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Addictive Prescription Drugs Constitute a “Growth Industry,” Warns Narconon Spokesperson
As prescription drug abuse and overdoses hit new highs among Americans, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has just announced its new strategy to bring these numbers down. While some illicit drugs like cocaine have lessened in popularity, prescription drug abuse has been increasing. In evidence of the growing popularity of these drugs to abusers, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that nearly one third of the people who abused drugs for the first time in 2009 chose prescription drugs to abuse. Overdoses have increased five-fold since 1990. And for the first time, deaths from prescription drug misuse have exceeded deaths from gunshot wounds and, in many states, deaths from traffic accidents.
- http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/rx_abuse_plan.pdf
- http://ofsubstance.gov/blogs/pushing_back/archive/2011/02/22/51827.aspx
“While this kind of drug abuse is a ‘growth industry’ so to speak, it’s not the kind of growth that benefits your citizens,” commented Bobby Wiggins, the director of Narconon for drug education. Narconon is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and drug education. “We commend the ONDCP and the Food and Drug Administration for taking action to increase awareness of the problems resulting from reckless prescribing or from just letting unused drugs sit in the family medicine chest.”
As Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske announced the strategy on April 19, 2011, he said that by and large, Americans are ignorant of the fact “that what’s inside the medicine cabinet can kill.” In particular, teenagers are susceptible to abuse and addiction because they may consider medications prescribed by the family doctor safer to abuse than street drugs. And when the family fails to safely dispose of old prescriptions, it can be easy for a young person to get the drugs he wants out of the medicine chest.
Part of the strategy included requiring manufacturers of extended-release and long-acting opioid medications to help mitigate the inherent risks of these drugs by financing education for doctors on proper pain management, patient screening and to ensure that patients use the drug as prescribed.
Some opioid addicts started out using these drugs for a legitimate medical need. As the body builds tolerance, patients feel they need more of the drug to keep the aches and pains away so they may abuse the drug and finish their prescription. After the patient finishes the prescribed dosage, the Dr. may simply cut the person off, sending this now-addicted person into illicit use. An addict may get desperate enough to harm someone to get the drugs he feels he needs. Also, he or she may resort to illicit drugs as a substitute. Doctor-shopping, prescription fraud or theft may provide the addicted person with the prescription medications they feel they need to be able to function normally.
The medications frequently abused by opioid addicts are: hydromorphone (marketed as Dilaudid, among other names), oxycodone (ingredient of OxyContin), morphine, oxymorphone (brand named Opana and others), methadone, and fentanyl (a synthetic opioid 50 to 80 times stronger than heroin).
“It’s vital to plan for drug prevention through education and drug recovery through effective drug rehabilitation at the same time that you get these prescription drugs off the street. People who are already addicted must have somewhere to turn,” Wiggins concluded.
Admissions at Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers across the U.S. have been seeing increasing numbers of admissions to treatment due to prescription drug abuse. In some centers, half of the addicts entering treatment are recovering from prescription drug addiction. But no matter what the substance of abuse is when a person enters rehab, the Narconon program still results in seven out of ten graduates remaining sober after they return home.
Avoid Risks for Drug-Facilitated Rapes
There’s a long list of drugs that are becoming popular aids for the would-be rapist. They can enable the criminally-minded person to slip a tasteless or nearly-tasteless chemical in a person’s drink while they have turned away or perhaps left their drink behind while they dance. Statistically, the most vulnerable group for this type of attack is a young woman, very often one at school or college.
When the woman feels sick or dizzy after fifteen or 20 minutes, the rapist can then help her to her car or offer to take her home, where he then completes the rape. The young woman wakes up the next morning, knowing something is very wrong, feeling sick, but not being sure what occurred. According to one estimate by the Department of Justice, there are 375,000 drug or alcohol-facilitated rapes just among women on American colleges.
“A rape of this kind is just one of the many things that can go wrong in an environment of substance abuse,” warned Bobby Wiggins, spokesperson for Narconon. Narconon is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and drug education. “Especially among college students, there are also much higher rates of accident, injury, failures in school and even death among those drinking or using drugs.”
Drugs that are Used
Some of the drugs used to make women unable to defend themselves against rape include: Rohypnol (flunitrazepam), a benzodiazepine, but much stronger than the more common Xanax: In American states along the southern border, Rohypnol is easy to get as it is sold across the counter in Mexico. In other areas, it sold by prescription for sleeplessness.
Alcohol: Its big advantage is that it is legal and considered an “excuse” for unacceptable behavior, particularly on college campuses.
GHB: This drug is often used by body builders to burn fat. It may be stored in a small dropper bottle for easy addition to someone’s drink.
Ketamine, a veterinary anesthetic: This drug acts as a dissociative, meaning that it can cause hallucinations or a dreamlike or detached state.
Ecstasy and methamphetamine may also be used to facilitate rapes. In a circular fashion, drug-facilitated rapes may themselves engender more substance abuse. Women who have been raped are thirteen times more likely to abuse alcohol and 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
“While some women are slipped a drug without their knowledge and then raped when they are unable to resist, far more women experience sexual assaults after they have willingly consumed drugs or alcohol,” advised Wiggins. “By far the best way to prevent assault is to avoid drug or alcohol abuse entirely. This keeps a young woman safe from addiction, drug or alcohol-related health problems, assault and unwanted pregnancy.”
For more information on the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, call and speak to one of drug rehabilitation counselors.
Resources
- http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/club/index.html
- http://www.library.northwestern.edu/news/2010/march/drug-facilitated-incapacitated-and-forcible-rape
- http://www.pcar.org/about-sexual-violence/stats
- http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/sexualassault/drugrape.htm
- http://www.rainn.org/statistics
Narconon Spokesperson Warns that Cocaine and Ecstasy Are Being Cut with Toxic Drugs
If you needed any further proof that drug traffickers and dealers are nobody’s friends, recent analyses of cocaine and ecstasy supplies shows that they are moreand more often being cut with toxic drugs. Shortages of cocaine in various parts of the world and reduced production of ecstasy may be driving drug traffickers to use bulking agents more frequently and in greater quantity than previously.
Narconon Spokesperson, Bobby Wiggins warned that while drug use is bad enough, drug use with unpredictable chemicals added is far more dangerous. “Drug users may become accustomed to the actions of their drugs of choice and may think they can control the effects pretty well – but when toxic drugs and chemicals are added to what they think they are buying, the matter can easily get out of control.” Narconon is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse and addiction through effective drug rehabilitation and education.
The two main drugs being found as adulterants are levamisole and MCPP or meta-Chlorophenylpiperazine.
Levamisole was a drug once used on humans but dangerous side effects caused most uses to be discontiunued. Some people suffered allergic reactions including difficulty breathing, confusion, loss of consciousness or decreased bone marrow or blood problems resulting in extreme fatigue. It is now primarily used as an animal wormer.
In the last few years, the Drug Enforcement Agency has been finding levamisole in 69 percent of cocaine samples they test in the US. It’s also being found in ecstasy supplies, especially in Australia, along with cocaine samples tested there.
MCPP has been found in many cocaine samples. Medically, it is used to instigate migraine headaches so that headache medications can be tested. It has been found to cause anxiety, depression and panic attacks, and worsen obsessive behaviors. One investigator suspected that this drug was used to cut cocaine instead of other, more innocent, substances because it adds not only bulk to a package of illicit drugs, it also adds weight. It may also mimic the effects of some illicit drugs and may even enable a package of cocaine to pass a street purity test.
Levamisol has even played a role in recent celebrity deaths. In 2009. DJ AM was found dead from an overdose in his New York apartment. Toxicology tests showed OxyContin, benzodiazepines, cocaine and levamisole in his body. And when newsman Ted Koppel’s son was found dead in 2010, his death was determined to have been caused by an overdose of alcohol, cocaine, benzodiazepines and levamisole.
“When a person is addicted to cocaine or ecstasy, they may feel they have no choice but to continue to find supplies of the drug, no matter how dangerous those supplies may be,” explained Wiggins. “But in fact, they do have a choice. An effective drug rehabilitation center that helps them leave drug use behind is their best path to a safe and healthy life. In more than 100 centers around the world, Narconon drug treatment centers are helping addicts find healthier lives.”
www.narconon-news.org
Narconon Report News Update
Here are a few Narconon news releases in December 2009:
- Holidays Less Critical Than Saving Son’s Life from Addiction, Says Dad: Ten days before Christmas, Victor’s son arrived at Narconon Arrowhead in Canadian, Oklahoma. Four months later the family got the results they were praying for, Victor’s son was drug-free.
- What Is Addiction: According to Narconon Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation and Education Centers, addiction is defined as a condition characterized by repeated, compulsive seeking and use of drugs, alcohol or other similar substances despite adverse social, mental and physical consequences.
- Narconon Drug Rehab Graduate Living Drug Free: Two years ago, when she thought things could not get any worse, Brandy overdosed on prescription pain medication. When her family found her she was unconscious and barely breathing. Brandy reports that a visit to the hospital to get her stomach pumped saved her immediate life and the Narconon drug rehab program gave her life back.
- Cravings – The Downfall of Sobriety: The Narconon program in Louisiana recognizes how vital it is to address cravings in an individual in order to permanently stay off drugs and alcohol. Cravings result when an individual has consumed enough drugs and alcohol that their body requires it.
- Guilt Is One Main Reason Addiction Increases During Holiday’s: The Narconon program in Michigan directly deals with the factors behind the guilt through precise techniques that have been developed and are in use in the Narconon program that enable an addict to obtain relief from his past misdeeds and obtain a new fresh viewpoint of life.
- Narconon Delivers Effective Drug Education During The Holidays: This past week on Bobby Wiggins, the world renowned drug education expert, spoke on behalf of Narconon Freedom Center as a special guest at an elementary school near Marshall, Michigan.
- Holiday Increase Feelings of Guilt For Those Addicted: They are forced to look at the damage they’ve created and as a solution they will use more and more drugs or alcohol in an effort to not have to face this. “The more the individual uses drugs, the guiltier they feel so the more they have to keep using,” explains Jeff Lukas, Executive Director of the Narconon program in Louisiana.
- Addiction Can Be Source of Holiday Depression: Rehabs, like the Narconon program in Louisiana, work with the individual to free them of depression in order to achieve permanent sobriety from drugs and alcohol.
- The Most Effective Solution For Alcohol Addiction: “At Narconon we see a lot of clients with alcohol problems that have tried other methods to stop drinking but until the underlying issues are really handled, things like alcohol monitoring bracelets merely act as a temporary deterrent.”
Narconon report of recent news
