AHS Views

The only funeral director in Pineville, West Virgina, recently commented on the number of deaths caused by prescription drug overdoses - painkillers like OxyContin being the major problem. “If these people had died of the swine flu, we’d probably be making national headlines,” he said.

Well, it does make national headlines - every day you can find at least one news story about someone dying because of prescription drugs. And sometimes there’s one story in the news for days - like when Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin, was sued and paid $634 million as fines for falsely marketing the drug as less addictive and dangerous than other painkillers.

But resolution of the prescription drug addiction, abuse, and overdose problem is going to take far more than a few headlines. We’ve actually got to stop prescribing the drugs unless they’re absolutely necessary.

OxyContin, for example, was initially intended for terminally ill cancer patients - they need relief - and unbearable pain that hasn’t responded to any other remedies. Instead, it’s being given to people who have headaches, had a tooth pulled, had very minor surgery, have back pain - yes, I realize people have to function, but how many people with back pain have ever been through a full reatment program with a chiropractor, physical therapists or acupuncturist - not many you can be sure.

It’s not just up to the FDA - big pharm’s big business and needs big changes. But they’ve got so much money, and so many people dependant on it one way or another - that a big pharma crash is going to effect the economy.

Even worse is the fact big pharma’s got people convinced that drugs are needed - and a certain percentage of them are, no doubt about that. But that percentage is small - and it doesn’t include some of the biggest money makers.

Is the FDA going to address that successsfully? Not likely. We need a real paradigm shift. It’s going to have to come from the top. C’mon Obama, move it. It should be in the health care plan.  

I don’t usually watch reality shows, but I have to say that some of the legal/police type shows that take on social issues can be very insightful. Recently, when discussing the problem of drug addiction, someone on TV asked ‘Why don’t they just burn all the poppy fields?” The response - “Because there has to be a war on something or the people in Washington wouldn’t get elected.” That was probably an old show because the war on drugs certainly isn’t the only war in town right now, but it does make you wonder about the true intentions of the powers that be when there are, really, some pretty simple solutions to the war on drugs available. At least from the standpoint of getting people through drug treatment successfully.

The country spends millions, or billions, on various drug treatment methods and facilities -but a large portion of them don’t even work! They’re out-patient facilities, week or month-long residential programs that are barely enough to dry the person out, halfway houses (may be fine AFTER a real drug rehab program to help the person get their lives in order), and so on.

But, there are tons of facilities and drug treatment programs that have high success rates. Why not drop the programs that only rehabilitate 30% of their clients and throw more support behind those that see success for 70%?

A short-term or out-patient drug rehab program may work for some, but don’t make the mistake of trying one of those first - chances are they’ll be a waste of time and money.

More importantly, you and the person you’re trying to help can get very discouraged by attempting something that fails and it might be very difficult, if not impossible, to get the addict to try again.

Check with Addiction Help Services counselors to find out what’s best for your situation before you make any decisions. They know all the programs, all the treatment methods, and can assess your situation to find out what’s best.