AHS Views

Are some people genetically-disposed to addiction? In a recent review of medical literature, scientists isolated about 400 genes and chromosomes that may indicate that to be the case. But genes or no genes, it’s still going to be up to the individual to get the addiction help they need.

One of the major problems with the ‘gene’ theory is that it basically takes the control out of the hands of the individual. There’s not much a person can do about their genes, but they can do something about alcohol or drug addiction with the right treatment.

There are a lot of genetic predispositions to a lot of things - cancer, for example, is more likely to occur in people whose parents, grandparents, etc., had cancer. But does that mean they’re going to get it? Absolutely not. Neither does having ‘addiction genes’ mean that someone is going to get addicted.

The known facts are this: drug detox and drug rehab can help someone overcome addiction. And if they’re done right, your chances are pretty good. In fact, if you choose the right addiction help services - get into the right detox and rehab program for you -  and you really do the program thoroughly, you can beat it. Genes or no genes.

Parents in Morgan County, Indiana are invited to a drug education and training session on January 23, 2008. United for a Drug-free Morgan County Coalition is hosting the event and is presenting “Proven Strategies to Strengthen Drug Prevention Efforts in Morgan County.” With alcohol abuse running at a higher rate than both the state and national averages, getting parents involved before more addiction help is needed is a smart idea.

Indianapolis quarterback Jack Trudeau and his wife Lisa should be required to attend, they were recently fined $2500 dollars each for allowing Boone County high school students to drink alcohol at their daughter Danielle’s graduation party. Mr. and Mrs. Trudeau are probably unaware of the problems teenage alcohol abuse can cause later in life and the fact that teenagers who drink are more likely to need addiction help when they get older.

Another person who should be there is Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson:  he was charged with drunk driving and may face up to a year in jail. Parents and leaders in the community should help send the message that alcohol and drug abuse are not cool. When teenagers stand around drinking in front of or near an NFL quarterback and he doesn’t stop them it sends the wrong message, even if it seems safer to be drinking at home - or whatever excuse is being used.

More the 85% of parents think they can’t stop their kids from drinking, so most probably don’t even try.

Diana Roy, the Morgan County coordinator of Youth as Resources of Central Indiana said “It’s a mindset in changing the way people think; you can have fun without alcohol. The big thing we want to see is parents gaining awareness”.

If more drug education is required than less drug or alcohol addiction help services will be necessary.

I read yet another story today about the vaccine that’s supposed to cure cocaine addiction. It’s not going to work for the vast majority - I can tell you that right now. Even though this drug may block the receptors in the brain that cause the high - most addicts will simply find another drug to create the same effect until they get the addiction help they need.

Drug addiction doesn’t stem from simply taking a drug. For every person out there who has used cocaine and become an addict there is probably another person who used cocaine and didn’t.

Was it because they took the ‘vaccine.’ No, it’s because they’re handling whatever issues they have in life without drugs. A drug addict, on the other hand, is not.

How is the person going to get relief from those issues if he can’t feel the effects of the drug? He’s not. So, he’ll look for something else.

Until the person is able to get the addiction help services he needs to resolve the problems, things aren’t going to change. And, if the person does get the help he needs, he won’t need a vaccine, or any other drug for that matter, to get sorted out.

Where does addiction treatment fall when you do a survey about drug abuse? Do the surveys tell us enough to measure how much addiction help will be needed in the future?

The surveys that are done are incomplete and half the students don’t even fill them out. Also, there are plenty of questions about street drugs like heroin, but the information we really need to figure out what kind of demand there will be for addiction help has to include prescription drugs – that is where the epidemic is today.

Specific questions about Vicodin are in some surveys – the fact that 10% of high school seniors use Vicodin for recreational purposes, for example, came out of a survey. But we don’t know how many people are abusing OxyContin because that is not asked about in most surveys and, in both cases, we don’t have a clear idea of how much abuse is occurring.

Prescription stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall need to be asked about by name, along with anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax and Valium. Antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs should also be in the surveys.

Prescription drug problems are so widespread now we really need to do more on the education side to combat the abuse. At least 50% of the population thinks prescription drugs are safe to use – and abuse.

To get a better idea of how much addiction help will be needed we should also be asking about how frequently prescription drugs are used – there’s a big difference between having used something once in the past month, or once in their entire lifetime, and spending two weeks straight on something like OxyContin, or any drug for that matter.

In a recent survey in Minneapolis, Minnesota at Princeton High School this question was asked and answered by students and the information gathered is clear enough to get the school district to start drug education classes at an earlier age and more often.

For those people who are already addicted to prescription drugs there is treatment available, but the drugs of today are powerful and more beds will be needed in the future. Addiction Help Services can help you find the right treatment for your situation.

I read an article not long ago about a family that was completely destroyed by their son’s drug addiction. His problem started with OxyContin, but soon moved on to heroin and other drugs. He was still in his teens when he started. His parents tried drug rehab, but the program they chose didn’t get down to the bottom of the problem so he relapsed. Fortunately, he’s now getting the addiction help he needs, but the family lost their house, car, and just about everything they owned before it finally happened.

If you think this sounds impossible, it appears that even Lindsey Lohan - who was worth about $7 million, not just a little house and a family car - has lost everything to alcohol and drug abuse. According to news reports, she’s broke and asking friends for money. She apparently blew it all.  It appears that her alcohol and drug abuse also destroyed her career cause the money just isn’t coming in.

The earlier family I read about, and Lindsay, are not alone. God knows how many families have been destroyed - everything they’ve worked for, gone down the drain - because one of the family members didn’t get the addiction help they need, or didn’t get it soon enough.

It is known that the earlier a drug problem is caught, and the earlier something is done about it, the better the chances of the person actually quitting alcohol or drugs and the better their chances of staying off them.

Don’t think you’re immune to this sort of problem - I’m sure not one family that has been ruined because of addiction expected it would happen to them.

If you or someone in your family has a drug problem, or you suspect they do, you can’t get them addiction help too soon. Addiction Help Services can help you find the right drug rehab program for your situation. Save your loved one, and your family, from devastation. 

Meth and meth addiction is Oregon’s number one crime problem according to candidate John Kroger. John Kroger is running for Attorney General for the State of Oregon and if elected he will help get more people into drug treatment. “Évery year meth costs us hundreds of millions of dollars in prison and law enforcement costs, health care expenditures, and lost workforce productivity.” He wants to see people get the addiction help they need.

Mr. Kroger understands that treatment can save tax payers plenty of money, “for every dollar we invest in treatment, we will save nearly six dollars by bringing down the crime and incarceration rates.”

His plan to send more people to drug treatment makes more sense then sending people to prison. Currently Oregon ranks 45th in the nation for addiction help overall and 49th for treatment in young adults ages 18 to 25. He will need to find a successful treatment program to help the meth users in Oregon, and he will need more treatment centers.

The number of small meth labs in Oregon has decreased since 2005 when the Governor put laws in place to limit the supplies that methamphetamine manufacturers needed to produce this deadly drug. But like other parts of the country, large drug trading organizations filled that hole by importing drugs from Mexico. Mr. Kroger wants to take on the drug cartel head on. We hope he is successful, we see the devastation meth and other drugs bring to society everyday.

If his plan works, Mr. Kroger will cut the supply and force more people into treatment instead of sentencing the addicts to long stints of incarceration which, in the long run, doesn’t usually result in them getting the addiction help they need. Instead, they often wind up back on drugs, and back in prison.

Addiction Help Services can help you, a family member or friend if you are having trouble with meth or any drug if you live in Oregon.

Well, here’s an interesting twist - a vaccine for cocaine addiction. But this vaccine doesn’t prevent addiction, it’s used to get somone who’s already hooked to stop taking it. Does that mean they won’t need addiction help?

Not likely. The researcher developing the vaccine said, “At some point, most users will give in to temptation and relapse, but those for whom the vaccine is effective won’t get high and will lose interest.”  

Well, let me tell you something - if this vaccine is so ineffective that ‘most users will give in to temptation and relapse’, it sounds like the only people it will really help are those who can probably get off cocaine on their own steam.

Neverthless, it is an interesting concept. The vaccine works on the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to the cocaine and thereby prevent it from reaching the brain. I’m not crazy about anything that messes with the immune system - you never know where that kind of thing can lead - but if it helps someone get off drugs, and doesn’t do any other damage, it might be a good idea.

It’s supposed to be used in conjunction with drug rehab and other addiction help. I don’t know quite how that would work since if a person is in drug rehab he’s not going to be using cocaine anyway.

Although physical dependency is one element of addiction, or can be, it’s not really the most pivotal. Getting off a drug can be relatively easy - the urge to escape from whatever drove the person to drugs in the first place is another story. And no vaccine is going to handle that.

If you or someone you know is using cocaine, Addiction Help Services can help you find the drug detox or drug rehab program you need to get off the drug. If you really want to do it, it can be done without a vaccine. 

Santa Cruz, California is essentially a beach town: if you had been there you would get the idea of a low key, low stress, health conscious community. Steroids, high school athletes and Santa Cruz would not seem like a natural fit. Neither does it seem likely that Santa Cruz would have many people who need addiction help.

However, two professional athletes who graduated from Santa Cruz High have been linked to steroids - major league baseball player Glenallen Hill was mentioned in the Mitchell report, and NFL player Obafemi Ayanbadejo was suspended for four games in September for steroid use.

The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League does not have a steroid policy or any drug testing, according to Pat Lovell the League’s commissioner. Athletes are required to sign a form saying they won’t take any illegal substances.

If there is a steroid problem in Santa Cruz it would most likely come from competition issues. Jim Rear, a substance abuse counselor who does drug education in schools commented on what one boy said: “I play football here, and I want to play in college. But sometimes when I work out with guys in college I see what they’re doing, and I don’t want to do it. But I see guys who want to play the same position as me and they’re bigger and stronger and it puts a lot of pressure on me. What do I do?”

The competition issues are probably a bigger problem than people think. In fact, it probably needs to be addressed in every level of sports - and not just steroids, prescription painkillers, stimulants and even tranquilizers are probably even more widespread than steroids and need even more attention.

If you or someone you know needs addiction help and lives in Santa Cruz, give us a call. We can help find the addiction help services you need.