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Elizabeth, New Jersey Rehab for Drug Abusers
Elizabeth, New Jersey has a population of 120,568, and in each household there are approximately three people. Elizabeth is located in Union County and was founded in 1664. Popular Science Magazine named Elizabeth one of “America’s 50 cleanest cities” in 2008, and visitors to Elizabeth find plenty of shopping, dining, parks, museums, and art galleries. There are many festivals and annual events in Elizabeth, such as the Elizabeth Latin Carnival, Portugal Day, Pride in the Port Day, July Fest, and Unity Day. There is also the annual bike trek, Tour De Elizabeth. Yet even with all this going for it, the city of Elizabeth has a drug problem.
Types of Available Drugs
Cocaine is reported as one of the most popular drugs in Elizabeth. It is known as “the rich man’s drug,” but there are, nevertheless, many in Elizabeth who can afford it and are now abusing it. When cocaine is not available or within an abuser’s budget, then there is always crack. Crack is cheaper, and for that more available to the young people of Elizabeth. Cocaine, and its close relative crack, is one of the most dangerous drugs known to man. Once the person begins taking the drug it is almost impossible to become free of its grip physically and mentally.
Heroin has also made its way into the communities of Elizabeth. Reports from the State of New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Addiction Services disclose that heroin is used by 18 to 25 years old in New Jersey with more than twice the national average. Treatment admissions were up in 2006 and 22,751 of the patient cases involved heroin. That consists of 41% of all treatment admissions. Young people are very attracted by heroin because of its purity relative to other (more commonly ‘cut’ drugs), and due to its current low price. It has been reported that there has been a steady decrease in purity levels since 2003. In the Newark area, heroin purity is among the highest in the nation.
Methamphetamine is also widely available in the New Jersey area, especially in Elizabeth. Meth traffickers largely obtain their product from Mexico and they have direct connections to violators and distributors there and throughout the Western United States. While meth has commonly been thought of as produced by “outlaw” motorcycle gangs, independent chemists, and the mafia, it is most usually brought into southern New Jersey by way of Mexican distribution. After vigorous investigations recently, however, it has been found that the Filipino community is becoming involved in the production and distribution of crystal meth. Large amounts of meth have been imported from Mexico and the Philippines. The methamphetamine is converted into “ice” in the Los Angeles area and then transported to New York and New Jersey in motor vehicles and by way of different kinds of mail and parcel services. Just lately law enforcement has been successful in figuring out these routes, so the usual trafficking routes for ice have been diversified, though it is still most commonly transported into New Jersey by car.
The southwest border states are largely responsible for the marijuana that is in Elizabeth. Marijuana is readily available and it gets to Elizabeth in cars, tractor-trailers, vessels, US Postal service, and overnight services. Marijuana is dried flowers, seeds and leaves of the Indian hemp plant. It is a hallucinogen at high doses and distorts users’ mental perceptions. Its active ingredient, THC, causes this distortion. When a person smokes a joint he gets an immediate sensation of increased heart rate, lessened coordination and balance, and a dreamy state of mind. The drug can stay in one’s cells for many days and even months.
New Jersey has the mixed blessing of having the highest concentration of pharmaceutical and chemical firms in the country. A great deal of “doctor shopping” occurs in Elizabeth, as in many parts of the country. Arrests for prescription fraud and unlawful possession of prescription medication have steadily risen in the region over recent years. Prescription forgery and organized script rings operate in Elizabeth, diverting and distributing legitimate pharmaceutical drugs all over New Jersey. The most commonly abused prescription drugs in Elizabeth are Percocet, Oxycontin, Xanax, Vicodin, and Hydrocodone.
Effects for All Concerned
Who exactly is affected by the phenomenon of addiction? One thing is certain—the abuser inevitably is failing to care for his own well-being and body. All drugs interfere with normal appetite, either increasing or decreasing it, as well as normal sleep patterns. In fact that is one of the first signs you can catch on your loved ones. But the damage done by drug addiction and abuse doesn’t stop with the abuser himself; he often begins to lie to his family and friends, making false excuses for changes in his behavior or finances. He may even start to steal from his household in order to get his next fix. Very often things go from bad to worse—his work performance suffers, or he may miss work entirely and endanger his employment. Families often worry and spend a great deal of time and effort attempting to get the person to just stop using drugs. But they often fail. Then the abuser may start to affect his community by robbing houses or breaking into businesses, in desperation for money to get his next fix. The problem of addiction affects everyone around the addict. Residents of Elizabeth have begun to realize how dire these problems are, and have been clamoring for a truly effective drug and alcohol rehab and addiction treatment center.
Rehab and Treatment Centers
In the United States, there are many different types of rehabs and treatment centers. Nationally, there is the twelve-step program, relapse prevention, one-on-one counseling, drug rehabilitation, behavior modification, support groups—the list goes on. What kind of questions can you ask yourself when you choosing a treatment center? Well, you need to find a facility where the addict can get away from daily distractions. Each abuser has many problems—drug abuse usually begins as a means of escaping such troubles. So when you choose a rehab, ask yourself: can my loved one heal while continually facing these sources of turmoil every day, or does he need a space of respite in order to learn new habits and methods of coping? The latter is almost always the best option—get your loved one to a place where he can be safe and quiet during withdrawal and detox. That in itself is a difficult process to undergo. So take your loved one to a place where counselors will help him go through this in a natural way. You also don’t want an addict to take drugs in order to get off of drugs—then he will only have to go through withdrawal again and detox yet again. Natural methods, pursued in a safe and caring environment, simply make more sense long-term. Once your loved one has gotten clean and begun to think clearly, he will need to learn good life-management skills—like communication, how to deal with people he’s hurt, and how to handle his own emotions. Remember that drugs became the addict’s solution because it was so much easier and felt so much better than facing up to his problems. Now he must face these problems. So getting skills to do so is one of the most important things as addict does in rehab. The Elizabeth, New Jersey drug abuser who wants to recover needs a reliable, proven program which can make his drug addiction is a thing of the past and enable him to live a full, productive life free of drugs or alcohol.
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