AHS Views

“Addicts need guidance, not judgement” is the headline of an article about the TV show Intervention and the fact that it humanizes addicts - to think of them as people with a problem who need help, drug addiction help, instead of people of “poor morals” who refuse to improve their situation.

What many people don’t understand about drug addicts is that, these days, many of them became addicted when they were given drugs by their doctors - painkillers, tranquillizers, antidepressants - and when it came time to get off them, they couldn’t.

Others may have started very young, perhaps with Ritalin, Adderall or some other drug supposedly used to handle a ‘disorder.” Ritalin, for example, is similar to cocaine. Whe you’re eight years old and using cocaine, and continue to do so for years, it’s got to be pretty hard to get and stay drug free later in life.

Prescription drug addiction is the worst epidemic this country has ever seen. Think twice before allowing someone you care about to go on these kinds of drugs and if they’re already on them, consider getting them the drug addiction help services they need. Don’t judge, just help. 

I don’t have any problem with ingenuity. In fact, I admire and approve of most entrepreneurs. However, this case is an exception: I think positioning an energy drink to appear as a drug is sleazy.  Logan Gola, the CEO of Blow, has made his energy drink powder and packaging look like a vial of cocaine. Energy drinks may not be gateway drugs requiring drug addiction help, and naming energy drinks after drugs isn’t illegal, but I wonder what parents will think if a few 10 year olds order it and have it stored in their bedrooms.

A similar product called ‘Cocaine’ was taken off the market by the FDA - the same may happen to Blow. ‘Cocaine’s’ manufacturer changed the name and redistributed it, but it now looks like they’ve won the battle to use the name ‘Cocaine’ again. Blow and Logan Gola may get some publicity for this product. But in this case, I hope it is a dismal failure.  I can’t really see how promoting an energy drink to appear like cocaine can help anyone, except perhaps Mr. Gola.

Cocaine has been a problem in Florida for 40 years and to try and ride on those coattails doesn’t seem to be in the best interest of anyone except Mr. Gola, a few employees, and perhaps some investors. At Addiction Help Services we talk to people who are addicted to cocaine, it isn’t a joke and they do need drug addiction help. In time we will know if these energy drinks are “gateway drugs.” For now I would advise keeping your children away from them. In Florida, one school district in Broward County has banned them from campus. Mr. Gola, if you need addiction help I hope you will get it.

Crack cocaine is becoming a bigger problem in Maine according to York’s Chief of Police Douglas Bracy. You can be sure that addiction help will be necessary as more kids become addicted.

Chief Bracy is warning parents to keep track of their kids because of the influx of cocaine. He strongly suggests that you know where they are and where they are going so they don’t end up needing addiction help. Kids who want to try drugs will migrate toward something like crack because it’s cheap, but it’s also very addictive. One high school student has already been arrested, Jared Turner, a 17-year-old who had been suspended from the football team. Maine had an influx of heroin five years ago and Chief Bracy is comparing the cocaine influx to that. I am wondering if the crack may be replacing methamphetamines - meth prices have gone up and, with all the restrictions on the ingredients for meth, maybe clever drug dealers have decided to supply something else.

Crack, like heroin, is coming down in price – and both are easy to get. Most kids think trying crack or using it occasionally isn’t dangerous. Unfortunately, those kids will be the first to need addiction help services.

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.

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.

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. 

The most difficult news articles to read are the ones about addicts losing their lives because of drug addiction. When you have seen that drug rehab can be successful, someone dying from a addiction-related circumstance is unreal – it is so preventable.

I came across an article about this today - a man who had been addicted to cocaine for 10 years died when he made an aggressive move towards police and was shot.

According to the article the man was not violent but had a criminal record; mostly crimes that were drug related. At one time he was successful in life - a good job, a family and a nice home. But his addiction to crack cocaine destroyed all of it, and now it’s destroyed him.

Anyone that has worked in or gone through a successful drug treatment program could tell you that a successful drug rehab program would have helped.

When a celebrity is addicted to drugs, it is not often that the media lets the story slip through the cracks. But a recent article on Donatella Versace is the first I’ve heard about her cocaine addiction. Donatella was handling a lot – she’d gone through a divorce, her sister died, her daughter was anorexic and her brother, Gianni, was murdered, leaving her to take control of his company. It got to be too much – she eventually had to close down the Versace line and, a year later, was in drug rehab for cocaine addiction.

But, she got through it all and is now back in the driver’s seat. Her new clothing line is out, she has 12 more Versace hotels planned, and she’s working on interiors for private jets.

While Donatella admits she’s made mistakes, her story is one that exemplifies rehabilitation. Perhaps the Britney Spears of this world could take a lesson or two from her. Spears may be a celebrity, but do you really want to be famous for abusing your kids and having shots of you without your underwear all over the tabloids? Come on, Brit, get serious about life. Get through a real drug rehab program and set your personal standards a little higher.

A recent study tested Atomoxetine, a generic form of the ADHD drug Straterra, on cocaine addicts. They’re testing to see if Straterra can help cocaine addicts kick the habit. Fortunately – all we need is one more treatment program that substitutes one drug for another – the test failed. So, I guess we’re going to have to stick with good, old-fashioned drug rehab. I hope the drug’s manufacturer isn’t too disappointed.

To “test the effectiveness of the drug” and “prove that it wasn’t dangerous”, patients were hooked up to a heart monitor while they did four lines of cocaine. They repeated this five times. Three out of five times the coke addicts also took Atomoxetine. When combined, the drugs caused an elevated heart rate, even though it’s listed as a non-stimulant. 

Having lost that opportunity, Atomoxetine is now being tested to see if it will work better on marijuana dependence. Three trials, one for children and two for adults are currently underway.

The side effects of Atomoxetine include exhaustion, dizziness, drowsiness, hallucinations, heartburn, upset stomach, nausea, vomiting, decrease in appetite, sexual side effects, and a risk of suicidal thoughts among children and adolescents - to name a few. Just what we need.

I have to admit to being baffled at times: Why, when millions of people have gotten off drugs through a drug rehab program of one form or another, do we keep trying to find more drugs for them to go on instead? I don’t know the answer, but I do know where to find it: Follow the money.