Flint, Michigan, Alcohol and Drug Addiction Information
Flint, Michigan has a population of 124,943 with an average household size of 2.511 and is located in Genesee County along the Flint River.
Over the last century the automotive industry and the car culture was a major dominance initiating several ups and downs to the local economy.
The city of Flint however continues to grow and offers many amenities to its citizens as well as visitors. From art galleries and museums, to farms and orchards, Flint has a diverse community. Flint has unfortunately has an ongoing drug problem.
Flint Michigan’s Drug Source
The DEA (The US Drug Enforcement Administration)2 reports that heroin is widely available throughout the Detroit metropolitan area and the more densely populated areas of Michigan. The city of Detroit is a transshipment area to other communities in Michigan and Ohio, as well as a consumption city.
Cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking and abuse remain at high levels within the state of Michigan. Wholesale distribution cells operating in the major cities of Michigan are directed by Mexican drug trafficking organizations that have direct links to Colombian cartels. Local crack distribution cells dominate inner city trafficking activities. These organizations are frequently involved in violence in conjunction with their illicit activities. Cocaine purity levels range between 40% to 90% and quantities can be purchased in amounts ranging from grams to several kilograms.
Small “Mom and Pop” and “Tweaker” operators continue to manufacture methamphetamine in small one to two ounce quantities for personal use and for distribution at the local level. The primary producers of methamphetamine are Caucasian and Hispanic males.
The Northern Border in Detroit serves as a transshipment point for multi-thousand dosage unit quantities of predatory and club drugs, such as MDMA (Ecstasy) and GHB. Middle Eastern and Caucasian criminal groups, Asian groups, independent inner-city groups, and area college students transport MDMA primarily from the Toronto area of Canada into the United States. MDMA and other club drugs are then transported to other areas of the country. Cocaine and drug proceeds in bulk currency are transported into Canada at the Northern Border in Detroit.
The Northern Border is increasingly utilized to transport Canadian indoor-grown marijuana, referred to as B.C. Bud, into the United States at Michigan ports of entry. B.C. Bud has a higher tetrahydrcannabinol (THC) content than domestically grown or Mexican produced marijuana. As a result, the demand for B.C. Bud is significantly increasing. Significant marijuana seizures at the Northern Border ports of entry in Michigan have increased. Multi-hundred pound seizures of B.C. Bud are regularly transported across the Northern Border. The Northern Border Ambassador Bridge located at the Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario port of entry is the busiest commercial land border entry port in the world, making the detection of marijuana commingled with legitimate goods a daunting task. Marijuana transported into Michigan from the Southwest Border is primarily distributed by Mexican and inner-city trafficking organizations.
OxyContin® demand is increasing throughout the state. The Michigan Automated Prescription System (MAPS) program indicates that the state’s OxyContin® prescriptions have increased by 31 percent. Michigan is ranked number 30 for its OxyContin® comsumption per capita. The abuse and diversion of prescription drugs, particularly hydrocodone, oxycodone (Lortab, Lorcet, Vicodin, and Oxycontin), and methadone, is increasing throughout the state. Detroit is a source city for OxyContin that is transported and distributed to users in Kentucky and West Virginia for a high profit margin. Primary methods of diversion are illegal sales, “doctor shopping”, pharmacy break-ins and robberies, stealing from legitimate patients, selling legitimate prescriptions, illegally obtaining them from the streets, illegitimate prescriptions, home break-ins, forged prescriptions, and Internet pharmacies.
The Dwindling Spiral Will Continue
One thing is for certain, for a drug addict, the dwindling spiral will continue on its downward path unless action is taken. NOW is the time to do something before the addicted person winds up in jail or dead of an overdose or accident. Unfortunately past failed attempts to overcome addiction only further depress the individual so it comes as no surprise that fear and hesitation.
In the city of Flint, there is an increased need for effective drug and alcohol rehab and addiction treatment centers as drug and alcohol use continues to escalate. Drug use erodes the quality of life not only for the user, but for their families and communities. Marriages and families are torn apart by mistrust, betrayal, fear and anger. Careers are ruined; companies lose millions of dollars in lost production time; cities and suburbs become degraded by the increased crime and violence that goes with drug trafficking and drug addiction. To do nothing for the addict, should not be an option. Something can be done; help is available.
The Damage to Society
In the State of Michigan, and specifically in the city of Flint, the effects of drug and alcohol abuse goes way past the the damage done to the addicts themselves. In terms of time lost on the job, to the health system inundated by illness and overdoses to communities harmed by the crime rate caused by addicts looking to steal anything in order to get their next fix, to families living a nightmare as they watch helplessly as their loved one goes further down the chutes. The rollercoaster of emotions, concern and anger seems like a never ending ride the abuser puts his friends and family through. Failures in the past with drug rehab centers further numb the addict to any hope of a future without drugs. It truly can appear hopeless.
Flint Drug-Related News Stories
»Drugs and Alcohol Contribute to Domestic Violence
»Cellmates of Inmate who Died in Ionia Prison say he Overdoses on Heroin
Treatment Center Changes Needed
Just in the state of Michigan, there are many different types of drug rehab and treatment facilities. In the United States, there are thousands of drug rehab and treatment centers. Of course the common goal of all addiction treatment programs is to help end addiction for the individual. In Michigan and across the United States, a variety of techniques and methods are being used. Some of the well known treatment methods in Michigan include the twelve step method, relapse prevention, one-on-one counseling, drug rehabilitation, behavioral modification, cognitive therapy, support groups, sober living, therapeutic communities, AA , NA, inpatient, and outpatient drug rehab programs. There are many types of treatment centers available in Michigan, so making a decision can be difficult. Unfortunately, many uninformed people in Michigan go from rehab to rehab looking for the one that is right for them.
In Michigan, there are many attempts being made to meet the needs of drug addicts, but statistics show success rates to be dismally low. What is needed and wanted is a drug treatment which not only handles physical addiction, but finds the underlying reasons why a person turns to drugs in order to free the person forever. What Michigan addicts, alcoholics and their family, friends and loved ones need is a real and effective drug rehab treatment center. One where they are not on a time schedule or use other drugs to get the addict off the original drugs. The addict needs a reliable proven program where when they are done, their drug addiction is a thing of the past and they are now able to live full productive lives free of the stronghold of drugs or alcohol.
Choosing a Drug Rehab and Addiction Treatment Program
What should the goal be of a drug rehab center? Clean and sober for 30 days? While that might be a good short term goal, many treatment centers and 12 step programs still leave the drug addict fighting a continuing battle with addiction. Once an addict always an addict; or it’s a mental disorder they can do nothing about. When choosing a drug rehab center for yourself or a loved one from Flint, Michigan, it is important to become educated on the different types of drug rehab and what the end results are.
Should the Drug Rehab Location Matter When it Comes to Finding a Solution to Addiction?
Drug and alcohol addiction typically involves habitual routines in the environmental scope of the individual, i.e. the locations of their drug or alcohol use, the people they associated with in the activities of drug or alcohol use, etc. Drug or alcohol addiction is not just drug and alcohol use, it revolves around people and things in their immediate environment which help to trigger the addictive behavior. The abusers location & routines of drug and alcohol use further trigger drug and alcohol use. It is the constant and seemingly unstoppable drug or alcohol use and the hopelessness of day to day existence which perpetuates the problem and inhibits the native desire to stop ruining their life through the use of drugs and alcohol.
The above factor should not be over looked when considering a treatment center location. The first 2 weeks of treatment are always the most difficult & There many factors at work to make this so. In addition to what has been covered above, a more basic factor is this; people are creatures of habit.
Drug or alcohol addiction is not just drug and alcohol use, it revolves around people and things in their immediate environment which help to trigger the addictive behavior.
Even overwhelmingly positive & beneficial changes in life, such as the birth of a child or a new job does not guarantee the individual will have no thoughts of missing past negative activities such as, drug or alcohol use, drug or drinking acquaintances and other associated activities. Factually this is the normal reactive auto response of most human beings; to do what they are familiar with; good or bad. It is not really that they yearn for these things, it is just all that they have known for some time. If the abuser is close to home when overwhelming feelings manifest themselves, there is a good chance he or she will leave and get back to what they know, drug addiction, as it is not very far away . Due to these factors, attending a drug rehab close to home is seldom the correct treatment option for chronic drug or alcohol abusers. It is extremely therapeutic to be distanced from their former association with drug dealers, bars, the cabinet where the alcohol was kept, the cigar box where the cocaine was stored, etc. All these triggers make the task of sobriety seem insurmountable to the chronic drug or alcohol abuser as these triggers continuously stimulate a reminder of their past addictive behaviors.
For individuals with a severe drug or alcohol addiction problem, choosing a long term inpatient treatment program is another key to a successful outcome.
By providing a new, safe trigger free environment, distanced from past negative associations and surroundings for an extended period of time, the chance for success increases dramatically.
Our program provides people with positive circumstances to increase their chances for a successful recovery. The vast majority of students entering our program, around (80%), are from out of state or from other countries.
Narconon Riverbend helps END addiction and alcoholism FOR GOOD.
Narconon Riverbend produces graduates who are DRUG FREE AND CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS OF SOCIETY. Narconon Riverbend has a success rate in excess of 70%, as compared to 15-20% for more traditional treatments. Narconon Riverbend is a long-term treatment facility, something that is more and more vital in fully handling the onslaught of newer and more potent substances, including a dramatic increase in prescription drug abuse.
The Narconon program steps are entirely drug-free; that is, the Narconon drug rehab program does not use drugs or medications to solve the problems caused by drugs, but does use nutrition and nutritional supplements as an important component of its delivery. Thus the program is neither a psychiatric nor medical, but a social education model of rehabilitation.
A Narconon Program Graduate is someone:
- Who has completed the Narconon drug rehab program;
- Who knows he is, in fact, capable of living a drug-free life thereafter;
- Who has improved his or her ability to learn and thus can accept new ideas on how to change life for the better;
- Who has personally absorbed the fundamentals of ethics and morality well enough that he or she can be productive and contributive to society and will have no further troubles with the justice system;
- Who knows how to solve the problems of life in a rational manner to the best of his ability, without the use of mind-altering drugs.
Click to see PDF of brochure now.Call now and request a copy of Healing Addicted Lives written by Gary W. Smith, Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor and Director of Narconon Arrowhead Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation and Education Center.
Call anytime to speak with one of our counselors about our program. We will take the time to answer your questions whether it be for yourself or a loved one. It is possible to replace the loss and pain of alcohol or drug addiction with a productive, enjoyable life.
Call now (877) 340-3602.
1 Flint stats courtesy of http://www.maps-n-stats.com/ (Link to Data)
2 DEA Website facts for Michigan
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