A National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Colombia University report says  84% of Internet pharmacies don’t require a prescription. Is it likely that the people buying drugs on these sites are looking for something to help their blood pressure? No - for that they would have a prescription. Chances are we’re looking at the specific drugs that are fuelling the prescription drug addiction epidemic.

Interestingly enough, Go Daddy - which focuses primarily on domain name registration plans  and Web site design and hosting packages - is taking an interest in helping to handle this problem. In 2007 their abuse department suspended 1,300 sites that sell prescription drugs without a prescription. They also said that most don’t even require age verification.

Go Daddy has challenged other companies that offer the same or similar products to do the same. Only recently has keeping the Internet safe included preventing prescription drug addiction, dependency and abuse. Kids who used to have their parents’ credit cards to download music are now ordering drugs. And, chances are, they’re also giving them to their friends.

If you find out your kids doing the same, look for a drug addiction treatment center that can help them get through drug detox, drug rehab and any other services they need.

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“Why wasn’t I warned? Why couldn’t I have been told upfront, before starting the drug, that the possibility of severe withdrawal existed.” The woman asking this question was lucky - she managed to end her prescription drug addiction after only a year. But many don’t. And many go through symptoms far worse than she experienced.

The drug she was trying to quit was the antidepressant Cymbalta. She gradually reduced the dosage. Other antidepressants are just as bad. Painkillers are even worse - OxyContin addiction, for example, is similar to heroin: People taking OxyContin will experience the same withdrawal symptoms as heroin addicts. 95% of the heroin addicts who try to get off the drug on their own can’t take it and wind up getting back on the drug.

Another woman who was taking antidepressants said that when she went on a short trip and forgot her medication the withdrawal symptoms were excrutiating.

Don’t fool yourself - prescription drug addiction is very real. Your best bet is not to take them in the first place if at all possible. But if it’s already too late for that, a good drug detox program can help with withdrawal to make it more comfortable and a drug rehab program can help with the addiction end of things. However, it’s important to make sure that whatever center you choose isn’t just familiar with street drugs, they should have some experience in prescription drug addiction help.

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Will fewer people need drug rehab or drug detox when the new tamper-resistant painkillers come to market? I wonder if these new pills will come with a guarantee that you won’t become addicted and won’t need drug detox or drug rehab to get off them?

That’s an interesting concept but, most likely, it won’t work that way. While the new design may prevent the pills from being crushed and snorted, you don’t actually have to do that to get addicted. Taking the pills whole will do the job. And people who become addicted or dependent will still need drug detox and drug rehab.

Purdue Pharma wants to rush a new drug to market to beat out their competitors. Their pitch to the FDA will be that it will be a tamper-resistant pill that addicts can’t abuse. I don’t understand why the FDA would even listen to their pitch. One pitch they made to the FDA in the 90s has led to the greatest epidemic this nation has ever seen. I won’t believe what I read if anyone from the FDA gives the ok to Purdue. How can they believe Purdue when they say it is tamper-resistant? The last lie Purdue told cost them $634 million, the cost to the country has been far greater.

Drug rehab has become a growth industry since OxyContin was released. The owners of Purdue are very rich, though. I hope the door is slammed on Purdue - give the concession to someone else. One expert estimates the market for painkillers at $6.37 billion a year and growing. That’s up 52% since 2002 according to IMS Health Inc. And 10 billion doses of painkillers will be sold in the U. S. this year: and Purdue’s share is estimated at more than $1 billion per year.

Just last summer the top executives of this company were on trial for the lies they told. Purdue made billions offf those lies and the execs also made a pretty penny, and now they get to bring a “new, safer” design to the market. And they’ll make billions on that.

Drug detox for OxyContin dependence is the easiest and safest way to stop taking it. And if you’re addicted, you’ll need to follow that with a drug rehab program.

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Here’s an unusual story about one man’s heroin addiction. He started with speed, which he quit taking because he knew it would kill him. But, after he stopped, he couldn’t sleep and had anxiety attacks. Had he gone through a good drug detox and drug rehab program at that time, that might have been the end of it. Instead, he decided to use a little heroin.

“One day I met this heroin user and asked him all about it – it was all because I wanted to sleep and I wanted relief from the anxiety attacks,” he told the Esperance Express. He got much more than he bargained for. His life became a living hell. His heroin habit eventually cost him everything he had - his habit reached $400 a day, he lost his job, his family and his friends.

He tried drug rehab several times and also got involved in a methadone program. What none of this programs did was find the deep-seated problems that drove him to drugs. When he finally found one that did that, he turned his life around.

If you know someone with a drug problem and want to help them, make sure you really check out the drug rehab programs you’re considering. Only by getting to the root of the problem can you be sure things will turn around.

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Finding a drug rehab and drug detox may be what is in store for many Oregonians. More women than men and quite a few teens are becoming addicted to prescription drugs, according to Dr. Darryl S. Inaba. Dr. Inaba thinks that a larger percentage of the population abuse prescription drugs in Oregon than anywhere else. He says that Oregon ranks number one for prescription drug abuse. The drugs most abused drugs are the usual suspects - OxyContin, Vicodon, Ritalin, Adderall and cough syrup with DXM. No surprise; they’re abused all over the country. And the number of people in drug rehab centers trying to get off them are climbing.

This ties in with another story: a sad one from Reed College near Portland where one student died and another is on medical leave from heroin overdoses. The President of Reed College, Colin Driver, says “This is not working. We have to get help.” Mr. Diver may understand the problem of not only street drugs but also prescription drugs. It doesn’t really matter whether it is prescription drug abuse or heroin addiction. Mr. Diver knows he needs help, or many of his students will end up in a drug detox and drug rehab program.

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The State of Florida released the 2007 Youth Substance Abuse Survey yesterday. The numbers say that drug use is down - fewer kids are smoking pot, drinking and taking prescription drugs. If this is the case then the population of drug rehabs out there today will decline. However, the statistics in this survey seem to conflict with other information we read about every day. Florida is called the pill state: You don’t get a nickname like that for nothing, and I suspect that there will be plenty of need for drug rehab for some time to come.

One of the first things I did when I opened the survey results was see how many students participated. Of approximately 850,000 Florida middle school students (grades 5-8), 4,643 completed the survey. The number of high school students is about the same, and 3,748 completed the survey. Here are some of the results:

Binge drinking by 6th graders is at 9.9%; binge drinking by high school seniors 30%. The progression from 6th grade through high school is steady – kids binge drink more as they get older. Chances are two out of three of the younger ones will develop a long-term alcohol problem and will need drug rehab.

Inhalant use goes from 4.7% for 6th graders - they can’t get their hands on drugs and alcohol as easily as older kids - to 1% for high school seniors. They’ve moved on to other drugs.

Marijuana use grows from 1.3% for 6th graders to 20% for high school seniors.

Prescription drug use by high school seniors, according to the survey, is in the 4% range. This number is suspiciously low. Drug detox and drug rehab centers are seeing at least as many admissions for prescription drugs as streets drugs, so that doesn’t make much sense. Prescription stimulant abuse at 2% of students is also too low. There are too many surveys with much higher numbers. There were also articles recently in various Florida papers with numbers more in the 20% range for Ritalin and Adderall abuse. For college students that number jumps to about 30%, but I doubt 2% is correct. Many of those college students are also likely to need drugs rehab.

Prescription pain killers (OxyContin and Vicodin) – which are the number one prescription drugs abused in many states and are a major reason people go to drug rehab centers, the ER, and the morgue – are also used by more than 4% of students according the survey. That’s more than likely in the 15% range as well.

I am going to keep reading the survey, but I think the need for drug detox and drug rehab programs will continue to grow.

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“If marijuana is the gateway drug, a prescription is an all access pass” said Oscar Raymundo in The Daily Northwestern. And that pass is sending plenty of people to drug rehab, ER’s and the morgue. 

Oscar went to the dentist and received a Vicodin prescription after having his wisdom teeth removed. He finished taking them, had a few left, and several friends inquired about purchasing them. They also suggested he go back to the dentist, fake some symptoms and get more. They told Oscar he could make a profit by selling them.

Oscar obviously doesn’t have much of an interest in drugs. He is aware of the problems that prescription dugs have caused. For instance, a friend of his was caught smoking marijuana by the police and switched to prescriptions from a doctor to get high. Oscar’s friend will most likely end up needing drug rehab. A recent Florida survey has suggested that marijuana use is declining in the State - I wonder if kids are just switching from marijuana to stronger prescription drugs. Oscar’s friend is probably part of an ongoing trend. In colleges, 20% of the students need drug detox and drug rehab program.

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For someone who’s a heavy drinker or binge drinker, going to a drug detox before drug rehab doesn’t have to be unpleasant. Really, the fact that you have to go at all may be the worst part of it.

At Santa Barbara State College they have drug rehab or similar programs for college students who have become addicted to alcohol. The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention office sees four or five cases a week.

]n Texas binge drinking is such a problem that the East Texas Review wrote an article entitled: “What Every Parent Should Know about College Binge Drinking.” Included in the article are some good things you should know if you’re a parent:

Students who live in a fraternity or sorority are the heaviest drinkers.  In fraternities, 86% of the residents report binge drinking, in a sorority it’s 80%. Nearly 50% of all college students report binge drinking nationally.

The article suggests noticing if alcohol is cheaper near the campuses or if nearby outlets run specials for students. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for example, February is bar month. I wouldn’t send my kids to college anywhere near there.

In colleges over the U.S., there are hundreds of thousands of accidents, physical assaults and sexual assaults every year. 25% of students report missing class, falling behind and getting poor grades because of alcohol abuse.

If you assume your kids are in the half that is not drinking too much, and you just let it go at that, there’s a good chance yours will be the ones in a drug detox or drug rehab program, in jail for drunk driving, or worse.

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There are a number of ways young kids find out about drugs. In the Hispanic communities of Dallas, Texas, a family friend may be selling cheese heroin - which is targeted for young children. In Florida, children may witness their parents taking prescription drugs or even doctor shopping. In West Virginia and Virginia there is the ongoing battle with OxyContin and kids can’t help but see drug use. They even see TV programs about drug addiction and drug rehab. The indoctrination begins at an early age and doesn’t ever stop.

The average age of first drug use is now around 12 years old – that’s right, at the ripe old age of 13, your kid could need drug rehab. Alcohol is even younger at age 11. Even major universities deliver a not so subtle message that life may be better on drugs. In college you can usually get whatever drugs you want from a dealer – or you might get them from a doctor. Which doesn’t mean you won’t end up in drug rehab.

There is also another message from a different kind of drug dealer - the TV drug ads directed at children and their parents. One current ad is from Shire Pharmaceutical and advertises their drug, Adderall. I was recently watching a cartoon with my son. I normally use a DVR, record shows and then fast forward through the commercials, but this commercial caught my eye.  I doubt many parents watch cartoons with their children, so I assume the message is directed to a child. I am not saying all drugs are bad, but I do wonder why a drug company would promote a drug during a show that primarily only children watch. Surely they know that kids are influenced by commercials - that’s why they advertise toys during the hours kids watch TV, right? And, like the toys, if they make the drugs attractive the kids will also want them. These ads fuel drug use, drug addiction and are driving more and more people to drug rehab.

If a drug company can put a child on drugs at age six and keep them on them for a lifetime, they stand to make a lot of money. According to one recent study, if kids start on drugs such as Ritalin or Adderall at age eight or older, 44% will develop drug problems and need drug detox and drug rehab. If they are taught what symptoms to present to a doctor, they can get drugs (watch the movie Charlie Bartlett). I wouldn’t want my kids to be indoctrinated for future drug use. And I certainly wouldn’t want them to have to interrupt their education and their life for a drug rehab program.

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Marc Katz, sports writer for the Dayton Daily News out of Ohio, has a good idea: He thinks the NCAA should ban beer commercials. Huge numbers of college students binge drink - over 40% of the student body in most schools - and more than 20% of the students need drug rehab or some sort of help. Over 90% of parents think that drinking is part of college life and many allow their high-school-aged kids to drink at home. What most parents don’t realize is that nearly half of underage drinkers become alcoholics and will need an alcohol or drug rehab program.

Most colleges, including Ohio State and Ohio University, have problems with students drinking too much. Mr. Katz had some interesting statistics in his article: 1700 college aged students die each year from alcohol related accidents including drunk driving, there are 600,000 injuries, 700,000 assaults and nearly 100,000 incidents of sexual abuse - all good reasons for not showing drug or alcohol commercials on TV..

Despite these outragrous statistics, most of Mr. Katz’s readers were horrified at the concept of not seeing beer commercials. But the numbers speak for themselves.

Parents should insist on their kids not drinking and the NCAA should ban beer ads. Prescription drug and alcohol abuse are sending millions of people to drug detox and drug rehab, why make matters worse with ads promoting drinking? One last point, Ohio University is a top ten party school. Does your child go there?

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