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Entries Tagged as 'Prescription Drugs Addiction'

Pharmaceutical Company Lies About a Drug and is Finally Fined

May 14th, 2007 · No Comments

OxyContin, a trade name for the narcotic oxycodone hydrochloride, is a time-release painkiller available by prescription. It is prescribed for relief of moderate to severe pain from such things as injuries, bursitis, neuralgia, arthritis, and cancer. Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected. As a street drug, it is commonly called OC, OX, Oxy, Oxycotton, Hillbilly heroin, and kicker.

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction · Street Drugs

Prescription Drug Abuse

May 5th, 2007 · No Comments

According to a National Institute on Drug Abuse research report, there are three classes of prescription drugs that are most commonly abused:

1- opioids, which are most often prescribed to treat pain – examples include: codeine, oxycodone (OxyContin and Percocet), and morphine (Kadian and Avinza);

2- central nervous system (CNS) depressants, which are used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders – examples include: barbiturates (Mebaral and Nembutal) and benzodiazepines (Valium and Xanax);

3- stimulants, which are prescribed to treat the sleep disorder narcolepsy, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and obesity – examples include: dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine and Adderall) and methylphenidate (Ritalin and Concerta).

Many people benefit from the appropriate use of prescription pain killers, but, when abused, they can be as addictive and dangerous as illegal drugs. Prescription drugs should only be taken exactly as directed by a medical professional.

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Tags: Drug Addiction Alternative Treatment · Prescription Drugs Addiction

What are Narcotics?

May 4th, 2007 · No Comments

Narcotic drugs (also called opioids) are derivatives of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) or chemically similar synthetics. The poppy was grown in the Mediterranean region as early as 3000 B.C., and has since been cultivated in a number of countries throughout the world.

Narcotics are used therapeutically to treat pain, suppress cough, alleviate diarrhea, and induce anesthesia. Narcotics are administered in a variety of ways. Some are taken orally, transdermally (skin patches), or injected. They are also available in suppositories. As drugs of abuse, they are often smoked, sniffed, or injected.

Natural Opiates are Morphine, Codiene and Thebaine.

Semi-synthetic opiates (or opioids) include Heroin and Oxycodone (among others).

Common Synthetic Opioids include Methadone, and Pethidine (Demerol).

Heroin

Heroin (a morphine derivative) is the most commonly abused narcotic.
(Some of the street names include: smack, horse, H, junk, dope or scag)

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction · Street Drugs

Why do some people become addicted to drugs, while others do not?

April 22nd, 2007 · No Comments

Vulnerability to addiction differs from person to person. In general, the more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chance that taking prescription drugs or street drugs will lead to abuse and addiction. “Protective” factors reduce a person’s risk of developing addiction.

What factors determine if a person will become addicted?

No single factor determines whether a person will become addicted to drugs. The overall risk for addiction is impacted by the biological makeup of the individual – it can even be influenced by gender or ethnicity, his or her developmental stage, and the surrounding social environment (e.g., conditions at home, at school, and in the neighborhood).
Which biological factors increase risk of addiction?

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction · Street Drugs

Anabolic Steroids Facts

April 20th, 2007 · No Comments

Anabolic Steriods are:

  • Synthetic substances related to the male sex hormones (androgens). They promote growth of skeletal muscle (anabolic effect) and the development of male sexual characteristics (androgenic effects), and also have other effects.
  • Used by doctors to treat conditions that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone, such as delayed puberty and some types of impotence, and also to treat body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases.
  • Legally available in the United States only by prescription. Anabolic steroid abusers obtain drugs that have been made in clandestine laboratories (sometimes with poor quality control standards), smuggled from other countries, or diverted illegally from U.S. pharmacies.
  • Distinct from steroidal supplements. In the United States, supplements such as dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione (street name Andro) can be purchased legally without a prescription through many commercial sources including health food stores. They are often taken because the user believes they have anabolic effects.

Anabolic steroid abuse is:

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction · Street Drugs

Unintentional Poisoning Deaths

April 15th, 2007 · No Comments

Poisoning is second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury in the United States. Nearly all poisoning deaths in the United States are attributed to drugs, and most drug poisonings result from the abuse of prescription and illegal drugs.

Previous studies, using multiple cause-of-death data, have indicated that the trend described in this report can be attributed primarily to increasing numbers of deaths associated with prescription opioid analgesics (e.g., oxycodone) and secondarily to increasing numbers of overdoses of cocaine and prescription psychotherapeutic drugs (e.g., sedatives), and cannot be attributed to heroin, methamphetamines, or other illegal drugs.

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction

Rating Drugs – Which Are The Worst?

April 7th, 2007 · No Comments

Drug misuse is one of the major social, legal, and public-health challenges in the world. The total burden of drug misuse, in terms of health, social, and crime-related costs, is in the billions of dollars every year.

Recent research conducted in the UK has found that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs / street drugs. Tobacco is estimated to cause 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is a factor in more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms.

Research Categories of Harm

There were three main factors that together determined the harm associated with any drug of potential abuse:

1- the physical harm to the individual user caused by the drug
2- the tendency of the drug to induce dependence
3- the effect of drug use on families, communities, and society

Two independent groups of experts were asked to do the ratings on the various drugs.

Results of the research:

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction · Street Drugs

Prescription Drugs – Can You Trust Them?

March 31st, 2007 · No Comments

Many people die every year because of a drug overdose or of errors in taking the wrong drug.

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Tags: Prescription Drugs Addiction