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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Check out Reuters’ interview with Stephen Pasierb, president and chief executive of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America for his take on the prescription drug addiction and abuse epidemic.

He reviews the various sectors of the public taking prescription drugs: those who take them because they’ve tried them before and know they work (his example was college students taking Ritalin and Adderall because they’ve gotten better grades with them in the past), those who are self-medicating - i.e. taking painkillers because they’re in pain, and those who just want to get high.

All groups are abusing the drugs, and all are at risk for prescription drug addiction.

He also reiterates that because these drugs were manufactured under sterile conditions, because you know what’s in them, because they’re approved by the FDA, and because they are prescribed by doctors, they’re safe. However, as Mr. Paserieb points out, doctors get about four hours of training on the subject of addiction during their education, and yet are licensed to prescribe dangerous, highly-addictive drugs.

Mr. Pasierb refers to prescription drugs as the new ‘gateway’ drugs (it used to be marijuana.) People who would never have taken illegal drugs become willing to do so because they tried prescription drugs and didn’t have a problem.

What are the solutions to prescription drug addiction and abuse? Mr. Pasierb has some suggestions. But they involve changes in systems that don’t change quickly. In the meantime, the prescription drug addiction epidemic rages on and individuals have to take matters into their own hands.

People need to be educated - although there’s plenty in the online press about this subject, it’s not enough. And most people don’t read it. Most people don’t read much of anything. It’s going to take some grass roots action - and that starts in your own home, with your own family, and with your friends and co-workers. If someone you know is having a problem with prescription drug addiction or abuse, get them into a drug addiction treatment center for help.

Frankly, it’s going to take a lot to get some of these people into any kind of drug addiction treatment center - as most of them really don’t think using prescription drugs is a problem. But, they do. And those who understand that are responsible for doing something about it.

 addiction and abuse the new sees prescription drug addictHis research shows that college kids who take Ritalin or Adderall, for example, are taking it because they’ve tried it before and they get better grades with it.

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Okay. We’ve finally got some numbers here. Over 7 million people in the U.S. abused prescription drugs in 2007. More than cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy, and inhalants (which includes, for some reason, marijuana) combined. That figure was less than 4 million in the year 2000. That’s prescription drug addiction on the ‘illegal’ end of things. But those numbers don’t even come close to the ‘legal’ numbers.

From 1995 to 2005, the number of people treated for abuse of prescription painkillers increased by 321 percent. And every year 180 million legal prescriptions are written for painkillers every year. That’s amazing. If only one prescription went to each person, about 1/2 the population of the U.S. would be taking what is basically heroin.

Let me see. A 40 mg OxyContin pill costs just under $6 for a legitimate prescription. If each of the prescriptions written was a two week’s supply - let’s say 42 pills - the drug manufacturer would make about $45 billion. 

If that’s not a vested interest in prescription drug addiction, I don’t know what is. With that kind of incentive, you can be sure the drugs are designed to make you want to keep taking them.

How does it happen. Read U.S. grapples with rising prescription drug addiction. Then refuse to take the drugs or give them to your kids unless it’s a life-threatening situation. And if it’s already too late for that, get anyone you know who’s taking them into a drug addiction treatment center.

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A methadone clinic opened up about two years ago in Indiana. The goal was to provide a closer location for those on methadone treatment - which is supposed to help heroin addicts through withdrawal so they can then get through drug rehab at a drug addiction treatment center so they’ll be drug free. 

I get tons of responses from readers of this blog whenever I write about methadone treatment. They tell me how it’s saved their lives and that it was a last resort.

According to a recent news article, the clinic in Indiana is using it as anything but a last resort. The requirements for getting methadone from this clinic are that the person has been addicted to an opiate for at least one year.  And many of the people they’re servicing are addicted to prescription drugs - it’s opiates, so it would be OxyContin or a similar painkiller - that they were given by their doctor and then couldn’t quit.

Wow. So much for methadone treatment being used as a last resort.

“They don’t want to lose their job or lose their kids,” said the program director. “They come to us because they want to be safe, and they want to be legal.”

So, now, instead of long-time heroin addicts being addicted to methadone, we have people addicted to methadone because they couldn’t quit taking OxyContin or some similar drug because of surgery or an illness.

The program director says they’re supposed to get daily methadone for a while but are supposed to start weaning off it within three to six months. He said it works for some, and not for others. Of course. That’s because they’re getting methadone instead of going to a drug addiction treatment center that can help them with their addiction.

Prescription drug addiction - especially OxyContin addiction or addiction to another painkiller - is like heroin addiction. Just like we’ve been saying. And, like heroin addiction, the solution is drug rehab. Not methadone.
 

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This week’s Prescription Drug Addiction Radio Show (on WGUL 860 AM on Sunday night, July 20 - 9:05 p.m. Eastern, live online at www.860wgul.com) will feature pharmacists talking about the problem of - guess what - prescription drug addiction. Here’s what Larry G, the show’s host, has to say about the problem:

“The drug companies call them pain pills and the drug addicts call them Oxys, Roxies and Blueberries. The doctors call them alprazolam and on the street they are called Ladders, Bars and Totem Poles, but horribly it is now estimated that deaths that include prescription drugs are surpassing deaths from guns in the United States.”

Drug rehab in Florida has especially got it’s hands full - Florida medical examiners reported 8,620 drug-related deaths in Florida in 2007, and about 69% of them involved prescription drugs. The drugs that were involved in the majority of deaths were methadone, benzodiazepines, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine.

The saddest thing is that, unlike people who take street drugs, many of the people who overdose on and die from prescription drugs though the drugs were safe, and never saw it coming.

Larry G, a pharmacist for 30 years, is doing our society a great service with this radio show. Tune in, find out more about prescription drug addiction, and get anyone you think might need help into a drug addiction treatment center asap.  Also, check out Drug Rehab Referral for additional info on prescription drug addiction, street drugs, and drug addiction treatment.

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I’m sure a lot of people are asking themselves why there’s a prescription drug addiction epidemic all of a sudden. As unpalatable as it may seem, the problem with prescription drugs isn’t really any different than the problem with street drugs - if you follow the money, you’re likely to find the true motivation. Who’s making the money on prescription drug addiction?

Well, obviously, the drug companies are number one - also, bear in mind that the more drugs are sold, the more money the drug companies make. Drug companies have a vested interest in prescription drug addiction - the longer people take them, the more money they make.

But the number two vested interest may well be the doctors who are prescribing them.

Let’s take Xyprexa, for example, the anti-psychotic usually given to people diagnosed with schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder - both of which diagnoses, by the way, have also reached epidemic proportions. In the state of Vermont, anti-psychotic drugs are the largest expense in the state’s medicaid program.  In 2005, psychiatrists - the specialists who usually prescribe anti-psychotics - received an average of $20,835 from drug companies. In 2006, they received an average of $45,692. In 2007, they received $57,000 - in fact, the total paid to psychiatrists was $630,000 (that was only to 11 doctors), and that represented about one-third of the pharmaceutical industry’s $3 million spent on marketing drugs in the state of Vermont.

Am I telling you this so you’ll blow up a drug company building? No, I’m telling you this so you’ll think twice when someone - even your doctor - suggests you take drugs. And so that you’ll consider the possibility that your son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, or friend is being duped. That they, too, have become victims of the marketing dollars dedicated to get people on drugs, and to keep them on them. In other words - to promote prescription drug addiction.  Is is possible your friends or family, or you, need a drug addiction treatment center, not a refill on a prescription?

Some drugs save lives. Others destroy them. Learn to tell the difference. Find out about prescription drug addiction today.

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If you’d like to get an inkling of what prescription drug addiction can be like, check out Addressing Addiction: A Letter to OxyContin. The author of the letter is getting help through drug court.

She’s a mom. Although, from the letter, it seems she’s now lost her kids. And her husband. And just about everything else she owned. Her prescription drug addiction took it all. For her, the drug was OxyContin. A drug that millions of people in America are taking right this minute, and most of them got the drug from their doctor.

And some will end up in the same condition as the author of this letter.

To find a drug addiction treatment center that can help you or someone you care about before it gets to that point, give Drug Rehab Referral a call.

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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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We’ve been trying to get this point across for a while now - prescription drug addiction is a serious problem. Fortunately, we’re getting some help from the media: “Mention the words “drug abuse” and most people probably don’t think of “prescription drugs.”  perhaps they should,” began an article on wlox.com out of Biloxi, MS. Not only should we think about it - we should be doing everything we can to stop it. Drug rehab is a good start for those who already have a problem, and education is the answer for those who haven’t started yet.

But what is the answer for Big Pharma? Purdue Pharma was fined $634 million for lying to the public about OxyContin, Pfizer, the makers Xanax - which is apparently the most popular prescription drug in Biloxi - has numerous lawsuits filed against them, several other companies have also been sued, thousands have died, millions of lives have been ruined, and the drug companies keep getting sued and paying their fines - often settling out of court. But the fines mean nothing to them. It’s the wealthiest industry in the world.

Harrison County coroner Gary Hargrove, commenting on the number of prescription drug related deaths in Biloxi, hit the nail on the head: “Eventually, over a period of time of abuse, they’re going to see me. Or I’m going to see them.”

If you don’t want someone you care about to end up with the local coroner, educate them about prescription drugs or get them into a Missouri drug rehab program.  And if you agree that this destruction cannot continue, make yourself heard.

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It is well known that people using opioid and opiate painkillers - heroin, morphine, methadone, OxyContin, hydrocodone, and so on - need more and more to create the desired effect.  People can wind up with some pretty serious addictions and dependencies that require drug detox and drug rehab to get out of.

Until recently, it was assumed this was due to the fact that the body builds a tolerance to the drug.  While experts don’t disagree with the tolerance factor, they also believe that a significant amount of the pain experienced by people taking opioids is actually caused by the opioids.

This was recently discussed by Dr. Steve Gelfand, a board-certified rheumatologist with more than 30 years of experience and author of numerous articles, on Larry G’s Prescription Addiction Radio show. Dr. Gelfand said this conclusion is the result of some 21 medical studies. He’s been writing articles about it for some time, and has contacted the FDA to let them know about the studies. So, far it appears these studies have been ignored - and the opioid painkillers keep on coming.

Just goes to show you that pain relief is not actually the goal of manufacturers like Purdue Pharma - although that company’s intentions have been obvious for quite some time - nor does it appear to be the goal of the FDA.

Dr. Gelfand generally recommends smaller doses of painkillers, or non-opioid varieties. If you know someone who’s on OxyContin or other painkillers, it’s a good idea to look into this subject a little rather than exposing them to the resultant addiction and dependency and the possibility of needing a drug rehab program.

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