The Answer

The answer to whether or not we are winning the "war" on drugs depends upon whom it is you ask.

8,000 Americans, mostly young people, start using drugs every day and our jails and prisons are full of people incarcerated for crimes that most of them committed while on drugs or while trying to get drugs.  

Clearly more than just effective rehabilitation needs to occur, and one former local is on the spearhead of the fight.As you may recall, we printed a story this past spring about Bobby Newman, a former meth addict from Elmore City that is involved in drug prevention. 

Bobby works as the Director of Drug Education for Narconon Arrowhead, located on Lake Eufaula in Canadian.  Narconon Arrowhead is one of the nation's largest and most successful drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities and is also the International Training Center for the Narconon network, which covers 29 countries.  Narconon literally means "narcotics-none" or "no drugs" and has a unique approach to drug prevention that is truly effective.

It has been clearly proven that "scare tactics" don't work because kids don't ever think that the worst will happen to them.  Narconon uses a lighter method of communicating the truth about how drugs affect the mind and the body, which the students are more apt to listen to.  Like Bobby Newman, most of Narconon's Drug Prevention Specialists are former addicts and share personal experiences with the students to provide more reality on the subject by speaking from first-hand knowledge. 

Students tend to listen to someone who has "been there" instead of an authority figure as well when it comes to the subject of drugs and addiction.The Narconon Drug Prevention Program has reached well over one million students, teachers, parents and professionals throughout the United States and though it's only recently been implanted here, more than ten thousand people in the state of Oklahoma.  The effectiveness of the presentations are proven many times over from the surveys of those that attend the lectures in their own words. 

To find out more about Narconon and its services or to schedule a presentation, call 1-800-468-6933.  You can also log on to www.stopaddiction.com/ or www.narconon-drug-education.com/.

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