AHS Views

A new drug addiction recovery program is being piloted in Vigo County, Indiana and, if it works, will be expanded to include other counties. This program, funded by a grant of nearly $15 million, will focus on giving addicts the longer-term follow up addiction help they need. There’s a good chance that this will be successful as it’s directly aimed at preventing relapse.

The best addiction help programs include whatever assistance the person needs to get their life back on track. Going through a 30-day drug rehab, which is probably as long, if not longer, as most people get, is just barely enough time to get the person off drugs: when they’re back out into the environment, there’s a good chance they’ll relapse if they don’t also have jobs lined up, places to stay and people around them who are also drug-free and encourage and help them.

In fact, these kinds of arrangements are one of the major things that make a drug rehab program successful, or not.

If  you’re having trouble with drug addiction, make sure you get into a drug rehab program that includes helping you work out what will happen after you leave. Unless you’re fully prepared, you may well find yourself relapsed and looking for addiction help services once again.

Last year the number of major league baseball players testing positive for ADD was 28. This year it’s 103. Why the big change? According to Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines banned substances for the World Anti-Doping Agency, it could be a ploy to get a “Therapeutic Use Exemption” for taking performance-enhancing stimulants. It could also forecast addiction and an increased need for addiction help for baseball players.

In 2006, amphetamines were banned. What does that have to do with ADD? The most commonly prescribed drugs for ADD are Ritalin and Adderall – both of which are compared to cocaine by the U.S. government. They are definitely stimulants, but they are not considered to be performance enhancing.

That alone is absurd  - how could anyone in baseball think that Ritalin and Adderall are not performance enhancing?

And they’re dangerous. Just like cocaine and many other street drugs. Both, if taken long enough, will minimally require drug detox to get off and 10 or 20 of  these players will end up needing addiction help and have to go into treatment.

And what about prescription painkillers: are they less harmful if taken for a long period of time? Not on your life. But it’s probably not a big deal if it means you can sign a $5 million contract. Stimulants and painkillers would be performance enhancing if you can’t play without them.

Steroids may be a problem in sports, but prescription drugs are an even bigger problem. And the epidemic is apparently is alive and flourishing in professional baseball. Get the addiction help services you need if you are having a problem with prescription drugs.

Merrill High School in Wisconsin has a zero tolerance policy on drugs and, consequently, eight students were expelled when they were caught with prescription drugs. It’s no doubt best for the school - kids who take drugs often encourage others to do the same, so the kids in the environment are safer without that influence. But who’s going to make sure that those eight kids get the addiction help they need?

If you don’t want your kids to abuse prescription drugs, it’s probably best to not use them yourself. Parents who use drugs  to handle their problems in life are risking sending the message to their kids that drugs are a solution. They may be a temporary solution in extreme cases of medical emergenies, and for short periods of time but, beyond that, you’re often risking dependency and addiction.

Keep your drugs locked up, don’t tempt your kids to use them. And if they’re already using them, get them the addiction help services they need before they get into trouble.

Hanover Hospital, in Hanover PA, sponsored a ‘town hall’ meeting to educate residents on Hanover’s drug problems. With 30 percent of police department calls directly related to drugs, and 60 - 70 percent indirectly related, Hanover Police Chief Randy Whitson expected a full house. “This room, with the problem that we have, should be standing-room only. This room should be packed,” he said. But the room was almost empty. Unfortunately, the community’s lack of interest may prevent people from getting the addiction help they need.

The police chief’s viewpoint on the war on drugs? “We’re losing,” he said. “We’re losing badly.”

Hanover is not the only area in Pennsylvania with a drug problem, and heroin is the state’s biggest problem - as it is in Hanover. ER visits related to heroin are 3 times higher than the national average, and 36% of people going into treatment for drug addiction help are on heroin - more than any illegal drug in the state.

If you live in Pennsylvania and need help with a drug problem, call Addiction Help Services. We’ll help you find the addiction help you need. 

A lot of people get the alcohol or drug treatment they need through drug court. Here’s the story of one young Kentucky woman, a mother, who started taking drugs and drinking casually while she was a senior in high school. It seems she wasn’t really interested in drugs, but because the people she hung around with took them and they were conveniently available, she went along with it. It took five long years before she got the addiction help she needed, and that was only after an overdose.

Her story demonstrates how easy it is to fall into the trap of drugs. And to get addicted. As a high school senior she started going out with an older guy who took drugs, drank, smoked, and so on. Things she had never done, and she didn’t know anyone else who did. She tried drugs out of curiosity, really. She continued the relationship, and the association with people who took drugs. Truthfully, had she stopped seeing this guy early enough she probably would have gone back to her old drug-free friends and her life would have turned out just fine.

Instead she wound up a 22-year-old addict shooting cocaine, morphine and OxyContin - which was very easy to get in her Kentucky hometown. She was also living a life of crime to support her habit. Within a short time, she lost everything she had.

This was a girl who, while still going to school, worked, bought a car and rented a place to live - that’s quite an exceptional teenager. But drugs ruined it all.

When she overdosed there was some kind of crime involved because she ended up in the justice system. She begged for drug court - which offers drug rehab instead of jail so the offender can get the addiction help they need.

Fortunately, she made it. But for every story like this, there are thousands of drug addicts who never get the addiction help they need and never have a chance to get their life under control.

If you’re in trouble with drugs or alcohol and are looking for drug rehab in Kentucky, give us a call. We can help you find the addiction help services you need to get out of the trap and get your life back.

Drug abuse trends in Idaho are changing from methamphetamines to cocaine. Cocaine has always been easy to get in Idaho and now people are switching from methamphetamine abuse to cocaine abuse. Addiction help facilities are likely to see an increase in cocaine users coming for treatment. This trend change has been occurring over the past two or three months according to Nampa Special Investigations Unit Sgt. Joe Huff.

“I wouldn’t say meth is going away and it’s not a problem. It’s still a huge problem, but right now it’s taken a backseat to cocaine,’ he said.

The reason for the switch appears to be the price: cocaine runs between $600 and $700 and ounce while methamphetamines go for $1500 to $1600 and ounce. A year ago meth and cocaine were closer in price - meth sold for $850 to 900 dollars an ounce.

The price of meth has gone up because of stricter laws regarding some of the raw materials needed to make it. Also the supply is being directed more to the east coast cities rather than Idaho.

The anti-meth campaigns are useful in curbing meth abuse and should be continued, along with more drug education and treatment. As people switch to cocaine, the next logical switch will be to Ritalin or Adderall as they are just as useful as cocaine but are legal

If you have a friend who needs addiction help services because of methamphetamines or cocaine, call us.

When will Purdue Pharmacy and the other manufacturers of painkillers step forward to help the thousands of people who became addicted to OxyContin, Percocet or Vicodin? “Nearly a decade after OxyContin slammed into southwestern Virginia and much of Appalachia, the abuse of prescription painkillers in the region is worse the ever, police and public officials say,” (Nick Miroff, Washington Post). Who’s going to pay for the addiction help they need?

One person who could have used addiction help was Jeff Trapp. He went through $60,000 of his retirement savings supporting his habit. Jeff is now on methadone and drives 120 miles a day to a clinic to get his dose. He spends $18 dollars a day at the clinic ($540 a month) and probably $300 dollars a week on gas ($1200 a month).

Would things be different if the addiction help he needed had been available? Maybe not, 37% of the people in coal mining regions have ended up on disability. But I would say none of these people were warned about the dangers of OxyContin or painkiller addiction and that may have helped Jeff and countless others.

OxyContin addiction and dependency has cost people like Jeff far more then the $640 million Purdue Pharmacy has paid. Does anyone know how much Purdue has made selling these drugs to unsuspecting people?

If you or anyone you know needs help with any kind of drug or alcohol addiction, call Addiction Help Services.

Heroin users definitely need to get whatever addiction help they need to become drug free.

In a recent follow up study by the Drug Treatment Centre and Advisory Board in Dublin, Ireland, it was found that half the pregnant women treated for heroin addiction in 1985 are now dead. The women were in their late teens or early 20s in 1985 and the follow up study found 29 of them did not survive. HIV killed 17 of them, 28 died from medical illness such as pneumonia or heart failure and four died from suicide – two of which were drug overdoses.

Of the survivors, nine tested positive for heroin and 14 tested positive for heroin and at least one other drug.

The researchers also followed up on the children of the dead mothers and found that 37% had spent time in prison and 42% had a history of drug abuse.

It’s a sad outcome for so many women and their children. The ones who are still alive and still young might be able to get the drug addiction help they need. This is really something to think about if you know someone who is abusing prescription painkillers or heroin.

Addiction help services and treatment is available and you can lead a drug and alcohol free life. Heroin abuse and methamphetamines can lead to HIV and other illnesses that do kill you. Get the help you need. It is possible to end drug addiction, don’t end up dead.

Can drug testing at Sparta High School make the difference for students who may be on the edge of drug addiction? Will this simple effort be enough to keep some students from ending up in drug treatment or worse? At Sparta High School they plan to do drug testing and to bring in the K-9 unit to check lockers for drugs. This will not help much if students are carrying prescription drugs in their pockets, but it is a start – and it may prevent students from drug addiction and the need for addiction help.

In a recent letter to parents, acting Principal James Bevere announced that as part of Sparta High School’s proactive drug awareness program, “We will be cooperating with the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office, Sparta Township Police Department, and the Sussex County Sheriff’s Department in an effort to discourage the use, sale and possession of any and all controlled dangerous substances.”

The dogs will only be used to search lockers, not students, but drug testing will also be done on athletes, kids who drive to school, and students involved in extracurricular activities.

Only a student’s parents and the school will know if a student fails a drug test -  by law, no one else can know the results and no student can be arrested for a positive drug test. But parents will know if their kid has a problem and can get them the addiction help they need.

The objective of the program is to deter students from using drugs. Hopefully the combination of drug testing, locker searches and drug education will help reduce the need for addiction help services.

Montgomery County Superior Court sentenced Henry Martin Kolep to 10 years in prison for dealing in prescription drugs. His customers could have been buying Ritalin, Adderall, methadone, OxyContin, Percocet, Morphine, Xanax, Valium or any other prescription drug – all of which are Schedule II substances according to the DEA and, of course, very dangerous. They often cause dependency and addiction, and drug detox, drug rehab and other addiction help is frequently required to get off them.

Henry had never been arrested for drug dealing although he had a criminal history. Its unclear where Mr. Kolep received his drugs but it could have been the Internet, a doctor, a healthcare worker, or he may have stolen it – although theft is not usually a good source for a long time supply.

The drug manufacturers should be keeping better track of their sales so that substance abuse is not so easy and addiction help not so necessary. Many people may need pain medication for their pain, but when huge amounts are available on the streets or over the internet, supply chain issues need to be looked at.

It seems unlikely that the manufacturers aren’t getting paid for the drugs that are available on the street.

Prescription drug addiction, abuse, and dependency have surpassed street drug use in the U.S. The new drug dealers will find a supply of pills to sell instead of pounds of cocaine or bags of heroin.

Tens of millions of people need addiction help, and a large percentage of those are addicted to prescription pain killers, stimulants and tranquilizers. They need help to withdraw from those drugs and get the addiction help services they need.