Believe it or not, the FDA has approved a new delicacy for difficult dogs called Reconcile that contains the antidepressant drug fluoxetine – better known by its brand name Prozac. Although it isn’t addictive like many prescription drugs, Reconcile has the same hideous side effects on dogs as Prozac does on people. And anyway, there aren’t any drug rehab centers for dogs – at least not yet.

Reconcile is aimed at Big Pharma’s exciting new gold mine – pet psychiatric disorders. It’s supposed to treat “separation anxiety” – that’s when your pooch goes ballistic when he’s left alone. Oh please! Take him for a long walk twice a day, and teach it who’s boss! Don’t drug the little guy – he’s not distraught because he’s a psych case, he isn’t being handled properly!

But the drug-pushing veterinarians of America, with the help of the FDA and Big Pharma, think it’s dandy to let our dogs suffer the miserable side-effects of Prozac. But I think it’s obvious that Reconcile is Ely Lilly’s attempt to ‘reconcile’ the lost $Billions since Prozac’s patent expired back in 2001, which prompted a flood of generic fluoxetine drugs on the market.

Big Pharma has lost big money in class action suits over addictive prescription drugs that require drug rehab –  remember OxyContin? – as well as from expiring patents. Some of those drugs maimed or killed hundreds people. It’s not surprising that Big Pharma is looking for a marketplace for drugs that don’t put people into drug rehab, or their graves. I mean, who will listen when their dog complains about the side-effects of Reconcile? People who would put their dogs on Prozac are already brainwashed by Big Pharma.

Pets are completely dependent on us for everything, especially their health. We need to decide to learn how to train them, and not just give them drugs. There are safe alternative remedies that can help pets chill out, too.

If you’ve weighed all the evidence and alternatives, and you still think a debilitating drug is the answer, then you probably shouldn’t have a dog. And it’s probably some person’s problems that are causing the dog’s problems anyway – just ask The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, or watch his show on the National Geographic Channel.

Drugs for dogs are just an extension of the money-making drugging of America. A doped-up dog suffering the painful side-effects of Prozac or going through Prozac withdrawal has no drug rehab program to go to for help – he only has you.

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Have you ever wondered why so many people die or are injured by doctors? Iatrogenic deaths – caused by the doctor - are the third major cause of death in the U.S. and it might just have something to do with the fact that some of them, 8,000 is the current estimate, need a drug rehab program.

According to Programs Let Addicted Docs Practice, there really is no protocol to protect the public from docs on drugs. California finally recognized that their special, confidential, programs for docs in need of rehab just wasn’t working. A review of the program found that it wasn’t protecting patients, and it wasn’t getting doctors off drugs.

When California got rid of its program I read several articles about it. The problem wasn’t so much that the drug treatment wasn’t working – the problem stemmed largely from the fact that the doctors didn’t really do the treatment. Part of the program included having a watchdog who would ensure they attended meetings, etc. But the watchdogs often were the employees of the docs and they just basically did what the doc told them to do.

What’s really needed is real drug rehab. The docs should go off the job for however many months it takes to get through a drug rehab. In California, there’s plenty of them. It might not be very convenient to take off for a few months but, on the other hand, it’s also not very convenient to die or be injured at the hands of a doctor who, had he not been on drugs or alcohol, would have been capable of practicing medicine.

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Prescription drug abuse is the big issue today - it’s the fastest growing category of drug abuse, and is growing at an epidemic rate. If you don’t want to be looking for drug rehab in the future, you need to understand what’s going on with prescription drugs, and the potential dangers.

The percentage of people who don’t think prescription drugs are dangerous is near 50%, and when we talk about prescription drugs we are taking about pain killers (Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Percocet), prescription stimulants, (Ritalin and Adderall) and anti-anxiety drugs (Valium and Xanax).

All of these drugs can have physical and mental affects on teens along with addiction problems. These may include problems with general thought processes, problem solving and decision making.
All of the drugs are highly addictive and can cause physical dependence issues – both of which may require drug rehab.

Drug use can cause the brain to stop growing until teens stop using them. Just telling them drugs make you stupid probably won’t really work, but drug education can still go a long way.
The main supply of prescription drugs comes either from your own medicine cabinets or from their friends, so you should be alert to those facts and take what ever precautions you can.

One other thing perpetuates the idea that prescription drugs are not dangerous is parents taking them, for whatever reason. It works in much the same way as alcohol abuse - if you drink, there is a good chance your kids will drink. And drinking at an early age causes alcohol abuse at a later age.
If you are fed up with your own drug problems or those of your loved ones, consider calling us at Drug Rehab Referral to find a successful alcohol or drug rehab program. We can help you find would like to help.

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It appears that the abject failure of methadone treatment for heroin addiction – i.e. getting people addicted to methadone instead – is finally getting attention in England. Are they switching to drug rehab that allows people to live without drugs? No, they’re giving them heroin instead. Brilliant.

The article features a heroin addict by the name of Gareth. He became addicted to heroin at a very young age – he was sent to reform school at age 14 because of the ‘persistent thieving” that supported his addiction – and, after four years in reform school he still wanted the drug. He started taking it immediately upon his release, and was back in custody within six days.

It’s now 20 years later. Gareth has spent that time in and out of jail, on and off drugs. The only actual treatment mentioned in the article is a three week drug detox and rehab. Three weeks? Barely enough time to get through withdrawal, let alone drug rehab.

Now Gareth has been enrolled in a new government initiative and he’s getting his heroin from the government. Obviously, he’s considered a lost cause.

What went wrong? No real drug rehab program that got to the bottom of why he started taking drugs in the first place and gave him the tools he needs to stay off them.

Gareth’s story is not a new one. Millions of people battle drug addiction for years – and most never win.

Choose your drug rehab program wisely – something that merely scratches the surface will not fully rehab the person, and will not prevent relapse.

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According to a new national study financed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug abuse among teens is on the decline. However, prescription drug addiction and abuse are anything but declining, and they are leading to heroin. Unless these kids get through drug rehab, they’re going to be in big trouble.

Why is heroin becoming more widely used? Because the kids start off with opiate painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin - which they get from medicine cabinets of parents and friends. They’re very accessible, and often don’t cost a dime. And they’re just as addictive, just as life destroying as heroin.

In fact, when the Vicodin and OxyContin run out, heroin is the next step. And no matter what school you go to or what neightborhood you live in, there are always people around to sell it to  you.

The smartest thing to do with OxyContin and Vicodin is not take them at all. The next best thing is to keep them locked up. You also have to make sure your kids know about the dangers of drugs - prescription drugs included.  And if they have already been taking those drugs for any length of time, get them into a drug rehab program asap.

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Thank God someone is helping vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve never been in the military myself, but I would imagine being on the front lines is probably one of the worst experiences you can go through. Many returning vets are turning to drugs and alcohol to trying to cope with it, but there aren’t enough drug rehab facilities within the military to everyone gets the help they need. 

One facility in San Diego is now offering out-patient help, free of charge.  Out-patient treatment programs don’t generally get the same results as longer term residential, but for those whose situations aren’t too bad, it may well be all they need.

However, sometimes the situation has just gone too far - the body is desperate for the drugs and the withdrawal and other symptoms are just to strong to deal with in as an out-patient.

I hope the government will help finance a longer-term residential drug rehab program for those who need it. 

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I read an article today about how taboo drug addiction is in the Jewish communities in England - so much so that many Jewish people aren’t getting into drug rehab so they can get the help they need.

The author didn’t really know why drug addiction should be different for Jewish people than for others, but he feels they are ashamed of the stigma. He tells of one drug addict who spoke to his father about making his drug addiction known - his father told him not to do it in his lifetime because it would ruin his life.

The fact is, not getting a person into drug rehab when they need it will do far more than ‘ruin’ his life with embarrassment: it could kill him. Which is preferable? I would hope his father would prefer embarrassment to losing his son.

Pride keeps many people from doing the right thing at times - but in most of those circumstances the penalty isn’t death.  Isn’t saving your son’s life also something to be proud of?

There’s really not much point in living a lie. Unless you face up to the truth, you’ll never be able to change it. If you or someone you care about needs a drug rehab program, make sure it gets done now. There may be things about it that are hard to live with, but nothing is more difficult to live with than knowing you could have saved someone’s life and didn’t.

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If you’ve ever had a good dog, the kind that really does deserve to be called ‘man’s best friend’, you’ll appreciate the recovery setting of this California drug rehab farm. Feeling loved and welcome is a vital component for anyone trying to make a change in themselves and it is especially important in drug rehab.

One of the problems drug addicts often face is the frustration and anger of the people around them. Even those who love them reach the point of no return. Non-addicts don’t understand that getting off alcohol or drugs isn’t a simple matter. The body has become dependent, and so has the addict. Trying to stop is painful physically and emotionally, in fact, it can even be dangerous, and it’s not easy to do alone.

It’s also not easy to do in a hostile setting. Fortunately, given half a chance, most animals aren’t hostile. And no matter what you’ve done, they don’t judge you. They remain your loyal and true friend. And that’s what recovering drug addicts need.

Although not many people trying to overcome from alcohol or drug addiction will have the opportunity to converse with dogs, horses and pot-bellied pigs during their recovery – let this be a lesson to those who are helping someone through a drug problem: a good drug rehab program and recovery environment is not judgmental, you are there to help.

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The environmental impact from OxyContin dependency and addiction will continue to grow. When Spencer McIllwain, the star running back from Tulsa Oklahoma, was put on Oxycontin after his career-ending football injury at New Mexico State University, his family should have had full disclosure about the possible side effects of the drug from the manufacturer Purdue Pharma.

Rx List, the internet drug index, lists dose-dependency as one of the non–serious side effects of taking OxyContin and says this should be expected and managed as a part of opioid analgesia. Non-serious? Not for Spencer McIllwain. He ended up dead in a drug rehab facility where he was being treated with methadone.

When Spencer’s father told Tulsa World that he was not a bad kid, he is far more correct than he knows. Most people trust drug companies to give us the medications needed to get through illness and injuries. No one takes a pain killer and expects to have to manage their drug dependency for life.

Yet that is exactly what has happened to millions just like Spencer - more than 6 million Americans abuse prescription drugs, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. One in 10 teenagers admits to abusing painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin. Painkillers cause more overdoses than cocaine and heroin combined.

Spencer and his family probably did not know that an advisory put out by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (smhsa.gov) in 2006 states that anyone using the drug may become dependent and will need to be withdrawn by a qualified physician.

Quitting these drugs cold turkey after you have become dependent is almost impossible. Spencer’s dependency to opiates went on for years and it couldn’t be handled partially because no one knew how tough this drug is to withdraw from.

The harm to our social environment is not made up by a fine ($650,000,000), some pamphlets and some drug education. If this were an oil spill there’d probably be a fine, a fully paid-for clean up with plants and wildlife put back in their natural state and even some jail time.

Tens of billions of dollars are spent on painkillers annually; the profits are enormous and while we know the numbers that are addicted, no one seems to know how many people are dependent.

What sort of clean up should we expect from situations like this? I don’t have a definitive answer, but when lives of people like Spencer are lost and when families cannot be put back together, then far more should be done to help these people get through a drug rehab safely and rebuild their lives. Do you agree?

Image sources:

Vinny Sacco

Oxy Abuse Kills

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I read an article today about a new drug combo being tested by Las Vegas, Nevada drug courts. The drug is called Prometa. It’s a combination of three drugs, all of which have been FDA approved for other uses, but which have not been approved in combination, or for the purpose of drug rehab. The drug combo allegedly curbs cravings for alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamine and thereby helps an addict get through a drug rehab program.

When Prometa was tested in the drug courts in Pierce County Washington, the funding was cut before completion of the project because auditors uncovered the fact that Hythiam, Inc., the company that’s marketing Prometa, skewed the results of earlier studies to make Prometa appear widely effective. The auditors also found out that some of the public officials involved in the project, including the head of the clinic administering the program, were investors in Hythiam. The funding was cut, and the Prometa drug rehab program came to a scandalous halt.

Regardless of inadequate and skewed testing and the ethical concerns involved, the Las Vegas drug courts are going to try it out.

The fact that this is being done doesn’t surprise me – there are really no limits to how far a drug company will go to get their products out on the market – but what is surprising is a comment made by Valerie Gruber, director of the Stimulant Treatment Outpatient Program at San Francisco General Hospital and a professor at University of California, San Francisco, about on-going clinical trials of Prometa.

“Why can’t (Hythiam) wait a couple of years until these trials are done?” she asked.

Wow! Wake up and smell the coffee Ms. Gruber. They can’t wait for a couple of years because they want M-O-N-E-Y!!!!!!

Prometa costs $5000 per person. There are 48 offenders in the Las Vegas drug court system right now who would be eligible for the Prometa drug rehab program. That’s $240,000. And acceptance by at least one drug court. which may well lead to acceptance by other drug courts, and on and on.

There are millions of people addicted to alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamine in the U.S. How much does that add up to?

How did Ms. Gruber get to be the director of the Stimulant Treatment Outpatient Program at a major hospital, and a university professor, without figuring out that most drug companies are primarily motivated by the almighty dollar?

They’re not motivated by the desire to get people through a successful drug rehab program – if they were, they’d put their money into that instead of drugs. They want to corner a market, and get rich.

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