Rising from the Ashes of Addiction

JD Narconon Graduate

Before I came to Narconon, I was an extremely bad drug addict, a terrible brother, and a terrible son. I was an awful influence for my three little brothers. I manipulated my parents to give me money, support me, and take on all of my responsibilities since before I can remember. I started off just smoking weed out of curiosity and also to fit in at high school. From there it honestly just escalated to more and more different drugs, because I was spending all of this time worrying about how I was going to fit in and if people were going to like me.

If I had just been acting like myself the whole time—my real true self—I would have survived, toxin free. But I didn’t. I may have been alive, but I was surviving only through destructive actions. I thought I hit rock bottom a few times, but it was only until I went even below rock bottom when I overdosed on heroin eight times in eight days. All my family and friends disconnected from me. I was so alone and kept trying to play victim to all of it, blaming everyone in the universe for the problems that I created myself. I found every reason to just not confront the situation that I had put myself in.

One day I called my dad and told him I needed to talk to him in person. He came and picked me up off of the street and asked me what was going on. I told him I had been using a lot of heroin and other drugs for a long time. He said I know you have and I have been looking for the best treatment I can enroll you in that isn’t a 12-step program. I had already been to about eight different 12-step programs and six 12-step detox programs since I was 17 years old and none of them worked. Later on that day, my dad told me he found a really good place down in Louisiana, far, far away from all of the people I knew and far away from the areas that were bad for me. He said “your plane leaves tomorrow morning at 5:36AM”. I love that my dad did that for me.

I arrived at Narconon Louisiana and started my new life clean and sober.

I’m so glad I did the program right. I was in the sauna detox for 31 days and ran out a lot of drugs that I hadn’t admitted to taking. I feel so much better from that—I had so much energy during the day, and I began to sleep like a baby.

After that, I went onto the next part of the program and wow!!! I gained so much and made so many good changes. I realized who I really am and gained the ability to deal with environmental stress. I was finally able to face my past and a lot of other things that are really going to help me stay sober.

After this, I was able to fix the things that had happened in my past—the things that I had gotten myself stuck in. I thought I was surviving, but I wasn’t. I handled everything by being completely honest.

I feel completely free and clear of all the messed up things I’ve done in the past. I am ready to live a clean, happy, guilt free, and honest life. Thank you Narconon, you guys saved my life.

—JD Narconon Graduate