Prescription drug abuse in Ohio causes more deaths than suicide or driving accidents. For an outlay of $8.9m the State will qualify for a Federal grant to total $36m to be used to help treat people suffering from mental illness and drug addiction, and hopefully get them into employment.
The funding has been applied for against a rise in deaths from drug overdose during recent years, deaths ascribed to an increased availability and use of prescription drugs.
Ohio’s current prescription drug problem results in four accidental drug overdose deaths per day.
For Ohio the statistics for prescription drug abuse are alarming:
40% of the State’s 1,373 overdose deaths in 2009 were from prescription medications, specifically pain relievers.
In 2009 one in four high school students had used or was using prescription drugs illicitly.
The painkillers prescribed in Ohio, in 2008 were 4.8 million prescriptions for hydrocodone, and 2.7 million prescriptions for oxycodone – the active ingredient in Percocet and OxyContin.
Ohio Governor John Kasich has come out strongly, reiterating the untold damage and harmful effects of these prescription narcotics. Families are torn apart, young lives destroyed by a combination of indiscriminate, reckless prescription and illicit diversion.
The Ohio Governor speaks for us all in his harsh criticism of a State Medical Board that apparently is moving very slowly in response to allegations by former Ohio Attorney General, now appointed as an advisor on prescription drugs abuse, that there are dozens of doctors in Ohio running prescription drugs from “pill mills”. The State Medical Board says that it is committed to combating the problem and actively working on solutions.
While the State Medical Board continues to work on its strategy, legislation is soon to be introduced that will put an end to pill mills with license suspensions and fines by way of enforcement measures.
OxyContin is very similar to heroin in its effects and once addicted, both heroin and OxyContin are extremely difficult to withdraw from. Unless people receive drug addict help that includes a full detox from the drug and the many harmful residues that remain in the system, addicts face the real possibility of relapse caused by cravings over which they have no control. Also the pathway to full recovery from drug addiction is more than just getting back to work.
Full recovery from drug addiction requires many emotional adjustments and the learning of new ways of thinking. People do best for long term recovery when nothing is left to chance and a fully comprehensive addiction recovery program is used.
While it is easy to understand the stance that Ohio now takes against prescription drug abuse, it will be money wasted, people given false promise and hope of recovery, if all that eventuates from this initiative is a new regime of drug abuse in the form of substitute prescription drugs, such as methadone.
Drug free is the way of the future, and should form the basis for all current initiatives to overcome prescription drug abuse. In the context of a comprehensive drug free rehabilitation program, people learn to restructure their ways of thinking and become emotionally secure. Addicts will improve their capacity for empathy and improve their ability for good decision making.
People entrusted with the responsibility to turn the tide of prescription drug addiction will need to ensure that drug addict help is of the best and highest caliber. Drug free comprehensive addiction recovery programs are safe and effective – setting the standard and leading the way to complete drug addiction recovery.
Author: National Addiction Resources
America's Best Treatment Directory
Congratulations OHIO for doing something against drub abuse, send the bills for rehab straight to the pharmacutical companies they made the problems by producing products that are addictive let them pay to clean up their mess !
Canadian prescription drug abuse is an ongoing battle unresolved
Prescription drugs, by which we mean any all over-the-counter medication and prescribed medication by a physician, intended to ease a specified pain or general physical ailment. This has now moved over into practically any type of medication that is intended for a physical condition that gives a mental and / or physical side effect; such as, dizziness, sleepy or drowsy feeling, etc. But it is the opioid medications that are the most abuse presently all across Canada. In a recent study it was noted that Canada currently ranks second to the U.S. in prescription opioid abuse.
Not every abuser began as a recreational drug user, many of the pain medications such as; OxyContin, Percocet even T-3’s (Tylonol-3), Morphine and Fentanyl are prescribed for a real existing conditions. The person taking these, even when following the dosage to the letter, began their dependency to the drug way before they realized they were addicted. This real problem of abusing painkilling drugs exists because of a lack of information on dealing with pain. Because the medical profession has not resolved the issue of pain, their only solution for people is to cope with the pain by numbing or suppressing the person’s awareness of the pain during healing and recovery from a surgery or accident. But when a person continues to experience the pain their only option is to take more medications. The body will become accustomed to this numbing effect and when the drug is not taken there is a resulting increase in pain awareness and in a lot of cases withdrawal pain, a vicious cycle is now begun of more pain medication ending up with addiction.
In researching into this issue it was found that there is but one science that has pain well described and under control, this is the science of Dianetics. Developed by the American researcher and philanthropist M. Ron Hubbard it appears that this method of dealing with pain can actually locate the source of such issues and once located actually eliminate this source to the benefit and increased happiness of the person. No drugs or alternate substitutes are used and is a simple psycho-analytic process. More information on this can be found at http://www.dianetics.org.
When these pain drugs are taken for recreational use and above the dosage, the effects are amplified and the abuser gets a sense of euphoria or a feeling of being high. They have often been referred to as the poor man’s heroin. When pain drugs, or opiates, are abused and the person becomes addicted the withdrawal can be very difficult and painful in itself, if not done properly. In many case of Oxy or Fentanyl abuse the person is advised to go through a medical detoxification prior to their drug rehab program. During withdrawal the person’s physical well-being can be at risk and normally require a medical staff on standby for monitoring purposes.
It is actually quite easy to get prescribed a pain medication, one simply need to see their doctor and say they have a pain, after examination and finding nothing physically wrong you get prescribed a pain drug, usually accompanied by some anti-depressant to cope with this undiagnosed pain. But for people with legitimate pain conditions (based on past accidents or surgeries) aside from the above mentioned science, society to this date has no answers. It should be noted this article is not referring to someone with a physical disability, or a disease that is attacking the nerve tissues or other such conditions. It is also noted that this is not a medical opinion or diagnosis, it is simply a statement of observable facts in today’s society and to present other options for people to look into in the hopes that it brings relief and helps to cut down on the abuse of opioid pain medication for Canadians.
It should also be noted that not everyone gets addicted to their prescription pain medication, there exist many people who have been on pain drugs for 2 or 3 weeks and stopped and handled the balance of recovery with natural and rational approaches as dictated by their doctors, etc.