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Plans Announced to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription drug abuse is on the rise and statistics have been released to prove it.  According to the Substance and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), between 2002 and 2009, the number of Americans aged 12 and older abusing pain relievers increased by 20 percent.

As a result, the Obama administration and lawmakers of both parties vow to tackle the growing epidemic of painkiller deaths.  Anti-drug and health officials released a new strategy this week that calls for states to create and use databases which track prescription drugs.  The plan also asks for an additional $123 million for drug prevention and an additional $99 million for treatment programs in the 2012 fiscal year.

“Today we are making an unprecedented commitment to combat the growing problem of prescription drug abuse”, said Joe Bide, United State Vice President. “This plan will save lives, and it will substantially lessen the burden this epidemic takes on our families, communities, and workforce.”

“This plan will save lives, and it will substantially lessen the burden this epidemic takes on our families, communities, and workforce,” he added.

This plan will help educate the medical community about the dangers of prescription drug addiction and how their actions are affecting the entire country.   Drug makers will actually be responsible for teaching the doctors and drug distributors about the safe use of prescription drugs.

The plan will also force states to put in place and use a drug monitoring program.  A drug monitoring program is a statewide electronic database which collects designated data on substances dispensed in the state. The monitoring is controlled by a specified statewide administration or agency. The agency distributes data from the database to individuals who are authorized under state law to receive the information for purposes of their profession.

It also includes a more effective arrangement for pill disposal methods. Individuals will be given specific areas where they can bring their unused medications or prescriptions and have them safely disposed.  Without a strict enforcement, unused drugs could sit around the medicine cabinet and eventually fall into the wrong hands.

Finally, it includes a collective effort to reduce the prevalence of pill mills. A pill mill is a doctor’s office or clinic where doctors sell prescription drugs to practically anyone with cash.  These have also become a major problem throughout the country.

If implemented correctly, this plan has the potential to save the lives of millions.

Prescriptions have become the second most abused drug in the world currently. The government, along with rehabilitation and education programs around the country is working hard to end the prescription epidemic. The solution is to focus on demand reduction and get prescription drug addiction help for those in need.

The Prescription Cross Addiction Problem

In the last decade, prescription drug addiction has taken the country by storm.  In Florida, where more prescription medication is dispensed than anywhere else in the country, prescription drug addiction is affecting every citizen in some way or another.
One former Florida resident and prescription drug addict, Heather M., gives her story of how prescription drugs snuck into her life and took complete control.

“I went into a doctor’s office in South Florida to have him check on some back pain I was having,” explains Heather. “Without even looking at my MRI or X-Rays, he was filling out a prescription to Oxy Contin.”

According to an analysis of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s data, 98 of the top 100 doctors dispensing Oxy Contin nationally are in Florida. In addition approximately 126 million pills of Oxy Contin are dispensed through Florida pharmacies.  These numbers are staggering, considering that Oxy Contin is a prescription drug that is comparable only to heroin or morphine.

“I got on methadone to get off OxyContin which was a huge mistake,” explains Heather, a former methadone addict and recent graduate of the Narconon program. “I stopped taking heroin but developed a dependency towards the methadone.  For me, methadone was even more addictive than the Oxy Contin. ”

Methadone was developed as a substitute treatment, used by those struggling with heroin addiction.  The theory is that one will substitute the methadone for their heroin addiction, reducing withdrawal symptoms, and then they will be weaned off of the methadone.

“I was on methadone for 9 years and it totally destroyed my body,” said Heather. “As a result to the prolonged us of methadone, I developed an under-active thyroid, requiring me to take medication for the rest of my life.  I also developed a severe calcium and magnesium deficiency from the methadone, causing me to have body cramps almost a year and a half later. The withdrawals from methadone are far worse than Oxy Contin.”
Stories like this are far more common than one might believe.  An individual goes into a doctor’s office looking for some help with a injury, such as a back pain, and leave with a prescription to powerful drugs such as Oxy Contin.  They then become addicted to the euphoric feeling produced by the prescription drug.  In many cases, the individual becomes “strung out” on the drug and many even overdose or die.

This did not occur Heather’s case. Luckily, she found relief from her addiction through a rehabilitation program called Narconon.
“Narconon Arrowhead offered immediate help with my addiction and truly cared about my well-being,” said Heather.” They handled the full extent of my addiction; the physical and mental issues surrounding my drug problem and did this using a method that was totally drug free.”

Narconon, an inpatient treatment program, offers a drug-free approach to rehabilitation. The facility specializes in handing prescription addiction as well as addiction to all drugs and alcohol and achieves a more than 70% success rate for permanent sobriety from addiction.

“I wish I would have tried Narconon before using methadone for my Oxy Contin addiction,” says Heather, “Thanks to Narconon, I am no longer dependent on drugs or medication. I have found permanent sobriety.”

For more information on prescription addiction or to help a loved one, contact Narconon today at 800-468-6933.

What Is Lost With Prescription Drug Addiction

The mental and emotional toll addiction takes on an individual and a family is devastating. Here are some of the key things a person can lose when they end up trapped by addiction.

1.    Freedom-This is just someone’s physical freedom. Drugs trap an individual and they become unable to enjoy life without them. One addict describes prescription addiction as “a trap she could not get out of.”

2.    Respect-When an individual becomes addicted to drugs they tend to say or do things that are out of character. Many times the person ends up doing things that cause others to lose respect for them and for the person to lose respect for themselves.

3.    Family-An ex-addiction once said, “Through my addiction, I lost my family. And when you lose years and your kids are grown, you can’t get that time back.” Addiction creates a barrier between the addict and family members. Trust is broken that can take years to rebuild.

4.    Productivity- According to the National Institutes of Health alcohol and drug abuse cost the economy $246 billion. Productivity is not just lost in the workplace with addiction but in all areas of life.

5.    Home- A housewife that was hooked on prescriptions once said that her house was a mess, bills unpaid and her life was in shambles. This is when she realized she really needed to get help for her addiction. Once a person gets hooked all other responsibilities go down the drain.

6.    Self Respect-Many addicts will stop respecting themselves and others and choose drugs over everything else in life. It takes someone down a path they never thought they would go down.

7.    Friends-The people who care will eventually isolate the addicted person so that they are not negatively affected by the addiction anymore. One high school student reported he stopped spending time with his lifelong friend after the friend started smoking marijuana daily and stopped being interested in anything else. It is very difficult for a person to watch someone throw everything away in life that they would like to achieve.

8.    Dreams-These are goals for the future. What someone wants or strives to get. Drugs strip away goals and destroy dreams. Things that the individual sets out to achieve are put on hold or totally thrown away.

Prescription addiction causes loss not just for the addict but for friends, family, the community and society as a whole.

Narconon successfully handles this type of addiction with a 70% success rate for permanent recovery. For more information on prescription drug addiction call Narconon today at 800-468-6933.

Drying Out From Prescription Addiction

One method of handling prescription addiction is to withdrawal or “dry out” from the drugs.  For many this is in the state of a medical detox where they wind down with substitute drugs or just stop “cold turkey” and experience withdrawal symptoms for several days.

The drying out process is short but the most difficult step is what happens after this. Left unhandled, the person will crave drugs and those cravings are a catalyst to relapse.

When a person consumes the drug, the body recognizes it as a poison and fights to get rid of it. The unfortunate matter is that the body cannot get rid of the entire drug without a more comprehensive detox. Tiny drug residuals are left behind and bond to the fatty tissues of your body.  One can really only achieve complete drug withdrawal through a detox program that will get rid of all drug residuals that are left behind once the drug has been consumed. This will enable a person to no longer experience physical drug cravings.

This is done by sweating out the residues in a dry heat sauna. This program would also use a very strict vitamin regimen, plenty of water and a healthy diet. A doctor’s approval would be needed to enroll in the detox to begin with.

Once this is complete the individual will need to address the mental and emotional aspects of their addiction. Without handling these issues a person can experience ‘emotional triggers’ on a daily basis. These triggers will take over a person’s mind and basically coax a person into using the drug. It will be very tough for a person to continue to stay drug free unless they handle these triggers.

Handling the mental aspect of the problem is learning how to deal with daily life problems once again without turning to prescriptions. With these types of drugs it can be very easy to relapse because they are very available for users. But the idea is to receive treatment by doing the above so one is not left without skills to solve the problem of addiction.

For more information on detox or prescription addiction or for help, call Narconon today at 800-468-6933.

Narconon Warns Kids, Parents about Dangers of Inhalants

Narconon, drug rehab and prevention facility to help educate as many people as possible about the dangers of inhalant abuse in observance of National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week.

March 20-26 is National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week, and Narconon wants to help prevent inhalant abuse and associated effects by educating parents and kids.  The annual observance is sponsored by the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition.

According to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), there were roughly 600,000 people in America aged 12 or older who had used inhalants during the past month. Inhalants are often chemicals that are typically found in an average household, including fumes from air dusters, spray paints, paint thinners, cleaners and other chemicals.

Awareness and prevention efforts to appear to be working, as the rates of inhalant abuse amount youth between the ages of 12 and 17 have declined each year from 2006-2009. Narconon prevention programs include inhalants as part of the curriculum.

The National Inhalant Prevention website says that 1 in 5 kids try inhalants by the time they reach eighth grade, and that “huffing,” as it is often called, can cause brain damage even in the first use.

On the treatment side, more than 1,000 people each year list inhalants as their primary substance of abuse. For those seeking treatment at Narconon, they participate in a body cleaning process that helps to eliminate the stored toxic residues form the chemicals that have been inhaled.

If you would like a Narconon drug prevention specialist to speak to your school or organization, or if you have a loved one in need of rehabilitation, contact Narconon Arrowhead today at 800-468-6933.