Maxim Magazine (December 2008) – Jiah Khan … “Pharmageddon”: America’s New Drug Crisis — better living through better chemistry (September 4, 2011) …

Image by marsmet552
Krantz, medical director of the Hanley Center, a drug treatment center in West Palm Beach, Fla., explained to "Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Rebecca Jarvisthat, "It definitely is a pandemic in the United States today, and we got there, essentially, in the late 1990s, there was a paradigm shift for treating chronic pain.

And at the same time there was direct consumer advertising. So, it made the perfect storm. People now were going to their physicians, and they have arthritis, the weekend warriors, the baby boomers, and they’re saying, ‘I have this pain,’ and doctors are over-prescribing.
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…..item 1)…. website … CBS NEWS … The Early Show …

September 4, 2010 11:01 PM

"Pharmageddon": America’s New Drug Crisis
By CBSNews

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/04/earlyshow/saturday/mai...

(CBS) A new drug problem is emerging in the United States: an alarming national epidemic of pill popping and prescription drug abuse so bad it’s being called "Pharmageddon."

The latest issue of Time magazine has numbers painting a disturbing picture: Over the last two decades, deaths from accidental drug overdoses have increased five-fold. And, for the first time, unintentional overdoses have replaced car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

It’s a problem Dr. Barbra Krantz describes as "the perfect storm."

Krantz, medical director of the Hanley Center, a drug treatment center in West Palm Beach, Fla., explained to "Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Rebecca Jarvisthat, "It definitely is a pandemic in the United States today, and we got there, essentially, in the late 1990s, there was a paradigm shift for treating chronic pain. And at the same time there was direct consumer advertising. So, it made the perfect storm. People now were going to their physicians, and they have arthritis, the weekend warriors, the baby boomers, and they’re saying, ‘I have this pain,’ and doctors are over-prescribing.

"The most at risk are not the street junkies, the typical stereotype that you would think of, but the people that are working, that are educated, that have had professions that are now looking for that better living through better chemistry."

Ron Dash, a former Hanley patient and a recovering prescription drug addict, told Jarvis, "For me, it started at a very young age, at the age of 10. I had some anxiety problems and I was given a prescription for Phenobarbital. I believe that set me off in the direction of not dealing with things that bothered me and going to doctors and asking for a quick fix, something to help me feel better. Over the course of my youth, growing up in the ’60s, the culture was encouraging towards social drug use. As I got into my professional career, as a professional businessman, I went to doctors and I got prescriptions for stress, and it just mushroomed and progressed from there. At the age of — my first surgery, I was given a prescription medication for pain, Vicodin. And as I grew older, I just became slowly more and more dependent on taking medications to help me cope, get up for work and get through my day."

Krantz said there are definite signs someone could be addicted to prescription drugs:

Activities abandoned or reduced: "There’s a progressive isolation that occurs in their life. Where they get to is that the drug is the only thing that’s important to them, obtaining the drug."

Dependence on the drug: "Dependence, tolerance, withdrawal is another sign," Krantz said.

Duration or amount greater than intended, intra-personal consequences — that they can’t cut down or control it. And when it becomes time-consuming: "What happens," Krantz said, "is that the person finds themselves needing to take more of the prescription drug than intended or prescribed, and then they’re taking friends, or they’re asking friends for their drugs. We saw a serious increase in the baby boomer drug addict. About 70 percent of our patients at Hanley are baby boomers. We have special program for them now."
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…..item 2)…. website … Time Magazine … Health … The New Drug Crisis: Addiction by Prescription

By Jeffrey Kluger Monday, Sept. 13, 2010

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img code photo……skull and crossbones with tons of prescription pills

img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2010/1009/wdrugs_0913.jpg

Stephen Lewis for TIME
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www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2015763,00.html

Update Appended: Sept. 17, 2010

It’s not easy to find a mother who would look back fondly on the time her son had cancer. But Penny (not her real name) does. Penny lives in Boston, and her son got sick when he was just 13. He struggled with the disease for several years — through the battery of tests and the horror of the diagnosis and, worst of all, through the pain that came from the treatment. For that last one, at least, there was help — Oxycontin, a time-released opioid that works for up to 12 hours. It did the job, and more.

The brain loves Oxycontin — the way the drug lights up the limbic system, with cascading effects through the ventral striatum, midbrain, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex and prefrontal cortex, leaving pure pleasure in its wake. What the brain loves, it learns to crave. That’s especially so when the alternative is the cruel pain of cancer therapy. By the time Penny’s son was 17, his cancer was licked — but his taste for Oxy wasn’t. When his doctor quit prescribing him the stuff, the boy found the next best — or next available — thing: heroin. Penny soon began spending her Monday nights at meetings of the support group Learn to Cope, a Boston-based organization that counsels families of addicts, particularly those hooked on opioids or heroin.

(See the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2009.)

"Penny told the group that she actually misses her son’s cancer," says Joanne Peterson, the founder of Learn to Cope. "When he had that, everyone was around. When he had that, he had support."

Penny and her son are not unique. Humans have never lacked for ways to get wasted. The natural world is full of intoxicating leaves and fruits and fungi, and for centuries, science has added to the pharmacopoeia. In the past two decades, that’s been especially true. As the medical community has become more attentive to acute and chronic pain, a bounty of new drugs has rolled off Big Pharma’s production line.

There was fentanyl, a synthetic opioid around since the 1960s that went into wide use as a treatment for cancer pain in the 1990s. That was followed by Oxycodone, a short-acting drug for more routine pain, and after that came Oxycontin, a 12-hour formulation of the same powerful pill. Finally came hydrocodone, sold under numerous brand names, including Vicodin. Essentially the same opioid mixed with acetaminophen, hydrocodone seemed like health food compared with its chemical cousins, and it has been regulated accordingly. The government considers hydrocodone a Schedule III drug — one with a "moderate or low" risk of dependency, as opposed to Schedule II’s, which carry a "severe" risk. Physicians must submit a written prescription for Schedule II drugs; for Schedule III’s, they just phone the pharmacy. (Schedule I substances are drugs like heroin that are never prescribed.) For patients, that wealth of choices spelled danger.

(See the most common hospital mishaps.)

"If someone is dying, addiction isn’t a problem," says Dr. Jim Rathmell, chief of the division of pain medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. "But for prescribers, the distinction between a patient who has three or four weeks to live and one who’s 32 and has chronic back pain started to blur."

The result has hardly been a surprise. Since 1990, there has been a tenfold increase in prescriptions for opioids in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2007, 3.7 million people filled 21 million legal prescriptions for opioid painkillers, and 5.2 million people over the age of 12 reported using prescription painkillers nonmedically in the previous month, according to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). From 2004 to ’08, emergency-room visits for opioid misuse doubled. At the same time, the drugs have become the stuff of pop culture, gaining cachet in the process. The fictitious Dr. House and Nurse Jackie gobble them like gumdrops, as did the decidedly nonfictional Rush Limbaugh and Heath Ledger. And, like Ledger, some users don’t make it out alive.

In 1990 there were barely 6,000 deaths from accidental drug poisoning in the U.S. By 2007 that number had nearly quintupled, to 27,658. In 15 states and the District of Columbia, unintentional overdoses have, for the first time in modern memory, replaced motor-vehicle incidents as the leading cause of accidental death; and in three more states it’s close to a tie.

Watch TIME’s video "Forget to Take Your Pills? Don’t Worry, They’ll Call You."

See how to prevent illness at any age.
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Treatment Center Finder Expands Their Addiction Hotline
Treatment Center Finder is battling addiction on the front lines seven days a week. To handle this growing problem, the company's addiction hotline has expanded into 6 new states, bringing the total states covered by their services up to 12 states …
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Zona Seca Closing Drug Treatment Center in Lompoc
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Question by bill: Video Game Addiction – Help!?
I have played a game called King of Kings 3 for a little more than a year now. This game has really had a bad impact on my life. I have become addicted to spending real money to make my character better. Overall, I probably spent $ 2,000 on the game. I played it for 6+ hours a day, and hardly see my wife anymore. Today I found myself paying $ 50 into the game and asked myself why. I now see that I am wasting my money. Money that I need for bills, money that could have been spent to have a wonderful dinner with my wife. Money that if nothing more, could have been saved.

I am at the starting line of ending my addiction. I gave away all my items on the game and told all of my friends that I am quitting. I uninstalled the game and want to find new activities that don’t ruin my real life. It was sad, people in the game said how they would miss me, but I have to do this for myself.

I need to fix my life, how can I make sure that I don’t fail and fall back into wasting my life on pointless video games? Are there any support groups in the USA? Should I see a psychologist? I don’t want to fail by going back to this game. I have wasted probably more than a thousand hours on this game, I am hurting because I had to say goodbye, but I can’t live a normal life with this video game.

I’ve had other addictions too. I played halo reach just as much and it impacted me almost as badly. Now my brother wants me to buy Diablo III. I know I can’t do that. How can I make sure not to fall into this trap again? How do I get my wife to end her own internet addiction? How do I take control back of our relationship? I want to have the relationship I used to have with my wife and my family.

Best answer:

Answer by Good looking Murphy
stop playing it, well definitively stop spending so much on it. play a cheap game like diablo or world of warcraft

Add your own answer in the comments!

Support Groups, Clubs, and Services
Parkinson's Support Group, 10 a.m., Board Room, Mercy South Medical Center, 638 S. Bluff Blvd., Clinton, Iowa, 563-243-5585. Women's Alcoholics Anonymous, 10:30 a.m., 7 p.m., closed, 808 Freeport Road, Sterling. Mercy Nursing Services free blood …
Read more on Saukvalley

Martin County Support Groups, Updated Feb. 5
Alcoholics Anonymous: AA “Daily Reflections” closed meeting group. 5:30 p.m. St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 701 SE Ocean Blvd., Stuart. 772-341-2941. Food Addicts Anonymous: 12 step fellowship for food addicts. 7-8 p.m. FA World Service Office/Prima …
Read more on TCPalm

Substance abuse treatment in Maryland is easily within arms reach for anyone that needs it. Dealing with substance abuse is a very complicated battle. Everything burns inside an addict saying not to take it, yet their body screams for it. The cravings can be tremendous and it almost seems like an impossible wall to get over. There is no need to fret, because there is indeed help out there ready to pull people out of this dark pit of this unnatural craving for poison.

The first thing that needs to be done is to set up an appointment with a nearby physician and talk to him/her about the situation at hand. Questions will be asked and the answers will be addressed. During this time, details will be sorted out on trying to determine the level of addiction that one is fighting with. This can help distribute the fact that either the patient needs inpatient or outpatient care. Substance abuse treatment in Maryland can go along the lines of alcohol addiction, drug addiction, and opioid addiction. So, even though there are different addictions that exist, they all have to be taken seriously because they can take away everything anyone has ever built.

Whichever substance that an individual is abusing, the facilities all have game plans on how to beat them. Usually, what is put to use are having the patients attend focus groups, support groups, take prescribed sedative medication and participating in detoxification methods. It can take a few days, weeks, or even months to completely recover from an addiction. The patient will need to keep their physician and staff members of the facility up-to-date with their progress. Detoxing can be a very harrowing chapter in anyones life, no matter how tough they are. One needs the utmost support from their friends, family and significant other in order to garner the energy to fight the addiction. If they know they have something to fight for, it will give them a really big incentive toward success.

Substance abuse is no laughing matter. It can truly unravel anyones life and render it irreparable. This is why it is wise to take on addictions the moment they pop up in peoples lives. The longer the addiction had been lingering around, the harder it will be to go away. There is much information out there that needs to be dissected before someone tries submitting themselves into a facility. Substance abuse treatment in Maryland can help regain everything that has been lost.

Related Center For Substance Abuse Treatment Articles

There is no harm in having a beer at the end of the day. Some may even argue that point. But when is it too much? Alcoholism is affecting thousands of people a day and has caused many consequences that are not so easily fixed. The definition of Alcoholism is the persistent use of alcohol that results in the need of alcohol to satisfy you. There are many treatments that you can do if you are to overcome Alcoholism. The treatments that have worked for many are:
 
1. Alcoholics Anonymous– Having a support group with a twelve-step program is always a good idea when you are an alcoholic. The support you get with alcoholics anonymous is worth everything you put into it. If there is no desire to change the behavior, it is impossible to help you overcome your addiction. 
 
2. Rehab Centers– When you have no success with the programs that alcoholic anonymous offer, there is another step that you can take. Rehab Centers or “Detox” centers help you get rid of the use of alcohol. Granted, alcoholism is never cured unfortunately, but it can be treated. Rehab centers are there when you cannot do it by yourself.
 
3. Medications– When rehab centers and alcoholics anonymous classes fail, there is always the medicine route. With different medicines helping many people fight off the temptations of alcohol and the addiction, alcoholism can be treated in this less conventional method. Medications can be prescribed to take off the edge of the need. Similar to smokers who have nicotine gum, alcoholics have Campral. This works by sending signals to the brain to prevent you from drinking.
 
Whatever method you find is the best for you, it is important that you get help. Having people around you who understand your alcoholism and want to help you in your struggle is very important for success. When you have the desire to quit drinking, you will be able to get to the bottom of the cause and quit completely. Remember to always keep a clear mind in your quest of becoming sober. When you become sober, you can be a better, more efficient member of society and be among the many who recovered from Alcoholism. There are many reasons why someone would start drinking. Emotions control us whether we know it or not. Be aware of your body and the different things it needs. As the programs say, “One day at a time”.

Martin County support groups, updated Jan. 29
Nar-Anon family groups: a fellowship for those affected by someone else's addiction. … GriefShare Support Group: A Christian grief support group for those who have lost a loved one to death; meets for 13 consecutive weeks; participants may join any week.
Read more on TCPalm

Help & support
n ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE WITH YOUR CHILD'S ADDICTION ISSUES?: Chucky's Fight — Parent Support Group meets every third Thursday of the month at Church of Christ, 867 Lafayette Road, Seabrook. Share group knowledge and experience.
Read more on Seacoastonline.com