Celebrating almost half a century of successful drug rehabilitation in Sweden
As pointed out in a recent article by a contributor to The European Times, over the past two decades the demand and the supply of illegal drugs has increased dramatically which is evident from the enormous amounts seized in 2020 according to the European Drug Report: 739 tons of cannabis, 213 tons of cocaine, 21.2 tons of amphetamine, 5.1 tons of heroin, 2.2 tons of methamphetamine, 1 ton of MDMA (ecstasy). Among the illegal drugs are not only the traditional ones but also mixtures of illegal drugs, adulteration with other chemicals, newly synthesized drugs (such as New Psychoactive Substances: 5.1 tons seized) developed in secret laboratories, and finally abuse and misuse of prescription drugs.
Against this dark background, we can only be happy when we find a rehabilitation program that works, and even more so when it has been working for 40 years now.
This is the case with Narconon Eslov in Skåne County, southern Sweden, a branch of the world famous drug rehabilitation network Narconon, which celebrated its 40th anniversary on September 3, 2022, with touching speeches given by its executive director Håkan Larsson, Narconon Eslov co-founder Mia Anderson, local politician Lasse Danred and a recent graduate who has been clean and sober since completing the Narconon program.
The need for effective drug rehab is centered in Europe has never been more acute. The European Drugs Report – Trends and Developments 2022 states that “availability and use of drugs remain at high levels across the European Union.” In Sweden alone, 524 people lost their lives in a drug-induced death in 2020, and Sweden shares the top spot with Ireland for the highest number of drug-induced deaths per capita in EU for the age group 15 – 64 years.
At the Divine 40th Anniversary Celebration of Getting People Off Drugs, Lasse Danred shared an emotional story of how he brought a close family member to Narconon out of desperation, after learning that the relative was addicted to drugs. As explained by Danred, the relative was fully rehabilitated through Narconon Sweden’s program. “If it wasn’t for Narconon,” Danred said, “I don’t know if he’d be here today.”
Emma, a recent graduate who lives in Sweden but is originally from the UK, opened up to the audience and explained how she abused substances for 30 years. Twenty of those years were lost to heroin. Then her parents introduced her to Narconon. “I was what you would call a functioning addict,” she said. “Past works I mean: Can pay my bills and my rent, go to university, have a full-time job and commute every day to my job.”
She talked about how life had no meaning for her, how she started stealing, broke her leg, and finally was left with no hope at all until she found Narconon.
Stories like Emma’s echo in Narconon centers around the world.
“Narconon saved my brother’s life!” said one of the participants. Sorry to get emotional, but when you hear these people tell their stories, you can’t help but bring happy tears to your eyes. Anyway, I will continue with the report so you can see that there are people who have come out of this hell that is drugs, and who knows, maybe you can help someone you know with these success stories.
Narconon in Sweden started in 1972 and was the first Narconon center outside the United States. Since its inception, Narconon Sweden has been instrumental in opening up several Narconon centers in Europe. The one in Sweden is now in Eslöv, near Malmö in the south of the city. Since 1982, it has delivered the social-educational Narconon program model as one of 28 residential drug rehabilitation centers worldwide.
A 2013 Outcomes Monitoring Study shows an impressive 77.8% participant retention rate for Narconon Eslov.
The same study revealed several other amazing facts:
- 98% of Narconon Eslov students remained arrest free
- 100% of graduates remained prison-free
“Since an addict’s major problem is precisely communication difficulties where drugs are used to solve them,” says executive director Håkan Larsson, “Narconon has exercises in communication in several places in the program so that you practice your communication skills.”
The first Narconon drug rehabilitation program was founded in 1966 in the Arizona State Prison by recovering heroin addict William Benitez and is based on the non-religious self-help philosophical works of L. Ron Hubbard. Benitez opened the first freestanding Narconon drug rehabilitation center in Los Angeles in 1972. The name “Narconon” was coined to simply mean “No-Drugs”.