Signs of Substance Abuse

There are a number of signs to watch for over a 12-month period if you are trying to determine if an individual is abusing drugs or alcohol:

• Substance use is interfering with work, school or other daily activities
• Person uses drugs or alcohol in reckless ways, such as driving while intoxicated
• Continued substance use even if the habit is causing strain in personal relationships
• Problems arise related to substance use, such as legal or financial issues

Substance abuse is a serious problem that can lead to addiction if it is left unchecked. However, treatment at this stage, which might include time in a treatment center, can be very successful.

Signs of Substance Addiction

Addiction, also referred to as substance dependency, is generally characterized by these observable signs over a 12-month period:

Tolerance is developed, which requires the addict to use more of the substance to get the same “high”
If the substance is stopped, physical and emotional withdrawal symptoms can occur
Efforts to cut back or stop using the substance are continuously unsuccessful
Investment of a great deal of time and money in using the substance
Ingestion of potentially dangerous amounts of the drug or alcohol

Substance addiction is significantly more complex to treat. A residential treatment program is usually required to help the individual get off the substance completely and learn to live without the drug or alcohol. Medical treatment is generally necessary in the early phase of treatment, to ensure withdrawal symptoms are properly and safely cared for. In addition, ample support after the treatment program will ensure the addict successfully integrates back into daily life without relapses.

At Pasadena Recovery Center, we help those abusing or addicted to drugs or alcohol find hope and a successful path to sobriety. Our programs are tailored to the unique needs of each patient, to ensure the best possible outcome from their treatment program. To learn more about our treatment programs, contact our staff at 866-663-3030.

The ugly side of prescription painkillers—and how you could get hooked.

By Elizabeth Foy Larsen

The afternoon of her grandmother’s funeral, Brittany, 19, sat on the bed in what used to be her grandmother’s room, relieved to have finally snuck off after spending all day with her grieving family. In her trembling hands, she held a beaded plastic purse. Brittany knew it belonged to her younger cousin, but still she nervously reached inside, pulling out a $5 bill with her clammy fingers.

Brittany had been furiously rifling through her family’s bags and coat pockets for 30 minutes already, careful to be quiet as her family mourned—somber and teary-eyed—on the other side of the door. She was searching for cash or anything she could steal to sell so she could get high. All the while, her head was aching, and her mouth was dry.
Brittany was desperate. Yet, as desperate as she was, she couldn’t shake the feeling that stealing from a 6-year-old was a new low. How had she gotten here, she wondered—and what had she become?

The answer was at turns frighteningly simple and dizzyingly complex. It all began three years earlier. Brittany had been a bright 16-year-old with good grades and braces, who loved shooting hoops and playing with her dog. After Brittany had her wisdom teeth removed, her orthodontist prescribed Percocet, a commonly used painkiller, for her post-surgery discomfort.

What nobody told Brittany, however, was that using it has a downside. Percocet is a powerful and highly addictive medication—part of a class of drugs called opioids, that are no different chemically than their illegal counterpart, heroin. For one week after her surgery, Brittany took the Percocet every few hours, just as her doctor had prescribed. And with each pill, a numb feeling washed over her—a feeling that she grew to look forward to.

A week later, her pain was gone. But she still had some pills left. So she took one, just for fun.

That single, seemingly innocent, just-for-fun pill led to another, and then another. And before she even realized it, Brittany didn’t just want the drug—she needed it to get out of bed in the morning. Over time, each pill had been changing the chemistry of her brain, turning the happy South Florida honors student into a desperate addict.

THE SILENT EPIDEMIC…  Continue Reading…

Why do we recognize National Substance Abuse Prevention Month?

Every day, far too many Americans are hurt by alcohol and drug abuse. From diminished achievement in our schools to greater risks in our roads and in our communities, to the heartache of lives cut tragically short, the consequences of substance abuse are profound. Yet, we also know that they are preventable.

Preventing drug use before it begins-particularly among young people-is the most cost-effective way to reduce drug use and its consequences. The best approach to reducing the tremendous toll substance abuse exacts from individuals, families and communities is to prevent the damage before it occurs.

The President’s Drug Control Strategy promotes the expansion of national and community-based programs that reach young people in schools, on college campuses, and in the workplace with tailored information to help them make healthy decisions about their future.  In fact, recent research has concluded that every dollar invested in school—based substance use prevention programs has the potential to save up to $18 in costs related to substance use disorders.

This month we pay tribute to all those working to prevent substance abuse in our communities and rededicate ourselves to building a safer, drug-free America.

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Stephanie Desmon and Susan Morrow / October 1, 2014

Posted in Health, Politics+Society

People are significantly more likely to have negative attitudes toward those dealing with drug addiction than those with mental illness, a new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests, and generally don’t support insurance, housing, and employment policies that benefit those dependent on drugs.

A report on the findings, which appears in the October issue of the journal Psychiatric Services, suggests that society seems not to know whether to regard substance abuse as a treatable medical condition akin to diabetes or heart disease, or as a personal failing to be overcome.

“While drug addiction and mental illness are both chronic, treatable health conditions, the American public is more likely to think of addiction as a moral failing than a medical condition,” says study leader Colleen L. Barry, an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the School of Public Health. “In recent years, it has become more socially acceptable to talk publicly about one’s struggles with mental illness. But with addiction, the feeling is that the addict is a bad or weak person, especially because much drug use is illegal.”

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Cities and Counties will Receive Additional Support from Federal Program Designed to Disrupt Drug Trafficking through Coordinated Approaches to Enforcement

Washington, D.C. –Today, Michael Botticelli, Acting Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), announced the designation of 26 additional counties and cities in 11 states as High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs). The designations will enable the 26 counties and cities to receive Federal resources to further the coordination and development of drug control efforts among Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials. It also will allow local agencies to benefit from ongoing HIDTA-coordinated initiatives working to reduce drug use and its consequences across the United States.

The newly designated cities and counties were added to the following HIDTAs:

• ·         Appalachia HIDTA

o   Madison County, Kentucky

o   Nelson County, Kentucky

o   Tazewell County, Virginia

o   Harrison County, West Virginia

• ·         Central Florida HIDTA

o   Pasco County, Florida

• ·         Central Valley California HIDTA

o   Siskiyou County, California

o   Trinity County, California

• ·         Houston HIDTA

o   Brazoria County, Texas

• ·         New England HIDTA

o   Rockingham County, New Hampshire

• ·         New York/New Jersey HIDTA

o   Dutchess County, New York

o   Putnam County, New York

o   Rockland County, New York

o   Chautauqua County, New York

• ·         Oregon HIDTA

o   Ada County, Idaho

o   Canyon County, Idaho

o   Malheur County, Oregon

• ·         Rocky Mountain HIDTA

o   Gallatin, Montana

• ·         Texoma HIDTA

o   Potter County, Texas

o   Randall County, Texas

• ·         Washington/Baltimore HIDTA

o   Berkeley County, West Virginia

o   Chesapeake, Virginia

o   Hampton, Virginia

o   Newport News, Virginia

o   Norfolk, Virginia

o   Portsmouth, Virginia

o   Virginia Beach, Virginia

• Article by: DAVE KOLPACK , Associated Press

“We are actually spending more now on domestic public health strategies than we are on incarceration strategies,” Botticelli said. “There’s a large acknowledgement that we can’t arrest and incarcerate our way out of the problem.”

MINOT, N.D. — As the nation’s drug czar continues to warn people about the potential death and destruction from substance abuse, he’s also encouraging them to tell their stories about treatment and recovery. Usually he starts with himself.

Michael Botticelli, acting director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, also embraces another title: “I’m one of 23 million Americans in recovery who have gone on to live productive lives.”

He has been sober for a quarter of a century. He has been drug czar for a quarter of a year.

“We’ve been encouraging, not just with me, but with other people, to tell their stories,” Botticelli said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. “Tell me a family that hasn’t been affected by substance abuse. I haven’t met one.”

Botticelli, who was in North Dakota to announce updates to the administration’s northern border control policy and focus on combating drug crimes in the oil patch, said his office has seen a dramatic shift from a justice-driven strategy to a treatment-driven one. Federal funding for prevention, treatment and recovery is at its highest level in 12 years, he said.

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By JOHN M. GROHOL, PSY.D.

When a person chooses suicide, it’s hard to accept that choice.

Comedian and award-winning actor Robin Williams apparently made that choice earlier this morning. Robin Williams has long suspected to be a sufferer of either depression or bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a mental illness where the person fluctuates between episodes of extreme energy, focus and productivity (mania) and severe depression. Apparently, he was in one of the episodes of depression when he took his own life.

We mourn his loss.

The coroner said that Williams’ death was “a suicide due to asphyxia, but a comprehensive investigation must be completed before a final determination is made.”

Williams had long struggled with addiction and mental illness. ¹ “Do I perform sometimes in a manic style? Yes,” Williams told Terry Gross on the “Fresh Air” NPR radio show in 2006. “Am I manic all the time? No. Do I get sad? Oh yeah. Does it hit me hard? Oh yeah.”²

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What are “designer drugs”? No, it’s not a band – it is a term first made popular during the explosion of the rave and club scene in the 1990s. The idea was to create synthetic drugs mimicking the effects of older illegal drugs, but with a slightly different chemical structure, in order to stay inside the law.

Altering or blending the properties of illegal drugs, mixing them with chemicals which can be bought over the counter, a new drug is created! Yes, some illegal drugs can be modified at the molecular level, essentially turning a highly regulated substance into a legal one! These copies of the “real” drugs are unfortunately just as dangerous – and maybe even more, since they were never before tested!

Just one of these designer drugs, known as “Molly”, is responsible for more than ten thousand emergency room admissions – in one year. If a chemical is (for now, at least!) considered legal, that does not mean that it is safe! Many people fail to understand his fact!

Since designer drugs are made from legal components, these can be freely imported into the United States. The vast majority is coming from China. The US Customs authorities can do almost nothing to stop them!

Most of these designer drugs are created in home labs or in concealed locations. They are being sold legally since they are marked for purposes other than human consumption, such as plant food or insect repellant (or like notorious “bath salts”).

“Spice” – which is synthetic marijuana, “N-bomb” – synthetic LSD, and some other synthetic drugs were outlawed a few years ago, but the problem remains. New, slightly altered versions are constantly being created in order to replace the banned ones. Older designer drugs readers may have heard of include amphetamines, LSD, GHB, ketamine, rohypnol and ecstasy.

Special report: The dangers of painkillers

Every year, Percocet, Vicodin, and other opioids kill 17,000 Americans and acetaminophen sends 80,000 people to the ER

July 31, 2014

Family of teen who died after smoking synthetic pot warns others to stay away from the powerful and unpredictable drug.

Loved ones of 19-year-old Connor Eckhardt, from right, his mother Veronica Eckhardt, aunt Terri Mehrguth, sister Sabrina Eckhardt, 18, father Devin Eckhardt and close friend Jaclyn Westfall, 20, look on as a helicopter carrying Connor's heart flies off from Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach on Thursday. (KEVIN CHANG, Daily Pilot / July 17, 2014)