What Are Prescription Drugs?

Prescription Drugs – who would have known that the random pills and potions in your medicine cabinet would end up competing with marijuana for your kid’s attention and their addiction? Well it just so happens that those unassuming pills and potions once thought harmless are much more deadly than they look and they are fast becoming America’s new favorite drug of choice. It’s unfortunately true.

It’s all over the news. It’s in the papers, it’s the topic of the discussion on prime time specials and it’s all over the internet on blogs and websites. The President is talking about it. Prescription Drug abuse is the enemy.

What Are Prescription Drugs?

Prescription Drug Addiction

We all have some common knowledge of prescription medication; most of us has some old bottle of pills we never finished from a pain, ache or mental illness we may have suffered from at one time just sitting harmlessly on the shelf of our bathroom medicine cabinet. Well unfortunately these are the enemy, especially if you have teens. Although marijuana remains the all-time the number one drug of choice among teens, prescription drugs are running a very close second and if taken for granted any longer I predict it a very short time prescription drugs will surpass marijuana and become the most abused drugs in the country.

Basically prescription drugs are any “licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a prescription before it can be obtained.” Not to be confused with over-the-counter drugs or OTC’s which can be obtained without a prescription (and are just as dangerous), prescription drugs are those prescribed by a doctor but can also be obtained illegally. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug. The proper dispensation of prescription drugs should include a monograph (in Europe, a Patient Information Leaflet or PIL) that gives detailed information about the drug.

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, Prescription Drugs are described as “a category of psychotherapeutics that comprises prescription-type pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives.” They are says the NDIC, “among the substances most commonly abused by young people in the United States. Prescription drugs are readily available and can be obtained quite easily by teenagers. They (Teens) just want to get high and have a good time. But little do they know these drugs used improperly are a very serious health risks.  Increasingly younger adolescents obtain prescription drugs from classmates, friends, and family members, or they steal the drugs from school medicine dispensaries and from people for whom the drug had been legitimately prescribed.

Who Can Prescribe Prescription Drugs?

Prescribing Prescription Drug

In the United States, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act define a Prescription drug as those drugs authorized by veterinarians, dentists, optometrists, medical practitioners, and advanced practice nurses. It is generally required that Doctor (MD, DO, PA, OD, DPM, NMD, ND, DVM, DDS, or DMD), or Psychologists, a Nurse Practitioners and other APRNs write the prescription.

A basic-level registered nurse, a medical assistant, EMT, psychologists or your social workers, are not authorized to write a drug prescription ever.

Over-the-counter drugs (OTC) are drugs used to treat conditions not necessarily requiring care from a health care professional. They have been proven to meet higher safety standards for self-medication by patients. Lower strength drugs are often approved for OTC use. Higher strengths require a prescription.

Physicians can also legally prescribe drugs for uses other than those specified in the FDA approval; this is known as off-label use. Drug companies don’t often market drugs for off-label uses.

Prescription drug abusers may feel pleasure, euphoria, drowsiness, more energy, and other effects depending upon the drug. Teens can experience dangerous side effects. Prescription drugs taken as prescribed by a physician can and will successfully treat a variety of mental or physical conditions. But when abused, these prescription drugs can alter the brain’s activity and be mentally and physically addictive. (Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, NHSDA.)

“Most people understand that there are times when the proper medication is life saving and necessary. Some ailments such as diabetes require long-term maintenance, but not everything can be treated with pill. Let’s get wise. There is no pill to bring the dead back to life or to cure young people who have become addicted.” Mary Rieser, Narconon of Georgia.

Fighting The Fight Against Prescription Drugs

Narconon Of Georgia

Narconon of Georgia has been fighting drug addiction in Georgia for 11 years. But then the drugs were the illicit street drugs of the monsters and boogiemen. Heroin and Cocaine were the main drugs abuse by many with a few prescription pills and potion. But today these drugs have taken a back seat to what’s in the medicine cabinet says Rieser.

Talk to your kids and not at them. Don’t be to adult that you can’t get down on their level if only for a moment to get a better understanding of what the trends are. Teens today can be illusive and let’s just say sneaky, but a noisy parent is better than a parent who just does not know.

Educate yourself about the dangers of prescription and OTC drug abuse. Discuss these risks with your kids. Kids need to hear you say that getting high on legal prescription and OTC drugs is just as dangerous as getting high on street drugs.

Kids who learn about drug risks from their parents are half as likely to use drugs as kids who haven’t had that conversation with their parents.

Make sure you use drugs as the doctor intended. Stay involved with your kids. Don’t let them go through middle school and into high school without your guidance. Talk with them daily. Be honest in your conversation with them about prescription and OTC drug abuse. Know what you are talking about. Know the facts so you can clear up wrong or bad information. Peer pressure is just as deadly as the drugs when it is abused. Don’t make it all a lecture. Listen to your children. If they have questions and comments answer them truthfully. Let them know that getting high with prescription and OTC medication is not safer than getting high with illicit street drugs. In most cases it can be more dangerous.

Did you know that your child is more likely to be offered drugs by a friend than a stranger? It’s true. They can be exposed to drugs as early as age 12. Real friends don’t influence bad decisions.

There is much ado about prescription drugs. Get the facts.

Michael Bonds, Bauder College About The Author Michael Bonds is a Criminal Justice Senior at Bauder College in Atlanta Georgia. He is currently doing his externship at Narconon of Georgia He is an Activist and former Youth Counselor from Boston Massachusetts. He is the author of “Gunz, Poems & Rosez, the Experience Strength and Hope of Michael Warrior Bonds

Whatever pain these parents are trying to alleviate with their prescriptions, cannot come close to the pain of losing a child to overdose.  Additionally, kids are growing up in some households where prescriptions are just a matter of fact of life and they will take that example with them into adult life.  Here is the article:

“Children five years old and younger account for 69 percent of visits made to the emergency room in 2008 for accidental ingestion of drugs — and adults should take heed, HealthDay News reported Oct. 15.

According to a national survey of general hospitals performed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), children age five and younger made up 68.9 percent of an estimated 100,340 emergency room visits for accidental drug consumption. The survey did not include children’s or other specialty hospitals.

The vast majority of the emergency room visitors were three years or younger: 14.4 percent were three-year-olds; about 42.3 percent were two-year-olds; and 29.5 percent were one-year-olds.

The children ingested a broad variety of drugs, although only one percent of their visits were related to ingestion of illegal drugs or alcohol; all others were for pharmaceuticals, including prescription drugs.”

http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2010/most-drug-related-er-visits.html

Narconon promotes drug education at the earliest possible age for all children across the country.  What many kids are learning at home, needs to be replaced with accurate information on the real dangers of drugs – any drugs – whether they are in mommy and daddy’s medicine cabinet or not.

For those kids who don’t get the message soon enough, Narconon drug treatment will be there for them, if they are lucky enough to find it.

Narconon Of Georgia

Any drug which is commonly abused and hazardous to the health of its users should not be sold over the counter. Such a drug should be available by prescription only.

Yet a panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just ignored a request by the Drug Enforcement Administration to prohibit the over the counter sale of dextromethorphan (DM), a key ingredient in cough and cold medications. And for no good reason.

Apparently the panel of experts that decided the issue was more concerned with convenience than with public health. They feared that prohibiting the sale of DM without a prescription would unduly burden doctors and pharmacies.

Where is their concern for our children? Teen drug abuse is on the rise. The abuse of DM in particular has caused a steep increase in visits to Emergency Rooms. But the risk of injury is but one of the dangers of drug abuse. The greater risk is to a drug user’s long term health and welfare for drug abuse can and often does lead to full blown drug addiction.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote that a doctor must “have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm. The FDA’s panel of experts needs to be reminded of this enduring piece of medical wisdom.

A panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that cough medicine continue to be sold without a prescription, the Associated Press reported Sept. 14.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had requested that the FDA consider requiring prescriptions for dextromethorphan, a key ingredient in cough and cold medicines commonly sold over the counter. The agency said it was concerned about teen abuse of the drug and a steep increase in visits to the emergency room due to overdoses of the drug. Abuse of cough medicines can lead to fever, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure and — in rare cases — death.

The panel of advisors voted 15-9 against prescribing the drug, in part because of the burden it would put on doctors and pharmacies. “For me there was no data to show us that scheduling this product would decrease abuse,” said panelist Janet Engle, a professor at the University of Illinois.

The FDA has not yet made a final decision. While the agency usually follows the recommendations of its advisory panels, it can choose not to do so.

Source

“I feel like what I learned today has been the most helpful to me.  The other exercises got me in tune with objects and my body and made those more real.

This exercise helped me to deal with my body and space.  I now know that I am in control of the start, stop and change of my body and actions.  Now I have the power to start, stop and change my drug addiction.  I believe that this will have a huge effect on my life and life skills.”

Success in Drug Rehab

Before coming to Narconon of Georgia my life was in shambles.  I had gone through 3 DUI’s, and the third almost took my life.  I had used every street drug under the sun; smoked marijuana on a daily basis for 20 years and enjoyed using mushrooms.  After losing my right eye in a construction accident in May of 2009, my life became uncontrollable.  My family became distant, I could not work and the debt that had accumulated worsened.  I knew something had to be done to get my life back.  With family support I started looking at drug rehab programs.  After searching over 10 different addiction treatment centers, and realizing that a 30 day program would not cut it, a friend pointed me in the direction of Narconon of Georgia. 

Upon arrival, I was greeted with open arms.  Starting the program, my life changed began to change a little with each step.  I regained my health and person power back completely.  I am truly grateful that Narconon of Georgia exists, without it I would not have what I have today.  Simply put,  I have a happy and productive life in all the important areas.

Stop Addiction

Many years ago there was a game show called TO TELL THE TRUTH.  There were three people but only one of them was the real person as  described by the game host.

There is a similar real life game being played now.  Prisons, drug dealers and addicts are playing along with pharmaceutical companies. 

The question is, WHO IS THE REAL CRIMINAL HERE?

This article points out some goofy points about the injustices often dealt to drug addicts.  One methamphetamine addict turns in another one.  The first addict goes free and the other goes to prison. Unless effective addiction treatment is part of the picture, the goofiness will continue and the real criminals will go unnamed and undetected and society will never win at this version of TO TELL THE TRUTH.

“Who benefits from Cameron Douglas getting at least 10 years in prison? No one does. But the government is hell bent on punishing him for the crime of being an addict.

Cameron – the son of Academy Award winner Michael Douglas – took a guilty plea this week for dealing drugs that will land him in prison for at least 10 years to a maximum of life. This stems from a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation based on information from unidentified informants who were methamphetamine users and drug dealers. In other words, these rats gave Cameron up to save their own hides. In exchange for agreeing to be cooperating witnesses against Cameron, they were allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges.”

One of the most successful drug rehab centers with a 76% success rate for those completing the required courses is Narconon of Georgia.  Narconon provides for their clients effective drug education and rehabilitative services in a non-traditional, non twelve step environment.  The recovery process starts with the first call.  Intake counselors are available 24 hours a day to help field the calls for you or your loved one.  Stop the destructive cycle of addiction and call today.  Help is available.

Source

Cocaine Addiction

This study basically points out the common sense obvious – children who are exposed in-utero to cocaine don’t do well.

Whatever the underlying reason, be it environment or the cocaine, treating pregnant women with addiction problems should be the number one priority in any addiction treatment program.

Children are our future. The future already looks pretty grim with the escalating prescription drug abuse trend with our youth.  In-utero drug exposure needs to be severely addressed, even if it has to be legal restraint. 

“Children exposed in-utero to cocaine often have lower IQs and do poorly in school and with language, but a new research review concludes that these impairments can usually be traced to the troubled environment the children of cocaine users live in and not directly to the effects of the drug itself.

Researcher Maureen M. Black, Ph.D., and colleagues from the University of Maryland School of Medicine reviewed 32 previous studies on school-aged children who had been exposed to cocaine during pregnancy. They found that these children often had problems with sustaining attention and self-regulating their behavior. Some studies also showed that the exposed children exhibited differences in the white and gray matter in their brains.”

Narconon of Georgia offers drug education and rehabilitative services for those who are suffering from cocaine addiction.  Intake counselors are available to make the transition into drug rehab comfortable and efficient. 

Source

Breaking Addiction

The pattern of addiction starts when a person encounters a problem.  Of course, everyone has problems in their life, but an addict is someone who chooses drugs or alcohol to help cope with or solve the problem.  Usually the addict is unaware that the pattern of addiction has begun.  The drugs now become valuable because of the false relief termporarily provided.  However, the drugs did not change the real world and the problem still exists.  The addict is now trapped in the cycle of addiction.  The drug now has control thus beginning the downward spiral of addiction.  The initial problem one was attempting to resolve with drugs fades away from memory, while new problems mount. 

Narconon of Georgia is one of the most successful addiction treatment centers in the country.  76% of those who complete the program find the chains of addiction no longer have them bound and are free to be productive drug-free members of society.  A new course of action is now being followed due to the drug education and rehabilitative services provided by the trained staff and volunteers.  The up’s and down’s of life are now being confronted and handled without the use of drugs or alcohol giving way to greater achievement in integrity and honesty.

If you or someone you know is bound by the chains of addiction, help them break through to a new life.  Counselors are available 24 hours a day to help provide a comfortable transition into drug rehab.  Embrace and celebrate new life through Narconon of Georgia.

Narconon of Georgia

When a person is on drugs they lose control of their environment and even get to the point where they can’t see it. Drugs like heroin, oxycontin, cocaine and others diminish ability overall.

The step called “objectives” of the Narconon addiction treatment program bring a person’s awareness up of the environment so they can once again control the environment.  Here is a success of a student who is in the middle of that step.

“Today in class I learned that no matter how large my environment is, my intention can control objects and my life.

I learned that I can use my body to control objects.  The objects represent many things to me.  They represent my drug cravings, temptations and even the drugs themselves.  All of these things are under my control and are covered by my intention.

IT is a great feeling to know that I am in control of my life and my environment wherever I chose to go.”

Narconon of Georgia provides drug education and rehabilitative services for those who are suffering from addiction to street drugs.  You or your loved one can achieve this same affect and once again have control over ones life.

Deadly Addiction

The cycle of addiction is deadly.  Drug addiction takes the lives of good people everyday.  Unfortunately, friends and family members do not realize how bad addiction can be in a person life until it’s too late.  So often, the individual suffering from addiction to drugs or alcohol has great manipulative skills, discrediting the addiction as the source for their troubles.  One must realize that drug abuse is a surface problem.  Addiction treatment aims at going below the surface getting to the root of the individuals pain.    

Like most people in society, the addict has good intentions and wants to make the travels of this life worthwhile.  Somewhere along the journey, problems are encountered and discomfort is felt.  Now, the addiction is progressing and the need for drugs or alcohol becomes obsessive.  Life’s problems now look overwhelming and insurmountable.  Therefore, the cycle of addiction continues to worsen as the cravings for drugs increase.  The person is now seeking drugs for both reward and pleasure. 

Narconon of Georgia, a non-profit organization, is striving to provide the best in addiction treatment.  For those completing the program, 76% are successfully living life to the fullest and achieving those dreams and aspirations that were being destroyed by drug addiction. 

If you or a family member is struggling with substance abuse, and cannot find their way out, Narconon of Georgia will provide drug education and rehabilitative services aiming at breaking the cycle of addiction allowing new life to begin.  Intake counselors are available to speak with you or your loved one and help guide them comfortably into drug rehab.   Do not let a life be stolen because of addiction.  Seek help today.