I hope the news articles on the recent death of 19-year-old Jason Wren, a student at the University of Kansas who died after a night of binge drinking, alerted parents to the discrepancies in the application of the law regarding students’ privacy and the practice of informing parents, or not, when students have a problem with drug or alcohol addiction or abuse.

According to Jason’s father, he knew his son had an alcohol problem before he sent him off to university and, had he known it was still a problem – he did send him to a ‘dry’ school so he did have reason to believe it would not be a problem – he would have brought him home where he could keep an eye on him.

Instead, he didn’t find out about the problems Jason was having until attending his son’s memorial service at the school, where he was allowed to see his son’s records for the first time. His son was on probation in his residence hall for alcohol violations, hadn’t shown up for the personal counseling session he was supposed to get because of it, and hadn’t done the required alcohol abuse course.

The school provost – a high ranking official, this one responsible for student success (!) - had the nerve to say that “there is no national evidence that parental notification makes a difference.”

I beieve that’s the lamest, most irresponsible, insensitive excuse I’ve ever heard. Someone’s son just died and she’s being a politician – covering her ass.

The law states that parents should be informed in an emergency. Until 2007, ‘emergency’ was defined as an ‘extreme situation’. After a student at Virginia Tech shot and killed himself and 32 others in April of that year, the definiton changed to a ’significant threat to the health or safety of the student or other individuals.’

Well – that’s obviously open to interpretation. Ask 10 people on the street what they would consider a ’significant threat to the health or safety of the student or other individuals’ and you’ll get 10 different answers. And it’s been proven that even the so-experts – psychiatrists – can’t predict whether someone’s dangerous or not. How is some administrator at a school, or a school council, going to do it?

What should you do? Jason’s father sent him to a ‘dry’ school; obviously, that wasn’t enough.

Where college-aged sons  and daughters with alcohol problems should go is to alcohol rehab. Not university. And if they’re taking drugs, do the same. Get them into an addiction treatment center - a long-term residential treatment program that will take however many months are needed to get down to the bottom of the problem so your kid CAN and WILL say no when the time comes.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Did you know that Massachussetts has an OxyContin and Heroin Commission? Notice how they lump those two drugs together? There’s a couple of reasons for that – first, OxyContin is basically legal heroin and, second, OxyContin can get really expensive.

If you’re not getting your pills from a doctor, in which case they’ll cost you a max of about $5 per pill, you’re going to pay about $60 a pill on the street. Very expensive. The alternative? Heroin. It’s cheaper by far, and can be a lot easier to get.

Heroin addiction used to be associated only with dark alleys and the most depraved of drug addicts. Now our kids are taking it. It’s common.

In Massachussetts heroin and OxyContin addiction and abuse are epidemic. And they’re getting worried about it. They want to put addiction treatment centers in place so addicts know they have someplace to go to get help.

Do you need help with heroin or OxyContin? Does someone in your family? Contact us – Drug Rehab Referral. We can help you find the right addiction treatment center for your situation.

Popularity: 15% [?]

In last night’s press conference, Obama talked quite a bit about health care. I wonder if he knew Oklahoma’s funding was cut for their prescription drug monitoring program? I also wonder if he knows about the nation-wide problem with prescription drug addiction or the number of people dying from prescription drug overdoses. I doubt he’s had the chance to dig that deeply into things yet – having only been in office for 63 days with some pretty serious problems to address.

Obama wants higher quality health care at a lower cost. Cutting prescription drug monitoring funding is a move in the wrong direction. Not only does the monitoring stop people from doctor shopping – which allows them to get the drugs they need to feed their own habit AND fuels the illegal trade in prescription drugs that is driving people into an addiction treatment center to address their addiction – it can also prevent people from getting the wrong medication and being prescribed drugs that are harmful when taken with other drugs they’ve also been prescribed.

Florida is a perfect example of what lack of a prescription drug monitoring program can do. It’s overdose deaths have surpassed other high cause-of-death categories combined – and we’re talking about overdosing on prescription drugs, not street drugs.

You can make sure Obama’s aware of this problem. Millions of families across the country have been damaged by prescription drug addiction, and prescription drug errors. Many have lost their loved ones because of this problem. Go to whitehouse.gov and write to him – let him know there’s a problem. He’ll be interested in solving it – it directly aligns with solving our health care problems. 

look at Florida – the nation’s pill state – no monitoring plan – anyone can get anything and the overdose deaths are skyrocketing, prescription drugs are killing more people than other high cause of death categories combined), and helps prevent people from getting the wrong medication or being prescribed drugs that will hurt them if they take them with the other drugs they’ve also been prescribed.

A waste of money, and lives. 

Popularity: 24% [?]

A new study found that women drinking just one drink a day, of any kind of alcohol, can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 13%. Imagine what drinking more than that could do. Pancreatic cancer, by the way, is one of the worst. By the time someone goes to the doctor with symptoms it’s usually very advanced. Only one in five or six cases is operable. So the prognosis is not good.

The study also says it’s harder for women to quit drinking than men. I don’t know why that is, but they can get help through alcohol rehab – and may well need it, even if the amount they drink is considered just ’social’.

The criteria is not how much they drink, but whether or not they can stop.

Alcohol rehab addresses all the issues behind not being able to quit drinking. Physically, quitting probably wouldn’t be much of a problem if you’re only drinking one drink a day. But emotional dependence on that one drink is another story.

A good alcohol rehab program would get down to the bottom of that dependence.

You might know someone in this position. If so, you can find out more about it and get recommendations from a professional through us – Drug Rehab Referral. And make sure the women in your life know about this.

Popularity: 13% [?]

You may have heard about study drugs. They are usually Ritalin and Adderall – the drugs usually prescribed for ADD and ADHD symptoms. They are frequently used by college students to enhance focus and concentration, have side effects, and can lead to prescription drug addiction. Ritalin, for example, is very similar to cocaine and is actually referred to as ‘legal cocaine.’ Not a drug to mess around with. Amazingly, we give it to little kids!!

Now another drug called Provigil is being used as a study drug. It is approved by the FDA to treat daytime tiredness associated with sleep disorders like narcolepsy.

As usualy, it’s being abused. As is just about every other prescription drug that can give you a high, keep you awake, help you sleep or alter your awareness and perception.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) says Provigil is more addictive than they thought. And plenty of students are buying and selling it – legally. They call it the ’smart drug.’

Watch out for your college kids taking these drugs. Kids in college can get overwhelmed with the amount of work they have to do, the learning curve and, often, trying to cope with all that and keep up a busy social schedule.

It’s not unusual for one kid to offer another a drug – here, take this, it will help you study. Many kids won’t refuse.

Kids whose parents educate them about drugs are 50% less likely to use them. Make sure you include Provigil, Ritalin and Adderall in that education.

Popularity: 15% [?]

A new alcohol study came out showing that older people are more affected by two or three drinks than younger people. It worries me that young people will use this to justify drinking. I can just see some defensive teen or twenty-something making a comment like “Well, I can hold my liquor better than you can!”, or some such thing, when their parents or other family members try to get them to quit, cut down, or get into alcohol rehab.

Many people who drink too much come up with anything they can find to justify their drinking or get you to back off.

Regarding the study – it’s full of holes. They studied two groups of people, one was 50 – 74 years of age and the other was 25 – 35, and they did two follow-up tests. On the first test, the older adults took a full five seconds longer that the younger crowd. But that could be explained by the fact that people aged 50 – 74, especially the older ones of that group, may not be as mentally alert as 25 – 35 years old in the first place. Did they do a baseline test to see how well each person did on the tests prior to drinking? There’s no mention of that in the reports.

Also, they did a second test 75 minutes after drinking (the first one was 25 minutes after drinking) and found no difference in the results of the two groups on that test. They have no explanation for that.

Not exactly findings you can take to the bank. And, speaking of banks, why is money being spent on a study like this anyway? Why isn’t the money being spent on getting the millions of people who need help into alcohol rehab?

Other findings – at the time of the first test the older adults said they felt fine; at the second test they said they felt impaired. The tests showed the opposite.

This can also be influenced by a number of factors. For example, if you have two or three drinks in one sitting it can sometimes take a while to hit you.

I remember going to a friend’s house when I was in my early 20’s. Great Italian family, and his dad made wine. I had no idea what kind of kick his home brews would have and sampled two or three of them in a short time. I thought I was fine until I got up, or, at least, tried to get up, about 45 minutes later. Could barely walk. The hangover lasted for two days. But there’s no way I felt impaired after 25 minutes.

Everyone metabolizes alcohol differently.

Bottom line, there are a lot of factors that influence whether or not a person can pass a test like that, and there are a lot of factors that influence whether or a not a person feels impaired, or even says they feel impaired. Case in point - of the nearly 20 million people in the U.S. that drink enough to be in the ‘needs treatment’ category, over 90% never get help because they don’t think they need it.

Other bottom line – there are a lot of bottom lines in this subject – millions of people’s lives are ruined by alcohol. Let’s spend our money on helping them quit drinking, not on figuring out whether they’re more or less impaired at age 35 and 50. If someone has a drinking problem, get them into alcohol rehab.

Popularity: 44% [?]

Have you seen the new study on methadone? We’ve said many times that methadone is a dangerous drug – its highly addictive, harder to kick than heroin (and just about every other drug around), and methadone-related deaths increased by 400% in just a few years.

Here’s the stats: adverse events connected to methadone increased 1800% during the same time period as the number of prescriptions written increased by only 1300% (although it’s hard to justify the word ‘only’ when you’re talking about such an outrageous increase). The number of methadone-related deaths increased by 400% during that same time.

A new study shows that prescribing guidelines could be a major source of the problem. Check out New information points to safer methadone use for treatment of pain and addiction for more details.

Several coroners in the U.S. have written reports about the dangers of methadone – now we know more about it.  The study opens some doors, but we are not yet out of the woods. Do yourself a favor, stay away from methadone. If you’re trying to get off heroin, go to a good long-term residential addiction treatment center.

There are people who will try to convince you that heroin can’t be kicked. In fact, it can. I’ve done it myself, and know many others who’ve done the same. Don’t buy stories that methadone is the solution – a good drug rehab program is the solution, not more drugs.

Popularity: 13% [?]

My father, who’s 80 years old and is currently getting chemo to treat his cancer, fell and injured his hip a few months ago. He’s not a frail old guy by a long shot. He’s in better shape than most men 20 years his junior. But this fall caused pain in his hip and leg that would not go away. It got so bad at one point that he couldn’t even sleep. 

He followed his doctor’s advice and got no relief whatever. 

A friend of his told him about acupuncture. He went for one treatment and, starting within about two hours after the treatment, he was out of pain completely for three days. 

It came back, but was nowhere near what it had been before.

He then went for a second treatment and the pain virtually disappeared. It’s been about a month, and there has been no recurrance.

Addiction treatment centers are filling up with people who’ve become addicted to prescription painkillers – and often they started taking them with a doctor’s prescription.

Unfortunately, not many doctors a fully educated in alternative therapies so they don’t recommend them.

My father, despite the fact that he has cancer, is very active, plays golf, teaches about 40 private students every week, and so on.

Had his friend not told him about acupuncture, there’s a good possibility he would be taking painkillers – and suffering from prescription drug addiction – just to lead a somewhat normal life.

Unfortunately, many people are in that position.

Getting off prescription painkillers is not impossible and with acupunture and other natural therapies, you may even have another, effective and safe, non-drug solution to pain.

Check it out.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Lee County, home to nearly 60 cities and in Southwest Florida, just opened it’s first new alcohol and drug detox center in 50 years. I would hope there are some good addiction treatment centers available for follow up - detox is not enough for most addicts or alcoholics. That gets them dried up, but being able to stay clean will depend on the addiction treatment they get afterwards. There’s a lot of work to do after the detox period.

What’s amazing about this is that we spend $69 billion a year on the war on drugs but haven’t put a new detox center in this county for 50 years! How can that be? Setting up detox centers and addiction treatment centers should be our first priority if we want to handle the drug problem.

Instead, this County’s detox facilities have actually lost ground over the last 20 years. There were only enough facilities to treat 28 people 20 years ago, and even though the number of people likely to need help has tripled, the number of people there were facilities to treat went down to 25.

The new facility only has 25 beds – there were 46 waiting in line before the doors even opened.

If you’re having trouble getting into detox, or an addiction treatment center for follow up, give us a call. We’ll help you find one in your area.

Popularity: 25% [?]