Addiction Solution Source

How many Americans have potentially dangerous prescription drugs in their medicine cabinet?

Unfortunately, prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic levels through the United States with nearly 7 million Americans abusing them. This amounts to an increase of 80% in the last six years. The numbers now exceed those that are abusing ‘street drugs’ (i.e., cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and other drugs).

It is very apparent just from the news over the past year or so, that there is a major problem in our society with the number of celebrities that have died from prescription drug addiction (i.e., Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, DJ ‘AM’)

DRUG NEWS UPDATE
Eight different substances were found in the body of disc Jockey,(Adam Goldstein) AKA “DJ AM”. The toxicology report found traces of the following drugs:
· Painkillers: OxyContin, Vicodin
· Sedatives: Ativan, Klonopin and Xanax
· Levamisole (a cancer treatment drug that is used to cut cocaine)

The famous Disc Jockey was only 36-year-old, whose real name was Adam Goldstein, died last month from a lethal mixture of cocaine, cold medicine and prescription drugs. His death was ruled an accident by authorities, which seems almost ironic. How can it be classified as an ‘accidental death’, when the victim was purposely taking what is considered a ‘lethal’ mixture of drugs?! Where is the common sense? Anyone taking this amount and combination of drugs is playing ‘Russian Roulette’ with their health, life and death!

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Celebrity Disc Jockey,(Adam Goldstein) AKA “DJ AM” had prescription pills in his stomach and one in his throat when police found him dead in his New York apartment this past week.

Officials reported that six pills were found in the celebrity disc jockey’s stomach and that the pill in his throat appeared to be the powerful painkiller OxyContin.

Also, a crack pipe and prescription pill bottles were discovered there. Final autopsy and toxicology reports are pending.

Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine think it’s high time that prescription drug labeling tell you what isn’t known. This sounds like a great new idea!

The researchers want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require drug manufacturers to state how new medications compare with similar, existing treatments. In many instance, these statements would indicate that there is no evidence that a new drug is more effective than older ones.

They believe this information would make patients and health-care insurers less likely to pay for newer treatments without evidence that they lead to improved patient outcomes. It would also spur drug and medical-device companies to design more informative clinical trials to test a new product’s superiority over existing therapies.

“Drug and device manufacturers benefit from an unacknowledged information gap that develops as more and more products are tested against a placebo, but not each other.”

Recent research in The Lancet, written by Dr Alex Mitchell of University of Leicester together with Dr Amol Vaze, and Dr Sanajay Rao of Leicester Partnership Trust, reported on errors in the diagnosis of depression.

The study pooled 41 trials from nine countries that used robust outcome standard of a semi-structured interview to assess depression. The researchers found that General Practioners (GPs) were able to recognize only half of people who had clinical depression. In the worst case scenario false diagnoses could outnumber true diagnoses three to one.

Good reason to get a second opinion!

Or better yet, how about seeing an integrative or “holistic” doctor who will try to discover what is really causing the symptoms and then treat appropriately.

The evidence is piling up that Michael Jackson died of prescription drugs. (Do you think he looks healthy in this photo? NO! I am sure drugs were taking their toll.)

Deepak Chopra said on CNN that he had been concerned since 2005 that Michael Jackson was abusing prescription painkillers and most recently spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use six months ago.

Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, asked him for painkillers in 2005 when the pop star was staying with him following his trial on sex abuse allegations.

Chopra stated that he believed Jackson was addicted to Oxycontin and Demerol (Demerol was injected) The narcotic drugs were used for pain control.

Demerol carries a long list of warnings to users. The government warns that mixing it with certain other drugs can lead to reactions including slowed or stopped breathing, shock and cardiac arrest.

Chopra said he refused but added the nanny of Jackson’s children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson’s drug use over the next four years.

He said she told him a number of doctors would visit Jackson’s homes in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.

It sounds like he was doctor shopping to me!

Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass., stated that Dr. Scott S. Reuben, an anesthesiologist and its former chief of acute pain, had faked medical research data. The results of the studies showed benefits from painkillers like Vioxx and Bextra and were published in several anesthesiology journals between 1996 and 2008.

Both of these prescription drugs have been withdrawn from the market as they have caused the death of thousands of people. (Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004 and Pfizer withdrew Bextra in 2005).

The hospital has asked the medical journals to retract the studies and the doctor no longer holds an appointment as a professor at Tufts University’s medical school.

Dr. Reuben had been a paid speaker on behalf of Pfizer’s medicines, and it paid for some of his research. He also wrote favorable reviews on Pfizer’s Celebrex and Lyrica.

Do you think there is a conflict of interest here?

Do you think you might have questions about the drugs safety?

Always try to see who funded a research project. If it is a drug company, you should be highly skeptical that something fishy might be going on and not accept the conclusions as valid until it is confirmed by other reliable sources.

YOU are responsible for your own health – you have to be your own advocate!

Street drugs such as heroin or crack cocaine are more likely to be used by the poor, whereas prescription drugs are more likely used by the rich.

Actor Heath Ledger died from ‘acute intoxication’ caused by an overdose of prescription drugs. Other celebrities have also been in the spotlight news such as Rush Limbaugh, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan.

It has been reported that the misuse of prescriptions leads to prescription drugs addiction and now kills more Americans than illegal street drugs, approximately 20,000 a year, which is double 10 years ago.

According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health about teenagers aged 12-17, prescription drugs are second only to marijuana in popularity, and in the past 15 years there has been a 140 per cent increase in abuse. It is the fastest-growing type of drug abuse in the US.

A recent study, published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS Medicine Journal), looked at Prozac (fluoxetine), Seroxat (paroxetine), Effexor (venlafaxine) and Serzone (nefazodone) and found "the antidepressants do not produce clinically significant improvements in depression in patients who initially have moderate or even very severe depression."

The researchers conclude that there is little reason to prescribe new-generation antidepressant medications to any but the most severely depressed patients unless alternative treatments have been ineffective.

This is another reason not to take any prescription drugs such as the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)  mentioned above unless absolutely necessary!

Teens abuse prescription drugs more than any other illicit drug, except marijuana; more than cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine combined.

Drug treatment admissions for prescription painkillers has increased more than 300 percent over the past 10 years. Teens are abusing prescription drugs because many believe the myth that these drugs provide a “safe” high. It is most troubling that a majority of teens who abuse prescription drugs say they are easy to obtain and many times free.

When prescription painkillers are used as prescribed, they can be of benefit. But now their abuse has become a serious public health concern along with an even greater concern for prescription drugs addictions.

Prescription drugs can be found in practically every home and parents can have immediate influence on stopping their teen from prescription drug abuse. Only a third of parents have discussed the risks of prescription drugs with their teen.

The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) places all substances which were in some manner regulated under existing federal law into one of five schedules. This placement is based upon the substance’s medical use, potential for abuse, and safety or dependence liability.

Drug Placement Factors

In determining into which schedule a drug or other substance should be placed, or whether a substance should be decontrolled or rescheduled, certain factors are required to be considered. Specific findings are not required for each factor. These factors are listed in Section 201 (c), [21 U.S.C. 811 (c)] of the CSA as follows:

1- The drug’s actual or relative potential for abuse.

2- Scientific evidence of the drug’s pharmacological effects. The state of knowledge with respect to the effects of a specific drug is, of course, a major consideration. For example, it is vital to know whether or not a drug has a hallucinogenic effect if it is to be controlled due to that effect. The best available knowledge of the pharmacological properties of a drug should be considered.