Recent research into the drug scene in New York City shows that prescription drugs are the #2 drugs of abuse and addiction. Second only to marijuana. And that’s only the people who are taking them without a prescription.

It is amazing what has happened with prescription drugs. When first developed they saved lives – and that was their purpose. Now they’ve turned into a multi-billion dollar industry – one of, if not the most profitable industry on the planet and one of the most dangerous. They’ve turned into public enemy #1.

They are ruining people’s lives. People are dying from them, going to jail because of them, having their lives and families torn apart, filling up drug rehab facilities.

Prescription drugs are not just for saving lives anymore; they are now taken for everything from pain – much of which could be addressed with drug-free therapies like chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy, lifestyle changes, and so on – to ‘treating’ anxiety, depression, fidgeting in class and just about every other problem. All problems that used to be considered part of every day life and are now labeled as mental illness – needing treatment with drugs.

In fact, so many of our emotions and mental states are now categorized as mental illness that you’d be hard-pressed to not find yourself, your family members or friends falling into at least one of the current mental illness categories.

Pharmaceutical companies pay out billions of dollars in fines for false and illegal advertising and marketing, for injuries and deaths – but, for them, it’s all just part of doing business. They are a powerful industry. Any other industry with business practices that unethical and products or services that created that much damage would have been stopped long ago.

Despite these disasters, the industry is looking for even more customers – pushing for legislation for ‘screening’ to make sure that those with a ‘potential’ for ‘mental illness’ are drugged as a preventative measure. It has even been suggested that children be screened before they are born!

Many of the most commonly taken drugs are highly addictive.  OxyContin addiction, addiction to oxycodone, hydrocodone, Fentanyl, Vicodin, Percocet, Xanax, Valium, and others – are highly addictive. And we now have a prescription drug-addicted society. A problem far worse than street drugs ever were.

These are now the drugs that you “just say NO” to.

Has someone in your family fallen prey to prescription drugs? Are they taking prescription drugs for something other than life-saving purposes and getting addicted to them? Find a good drug rehab program to get help. You may not be able to stop the nationwide epidemic, but you can stop prescription drugs from ruining your life and the lives of your family and friends.

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It’s impossible to make up for the loss of a loved on, but it is possible to make something good happen because of their death. And that’s what’s happening in the UK now because of the tragic death of Amy Winehouse. More people are checking into drug rehab centers than ever.

Some phones are ringing off the hook – people look at what happened to Amy and know they have to do something about themselves if they want to make sure the same doesn’t happen to them.

I believe this indicates some sort of change in the alcohol/drug climate. In years past, kids knew that celebrated musicians and artists took drugs, and that drugs killed them. Parents, in an effort to discourage their kids from taking drugs, would use these celebrities as examples – especially those the kids admired and wanted to emulate.

However, many kids had the viewpoint that what made these celebrity musicians great was the drugs. And the kids wanted to be great, too, so they also wanted to take drugs.

In some cases, the fact that those musicians were now dead didn’t seem to get through. Maybe the fact that they were young, still feeling invincible, and hadn’t had much experience with death in their family or with friends, made the death part of the situation somewhat unreal to them. As other kinds of danger are to many young people.

If Amy Winehouse’s death causes more people to seek out an alcohol or drug rehab program that can straighten them out, she can add that to her legacy.

Still, she’s gone. And her death is a lesson to parents all over the world – don’t let the same thing happen to your kids.

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Prescription drug addiction and abuse is now causing more deaths than any other drug in the state of Florida.

In 2010, there were over 9,000 drug-related deaths, which is up nearly 10% from 2009.

The worst drug is Oxycodone, which goes under the trade names Tylox, Percodan and OxyContin. OxyContin addiction has been taking the country by storm for years – ever since it gained popularity as a prescription painkiller when the manufacturer (Purdue Pharma) lied to doctors and the public by saying it was less addictive than other painkillers. Purdue was taken to court and fined $634 million for lying about the drug, but that did not stop the firestorm of addiction.

Florida has been one of the hardest hit. In fact, of the 9000+ drug deaths in 2010, 1516 were related to OxyContin addiction and abuse. Also, even though 2010 drug-related deaths were up about 10% from 2009, OxyCodone (mostly OxyContin) went up 28%.

The second type of drug involved in the deaths was benzodiazepines (sedatives) at 1,304. And methamphetamine was third at 694. Other drugs, obviously, were all less than methamphetamine. Alcohol is also on the list – it isn’t often that you see a drug overshadowing the damage done by alcohol.

It’s obvious that prescription drug addiction is leading the way with drug-related deaths in Florida: they are responsible for nearly 1/3 of the deaths.

Many people believe that prescription drugs are safer than others since they are given out by doctors. Nothing could be further from the truth – the statistics speak for themselves.

If you know or suspect that you or someone you care about is suffering from OxyContin addiction, or benzodiazepine addiction, or is involved in other types of prescription drug abuse, you can get help. Not all drug rehab facilities are experienced with prescription drugs but many do an excellent job. At Drug Rehab Referral, we can help you find the best programs for your situation. Call us at 877-211-7428 for help.

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Many people still think of ‘drug addicts’ as people who live in rooms with mattresses on the floor, skulk around in alleys, and hang around with the ‘wrong people.’ But drug addiction, especially OxyContin addiction and addiction to other prescription painkillers has a new face – doctors, lawyers, accountants, business execs, even politicians – all thought of as ‘professionals,’ not the kind of people who even take drugs, let alone become addicted. And, yet, they are the majority of people who are getting OxyContin rehab.

This week in the news was the story of prescription drug addict Freddie McMahan, a 57-year-old electrician, retired from a major company.

McMahan suffered from scoliosis – a side-to-side curvature of the spine – and he was in constant pain.

For help, he went to a pain clinic – since pain was his complaint, he thought he would be going to experts. Instead of something to relieve the pain, he was given drugs.

Here’s an excerpt from the news item:

“Every month for two years, Freddie McMahan would get in his Lincoln LS and drive to a nearby pain clinic, where a doctor would prescribe him a cocktail of narcotic drugs. Initial prescriptions for codeine and Demerol to treat McMahan’s scoliosis eventually led to large amounts of OxyContin, Xanax and morphine. By the third week of his month’s supply, McMahan would run out, leaving him scrambling to get his fix somewhere else or go into withdrawal. A new month, however, meant another visit back to the pain clinic, joined by what McMahan observed to be an ever-increasing number of expectant patients. “I don’t know why they were there,” he said, “but I went to them to get the pain pills I was addicted to.”

After two years, McMahan decided he needed help. He went into a drug rehab program – it worked. He is now drug-free, and is helping others with the same problem.

Prescription drug addiction is so widespread right now that addiction treatment facilities often have more clients with prescription drug problems than with street drugs. And many of those clients are ‘respectable’ people – not someone you would think of as a ‘drug addict.’

OxyContin addiction – or addiction to any prescription drug – can be addressed with the right drug rehab program. Not every drug rehab facility is experienced with prescription drugs, and getting off them can be medically dangerous. So, it’s important to choose the right place.

At Drug Rehab Referral, we help you sift through the hundreds of options available to you to make sure you get the help you need.

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I recently read an article asking why we just don’t understand drug addiction. As if that lack of understanding was the source of the problem. I think drug addiction is quite well understood – the real problem is that we don’t know what to do about it. In fact, even finding a drug rehab facility that understands the real solutions is difficult.

Why are people addicted to drugs? There’s a list – but, surprisingly, it’s not too long.

• Poverty
• Frustration and worry in life
• Emotional trauma caused by association with those who don’t have our best interests at heart
• Low self-esteem and feeling like a failure in some way or other
• Physical dependency on prescription drugs
• Lack of education and the resulting inability to get ahead in life
• Feeling a lack of purpose in life, or having that purpose thwarted
• Growing up in an environment where illicit drugs and alcohol are accepted
• Growing up in an environment where prescription drugs are considered to be a remedy to life’s problems
• Taking dangerous drugs for kicks and becoming addicted

There may be more, but they would probably be versions of the above.

What we lack – on a broad scale – is the ability or wherewithal to do something about those problems.

Among those listed above, however, is one item that, if it can be resolved, may lead to a resolution of many of the other problems. And that item is feeling a lack of purpose in life.

When an individual has a purpose in life, and that purpose is constructive, and it is THEIR purpose, not a purpose instilled in them or forced upon them by family members (like the classic example of a family that wants their creative son or daughter to become a lawyer, like their father and grandfather, instead of a musician or artist), and the person is taking meaningful (in their estimation) steps to accomplish that purpose, that tends to override almost anything we go through.

You hear great stories about people who overcome incredible obstacles in order to ‘follow their bliss,’ and that same thing that makes them want to get up in the morning, ready to go, interested in and enthusiastic about the day ahead of them, can also keep them away from drugs and alcohol.

If you want your children to grow up without drugs or alcohol, do whatever you can to support them in those things they are passionate about. And if they’re already into drugs or alcohol, get them into a good drug rehab program that will help them work things out so they then feel able to achieve something that truly interests them.

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