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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.

Prescription drug abuse in Tennessee causes more deaths than heroin addiction

A recent article highlighting the prescription drug problem in Tennessee stated that prescription drugs now cause more deaths than heroin addiction, methamphetamine and cocaine. Over 1200 deaths were linked to prescription drugs from 2002 to 2005, according to Medical Examiner (ME) records, and the number increased by 62 percent over that four year period. The deaths of several people are covered in the article, one of them the daughter of a man who, in retrospect, wished he had gotten a court order to force his adult daughter into drug rehab when he saw there was a problem.

That would have been exactly the right thing to do.

The State ME said that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the overall problem as most people who abuse prescription drugs don’t die, they just live with the consequences. What are the consequences? The daughter who was not forced into drug rehab was a nurse who damaged vertebrae in her neck while on the job. The doctor prescribed mild painkillers, but they didn’t work. More prescriptions followed, as did dependency and addiction. She became completely non-functional, had to quit working, moved back home with her parents and couldn’t even cook a meal. On four prescription drugs simultaneously – methadone (which used to be used to help end heroin addiction but is now prescribed as a painkiller and is highly addictive in itself), an antidepressant, and two other powerful medications – she finally died of an overdose at age 42.

Those are the consequences. Don’t let them happen to someone you love. Get them into a successful drug rehab program.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there are about 13.4 million current cocaine users in the world. While the U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of cocaine (not exactly something to be proud of), the next highest percentage falls in Western and Central Europe.

Ireland has seen a notable increase in cocaine use of late, as reported by their National Advisory Committee on Drugs. The organization says the number of cocaine seizures has quadrupled and cocaine-related offenses have increased by more than seven times in the last six years.

The number of treatment admissions for cocaine in Ireland has also increased noticeably, tripling since 1998.

There really hasn’t been a defining reason for the increase necessarily, but drug use throughout the world has increased and decreased by substance periodically.

Why do you think the use of any particular illicit substance increases or decreases on a national level?

Article by Eric

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