AHS Views

Just a few days ago, we learned that we’ve lost another star who suddenly died at way too young of an age. Brittany Murphy collapsed in her home over the weekend from what the Coroner has ruled to be “natural causes”, but there were many, many prescriptions found near her bed, in her name and those of close family members. This definitely raises some questions because it’s not often that you hear about a 32 year old dying all of a sudden, out of the blue, of a heart attack!

Recently, Michael Jackson fell prey to an accidental overdose of drugs, and not too long before him, so did Anna Nicole Smith. How are these stars getting their hands on so many prescription drugs?

More and more, people in the United are seeking out prescription medications from multiple doctors without letting one know about the other, called “doctor shopping” which is a practice many prescription drug abusers are all too familiar with. It has been proven that the results of the interactions of these drugs, when taken together – even at therapeutic levels, can be deadly.

Did these stars intend to commit suicide or were they simply taking medications as directed? I have a strong feeling that the latter is the answer.

Knowing what we have learned from the losses of these great talents, please consider this to be a warning to those who use any combination of prescription drugs without the physicians who prescribe them being aware of what combinations the patient is taking. If you have fallen prey to prescription drug abuse please get addiction help now.

Have you ever heard of “non-addictive” drugs? Sounds a bit like an oxymoron to me, but there are many drugs in existence today, both legal and illegal, which claim to be just that – non-habit forming.
Pharmaceutical companies have come out with “non-narcotic” forms of pain and insomnia relief like Ambien and Ultram that are “safe when used as directed and non-addictive” yet the amount of people getting hooked on these prescription drugs continues to rise. Even though they say “non-narcotic”, if you read the fine print, it actually says there is “some” risk for dependency. And, even worse, allergic reactions, in rare instances, can be fatal!

There’s actually nothing new about pharmaceutical companies coming out with new non-addictive drugs. In the 1850’s, when opium addiction first reared its ugly head in the United States, morphine was used as a non-addictive alternative until it was banned in the 1920’s because of its addictive properties.

Then, there’s marijuana. There have been statements that this illegal drug is a “non-addictive” and “non-harmful” one, yet it’s one of the most abused drugs in the country.

How about LSD? Another drug said to be “non-addictive”, which is in fact one of the most harmful drugs out there. It can cause long-term damage to users as well as flashbacks (where a portion of their LSD experience reoccurs). People who abuse frequently can build a tolerance and require more and more of the drug to achieve the desired effect. It can also cause long-lasting psychoses. After using LSD and experiencing their first high, many people take it over and over again, in spite of the negative effects that are associated with the drug.

My point is that drugs alter the senses and perceptions. They create a high in the user and continue the cycle of the user wanting to take the drugs to achieve the desired effect. In many cases, it takes more and more of the drug to reach that high so the tolerance level also rises. This is true of all drugs – from LSD to marijuana to legal prescription drugs and replacement drug therapies that are so heavily promoted routinely.

Calling these drugs “non-addictive” is not only downright false, but is easily proven untrue. Not only with illegal drugs like marijuana and LSD but also with legally approved drugs like anti-depressants, prescription pain killers and replacement drug therapies.

If these drugs were non-addictive, as claimed, why does the number of people becoming addicted to them continue to increase? And why are alternative drugs being produced to “help” ease addiction symptoms? Take a hard look at the facts; you’ll realize that “non-addictive” drugs simply do not exist.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a simple answer to that question? With so many illegal drugs on the scene, the answer to that question becomes relative to viewpoint and what kind of damage is caused, whether it is physical damage, emotional pain and suffering, damage to the family, cost involved, or a combination of any of these.

There is no question about how deadly crack cocain, heroin and meth are, but it has been suggested that hallucinogens like LSD (acid) are the ones with the worst lingering effects. This is because they alter the mind and its perceptions, and people can have “acid flashbacks” for many years after they stopped taking the drug.

In the hallucinogen class of drugs, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is one of the major players. Like the name of this drug class suggests, hallucinogens cause hallucinations, which are greatly alters a person’s perception of reality. Under the influence of hallucinogens, people can see images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem very real but do not exist. Some hallucinogens also produce rapid, intense emotional swings.

LSD’s effects are unpredictable and can be different each time the drug is consumed. They depend on how much is taken, the user’s personality, mood, expectations and their surroundings where the drug is used. Generally, the user will feel the first effects of the drug about 30 minutes after taking it. The physical effects include dilated pupils, higher body temperature, increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth, and tremors.

Most of the time, a user will refer to their LSD experience as a “trip” and when it is a frightening experience it’s called a “bad trip”. The effects of this drug take quite awhile to wear off after taking it. A trip can last around 12 hours. Users on a bad trip can experience severe and terrifying thoughts and feelings, fear of losing control, even fear of insanity, death and despair. Some fatal accidents have taken place during states of LSD intoxication and people have been known to get stuck in a bad trip and display extreme psychosis or paranoia.

Most LSD users willingly decrease or stop its use over time. Since LSD doesn’t produce intense physical cravings like other drugs, it’s not considered to be a drug that people have to get addiction help for. However, a user can still build a tolerance to the drug, requiring larger amounts of the toxin to be consumed to experience another trip.

In more recent years, use of hallucinogens, especially LSD, has decreased. It seems to be catching on that it is one of the worst drugs, as evidenced by the drop in usage. Why risk becoming a vegetable? It doesn’t seem worth it!

An amazing new study out of England showed that 1 in 5 people have either had a drug addiction problem themselves, within their family, or their circle of friends. That’s in the UK - not including Ireland - which has a population of about 70 million. So, 14 million people in the UK have had direct experience with drug addiction.

It would be nice to see a similar study done in the U.S. I’m sure we would come up with similar results.

Further breakdown showed that 1 in 50 people have been addicted to drugs, and 1 in 20 have had drug addiction in their direct family.  That boils down to about 3.5 million families who have had to cope everything drug addiction causes - break-ups, continuous upsets and frustration, worry about whether or not the addicted person is even going to be alive the next day, jobs lost, financial ruin, kids taken away by social services, and on and on and on.

It’s no wonder why more and more people are taking antidepressants and tranquilizers - and the drugs people take to cope with the stress are also going to cause addictions.

It’s a mess.

Does someone in your family have a drug problem? Do you need to find a drug rehab program that will work? Call us - we can help.

The only funeral director in Pineville, West Virgina, recently commented on the number of deaths caused by prescription drug overdoses - painkillers like OxyContin being the major problem. “If these people had died of the swine flu, we’d probably be making national headlines,” he said.

Well, it does make national headlines - every day you can find at least one news story about someone dying because of prescription drugs. And sometimes there’s one story in the news for days - like when Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin, was sued and paid $634 million as fines for falsely marketing the drug as less addictive and dangerous than other painkillers.

But resolution of the prescription drug addiction, abuse, and overdose problem is going to take far more than a few headlines. We’ve actually got to stop prescribing the drugs unless they’re absolutely necessary.

OxyContin, for example, was initially intended for terminally ill cancer patients - they need relief - and unbearable pain that hasn’t responded to any other remedies. Instead, it’s being given to people who have headaches, had a tooth pulled, had very minor surgery, have back pain - yes, I realize people have to function, but how many people with back pain have ever been through a full reatment program with a chiropractor, physical therapists or acupuncturist - not many you can be sure.

It’s not just up to the FDA - big pharm’s big business and needs big changes. But they’ve got so much money, and so many people dependant on it one way or another - that a big pharma crash is going to effect the economy.

Even worse is the fact big pharma’s got people convinced that drugs are needed - and a certain percentage of them are, no doubt about that. But that percentage is small - and it doesn’t include some of the biggest money makers.

Is the FDA going to address that successsfully? Not likely. We need a real paradigm shift. It’s going to have to come from the top. C’mon Obama, move it. It should be in the health care plan.  

I don’t usually watch reality shows, but I have to say that some of the legal/police type shows that take on social issues can be very insightful. Recently, when discussing the problem of drug addiction, someone on TV asked ‘Why don’t they just burn all the poppy fields?” The response - “Because there has to be a war on something or the people in Washington wouldn’t get elected.” That was probably an old show because the war on drugs certainly isn’t the only war in town right now, but it does make you wonder about the true intentions of the powers that be when there are, really, some pretty simple solutions to the war on drugs available. At least from the standpoint of getting people through drug treatment successfully.

The country spends millions, or billions, on various drug treatment methods and facilities -but a large portion of them don’t even work! They’re out-patient facilities, week or month-long residential programs that are barely enough to dry the person out, halfway houses (may be fine AFTER a real drug rehab program to help the person get their lives in order), and so on.

But, there are tons of facilities and drug treatment programs that have high success rates. Why not drop the programs that only rehabilitate 30% of their clients and throw more support behind those that see success for 70%?

A short-term or out-patient drug rehab program may work for some, but don’t make the mistake of trying one of those first - chances are they’ll be a waste of time and money.

More importantly, you and the person you’re trying to help can get very discouraged by attempting something that fails and it might be very difficult, if not impossible, to get the addict to try again.

Check with Addiction Help Services counselors to find out what’s best for your situation before you make any decisions. They know all the programs, all the treatment methods, and can assess your situation to find out what’s best.  
 

I read an article this morning about meth lab busts in ‘Miami County.’ When I first saw the headline I read ‘Miami,’ but didn’t really notice the ‘County.’ I then discovered they were talking about Miami County, Indiana! Big surprise. An even bigger surprise was the number of meth lab busts in Indiana - 1,059 in 2008.  That’s nearly three a day!!

Meth is nasty. Check out the photos on the Faces of Meth site and you’ll see what I mean. Severe deterioration - some of it irreversible - within just months of using it. And the damage isn’t just external, the brain and other organs get really messed up.

You can imagine how many meth addicts there are in Indiana, and how many faces will soon look like those, if they don’t already. A thousand meth labs can support a lot of drug habits!! Who would have thought you’d find that kind of drug abuse in Indiana of all places?!

If you know someone on meth, getting them into a meth rehab center as quickly as possible will help make sure that their face doesn’t turn into what you see on the Faces of Meth site.

I’m reading an autobiography that takes place largely in Mumbai, known at the time as Bombay, India. It strikes me as similar to recent descriptions of Broward County, Florida, the new painkiller capitol of the U.S., where thousands of pills are handed out to local residents every day and thousands more are sold to people travelling to Florida specifically to get pills they can then take home to other states to sell in their part of the country. So-called pain clinics protected by armed guards openly and legally dealing narcotics like OxyContin have probably already killed thousands of people and ruined the lives of millions. Only the lucky ones make it to a drug rehab program where they can get help.

Fortunately, Florida has finally approved the electronic prescription drug monitoring system to track these prescriptions and one day soon we hope that many of these guys - they’re actually M.D.s - will be out of business.

But it’s going to leave some people in desparate circumstances. There will still be doctors around they can get painkillers from if they legitimately need them, but those who don’t are going to be facing very serious withdrawal symptoms or they’re going to switch to street drugs - like heroin - to continue their addiction.

Thousands of people will need drug addiction help as they can no longer get their drugs. If you know someone in this position, call Addiction Help Services. We can help you find a suitable facility to get them off drugs safely and end their addiction.   

I don’t know how many people think about going to prison as one of the consequences of taking drugs, but they should. And, when they really think about it, it’s one very good reason for getting addiction help to get someone off drugs and away from the drug culture asap.

About 1/2 of the people in prison have drug problems - that’s about 1.5 million people - and only 5% get any form of drug treatment or addiction help. What happens with the rest of them? Often they keep taking drugs.

I am amazed that drugs in prisons are so common - how can it be possible that they can’t control the flow of drugs into that kind of environment? I can’t help but think there are guards and other staff involved.

How easy is it to wind up in prison because of drugs? It’s not hard. Cops can get wind of what’s going on and show up on your doorstep. Or you’re around people who are involved in criminal activity (other than the drugs, thefts, and so on, to support their habits or get enough drugs to sell to others). So there’s double the risk. Or you’re around people who carry guns, and don’t think twice about using them.

When I was on drugs I had several close calls with the police. One time I was on my way to a friend’s house and happened to call first - from just a block or two away. It was late and I wanted to make sure they were home and awake before I knocked on their door. They answered the phone but told me the police were there. Had I not called, I would have walked in (with drugs on me) and wound up in prison.

Another time I lived in an apartment on a hill - it seemed safe, but the hill actually put the windows right at street level. I wasn’t even aware that you could literally just walk in through the windows of that apartment.  Tall windows, nearly floor to ceiling, swung open like a door, no screens. It seemed like you were well above the ground - you walked up the long flight of steps in the front - but, because of the hill, the windows were just a foot above the ground.

You don’t exactly have your wits about when you’re high - which I was all the time; heroin addiction - so things like that can happen.

Friends who lived across the street pointed out the window problem to me and told me the police were watching the place. I moved out the next day, and later the same day the police arrived - through the window.

On the other side of things - being in the criminal element - I once had to hide out in a hotel until I could get a flight out of town. Someone I’d upset was after me with a gun. Fortunately, someone else warned me about it and I was able to get out of my apartment immediately, into an obscure motel by the airport, and on a flight out of town the next day. Had I not found out about it on time I could be dead now. Or I could have wound up in the emergency room, in which case I’d probably also wind up in prison since I was always high and had heroin on me.

Another time I overdosed. The people I was with were at the point of taking me to the hospital when I came to. Another close brush with death, and the possibility of prison. 

Just a few little incidents. But that’s what living in the drug culture can be like. So - ending up in prison can’t be ruled out.

Some people think that going to prison will straighten somebody out. Not true. Not only can they still get drugs, hepatitis and HIV are also quite common in prison. People share needles, and have unprotected sex. If you’re a guy, especially, you’re likely to become someone’s boy toy. 

If you know someone taking drugs - your kids for example - be aware that prison could well be in the cards. Get them addiction help services before it gets to that point.

Do your kids have something to do? I’ve spent a little time in Sweden - which has a relatively minor drug problem compared to the U.S. and European countries, thanks to its zero tolerance ‘drug-free society’ ideal and focus on addiction help treatment rather than punishment - but it also has something else a lot of countries don’t have: one of the most kid friendly environments around.

There are parks, playgrounds, tennis courts, pools, community centers and just about everything else to keep kids occupied with purposeful activity all over the place. Teens don’t have to hang out with nothing to do.

An editorial, written by a citizen, in a British Columbia newspaper bemoaned the loss of their community center, which burned down decades ago and has never been replaced. The only things available for kids to do in the town are expensive and can only be afforded by parents with money. And there’s not much in the way of extra-curricular activities in the schools.

This lack of something to do means, unfortunately, that kids are probably going to start drinking and taking drugs early in life and their chances of having long-term drug and alcohol problems will therefore increase. And the town doesn’t even have a detox center to help anyone out, let alone any long-term addiction help programs.

The author of the editorial describes the young people of the area as ‘flailing on the path of self destruction’ and says that if something isn’t done they’re ‘creating the possibility of yet another generation of wayward adults … future parents.’

If your kids are already into drugs, ensuring they have something constructive and purposeful to do is unlikely to solve the problem. Once they’re into drugs and have developed some form of addiction or dependency, they often need addiction help services to get them through it. But, once that’s done, helping them change their lives will go a long way to preventing relapse.