AHS Views

Officials have determined that Heath Ledger died of an overdose involving a combination of six prescription drugs - painkillers, tranquilizers and sleeping aids. “We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications,” the New York City Medical Examiner’s office said in a statement. Could addiction help have prevented Heath’s death or was this yet another incident of doctors prescribing drugs without full investigation into which drugs Heath was already taking?

I, for one, would like to be sure there wasn’t one single doctor prescribing all of these medications. Has that been looked into yet? Shouldn’t a doctor or even multiple doctors who are legitimate and prescribing so many medications be held accountable in some way for a person taking so many drugs?

President Bush has made several statements about prescription drug abuse in the past several years - needing addiction help services for prescription drug abuse isn’t new just because the White House ran an ad during the Super Bowl. It will be interesting to find out where all the drugs came from. I am sorry for the Ledger family’s loss and hope that if a doctor or doctors should be held responsible that they are.

A recent article reported that 11.4 million people in the U.S. are abusing prescription drugs. I read an article the other day that put that number at 22 million. The difference may be accounted for by the definition of ‘abuse’ – if you have a prescription, the use of the drugs is legit, no prescription is ‘abuse.’ However, prescription drugs are so dangerous that you don’t have to be ‘abusing’ them to become dependent or addicted. And that’s probably what we really should be more concerned about – a drugged society that needs addiction help – but it’s all okay because they have a prescription.
 
The article announced a prescription drug abuse forum – Generations RX: Children in the Medicine Cabinet. The focus of the forum is young adults abusing prescription drugs.

Anything that educates the public on the dangers of prescription drugs is a good thing. But we aren’t going to get very far if we focus on the kids taking drugs from medicine cabinets but don’t pay equal attention to the parents who are putting them there.

How are kids supposed to believe that drugs are not a solution to life’s problems when their parents are teaching them otherwise?

If someone you know is using prescription drugs for something other than preventing a life-threatening situation, get them the addiction help services they need. It’s the best thing you can do for them, and their children.

Some people become addicted to prescription drugs after getting them from their doctor for surgery, injury or illness. But, for many, the drug problem starts by ‘borrowing’ a drug from a friend’s or parents’ medicine cabinet – a Xanax to help them sleep or a Vicodin for a headache. As a drug counselor I’ve run into a lot of people who got started that way, and eventually contacted me to help them find a drug rehab program.
 
A recent study from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that more than ten percent of 12 to 17-year-olds have taken prescription drugs from their parents, other relatives, or their friends without asking.

80% of parents say they keep their prescription drugs in a place where they’re inaccessible. I find that hard to believe. They may think their kids don’t have access to them, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Seriously, if you’re a parent and taking drugs that could be dangerous, your best bet is to get through a drug rehab program yourself. You’ll kill a few birds with one stone – there won’t be drugs around the house for your kids to get, you’ll be setting a good example, and you’ll be off drugs yourself.

One of the fastest growing drug problems today is the abuse of prescription medications. Opiates in the oxycodone/hydrocodone families and benzodiazepines such as Xanex are especially popular, and are highly addictive. Many people are initially prescribed these medications for legitimate medical conditions and don’t see the warning signs of addiction before it’s too late. The fact that the doctor prescribed the drugs also delays recognizing that there is a problem since it adds legitimacy and justifies taking them. So, the situation goes on and on – and then I get the call from someone looking for a drug rehab program.

When the legitimate reason for taking the drugs has passed, and the initial doctor will no longer write the prescription, users start doctor shopping – looking for a doctor unscrupulous enough to write a medically-unnecessary script. Or sometimes they get the drugs online. Regardless of the source, make no mistake - these drugs are just as addictive as street drugs, and for the user to stop taking them, they need a successful drug rehab program.

I recently worked with a family whose son had been buying Xanex on the Internet. They were totally unaware of his problem but had become curious about the regular packages he’d been receiving in the mail. The parents pressed the issue, and he finally admitted he had a problem. His mother told me they had no idea what to do – not only was it a legal drug, she didn’t even know if there were drug rehab programs designed for his addiction. In fact, they didn’t even realized you could become addicted to prescription drugs.

Benzodiazepine withdrawal can be one of the most difficult, so we had to be sure the program we found for him would be able to really handle his situation instead of just putting him on substitute medications. We located a drug rehab that could address his addiction fully and offer the care he needed. Needless to say, they were very relieved to find a program so quickly and be able to help their son. If you know someone who abuses prescription drugs, find a successful drug rehab program and get them help before it’s too late.