To all of you who want to stop taking drugs permanently and to rediscover a life free from the influence of psychotropic drugs, we recommend two communities, who have demonstrated their competence, their efficiency and their dedication with love and respect for the addict.
Center for withdrawal through total abstinence: San Patrigano
http://www.sanpatrignano.org/en
An education
Treatment is essentially education and rehabilitation. The person is not considered to be suffering from an "illness", therefore pharmacological treatments for addiction are not used.Individual program
The program for recuperation is individualized and varies depending on the different characteristics and needs of each individual. Each person follows rigid therapeutic steps that have no defined time limits. However given the problems and the necessity for a radical change by the person, this is a long term residential recuperation program. It lasts a minimum of 3 years.The Importance of the Group
When a person comes into the community they enter the training given by San Patrignano. One youth is entrusted to another youth, who becomes his mentor, and during the first year of therapy with the community (the duration varies from one person to the next) he follows him constantly. The youth lives in the same room as his tutor and other youths. Each room has its own manager, each section has one or more referred educators. These are the principal groups with which the person lives during his days with the community.No charge
San Patrignano is totally free. Having free entry and residency in the community allows each person to feel in charge of his own path. The products and services developed with a view to self-sufficiency meet about 50% of the needs of the community. The remaining funds are provided by donations.
Secularism
The founding principles on which the education of therapeutic intervention is based (respect for life, oneself, others and the environment) are universally recognized by the various religious denominations and are enshrined in the Italian Constitution.
Center for withdrawal through total abstinence: Cenacolo Community
Young addicts, male and female, who want to enter are asked to do several "preliminary interviews", so that they are aware of the style of life in the Community and to verify the person's desire to change. This time also serves to include the family and prepare the young person to enter the Community. After several interviews the young person is invited to spend some days, from morning to night, in a fraternity, to experience the life of the community, and then if they want to and the community agrees, they are welcomed. Entry is free, each family, freely, can collaborate as much as possible. The community does not accept people with severe psychological problems (schizophrenia, severe mental problems). It is not qualified to provide them with the on-going, specialized medical care that they need.
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The half-life of an active substance is the time required by a healthy body, with no previous drug use, to eliminate 50% of the absorbed substance. In the case of cannabis, the half-life is 96 hours or 4 days. This means that within 4 days the body has eliminated 50% of the initial dose. 4 days later, there will be 25% of the product left… Within 28 days, cannabis will be totally eliminated from the body of a person who has not consumed it regularly. Traces of decayed THC may be found in a regular consumer’s body up to 40 days after the last take. According to Dr Chamayou’s thesis, 18 months are needed to be completely cleared of cannabis.
AEROSOLS Nitrous oxide and other pressurized gases such as those contained in whipped cream canisters or computer anti-dust sprays also have hallucinogenic effects. In a few seconds they produce excitement, dizziness, euphoria, loss of consciousness and affect the central nervous system through lack of oxygen. Moreover they are inhaled under pressure and can provoke lung frostbite and vocal chords injuries, (eg. immediately after taking this drug the voice becomes lower.)
POPPERS Volatile nitrites have similar effects to nitrous oxide. Moreover they can provoke panic attacks, heart palpitations and headaches. They are also responsible for deaths by anoxia. They are vasodilators frequently used to relax sphincter muscles. They are carcinogenic and provoke serious immune deficiencies – such as AIDS.
STAIN REMOVER Stain removers are derived from ethylene. They are hallucinogenic but their effect is more calming, unlike poppers and aerosols, which are more stimulating. They cause damage that is neurological (deafness, tremor) and intellectual (dementia).
No parent would lend his car to his child knowing he/she has not learnt to drive. It would also be unconscionable to let one’s teenager go out without having taught him/her what drugs are. Nowadays availability of these products is such that youth can procure them in all the places they frequent – educational establishments, parties, class dinners, rallies, sport clubs... Parents must inform themselves objectively and scientifically about the products so to educate their children on drugs and provide them with the arguments to refuse them. Let us remember that drug addiction doesn’t just happen to others!
Yes, Alcohol is a sedative drug. In drinking regularly a large amount of alcohol, one becomes an alcoholic within a few years. Alcohol is characteristically able to potentialize the effect of all other drugs it is mixed with. If one mixes alcohol with another or others drugs, one can very rapidly become a drug-addict.
Drugs are not a disease. The best way to stop them is not to take any. Heroin addicts who achieved withdraw admit that complete abstinence is the only solution. They say it themselves : it is more difficult to withdraw from Subutex (substitution drugs) than from heroin…
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