Early Education on the Dangers of Drugs

The Importance of an Early Education on the

Dangers of Drugs

Teach your children about drug abuse and addiction early on. That is the first line of defense against addiction. They will learn it from somewhere, and you don’t want the TV babysitting when this lesson comes on. If your kids are young, then they are still listening to the radio and watching BET when you’re not around, at least. They are learning about drugs already.

 

The media isn’t your child’s parent; you are. Guide them early about the dangers of addiction and abuse. If you don’t it’s becoming more likely each day you’ll regret it. It may be uncomfortable but burying the child before she is an adult is far more uncomfortable. That is the worst pain, I imagine. I can see the pain lingering in the faces of parents who’ve lost a child for whatever reason, but losing one to addiction leaves you, the protector, the role-model wondering why you didn’t do more. I see it every day.

There is no handbook on raising a kid. There is no fault to place on the parent, usually. It’s a disease with social and psychological influence. That means any predisposition that may be already there, in the child, can be offset by an executed plan of guidance. You can find ideas here and here.

A child being raised in a good family and a nice home isn’t near enough. That’s exactly the youth that the dreaded, lethal overdose seems to favor. I have watched many parents bury their kids, as young adults, due to an overdose. I’ve been to the funerals. It's so twisted, this disease.

To share something personal I normally wouldn't, because I still am unable to get past this, is a close friend's death. In another horrible drug death, one of my closest friends, Josh Kelsey, who was too much for the world, left it while I looked on. His heart stopped while he was lying on my lap and I was helpless. What can you do? I had no idea of things that could have raised his odds. The ambulance arrived and got his heart to beat, but in the short time his brain was without oxygen, he suffered massive damage and could no longer even breathe on his own. He died on 11.01.2006, two weeks from his 23^rd birthday.

It’s not a stretch to imagine most people in grips of addiction have a similar story. People believe that they can manage these addictive drugs. That belief is false and is known as denial. If you feed into this belief to protect, show love & loyalty or can’t quite figure out why, mainly because we take on denial to when defending an addict, then you are enabling this person. You are facilitating a myriad of adverse consequences that are coming into that loved one’s life, and your own.

You don’t want to have to deal with a full-blown addiction in your child. It is complex, to say the least. It’s much easier to go ahead and have that first conversation with little Billy Jr. and Mylie. 

When we are young, we are confused. We are trying to balance fitting in and being accepted with being who we really are, after we find out who that is. Hell, I was confused until round about thirty-two. When a kid is trying to fit in, especially a kid with social anxiety, or the opposite: narcissism, she will do things that seem illogical. But, they are perfectly logical from her point of view. You can probably remember when being a popular school kid was paramount. If a kid is having trouble figuring out how to be popular, he might look to the coolest guys he knows of for so help.

Lil Wayne is one of the coolest guys I know of, but I bet he doesn’t even raise his kids to think that his entertainment façade is real. Well, we don’t know all that when we are young. I can still remember this exact situation. While struggling to be cool, I looked to the coolest guys I’d ever heard of: Tupac Shakur and Kurt Cobain. No, I didn’t shoot myself or go get caught in a drive by, yet. But I started doing what all the Rockstars’ and Rap Phenom’s records talked about. Luckily, I couldn’t find hard drugs back then, but I started smoking pot, which made my anxiety better or worse, depending on the pot and my mood prior to. But, all in all, it didn’t do much of anything. It was new and exciting. I felt like Tupac, damnit.

 

I think the music and my quest for validation had a huge impact on my behavior. I don’t know if this is always true, but I do know that human beings are programmable, especially young ones. I was easily influenced. This led to an unimagined world of trouble for me in a few short months. But, it can be worse yet.  An inexperienced kid, invincible and immortal still, will do some irrational things in the name of popularity or validation. Add drugs into the mix and it could be, and is often disastrous. 

Focused Life has three missions, along with using best practices to bring a recovering addict safely home with all the tools and resources to remain drug free. These missions are to carve out a place where recovering individuals can go without the stigma and alienation they usually endure from many parts of society, and have all of the opportunities they would had they not suffered from addictive disorder. The second and third missions involve always advocating in favor of the addicted and recovering as well as reaching out to the suffering addict without limiting ourselves. Deeper in the missions (those are the summaries), you’ll see that the best way we can think of to advocate for addicts, reach out to them, give them opportunities, and so forth, is to promote education so that they are never addicted in the first place.

Check out those links above, if you need ideas on how to approach any age group, about the dangers of drugs.

Let’s hear some stories of how you parents have had success with this. I’ve been hearing too many bad stories lately. Click below to comment.

Focused Life Residential Recovery Program, Coming Soon. 

Post Response to AA Haters on Sober Nation's Site

This post is reply to +Tim Stoddart, a talented writer and social media manager at Sober Nation, a site which I visit often. This is a topic that comes up from time to time. AA gets a lot of flak from the outside community for being too cultish.

The group meets, then before and after the meeting they do have some ritualistic shit going on. They are chanting the few paragraphs about AA and helping alcoholics, losing everything, having a spiritual experience, going through 12 steps and getting it all back, unless you happen to be “constitutionally incapable”, then you’re screwed.

I suggest you check out his post. He is talented and Sober Nation has the drop on recovery news, that’s for sure. I repost and share his content often. SN is a great resource for researching current trends in the world of recovery and Tim has his thumb on the pulse of addiction news.

 http://www.sobernation.com/3-things-to-remind-yourself-when-dealing-with-aa-haters/#comment-535506

I am a big fan of Sober Nation and your posts on the Sober Nation web. I almost always agree with you and we have very similar viewpoints. I think the fact that people find recovery anywhere, is awesome. This is by no means an assault on the many steppers out there, who have gotten and stayed clean through the AA/NA programs.

Lately, I've been trying to understand the reasons for some of the decisions to structure AA the way it was, and is and forever shall be.

AA had decades of better success than any ideology around. There wasn't a competitor. 

Naturally, they are so big that they have recovery on lock. And, there is nothing wrong with that. I am convinced that when you break through to people in a novel way and get the success that AA has had, you must assume some of the social responsibility of things that happen outside of a clubhouse.

The closest thing to a mission I see is in tradition number five, "Each group has but one primary purpose; to reach out to the suffering alcoholic." 

I wish that AA hadn't locked itself into self-imposed limits that may have not been thought out for a century ahead. Likewise, that's the reason I keep thinking about the reason's that there had to be traditions locked in as a constitution, making AA unchangeable in a fast moving world.

I guess that the founders had no idea what they were beginning when the traditions were written. AA is the go-to for recovery and everyone in recovery has been influenced by AA.

For the purpose of reaching out to the suffering alcoholic, I applaud the program, but then almost all of the traditions restrict clubs' and members' ability to do so. 

I wonder how different the country would be, if we had had an advocate in the 12-step programs. While the privatized prisons were building their empire in the 80's, we had no one to combat that kind of lobbying and political influence. AA missed a great opportunity to stand up for justice and effect change in so many more lives.

I think the founders had no clue how big AA was going to be. The rest of the traditions are kind of focused on the groups' well-being and all the things that they shouldn't do. They ended up in a box unable to reach for anything. 

What if AA had become professional, had become organized, did accept outside contributions, and did weigh in on public controversy in the favor of the suffering alcoholic they wanted to reach for?

I think tradition 11 sums up their motives. When the world kicks your ass, if you walk through those doors, you can find recovery here, but we aren't reaching. We all found it here and have kept it. But, it's a dangerous world out there and we don't want our last names to be known, for baseless reasons.

Bill and Bob started something very special. When they decided they were content just attracting, AA was set on the path of least resistance. Maybe it wouldn't have survived any other way.

 I still can't help but to think; what if they had decided to promote instead of attract? What if AA had been tenacious?

Possible new logo, Is it better than the old one, that made too many people associate Focused Life with 2nd amendment activists.

There are currently two places in the UK that supervise intervenous injections. It's false, there arent 90, yet. This is a recovery movement that tries to control the behavior, known as harm reduction.

True. There is currently at least one crack pipe vending machine, for the same reason, harm reduction. I wonder about the reason they came to the conclusion that a vending machine for drug paraphernalia was necessary.

False. Dum-dum. Crack does not help anything.

True addiction is a disease that only effects some people.

True. Of course, the medical community thinks that the definitions addiction and dependence are different. Everyone can become dependent, but addicted is another thing enirely.

I will put up the sources, manana. All of this was verified through NIDA.

How did you do. Did anyone get the crack pipe vending machine one. I wouldn't have.

Hellooo, Heantos!

For a couple of decades, a few thousand miles away from the most addicted nation on Earth, Vietnamese herbal specialists have been administering an all-natural substance to heroin and cocaine addicted individuals with amazing success. Heantos, or Heantos 4 (the 4^th improvement on the formula), now, currently has no scientific or medicinal analysis data. It has been in use in Vietnam for nearly a quarter of a century though, and it’s been working when all else has failed.

Heavily addicted, long-time hard drug abusers have been taking the journey to the Pacific to get help beating their disease. Now, the treatment has traveled to America and anyone can use it for a detox. A friend, is the sole dispenser for the West Florida area and since November when Heantos 4 became available in the U.S., we have seen a wildly successful new detoxification method for active addicts beginning recovery.

The heantos promoters only mentions a few drugs for which Heantos 4 has been known to relieve withdrawals. However, here in Tampa, FL, our Heantos 4 detox professional has successfully detoxed many individuals from more than just the listed drugs its known to work against.

Jennifer has a guest room where an addicted individual can start their detox under her care, 24/7. Although, the compound is considered safe enough to take without round-the-clock care. Jennifer gives her clients the choice. She has aided in the treatment of many actively addicted individuals since she started. Heantos 4 has proven to be safe and very effective. Her clients report that the supplement diminishes the intensity of a withdrawal by an average of 90%, which is great news for those struggling with addiction and don’t know where to start their recovery. There has been a unexpected factor with the administering of this supplement.

Of course, Heantos wasn’t very well known in the West, until November, and its descriptions usually list only opiates and cocaine as the two drugs against which Heantos is effective. However, it has proven effective against the withdrawals of alcohol and a myriad of other dangerous and addictive drugs, at least in the early months of recovery.

If you or a loved one are suffering from an addiction and want to learn more about this treatment, until I speak to Jennifer you can mail me at twolifefocus@gmail.com. Once I speak with Jennifer I will update this post, provided she approves, with her contact information.

The treatment lasts about three weeks and the detoxing individual will sleep a great deal for the first 48 -72 hours, and usually feel comfortable and rested afterwards. The treatment costs, and don’t quote me on this, around $850. This includes the 24/7 attention from Florida’s most knowledgeable Heantos provider. It may seem clandestine but if it works, the method is of little importance. The following is a summary taken from the Heantos Heantos Facebook page.

The antidrug medication HEANTOS 4 is a Vietnamese herbal traditional medication, used for treatment of drug addiction. It was composed and prepared first by Mr. Tran Khuong Dan early 1990’s as a water extract in liquid form. Since 1995 the Institute of Chemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) has cooperated with Dan’s group for further scientific developments of HEANTOS. Since then, the products Heantos 1,2,3 and 4 have been developed in solid form as hard capsules through the improvement of extraction method, composition of ingredients etc. Heantos 4 is the latest product, which is standardized applying the modern technics like finger print HPLC/MS, IR,TLC… During almost 20 years of research on Heantos, the Institute of Chemistry has cooperated with several international institutions and persons in the clarification of toxicology, the chemistry and mechanism of action as well as in the clinical studies of Heantos.e.g. the UNDP/UNOPS; Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle/S, Germany; University of Essen ( Germany ); University of British Columbia, Vancouver ( Canada ); Johns Hopkins University, USA….

In 1996 the UNDP/UNOPS supported this medication under a project named: “Further scientific development of the anti-drug medication Heantos” ( VIE 96/033 ). Through the cooperation between the Institute of Chemistry and the Institute of plant bio chemistry about 200 compounds have been isolated and identified from this medication. None of them was assigned as toxic ( BMBF-projeet: BNBest.-BMBF-98, Germany ). A clinical study in phase II on Heatos 4 was introduced in the Essen University, Germany in 2003-2005. Study on the mechanism of action of Heantos 4 is now carrying out in the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada, under the guide of Prof.Dr. Anthony Phillips and Prof.Dr. Michael Krausz.

You can learn more about this exciting new treatment at www.heantos.org. If you have any information about someone’s experience with Heantos, please share it in the comment section and as always if you need any information about rehabs, detoxes, meetings, interventions, ect., email me at twolifefocus@gmail.com, pm me on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/focusedlifel3c, text or call me at 813.310.5563. I’ll do whatever I can to help.

The Top Three Tactics For Life Improvement

I have had a fascination with changing habits and creating motivation for over ten years now. I have spent countless hours reading and researching different ideologies of creating life changes. Focused Life, ultimately, is a program that I have assembled borrowing from several sources and I intend to use this program to help individuals who are recovering from addiction to increase their odds. I understand the importance of traditional rehabilitation and ideally a target client of this program would have already detoxed and spent at least a month in a traditional rehab. The Focused Life program is meant to supplement traditional rehabs and transition an individual in recovery from concentrating on drugs and not doing them to focusing on more general life change practices.

I am going to share some of the basic, universally accepted methods and tactics that are necessary in meeting your life change objectives. The following concepts work independently of one another. They are tactics to employ in your overall strategy to make the changes in your life that you desire.

If you have anything to add, disagree or just wanna say something, please feel free to comment below.

So, here are my top five fundamentals for making a lasting change.

1       Perception

      Your perception is the lens of personal biases that every individual has, through which they view their environment and the world.

Perception is under your control. You may have been raised to be a racist or violent, and your schema of the world will adhere to what you already think you know to be true. The subsequent behavior, attitudes and actions that are produced are entirely under your control. You get to choose whether or not you’ll continue to be a violent person.

The truth is that the notions which you believe in most, are usually not even your notions. They are a product of your experiences. You have been conditioned to think a certain way and that is why we have cultures in society; groups of people that act, think, believe and behave similarly. Ones thoughts stem from ones beliefs, and beliefs are completely constructed by your perceptions. If a view of the world around you no longer serves you, you can easily change it. You are in charge of what goes on in your head, and so often we give that control to others. Question everything that is deeply ingrained in your beliefs and you will find unchecked motives for action, irrational thoughts and baseless reasoning.

To be yourself, to be true to who you are it is imperative that you inventory your beliefs. If it makes sense, keep it. If not, you are not subject to any concept. Toss it.

If I were reading this, I’d be reeling to think of what my beliefs are. If you’re like me, in that respect, here is a bit of advice on rooting out illogical beliefs to allow your perception the space to make more sound assumptions and bring yourself closer to a place where you are not in constant conflict with the real world around you.

Don’t even try to list and label your beliefs while you inventory them. It’s an internal process that requires making a practice introverted observations. Instead, file this idea away, but keep it at the surface of your thoughts. Next time you are witnessing an event and you notice that you are judging right and wrong, turn that high powered perception of yours inward and assess the reasons that you are coming to the conclusions that are fresh in your mind. Be honest with yourself. That should go without saying, but we are odd creatures sometimes. Now, are the motivations that cause you to side with A or B born out of something you are knowledgeable about? Have you experienced, in your life, an event that would lead you to side with either.

To give you an example of how this conditioning has happened throughout your life, how you are going to handle it now and how to reverse the process; I’ll give you a classic and common scenario.

If you hear some politician saying that something is happening and this is why it’s an atrocity. You are listening to 100% spin. This is a professional influencer, negotiator and persuader that is speaking, so it’s often easy to identify with what that person is saying. She knows that 99.61% of viewers hold democracy as an unquestionable belief, but many don’t really even understand what it is or why it’s better than an alternative; or even what an alternative to democracy is. She is going to try to make her point synonymous with that ideal.

(I am not referring to any particular person because I used the pronoun, “she”. I always interchange gender specific pronouns, and I always start with female pronouns. I just realized this could be mistaken for a reference to only a couple of politicians currently in the nation’s spotlight.)

This has been going on your entire life. The media, ads, your family, your friends all have a level of influence over you, or not. It’s your choice.

2.       Positivity

Being optimistic is the fundamental building block of creating change and even having a better life. Positive thinking goes hand and hand with perception. It is perception. While this blog post is not intended for a centerpiece to your epic battle with depression, it works wonders for people who use complaining and pessimism as a social tool. Complaining is often a great way to strike up a conversation, but it is doing more damage than you know. Because of the nature of this post, I am going to leave my opinions, formed from my experiences, out of this. However, positive thinking is important for a number of reasons that aren’t just opinions.

Positive thinking is a part of every process, I’ve seen, to make major lasting changes to your life. Lucky you, it’s the easiest thing in the world to change. Actually, you can do this right now. But, first, let me tell you why it’s important.

There is a semi-recent popularization of a meta-science known as the Law of Attraction. This doctrine teaches that for some unknown reason, we can manifest whatever it is we focus on in our lives. We can create a wondrous life or a dismal existence, through happy thoughts. I personally believe in many aspects of Attraction, but it’s still a meta-science and I won’t feed you theory that no one even understands.

Optimism is superior to pessimism obviously, right? This is always where someone interjects on how they have transcended this dichotomy, and are The Realist. Like I mentioned, don’t lie to yourself. I said it twice. We all get. Now, we’re all realists. But on the spectrum of optimism and pessimism, if it changes nothing else in your life, it changes your perception, which changes your beliefs and in this case changes moods, feelings and emotions. And those things change everything. Mastering those three things is the goal. Keep that goal in mind.

3.       Feelings and Emotions

For the purpose of this, and future, blog posts, we will look at emotions as a spectrum. Feelings are like notes, or keys on a piano. They can be mixed in harmony or dissonance. On one end of the emotion spectrum we have the desired emotion, which is Love and at the other end, the worst, fear. The reason that it is love and fear, is because we are envisioning a spectrum for life change, thus for motivation. Hate would be the natural opposite of love, in most schools of thought, but hate is a highly motivating feeling.

It’s such a shame that this has to be included in a self-mastery post. Emotional control is your God-given birthright. At some point, though, we all lose it. We give it to others. We give others the power to control us like puppets, by not owning our emotions. I can call your mother fat and in most cases own your behavior. I can at least get a rise out of you, by saying something offensive. I’m never more impressed than when I see someone defy the rules of humanity and behaving unpredictably well in situations that would ruin the next guys night. Getting offended at disrespect is human nature, right? I don’t think so.

Stephen R. Covey said that we are in control of our reactions. He had a clever play on the word responsibility. He taught that there is a gap between an action and an individual’s reaction. Inside this gap is where the maturity and responsibility of a person can be measured. You choose from the infinite possibilities what your response to stimuli might be. Mr. Covey said that a responsible person would be able-to-respond maturely and effectively. Take back your birthright. Be above the circumstances.

Change the thoughts you entertain and you change your perspective. Change your perspective and you change your beliefs. Change your beliefs and you get to change your destiny.