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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