With growing prevalence of armed robbers looking for OxyContin in pharmacies, it’s likely that many pharmacies will follow the lead of pharmacist Larry Bailey who no longer keeps the drug in his store. Patients who want to get their prescriptions filled have to wait until the next day. Bailey says having OxyContin on the premises is a liability.

Bailey sees the evidence of prescription drug addiction every day. At least once a day people come to him to fill their OxyContin or Vicodin prescriptions early, and more than once a month people try to alter their prescriptions.

How does prescription drug addiction start? For some it starts with a relatively minor problem like headaches, as in the case of wife and mother Julie Steiner who, one year after her doctor wrote the prescription, was popping 20 pills a day.  That’s  about $100 a day habit. If she were taking OxyContin, the cost would more likely be in the $600/day range.

How do people support such habits? Certaintly not too many can afford it without changing something about their lives. Steiner went doctor-shopping, and sent her friends out to do the same. Others also turn to a life of crime – like armed robbery of pharmacies and worse.

It took a lot to get Steiner to stop taking Vicodin. She had a seizure when she dropped her kid off at a bowling alley, then spent two days in the hospital and two weeks in rehab – not enough time to handle all the issues behind the addiction.

So, she relapsed. But not for long. Her desparate husband finally threatened to get the police involved and she quit once and for all. Imagine having to call the police on your wife.

But she still has the headaches and takes over the counter drugs for them.

As an aside, headaches happen for a reason. How much did her doctor do to find out that reason before he prescribed a highly addictive drug that turned life for her and her family into a years-long nightmare?

Make sure you look for all other options before you decide to take prescription painkillers. And if you have a doctor who refuses to send you to chiropractors, acupuncturists and other types of alternative medicine practitioners, get rid of him.

Don’t think prescription drug addiction can’t happen to you. It happens to people from all walks of life. And if it already has happened to you or someone you love – get into an addiction treatment center for help.

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