Addictions Treatment Blog

A recent government report stated that more than 20,000 lives have been lost to the war with Mexican drug cartels. I recently attended a conference where treatment professionals from Mexico described the situation first-hand, including drug lords coming into drug treatment centers with guns looking for people, and in some cases, killing those who have left their side to try and get help.

Not only was the situation disturbing, but the fact that it is so close to our country and and affects the citizens of our nation, there has to be more that is being done. One group of people are confronting the situation and passing out pamphlets of The Way To Happiness, which is a booklet citing 21 precepts for a common sense guide to better living. These people are also helping addicted individuals off the street go through a drug-free withdrawal procedure called the Narconon First Step Program.

No matter how much money and effort is spent on the supply side of the drug war, it will never be won without effective drug rehab centers and prevention programs.

While Brittany Murphy's cause of death was ruled as an accident related to pneumonia and anemia, reports show that drug intoxication was a secondary factor.

Recently news broke about multiple prescriptions that were obtained by Murphy, her husband and her mother for many different types of drugs, including using a fake name to do so. One pharmacist claimed to have stopped servicing the family for fear of something bad happening.

Regardless of her illnesses, when there are several prescription drugs mixed together there are always side effects, and some of them can be lethal on their own or interact with other symptoms to create overload toxicity on the body, which prompts organs to begin to shut down. It is negligence for a doctor or a family member to allow someone to be on so many prescriptions that have such heavy and dangerous side effects.

Addiction treatment centers are loaded with people struggling with prescription drug addiction, and there are also more detox programs opening up that specialize in getting people off of medications so they can lead healthier and happier lives.

If you would like to learn more about getting help for someone taking potentially harmful prescription drugs, contact us today by calling 1-877-372-5719. We can help you find drug rehab programs that work.

From Coalitions Online - "After a decade of consistent declines in teen drug abuse, a new national study released this week found marked upswings in the use of various drugs, such as alcohol, marijuana and Ecstasy. The 2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) was released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the MetLife Foundation.

According to this year’s PATS, the number of teens in grades 9-12 that used alcohol in the past month has grown by 11 percent, (from 35 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2009), past year Ecstasy use shows a 67 percent increase (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2009) and past year marijuana use shows a 19 percent increase (from 32 percent in 2008 to 38 percent in 2009). The PATS data mark a reverse in the remarkable, sustained declines in several drugs of abuse among teens: methamphetamine (meth) was down by over 60 percent and past month alcohol and marijuana use had decreased a full 30 percent over the past decade from 1998-2008."

One question I have is whether or not the surveys were accurate in previous years - how could they suddenly shift after so many years of steady decline? Was there some major influence in the past year that changed the attitudes and drug usage of this many teens in America? Regardless of how, it does seem to indicate that drug use is going up and not down - we predicted this on more than one occasion in recent years to be the case. On a policy level, it is time to divert as many funds away from methadone programs and private prisons and get that money spent on effective long-term drug rehabs and addiction treatment centers. Factor in the above statistics with the massive increase in prescription drug addiction and we have a major problem on our hands that people need to wake up to - whether it's your family member, someone on the road, or even a stranger that you're having to pay for with your tax money - it has to be handled by rehabs that can prove they work. We can help you find treatment centers like that.

With all of the hoopla over health care reform in our country and the great debates (arguments) over what should change and how much it costs has overlooked a very important connection between wasteful government spending and drugs. Not only is Medicaid paying out enormous sums of money for prescription drugs that are often unnecessary, but it also pays for addiction treatment programs (which it should, with limitations).

We could free up billions of dollars in revenue for our country by 1.) Minimizing the amounts and types of prescriptions Medicaid pays for (such as antidepressants, methadone, anti-anxiety drugs and antipsychotics); 2.) Giving those who abuse prescriptions or street drugs no more than 3 opportunities to get clean and sober in order to receive Medicaid benefits. If Medicaid paid a little more money for some addiction treatment centers that have highter success rates instead of those facilities that tell addicts they are hopelessly diseased for life then the chances of this happening increase dramatically.

The idea behind Medicaid is a good thing because its intention is to help people, but instead it has turned into more of a socialist system of having productive citizens pay for unproductive ones to do nothing. Not to say that everyone on Medicaid is not trying hard, but there is a very large percentage of are not and those that are working to get off of Medicaid are in the minority. If you don't believe me then go hang out a medical facility somewhere (treatment center, dentis, doctor's office, methadone clinic, etc.) that accepts Medicaid and see for yourself.

By stiffening up the criteria to receive public funding through Federal aid then we can get more people to work harder and produce more for our country and themselves and we can also free up more money in our Federal budget to put into programs that have a stronger positive effect on our nation and what's leftover will only go to those who truly need and deserve the help.

According to the latest Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, which reports drug abuse statistics among teens, most prescription drug addiction remained fairly steady in 2009 with the exception of Adderall and Oxycontin.

It would appear, though, that another prescription drug may be taking its place. Adderall, another stimulant used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), was included in the survey for the first time this year; in 2009 it shows annual prevalence rates of use outside of medical supervision of 2 percent, 6 percent, and 5 percent in grades 8, 10, and 12, respectively.

The picture for OxyContin is a little less clear. At all three grades, OxyContin use is higher today than it was when its use was first measured in 2002, although only 10th grade showed an increase in 2009 (+0.9 percentage points, not significant). The annual prevalence rates are now 2 percent, 5 percent, and 5 percent, respectively for OxyContin at the three grade levels. Whether this one-year increase at 10th grade is real, or simply a sampling artifact, will have to wait another year to be resolved. But the main point is that these two dangerous and highly addictive narcotic drugs remain at high levels of use among American teens.