My son was addicted to drugs

To Whom It May Concern,

My son was addicted to drugs and in all kinds of trouble with the law. He no longer had a driver's license due to multiple DUI's nor did he have a vehicle due to accidents. His father and I were at our wits end and basically cut him out of our lives. He was living on the streets and getting into more legal trouble. If anyone would have asked us 2 1/2 years ago where our son would be today, we would probably have said "dead" or at the very least, "in jail". We honestly believe that Narconon and his willingness to help himself saved his life.

One day he was stopped for jay walking and was arrested for outstanding warrants. We were told that he was probably looking at 18 months in jail. I knew in my heart that jail was not where he belonged and would do nothing to turn his life around.

A year earlier, a woman I knew had told me about Narconon California. She sent her addicted son there and also talked her brother into sending his addicted son there. She was very happy with their son's progress and recommended them highly. My husband and I decided that we would look into Narconon California. I talked to them and got all the information sent to me. I also talked to a local rehab and had their information sent. I reviewed both and quickly felt that Narconon California was the place for our son. Their program was long term and in house. The local rehab was a 30 day program in house but also right in town where temptation was all over. I also felt that a 30 day fix was never going to work. Narconon California had a 30 day (or however long it took) sauna program alone that would extract the drugs from his system which needed to be done before any change in behavior could even start. Their program didn't include those RaRa (what I like to call them) group sessions where they sit around together and try to one up each other. I thought the individual process of looking deeply into himself and what he wanted out of life felt like the best path for him. I was looking for something that would make him realize he had a long life ahead of him and his possibilities were endless if he could only think with a clear, drug free head. He is a very smart young man and we knew he had value not only to himself but to the world. We decided that Narconon was the best choice.

We bailed him out and with the courts' permission and drove him directly from jail to Narconon California on Nov. 3, 2006. He had some very rough days and we had phone calls trying to convince us that they weren't doing things right in his mind which made us feel they were making progress and we made the right decision.

I am very happy and proud to say that he graduated the program in a few months. He was accepted into the Internship Program and began his Training and after a few months was accepted onto staff. This made his father and I elated to know that he was truly turning his life around.

I eagerly invite anyone with reservations or who simply just wants to talk to someone who has been there to call me.

I will be more then happy to help in any way that I can.

My name is Joanne W. and I am once again very proud to say Ryan is my son!