Addiction to drugs or alcohol is a complex problem for the addict, his or her family, and the society around them. Evidence supports it being a difficult problem to solve. But is it a disease? Or, more specifically, is it a chronic, relapsing disease without a cure, as it is described by the National Institutes of Health?

Narconon Arrowhead's position is this: If you understand the makeup of addiction and address the real causes, then addiction can be eliminated for a lifetime.

Ryan Thorpe, Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor and the Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead states, "The three major factors that make up the trap of addiction are cravings, depression and guilt.

A rehabilitation program, to be successful, must help the addict himself or herself eliminate each of these factors in a fundamental, lasting way. No one can do it for him or her, no evaluation or analysis by an outside party can hope to change a person's world like they themselves can. The amazing thing is that when we see these factors fully addressed, we also see a person literally walk away from the addiction once and for all. In 2007, we have seen close to 500 people successfully complete our program. They no longer view themselves as addicts. They are living proof that addiction can be cured."

Narconon Arrowhead's unique approach teachings that cravings must be handled at a physical level by drawing out the residual drugs and their by-products that can still trigger cravings years after a person stops taking drugs. That depression must be addressed, at a physical level by remedying the nutritional deficiencies that have been shown to contribute to depression, and at a mental level, both by teaching social skills and by helping an addict repair the destruction that drugs have wreaked on his life. That guilt is relieved when an addict learns the root cause of guilt and then uses that new knowledge to face and take responsibility for his past misdeeds. Narconon Arrowhead states that this results in restored personal integrity and moral values.

Every region has rehabilitation programs that hope to assist addicts in recovery. These three factors are addressed in a thorough manner at the drug and alcohol rehabilitation program at Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country's premier rehabilitation centers in Canadian, Oklahoma. A young man who graduated from the Narconon program described his accomplishment like this: "I was an addict for nine years of my life. I had tried programs that told me I would always be an addict, I had tried state-run hospitals that gave me other drugs to replace the ones I was on. Then I was given a chance to go to Narconon Arrowhead. I learned that I really was a good person who made some poor decisions. I learned how to take responsibility for those actions. My body was freed of toxic drug residues. I now have the tools I need to stay clean. I have not used any drugs, at all, in over a year. This program saved my life." J. S.

To get the details on how to handle these three factors that keep an addict locked in his or her addiction, ask for your free copy of Healing Addicted Lives by calling Narconon Arrowhead at 1-800-468-6933, send an email to info@stopaddiction.com or visit www.stopaddiction.com. The Narconon program was founded in 1966 by William Benitez in Arizona State Prison, and is based on the humanitarian works of L. Ron Hubbard. For more than forty years, in more than 120 centers around the world, Narconon programs restore drug and alcohol abusers and addicts to a clean and sober lifestyle.