Most experienced drug and alcohol rehabilitation experts across the country know that the number of drug and alcohol related overdoses, emergency room admits, suicides and deaths increase significantly during the holiday season over any other time of the year.  Danna Sue Pruitt, CADC (Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor) and supervisor over a national drug information hotline managed by Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation and education centers says that “…each year during the holidays the number of calls from addicts or their loved ones, in one crisis or another, just skyrockets.”

The holidays are traditionally a time to spread good will and spend time with family, friends and relatives, and to share food, gifts and fond memories with them.  According to Gary W. Smith, a Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor (CCDC) with 30 plus years experience in drug and alcohol rehabilitation, most addicts want to join in these activities and may even try to, but they feel too alienated and uncomfortable around the people they love.   “As far as finding fond memories to share, well, there aren’t too many unless of course they are high,” says Smith.  “This is why an addict tends to seem worse in their pattern of substance abuse over the holidays.  They attempt to remove unpleasant memories and problems to ‘be happy.’  The more they use, the shorter the periods of relief get and the greater the problems and discomfort become when they are not high.  Family and friends are reaching out more for them to be involved in the various holiday activities which just brings more unpleasant memories and situations to mind.  They use greater quantities of drugs and/or alcohol and use them more often.  This is why more end up in the hospital, jail or the morgue at this time of year.”
 
Narconon Arrowhead’s Pruitt said, “We are gearing up our hot line already.  We are adding more personnel to the phone lines doing everything we can to have trained people available to contact during the holidays.  We are also encouraging other drug information hotline agencies to prepare to help more people in need this year than last.  We know that every person who gets enrolled into a good rehab program before the holiday season is over is one less person headed for the hospital, jail or the morgue in the New Year.”

If you are in trouble with drugs or alcohol and know you need a treatment program or if you are a family member who is trying to get an addicted loved one help, begin contacting rehab centers now. If you don’t know where to begin, call 1-800-468-6933. In your search for a rehab center find one whose staff truly understands how critical this time of year can be for the addicted and will work ceaselessly with you however long it takes to lock in a treatment bed in a proven rehab facility.