Prescription drugs’ easy availability and high addictive qualities not only ruin the lives of those who are addicted, but also those who love and care for

them. One only has to look in the nearest medicine cabinet to find a plethora of pain, anti-anxiety and sleep medications to find a quick “fix” for any

discomfort . The best way to handle body discomfort is to make sure you are eating correctly, getting enough sleep and daily exercise. However Americans

today want instant relief which can very easily lead down the road of addiction. To throw into the mix of prescription drugs is Oxycontin, legally

prescribed by doctors for pain management, now considered a gateway drug to heroin due to the similar effects it has on a person. This is truly frightening

a person begins to take a medication for a real pain and weeks later finds themselves addicted. Knowledge is the best defense against addiction. Narconon

Arrowhead has provided drug education to over 65,000 youth about the realities and consequences of drugs and alcohol along with an effective inpatient drug

and alcohol rehab with a 70% success rate.

Phoenix has created organizations to help with the drug epidemic with the establishment of programs such as Arizona Substance Abuse Partnership (ASAP),

Governor’s Division for Substance Abuse Policy, Drug Endangered Children (DEC) Program and the Parents Commission on Drug Education and Prevention to name

a few. These are not rehabilitation facilities, these are preventative organizations dealing with substance abuse and how to avoid a life of addiction. For

a person already caught in the cycle of addiction, inpatient rehab is the answer for that person to regain a drug-free, productive, responsible, ethical

and happy life.

When a person has become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, there are three aspects that must be handled for a person to have long term recovery. These

three are cravings, guilt and depression. If a person is trying to quit using drugs and/or alcohol and is hit with a craving and is not in an inpatient

rehab, there will nothing to stop them going out and searching for drugs to relieve that physical craving no matter how much they DO NOT want to use drugs

or drink. Therefore an inpatient rehab not only stops that person going and getting drugs, they have qualified professionals to get them through that

craving and understand why these cravings continue to arise and have the solution for them.

A person does not end up in rehab after one drug use even though upon that first use they are addicted. The downward spiral of addiction follows sooner or

later in the loss of family, friends, money, employment and finally total loss of self respect. Therefore it is absurd to think if person has been using

for 6 months to years of drug abuse, that they can be cured overnight. Once the physical cravings are handled and the person is able to focus on his or her

environment instead of his body the guilt and depression can be handled.

The guilt and depression a person feel from their drug addicted lifestyle can push them into a relapse even though they are no longer experiencing physical

cravings. With an inpatient rehab the professionals will be able to help guide that person through his past and present guilt and depression so when they

are finished with the rehab they will step back into the world with a clean body and clear mind and the tools to lead the successful life everyone

deserves.

If you or someone you love is struggling with substance abuse and are searching for inpatient drug rehab in Phoenix Arizona, call Narconon Arrowhead today.

Narconon Arrowhead is one of the world’s largest and most effective inpatient drug rehabilitation and education programs with a success rate of over 70% of

those who graduate. Narconon Arrowhead offers free assessments, free counseling, and free referrals to the residents in Phoenix Arizona. To locate a

Phoenix inpatient drug rehab or find out information about drug abuse contact Narconon Arrowhead by calling 1-800-468-6933 or visit our website at
href=”http://www.stopaddiction.com/index.php/Metro/Phoenix-Area-Drug-Rehab/index.html” title=”www.stopaddiction.com”>www.stopaddiction.com



Thanks to addiction for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:

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A disturbing fact sheet…

Pain relievers are medicines that reduce or relieve headaches, sore muscles, arthritis or related aches and pains. There are many different pain reliever drugs. While some of them are prescription drugs, yet many of these are available over-the-counter (OTC) e.g. aspirin, naproxen (Aleve) & ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) etc. Many such non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs are available only at prescribed doses. Some of the most powerful pain relievers come under the category of narcotics.

In the United States, data generated by some recent surveys on drug abuse is quite disturbing. Data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that almost 3 million adolescents and about 7 million young adults from ages 18 to 25 had used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes at least once in their lives.

Today teenagers are not using as much cocaine, crack, LSD, and ecstasy as the teenagers of the 1960’s. Nowadays, kids have found other ways and means to get that high; painkillers & other prescription drugs are being abused at record levels as is aptly indicated in NSDUH data. This up coming generation of prescription drug abusers has been given the name “Generation Rx!”

Increase in prescription drug abuse is most prominent for pain relievers, but use of stimulants and tranquilizers is also rising as young people who abuse prescription drugs are also more likely to use illegal drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, or hallucinogens. According to a 2005 study conducted by the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, the number of Americans who abuse or use prescription drugs illegally now exceeds the number of Americans who abuse cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, and heroin combined.

Abusers sometimes disrupt the time-release formula of the drug to speed up absorption, often chewing the tablets, crushing them and snorting the powder, or dissolving them in water and injecting the drug to get a fast high. This may cause adverse set of cross-reactions and may prove fatal as in the rural areas of the Eastern United States, especially in Virginia and West Virginia where several deaths have resulted due to mixing of Oxycontin with other painkillers, alcohol, and marijuana.

Pain reliever drugs can affect regions of the brain that mediate what we perceive as pleasure, resulting in the initial euphoria that many opioids produce. They can also produce drowsiness, constipation, and, depending upon the amount taken, depress breathing. Taking a large single dose could cause severe respiratory depression or death.

Some people mistakenly think that prescription drugs are more powerful because you need a prescription for them. However, it’s possible to abuse or become addicted to over-the-counter (OTC) pain killer medications too.

The dangers of prescription drug abuse can be made even worse if people take drugs in a way they aren’t supposed to. Ritalin may seem harmless because it’s prescribed even for little kids with ADHD but when a person snorts or injects Ritalin, it can be serious. Same holds true for most of the pain reliever drugs too.

Some points to prevent the abuse of prescription drugs:

•Always follow medication directions carefully.

•Don’t increase or decrease doses without talking with your doctor.

•Don’t stop taking medication on your own.

•Don’t crush or break pills.

•Be clear about the drug’s effects on driving and other daily tasks.

•Learn about the drug’s potential interactions with alcohol, other prescription medicines, and over-the-counter medicines.

•Inform your doctor about your past history of substance abuse.



Thanks to Tarun Gupta for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:

Effects Of Methadone

Can you answer blueboxer1905’s question about Addiction?:

how do teens know which prescription drugs are going to give them what they want and which ones are actually going to kill them?

Inpatient Substance Abuse Treatment

While figures for some kinds of drug use among teens have dropped slightly over the last several years, prescription drug abuse shows no signs of letting up. Supporting this abuse is the ease with which our young people can lay their hands on prescription drugs to abuse, particularly prescription pain relievers such as hydrocodone, often marketed as Vicodin.

A recent report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University shows that one-third of teens who know prescription drug abusers say that these kids get their drugs from home. Another third say they can get these drugs from a friend or classmate.

The annual survey of teen attitudes on substance abuse drew the conclusion that probably half of all prescription drugs being abused by teens are coming from someone’s home medicine chest.

And this ease of acquisition showed in the statistics on prescription drug abuse. By 2007, one in every twenty high school seniors had found and tried OxyContin, a powerful narcotic painkiller with a high, when abused, similar to heroin. While this is bad enough, the statistic of seniors who had abused Vicodin, a painkiller containing hydrocodone, was almost twice as high.

“Prescription pain relievers like hydrocodone and oxydcodone are addictive, whether it’s teens or adults abusing them,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions and a Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon Arrowhead is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, located in Canadian, Oklahoma. “We help people of all ages, from eighteen to seventy-five and up, recover the drug-free life they lost. Seventy percent of our graduates remain drug-free after graduation, as a result of our holistic program that addresses the three main barriers to recovery: the cravings, guilt and depression experienced by every addict.”

If you know anyone who needs help to overcome a drug addiction, please contact



Narconon Arrowhead



Thanks to addiction for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:

Free Alcohol Rehab Programs

Can you answer jmsovins’s question about Addiction?:

I find it so discracful to use a perscription drug. Do you think that you know better then your doctor, or do your parents tell you that your wrong in how you are feeling?
I find it so discracful to use a perscription drug. Do you think that you know better then your doctor, or do your parents tell you that your wrong in how you are feeling? Im not talking about when some one gets addicted after they are given the drugs by a doctor.

Alcohol Detoxification