Alberta's Narcotics Anonymous

Alberta is such a beautiful place that it is easy to think that nothing bad could possibly happen there. It certainly does not seem like the type of place where a person could possibly become addicted to drugs. Although drugs are not a massive problem in Alberta they could become so if the addicts are not provided an adequate amount of treatment. The best way to make sure that the person gets the help they need is through rehabilitation programs. The problem is that these programs eventually end. Most addicts only receive about 4 months of therapy (28 days in a residential program and three months in an outpatient program) before they are expected to make it on their own.
 
The problem is that 4 months of therapy really is not that much. Not when you consider that the person is dealing with a mental illness. When the drug addict is no longer a part of a formal rehabilitation program they tend to panic and wonder if they actually have the strength to go through life without drugs. Most of them quickly lose the confidence that they developed during rehab and start using again.
 
One of the best things a person can do when they leave their rehabilitation program is to start attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. The program uses the twelve step recovery process to help free the person from their addiction to drugs.
 
The first way that the program works is by forcing the person to confront the fact that they are addicted to a drug. Some addicts have an easier time accepting this than others. While the program is trying to get the individual to understand that they have an addiction, but also that it is not their fault. One of the reasons that some people have a difficult time facing up to their addiction is because they think that admitting to the addiction is that same as admitting to being weak and no one want to admit to a weakness. In an attempt to make things easier, the Narcotics Anonymous program is designed to help the person realize that they aren't weak, but rather that they have a mental illness. This condition could be something that the person was born with, a kind of genetic quick or biological make up that makes them more prone to addictions than other people. The other reason a person could become an addict could be because of a drug that they tried. Some drugs, like Crystal Meth, change the brain chemistry which can lead to an addiction
 
Alberta has several different chapters of Narcotics Anonymous in cities all over the province. The meetings are free. It doesn't matter what stage of the recovery process that the addict is currently in, they are all welcome to attend the meetings. If someone finds that they are living in a city that does not already have a chapter of Narcotics Anonymous, they can contact the organization and go through the steps of forming another chapter.

 
^{Source: http://www.canaacna.org/english/cities.php?id=1}