Methamphetamine and Crank

The methamphetamine, also known as crank, epidemic in the rural America has many law enforcement officials, drug treatment centers and citizens of this great country baffled.

It is difficult to handle the situation with an individual after being addicted to meth, let alone figure out how to prevent it from spreading or occurring in the first place. The easily-obtained ingredients to manufacture crank (another name for meth) and the mobility of the labs make it difficult for law enforcement officials to track down a high percentage of potential methamphetamine lab busts. Even when these labs are tracked down and the manufacturers arrested, the toxic chemicals used in the process are hazardous and cost thousands to be properly disposed of.

The recent HBO documentary about crank filmed three families in Iowa battling this insidious concoction and its associated behaviors. The stories were accurate depictions of what is often the scene with someone using crank, complete with graphic details of the drug use through smoking, snorting and shooting it into the bloodstream. Rotting teeth and disastrous living conditions are usually associated with these rural hellholes. Add to that the erratic behavior and an extremely unhealthy lifestyle and you've got the exact opposite of the 'American Dream.'
One Community Sentencing and Probation Officer in Oklahoma, where the meth lab busts have reached over 1,000 per year confided, "These people cooking [meth] have a little sex ring going on too that we've found video tapes of. It's disgusting how they've completely degraded themselves and their families."

Addressing the problem

For whatever reason, be it physical or emotional pain or discomfort, boredom, peer pressure or any other problem of life, when a person becomes addicted to crank (or any drug) treatment is what is often given, but rehabilitation is what is needed to fully recover. The definition for treatment is to care for or deal with medically or surgically. This is where the substitute drugs and "quick patch" programs fall in place, but don't always provide an effective solution. The definition for rehabilitation is to restore to a former capacity. This simply means for a person to be in the condition he was in before he had the ailments and the subsequent drug addiction. The three main barriers to overcoming addiction are the cravings (mental and physical), guilt and depression associated with the drug use.

Many people that have come in contact with meth addicts feel that full rehabilitation is impossible for them; that the damage is permanent. It is true that the toxic chemicals used to cook meth are extremely hazardous and one could cause permanent damage, but if caught early enough and if the right rehabilitation program was used, the individual can be restored.

In today's society, there are few programs that effectively address and handle these areas of drug addiction on the way to full rehabilitation. One such organization is Narconon Arrowhead, utilizing the drug-free social education methodology of L. Ron Hubbard and achieving a success rate greater than 70%, well over double the national average. Through replacing vital nutrients stripped by drug use, dry-heat sauna detoxification therapy and a series of life skills courses, addicts regain the respect and responsibility for themselves to become happy, ethical and productive members of society again. There are hundreds of former methamphetamine (crank) addicts that are now living healthy lives again because of Narconon Arrowhead.

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