AHS Views

I read a news story last week about an alcohol and drug addiction recovery program that is including college classes in their curriculum. Wow – I think that’s a great idea. The person gets the chance to be educated in something they care about, and it raises their self-esteem. For some, it’s the perfect follow-up to an addiction help program.

A lot of people take drugs because they don’t feel good about themselves or they’re not accomplishing something that really means a lot to them. This can apply to anyone. Every day we see rich, famous, and successful people with serious drug and alcohol problems, it’s not just the poor and needy or people who are failing in life.

In the end, overcoming addiction for good has an awful lot to do with how you feel about yourself. A really good addiction help program – one that gets the result of people staying clean and sober and really changing their lives – always addresses that end of things, and helps the person do whatever is necessary to care enough about themselves to take the right road.

In the story I read, the person was taking classes in Spanish – which they had started studying in school – as well as philosophy. Philosophy isn’t exactly the kind of subject that leads to getting a good job, but it certainly broadens the person’s understanding of life. Others might choose to become expert in computers, the arts, and so on.

If someone you care about is abusing drugs or alcohol, make sure that the drug rehab program they go to includes addressing what they want to do in life and helping them find a way to do that.

In fact, if you want to prevent them from using drugs and alcohol in the future, it’s a good idea to help them find and follow their purposes – things they really care about that make them get up in the morning looking forward to their day.

That alone could make all the difference.

For some parents, getting addiction help for their kids before they go off to college may seem like a ridiculous suggestion – especially since going to college should be an opportunity for kids to become responsible adults. But studies show that whatever alcohol or drug problems you child has now will get even worse in college.

One study, conducted by The Core Institute, the largest national Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) database about college students’ drinking and drug use in the country, surveyed college students and found that 93% of those in fraternities and 85% of those in sororities considered drinking a central part of the social life in college.

This is really disappointing when you consider that the ‘Greek life’ – which refers to those in fraternities and sororities – is supposed to represent commitment to high academic standards, becoming a good leader, dedication to community service and, overall, the demonstration of the best of best, not a bunch of drunks.

When the general population, including frat and sorority members, was surveyed, one third of college freshmen reported that they increased their drinking once they got to college.

So – long and short of it – they’re likely to drink more even if they’re not in a fraternity or sorority but if they do join the ‘Greek life’, it’s almost a certainty.

This should be taken seriously. There are a lot of incidents that take place in colleges that would never have happened had it not been for alcohol – accidents, injuries, DUIs, rapes and other sexual encounters, even deaths.

If your child is already a drinker or drug taker, consider drug or alcohol rehab before college.

They’ll get a lot more out of their education, and you won’t have to worry about them.

It’s amazing to hear stories of recovery, even more amazing to hear about a former addict’s background. It’s often nothing like you would expect. Fortunately, addiction help can really turn lives around.

One recent story is about a woman who came from an even better than normal childhood. She was a member of the student council, and getting ready for college when she started using alcohol and marijuana. That was in her early teens.

By the time she was further on in high school, she started with cocaine and prescription drugs. Then, while in college, ended up on heroin.

It’s not unusual for people who have taken prescription drugs – especially painkillers – to wind up on heroin. An OxyContin addiction, for example, can be extremely expensive. The pills can cost up to $60 each, and it’s common to take a few every day. Obviously, most college kids can’t afford that. Heroin, on the other hand, can be purchased for $5 a hit. Most heroin addicts have two or three hits a day, sometimes more.

So .. it’s a lot less expensive, but even $30 or $45 a day is still more than most people can afford to spend on drugs. Thank heaven for small blessings.

For this girl, who called herself Jamie, not her real name, it was too expensive. She was caught stealing at work – she supported her habit with theft – lost her job, and wound up going before a judge in drug court. Fortunately, she was given the opportunity to go to drug rehab rather than going to prison.

Jamie is now drug free, has a new job, is reunited with her family, and life is back to normal.

Do you have a son, daughter, spouse or good friend with a drug problem?

Don’t wait for them to wind up in court, get them into an addiction help program now.

Of course, there has been a flurry of reactions in the media to Whitney Houston’s death. Some journalists are talking about ‘enablers,’ specifically those who bent over backwards to get Whitney whatever drugs or alcohol she wanted, whenever she wanted them, and despite the fact that she was obviously out of control and needed addiction help.

Another interesting article was on alcohol taxes. This subject came up because some reports say Whitney died from a combination of alcohol and Xanax. Despite Whitney’s alcohol-related death, and that of Amy Winehouse and many, many others, no one’s really talking about raising the tax on alcohol specifically to reduce the number of people who die or get very ill because of alcohol. A New York Times article notes how little public alarm and government reaction there is against alcohol abuse as compared to tobacco and other agents harmful to health. Good question. Why IS alcohol so acceptable?

But one of the most appropriate reactions, in my opinion, was that of Bill O’Reilly. He commented that the press don’t know how to cover Whitney’s death. Why?

Primarily because alcohol and drug abuse is now considered a ‘disease.’ He remembers the days of Nancy Regan, when she encouraged people to ‘reject narcotics,’ and says that doing such a thing these days would be ‘uncool.’ Now that it’s a ‘disease,’ saying people should ‘reject narcotics’ is like making fun of someone who’s physically or mentally handicapped and indicating that it’s their fault that they have a problem.

But when it comes to alcohol and drugs, it’s usually true. There are some exceptions, of course – people who are on addictive prescription drugs for a legitimate life-threatening reason or children who, without their consent, are given drugs by their parents – but for the most part, people make the decision to drink or take drugs, or not.

As O’Reilly points out, “Houston, however, was an adult who made a decision to embrace the drug life. Once a person decides to dabble in cocaine, or opiates such as heroin and OxyContin, they are putting themselves at grave risk. And they know it.”

It’s a decision made by each individual. You can’t go through years of living and still think that alcohol or drugs are harmless, innocent and fun – you know you’re taking a risk. And if you embrace the life of alcohol and drug abuse, there’s a very good chance that the consequences could be dire.

One very good thing about his viewpoint is that it recognizes that, unlike REAL diseases, alcohol and drug problems are under the control of the individual. And with the help of a good drug rehab program, he can get his life back.

You may have read the recent news stories about monks in Thailand helping people overcome drug addiction by inducing projectile vomiting. You may be tempted to try it but, before you do, there are some things you should know about vomiting, and about how drugs are stored in the body. Then you might want to reconsider and choose another type of addiction help.

The idea behind vomiting is to get rid of toxins, including drugs. This works pretty well when someone has ingested poison – tainted food is a good example – but only while it’s still in the stomach and before it has been absorbed into the blood stream. Some drugs also lodge in fat cells – hallucinogens, for example – and vomiting won’t do you any good there either.

Vomiting over and over again can also be harmful. We can take a lesson from bulimics – those who eat and purge, eat and purge, eat and purge. Sometimes they purge with laxatives, diuretics, or by fasting, and sometimes they do it by vomiting after every meal. Here are some of the problems it can cause:

• Irregular heartbeat, which could lead to heart failure
• Lowered blood pressure
• Stomach ulcers, which may rupture
• Weakness
• Dehydration
• Malnutrition
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Abdominal cramps and contractions
• Irregular or no menstrual period
• Dental problems – primarily tooth decay and corrosion of tooth enamel – caused by the regurgitation of stomach acid

And, because the drugs are in the blood stream and well as being lodged in fat cells and organs, you’re taking a very big risk with continuous vomiting, without actually getting rid of the drugs.

If you’re trying to stop taking drugs, it is important to get them out of your body as much as possible. As long as they’re in there, the body can crave drugs. They can also re-activate, so you feel the effects of a drug without having taken it.

Many drug rehab facilities have a good nutritional and detox program to get the body as cleaned out as possible.

If you’re looking for a good addiction help program, check into this aspect of things – it could make a huge difference in the success of the treatment.

The lead medical examiner in Brevard County, Florida recently said that when he is called out to investigate a death that does not involve a shooting, stabbing or motor vehicle accident, there’s a good chance that drugs are involved. But he’s not referring to street drugs like heroin, cocaine, or meth – he’s talking about oxycodone (trade name OxyContin.) In fact, he said that it’s so common, “You can almost guess when you go to the scene” that oxycodone was a factor. Prescription drug addiction help could have prevented many of these deaths.

In the last few years, hundreds of deaths in his county have been directly attributed to OxyContin, and hundreds more have involved OxyContin although the drug was not listed as the cause of death.

And that’s just one of Florida’s 67 counties, and not necessarily the worst one.

Here we are, spending $ billions on the War on Drugs – with the focus on illegal drug manufacture, transport, sales, etc. etc. – and the worst enemy we have is turning out to be the drugs made legally and prescribed for literally millions of people every day.

In fact, these drugs present a far more dangerous situation than illegal drugs ever have – especially because people consider that, since they are prescribed by doctors, they are safe. And people are not properly warned of just how addictive these drugs are.

Another factor creating this problem is the drug culture that has been created by the medical establishment. It’s an unfortunate fact that drugs have become the solution to many problems that could be – and should be – addressed successfully without drugs.

The “Just Say No’ campaign focuses on street drugs. You’re supposed to just say no when someone approaches you in the schoolyard or at a party or on the street. But what about just saying no to your doctor? What about demanding that your doctor come up with a less dangerous solution to your problems?

Really, there are so many people who are dealing with OxyContin addiction, and addiction to other prescription painkillers as well as other prescription drugs, that it could make a huge difference if we just said no when our doctors suggest drugs as the only solution.

It would also create a huge, and positive, effect on kids if they didn’t watch their parents taking drugs as solutions to pain, sleeplessness, anxiety, stress, tension, and so on. What if those parents were teaching kids to find the root cause of and deal with their problems? What if parents set that kind of example and, at the same time, educated their kids on why drugs shouldn’t be a solution.

It’s a proven fact that kids whose parents educate them like this are 50 percent less likely to get involved in drugs themselves.

It’s time to broaden the “Just Say No” concept. Start with yourself. Start with your doctor. If we demand better solutions, doctors will be forced to find them, and to refer us to health practitioners who can really help. We can then start turning around the prescription drug addiction epidemic.

If someone in your family already had a problem with prescription drugs, get them into drug rehab before they become one of the statistics.

Ecstasy and other club drugs – so many people are taking them, and think they are just ‘fun.’ But, in fact, they are among the most dangerous drugs around. Anyone who is taking them needs to know the truth about these drugs and, if they don’t stop taking them when they find out the truth, they should really get some addiction help as soon as possible.

Why are club drugs so dangerous? Ecstasy, for example, is supposed to consist of an active ingredient called MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine). MDMA is bad enough in itself, but at least if you know what you’re taking you have some control over it and know what to expect – although different people react to it differently.

But, in fact, a lot of Ecstasy has next to no MDMA content. Instead, you have ingredients like PMMA (para-methoxymethamphetamine) or PMA (para-methoxyamphetamine) – both of which have been around since the early ‘70s, both of which are addictive, and both of which have some disastrous side effects, including:

• severe hyperthermia, which is an increase in body temperature, even at low doses
• increase in blood pressure and in heart rate
• heightened visual stimulation
• rapid and irregular eye movement
• motion sickness
• muscle spasms
• difficulty breathing
• death, at high dosages

When combined with other drugs, alcohol, or caffeine – not an unusual scenario – the effects are more intense.

One of the worst things about these chemicals is that little is know about the toxicity of either of these chemicals, the interaction of them with other substances, how they are metabolized, and so on.

In other words, you never really know how an individual is going to react to them.

PMA is nicknamed ‘Death’, and for good reason. Doses of more than 50 milligrams, PMA are potentially deadly. It can cause heart failure, kidney failure, brain seizures, sudden collapse, and an rise in body temperature up to 115 degrees! Temperatures that high can cause convulsions, coma, and a complete shutdown of the organs of the body – at which point, of course, the person dies. This rise in body temperature can happen within 30 to 40 minutes of taking the drug.

Ecstasy and other club drugs are common at ‘raves,’ in clubs, and at other parties. Teenagers and young adults are exposed to them all the time.

Make sure your kids are educated about Ecstasy. And make sure they know that, no matter what someone who offers it to them tells them, only the people who made the drug really know what’s in it. If they are still tempted, a good drug rehab program will sort them out.

There’s a new, nasty, so-called ‘designer drug’ in town. It’s known as Cloud 9, or C-9. Why it’s called Cloud 9 is beyond me – because the effects of it are anything but what we would normally think of when someone says they’re ‘on Cloud 9.’ It’s dangerous, addictive and deadly, and anyone using it should get addiction help as soon as possible.

What is Cloud 9? It’s a chemical similar to ‘bath salts.” It’s a hallucinogen and stimulant. It’s sometimes marketed as plant food, insect repellent or fertilizer. It is, in fact, none of those, but if you hang those labels on it and make it look legitimate you can get it into a headshop or convenience store.

Here’s what someone taking it can expect:

• erratic behavior
• serious injuries
• addiction
• agitation
• abnormal heart beat
• delusions
• hallucinations

It is being touted as a replacement for Ecstasy. But according to Dr. David Withers, associate medical director of the Marworth Alcohol and Chemical Dependency Center in Waverly, “”When you buy this bath salt you are getting many hundreds more. For a very few dollars, $50 or less, you can get a tremendous amount of MDPV (a similar chemical in ‘bath salts’). But MDPV is many times more potent than Ecstasy. When (users) lay out a line, they can be taking 20 to 25 hits of Ecstasy.”

He also said that people take it compulsively: “They may be awake for days and may exhibit symptoms of psychosis. Like seeing things and hearing things.”

Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center sees about two or three cases of Cloud Nine intoxication a day.

The law is constantly trying to keep up with these ‘desinger drugs’ as they hit the street, but Cloud 9, which contains the illegal Mephedrone, is sold on the Internet.

This stuff is serious poison – as are most drugs.

If you hear anyone around you talking about being on Cloud 9, or you hear C-9, be aware that they may well be talking about this drug. And get them into drug rehab right away.

A website called Screen Junkies recently published a list of movies that are sure to discourage people from taking drugs. Most people who haven’t really gotten involved with drugs, or are considering it, think it’s going to be fun. But the problem is that you never really know what’s going to happen. People take drugs to ‘have a good time’, and next thing you know their lives are ruined and they’re desperately in need of addiction help.

One way to deter them is to show them what the drug scene is really like – and to show them how easy it is to get that involved. In fact, anyone who is worried about their kids taking drugs should see these movies as part of their own education, and make sure their kids see them – although you don’t want to do that when they’re very young because these are hard-hitting movies. But some teens will need something this drastic to have an impact on them.

Of course, they’re also good for adults – if you have an older child, spouse, brother, sister, friend that’s involved with drugs or drinking, the movies may help you get them into drug rehab.

The movies are:

28 Days. Sandra Bullock, who plays a role of someone who is taking drugs but still living a life that looks somewhat normal, crashes a car and is given the choice of jail time or rehab. She chooses rehab and, while she’s in there, meets some people who really have serious problems – and it could happen to her.

Trainspotting. The gruesome life of heroin addicts – including one who has a horrible time trying to get off the drug, and another who dies.

Act of Worship. A heroin and cocaine addict is thrown out of her apartment by her boyfriend, becomes homeless, and gets into even more trouble.

Basketball Diaries. What happens to a promising athlete and his family when he starts taking drugs and then becomes addicted.

Traffic. A film involving with a large cast of characters in the drug world – from the big picture of a drug ‘kingpin’ to what happens to the life of a teenage girl.

Clean & Sober. A successful businessman loses everything, and wakes up one morning with a dead girl in his bed who overdosed on cocaine. He goes into rehab, not so much to handle his problem as to hide from police, and realizes he really does have a problem. Again, there’s plenty of interaction with others in his situation.

Thanks to Screen Junkies for putting this list together. Use it – you may save the life of someone you care about.

A blog I read recently talked about how parents feel helpless when it comes to their kids drinking or taking drugs. They feel they can’t control it at all. The author’s solution was to start having dinner together. And, believe it or not, actual studies have shown that kids in families who have dinner together are significantly less likely to abuse alcohol, take drugs, and wind up needing addiction help.

Why is having dinner together so effective? Because you are doing something as a family – hopefully, it’s something you all enjoy – and you can have fun, laugh, talk about your day, and so on.

Doing that opens the door to deeper conversations about the important things in life, and to real parenting. Unfortunately our hectic lives leave little time for parenting. Sure, there’s lots of talk and interaction in good homes, but it’s mostly rushed – on the way to one thing or another, trying to get your kids to get ready faster, dropping them off at school or social and extra-curricular activities, , and so on.

But there’s generally not much actual communication: Not much in the way of sit-down discussions where parents and kids are talking about things that matter. Where parents are finding out how their kids feel about certain things, what’s really going on in their lives, who they’re hanging out with, who and what they like and dislike and why, what their goals and aspirations are.

These talks should include discussions about things that can get kids into trouble – including alcohol and drugs – and what will help them succeed in life.

Talks about drugs should include their exposure to drugs – do they know kids who take drugs or drink, have they been offered drugs or alcohol, and so on – and how they feel about them and what they know about them.

Parents are responsible for learning about drugs and educating their kids – not lecturing them, but educating with facts. Facts about the perils of drugs and alcohol are easy to come by, and are dramatic enough to be pretty convincing and have an effect. Gradually teach them more and more, and occasionally, when you see news stories about something bad happening from alcohol or drugs – especially to someone the kids might admire like a sports figure or musician – let them know about it.

When do you start having these discussions? Really, it’s never too early. Kids are exposed to drugs and alcohol by the time they’re 9 or 10 years old. There are 13-year-old addicts. And don’t wait until there is trouble. Statistics show that kids are involved in drugs for about two years before parents find out about it.

The other important thing to remember is that the earlier kids get involved in drugs or alcohol, the greater the chances are that they’ll become addicts and eventually need a drug rehab program. So, as I said, it’s never really too soon to educate them. And the more they know, the more able they’ll be to make an informed decision about drugs when they’re exposed to them. And they will be – no matter what kind of home, school or environment they grow up in.

So, start with dinner. If you’re not already having dinner together, make it a household rule. And take it from there.