Narconon Newsletter 14-06-2007

Welcome to the Narconon Newsletter.

Today I'd like to share with you an interview with Mike Holland, regional newspaper editor. Mike is our landlord here at Narconon Hastings and has become a staunch supporter of our programme.

Tell us how you first came across Narconon.

Well I first came across the Narconon programme when I leased the building in Hastings to Narconon. I already leased a building to a drug rehabilitation outfit Adaction, which is government sponsored and having watched closely what happens there, the staff are wonderful and well meaning but, in my view, pretty ineffective. I was very, very pleased to see the results that Narconon were able to produce and I thought it very refreshing that the approach that Narconon takes is one of getting people off drugs rather than replacing one drug with another.

You have some family experience with the Narconon programme.

Years ago I had a family member who was on heroin. I put that family member through various rehabilitation centres and although he thought himself to be off drugs, he was still very dependant upon light drugs, if you like, like alcohol.

Watching Narconon and what went on within Narconon, I felt this would be beneficial to him and I managed to persuade him to take a Narconon course. At the end of the course, which took approximately 3 months, I noticed a huge change in him. Much more mellow, much more able to cope with life. No more dependency on alcohol or on drugs of any description and basically, I got that family member back, which was fantastic. And, a few years on, that's still the case and the relationship is better and the strain is not on the family. It's fantastic.

From your experience, how does Narconon compare with other drug rehabilitation programmes?

There is no comparison. This is the only option if you want to get somebody off drugs and not onto a substitute drug; I find it very, very effective.

How would you say the Narconon programme compares for example, with the methadone replacement programme for heroin?

I know for a fact that it's much simpler to get somebody off heroin than it is to get them off methadone. Getting somebody off heroin and putting them on methadone - you're just condemning them to a life in the twiglight. There is no purpose in doing that. Get them off heroin and make them go back and look at the inner self, find out why they got onto it in the first place and just come out again into the real world and deal with it. Having dealt with the issues, rejoin the real world and play a useful part. That's what Narconon can do for you. That's the important thing about Narconon.

How important to society is it to really attack and resolve the drug problem?

It’s terribly important to society that we tackle and resolve the drug problem as it is in the UK today. My own city of Brighton is currently the drug death capital of the UK. We currently lose one person a week, on average, to drugs. That’s just Brighton. People are starting to realise how important Narconon is, because it is an effective way of tackling drug addiction. I very much want to see more Narconon centres spread out across the UK, as do many other people now and I hope this can be achieved. I just cannot emphasize enough, how important it is that we achieve a big dent in the scourge of England’s drug culture.

To speak to one of our counsellors please phone 0800 169 4803

Best Regards,

Narconon London - Hastings Branch