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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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.

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Have you heard of the prescription drug addiction radio show? It’s based in Florida, on WGUL 860 AM. This week’s show – airing on Sunday, September 21st at 9:05 p.m. – is about House of Representatives Bill 6353 which will change the laws on Internet availability of drugs that may cause prescription drug addiction.

The Bill has already been passed by the Senate, but Congress is dragging it’s feet.

OxyContin, Vicodin, Lortab, Duragesic, Methadone, Valium, Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, Ambien, and Lunesta are on the list, but there are more.

Although the prescription drug addiction epidemic is in no way confined to Florida, rehab centers in that State are inundated with people who have a prescription drug addiction or abuse problem. And nearly 70% of the drug-related deaths in Florida involve a controlled prescription drug like those that are included in the Bill.

On the Internet, these drugs are anything but controlled. It’s easy enough to get the drugs without ever seeing a doctor, no matter how old you are or what symptoms you have. In other words, the Internet has become a haven for drug dealers.

The Bill that would restrict prescription drug trade on the Internet is currently with the House of Representatives but has not yet been put forward for a vote. Make sure you contact your congressperson to make  your voice heard. And if you need help with prescription drug addiction for yourself or a family member, contact a drug addiction treatment center.

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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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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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Parents of kids going to the University of Florida – now the number one party school in the U.S. – may breathe a little easier knowing that the rules drinking rules on the UF campus are being changed. No more kegs, drinking games and other behavior that leads to alcohol poisoning, injuries, accidents, rapes, and so on will be allowed. Punishment includes everything from wrist slapping to expulsion but, unfortunately, alcohol rehab is not included.

While it’s not a school’s responsibility to get kids into alcohol rehab, it would be an interesting turn of events. If kids were told they have to go to alcohol rehab to continue in school, it would open the door for them to stay and get their education – and would also drastically change their life. They’d no longer be alcoholics, and they’d still have a chance to accomplish their education and career goals.

Do you think college students should be ordered to alcohol or drug rehab? Florida has plenty to choose from. At the very least, parents should ensure it happens.

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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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The new party school ratings from the Princeton Review are in and the number one position has been taken over by the University of Florida, in Gainsville – which means a lot of college students will need alcohol and drug rehab. Florida State, in Tallahassee, has moved to number 10.

Prior to gaining this number one party school position, an estimated 10,000 of the University of Florida’s 51,000 students may have needed alcohol or drug rehab. There’s a good chance that being the number one party school in the U.S. will bump this up even more. 

With prescription drug addiction and abuse being a problem with about 15,000 students as well, it looks like roughly half the kids at U of F may be either taking drugs or drinking - both to excess.

Parents should be on the lookout for drugs and drinking and do something about it. With about $50,000 being spent on most State college educations, you want to make sure that, if needed, your kid gets alcohol and drug rehab. Florida has several alcohol and drug addiction treatment centers to choose from. If you need help, call Drug Rehab Referral – they can help you find one that’s good for your situation in or around Gainsville.

Of the 51,000 students in the University of Florida

With prescription drug addiction and abuse also being so prevalent in Florida, it’s

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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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There are some parents who think their kid’s drug addiction will get straightened out in prison. They’ve tried what they thought should work to get their kid to stop doing drugs, or alcohol, and it hasn’t worked. The kid may even have gone into a drug addiction treatment center of some sort – not usually the long term residential treatment that has the best success rate but, still, it was “treatment” and he had a chance.

So, parents kind of throw up their hands and decide to let the chips fall where they may. Whatever happens, happens. If he winds up in jail, so be it, he brought it on himself. And he’ll probably get straightened out in jail.

Not so. Check out this news story about the arrest that just took place in Miami-Dade County, Florida – a drug ring of five corrections officers and eight inmates and civilians were arrested for conspiracy to traffic drugs inside a prison. And, believe me, it’s far from the first time something like that has happened. I’ve heard prisoners say they had absolutely no problem getting drugs in prison.

The longer someone takes drugs, the higher the chances of them not making it out alive. Especially when it’s gotten to the point where the person is in jail – they’ve now entered the criminal element end of drug addiction.

If you’ve given up, try again. Get your kid, or someone else you care about, into a drug addiction treatment center. If you’re in Miami-Dade County, there are hundreds of facilities that offer drug rehab in Florida. If you need help, contact an intervention specialist who can help you.

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