Drug Addiction Stories & Info

A Teenager Confesses How Her Drug Dependence Drove Her Across The Continent In Search Of Heroin, And How Narconon Brought Her Back From The Brink Of Oblivion

For more than 40 years thousands of addicts have been given their life back through Narconon – people who had submitted to their addictions found new hope and a new life.  Indeed, that is how Narconon started four decades ago when an incarcerated heroin addict, William Benitez, decided that he had to try something new to save himself from his addiction as well as to help other similarly afflicted friends. He requested permission from Arizona state prison officials to start a drug rehabilitation program with 20 addict inmates, but was at first denied. Thankfully, he persisted because on February 19, 1966 he was finally granted permission and founded what he called Narconon, meaning NARCotics-NONe.

The program Mr. Benitez founded grew and, in 1971, the first Narconon center outside prison walls opened in Los Angeles. Today Narconon’s services are available at 39 drug rehabilitation and drug prevention centers in Canada, United States, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, England, Russia, New Zealand and South Africa.  It is officially recognized in several countries as the most effective drug rehabilitation available and receives government funding in a number of nations. Narconon has an unsurpassed success rate, according to independent studies, with up to 72 percent of its graduates still off drugs after two years.

She started using drugs as a teenager and rapidly escalated from marijuana to heroin. Within two years she was emotionally dead, not caring about friends or family.

In this interview 26-year old Sabrina Andrews provides her personal testimonial of Narconon’s effectiveness.  She started using drugs as a teenager and rapidly escalated from marijuana to heroin.  Within two years she was emotionally dead, not caring about friends or family.  This is her story, one that gives hope to countless teens who suffer from addiction.  She did the program at Narconon Trois-Rivieres in Quebec, Canada.  And like William Benitez and many others she got her life back.

What were you doing before you did the Narconon drug addiction rehab?
That was 10 years ago: I was about 16 years old and living on the streets.  I ran away from home and was doing drugs.  I lived mostly in Montreal but moved around a lot including Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.  I lived like this for about two years.  Before that I was going to high school and living with my parents.

When where you first introduced to drugs?
In high school there were many students using drugs, including pot smokers.  I pot with them (I was hanging around older students) but idn’t like the “buzz” at all.  There was also alcohol use but that was not a big item for me.

My idol was the rock band Nirvana and Kurt Cobain (the lead singer) and he was doing heroin.  So to me that was really “cool,” or at least that’s what I thought then.  I admired him a lot and for some reason I adopted the idea that anything negative and destructive was really cool and if you looked horrible, well that was cool too.  In fact it was “aesthetic,” in my viewpoint at the time.  So that’s what I went after.

Were you attracted to drugs from the beginning?
Initially I didn’t want to do any drugs, as my father had already given the “the talk.”  I refused to do drugs mainly out of fear because he had his own drug history – although he was clean since my birth – and I knew that he would be able to spot it.  As there was no way to “get away with it,” I stayed away from drugs.

TO BE CONTINUED…

By March of 2007, Lydia was living a life she no longer recognized.  Her husband was never home, they argued over money, and if she didn’t get to it first, Peter would spend the majority of his dwindling paycheck on cocaine and liquor.   By July, Peter had moved out and Lydia struggled to pay the bills and raise David.  Peter didn’t stop by much anymore and when he did, he looked terrible.  She knew he was spending at least some of his nights in a homeless shelter.

How could life have taken such a turn?  Not even a year earlier she and Peter had been happier than they could have imagined.  Now, she never knew where he was and life was a struggle at best.  She decided she was going to have it out with Peter and try to get him to get some help.  She called a rehab center and talked to a professional about it first.  She felt she had to do something to put their lives back together.

When Peter did come over, she sat down with him and took his hand.  “I want you to get help,” she told him.  Over the next two hours, they talked, shouted, and cried.  They discussed everything.  At first, Peter was reluctant, but then he started to talk.  By the end of the evening, it was Peter who made the call to the rehab center and started asking questions.  The next morning he checked into rehab.

Several weeks later, thinking he had his addiction beaten, Peter checked out of rehab.  The first few days at home were great but then he started hanging around his old friends again, and within two weeks he was back on cocaine.  Sometimes, it happens that way.  If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.  Lydia didn’t wait to confront him this time.  Within a couple of days he was back at rehab.  This time he really applied himself and he worked hard to beat the addiction.  Through holistic healing, time, and treatment, helped Peter to become free of his drug addiction, but he knew it would be a lifelong decision not to use cocaine again.  It had to be for his sake and the sake of his family.  Now Peter is working his way back up the ladder at work, but they did let him come back.  He never believed he could be this happy again, after cocaine, but he was.  He and Lydia had their whole lives to look forward to now.

He began spending more time away from home and even more money on the drugs.

Peter Harvey was at the top of his game.  He was the Senior Marketing Manager at AGT and was being looked at very closely for Vice President of the company.  He and his wife, Lydia had a new beautiful little boy named David.  It wasn’t uncommon at all for David and Lydia to enjoy the occasional party and the retirement of a co-worker was no exception.  It was October, 2006.  David had been to other parties where he had been offered cocaine but before this night, he always refused.  He decided it was harmless enough, one time and that would be it.

The cocaine burned his nose a bit as he inhaled it through a rolled up piece of paper.  Within just a couple of minutes, Peter felt better than he had ever felt in his life.  He felt on top of the world and invincible.  His heart was racing and he suddenly had a million ideas that he could bring up at work.  This was incredible and Peter decided he liked it very much.  Lydia had seen him snort the cocaine and was concerned, but figured it was a one-time thing.  After a couple of weeks, Lydia noticed an unusual withdrawal from the bank.  She asked Peter about it.  He said he had really liked the coke and had bought some on impulse.  This is when Lydia began to become concerned.  Now their hard earned money was being spent on this stuff.

Two weeks later even more money was missing and Lydia confronted Peter about his cocaine addiction.  He became enraged and told her that if he wanted to spend some of his money on recreational drugs, that was his business.  Then Peter began having incredible highs and lows.  He was either on top of the world or severely depressed and agitated.  Lydia could see their world falling apart, but obviously Peter could not.  He began spending more time away from home and even more money on the drugs.  He also had begun drinking heavily.  Lydia felt as though she were having a terrible nightmare.  She was, actually.  She was having a nightmare shared by many loved ones who become addicted to cocaine.  Although it happens all too frequently, it had never happened to them before and Lydia was worried.  Then Peter began missing work and Lydia knew something was wrong.  If he wasn’t careful, he was going to ruin a career it had taken him years to build.

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