Drug Use
Drugs are often addictive and, like alcohol and other substances, may mask other problems. Drug abuse can represent an inability to express intense pain or feeling. It is a cry for help.
Illegal drug use is almost always a firing offense for a law enforcement officer, so getting the department to pay for treatment is not easy, but it is possible. Peer counseling units frequently send alcohol abusers to confidential treatment facilities that provide drug treatment. Peer counselors treating drug problems do not usually report to police administrators.
Officers needing drug treatment may wish to ask peer and treatment center counselors about confidentiality. No matter the response, drug abusers must seek treatment. Without help, their lives and the lives of those they care about are endangered.
Some of the following sources apply equally to drug and alcohol abuse.
Co-Anon Family Groups
Co-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of men and women who are husbands, wives, parents, relatives or close friends of someone who is chemically dependent. The website features information regarding the problem and the solution via the twelve-step program, as well as an online e-mail meeting for members all over the world. While most of the members come from the U.S., Co-Anon is reaching Europe, North, Central and South America, and countries on all other continents. The Meeting Directory currently lists face-to-face meetings spread across the U.S. and Canada.
Go to: http://www.co-anon.org. Write: Co-Anon Family Groups, World Services, P.O. Box 12722, Tucson, AZ 85732-2722. Phone: 800-898-9985.
Cocaine Anonymous World Service Organization (CAWSO)
Using a twelve-step program, Cocaine Anonymous (CA) is open to anyone with the desire to stop using cocaine, crack and all other mind-altering substances. The website provides a self-test for cocaine addiction and listings and websites for CA groups in the U.S. and other countries.
Go to: http://www.ca.org. Write: CAWSO, P.O. Box 492000, Los Angeles, CA 90049-8000 USA. Call the National Referral Line toll-free: 800-347-8998. Phone: 310-559-5833.
Drug Rehab
DrugRehab.com is an amazing, user-friendly web resource, dedicated to the treatment of addiction, substance abuse, eating disorders and mental health issues. If you are looking for help with your addiction, this is the best website I've ever seen for this purpose. It's extremely well organized and supportive.
Go to: http://www.drugrehab.com
Nar-Anon Family Group
For friends and family of drug addicts, this recovery group provides a forum for expressing the pain of watching someone they love suffer with addiction.
Go to: http://nar-anon.org. To reach groups in the U.S. and other countries, consult the telephone book or call their head-quarters at 800-477-6291. Write: Nar-Anon F. G. Headquarters, Inc., 22527 Crenshaw Blvd., #200B, Torrence, CA 90505.
Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
NA is an international association of recovering drug addicts who share personal experiences and solutions. Holding meetings in seventy countries, it follows a twelve-step program that focuses on “spiritual awakening.” NA’s website provides much information about groups in every state and many countries.
Go to: http://www.na.org. Write: NA, World Service Office, P.O. Box 9999, Van Nuys, CA 91409. Call: 818-773-9999.
For groups in Europe, write: NA, WSO, 48 Rue de l’Éte/ Zomerstraat, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Phone: 32-2-646-6012. Fax: 32-2-649-92239.
National Council On Alcoholism And Drug Dependence (NCADD)
With more than one hundred councils in the U.S., NCADD provides education, help and hope in the fight against chronic alcoholism and drug addiction. Online, the group provides health information, an intervention network, prevention programs, resources and a referral guide.
Go to: http://www.ncadd.org. Write: NCADD, 244 E. 58th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022. Call: 212-269-7797. Toll-free 24-hour referral Hope Line: 800-622-2255.
Web of Addictions
Website creators Andrew L. Homer, Ph.D., and Dick Dillon, are very concerned about “the appalling extent of misinformation about abused drugs on the Internet, particularly on some Usenet Newsgroups.”
Their fact sheets cover alcohol abuse and many drugs including amphetamines, barbiturates, caffeine, cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin, LSD, marijuana, nicotine, opiates, steroids and tranquilizers.
Go to: http://www.well.com/user/woa.