Many are calling it a drug treatment breakthrough, claiming it frees addicts of their physical addictions by sending specific electrical frequencies to the brain.
We first introduced you to neuro-electric therapy, or NET, after 10 recovering addicts recently underwent the drug detox program over a two week period in Perry County. Now, one month later, WYMT's Jon Sonnheim explores the questions and hope that this pocket sized device has generated.
Just one month ago, 26 year old Brandon Rogers stood on the edge of one of those life changing moments. In his past, years of pain, addiction, and broken relationships. In his future for the first time in a long time, his future looked wide open.
"After this treatment, that's where the new beginning all started I think," Rogers said.
Brandon's new beginning actually started months ago when officials with the Kentucky River Area Development District took a chance in the fight against Eastern Kentucky's drug problem. They brought in a Welsh scientist and an experimental detox program that claimed to reset the brain and within days, break the addicts' physical dependency. Many were skeptical at first, but those who saw the results also saw promise.
"Well I think it was something we had to do and I don't regret doing it. The part I regret is that we can't do more," said Paul Hall with KRADD.
"And I get those calls all the time. Unusual number of telephone calls. Where do you go from here," said KRADD Board Member Jim McDannel.
KRADD officials say those callers looking for help are currently being turned away. The program is not yet set up for wide usage and has not been FDA approved. But KRADD officials hope a study by researchers at the University of Kentucky could give net scientific credibility and in turn, push area leaders to push for the device.
"You have to give it a chance. I'm sitting her saying it honestly has helped me," Rogers said.
Skeptics of the device say it's results may be nothing more than a placebo effect but tell that to the ten men who participated in the program. KRADD officials say one month later, not one of them has returned to drugs.
"We know you can't judge a program a month after by success rate. We need to look at what happens two years from now," McDannel said.
Two years from now, that's a future that people like Brandon Rogers were never sure about. A future that now seems possible.
"I'm not gonna lie, there are temptations everyday, but I have a new take on life. The old Brandon is back. That's the Brandon I knew before he started using drugs," Rogers said.
Operation UNITE officials say they're monitoring the project, and if approved by the FDA, are willing to recommend it to Eastern Kentuckians with addiction issues. KRADD officials recently released a report detailing the two week experimental program.