Narconon Helps Girl Get Off of Heroin
This is the testimonial of a girl who went through the Narconon Rehab Program. It is a multi-chaptered article. The first two chapters will be released this week, with a subsequent chapter released every week for the next few weeks.
No real names will be used in these articles to protect the privacy of those involved. We will call the girl in the story Tessa.
Early Childhood of a Drug Addict
Tessa was born into a one hundred percent Italian family in Arizona. Her family had originally come from New York, but her parents moved to Arizona in the late sixties. They had one boy and one girl. They were married for twenty-five years, and got divorced when Tessa was eleven months old.Tessa’s father was a very intelligent tax and corporate lawyer. He was a self made man and had made a lot of money in his career. He was a very well known figure head in his line of work and has met every president that has been in office since he was twenty five.
Tessa’s father, although very intelligent, had a lot of psychological problems. He was on lithium for most of his adult life. The few times that he tried to come off of the drug, he went insane. He also had a drinking problem. Tessa said that he would drink every day after work. He would get very intoxicated every night and during the weekends as well. Tessa would be afraid to ride in the car with him sometimes because he would be so drunk.
Tessa’s mother was also very intelligent, although she was not emotionally volatile like her ex-husband. When Tessa was a young girl, her mother went to college. Her mother was majoring in special education for gifted children. Right around the time Tessa’s mother graduated from school, Regan became president. Regan cut all funding for the kinds of programs that Tessa’s mother had majored in, which left it very difficult for her to find employment.
When Tessa’s parent got a divorce, they went to court to decide custody of the two children in the family. It was a very long drawn out court battle that lasted until Tessa was eight years old. Tessa’s father made allegations that Tessa’s mom was abusing the children. These were not true, but Tessa and her older brother had to go to various doctors and counselors to prove this. Tessa believed that her dad did not really want custody of his kids, he just wanted to punish her mom. He made sure that Tessa’s mom spent all of her savings on lawyers before he said it was ok, the kids could live with her.
Brother Has Behavior Problems.
When Tessa was seven and her older brother was fourteen, he was sent to a very expensive boarding school in New Jersey. After a few months there, he go kicked out. The reason for this is because one of the guys on his floor came in his room and broke his stereo. Tessa’s brother knew about a guy who had shot gun hidden in one of the rooms and asked to borrow it. He went into the other guy’s room and shot the guys stereo with the shot gun. The school did not look kindly on this and kicked him out.
When Tessa’s brother came home, he was quickly shipped off to another school, this one, military. Tessa remembers that her brother would call home all the time begging to come home. He would say that all kinds of horrible things were happening there and he could not stand to stay there one more day. Tessa said it made her really worry about her brother and she wished her parents would let him come home. They would not let him however, but after a while her brother gave up and got acclimated to life at military school.
Just Tessa and Her Mom in Arizona
After Tessa’s brother was sent away to military school, it was just Tessa and her mom at home. Tessa would see her father too, however. Tessa’s mom was a writer in addition to a teacher of special education. Tessa’s father wanted to have his autobiography written and hired Tessa’s mom to do the writing. Tessa’s dad would come over to the house every day to dictate to her mom. She said it was kind of weird, since they were divorced and all, and there had been such a fearsome custody battle.
Tessa and her mom became very close during this time. Tessa was a kind of preppy/ hippy girl and her mom was an activist. Tessa said her mom always, even to this day has a cause that she is working for. There is always an underdog who needs to be helped. Tessa’s mom was also very encouraging to Tessa to figure things out for herself and was not very strict.
Tessa Smokes Pot for the First Time
One weekend Tessa’s brother came home to visit for a week. That Friday of his visit, Tessa came home from school to see her brother and her mother smoking marijuana out of a two person water pipe, also known as a two person bong.
Now Tessa’s mom never smoked cigarettes and so when Tessa saw her mom smoking, it confused her. She asked her mom and her brother what it was they were doing. Her mother told her they were smoking marijuana, and it was a lot like drinking wine. People smoked it to relax. Tessa didn’t think much of it and went up stairs to do her homework. After a few minutes of thinking about it, she went back down stairs and said “Now wait, what are you guys doing?” Her mom explained it a little more and then offered Tessa the pipe. Tessa tried to smoke the marijuana, but she did not really know what she was doing. She did not inhale and did not get intoxicated the first time. She went back up to her room and did not think much more about it. Continued in Chapter Two
