A recent TV news story about the dangers of prescription drugs said that 8,500 deaths a year can be attributed to prescription drug overdose. Where they get their figures is beyond me – half that many died in Florida alone in 2008. Florida represents a relatively small portion of the U.S. population, there’s no way there can be only 4,500 in the entire U.S.

A list was published sometime ago – during the Purdue pharma hearings where they were fined $634 million for lying to the public about how addictive OxyContin was – of people who had died from OxyContin. Not everyone was on the list of course, but it does have the names of about 500 people.

Although there are some people in their 30’s and40’s on that list, the vast majority were in their late teens/early 20’s when they died. And many of them weren’t taking tons of pills. In fact, many weren’t even addicts – they were just testing the drugs out, experimenting.

With just about every death that gets publicized – Michael Jackson’s death is the most recent tragedy, and there was Heath Ledger not too long ago – there are a lot of drugs involved. It looks like Michael Jackson was taking at least 10 different prescription drugs.

But a drug rehab specialist recently told me that it’s not terribly unusual for someone to die the very first time they take them. One drug, one time.

If you know of someone taking prescription drugs, you should know that the DEA says prescription painkillers alone are now causing more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. The agency also said there are more than 7 million Americans abusing prescription drugs – more than ecstasy, heroin, hallucinogens, cocaine and inhalants combined.

You think those drugs aren’t all over the street available to any kid or adult? They are. And based on the majority of OxyContin deaths happening from age 18 to 25, it’s clear that a large percentage of 7 million abusing prescription drugs are in that age group.

Is it happening with your young adult kids? Relatives? Friends? Get them into an OxyContin rehab center. If they’re taking other drugs, any facility that can handle OxyContin can handle other drugs as well. Don’t take the chance of them being added to the overdose lists. Call Drug Rehab Referral today. We can help.

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I hear the FDA is looking at banning prescription drugs containing acetaminophen, as well as drugs containing acetaminophen that are sold over the counter - Tylenol, Excedrin, and so on.

I realize that acetaminophen can cause liver damage but I don’t understand why that would be motivation to ban the prescription drugs containing it, like Vicodin, when there are so many other side effects - like shallow breathing, slow heartbeat, ligh-headedness and dizziness, fainting, confusion, fear, unusual thoughts or behavior and seizures, to name just a few – that haven’t been reason enough to get rid of those drugs. Not to mention the fact that every drug rehab program in the country is servicing people who’ve become addicted to these drugs.

It makes me wonder what the drug companies are up to. If Vicodin and Percocet are banned, that will probably increase the sales of OxyContin – which I’m sure have suffered since Purdue was fined $634 million for lying about how addictive it was. They even said it was less addictive than Percocet and Vicodin.

Also, if we can’t buy Tylenol or Excedrin we’re also more likely to get OxyContin from our doctor. Next thing you know we’ll be taking OxyContin for mild headaches and things we would normally take Tylenol for, and the drug treatment centers will continue to fill up. This time for OxyContin rehab – and there are already plenty of people in treatment for OxyContin addiction right now.

I think it would be wise for anyone who takes Tylenol or Excedrin, or any other drugs that might be included in this ban, to start finding another solution to their problem. Getting onto OxyContin could be far worse than Tylenol ever was.

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Great – now we’ve got drugs that cause addictive behavior. And I’m not talking about an inherently addictive drug like OxyContin or Xanax. The specific drug in question here is Mirapex, used to treat Parkinson’s Disease, and it can cause addictive behaviors like gambling and compulsive eating.

It’s true, a lot of drugs save lives. But there are so many successful methods, other than drugs, for dealing with many of our problems. Pain can be addressed with certain nutrients and natural analgesics (and if you have to get into drugs you can certainly find some a lot less dangerous than things like OxyContin – OxyContin abuse has probably put more people into a drug treatment center than heroin (of course, OxyContin IS heroin, so what can we expect?)

And you can also get physical therapy, chiropractic, or acupuncture – which I understand does wonders for pain. My father got over debilitating hip pain in just two acupunture sessions. And it’s never come back!

There are also nutrients and natural remedies to address depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, and any number of things. These three can often even be addressed by just doing some exercise. But, instead, we put up with drugs, their outrageous side effects, and the possibility of drug overdoses, interactions, reactions, and so on.

What a mess.

A large percentage of people going into a drug treatment center program these days have a problem with prescription drugs – and they often started out by being prescribed the drugs by their doctors.

In some European countries, where people are much healthier than Americans, there is far more emphasis on natural remedies and prevention. Hopefully, Obama’s new health care plan will address some of these issues.

In the meantime … if you’re having trouble coming off a drug like painkillers, anti-anxiety or depression meds and would like to see if you can resolve your problems without them, contact us to find out if there’s a drug treatment center that can help you.

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Decades ago, in 1913, the government stopped the Bayer company from producing heroin. Prior to that time, it was legal. But when the dangers became known, the government took a stand. Now the question is – why isn’t the government taking the same stand on OxyContin when it’s almost identical to heroin and causes the same effect?

Purdue Pharma, OxyContin’s manufacturer, tried to pull a fast one on the FDA by claiming OxyContin was less addictive than other painkillers on the market. They were successful – they got FDA approval and the sales of the drug took off like wildfire. Years later, after disastrous effects on thousands of users and their families, the government finally caught on and sued Purdue for lying about the dangers of the drug.

Purdue pled guilty and was fined $634 million, a slap on the wrist for a company that makes billions, but no one went to jail, and the drug stayed on the market.

More and more people are showing up in drug rehab centers for OxyContin treatment, but the drug is still legal, still being manufactured, and still prescribed by doctors. And you can get it on the street from pushers all over the U.S.

Why is it okay to continue to sell this drug when it wasn’t okay to sell heroin? Some people don’t think it is. If you’re one of them – sign the petition to ban OxyContin. 

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I saw a news item today about a 54-year-old woman being jailed for selling prescription drugs in North Carolina – where drug investigators say prescription drug abuse is becoming as prevalent as other drugs. Painkillers, as usual, are very common – you can get a drug rehab for OxyContin abuse now, by the way, and for other prescription drugs, but make sure you find a facility that has some experience with them rather than just with street drugs.

The woman who was arrested may or may not have been selling the drugs to help support herself, but there are some older people who actually do that. They can’t live on their social security checks, so they take to drug dealing. Very sad, in many ways.

In this area of North Carolina the police say everyone from high-school students to seniors are re-selling prescription drugs.

You have to watch out for that stuff with kids – it’s especially prevalent in high school and college age – because a lot of people think the drugs are safe since they came from a doctor. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, a lot of people became addicted to prescription drugs when they got them from their doctor, not from some kind of illegal use.

Watch your medicine cabinets – that’s probably where the prescription drugs being sold came from.

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If you’re living in Florida and have a friend or family member with a prescription drug addiction or abuse problem – even if they got the pills from a doctor – it’s no surprise to us. It would be difficult to find an addiction treatment center that is not currently helping a fairly large number of people who are trying to get off them.

Florida has been called ‘the pill state’ for a few years now. Recently it was reported that Broward County, home to Fort Lauderdale, has so many pain clinics popping up that it’s now being called the painkiller capital of the United States. The population is about 1.8 million and the pain clinics alone prescribed about 6.5 million painkillers in the last half of 2008.

Florida doesn’t have a prescription drug monitoring program so no one is really watching over what’s happening to these patients other than the doctors at the pain clinics and, since their specialty is managing pain – i.e. controlling the symptoms with drugs instead of offering treatment that could get rid of the underlying problem - depending on them to make sure the patient isn’t in trouble is a little like having Cinderella made a ward of her wicked stepmother.

And the residents of the county – as well as thousands of people who come from out of state to get painkillers, some even camping outside the doors of the county’s 85 pain clinics waiting for them to open – are paying for it. The coroner says deaths from prescription drug overdose have increased by 107% in the last two years and called the situation an epidemic of drug abuse. God only knows how many people are addicted – it’s hard to escape addiction with painkillers so the numbers have got to be big.

The brisk business of painkillers in Broward County is also servicing other states. The total number of oxycodone pills handed out by just 45 doctors – who the DEA says they ‘hate’ to call doctors because they’re just after the money – handed out 9 million oxycodone pills (they could be OxyContin, vicodin, percocet, and so on) in the last six months of 2008.

If you have a friend or family member who is in pain, do yourself and them a favor and find an alternative treatment. Prescription painkillers are highly addictive and getting them off the pills once they’ve started is tough. If they’re already using them, find an addiction treatment center that can help them. And remember one thing – if they say they can’t stop because they’re still in pain it’s possible that the painkillers themselves are causing it. Extended use of painkillers can do that.

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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.

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Wow. Here’s a story about Samantha – a 22 year old girl who’s been addicted to OxyContin for two years. And it all started when a co-worker offered her a quick fix for her headache. Soon she was paying between $40 and $80 per pill, to the same co-worker. She then began embezzling from her workplace, Costco, to be able to afford the pills. The co-worker had a prescription for them for an old injury that no longer hurt. But she lied to her doctor and kept getting the pills, and sold them to Samantha.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t look like the co-worker is being prosecuted – which I find absolutely unbelievable. She broke the law, and really endangered someone’s life in the process. And now she might be going to jail.

We can assume that Samantha is now getting help through an addiction treatment center, but this shows you just how easy it is to get hooked. Perfectly innocent circumstances on the part of the addict – she just wanted to get rid of her headaches – that turned into a disaster.

Do you know anyone with an OxyContin addiction or dependency? Or another prescription drug addiction? If so, do them a favor and help them get into treatment before their life is ruined, too.

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I have to say this – it’s disgusting the way we treat our troops. Here’s a story about drug addicted soldiers who became addicted when they were prescribed painkillers to handle the pain incurred while fighting for their country and the freedom of those on foreign soil. Some of them have gone the way of other drug addicts – obtaining the pills illegally and giving or selling them to other soliders in the same boat.

Now they’re being treated like criminals – going to prison, dishonorable discharges, etc. – when they were not taken care of in the first place and were set up to turn into drug addicts by military medical personnel.

They’re not even being treated as well as non-violent drug offenders in drug courts.

According to military records, legal painkiller use has increased 70% since the Iraq war started 6 years ago. Now the soldiers have developed a prescription drug addiction  – which was totally predictable and almost impossible to avoid when you need them for longer than a week or two – which you do when you’ve been badly injured in a bomb explosion – and they’re looking for help.

They need to be in an addiction treatment center and, instead, they’re going to jail.

Disgusting.

Do you know a solider with a drug problem? Call us, we’ll find a way to help.

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Some guys in prison have said it’s just as easy to get drugs in prison as it is in the street. Inmates with contacts in the outside world somehow get them smuggled in.  And sometimes you hear about criminal prison guards who help them out. But the latest is he medical director of the Sacramento County Jail – he’s been writing prescriptions for high dosages of OxyContin like it’s going out of style. And after a seven month investigation, he’s been arrested. God knows how many prisoners are going through withdrawal now – many had probably developed a prescription drug addiction.

I wrote a blog the other day about a man whose son was a heroin addict. At his wits end, he had convinced his son to turn himself into the police for violation of his parole. The dad felt that if his son was in prison for a year he would at least know his son was not somewhere shooting up, and overdosing on, heroin.

Well, that’s not going to work with medical directors like Sac County Jail’s.

OxyContin, which is an opiate, just like heroin, and can addict and kill people just as easily – Purdue Pharma was fined $634 million for falsely promoting that it was safer than other opiate painkillers – is something that dad would definitely have to worry about. And because his son was already a heroin addict, there’s a good chance he would have overdosed on OxyContin while in prison..

As it was, the boy overdosed the night before he was going to turn himself in. He probably thought he’d have a little more for the road – knowing it was likely to be his last for a year or so. But it was his last forever.

Don’t delay getting anyone you know with a drug problem into an addiction treatment center. You never know what will happen tomorrow and if it’s prison, you can’t count on any help.

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