Its Components
The Narconon programme is a precise, step-by-step regimen that addresses all aspects of addiction to assist individuals to overcome its adverse effects for themselves and those around them.
Overcoming drug addiction can seem daunting to the individuals, families and associates. Many addicts go through multiple rehab programmes—28-day or 12-step programmes—only to return to drug use.
The Narconon programme is different. It is not a 28-day programme and does not use substitute drugs. It is not a 12-step programme. It does not require faith or belief.
Narconon believes that addiction is neither inherited nor an incurable disease that requires indefinite treatment. Nor is an addict an addict for life. The Narconon programme consists of unique procedures to assist addicts to overcome drug or alcohol dependencies and their damaging effects.
The programme’s goal is a drug-free individual.
Freedom from Addiction
DRUG-FREE WITHDRAWAL
The Narconon programme begins with a drug-free, nonmedical withdrawal process designed to assist the individual to come off drugs as rapidly and comfortably as possible. (When a physician deems it medically necessary, Narconon refers students for a distinct, medically supervised withdrawal as a prerequisite to beginning the Narconon programme.)
During this step, Narconon withdrawal specialists are on hand and available to help individuals through the difficult time of coming off drugs through the programme. Narconon staff monitor sleep, food, fluid intake and general progress through the process. They also administer gentle physical techniques known as assists to help calm spasms and lessen aches and pains.
Through procedures called objectives, staff also help to reorient students to the present, directing the students’ attention off themselves and their bodies and onto the environment around them. Objectives also help to relieve mental and emotional discomfort of looking inward at negative thoughts or dwelling on the past.
Finally, nutrition plays a vital role in withdrawal. To function properly, the body requires vitamins and minerals; drugs and alcohol burn up vitamins and minerals and mask the painful signs that the body is failing. When the person stops taking drugs, the pain and discomfort are manifested in withdrawal.
In addition to assists and objectives, a vitamin and mineral formula is taken by students for support during the withdrawal process to help repair the body.
NEW LIFE DETOXIFICATION
The New Life Detoxification is another unique aspect of the Narconon programme. It is based on the discovery by L. Ron Hubbard that drug residues apparently remain trapped in the body’s fatty tissues and may be reactivated even years after the individual has ceased taking drugs. The harmful mental and physical effects of taking drugs do not end even when the person stops taking drugs. Therefore a vital step is to get drugs out of the body and end their mental and physical effects on an individual’s life.
This phase of the Narconon programme was designed to eliminate toxic substances from the body while decreasing physical cravings related to drugs and alcohol. The elements of New Life Detoxification consist of running to stimulate circulation; extensive periods of time sweating in a specially ventilated, low-heat, dry sauna to sweat out accumulated drugs and toxins; nutrition, including specific vitamins, minerals and oils taken in exact quantities; and a properly ordered personal schedule that allows for adequate sleep.
The New Life Detoxification’s physician-approved course of vitamins includes a gradual increase of niacin (one of the B complex vitamins), along with other vitamins (A, D, C, E, B1 and B complex) and multiminerals, including calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper and iodine. Additionally students take a blend of oils. Students are supervised to ensure they take adequate amounts of salt, potassium and water to remain properly hydrated during the process.
The purpose of New Life Detoxification is to rid the body of drug residues and eliminate their negative effects, including drug cravings.
THE OBJECTIVES
Following drug-free withdrawal and New Life Detoxification, the Narconon student moves on to the objectives. Drugs dull a person’s awareness and throw him out of communication with his environment. Objectives help bring the student into communication with others and with the present environment, extroverting the student’s attention from disturbing memories associated with drug use and enabling the student to achieve a wider perspective that is less subjective and more objective. He is able to view the world around him clearly, often for the first time in years.
During various stages of the programme, objectives are done each day to help keep the student’s attention off the past and on the present.
On the objectives, students also learn skills they can use to help them comfortably face life and resolve problems through communication.
LIFE SKILLS COURSES
The final component of the programme consists of a series of Life Skills Courses. These courses give the individual the tools he needs to remain drug‑free.
OVERCOMING UPS & DOWNS IN LIFE COURSE
To avoid situations that might lead to drug use in the future, students must be able to identify true friends and the positive people in their lives and to isolate those likely to lead them back into trouble. On this course, students can learn how poor decisions regarding friends and acquaintances damaged their lives in the past and how to make better choices in the future.
PERSONAL VALUES COURSE
On the Personal Values Course, students learn how personal values are lost and how to restore them. They come to recognise their actual obligations. They learn a procedure that enables them to take full responsibility for their past misdeeds and thereby gain relief from the associated trauma and guilt connected with them. By the end of this course, students can leave the past behind and move forward into a positive future.
CHANGING CONDITIONS IN LIFE COURSE
Because drug and alcohol use often stems from an inability to deal with challenging situations, it is vital that former addicts learn constructive problem-solving skills that assist them to lead drug-free lives. This is addressed on the Changing Conditions in Life Course, where students learn that any situation may be resolved without compromising their personal integrity. This course further educates students in procedures that can be followed to make choices about their survival and resolve personal conflicts in life. They learn to correct anything in the past so it is no longer a problem in the present, learning precise steps to move their lives forward.
INSTRUCTIONAL FILMS
A series of instructional films is presented to students during the programme, demonstrating visually the theory and procedure of each aspect of the technology that underlies the components of the programme and how they work together to lead the individual out of addiction to a new drug-free state.
SUMMARY
As with any drug rehabilitation programme, success is not guaranteed. A major determining factor is the desire and perseverance of the student in achieving a drug-free life.
Overcoming addiction takes time and commitment. Students progress through the Narconon programme at their own pace, most taking eight to ten weeks. This gives students the time and support they need to rebuild new lives, from the ground up and with strong foundations, to replace the lives destroyed by drugs or alcohol.
Narconon staff are specially trained to help each student at every step of the programme. They are with the person and available throughout withdrawal, the New Life Detoxification and the Life Skills Courses.
For the family of the student who progresses through the programme honestly and thoroughly, the end result can be regaining their loved one, while the end result for the Narconon graduate is the opportunity to live a fulfilling, productive, drug-free life.
