It is fairly well known by those who are paying attention that prescription drug addiction is a real problem in Florida. Hernando Today, a Florida newspaper, recently published an article by Kyle Martin all about it. The article - which begins with the sentence “We live in a zombie nation“ - is spot on. Prescription drug addiction is producing a nation of zombies.  People who walk, talk, go to work every day and seem pretty normal but, as Martin said, their minds are clouded and their body is numb. And they probably couldn’t stop taking the drugs without drug rehab. Florida, fortunately, has plenty of them. And many are seeing as many or more people coming for help with prescription drug addiction than are coming for a problem with street drugs.

Martin also tells the story of a person who is now a drug counselor getting addicted to opiates. He started with methadone, prescribed for him for pain following a traffic accident, built up a tolerance to the drug and needed more and more of it to control the pain. Eventually it doesn’t control the pain any more - in fact, recent research shows that prolonged use of painkillers actually causes pain - but you’re hooked on the drug and can’t get off it.

There are millions of people in this position. Not necessarily on methadone, they could be on OxyContin, hydrocodone, Percocet, Vicodin - opiate painkillers that are basically legal heroin. Most of these people may also still be functioning in life right now but, if they don’t get into a drug addiction treatment center to get off them, that won’t last.

Prescription drug addiction sneaks up on you. While it’s doubful that many people who try heroin, for example, think they’re going to get addicted when they start, they at least know it’s a possibility. With OxyContin and other prescription painkillers, it’s really not expected. Several surveys have shown that people think those drugs are safe because they came from a doctor.

Well, they couldn’t be more wrong. And they couldn’t be in more danger.

A drug addiction treatment center can get someone off those drugs. But it’s a good idea to go to one with experience in dealing with them. And with a good success rate - i.e people complete the program AND they don’t relapse. Call Drug Rehab Referral if you’re looking for something like that.

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Here’s a typical story of prescription drug addiction. This guy started on painkillers for a sports injury and 10 years later finally got some help from a drug addiction treatment center. He says he doesn’t know what happened. He just became addicted.

That’s not unusual. First of all, he got the painkillers from his doctor. Drugs from doctors aren’t supposed to be dangerous. Right? Nor are you supposed to turn into what is basically a heroin addict.

The article mentions a survey done in 2002 - and the situation has become much worse since then - that showed that 30 million Americans had illegally used prescription painkillers. Of course, not all of them became addicted and not all need a drug addiction treatment center but even if it was only 10%, we’d have an almost insurmountable problem in terms of the number of people we have facilities to treat.

The director of the local Drug Task Force blames it on the fact that the drugs aren’t illegal to possess and thousands of households (obviously it’s more than thousands) have them right in their medicine cabinet. While that is definitely a factor, I don’t think it’s getting down to the basic.

Finding the real source of the problem would lie more in the answer to questions like “Why do so many people have them in their medicine cabinets?” “What’s wrong with our health care system that so many people are in pain?” “Why are so many people prone to drug use, drug abuse, and prescription drug addiction?”

Realistically, there are only so many drug addiction treatment centers around. And it usually takes  several months to get someone through a program successfully - i.e. they’re actually rehabilitated and aren’t going to go back on drugs. And there are millions of people who need help.

We can help family members and friends, but until we get the answers to some of those questions and start addressing them effectively as a society, we’re not going to really resolve the problem of drug abuse - including prescription drug addiction.

If every person who knew someone with an alcohol or drug problem made sure that person got into treatment - a good drug addiction treatment center that really got the job done, not just a little detox and they’re out of there back on drugs or alcohol in no time - we’d make a serious dent in the problem.

Who will take this step?

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A lot of people think that taking a drug just once won’t kill them. Kevin Stoll, who died when he shot up heroin apparently for the first time, proves otherwise. Kevin has completed a drug addiction treatment program but then relapsed. He took cocaine, and a 1/2 hour later took heroin, and died..

What went wrong? While it’s obviously hard to say exactly, chances are that something that needed to be addressed while he was in the drug addiction treatment center fell through the cracks.

Kevin’s problems started long ago. He was about 12 or 13 when he started drinking. Something was up with him even at that age. Did the treatment he received find out what it was, really? 

If someone you care about is in trouble with alcohol or drugs, make sure you send them to an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center that has a good success rate when it comes to relapse.  And make sure you get them there as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will be for them to quit.

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As I covered in a recent article, methadone-related deaths increased by 700% between 1999 and 2006, and the numbers are still rising. Yesterday’s New York Times article about methadone deaths definitely shed some light on what’s going on. Until a couple of years ago, the dose recommended by the FDA was 80 mg/day - enough to kill some people who are not used to taking opiates. And it’s killing some people very quickly - they don’t even have time to get addicted or get into a drug addiction treatment center.

Doctors not understanding how to prescribe the drug is another major factor. Of course, they followed the FDA’s recommendations.

The third factor is that patients sometimes take more than is prescribed because they don’t get the immediate relief they expect. But because the drug is already in the blood-stream, they overdose.

The fourth factor is the combination of drugs and alcohol. This is probably where drug addiction treatment should come into play. Doctor’s aren’t looking at the patient’s history to see if they can be relied upon to not take other central nervous system depressants - including alcohol. The doctor who prescribed the methadone to one person who died knew of this history and said he told the patient to stop drinking. Well, as anyone familiar with addiction knows, telling someone who’s taking drugs or drinking a lot to stop is simply not enough. They need the help of a drug addiction treatment center.

Bottom line - this is one area where doctors just don’t know what they’re doing. Nor do the patients. Nor does the FDA.  There might be studies out there somewhere that could have predicted something like this happening with methadone but, since drug companies that conducted the studies don’t exactly have a reputation for putting all the cards on the table, we don’t really know.

Drugs are a little like politics - if you don’t really do your research and understand the issues, you can wind up voting for someone who can wind up with some big, and unfortunate, surprises.

Do your research, look for drug-free solutions, and if you or someone you care about has a drug or alcohol problem, get them into a drug addiction treatment center. The prescription drug addiction epidemic is bad enough - we don’t need people getting killed by these drugs right off the bat.

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I recently found out that doctors get about four hours of education on drugs during their entire education. If you’re wondering why we have such a big problem with prescription drug addiction and abuse, that might be a big part of it.

The doctors, not having the time to do the research themselves - especially since drug cmpanies go out of their way to hide information that makes the drugs look bad either because they’re ineffective, can cause prescription drug addiction or are candidates for abuse - largely rely on drug company info - which often amounts to little more than propaganda.

This is one big thing that’s going to have to change if we want to get rid of our current drug culture. Right now, to avoid problems with prescription drugs, patients are obliged to do their own research - thoroughly. That’s really the only way you can come close to guaranteeing your own safety.

The doctors don’t know, the drug companies lie, and the FDA doesn’t even insist they have all the research. Buyer beware. If you’re already taking prescription drugs and think you might be in trouble - or it might be someone you care about - get help in a drug addiction treatment center.

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A recent news story about the relationship of drugs and crime really highlights how easy it is to make the transition. Here’s the story of a young man, now 29 and drug-free for three years, who spent much of the last decade in jail. And all the crimes he committed were simply to get drugs - not a lot of them, just enough to stave off withdrawal symptoms. If he had gotten into a drug addiction treatment center early - he started on drugs at the ripe old age of 12 - his ife would have been different.

Some parents think that kids will grow out of their interest in alcohol or drugs but, more often than not, the younger they start the lower the chances are of them stopping. Also, the longer it takes to get them into drug addiction treatment, the lower the chances of them ever getting rehabiliated and the harder it’s going to be.

Read this story. Realize that it’s not an isolated incident. And that, no matter how great your kids are, drugs can do this to them. And if you have kids doing any drugs or even drinking more than rarely, contact Drug Rehab Referral to speak with a counselor and see if your kid does need alcohol rehab or drug addiction treatment.

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You really have to watch out for your kids around people doing drugs. Here’s a story about a woman who passed out in a car with a four year old in the back seat. Cocaine was found on the dash. Obviously, the woman needs drug rehab. Florida, where this incident happened - in Pinellas County, right next to Tampa, a major drug center in Florida -has several good facilities she could go to.

The news story doesn’t say if the child is hers or not.

I’m sure there are grandparents all over the U.S. who worry about their grandchildren because they know the mom or dad is on drugs. Although you hate to do it, it is possible to get custody of the kids. A better solution would be a drug addiction treatment center for the parent(s). Then you won’t have to worry about the grandchildren, or your own.

I remember being in the drug world years ago. One family had a child not more than a year or so old. Both parents were on heroin, although the mother didn’t seem to be doing too much anymore. The dad, however, was not only on heroin himself, he constantly had people over to the house who were also shooting up. Unbelieveable environment in which to raise a child. But, honestly, I barely noticed there was a child there. When you’re on heroin, you’re just too out of it and too disassociated from the real world for that sort of thing to effect you. I don’t know whatever happened to those people - I left town shortly thereafter. But you can be sure they’re no longer together as a family, unless the dad did get into a drug addiction treatment center.

If you know anyone using drugs who’s around children, help them get the drug addiction treatment they need now.

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Is the threat of prescription drug addiction and abuse - and possibly medical license suspension - keeping doctors from prescribing narcotic painkillers? Apparently so. In fact, a recent article described this dilemma as “perhaps the hottest national debate in medicine today.” And when you look at the number of people showing up in drug addiction treatment centers for prescription drug addiction - not to mention the numbers showing up in hospital ERs and morgues - that’s as it should be.

There’s a lot of information in this article - Treatment for Pain Divides Physicians - and anyone who’s taking OxyContin, Vicodin or other prescription painkillers, or who is in chronic pain and considering doing so, should read it.

One of the doctors, Dr. William Witt, a pain management specialist, doesn’t prescribe narcotics for anything other than post-surgical or similar conditions. According to him, there’s no evidence that these drugs improve function or even continue to give pain relief after six months. He also brought up the recent evidence that narcotic painkillers actually cause pain after taking them for a certain period of time. So, your original pain could well be gone and now you’re taking the painkillers to relieve the pain the painkillers are causing. And, by that time, you can be pretty sure you also have a problem with prescription drug addiction and need a drug addiction treatment center to help you get off them.

Crazy situation. And worthy of hot debate.

The thing is, Dr. Witt is a pain management specialist. And he’s apparently good at it. He’s getting people out of pain - serious, chronic pain - every day, without the use of narcotic drugs and without risking prescription drug addiction or the need for treatment in a drug addiction treatment center.

So, why even debate the issue? If you have the option to treat someone without the risk of prescription drug addiction and other side effects, if you have the option to treat the cause of the pain so it is not just being masked with drugs, if you have the option to treat in a way that won’t eventually cause even more pain - what’s there to debate about?

Part of this is the fault of our health care system. I know people on medicare or other health plans that don’t cover alternative therapies. Does your coverage include chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture, herbs and other natural therapies or supplements? Probably not. And it’s likely that same for a lot of people. Especially when what’s needed is long-term treatment rather than just a few sessions. And a lot of people, probably most, just can’t afford to pay for it out of pocket.

So, here we are with all these highly trained doctors and other health professionals who aren’t being fully utilized or accepted within our health care system, with about 60 million people in the U.S. in pain every single day, doctors paying a fortune for malpractice insurance, patients in drug addiction treatment centers, hospitals, ERs and morgues because of prescription drug addiction and abuse, alternative health practitioners practically being lined up and shot by the medical establishment, and it’s all costing the U.S. $100 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity.

Who’s coming out ahead? In the end, probably just one industry. The guys who make and sell the drugs.

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Florida has a serious prescription drug addiction problem. It is also one of only 15 states holding out on implementing the pharmacist and physician prescription drug database that would enable both to identify those with a drug problem to get the drug addiction treatment they need. The concern is privacy.

While I couldn’t agree more privacy is worth protecting, sometimes it just might be over-rated when it comes to taking responsibility for our fellow human beings, and for ourselves.

Prescription drug addiction is a dangerous epidemic - it’s not like having a favorite TV show that you just have to watch every Tuesday night. It ruins people’s lives, it kills them, it spreads like wildfire, people on drugs steal, lie, cheat, are dangerous to others and to themselves - really, they belong in a prescription drug addiction treatment center, not in a pharmacy getting another prescription.

Do we have the right to protect people from themselves by invading their privacy? It’s a question that is in constant debate. Perhaps the answer depends on the situation and the real intention behind it. Would you, for example, see your son or daughter, husband addicted, their lives ruined, or dead rather than invade their privacy? I wouldn’t think so.

Getting someone into a drug addiction treatment center when they need help is sometimes uncomfortable - chances are they’re not going to agree to do it without you being a little pushier or invading a little more of their privacy than is comfortable for you. Or them. But … consider the alternative. And then find a drug rehab. Florida has plenty. Call us to find out which is best for your situation.

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After a death related to prescription drug addiction and abuse - a 24-year-old man had obtained prescription drugs from 17 different online pharmacies - Minneapolis authorities cracked down on drugs available on the Internet. One of the pharmacies is under investigation and two pharmacists have been disciplined and fined, thanks to new state laws. Florida could really use something like that. Prescription drug addiction is rampant in Florida, it’s nicknamed ‘the pill state’, and Tampa is considered ground zero for Internet pharmacies.

In another Minnesota case a pharmacy was fined $25,000 for filling 4,500 Internet prescriptions over a period of less than three months. Give me a break!!! How many people went to the ER, got sick, died, or developed a prescription drug addiction because of his prescriptions? $25,000 is peanuts compared to the harm that pharmacist did. Shouldn’t he be in jail?

What is the deal with fining people like that. If they were drug dealers on the street and had sold 4,500 people drugs, they’d be in jail. No question about it. But the same does not apply with prescription drugs.

But, at least it’s something. I think things will get tougher on these guys in the near future. Not even the judge in the Purdue case was happy about the guys not going to jail.

Each of the recipients of those 4,500 prescriptions could be contacted. Find out what condition they’re in and, if they have developed a prescription drug addiction, the pharmacist could pay for drug rehab. Florida could certainly make some headway if there was a law like that! 

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