Father of Narconon Graduate
Stewart S.

It seemed like my son was perfectly normal—a normal upbringing, played baseball, he loved to play baseball. He started smoking marijuana in middle school. Where we live, the availability of even marijuana is very, very easy.

He had a close circle of friends, I think, who were also smoking marijuana.

He participated with the family. And after high school the situation was very much changed because he was supposed to be in school. He was going through at least the motions of being a good student at the local community college.

The second semester though was when the changes started taking place and then I knew he was not attending school.

Then shortly after or during that second semester, then he admitted that he was addicted to OxyContin. When OxyContin became too expensive that it was not available in an easy fashion for the dealers to get a hold of, it became more profitable and easier for the dealers to get a hold of heroin, Mexican heroin. And it was cheaper, so he graduated from OxyContin into heroin.

As an addict, my son lost all of his self-respect. As a dealer, he lost all of his self-respect. And he knew it.

He just didn’t know how to get it back.

I love him dearly. He’s the only one I’ve got. He told me, “You know, if I keep going this way I’m gonna either end up in jail or dead.” And I said, “Well, neither one of those alternatives are acceptable, are they?” He said, “No.”

But my daughter found Narconon on the internet and at ten o’clock at night we put everybody in the car and drove up to Narconon. And the fact that we could drive back and know that he was, that my son was going to be okay, that he wasn’t going to be out late at night dealing and using, that he was going to be in a safe place—I can’t tell you what a relief that was.

He doesn’t do drugs anymore, of course, so he’s been clean and sober for over two and a half years or so. I have seen a complete, total change in the way he views himself. He views himself as a useful and loving human being now. He’s become an expert in the whole treatment process that Narconon offers. He’s gone through all of their training and is a trusted member of the staff. So, he’s a twenty-four-year-old adult that is making a positive impact on other people’s lives.

What else could you want?