The Use of Narcotics Anonymous for Drug Addiction Treatment

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Mitch Jenkins

14 April 2007

The Use of Narcotics Anonymous for Drug Addiction Treatment

Admitting “we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become

unmanageable” is the first of twelve steps in the second largest drug treatment and recovery

program in the United States, Narcotics Anonymous. Narcotics Anonymous is modeled after

Alcohol Anonymous and describes itself as a nonprofit “fellowship or society of men and

women for whom drugs have become a major problem.” While the abuse of certain drugs in the

United States may be declining; the high relapse rate is due largely in part to the lack of

professional treatment and rehabilitation options. Therefore, in my opinion, Narcotics

Anonymous is single handedly the most important, successful, and rewarding part of a drug

addicts recovery process and permanent sobriety.

Research has long shown that the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs is the single

most serious health problem in the United States. Drug addiction damages the health care

system, troubles the economy, and contributes to the health problems and death of millions of

Americans every year. Substance abuse causes more deaths, illnesses, and disabilities than any

other preventable health condition in the Unites States today. In 1957, The World Health

Organization (WHO) defined drug addiction as “a state of periodic or chronic intoxication

produced by the repeated consumption of a drug characterized by an overpowering desire or

need to continue taking the drug, a tendency to increase the dose, a physical dependence on the

effects of the drug and detrimental effects on the individual and on society.” The extent and

nature of drug addiction varies from person to person and drug to drug. Substances such as

codeine or alcohol, for instance, typically require many more exposures to addict their users than

drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Addiction can stem from illegal, prescription, or over-the-

counter drugs including but not limiting to marijuana, hallucinogens, club drugs (MDMA),

amphetamines, methamphetamines, alcohol, tobacco, pain relievers, heroin, and cocaine. In an

effort to better understand the nature and extent of drug addiction you must change focus from

categorizing different substances and the drugs’ effects and instead focus on the people, to the

prevention and treatment of addicts. The twelve steps of N.A. never mention drugs or drug use,

rather they refer only to addiction. This signifies that addicts have a disease and using drugs is

simply one of the symptoms.

Drug addiction is characterized by behaviors where the addict steadily craves and seeks

out drugs without fear of the detrimental consequences. Since addictive drugs produce a

temporary euphoric feeling, addicts are constantly chasing that first “high.” The National Library

of Medicine in the Public Domain identifies several drug abuse behaviors such as “seclusive

behavior, unexplained absences, lying, stealing, deteriorating family and friend relationships,

incoherence, changes in attitude, and apathy” to name of few. Addicts often first enter N.A. after

reaching a rock