Research on how accumulated toxins in the body could cause cravings may offer new hope for ending substance abuse

Alcoholism and drug addiction cause immeasurable pain and suffering for addicts and their families. Substance abuse and addiction account for 140 billion of our soon-to-be one trillion dollar health care bill. These costs include criminal justice costs, lost productivity, auto accidents and social welfare.

Alcohol contributes to 100,000 deaths annually, making it the third leading cause of preventable mortality in the United States.

It is estimated that over 3 million teens between the ages of 14 and 17 in the United States today are problem drinkers. Accidents and suicides associated with alcohol problems are especially prominent in the teen years. Young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin after age 21.

Kevin Jessup, addicted to alcohol and cocaine from an early age, was one of the nearly 14 million Americans struggling with addiction. Jessup's story is a cautionary tale for teens. "I started drinking when I was 12 or 13 years old," he said. "By 18 I was smoking marijuana, which led to cocaine."

"Alcohol was always my escape," he said. "When I left school and started working, my day was like you see in the movies: come home, have a few drinks, prop your feet up. Then the next day you do it all again. It becomes a habit and before you know it, it's not just a relaxation thing. You're stressed out, need to have a couple of drinks to calm down and suddenly it's a crutch."

Jessup was in his early twenties when he started on the long road to recovery. "I would get a good job, function really well for a while and then someway, directly or indirectly, I would lose whatever I had built up — due to problems with the alcohol and other drugs."

His alcohol and drug use led to severe medical problems and he struggled on through life over the bumpy road of addiction and rehab. He was in his thirties with a successful business when his life started to really fall apart.

"I had the perfect cover," says Jessup. "I was a successful businessman, nobody suspected me and my wife ran a bar. For about two years we were both going through thousands and thousands of dollars each month in cocaine and I had started dealing drugs to pay for our habit." He tried another outpatient rehab program, but did not stay clean.

After foot surgery he was taking over-the-counter pain medication and the combination with alcohol put him in the hospital in a 28-day coma. "Alcohol and painkillers do really strange things to the liver," says Jessup. "Some people who have had what I had needed a liver transplant — several had died." Jessup was one of the lucky ones — although doctors gave him no hope of recovery, he eventually left the hospital, vowing to stay clean. Four months later he was drinking again.

"All it took was an upsetting incident and I'd start again," he said. His brother took him to Narconon — an organization that administers a drug rehabilitation program based on the best-selling book Clear Body Clear Mind by L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard's research shows how drug residues and toxins stay in the body and cause cravings to recur. The program includes a regimen of exercise, vitamins and sauna sweat out that can release drug residues and reduce levels of toxins in the body. Many of those who have completed the program have experienced results such as thinking more clearly, feeling happier and having more energy.

Jessup has been clean since he completed the program in February and is now working as a substance abuse counselor at Narconon, the only rehab program with a consistent 76% success rate.

"This program addresses the addiction on two levels — the detoxification part that reduces the drug residues in your body and then it addresses the mental and emotional issues," explains Jessup.

"You can't address those mental issues until you get the mind thinking straight again," he says. "You need to get rid of the fog and cloud of the drug residues that mess up your thinking and cause cravings. When you have a clear body, you do get a clear mind. Then you can do something about the mental and emotional reasons for your addiction."

The program in Clear Body Clear Mind offers hope to the millions of Americans struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. "It is possible to recover," says Jessup. "And life's a whole lot better on the other side of the bottle."

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