Welcome to Drug and Alcohol Treatment
| ||
Drug Rehab Boston Article
This is a selection made from among articles on Drug Rehab Boston. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for future reading, click here.
from:
Drug Detox Could Be an Addict's Prescription the Next Time He Goes Doctor Shopping
By Gloria B. MacTaggart
A new bill is being proposed in Broward County, Florida to allow doctors and police to access a database that would enable them to monitor an individual's use of prescription drugs. With 1,324 people killed by prescription drugs in Florida in the first six months of 2007 - compare this to the 470 who died from cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines - this bill can't be enacted too soon. I don't know how many people need prescription drug detox in Florida, but you can bet that if 1,324 people died from using them, there are hundreds of thousands who could be headed in the same direction.
The database is already available to doctors, pharmacists and police in other states, but this would be the first Florida County to adopt its use. It would be used to monitor 'doctor shopping' - going from one doctor to another, faking symptoms or doing whatever you have to do to get a prescription. Obviously, anyone who's going this far to get drugs is at least physically dependent, if not addicted. Either way, they should probably be in drug detox or drug rehab, not looking for more drugs.
While there are definitely unethical doctors around who will prescribe drugs to just about anyone who walks in the door - not to mention those who've made fuelling addictions into their second, and probably more profitable, career - the vast majority of doctors are well-intentioned and would be horrified at the idea of having caused or fuelled an addiction, especially one that ended in death. If doctors can access this database, they can help get patients who come to them for drugs into a drug detox center instead.
Are all the people taking these prescription drugs just trying to get high? "Many people who come to our facility certainly didn't intend to become dependent on or addicted to prescription drugs," says Steve Hayes, director of Novus Medical Detox Center in Pasco County, Florida. "They are given the pills by their doctors to alleviate pain or help with some other acute situation and then, when they try to get off the drugs, they experience such incredibly painful or uncomfortable symptoms that they opt to keep taking the drugs. Eventually, they realize they have a problem and call us for help."
Unfortunately, many people taking prescription drugs - and this applies to both painkillers like OxyContin and tranquilizers like Xanax or Valium - don't realize that the pain and distress they experience when they try to stop taking the drugs is withdrawal. Instead, they see it as a return of the symptoms they initially got the drug to alleviate, and as an indication that they still need the drug.
The prescription drugs that are killing Floridians are the most commonly prescribed painkillers and benzodiazepines. Here is the breakdown of deaths in the first six months of 2007: methadone, 392; benzodiazepines, e.g. Valium and Xanax, 353; oxycodone, i.e. OxyContin, 323; hydrocodone, e.g. Vicodin and Lortab, 134; and morphine, 122.
Access to the prescription drug database will help doctors, pharmacists and police to identify people who are requesting excessive amounts of these drugs, but you can't depend on them to help you, you need to help yourself. And your friends and family. If you or someone you care about has a prescription drug problem, contact a medical drug detox program facility to get help.
Gloria is a freelance writer who contributes articles on health
contact:info@novusdetox.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gloria_B._MacTaggart
http://EzineArticles.com/?Drug-Detox-Could-Be-an-Addicts-Prescription-the-Next-Time-He-Goes-Doctor-Shopping&id=898875
Drug Rehab Boston Specific links
Drug Rehab Boston News
"Rehab With Dr. Drew" Returns To VH1 To Directly Help Young Adults With Their Addiction Issues
LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- VH1 and Dr. Drew has started production today on a sixth installment of "Rehab with Dr. Drew" to directly address alcohol and drug addiction among young adults, the largest group afflicted by addiction issues in the U.S. ...
Read more...Pol ramps up Southie war on drugs
U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch is ramping up the drug war in South Boston, bringing in the feds to rescue the opiate-ravaged...
Read more...American League notebook -- Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Baltimore: RHP Jason Hammel is still penciled in to make his start Friday against the Royals despite problems with his balky right knee. Hammel missed a turn in the rotation earlier this month due to the knee, and he had fluid drained earlier this week. ... CF Adam Jones went 2-for-3 with a walk, extending his hitting streak to 15 games, a career long. He is 22-for-62 (.355) with six homers and ...
Read more...Support Groups
ADOPTIVE FAMILIES TOGETHER: A group for pre- and post-adoptive families; meets fourth Sun. each month, 7-9 p.
Read more...MLB Capsules - Overall: Dealer describes HGH shipment to Clemens house
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scolded by the judge for putting on a slow and "boring" trial, prosecutors in the Roger Clemens case livened things up by introducing a convicted drug dealer who talked way too fast.
Read more...American League notebook -- Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Baltimore: LF Nolan Reimold, sidelined for two weeks due to a bulging neck disk, might need a second epidural injection. Reimold said he has been dealing with left thumb and forearm tingling and left shoulder soreness, and he doesn't know whether to expect gradual or immediate improvement. ... RH reliever Matt Lindstrom was diagnosed with a partially torn ligament in his right middle finger, and ...
Read more...Tragedy pitts siblings vs. Kennedy clan
The heartache of Mary Richardson Kennedy’s suicide deepened Thursday as the tragedy pitted her siblings against the storied Kennedy clan. The two sides — estranged over the couple’s pending divorce — were even planning separate memorials.
Read more...Bank robbery suspect nabbed
NORTON - Ramon Felix, wanted for the robbery of the Mansfield Bank's Norton branch earlier in this month, was arrested Saturday afternoon in a drug rehabilitation center in Brockton.
Read more...Pick of the week: Haunting, gorgeous “Oslo, August 31st”
Pick of the week: "Oslo, August 31st" is a wrenching voyage of discovery in Norway's suddenly trendy capital
Read more...Rehab With Dr. Drew To Premiere In September 2012
We’re excited to announce that Dr. Drew Pinsky and his team are returning to VH1 in just a few short months to share their expertise with a new group of patients. The new group that will be checking into the recovery center aren’t celebrities, however, they’re regular folks like us who have sought out Dr. [...]
Read more...