AHS Views

Your unused medication may be causing illness, and worse, for yourself and others. The drugs could be taken by mistake when they’re no longer needed or prescription painkillers, tranquiliers, sedatives and stimulants can be taken from the medicine cabinet by others in the family and could lead to them needing addiction help.

The White House guidelines on prescription drug disposal getting rid of old medications might offer some protection - they recommend the drugs be surrounded with coffee grains or something that will disguise them in the trash, or that they’re just flushed down the toilet.

Unfortunately, when you follow those guidelines, the drugs end up in our water supply. In fact, medications have been found in the water supplies of 41 million Americans. True, the amounts are small but, it’s still a major concern. How much harm can be caused by the accumulation of these drugs in our system. And can this get someone started on their way to addiction?

If you’d like to get rid of your medication safely, check with your local pharmacist to find out if there are drug disposal facilities available. And if you suspect that someone in your family may have gotten into your stash and might now be dealing with prescription drug addiction or abuse, contact Addiction Help Services to find out what steps you should take next.

You would think that medical personnel would be aware of the dangers of prescription drugs. But, on second thought, they epitomize the medical paradigm and it’s logical that the first place they’d look to solve their problems is in the medicine cabinet - which is probably why so many are in need of addiction help.

In three South Carolina counties, 1 in 100 nurses are abusing prescription drugs and many as already in treatment for prescription drug addiction. As are many M.D.s, dentists, and so on.

According to a recent article, the major drugs nurses are taking are prescription painkillers such as OxyContin. Nurses have to lift patients and are on their feet for long shifts and, consequently, are often in pain. So, they take the drugs. It may start with a prescription but eventually they start basically stealing the drugs from the hospital where they work.

Addiction help services can help nurses with their problems and if you know nurses who are constantly in pain, or were but don’t seem to be anymore despite the fact that they didn’t receive any treatment, you should suspect the possibility of prescription drug abuse or addiction.

Also, you might want to encourage them to seek help from physical therapists or alternative practitioners such as chiropractors and acupunturists. Since they are part of the medical establishment, which is often against such alternatives, they may not ‘believe’ in them or feel it’s appropriate to go to them.

However, when the alternative is prescription drug addiction and the possibility of having their license taken away or being in so much pain they can no longer practice their chosen career, it might be something they’ll consider.

If not, the only other option might be drugs - and that might well lead to the need for addiction help services. We need nurses. If you know one who might be in trouble, help them out.

Having listened to Obama speak tonight at the Democratic National Convention I can’t help but hope he will actually make some of the changes needed in this country to help eliminate the real sources of drug addiction and make sure people get the addiction help they need.

Many people don’t realize that they have a drug problem. They see ads on TV describing conditions that sound somewhat like theirs, find out what drug to take, ask their doctor - who doesn’t really have time to study up on drugs and didn’t learn much about them in medical school - if they can try it, and the doctor gives it to them. Next thing you know, the patient has a drug problem and needs drug addiction help.

Where did the problem start? With the ad on TV that fed the patient the diagnosis and prescribed the treatment. The doctor was simply the middle man. And that’s what I hope Obama, or someone, will do something about.

If you or someone you care about is one of the millions of people who’ve been diagnosed and treated by drug companies and have a drug problem as a result, find the addiction help services you need.

Make sure you listen to Larry G’s Prescription Drug Addiction radio show this Sunday. We’ll be hearing from pharmacists (Larry G’s profession for 30 years) with their take on the prescription drug epidemic and what can be done about it. Maybe this show will motivate people to get the addiction help they need, and preventing addiction for others.

It’s good to see medical professionals getting involved in educating people about the dangers of prescription drugs. However, even they have to be educated - especially physicians. Many doctors depend on the drug companies to tell them all about drugs, what they’re for, what they can do, and how they can help their patients. Unfortunately, that’s about all they tell them - and that’s large part of the problem.

If someone you care about might have a problem with prescription drug addiction, get them the drug addiction help services they need today. And tune into Larry G on WGUL 860 AM on Sunday night, July 20 - 9:05 p.m. Eastern, streamed live on the Internet at www.860wgul.com.

While the side effects of GlaxoSmithKline’s weight loss drug, Alli, might not include anything that leads to the need for addiction help, it does cause some problems that might make you never want to leave home again. Check out the company’s wordage of the side effects of Alli, and Jeff Kay’s interpretation.

When GlaxoSmithKline released it Alli, it became very popular, very fast. The major reason, if course, is that the U.S. has more obese people than anywhere else in the world. The second reason is that weight loss drugs have a really bad history. Basically, they’ve been amphetamines - with serious side effects, including addiction and the need for addiction help, and death.

High on the success of Alli and anxious to maintain their competitive edge, GlaxcoSmithKline recently petitioned the FDA to require that all products claiming an ability to help the user lose weight be considered a drug. Which means that any other company trying to put a drug product out there that could be competition for Alli could take years to get onto the market. So, what about natural weight loss products? They will probably also be taken off the market until they get FDA approval if GlaxoSmithKline’s petition is approved.

According to lawyersandsettlements.com, as of 2006 “Glaxo currently faces thousands of lawsuits over Paxil side effects related to addiction, dependence, and a severe withdrawal syndrome. Previously sealed documents and internal company memos suppressed with protective orders, prove that Glaxo knew about the problems with Paxil before it received FDA approval, but continued to sell the drug for over a decade without warning consumers.”

So, is there something the company is hiding about Alli? Should we be expecting to hear that it is also going to require addiction help services? And should we really trust such a company with what will basically amount to at least a short term monopoly on anything? Can we even trust the information Glaxo included in its petition to the FDA? Time will tell.

Laconia, New Hampshire, where eight people died last year from methadone, is playing hardball. The man who sold the methadone to one of the victims has been sentenced to a minimum of 15 years - which could turn into 40. He will be able to get out after 10 years if he gets addiction help through a substance abuse program.

While it’s good to see someone being held responsible for this tragedy, I can’t help but think of the all the hundreds or thousands of people dying from OxyContin overdoses while the Purdue execs are snug in their beds. How come they aren’t also in prison? They not only sold the OxyContin to those people, they even lied about how dangerous the drug is.

The way I see it, this is a travesty of justice.  I’m still hoping they will be further prosecuted or made to do more to fix the problem they created. Helping get people the addiction help services they need would be a good start.

In Glenn Falls, New York, heroin abuse is on the rise. According to Police Chief, Joe Bethal, the problem may be caused by people switching from OxyContin and other prescription painkillers to heroin when what they really need is addiction help.

“One of the reasons may be because of prescription drug abuse. The pharmaceutical companies have manufactured quite a large amount of prescription opiate-based painkillers and we know they’re out there in the homes and the medicine cabinets,” said Chief Bethal.

He hit the nail right on the head. Pharmaceutical companies (Purdue Pharma, when it comes to OxyContin) are producing endless amounts of pain killers, and they will sell as many as they can.

If you can sell OxyContin to 34 internet pharmacies - enough OxyContin to fill 100 million prescriptions - you know there isn’t any discrimination. Anyone can become addicted to prescription pain killers. Warren County Undersheriff Robert Swan said, “It’s not just seen in one area, one group or a specific gender. It covers everyone”. Switching from prescription painkillers to heroin is a bad choice. As the Chief says, getting addiction help services is not a crime.

Diane Finch from New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) has written an important piece about prescription drug dealing. 36 online pharmacies sold 100 million prescriptions in 2006. The main drugs sold were OxyContin (big surprise) and Hydrocodone. The drug dealers from the internet pharmacies in Tampa, Florida had to have a piece of the action. Another company benefiting from this was Purdue Pharmacy the company that brought us OxyContin and all of the subsequent addiction help necessary for the addicts.

Cardinal Health, the distributor for many of the narcotics, may have also had a hand in this. Cardinal’s license to distribute narcotics in Florida was suspended last year by the FDA. The amazing thing is that the drug companies must just sell these drugs to anyone who orders from them. If a pharmacy is delivering millions of prescriptions, shouldn’t the manufacturer or distributor have a responsibility in finding out where these drugs are going? Florida is mentioned, along with Puerto Rico, Israel, Colorado and Pakistan, as shipping locations. Some doctors in Florida are getting $25 dollars a pop for writing prescriptions. That could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

If you follow the money, I’m sure you can find out who is writing the prescriptions - at least in Florida and Colorado. Addiction help services are available for Oxycontin or Hydrocodone is available.

Heroin addiction has arrived in Ohio and, according to one law enforcement official, it’s because of the prescription drug monitoring system. The official, who asked not to be identified, said he has noticed a marked increase in heroin transactions and in the number of people needing addiction help and going to treatment over the past eight months.

If those who are addicted to or dependent on OxyContin or Vicodin don’t get addiction help, they’ll be out searching for heroin dealers. And pretty soon there will be more heroin dealers. Not just in Ohio - all over the country.

People will be shocked when they hear of friends dying from heroin overdoses or being arrested for making heroin purchases. Without addiction help, people from all walks of life - mothers, fathers, lawyers and other professionals - could end up doing jail time.

“Heroin has definitely been on the rise,” said the official, also a member of the Major Crimes Task Force. “Not just in Athens County, but I think in all of Southeast Ohio.”

States other than Ohio are sure to follow suit. In fact, some probably already are. I know there are already problems in the Northeast, and possibly in Oregon. Getting off OxyContin is not easy; it ranks right up there with getting off heroin. The ramifications of people using needles to feed their addictions isn’t pretty. And we may eventually see more cases of AIDS because of it.

OxyContin’s impact on the U.S. is just beginning. It will eventually cost billions of dollars. Help your friends, your family members or yourself and look for the addiction help services you need.

“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.