A new drug has hit the streets. In fact, it’s not really new but, for some reason, it had not made it to the streets until recently. It’s called Opana, also known as Numorpha, Numorphone and oxymorphone, and is very similar to OxyContin. But it’s twice as strong, has the same potential for addiction and, in one county in Virginia, has been the cause of six overdose deaths in recent months. Another good reason to get anyone you care about into drug rehab as fast as possible – you never really know what an addict will do next, and it could be Opana.

Opana is made by Purdue Pharma, the same company that brought us OxyContin – which set off an epidemic of prescription drug addiction and drove huge numbers of people into drug rehab for OxyContin addiction. I don’t know why more people don’t know about Opana – it’s possibly because doctors are less willing to prescribe it since it’s stronger than OxyContin and gets circulated throughout the body faster.

Doctors were also less willing to prescribe OxyContin until Purdue came out with the time-release version which, according to Purdue’s marketing people, was less addictive. Of course, they lied about that, as we all now know, and for which they paid a $634 million in fines.

You can understand why docs are perhaps less willing to listen to drug reps.

But back to Opana – one guy on a forum about the drug said he switched from 80 mg OxyContin pills to 20 mg Opana pills – on the advice of his doctor – and the Opana did a much better job of controlling his pain, even at just ¼ of the dose. But the side effects were much greater.

This also explains the overdoses: OxyContin addicts – and those addicted to other painkillers like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and even methadone – who are used to taking 80 mg of OxyContin, for example, probably think they can also handle 80 mg of Opana. But the dose they take could be fatal, even though it’s less than they would have taken if it were some other similar drug.

I don’t know how much Opana costs on the street, or otherwise, but the fact that you can take 20 mg of it for the same effect as 80 mg of OxyContin would probably mean it’s cheaper in the long run – which is a very bad thing, except for those who really do have a legitimate painful situation that warrants taking drugs.

In any case, it’s something to watch out for. If you hear mention of Opana, Numorpha, Numorphone or oxymorphone, know that it’s a drug – first of all – and then realize that it’s a serious drug. Could well be more deadly than OxyContin. Anyone who is already taking drugs and could go near Opana should get into a drug addiction treatment program.

Of course, anyone taking any kind of drug should get into a drug rehab program anyway – whether they’re likely to use Opana or not. Really, you never know what’s going to happen with drugs. People die from them all the time.

Anyone with a legitimate reason to take prescription painkillers and is getting them from their doctor for an injury, surgery or other illness should be aware of the potential of Opana for addiction and side effects. And anyone who is educating their kids on what’s going on with the drug scene needs to add Opana, Numorpha, Numorphone and oxymorphone to the list.

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A recent news item says that the heroin industry in Mexico is coming into high gear and, consequently, the Midwest and Atlantic states are going to turn into heroin hubs. Until now, that role has been played primarily by California and Texas. What does that mean for us – the general public? There will be a lot more heroin around, and a lot of people are going to be doing into drug rehab to help get off the drug. This is especially true for kids who experiment with drugs, and for people fighting prescription drug addiction.

The cost of heroin is already relatively low – $5 a hit, maybe as much as $10 – which is how students and young adults can afford it. For people with a prescription drug problem, like OxyContin addiction, heroin is also a cheap and readily available substitute. One OxyContin pill could cost as much as $80 on the street.

Prescription drug addiction has become a major problem in the U.S. Even the President’s talking about it. With prescription drug monitoring becoming more prevalent – which makes it harder for someone to go from one doctor to another faking symptoms to get OxyContin they can sell to others – and laws on pill mills getting tighter, more heroin will be welcome.

The article also said that the Mexican heroin dealers are changing the face of the typical heroin user. “Using savvy marketing tactics, they’ve also repositioned heroin commercially, revamping its image from the inner-city drug of yore, with its junkies and needles, into a narcotic that can be snorted or smoked, appealing to suburban and even rural high school youth.”
Pretty disgusting. Parents, especially, should make sure their kids are educated on drugs so they are not tempted. Also, anyone who has a friend or family member who tends to experiment with street drugs or pills and might be tempted to try something a little cheaper should put extra effort into getting them into a drug rehab program asap.

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Many people get addicted to prescription painkillers after being prescribed them by their doctor for the pain of surgery, an accident or injury. Some of the conditions they take the painkillers for are fairly mild – the person may have gotten away with something much lighter than OxyContin, hydrocodone or fentanyl or other drugs that can cause prescription drug addiction. In fact, two recent studies have shown that their pain may have been relieved with a placebo.

The first study gave placebos to people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). They told them the pills were placebos, but also told them that IBS has been helped by placebos. Not only did the placebos work, they actually had better results than recent studies done on the drugs doctors would normally prescribe for the condition.

The second study hooked people up to an intravenous drip and applied heat to their legs to the point of causing pain. The researchers then told the participants that they were putting a powerful painkiller into their IV. The pain abated. The participants were then told that the painkiller going through their IV had been stopped, at which point the pain returned to the pre-painkiller levels. But, the drug had not actually been stopped – they were still getting it.

The researchers, of course, concluded that placebos are often just as effective as dangerous drugs. And it doesn’t even matter if you tell the patient that it’s a placebo! Amazing.

If someone does get addicted, they can go to drug rehab – although it’s important to get rehab asap because the risk of serious injury or death is very real. But if you can avoid taking addictive painkillers in the first place, then there’s virtually no risk of addiction or any of the other problems.

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So many people are coming to Florida for prescription painkillers it has inspired the coining of a new phrase – “Pill Tourism.”  Why are they coming to Florida? Florida has 900 pain management clinics. The vast majority of these pain clinics dole out prescriptions with little to no examination of patients, have their own on-site dispensary so ‘patients’ don’t have to go to the drug store, don’t have a board-certified pain management doctor on staff, and are generally not even run by a practicing doctor!

People come here because the drugs are so very easy to get.

Some interesting Florida statistics regarding painkillers:

• Among the 50 top painkiller prescribers in the U.S., 49 are in Florida.

• In the first six months of 2008, the nation’s top 25 oxycodone-dispensing doctors were all located in Florida.

A just-completed three-month investigation that focused on making undercover purchases of painkillers (mostly Oxycodone) in Florida arrested 135 people, seized 17,000 pills and $3.6 million.

Are all the people getting these pills in pain? Absolutely not. But even those who are in pain generally get a lot more pills than they need. They sell the remainder to pay for their trip to Florida.

Geez. Big Pharma must be thrilled with all the ill-gotten profits. Has anyone out there ever figured out how much profit the manufacturer of Oxycodone is making on actual abuse of the drug? Whatever the number, I would bet it’s not something any company would be thrilled to give up.

Somehow, prescription drugs are going to have to get under control. In some areas, like Florida, they’re a far worse problem than illegal drugs. And that’s just for the people who aren’t really in pain and don’t need them. There’s also a serious addiction problem for those who are actually in pain.

I think a major solution might be more, and more accessible, insurance coverage of things like chiropractic, acupuncture, natural, herbal and alternative medicines, massage therapy, physical therapy, and so on – things that are known to help people with pain. That won’t get rid of the problem of people taking painkillers when they’re not in pain; but it will help people stay off painkillers in the first place (or only use them for a very short time), get people off painkillers (although they might also need drug rehab if they’re addicted), and stop people who need painkillers from turning into pushers so they can get the drugs they need.

What do you think?

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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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