Rapid detox kicks the heroin habit in 24 hours

• Bryan Peterson sat on the toilet in the master bathroom of his Palm Springs, California, home and tried to find a vein between his knuckles.
• Plus, he couldn't find a vein in his arms, which were swollen with pools of pus and heroin.
• Over the past two and a half years, he'd tried to kick his habit cold turkey three times and attended a few Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
• He'd make it through the first step - acknowledging that he was powerless over his addiction - and that was it.
• His body was holding him hostage: Either take the drug, it said, or you'll feel so much pain you'll want to die.
• "The 12-step program is an outdated 20th-century concept," says Clifford Bernstein, an assistant clinical professor of anesthesiology at UC Irvine and medical director of the Waismann Institute, the nation's leading rapid detox center.
• "For 70 years, thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous, addicts have been told they're suffering from a spiritual problem.
• It's been 30 hours since he last shot up, and though he's well into the early stages of withdrawal, he's only suffering from a cold sweat, a dull ache in his leg, and a mounting panic.
• Opiate molecules have a chemical structure similar to endorphins - a natural hormone that regulates pain and pleasure.
• Without the presence of either the opiates or the natural endorphins, an addict's pain receptors cease to regulate brain signals.
• To improve on that success rate, drug treatment experts have traditionally relied on three approaches: methadone, symptomatic treatment, and Narcotics Anonymous.
• The procedure, which relies on a combination of medicines, is carried out while the patient is anesthetized - a conscious patient would be in so much agony there would be risk of a heart attack.