July 28th, 2010
An article just appeared in the LA Times talking about some quack research doctors at Yale who say that Ritalin (yes, that’s an amphetamine) addresses brain function and might help people with addiction.
Excuse me! Really?! What about the fact hat Ritalin is addictive? It is speed. Other reports have said that the brain recognizes Ritalin as being chemically similar to cocaine – should they go ahead and give addicts cocaine to treat addiction too? That’s essentially what they’re implying here.
Even more reasons why books like The New Face of Recovery need to be read by every household in the country – to arm themselves against destructive information like what the researchers are promoting. I bet if you looked deep enough, you would find that a drug company paid for the research and probably even wrote the paper and had these guys put their names on it – all in an attempt to keep sales going.
Tags: cocaine, Ritalin, stimulant addiction
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July 21st, 2010
As someone who has worked with multiple treatment centers and thousands of addicts across the country over the last decade, it was not surprising to see that she was sentenced to some jail time for violating probation. It’s a common occurrence. What was suprising to me at first was that her (temporary) new lawyer, Robert Shapiro, took her on as a client. He claimed she was going to comply with everything and he put her in a drug rehab or sober house that he founded or was connected to somehow.
If the reports were true about her financial problems, I wondered how she was going to pay him, as I assume he commands a high retainer and hourly rate. I wasn’t sure if he was doing it because he genuinely cared about her given the situation with losing his sone to addiction, or if he was trying to leverage her problems to benefit himself in some way, such as announcing she was in HIS program, etc. Maybe he wanted her to become a spokesperson for that treatment center after completing her jail time? Then reports surfaced this morning that he resigned as her lawyer last night. Did she refuse to get help or did she just not want to help him? Who knows for now, and I doubt the whole truth will ever be made public – just a lot of speculation and rumor (not unlike what is happening here).
One thing is certain for me, that is if she had gone to a truly successful addiction treatment program in the first place, much of the drama (and of course the probation violation) would have been avoided.
Tags: addiction treatment, drug rehab, Linsday Lohan, probation violation, Robert Shapiro, treatment program
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June 30th, 2010
Each year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime uses June 26th as the UN’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. This year the message was “Think Health, Not Drugs.”
The UNODC website provides the World Drug Report and a lot of information and tools for anti-drug campaigns around the world. This year’s event comes on the heals of news that the number of opiate addicts in Afghanistan have doubled, that drug cartel murders in Mexico have escalated and that prescription drug addiction is causing record overdose deaths in the United States.
As any local, national or international anti-drug campaign must have to be successful, the two main parts include effective drug prevention measures as well as successful drug rehabs and alcohol addiction treatment centers. Without these, it’s just a war.
Tags: alcohol addiction treatment, drug prevention, drug rehabs, UN Day Against Drugs, United Nations
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June 16th, 2010
The Salt Lake Tribune recently reported that Senator Orrin Hatch is introducing an ammendment that requires people receiving public assistance to take drug tests. As I have stated before in blog posts and talk more extensively about in my new book, this could be a start to helping to make more people responsible in life and save hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars. Here is an exerpt from the article:
People seeking unemployment benefits or welfare would have to first pass a drug test under a proposal Sen. Orrin Hatch will try to add to legislation extending the social safety net during this time of economic turmoil.
Hatch, R-Utah, said his idea would help battle drug addiction and could reduce the nation’s debt. He will try to get the Senate to include his amendment to a $140 billion bill extending tax breaks and social programs this week.
“This amendment is a way to help people get off of drugs to become productive and healthy members of society, while ensuring that valuable taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted,” he said after announcing his amendment. “Too many Americans are locked into a life of a dangerous dependency not only on drugs, but the federal assistance that serves to enable their addiction.”
While this certainly isn’t a popular idea in the minds of those who feal addicts are helpless, diseased individuals, the majority of hardworking Americans should be able to relate to this situation, especially those who have overcome major obstacles in life to keep providing for their families.
Any ammendment should, in my opinion, allow people who test positive to to an addiction treatment center, preferably a 90 day drug rehab program or another long-term period, and submit clean drug tests under a probationary period before any public assistance is denied.
Tags: 90 day drug rehab program, addiction treatment center, Orrin Hatch, public assistance
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June 5th, 2010
From the CDC – One in 5 U.S. high school students say they have ever taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription, according to the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the first year the survey assessed prescription drug abuse among high school students. The YRBS has been conducted every other year since 1991.
The survey asked if they’d ever taken a prescription drug such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin, or Xanax, without a doctor’s prescription.
While this is alarming, it shouldn’t be surprising, frankly. Prescription drugs have been pushed on Americans for every feeling or malady imaginable and drug companies have marketed their products (often fraudulently) to doctors and consumers to get people to buy them. So if millions of American adults think taking these drugs are okay, then of course our children will follow suit.
This is still in the beginning stages of the epidemic, as more people continue to seek drug rehab centers for prescription drug addiction than ever. If you or someone you love is in need of help for being dependent on prescriptions or other drugs, contact us today for help finding a successful addiction recovery program.
Tags: addiction recovery, drug rehab centers, prescription drug addiction
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May 20th, 2010
Despite having more than 500 drug rehabs in Texas, only a quarter of them provide rehabilitation services longer than a month, leaving only about 6 percent of the more than 43,000 people receiving help that actually get long-term care.
It is clear that Texas needs more facilities that provide 90-day rehab programs for drug and alcohol addiction – or longer. In addition to long-term rehabilitation, other successful components that have been identified include drug-free methods (not prescribing replacement drugs to addicts) and treatments that address the physical symptoms of addiction.
For more information about successful drug rehabs and recovery programs that actually work, call 1-877-372-5719 to speak with a counselor who can help.
Tags: 90-day rehabs, drug rehab texas, drug rehabs, long-term rehab
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May 8th, 2010
Partially from JoinTogether Online -
Synthetic drugs like the marijuana analogue Spice and mephedrone — similar to the banned khat — have become prominent drugs of abuse within the last year, and experts say that similar “legal high” drugs are coming down the pike, the BBC reported April 23.The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said that new synthetics are being developed with “unprecedented speed”; the drugs closely mimic currently illegal substances but have often avoided government regulation, although the U.K. has recently banned Spice and mephedrone.
EMCDDA said it identified 24 new substances last year, up from 13 in 2008.
“The appearance of a large number of new unregulated synthetic compounds marketed on the Internet as ‘legal highs’ or ‘not for human consumption’ and specifically designed to circumvent drug controls presents a growing challenge to current approaches to monitoring, responding to and controlling the use of new psychoactive substances,” said the EMCDDA in its annual report.
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The biggest problem here isn’t the ability to regulate drugs, it is the ability to reduce the demand for these drugs in many cultures. Drug treatment programs are continually playing catch-up and schools are tyring to find the most effective prevention programs, at least they should be. Policy changes for drug rehab centers and related activities are needed to provide funding for facilities and organizations that actually can demonstrate change.
Tags: addiction, drug rehab centers, drug treatment, synthetic drugs
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March 10th, 2010
Actor Corey Haim died this morning of an apparent drug overdose. Many who grew up during the 80’s remember him well from numerous roles in films then, and he was recently reunited on the small screen with actor and friend Corey Feldman in “The Two Coreys.”
Haim had a troubled past with substance abuse and all that comes with it – sliding career, financial difficulties and trouble with the law.
He is the latest casualty in a string of celebrity deaths that have been linked to drugs in one way or another. Yet with all the glorification of alcohol and drug abuse portrayed in Hollywood, especially on MTV and VH1 reality shows, maybe common sense might prevail and not continue to show so much partying since these channels influence our nation’s teenagers to a great degree.
Even Joey from MTV’s “The Real World Hollywood” wound up spinning his substance abuse from a violent tirade into a paid gig on “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew”, where he was depicted as making a joke of his drug use before entering treatment yet again.
I think it’s about time that some shows shed light on the reality of substance abuse without the glamorization of partying. Obviously not everyone winds up dead like Corey Haim when they become addicted to drugs, but most will end up in prison or die if they do not seek effective help.
We can help you locate successful addiction treatment centers for yourself or a loved one, whether you are seeking a California rehab center or some other location. Contact us today by calling 1-877-372-5719.
Tags: addiction treatment centers, California rehab center, Corey Haim, drug overdose
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March 4th, 2010
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University recently issued findings from a study of inmates and substance abuse issues. The beginning of their release states:
“Of the 2.3 million inmates crowding our nations prisons and jails, 1.5 million meet the DSM IV medical criteria for substance abuse or addiction, and another 458,000, while not meeting the strict DSM IV criteria, had histories of substance abuse; were under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of their crime; committed their offense to get money to buy drugs; were incarcerated for an alcohol or drug law violation; or shared some combination of these characteristics, according to Behind Bars II: Substance Abuse and America’s Prison Population. Combined these two groups constitute 85 percent of the U.S. prison population.”
While experts at addiction treatment centers throughout the country have been pushing for more drug rehabs instead of incarceration, this study presents hard-hitting facts about the correlation between substance abuse and crime in America.
If you or someone you love is in need of an addiction recovery program, contact us today for help. Call 1-877-372-5719 now.
Tags: addiction recovery, addiction treatment, CASA, drug abuse, drug addiction, drug rehabs, drug use and crime
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February 22nd, 2010
Recent reports say that the newest version of the Diagnostic and Statstical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) will change the category of substance abuse to use the term ‘addiction’ again instead of ‘dependent’. The idea is that there are people who display compulsive behavior when they are addicted, but there are people that are dependent on prescription drugs – both of these classifications have physical and mental side effects and withdrawal symptoms.
While the American Psychiatric Association (APA) might want to separate the two so they can continue prescribing dangerous drugs to people, in most cases the difference between dependence and addiction are simply the degree of the malady. In other words, for many drug users of any type, they start using the drug to feel better about something, then they become dependent on it because of the natural laws of our bodies, and as the tolerance builds they require more and ‘can’t live without it’, and so progress on to the level considered to be addiction. This can be observed with kids and street drugs as well as with housewifes and prescriptions such as painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs. Either situation can ruin someones life and usually requires addiction treatment centers or drug rehab programs to address the situation.
With such an explosion of people whose lives are becoming ruined because of legitimate ‘dependency’ from prescription drugs, no wonder they want to try and cover their asses.
Tags: addiction, addiction treatment centers, apa, drug rehab programs, dsm
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