AHS Views

Here is the heartbreaking story of a man whose 17-year-old son died from a drug overdose. The boy, Harrison, was the model kid. He and his dad had great rapport, they had a great family, but Harrison took a prescription painkiller, the same kind that are in the medicine cabinets of 10s of millions of homes across America and, when he mixed it with a common cold medicine he was taking, it killed him. He had apparently been taking the painkillers to get high. No one knew about it, and no one made sure he got the addiction help he needed. Had they done so, he would be alive today.

Harrison’s dad says that the problem is that people just don’t understand the dangers of these drugs. They realize that someone taking illegal drugs is in danger and wouldn’t even hesitate to get them addiction help, they don’t realize that a kid, or an adult, taking prescription painkillers that come from a doctor could actually kill you - especially when combined with other drugs (yes, including other prescription drugs), or with alcohol.

Harrison obviously had a problem his parents didn’t know about. It’s clear from the article written by his father that they would have made sure he got the addiction help he needed. How many other parents are out there in the same situation? You can be that with 2,500 kids trying prescription drugs every day for the first time - to get high - it’s i the millions. And millions are at risk.

If you think someone in your family may be at risk, or already know they are, call Addiction Help Services. They can help you figure out what to do about it.

An article on SouthCoastToday.com, originating in Massachusetts, discussed the $5 million being invested in two drug treatment facilities that will offer addiction help services for those addicted to heroin, OxyContin and other opiates who are headed for jail.

According to the article, the number of non-fatal opiate overdoses climbed from 8,000 in 1996 to 18,000 in 2005.  The treatment facilities in MA deal primarily with alcoholism. Officials are trying to do something about the opiate problem - which they call an epidemic.

The shocking thing is that the facilities will only be able to offer treatment to 120 people. And it’s long term treatment, so the turnover’s going to be slow. With 18,000 people overdosing in a year’s time, the number of people using the drugs has got to be at least 10 or 20 times higher. So, we’re going to have an additional 120 beds available for people seeking addiction help. That’s just not going to cut it.

Are we headed for a nation of zombies? Once again, it’s hard to make anyone other than drug companies responsible for this. If a company that made guns wanted to spend billions on advertising to popularize the idea that guns, and using them, would create a safer environment, it would never be allowed. And yet drug companies’ money is eagerly accepted despite the fact that these drugs are also klling people and ruining lives left, right and center. Everyone from parents to local governments, and even the federal government, is trying to come up with the means to get people the addiction help services they need - while the drug companies popularizing drugs as a way to change your personal environment are raking in the dough.

Shameful situation. They’re also employing hundreds of thousands of people, are part of the stock portfolios of probably at least as many Americans, and are significant contributors to political campaigns. Hard to shake them.

Yet, shake them we must. Many people see this for what it is but, obviously, it’s not enough people, and not enough of the right people. Until that situation is remedied - and even afterwards - each of us has to take whatever steps we have to to get people the addiction help services they need.

Do you remember Skittles? I don’t know if they still make them - little candies that look a bit like M & Ms, no chococate, just fruit flavored chewy candies. Well, if you hear your kid talking about skittles, they’re probably not talking about candy - they’re talking about prescription drugs. And there’s a good chance that, in the future, they’ll be talking about getting addiction help.

Read the story about two Kentucky teenagers, 16 and 17 years old, who started using drugs when they were just turned 13.  They began with alcohol, moved to over-the-counter drugs, and then to the prescription drugs they found in their own medicine cabinet. They eventually settled on OxyContin as their drug of choice and both are currently getting the prescription drug addiction help they need through drug rehab.

Most of the kids who do this think the drugs are safe - they’re in their own family medicine cabinet. Either their parents or other family members are taking them, or have them left over from when they had an operation or illness.

The partnership for a drug free America nationwide says one in five teenagers say they abuse prescription pills to get high.

In Kentucky, one in ten teens say they pop pills to get high.

Indiana is the 5th highest state for people 12 and older abusing prescription drugs.

“Open your medicine cabinet and look inside and there’s probably something somebody can use… especially combined with alcohol or some other kind of substance that they can use to get high,” says Van Ingram, KY Office of Drug Policy Control.

Do your kids a favor - get rid of the drugs before you need to help them find addiction help services.

Heroin is on the rise in Northwestern Virigina. One of the areas hit hardest by the scandalous promotion of OxyContin as less addictive than other prescription painkillers, Virginia residents are now turing to heroin to satisfy their OxyContin addiction. Drug addiction help services previously dealing with OxyContin addiction will now be battling heroin addiction instead.

People turn to heroin because it’s more easily accessible and less expensive than OxyContin. Once you can no longer get a prescription from a doctor - whether obtained legitimately or by lying about symptoms - OxyContin has to be gotten on the streets. And it’s expensive - it can be as much as $50 a pill. Those who don’t recognize that they need addiction help and do something about it could wind up choosing heroin as a substitute or turning to a life of crime to get the drugs.

OxyContin addiction has a certain amount of respectability since it is prescribed by doctors and therefore more acceptable. Heroin addiction is another story. However, both drugs are equally dangerous, and both require addiction help services to stop taking.

If you know someone using OxyContin for anything other than a very short time, make sure you get them the addiction help services they need. Being an addict is bad enough, being addicted to street drugs like heroin and living outside the law is even worse. 

In a period of just three months, 16 people died from drug overdoses in Barrow County, Georgia. 13 of them died from an overdose of prescription drugs and the majority of those were related to OxyContin. Many of those lives could have been saved if they’d received the addiction help they needed.

A prescription drug addiction counsellor commented that prescription painkiller abuse is rampant in Barrow and in other areas of metro Atlanta.

A child advocate from a Barrow County agency said that more and more of the parents of kids she’s trying to help have parents who are addicted to prescription drugs. “The parents are usually sleeping or high or out getting the drugs,” she said.

Prescription drugs kind of creep up on you. People think they’re safe because they come from a doctor. But they’re just as dangerous and addictive as street drugs. Unfortunately, many people don’t find that out until they’re already hooked.

Make sure anyone you know who is taking prescription painkillers gets the addiction help services they need before their problem becomes serious.

Even though Florida is called the pill capital of the U.S., there are other States in just as much trouble. Utah is one of them, and that’s the subject of Ron Williams’ movie, Happy Valley. Williams is now travelling around Utah in the hopes of educating people about  prescription drug addiction so they will get the addiction help they need.

According to Williams, one of the major problems with prescription drug addiction is that people are reluctant to admit they have a problem and they just won’t talk about it. Unless you’re willing to do that, it’s just about impossible to get help.

I haven’t seen Happy Valley, but I would imagine that the high Mormon population, and Mormon’s teaching about drugs is linked to people not wanting to talk about it. Legal or illegal, taking unnecessary drugs is in in direct conflict with Mormon spiritual beliefs. However, as with any addict, getting addiction help services has to start with admitting to yourself, and others, that there’s a problem. Hopefully, the work Williams is doing will open people up so they can get help.

We’ve heard various rumors of how terrorists are financed. According to a recent news article, the Taliban takes a 10% cut on Afghanistan’s opium production - obviously a big source of income. So, who’s financing terrorists? Everyone who uses heroin - from the hard core addict desperately in need of addiction help to the kid who buys a $2 hit of cheese heroin in the schoolyard.

Even more signficant are those who profit from it.  The article states that “In recent years, the Afghan government has rolled out plans to help wean addicts off opium and eradicate poppy fields,” and that the country “is under pressure from the international community to stop poppy cultivation.”

Let’s get real: We’re dealing with a country that supplies most of the world’s heroin. With that amount of money involved, there’s not much chance that pressure will be taken too seriously. The only thing likely to make a difference is to dry up the demand - getting everyone in the country the addiction help they need. But that’s also not likely to happen. Again, I’m sure those who are making big bucks off it will see to that.

Afghanistan, especially the southern part, has long had a casual attitude towards opium. Nearly a million people are addicted to heroin - including babies getting their thrice daily dose. The situation is so bad that many people in the country can’t really work. And the Taliban gets 10% of the take. The people are surrounded by enemies.

Isn’t that likely the future of any country with such a problem? Is the U.S. headed there with the prescription drug epidemic? Look at the lives of most heroin addicts - not a pretty site. Is there any reason to believe that OxyContin and other prescription painkillers won’t create the same lives? A country can’t be any more than the sum of it’s parts. There are a lot of reasons to ensure anyone you know with a drug problem gets addiction help services. Saving the country might be one of them.

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.

Shouldn’t the NFL be getting football players who are addicted to OxyContin or painkillers the addiction help they need?

Brett Favre, who recently retired from professional football, had to deal with an addiction to Vicodin - and he managed to do it. The NFL estimates 10% of its players are addicted to painkillers. The reality of that estimate could be in question: I would guess it’s much higher - maybe as high as 15% or even 20%.  But the NFL doesn’t seem to care. If they did you’d be reading a lot more about celebrity football players receiving addiction help.

If you can’t play without them, prescription painkillers and prescription stimulants are performance enhancing, just like steroids.  I like to watch football but it is violent and the hits look very painful.  Prescription drugs are a formidable opponent in the battle against drug addiction: they are painful to withdraw from and unless you are supervised closely in a medical drug detox, you can be sick for days.

When their players don’t get the addiction help they need, the message from the NFL to high school and college kids is clear: play through pain, just use painkillers. It shouldn’t be like this for any sport. The message should be play without drugs, or don’t play at all.

Pro sports sending the message that drugs and sports don’t mix would take drug education up a notch - kids would understand that playing with the help of pills is no longer approved. It would also level the field - injuries or not. Addiction help is available for any athlete whether someone needs a drug detox or more intense addiction help services.