_{For fifteen years, concert violinist Michael Ginsburg lived in a nightmarish world composed only of drugs and his addiction to them. His musical skills were left far behind as he sought out and used the drugs that his addictions demanded.}

_{“Drugs completely robbed me of my music,” said Michael. “I started out studying music at The Julliard School, the New England Conservatory of Music and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. But then after starting to use marijuana, my grades plummeted, I stopped studying or playing music and quit school.”}

_{Over time, Michael developed addictions that included all the most commonly abused drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and prescription drugs. Michael started working as a DJ at all-night raves, using other drugs all too often found around Dallas: Ecstasy, ketamine and LSD. When he got into trouble in a city where he was working as a DJ, he usually wound up homeless, so he would move on to a new city. “In fifteen years, I lived in eighteen states,” he said.}

_{“I tried to quit taking drugs,” Michael added. “I went to ten different rehabs with no success. The drug cravings just never stopped. I was sure I would die from drug abuse. That finally changed when I got onto the drug and alcohol rehabilitation program at Narconon Arrowhead in Canadian, Oklahoma. I started playing music again for the students at Narconon a few weeks after I arrived. Slowly, my love of music and enjoyment of performing came back to me. I saw what I was able to give people.}

_{“Gradually, the phases of the Narconon program made me realize that life isn’t about taking drugs. The unique detoxification program at Narconon eliminated my cravings for the first time in fifteen years. I’m finally able to enjoy life without ever thinking about drugs.”}

_{Now that he has regained his love for and ability to play his violin again, Michael brings music everywhere he goes. He finds violins for people who always wanted to play but never learned, and then gives them lessons. His students include a 75-year old Korean War veteran and retired Methodist minister. He also delivers drug education classes, accompanied by his music, in schools around his new Oklahoma home. On July 6^th, Michael performed at a benefit concert for the Arts Council in McAlester, Oklahoma, accompanied by friend and pianist Kathy Brod.}

_{“My parents came down from Pennsylvania for this concert,” Michael said with a smile. “My mother was so happy to see that I had not lost my music to the drugs. The Narconon program gave me my music back and gave my mother her son back.”}

No School and No Parents at Home?

Summer Months Provide Youth with Opportunities to Start Abusing Drugs

School’s out and there is a feeling of freedom in the air. For some teens this means spending time with old friends and meeting new ones. For others this means no adult supervision and plenty of opportunities to find and use drugs or alcohol. Statistics show that many of our teens are doing just that.

Every day during summer vacation, an average of 6,300 youth try marijuana for the first time. Twenty-four percent of teens drink alcohol for the first time during summer break. Unfortunately, for many, drug or alcohol abuse does not stop there.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, one in ten of our children aged 12 to 17 binge drink each month. Eighty-three percent of high school seniors state that it is “easy to get” marijuana, and nearly 40% of them got it and smoked it in 2005. In 2001, almost 3 million youths aged 12 to 17 had used prescription-type drugs nonmedically at least once in their lifetime.

All told, a full 50% of high school students have used an illegal drug by the time they graduate, more than 20% of them starting in eighth grade.

“Do you think drug dealers have missed the fact that school-aged children have plenty of free time during the summer?” questioned Ryan Thorpe, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation and education centers located in Canadian, Oklahoma. "Statistics show higher initial drug and alcohol use in the summer. The Drug Enforcement Agency reports increased sales of club drugs – most popular among teens and young adults – during the summer months, and marijuana availability increases because domestically grown plants flourish in the warmer months. This is a critical time for parents to educate themselves and their children on the dangers of drugs and addiction. That is why we are making the Healing Addicted Lives booklet available to parents at no charge. We want parents to truly understand how addiction occurs so they can use this knowledge to effectively educate their children on the problem."

In his statement announcing Purdue’s $634 million dollars in fines, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee cited a Drug Enforcement Agency report from 2002 that stated that “oxycodone-related deaths increased 400 percent between 1996 and 2001” while prescriptions for the drug rose from 300,000 to nearly 6 million annually as a result of Purdue’s marketing tactics.

The drug hit some localities particularly hard. In 2004, after losing sixteen young citizens to OxyContin in two and a half years, the mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts assigned a task force to investigate the problem. Finally, public attention on the fatal potential of this drug may cause these casualties to decline.

But now, what about those left behind? Those who took prescribed OxyContin for pain and then found they couldn’t quit or even reduce their dosage without grueling withdrawal symptoms. The young people who wanted to party with a prescription drug, figuring that was safer than an illicit drug, but found their lives drastically altered by an addiction.

According to court papers filed by Purdue, OxyContin brought the company at least $10.2 billion in sales between 1995 and 2006. “That is more than 100 million prescriptions,” noted Ryan Thorpe, Admissions Director of Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers in Canadian, Oklahoma, “How many of those millions became addicted and are in desperate need of help now?”

When Purdue’s $634 million dollars in federally-mandated fines is divided up, not one dollar is designated for drug treatment programs for OxyContin addicts to help clean up the human wreckage for which the marketing of the drug was responsible. “This disgraceful chapter will only be closed when those addicted to OxyContin receive effective drug rehabilitation,” Thorpe stated. “At Narconon Arrowhead, we specialize in withdrawing people safely and with minimal discomfort from alcohol or drugs such as OxyContin, in removing the toxic residuals that cause the cravings, and in building the life skills that help people stay safe from drug and alcohol abuse in the future.”

Healing Addicted Lives: An Essential Component in the Fight Against Drug and Alcohol Addiction in the U.S.

Sadly, the supply of illicit drugs in our country has not changed markedly despite billions of dollars devoted to fighting the war on drugs. The efforts of drug enforcement agents to reduce the flow of drugs into the country are often temporarily effective but drug abuse statistics prove that the enforcement alone does not solve the problem.

Enforcement efforts have reduced the abuse of pharmaceutical drugs but some users have turned to heroin use in several states, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Coca production in Columbia was reduced for some years, but now is on the rise as growers modify their cultivation methods and expand their plantings outside the country. Domestic efforts to reduce the supply or precursor chemicals for methamphetamine production worked to reduce the number of small lab seizures in the U.S., but Mexican drug-trafficking organizations turned to China for their chemicals and established Super-labs (meth labs capable of producing as much as fifty pounds of meth per production cycle) in rural California or Mexico. As long as Americans demand illegal drugs, someone will find a way to provide the supply.

To save lives from drug abuse and overuse of alcohol, drug enforcement must be matched with effective actions to eliminate demand. Current abusers must be restored to a productive, enjoyable life. Young people faced with decisions about drug or alcohol abuse must be educated on the repercussions of abuse and addiction.

“It is completely possible to replace the loss and pain of alcohol or drug addiction with a productive, enjoyable life,” stated Ryan Thorpe, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation and education centers, located in Canadian, Oklahoma. “In fact, it’s not only possible; it’s an essential part of what we do to help eliminate the addiction problem in this country, along with our popular drug education lectures to students.

Warning: Spring Break Trips Expose Students to Club Drug Dangers

Spring Break long ago ceased being about beach parties in Lauderdale. Now it’s about booze, packaged drinking tours to southern cities or exotic foreign ports, and club drugs, the most prevalent club drug being Ecstasy.

Ecstasy is an illegal stimulant and psychedelic drug that is commonly used in a dance club or rave (all-night dance party) environment. Abusers report that it gives them increased energy to party for hours or days, and helps them feel more “in touch” with others, experience a reduced defensiveness, an increased sense of well-being and an enhanced perception of lights and colors. Young women at raves are particularly vulnerable to sexual assault, as the drug often makes them feel intimate and loving with someone they just met…who just provided their dose of Ecstasy. The price for these supposed enhancements can be very high, however.

Ecstacy’s technical name is 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA for short. MDMA is addictive for many people; 60% of people abusing MDMA report withdrawal symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, depressed feelings and trouble concentrating. Use results in increased body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure, among other effects. On rare but unpredictable occasions, the body temperature can go so high that the liver, kidney and cardiovascular systems fail, which results in death.

While the focus, by and large, is on alcohol consumption during Spring Break, signs of Ecstasy and other drugs’ involvement are easy to find: The National Drug Intelligence Center reports that availability of Ecstasy increases significantly in Spring Break locations Panama City and Daytona Beach; the University of Texas noted an increase in the number of teens referred for treatment for Ecstasy abuse after Spring Break in 2004; USA Today reported on availability of Ecstasy and other drugs in their 2003 story of overseas destinations.

Spring Breaks are now about all-night drinking, dancing and drug parties in Florida, Texas, Mexico, the Caribbean and similar locations. Resorts attracting Spring Breakers construct vast clubs holding thousands of patrons, with as many as twenty bars to keep their glasses filled. This is the environment in which Ecstasy use abounds.

“Ecstasy use is not restricted to Spring Breaks, it’s readily available in cities across the country,” stated Ryan Thorpe, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers located in Canadian, Oklahoma. “In most areas, its popularity is increasing. Use has expanded out of the club scene and into college campuses, private parties, residences and even malls.”

Nationally, the DEA just announced that seizures of Ecstasy increased from 1.92 million units in 2004 to nearly 5.5 million units in 2005, and they expect availability to increase again in 2007.

“A person who just wanted to have a good time can suddenly find themselves addicted to Ecstasy and suffering from confusion, depression, sleep problems and drug cravings,” stated Narconon Arrowhead’s Thorpe. “If withdrawal symptoms make it hard to quit, that’s when an effective and drug-free rehabilitation program becomes essential.

“It’s most commonly our young people who abuse Ecstasy,” he added. “These people are our future leaders. They should be finishing their educations and starting families, not developing chemical dependencies. We specialize in withdrawing people safely from drugs, in removing the drug residuals that cause cravings, and in building the life skills that help people stay safe from drug abuse and addiction in the future.”

Efforts at reducing the number of methamphetamine labs in the U.S. have been working, but the steady demand for the drug means more business for international criminals that want a piece of the action.

While President Bush was proclaiming November 30, 2006 as National Methamphetamine Awareness Day, criminals in China were disguising and shipping 43,000 pounds of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the manufacture of meth, by cargo ship to Michoacan, Mexico. This ingredient was intended to supply one of the huge meth labs that are now being established in Mexico, such as the one raided in January, 2006 by Mexican authorities.

This lab, discovered in Guadalajara, Mexico, was capable of producing 400 pounds of finished meth per day. By comparison, most domestic labs produce a few ounces to ten pounds of drug in a production cycle lasting about 24 hours.

Another huge meth lab was discovered outside Guadalajara on August 1, 2006. Approximately 220 pounds of finished meth was found on this site at the time of the raid.

Government statistics state that 80% of the U.S. supply of methamphetamine is currently coming across the U.S.-Mexico border or it is produced by Mexican drug trafficking organizations in California.

“The key to eliminating the methamphetamine tragedy in this country is not cracking down on labs or suppliers, it’s reducing the demand through effective rehabilitation and drug education,” said Gary Smith, executive director of Narconon Arrowhead, a residential drug rehabilitation facility in Oklahoma. “This is a highly addictive, deadly drug that has been sampled by twelve million people at least once in their lifetime. What casual users don’t know is that they can quickly turn into addicts.”

“We have had many meth addicts come here for our program because there has long been a serious meth problem in the rural Midwest areas, “ said Smith. “Our program that includes thorough physical detoxification of drug residues and improvement of life skills rehabilitates even the meth addict successfully.” Overall, the Narconon Arrowhead program has a 70% success rate two years after completion of the program, defined as program completions that stay clean of drugs and alcohol.