and chemicals build up tolerance which leads to abuse and addiction as well as having side effects that can be severe and life threatening, especially so when abused.

Addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition, characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and drug use which is accompanied by functional and molecular changes in the brain. In addition to being addicted to methamphetamine, chronic methamphetamine abusers exhibit symptoms that can include violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia. They also can display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions. The paranoia can result in homicidal as well as suicidal thoughts. With chronic use, tolerance for methamphetamine can develop. Users may take higher doses of the drug, take it more frequently, or change their method of drug intake. In some cases, abusers forego food and sleep while injecting as much as a gram of the drug every 2 to 3 hours over several days until the user runs out of the drug or is too disorganized to continue. Chronic abuse can lead to psychotic behavior, characterized by intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behavior.