It’s a horrible thought that you might have had something to do with your kid’s drug problems and their need for drug rehab. But, in the case of prescription drug addiction or abuse, there’s a good chance that it’s true.

How could you have been responsible? According to a recent study of over 70,000 people aged 12 and up, more than 70 percent of people who abuse prescription painkillers get the drugs from friends or relatives. They usually have permission to take them and, of course, the drugs are free.

Here are more alarming statistics:

• 7 million Americans abuse pharmaceutical drugs
• The home medicine cabinet is a primary place where people get their drugs
• 55 percent of prescription painkiller abusers get drugs from a family or friends for free
• 11 percent buy them from friends or family
• 5 percent steal them from friends and family

And then there are the prescription drug overdose deaths:

• Prescription drugs cause more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.
• Prescription drugs are involved in 75 percent of all overdose deaths in the U.S.
• Three out of every four deaths from pills involve opioid painkillers like oxycodone. OxyContin addiction is widespread, but people also die from hydrocodone and methadone.

And other problems brought on by prescription drug abuse:

• Prescription drugs are often the reason for gang violence and for people starting a life of crime
• People who abuse prescription drugs become addicted then turn into drug dealers so they can make money to support their habit
• Doctors and pharmacists are also turning into drug dealers to make more money
• 25 percent of people who abuse painkillers chronically get their drugs from doctors

I think the statistics speak for themselves. Prescription drug abuse is not something to mess around with. They kill people – and that’s not something you want to be responsible for.

If you or someone else in the family is already abusing prescription drugs – or even addicted to them simply by taking them as your doctor prescribed them – it might be time to look for another solution. But, first, find a good drug rehab program that is experienced in helping people get off prescription drugs.

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A recent story said that the number of teens dying from poisoning increased by 90 percent over a period of nine years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the huge jump in these deaths is because of an increasing number of teens taking more and more prescription drugs. In fact, every day another 2,500 teens try prescription drugs. Why is this happening? How can you prevent it? And do they need prescription drug rehab?

A lot of kids experiment with prescription drugs – even those who wouldn’t think of trying the drugs on the street. Why?

• doctors prescribe them, so they must be safe, and it’s not actually like taking drugs
• their parents take the same drugs for their various conditions: including just wanting to feel better, less upset, more relaxed, and so on – things that kids feel a need for, too
• the drugs are readily available – right in the medicine cabinet in their own house or a family member or friend’s house
• they’re being offered these drugs at parties/raves and just for everyday use by other kids
• other kids are taking them and fitting in or being cool is desirable at that age

Okay – so, as parents, which of the above can you eliminate?

The most obvious are taking the drugs yourself, and having them available in the house. True, you’re not going to quit taking drugs that control your outrageously high blood pressure or do something else that may be potentially life-saving.

However, if you’re suffering from back pain, perhaps you could go to a chiropractor instead of popping pain pills. There are also natural remedies for other types of pain –arthritis, for example, has been practically cured with certain nutrients.

And if you’re having trouble sleeping, maybe you could go to a naturopathic doctor who will give you a remedy other than drugs, or maybe even find out what’s causing the problem and cure it.

If you’re upset in life in general, maybe you could look over your life and see what’s upsetting you – then, do something to change that part of your life rather than taking pills that make you less aware of the problem.

By finding non-drug remedies for life’s problems, you are not only getting the drugs out of your medicine cabinet, you’re also doing something even more valuable – you’re teaching your kids that drugs are not a solution to life’s problems and that if you want to feel better about life, you should do something to change your life, not take drugs to make your life look better.

As for whether or not they need prescription drug rehab, that depends on how many of those drugs they’ve done and how often, whether they do other drugs as well, which ones and how often – there are a lot of questions.

Your best bet is to speak with an experienced drug rehab counselor to get all your questions answered.

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Kentucky’s doing a lot to try to handle their prescription drug addiction problem. Not only is a bill nearly passed that will enable another 5,000 people a year to get a drug rehab program paid for by Medicaid, they’re also trying to get a bill through that monitors the number of painkiller prescriptions written by doctors so they can get the docs who are, basically, pushing drugs.

Unfortunately, the bill didn’t go through. The main objections were patient privacy and the possibility of prosecuting doctors who aren’t doing anything wrong.

They’re after the doctors, not the patients, and for good reason: these guys are among the worst criminals in the U.S. More people are dying from prescription drugs than from heroin and cocaine combined. And one of the biggest problems we have to handle in order to prevent those deaths is get the doctors who are over-prescribing under control.

It’s safe to say that these doctors are killing people. And we can’t even investigate them properly? Tell that to the parents, spouses, children and friends of those who are dying.

As for prosecuting innocent doctors, I don’t think that’s likely to happen. They’re not looking for docs who hand out what seems like one or two more prescriptions more than usual – they’re looking at docs who prescribe thousands of pills every day. And often they prescribe them for the same people over and over. And, if they see the patient at all, it could only be for a minute or two.

If someone you care about is using prescription painkillers and you think the situation is out of hand, do two things: One, visit their doctor with them and find out how many pills the person is actually getting. Second, whatever they’re suffering from – other than prescription drug addiction – try to find other solutions to the problem. Third, get them into prescription drug rehab now.

Also, if you suspect that the doctor is up to something, go ahead and report him. You’ll be protecting the people you love, and probably hundreds of others.

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Can you imagine living in a State where poverty is rampant and employers can’t find enough people to hire who pass a drug test? That’s the situation in West Virginia, and this year officials plan to figure out what they can do to get these people into drug rehab and work out an overall handling to reduce the number of people who are drugged.

West Virginia is a good example of what happens on a smaller scale – in families – when drugs and alcohol enter the picture. Sometimes it’s the parents with the drug or alcohol problem, and sometimes it’s the kids. In either case, the result is the same.

How did West Virginia become, basically, an entire State with the same problems drugs create in a family. West Virginia was one of the hardest hit States when the OxyContin addiction problem surfaced in the U.S. Purdue Pharma. Purdue promoted OxyContin as less addictive than previously used painkillers like Vicodin and Percocet – and was later fined $634 million for intentionally lying to the public and doctors.

Not only were people getting addicted to the drug left, right and center, OxyContin pills were also labeled as ‘killers’ because of the rapidly escalating toll of overdose deaths connected to the drug.

People in West Virginia tended to be older and suffer from many chronic illnesses and debilitating diseases caused by years of working in the mines, so they jumped all over OxyContin.

And, now, many years later, the State is still caught up in prescription drug addiction. And many of them can’t afford to get off the drugs – since they’re almost impossible to stop taking without a drug addiction treatment program offered by professionals. There just aren’t enough of them – not good ones, anyone – offered free of charge by the State.

Back to families – this is, of course, is tearing families apart. Not only are parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and kids suffering from addiction, the kids who want to make something of their lives are likely to move to another State to do it. They want opportunity, and there’s not much of it in West Virginia. So, they leave, and the families are left behind.

Anyone who has a family member abusing alcohol or drugs needs to get help immediately. It really will tear the family apart, and someone may even die.

We have enough to regret in our lives without also having the fact that we could have helped someone, and saved their lives, but didn’t do it. A successful drug rehab program is the answer.

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About 10 years ago the number of people who die from heroin and prescription painkillers were about 2,000 – 3,000 a year. Cocaine was slightly higher. But over the last decade, deaths from prescription painkillers have increased by leaps and bounds over heroin and cocaine each year. Anyone taking these pills should be made aware of the dangers and gotten into OxyContin rehab at the first sign of trouble. Any OxyContin rehab program can also help with other prescription painkillers.

In 1999, there were about 2000 deaths from heroin, a little more than 2,500 from prescription painkillers, and nearly 3000 from cocaine.

In 2000, they all remained about the same but in 2001 prescription painkiller deaths went up to more than 4,000. Over the next several years, heroin deaths didn’t really increase at all, cocaine gradually increased to about 6,000, and deaths from prescription painkillers climbed to a whopping 12,000 in 2007! The situation is even worse now. In 2008, the numbers had already climbed to nearly 15,000.

Some other startling facts:

• More than 70 percent of those who have abused prescription painkillers got them from a friend or relative who had a prescription.

• One in three young people aged 12 and older started abusing drugs by taking prescription drugs for non-medical purposes.

• A survey of teens said it’s easier to get prescription drugs than beer.

Lipitor, a drug used to lower cholesterol, used to be the most prescribed drug in the world. Sales in the U.S. reached $12.4 billion in 2008. Now, prescriptions for just one prescription painkiller – Vicodin and others containing hydrocodone – are twice that. And that doesn’t include OxyContin and several other prescription painkillers.

Why is this happening? Are more and more people in chronic pain? Not likely – since 70 percent of people who take these drugs get them from friends or family, and since even kids experimenting with drugs now start with prescription drugs.

No one is really escaping this problem, and until something is done to curtail the sales of the drugs, more and more people will die.

Do you know someone who is taking prescription painkillers? Do you know someone who is taking other drugs and could possibly experiment with prescription painkillers?

Get them into a drug rehab program as soon as possible.

These drugs are killing people because they’re dangerous. Don’t let someone you care about become one of the statistics.

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I guess the day had to come sooner or later: Accidental overdoses of prescription drugs – primarily opiates like OxyContin, hydrocodone, methadone and other painkillers – were the leading cause of accidental death in 2010. And to think that prescription drug addiction treatment could have prevented those deaths.

This information comes from Dr. Ted Parran, an affiliate of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Dr. Parran commented: ““It was not motor vehicle accidents,” Parran said. “Cars come with airbags, Oxycotin doesn’t.”

He also said that doctors have to get better at differentiating between people who need a prescription because have a drug problem and those who have a legitimate medical use for them.

He also said it’s important that people who do actually need them get better at hiding them so they are not readily available to kids or someone else who might want them just to get high or for experimentation.

You also need to avoid sharing your drugs with anyone. For example, if you have a friend with a bad headache, don’t just say ‘Here, take one of my OxyContin. That’ll help.” If you do, you’re setting that friend up for possible OxyContin addiction.

I know that sounds extreme – but, really, it’s true. That person could take one OxyContin, have their headache go away, go to their doctor to get their own prescription and, next thing you know, they’re hooked. It’s that easy.

In fact, it’s not only that easy, it’s one of the primary ways people get addicted to prescription drugs. They start off actually needing them because of an accident, illness, surgery, dental work, etc. and then, when the time comes to stop taking them, they can’t.
One reason for this is that the withdrawal symptoms – the things that happen to the body just when you try to stop taking the drugs, which includes pain – make you think that you still need the drug. So, you keep taking them.

In fact, the pain you experience under those circumstances doesn’t have anything to do with the reason you needed the drug in the first place – it’s because that’s what happens when you try to stop taking them.

Also, the more you take the more you need to get the original effect. So, while 1 pill may have reduced your symptoms for a while, it might take 2 pills later on. That’s one of the reasons for overdoses.

It’s amazing that prescription drugs have become this country’s number one villain. Who would have thought?

And how many parents would have thought that when they take a prescription drug to feel better their kids get the message that these drugs make you feel better so they want to try them, too?

How many parents have lost their kids to these drugs? I don’t know, but if you check the news you see stories like that all the time.

Drugs aren’t fun. Drugs aren’t for experimentation. Drugs should be used to only to help with real, life-threatening situations. After all, the drugs themselves threaten your life. Why use them for something that isn’t also life threatening?

Parents really have to educate themselves on this subject, and they have to get back to thinking of drugs as the last option. And teach their kids the same thing.

That’s the only way to really protect yourself and your family. Heaven knows, you can’t depend on anyone else to do that. And if you or someone you care about has a problem, get into a drug rehab asap.

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A study was recently evaluated regarding drug deaths across the country. As of 2009, they surpassed deaths from traffic accidents. In 2009, 37,485 people lost their lives to drugs – one every 14 minutes. Prescription drugs are blamed for the rising death toll – and not necessarily just from people who abuse them. Prescription drug addiction and dependency is also a big problem with people who you would never suspect would even take ‘drugs.’ They got them from their doctor.

The drugs causing the most deaths are painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. Fentanyl, which is similar to morphine – although 100 times more powerful than morphine – is also becoming more widely used. It’s a painkiller, available in patches, but also marketed as lollipops.

The report also said that these drugs cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.

According to a report in the LA Times, deaths from traffic accidents, unlike drug-related deaths, have been dropping for decades. Why? Because there have been huge investments in auto safety.

Obviously, the same cannot be said for prescription drugs.

When it comes to auto safety, the manufacturers are held responsible. It doesn’t take very many deaths, or even accidents, for the cars to be recalled. Notices are sent out, it’s written about in the newspapers, dealers issue recalls to those who have purchased the ‘dangerous’ cars, and so on.

No one says “Only 10 people died from accidents caused by or worsed by these cars; think of the hundreds of thousands of people who got where they were going without mishap. The benefits outweigh the risks.”

But that’s exactly what happens with prescription drugs. Thousands of people – not just 10 – die from some of these painkillers and it’s justified by the fact that hundreds of thousands of people took them and got rid of their pain. So, the benefits outweigh the risks.”

The worst that happens to the drug manufacturers is that they are told to put a warning on the drug containers and in their advertising. You hear the warnings, some of them, on television ads and you see them in magazines. Drug ads usually take up two pages – one for a picture of a happy person who is taking the drugs and the other, in very, very fine print, for all the side effects, warning, contra-indications and so on.

They’re not taken off the market. Even when Purdue Pharma had to pay out $634 million in fines because of fraudulently marketing OxyContin – which resulted in thousands of cases of people needing OxyContin rehab and who knows how many deaths – they were still allowed to make and sell the product.

And no one went to jail – no one was really held responsible for the damage caused to the individuals who took the drugs. The only people who saw any real money out of it were government agencies that paid for people on Medicare to receive them.

And the company didn’t even need to do anything to make the product safe. And they couldn’t have anyway – because the drugs aren’t safe. Period. There’s no way to change that.

If you or someone in your family is suffering from prescription drug addiction, abuse or dependency, there is something you can do about it:

First, realize that these drugs are not safe. That’s why one person is dying every 14 minutes. Don’t be fooled by the fact that they’re still on the market. It’s not because they’re safe, it’s because the pharmaceutical companies pull more weight than the government.

Second, get them into a drug rehab program that has specific experience with prescription drug rehab.

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In Louisville, Kentucky, a community mental health clinic that services 30,000 patients in the area is no longer going to prescribe the sedative Xanax or its generic version, alprazolam. They’re hoping this move will prevent prescription drug addiction, overdoses, deaths, and the need for drug rehab. They are also hoping to reduce the ‘constant stream of patients seeking Xanax” and the drain on resources caused by “pacifying, educating, bumping heads with people over Xanax.”

They started weaning people off the drugs in April, and plan to have all patients weaned off them completely by the end of 2011.

Xanax and alprazolam aren’t the only addictive prescription drugs causing problem in Kentucky. OxyContin addiction has been a major problem, as have other prescription painkillers like hydrocodone and methadone.

In fact, they been so busy trying to address the painkiller addiction problem that benzodiazepines like Xanax have kind of slipped through the cracks. But abuse and addiction to benzos is also widespread.

Alprazolam, for example, was the eighth most prescribed drug in the country in 2010. And there was an increase of 89% in emergency room visits.

The medical examiner in Kentucky said a combination of opiate painkillers, like OxyContin, and benzodiazepines, especially Xanax, is common in fatal overdoses.

Unfortunately, the clinic is going to replace Xanax and alprazolam with other drugs that don’t give you the ‘high’ that keep people clamoring for Xanax and alprazolam. Also, the body builds up a tolerance to Xanax and alprazolam so people have to take more and more of the drugs to get the same effect. This makes them even more prone to overdose.

Who knows where the other drugs will lead?

But, the clinic is also committed to spending more time with patients and actually working with them to relieve the anxiety they’re experiencing in life so they don’t need drugs at all.

Doctors get paid more for seeing a patient for 10 minutes and prescribing a drug than they do for actually sitting down with the patient and helping them work out the problems in their lives that are causing their emotional state. So it’s possible that their new protocol will affect their bottom line.

It’s good to see a clinic willing to take the hit in order to reduce the damage done by these dangerous and highly addictive drugs. Now, if we could just get them to stop prescribing dangerous drugs altogether …

If you or someone you know has a problem with prescription drug addiction, dependency or abuse, contact Drug Rehab Referral for help in sorting out how to get them into a drug rehab program that will enable them to live drug-free.

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Recent research into the drug scene in New York City shows that prescription drugs are the #2 drugs of abuse and addiction. Second only to marijuana. And that’s only the people who are taking them without a prescription.

It is amazing what has happened with prescription drugs. When first developed they saved lives – and that was their purpose. Now they’ve turned into a multi-billion dollar industry – one of, if not the most profitable industry on the planet and one of the most dangerous. They’ve turned into public enemy #1.

They are ruining people’s lives. People are dying from them, going to jail because of them, having their lives and families torn apart, filling up drug rehab facilities.

Prescription drugs are not just for saving lives anymore; they are now taken for everything from pain – much of which could be addressed with drug-free therapies like chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy, lifestyle changes, and so on – to ‘treating’ anxiety, depression, fidgeting in class and just about every other problem. All problems that used to be considered part of every day life and are now labeled as mental illness – needing treatment with drugs.

In fact, so many of our emotions and mental states are now categorized as mental illness that you’d be hard-pressed to not find yourself, your family members or friends falling into at least one of the current mental illness categories.

Pharmaceutical companies pay out billions of dollars in fines for false and illegal advertising and marketing, for injuries and deaths – but, for them, it’s all just part of doing business. They are a powerful industry. Any other industry with business practices that unethical and products or services that created that much damage would have been stopped long ago.

Despite these disasters, the industry is looking for even more customers – pushing for legislation for ‘screening’ to make sure that those with a ‘potential’ for ‘mental illness’ are drugged as a preventative measure. It has even been suggested that children be screened before they are born!

Many of the most commonly taken drugs are highly addictive.  OxyContin addiction, addiction to oxycodone, hydrocodone, Fentanyl, Vicodin, Percocet, Xanax, Valium, and others – are highly addictive. And we now have a prescription drug-addicted society. A problem far worse than street drugs ever were.

These are now the drugs that you “just say NO” to.

Has someone in your family fallen prey to prescription drugs? Are they taking prescription drugs for something other than life-saving purposes and getting addicted to them? Find a good drug rehab program to get help. You may not be able to stop the nationwide epidemic, but you can stop prescription drugs from ruining your life and the lives of your family and friends.

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Prescription drug addiction and abuse is now causing more deaths than any other drug in the state of Florida.

In 2010, there were over 9,000 drug-related deaths, which is up nearly 10% from 2009.

The worst drug is Oxycodone, which goes under the trade names Tylox, Percodan and OxyContin. OxyContin addiction has been taking the country by storm for years – ever since it gained popularity as a prescription painkiller when the manufacturer (Purdue Pharma) lied to doctors and the public by saying it was less addictive than other painkillers. Purdue was taken to court and fined $634 million for lying about the drug, but that did not stop the firestorm of addiction.

Florida has been one of the hardest hit. In fact, of the 9000+ drug deaths in 2010, 1516 were related to OxyContin addiction and abuse. Also, even though 2010 drug-related deaths were up about 10% from 2009, OxyCodone (mostly OxyContin) went up 28%.

The second type of drug involved in the deaths was benzodiazepines (sedatives) at 1,304. And methamphetamine was third at 694. Other drugs, obviously, were all less than methamphetamine. Alcohol is also on the list – it isn’t often that you see a drug overshadowing the damage done by alcohol.

It’s obvious that prescription drug addiction is leading the way with drug-related deaths in Florida: they are responsible for nearly 1/3 of the deaths.

Many people believe that prescription drugs are safer than others since they are given out by doctors. Nothing could be further from the truth – the statistics speak for themselves.

If you know or suspect that you or someone you care about is suffering from OxyContin addiction, or benzodiazepine addiction, or is involved in other types of prescription drug abuse, you can get help. Not all drug rehab facilities are experienced with prescription drugs but many do an excellent job. At Drug Rehab Referral, we can help you find the best programs for your situation. Call us at 877-211-7428 for help.

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