Bruises on Arms = Heroin Addict

Before I knew my daughter was a heroin addict I just thought she was a high strung, rebellious teenager going through what most teenagers go through. I had no idea that she was a heroin addict. I noticed that her personal hygiene habits and clothing styles changed. I also noticed that she was having trouble controlling her anger. She was happy then she was sad. It was a roller coaster. She wore a white, long sleeved t-shirt almost everyday and rarely took showers. One day she was rubbing her arm and her sleeve rode up on her arm and I noticed lots of bruises all over her arm. I asked her about it and she quickly said, "[so and so] has been playing around and grabbing my arms." I said, "let me see those bruises" and I reached over to pull back her sleeve and she jumped up and said, "oh, I gotta go, I'm late." I said, "you tell [so and so] not to put anymore bruises on your arms." God, I was so naive. Because of the bruises, I thought she might have a disease. So, I did a google search on "bruised arms" "arms bruise easily", etc. There was not one result that came up during my searches that implied anything about bruises and heroin addiction. I guess bruises on the arms and heroin addiction is such a [no brainer]...that its just not mentioned.

Heroin Addicted Elephant in Rehab 3 Years

I read this and just had to mention it....A four-year old Asian elephant was captured by smugglers along the Chinese-Myanmar border in March 2005. The elephant smugglers fed him with bananas laced with heroin to control him so he would lead the other elephants. The smugglers were arrested and the elephants were saved-end of story, happy ending, okay not really.

The elephant, named Xiguang was suffering from heroin withdrawals, luckily he was immediately sent to a protection center in China's Hainan Island. Xiguang, is an Asian elephant and they are threatened with extinction. During his stay on protection island he received daily methadone injections and after three years has completely recovered. In September 2008 he was transferred to the Yunnan Wild Animal Park. Now, that's 3 years of rehab. I couldn't find any information about his condition today...hopefully he's still doing okay.

After reading the story I had a couple of questions? If it took 3 years of rehab for an elephant would it take 3 years for a human to fully recover from heroin addiction too? Also, elephants never forget, so what do you think he thinks about when he sees a banana? Sad story.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29236120070830

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-04-elephant_N.htm

Addiction Free Forever

Wouldn't it be great if we could just stop using drugs? Wouldn't it be great if everyone we knew and loved could just take a single pill and the nightmare of drug addiction would be over! Unfortunately, there isn't a magic pill, but there is a program called Addiction Free Forever. This book was written by Dennis Marcellino. As a former member of several bands such as Sly and the Family Stone, Dennis lived and worked around a lot of drugs. He used drugs for about 18 years. During that time his marriage was ruined, he contemplated suicide, and went through several psychiatrists, counseling and many rehab programs before finding the answer to stop addiction. This method worked for Dennis. Addiction Free Forever.

Parental Underground-New Site

Here's a little shout out for my friend at Parental Underground. The site owner is a 20-year old recovering heroin addict with a personal understanding of heroin addiction on a mission to help others!

So check it out!

http://www.parentalunderground.com/

Tiny little stamps of addiction

From glassine bags to tiny little plastic bags. These heroin bags can be plain or include a stamped mark or stamped graphic to indicate where the heroin came from or what type of heroin it is. These marketing strategies from drug dealers range from cartoon characters to statements such as, "Get High or Die Trying."

These little bags should be a warning to you if you find one in your teens room, car or in the trash.