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?

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Wausau, Wisconsin, not a very big town, about 125,000, is battling prescription drug addiction and abuse with the local kids. Eight deaths in the last year or so, that they know of, four of which were methadone related - it was being used as a painkiller - and there were two suicides.

The police are busy trying to control the Wausau prescription drug problem but they run up against the same thing as everyone else in the U.S. - the drugs are legal, even though they might not be prescribed for the person taking them, and, because they came from a doctor, aren’t considered really dangerous.

Nevertheless, a 35-year-old drug dealer - who obviously deals in prescription drugs - is spending five years in prison as a result of the latest death, 19-year-old Chuck Tabaka. Not much time to spend locked up after killing someone. As I’m sure Chuck’s parents and the 200 people who attended his funeral would agree.

Does your kid know anyone who takes prescription drugs? Find out.

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Years ago I ran a medical clinic that used hair samples to analyze nutritional deficiencies and the presence of toxic substances. We didn’t test for drugs, that wasn’t what we were after, but hair analysis is an effective way to find out about drug use - and it could help prevent prescription drug addiction and problems with street drugs.

A company based in San Diego, California, is now offering hair analysis kits that test for drugs and you can use them in your home.

The type of hair analysis I’m familiar with would not tell you if your kid did drugs last night, but it will certainly tell you what’s been going on for the last few months.  You can see if your kids been experimenting with drugs and get them into a drug addiction treatment program early enough in the game to prevent much of the damage caused by prescription drug addiction and abuse.

While it’s true that you might not be the most popular parent in town, unless you do get your kid off drugs, for which he will be eternally grateful, this is not too harsh a move in my opinion.  Years ago all we had to do to make sure our kids didn’t kill themselves was keep them off the street until they learned to look both ways. Now we’re faced with new dangers and, as parents, we have to do something about them. A little antagonism for so-called invasion of privacy is nothing compared to prescription drug addiction and abuse killing our kids and ruining their lives.

If you think your kid needs help, contact Drug Rehab Referral. We can help you find a drug rehab or addiction treatment center that will get them off drugs and help them address the issues that got them started with drugs in the first place.

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I was speaking with a friend today who told me about some alarming statistics for kids who’ve taken psychiatric drugs - specifically antipsychotics, but it clearly involved other types as well. Kids who take one such drug are about twice as likely to be obese, have diabetes, and a variety of cardiac problems that are usually associated with people who are much older: strokes, heart attacks, blocked arteries, and so on. It’s also well known that kids who take drugs or drink alcohol early in life are more likely to develop a prescription drug addiction, an addiction to street drugs, or become alcoholics as adults.

This makes me wonder if the current health problems of Americans - we’re one of the least healthy nations - are tied into the incredible increase over the last couple of decades in the number of kids who’ve been given prescription drugs.

Certainly when you’re overweight, have diabetes, and already have atheroscerlosis as a child, you’re not going to turn into a healthy adult.

To make matters worse, the risk increased for those who had taken two drugs, then again for those who’d taken three, and so on.

Add to that the number of kids getting prescription drugs from their parents and friends medicine cabinets, and you’ve got a serious problem - not just with prescription drug addiction, but with a population with even greater physical problems.

I don’t know what it’s really going to take for people to get the message about the dangers of prescription drugs and get themselves and their loved ones into a drug addiction treatment center so they can get off them.

It’s hard to say if prescription drugs are our society’s biggest problem right now. But, when you consider that they ruin people’s health, mental function, family lives, turn people into criminals, etc. I would venture to say that if terrorists wanted to destroy a society over a longish period of time, this would be the way to do it.

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As most people think prescription drugs - since they came from a doctor - are safe, I would imagine many people also think they can stop anytime. But an attempt to quit drugs that cause prescription drug addiction or a physical dependency can be almost as dangerous as taking them. Witness the story of Gus Castellanos, a prominent doctor, found by his wife convulsing on the floor in his attempt to wean himself off the prescription painkiller, hydrocodone.  Thank God she was there. She saved his life.

Dr. Castellanos should have known everything there was to know about prescription drug addiction and withdrawal. He is from a medical family, three generations of prominent doctors, one of them twice won the Nobel. But even he didn’t have the education he needed to get off drugs successfully. He tried several times. Once he used methadone, that didn’t work. The last time he tried Florinal with codeine - which sent him into convulsions, then the ER, then prescription drug rehab, and then a new life.

Of course, it didn’t happen quite that fast. And there were a few other bumps along there road - prison, for example. Read his story. It has a very happy ending.  Dr. Castellanos got off drugs and, in the process of his prescription drug rehab and recovery, he made some remarkable discoveries about himself. And he really changed his life. This is one former drug addict I don’t think will ever relapse.  

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When it comes to the real truth about drugs, forensic pathologists, doctors who investigate the cause of death, may be our best friends. They tell the truth, based on irrefutable evidence. The kind that holds up in court. Right now, one of their chief concerns is the alarming rise in prescription drug-related deaths. Some of the dead may have developed a prescription drug addiction, some may not really have had a drug problem at all. 

A recent presentation given by Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, a forensic pathologist in Liberty, Ohio, showed that of the cases accepted and autopsied or analyzed by the county coroner’s office, nearly 20% of the deaths were drug related. And that didn’t include drug-related homicides, suicides or accidents. Just people who took the drugs, and died.

The doctor’s presentation included his profile of the typical family - a father who is ”a plant worker who developed a back problem and became dependent on painkillers. His wife was a hospital employee, who sprained her ankle and was confident she could handle a pain patch she was prescribed. The athletic daughter also developed problems from a sports injury and peer pressure.”

They all started with prescription drugs, may or may not have developed an actual prescription drug addiction, but are nevertheless the types of people who end up on a slab in the morgue.

The common denominators, according to the doc, are the build up of drugs in the system and mixing prescribed drugs. As he put it: “”One (pill) makes me feel good. Two makes me feel better. Three and I’m dead.”

You may think you’re safe but I would bet that the majority of people who ended up on slabs in morgues thought the same thing.

If you’re using prescription drugs that aren’t strictly medically necessary, you should check with your doctor about getting off them. It may be a simple task, or you may need prescription drug rehab. Either way, it’s better than risking your life.

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I wonder what effect the Wall Street meltdown is having on the number of people who will soon develop a prescription drug addicton or dependancy.

Really, when you look at what’s going on in the world - and even just the U.S. - it’s not hard to understand why so many people want to just block it all out. We’re waging war on  country that hasn’t done anything to us, killing thousands of innocent people (including our own children), hundreds of thousands of our homes are being foreclosed on every month, our kids are coming out of public schools that are like plots for another Dumb and Dumber movie, they’re taking drugs, drinking, hanging out with gangs, our jobs are at risk, our social security is at risk, and now it looks like we’re headed for another depression.

And most of it is all happening at the level of ‘city hall’, the entity almost everyone thinks they can’t fight.

Is it really any wonder why people are turning to prescription drug addiction?

The truth is, although there are many things we can’t do much about, at least, not quickly, there are also many things we can change. There’s a lot about our own lives, our own environment, our kids, our health, even our financial position, that we can do something about.

But it’s not going to happen if we’re living in the haze caused by prescription drug addiction.

If you or someone you care about has turned to prescription drugs to make things better, get help through prescription drug rehab. When you’re off drugs - especially if you go to a good drug addiction treatment center that will also help you address your problems - you’re better able to cope with and solve the problems of life.

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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) had it’s second ever Drug Facts Chat Day. It’s just a one day thing and, by noon, they’d already been contacted by 6,000 people. Amazing. The director commented on the number of questions about prescription drugs. It’s good to see that the news is getting out there on prescription drug addiction, dependency and abuse.

Most people think that certain drugs are safe because they’re prescribed by a doctor. Being very familiar with the effects of prescription drugs I’m often surprised when speaking to someone who is quite casual about taking them. They, too, trust that a doctor would not harm them. It never occurs to them that prescription drug addiction, or addiction to any drug, can happen to upstanding citizens who would never, ever consider ‘taking drugs.’

If you missed the chat line and think you or someone you know might have a drug problem and you have any questions about it or about drug addiction treatment centers, you can always give the experts at Drug Rehab Referral a call. They’d be happy to help.

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Dr. Spurgeon Green Jr, who practiced in Perry, Georgia, is accused of over-prescribing OxyContin and other prescription narcotics to his patients - 13 of who have died. He is also accused of causing or supporting his patients’ prescription drug addiction. But the jury is apparently going to be asked to see him as a kind, compassionate doctor who was taken advantage of by his patients who lied about their symptoms to get drugs. Come on!!!

I can see that being true if only one of his patients died, but 13?? If he was so kind and compassionate you’d think that he would have re-evaluated the way he was practicing long before the death toll hit 13. No, he’s not kind and compassionate, he’s just another viper lining his own pocket by fuelling prescription drug addiction.

He was seeing 150 patients a day - and having been closely associated with many medical practices I can guarantee you that there’s no way you can keep up a volume like that and do a good job. He was also prescribing drugs without medical examinations (who has time for those pesky trivialities?), and his staff was giving out pre-signed prescriptions when the doctor wasn’t even in the office.

The pharmacist next door also had a great thing going. He ordered 10 times more prescription painkillers than other pharmacies, and 92% of his business was from Dr. Green.

It’s pretty black and white in his case. People who fuel prescription drug addiction are vipers, people who stop prescription drug addiction are kind and compassionate. Clear as a bell.

According to the assistant U.S. attorney, patients’ family members, other doctors and pharmacists questioned what the guy was doing. Okay, but ‘questioning’ didn’t save those lives.

If you are a family member, or a doctor or pharmacist, who thinks someone is suffering from prescription drug addiction, the thing to do is take steps to get them help through prescription drug rehab. Questioning will not save lives.

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The number of deaths from prescription drug overdoses has reached critical mass in Utah and the state is going to do personal interviews with the family members of those who’ve died so they try to get to the bottom of things. Utah’s prescription drug addiction problem is known to be among the worst in the U.S.

David Sundwall, executive director of Utah’s health department, says that many of the deaths involve a combination of prescription drugs, and that many also involve painkillers like OxyContin, Vicodin and others.

While studying the reasons behind the deaths may save some lives, as long as people are using and abusing prescription drugs, and sometimes it gets to the point of prescription drug addiction - especially with painkillers - there are going to be deaths. Period.

If a survey were done on why people who are still living are taking the drugs, and the results were acted upon, you’d probably do more to handle the problem. It’s possible that that kind of survey would actually reduce the number of people taking them, and maybe even get a lot into prescription drug rehab in the process. What’s really needed to prevent prescription drug addiction, dependency, abuse and related deaths is a solution to the problems driving people to drugs in the first place.

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