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% [?]

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% [?]

In the new episode of House – hey, why not? Millions of people get their drug information from big pharma commercials, why not a TV series? – the doc in chronic pain changes his life completely by switching his drug of choice from Vicodin to methadone.  He’s long been suffering from prescription drug addiction, but the new one changed his personality. When his colleagues noticed his change in behavior they suspected he was on heroin. But they were outraged to find that he was on methadone instead. They said that mixing methadone with another drug, taking one drink of alcohol or taking one dose at the wrong time could kill him. And that he was twice as likely to die from methadone as from heroin.

Well, yeah, it’s a TV show. But the statistics on methadone-related deaths show the data is correct nevertheless. As of a few years ago, heroin was used by about twice as many people as methadone, but twice as many died from methadone as heroin. In fact, that means it killed four times as many people, not twice as many.

And now that methodone is being used strictly as a painkiller, not to get off heroin, the primary original use for which methadone was intended, the methadone-related death statistics are climbing.

People often don’t follow their doctor’s exact instructions no matter what medication they’re taking and no matter what warnings they’re given.  Things can be even worse with methadone since it stays in the body for longer than other drugs and might still be there even though the pain relief aspect of it has worn off. So, people tend to take their dose sooner than they should, or take a different painkiller, think they’re safe to have a drink, and so on.

The hospital administrator’s solution was to tightly control House’s methadone use. He had to get his precisely-timed dose from her and, although we didn’t see the list of other instructions she gave him, I would imagine they also included absolutely no alcohol and no other drugs without first clearing it with her.

In the end, House decided not to take it. He had made a nearly fatal error with a patient and felt the methadone had clouded his judgment.

In any case, him being on methadone wouldn’t have worked for the series because one of it’s main attractions (in the same way people are driven to slow down to see a bad traffic accident) is House’s personality – which completely changed during this episode.

TV show or not, I hope people take this information about methadone to heart. It may not tell the whole truth, but it has more truth in it than any of the ads you’ll see on TV from drug manufacturers. Unless, of course, you happen to listen to the warnings – which are issued in such soothing tones they somehow don’t manage to get the point across that the drugs are very dangerous. That’s why the prescription drug death toll is climbing, and that’s why more and more people are finally getting the message and showing up in addiction treatment centers to get off them.

Boy, I’ll bet this episode will have some people up in arms. 

Popularity: 21% [?]

A recent article about drug addiction in the UK said that heroin dealers aren’t getting jail time like they used to. Government officials argue that drug use is down so the leniency is paying off. Is it really?

The only thing they seem to be gauging that on is the number of seizures of drugs – that’s one of the measurements we use in the U.S. as well. In the UK it’s down 15%. It’s also down in the U.S.

But does that really mean the drug situation is improving? It could mean there are fewer police on the job, or that dealers are getting smarter. It might also be because people are tending to switch to prescription drugs instead of street drugs. In some parts of the U.S., more people are showing up at an addiction treatment center for prescription drugs than for heroin, cocaine, speed and all the other illegal drugs put together.

Of course, the U.S. government - and, I assume, the UK government – wants to make it look like they’re doing a good job. So, it’s pretty convenient to have those statistics go down.

Unfortunately, the use of prescription drugs is not often considered.  Dealers, and those taking the drugs, are harder to locate. People often get the drugs from doctors or their friends.

One way or another, the problem still exists. But to get a real idea of what’s going on, prescription drug addiction and abuse must be included.

Popularity: 12% [?]

There’s a new drug in town – and it’s falling between the cracks legally. It’s called dode or doda and it’s being sold openly in flea markets and grocery stores in Canada. It’s made with the husks and seeds of the poppy flower, which is where we get opium and heroin and, like heroin, it’s dangerous and anyone using it will probably need an addiction treatment center to help them quit.

Police in Toronto recently seized 27 kilograms of it, but because the way the drug is formulated falls into a grey area, they need to wait for adjudication from Health Canada, the equivalent of the FDA, to lay charges.

Bad scene. Obviously, being able to buy it just about anywhere gives it legitimacy but, worse, it may also lead people to think it’s safe.

Watch out for the stuff – if it’s in Canada, it’s probably also in the U.S. Especially in and near the border states. You might even want to check out a few flea markets and local stores to see if you can find any. If you do, let the police know.

And let us know, too, so we can warn people in the area about it.

Popularity: 20% [?]

A recent blog on wiredin.org, from the UK, said that one of the reasons heroin addicts don’t believe they can quit is because they’ve never seen anyone do it. Well, of course, heroin addicts are going to be around heroin addicts - not former heroin addicts. Once a person gets off heroin, they’re not likely to be hanging out with the same crowd.

The blog also said that some people who work at an addiction treatment center or in the recovery field have also never seen someone get off heroin. How that can be, I’m not quite sure. But, in any case, the fact that the treatment professionals can’t offer any hope due to their lack of experience is also discouraging to a user.

Well, I’ve gotten off heroin. And it was many, many years ago. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in life since then and have never relapsed, or even had a desire to do so.

So, yes, there’s hope.

But you do have to know what kind of addiction treatment center to go to if you’re going to be successful.

A short-term drug rehab program won’t work - I can tell you that for sure. Short-term programs – a month or so – give you barely enough time to get over the physical effects of heroin addiction. That’s just the beginning. After that, you have to deal with the life problems that got you onto drugs in the first place. And you have to figure out those issues so they are no longer problems you feel you can’t control.

Sometimes you also need education of some sort. And you’ll definitely need to work out a change in environment for when you leave.

No way you can do that in a month. Check out long-term residential drug rehab that digs into and helps resolve all of your issues. Get to the point where you have other solutions so you no longer think of drugs as a way to solve problems.

Then you’re ready to leave, and there’s a good chance you won’t be back.

Popularity: 20% [?]

A second methadone clinic is opening in Pennsylvania, where heroin addiction is “rampant.” Methadone clinics are controversial – some says it’s trading heroin addiction for methadone addiction and, in fact, it is. Even the director of the clinic, Glen Cooper, acknowledges that methadone treatment is not a cure, and that it ”works best” in tandem with counselling. Which they also deliver. The counselling, I assume, is an actual drug rehab program that gets people off drugs completely – heroin and methadone.

The public in the area are suspicious – they don’t want a bunch of ’drug addicts’ around, and they don’t particularly care what drug they’re taking. Cooper’s response? ”I think people should keep in mind that people in methadone treatment programs, if they are successful, are no longer using drugs and don’t need to steal.”

I’m not sure what he means by ‘if they are successful,’ or they ‘are no longer using drugs.’ Does he mean that if they’re successful they’re no longer using heroin or methadone? If that’s not what he means then, yes, they are using drugs. They’re using methadone.

True, they don’t need to steal. They get their drugs from the clinic and it’s either free – not likely, since it’s a for-profit organization, or they’re relatively inexpensive.

Either way, it would be nice if we could expect something more than  they ‘don’t need to steal’ from a drug treatment facility. Sure, that’s a step in the right direction but how many are actually taking the next step – becoming completely drug-free?

Popularity: 26% [?]

Parents who educate their kids on the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse are 50% less likely to use them.  But finding ways to educate your kids (or yourself) can sometimes be a problem. The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) has published a booklet that can help. It covers alcohol, street drugs and prescription drug addiction, dependency and abuse. It was recently included in the Washington Times newspaper as a supplement but it’s also available online for anyone to print out. The ‘booklet’ link I just gave you is a direct link to it.

It’s good to finally see something readily available to the general public that covers the problems with prescription drugs – although it could probably devote a little more space to OxyContin, hydrocodone and other prescription painkillers. Especially since they are the most abused prescription drugs and the most likely to cause prescription drug addiction.

It also contains some starting facts: Nearly 50 million people in America over the age of 12 have used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes. That’s one out of every six people. In other words, at least one person who lives only two or three doors from you in any direction has used prescription drugs to get high. That’s alarming.

It also means that about one in every two or three kids over 12 in school – the kids your kid spend most of their day with – have either already taken prescription drugs to get high or live with someone who has.

That really demonstrates how easy it is for your own kid to be introduced to these drugs.

Right now, it’s more likely that your kid will be offered prescription drugs than marijuana. And I doubt there are too many kids over 12 who don’t know at least one person who has smoked marijuana.

Prescription drug addiction and abuse is extremely dangerous for both kids and adults. Prescription drug rehab can help with the problem, and it’s important to do something about it right away if you suspect, or know, that someone is taking prescription drugs without a medical reason. Download the booklet on the dangers of drugs and alcohol, read it carefully and start doing something about it. If you need help, you can contact Drug Rehab Referral.

Popularity: 23% [?]

In a recent court case, a 21-year-old man was sentenced to 32 to 64 months for his participation in a prescription drug ring. He was busted along with 14 others. His family expected he would get much less since he had a family support group, is a heroin addict, and testified against the ringleaders. Also, others involved in the ring only got probation. The judge said the guy was much more involved in it than the others. He was really dealing drugs, not just getting them fraudulently, and was recruiting others to be part of the ring. No one knows at this point how many people are now coping with prescription drug addiction as a result of these actions.

The thing that mystifies me about this is not the sentence. If the guy was more involved, his sentence should be stiffer. At least the judge ordered that he go to a facility that will give him drug addiction treatment.  The strange thing is that on the same day of the trial, or hearing, whichever it was, the guy also pled guilty to possession of heroin at a traffic stop on September 13, 2007.  I doubt the guy’s been in prison for the last year, so why didn’t his family ensure he’d gone into a drug addiction treatment center in all that time?

I’m sure that if he had, the judge would have been more lenient. His actions with the prescription drug ring were reportedly fuelled by his own heroin addiction. He had gotten into a drug addiction treatment center a year ago and shown that he was serious about changing his life and, in fact, had changed his life, I don’t think there’s any way the judge would have given him the same sentence.

Also, if he’d done some kind of community service since then, shown that he was stable and so on, that would also have added to his credibility.

It’s unfortunate that this kid has to spend time in prison – generally speaking, prison doesn’t make things much, if any, better. But, frankly, if his family had taken responsibility for getting him straightened out long ago, they would not now be in this position.

If someone you care about has a problem with prescription drug addiction or abuse, or heroin addiction, or any other addiction, get the help in a drug addiction treatment center right away. Many people who get involved in dealing drugs do so to finance their own addiction.  If you don’t want something like this to happen in your family, get them the help they need.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Drug addicts – even those with a prescription drug addiction or abuse problem, not street drugs – often wind up selling drugs to others to support their habit. In North Carolina, a person selling prescription drugs could wind up in prison for murder. doing that could wind up being charged with murder. That’s North Carolina cracking down on prescription drug addiction and abuse.

The most recent case, only the second in the area, the first was a methadone related-death, involves as 23-year-old man who sold fentanyl - an opiate painkiller similar to OxyContin, heroin, methadone and morphine – to a 19-year-old who died of an overdose.

In case you’re not aware of this, that could have been the very first time that 19-year-old took the drug. He may just have been experimenting.

I’m sure this law would also apply to people who share their drugs with others. And, if things get really tough, it will (and should) also apply to people who leave their drugs around where others can get them.

That may seem harsh, but how would you feel if your kid died from a drug they were given by a friend who got it from their parents’ medicine cabinet? How would you feel if someone else’s kid died because your kid got your drugs from your medicine cabinet? It’s happened many times. And many of those who don’t die develop a prescription drug addiction or an addiction to any other drug, and, even though they’re alive, their lives are ruined. As are the lives of their family and friends.

This kind of incident is a prime example of why you have to educate yourself, and then your family members, on the dangers of prescription drugs. And on the possibility of prescription drug addiction.

Zero tolerance is really the only solution. But if things have already gone past that, the next thing needed is a drug addiction treatment center that knows how to handle prescription drug addiction. It’s not always the same as regular drug rehab - stopping some prescription drugs can be medically dangerous. Talk to a professional prescription drug rehab specialist to find a good solution that suits your particular situation.

Popularity: 16% [?]