Barbara Harris says it began with an 8-month-old baby named Destiny. The child, born a mother addicted to drugs, had been pulled from her California home. She was the fifth child born to that mother and subsequently removed. The Harris family adopted Destiny and helped her through withdrawal symptoms. A year later, they took in Isaiah – the sixth child born to the same mother. "The next year we received a phone call that she had had her seventh baby, a baby girl. Did we want her? My husband said, ‘Barbara, I’m not buying a school bus,’" Harris said. They adopted the little girl, Taylor, and then one more son, Brandon. "It was important to me that they grow up together," Harris said. Harris started C.R.A.C.K. – Children Require a Caring Kommunity. The name of the organization has since been changed to Project Prevention. Harris pays $300 for women who choose tubal ligation. Other women agree to an IUD or an implanted birth control like Implanon. Those women get the $300 payments annually if they remain on the birth control. The program requires proof of addiction established by court records or a statement from a government official. A physician must sign a contract that says the woman had a tubal ligation or a long-term birth control implanted before a check is mailed. Harris has paid more than 3,300 women and 57 men who have been paid to have a vasectomy. The money comes from donors to the organization. Project Prevention operates primarily out of Harris’ home in North Carolina. A 30-foot RV travels with the logo "Get Birth Control, Get Cash" and features pictures of women doing drugs and a premature baby. Critics of Project Prevention are vocal about Harris’s methods. Dr. Hytham Imseis, a local Charlotte obstetrician who works with high-risk pregnant women, including addicts, believes that Harris’ language in the past has been damaging. Her words used to describe drug addicts stereotypes them instead of helping them. Harris once talked about the "litters" of babies that drug-addicted women give birth to, and compared her program to neutering and spaying animals. "There is a much more constructive way of doing this," Imseis said. "We need to focus on treatment rather than on this sort of strategy of sterilization of an entire population," Imseis said. Imseis said "it’s not about empowerment. It’s about control, and when you try to control any particular group and as a society try to prevent them from reproducing, I think you’ve crossed a line." This week Harris is in London finalizing an expansion of Project Prevention into Europe. She has been to all 50 sttaes and said that despite the criticism, there has been tremendous support, especially from the British media. ‘If you believe strongly these women have a right procreate," Harris said, "then get to the hospital and the next time one’s born, take it home and raise it."
For most addicts, a quality opiate drug treatment program can be completed in a month. The reality is, however, that treatment can take less time or more time, depending on the individual. Most treatment centers have a comprehensive approach to t ...
Released On: 11/20/2012
Views: 5306
Every day people become ensnared in the web of prescription medication addiction, and the reality is that the addiction most often begins at home. The negative and often deadly consequences of prescription drug abuse are devastating for families ...
Released On: 11/9/2012
Views: 5057
Many drug rehab patients go through drug detox centers unaware of the damage they have done to their bodies until the drugs begin to wear off and they realize they are no longer numb. This experience can be very uncomfortable for drug rehab pati ...
Released On: 11/1/2012
Views: 4620
Drug rehabs are watching two cases that appear before the U.S. Supreme Court this week concerning drug sniffing dogs in Florida. Many substance abuse treatment centers house patients who have been sent to drug rehab as a result of being busted wi ...
Released On: 10/31/2012
Views: 4094
Drug rehabs are intrigued by a recent study conducted by a University of Michigan addiction researcher named Jennifer Cummings. According to drug treatment center experts, Cummings has stumbled upon an interesting difference between cocaine respo ...
Released On: 10/24/2012
Views: 11680
Acupuncture involves the insertion of very thin needles into specific areas of the body along channels of bio-electromagnetic energy known as Qi. Drug rehab physicians understand how beneficial this procedure can be for their drug treatment cente ...
Released On: 10/24/2012
Views: 3993
Researchers from the University of Texas have found that cirrhosis of the liver, a common complication of alcoholism, increases brain damage. Dr. R. Dayne Mayfield was the lead researcher of the study. He and his colleagues found that cirrhotic a ...
Released On: 10/23/2012
Views: 4028
One state in particular with a large heroin problem is Massachusetts. Drug rehabs report that Massachusetts is one of the top ten states for high drug abuse rates.
Released On: 10/18/2012
Views: 3525
The most commonly used drug in New Jersey is marijuana, drug treatment centers report. However, a federally funded report shows that 5 percent of young adults have heroin habits. Nationally, heroin abuse among young adults is at an average of 2.5 ...
Released On: 10/17/2012
Views: 3896
Opioids are often legally prescribed by doctors for pain, or they are taken illegally simply to "get high." Drug detox centers also inform us that some people are so dependent on opioids they need to take them just to feel "normal."
Released On: 10/12/2012
Views: 3902
Experts from addiction treatment centers hope this type of "alcoholic mice" research can help drug rehab therapists to find therapies to help reverse this type of learned response to environments in their addiction treatment center patients.
Released On: 10/9/2012
Views: 4104
The DSM V is published by the American Psychiatric Association. Drug rehab administrators say it influences how doctors diagnose mental disorders. It also influences which conditions insurance companies will cover, including coverage for addictio ...
Released On: 10/4/2012
Views: 4067
The biggest problem with xanax is that, when abused, it has a high tendency to cause overdose deaths. These overdoses are especially prevalent for people who take large quantities of the drug and drink alcohol. Because xanax is a benzodiazapene, ...
Released On: 9/27/2012
Views: 4589
Often, therapists in drug rehabs use a variety of techniques to help addicts curb these destructive personality traits. The addictive personality is not something that can be cured overnight. However, cognitive behavior therapy over long periods ...
Released On: 9/26/2012
Views: 4772
The answer for heroin addiction is total abstinence from the drug. Patients at drug rehabs are learning how to help themselves by acquiring the tools necessary to stay off the street dope.
Released On: 9/21/2012
Views: 4292
Drug rehabs are giving their substance abuse treatment patients the straight truth about cocaine use. They say more emergency room visits occur each year from cocaine than any other drug in the United States. Substance Abuse Treatment Center pati ...
Released On: 9/19/2012
Views: 5885
Teenagers in Ohio are in the midst of a deadly drug epidemic. Many of them do not understand the ramifications of what toll the drug will take on their lives the first time they try heroin. The state health department, police, and other agencies ...
Released On: 9/17/2012
Views: 3908
Dual diagnosis treatment centers assist drug rehab patients who have addiction problems and any of these common mental illnesses: depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. Additionally, 29 percent ...
Released On: 9/14/2012
Views: 4235