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Drugs of
Abuse
The preferred drug of abuse does
vary considerably among clients participating in the Narconon program. The
primary drug of abuse for clients in this study was the following:
| Crack
Cocaine |
65
(24%) |
| Alcohol |
52
(19%) |
| Other Forms of
Cocaine |
36
(13%) |
| Heroin |
34
(12%) |
| Amphetamines |
33
(12%) |
| Marijuana |
33
(2%) |
| LSD |
06
(2%) |
| PCP |
04
(1%) |
| Inhalants |
02
(1%) |
| Mixtures |
36
(13%) |
During the time frame of this
study, the most prevalent drug of abuse for the clients at the Los Angeles and
Chilocco facilities was crack cocaine. Other prevalent drugs, in order, were
alcohol, other forms of cocaine, heroin and other opiates, amphetamines, and
some marijuana, LSD, PCP and inhalants.
Mixtures of drugs were a problem
for a large percentage of this study population. On average, these clients had
used more than one drug in 8 days of the prior month. No primary drug of abuse
could even be named by 13% of this study’s clients. About half of these
were mainly cocaine and heroin addicts, with a wide variety of other
combinations as well.
Abuse at the two facilities -
Chilocco and Los Angeles - varied and these facilities had different drugs of
abuse then the facilities in Europe. For example the American Indian population
at Chilocco was far more likely to abuse alcohol than other drugs and only the
Chilocco facility dealt with inhalant addicts. Similarly, the primary drug of
abuse in the Italian facilities was heroin rather than cocaine or crack during
this time period.
On average, these clients began
using alcohol at age 15 and drugs at age 15 and a half . They had been using
drugs, on average, for 15 years.
Prior
Attempts at Drug Rehabilitation
Prior drug or alcohol
rehabilitation attempts were prevalent in this study population.
22% of the clients had previously
done an alcohol rehabilitation program and 56% had previously attempted drug
rehabilitation. For those who had tried rehab, the average was over three
previous attempts.
12% had been in some other form of
rehab in the last 30 days.
As a general statement, Narconon
clients have had a long term addiction to drugs or alcohol and have encountered
multiple prior failures in treatment.
This is consistent with
Narconon’s reputation for handling the hard core, so-called "intractable"
drug addict.
The long term efficacy study was
designed to evaluate individuals who came for the first time to do the full
Narconon program. Of the 273 clients monitored during this study, 184 qualified
for this group.
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Continued |
