Prescription Drug Abuse — More Resources and How to Get Help
EmailThe drugs at the center of the speculation surrounding Michael Jackson's death are perfectly legal — with a prescription that is. From 2001 to 2005, more than 32,000 people died of prescription drug overdoses — more than cocaine and heroin combined.
People across the country, from children to adults, are struggling with addictions to these medications. Many think they are safer, smarter and less criminal than street drugs. But, the harsh reality is that they can be deadly if they aren't used exactly as prescribed.
For more information on prescription drug abuse, visit the website for The Partnership for a Drug-Free America by clicking HERE and HERE.
And if you are concerned about a child potentially abusing prescription medications, click HERE for information on how to help.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
My son has been addicted to pain medication for 5yrs. I wish someone would investigate these “pill mills” known as pain management clinics,like the ones in Houston,Texas. We live in Louisiana and there is a steady supply coming in from these places. I’m a parent that is desparately trying to save my son’s life.
Posted by: Kathy Granger | June 29, 2009, 7:02 pm 7:02 pm
I’m addicted to prescription sleep meds . . . I combine sleep meds, muscle relaxers, and OTC sleep medications all to sleep at night . . . I know that I’m doing terrible long-term things to my body . . . I’m even more surprised that I really do wake up in the morning . . . How can I rehab and break this vicious cycle ?
Posted by: Mike | June 29, 2009, 7:12 pm 7:12 pm
Few healthcare professionals have – or will take the time – to search the 30 some odd state’s controlled substance databases to ascertain if a patient is seeing multiple docs and/or going to multiple pharmacies. We have a relative constant 1.5% of the population that has abused substances – other than alcohol & tobacco for the last 100 yrs. Since the “war on drugs” started in 1912… the only thing that we have accomplished is throwing untold number of resources to accomplish nothing..
Posted by: Steve | June 29, 2009, 8:07 pm 8:07 pm
My wife and six year old son were hit head on by an individual who was on five different medications prescribed by a doctor. Even though he was overmedicated according to our lawyer and insurance company there was nothing we could legally pursue against the doctor. So in essence this doctor was nothing more than a drug dealer who had the legal right to do so. It is my belief that when the medical industry is truly held accountable the number of cases of overmedicating and addiction will decline.
Posted by: Tom Gallagher | June 29, 2009, 8:08 pm 8:08 pm
Maybe we need to apply the drug war to prescription drugs as well. I would love more of my money to go to expanding the useless war on drugs.
Posted by: Huh | June 29, 2009, 8:14 pm 8:14 pm
1.) 8,000 people a year fatally overdose on pain medication, yet how many thousand die because they can’t afford or get access to appropriate disease treating drugs? I’ll bet its more than 8,000. There’s something wrong with this picture.
2.)To: Tom Gallagher-seriously and without snark, get another legal opinion! Your insurance company will not help you.
Posted by: B.Bear | June 29, 2009, 8:14 pm 8:14 pm
I abused pain meds for 10years along with everything else I have been on methadone now for 4 years and it has saved my life there needs to b more info for people and doc’s they look at u like u r still abuse opiates but I have not used since nov.96 so that is good I am proud there needs to b more clinics around this area
Posted by: Mike. N | June 29, 2009, 10:47 pm 10:47 pm
Im a 31 yr old wife and mom.I was addicted to niravom, well i blacked out for atleast 2 wks.On top of that addiction i was abuseing my tramadol and ambien. I was takein 30 pills of tramadol and had a grandmall seizure. I also took 12 ambien at once. It was hard for me to say im an addict. I didnt want to be labeled as an addict like my mom or grandpa.I am completely off all meds. Everyday is a challenge. I seen my mom this week all doped up and all of a sudden in the twelve steps u need to surrender….so seein my mom high and my lil sis that is 13 sayin “momma wont stay awake” that is the moment i surrendered. sorry if blabbed…i totally understand the problem. thx for listening or reading pursay…lol
Posted by: misty | June 29, 2009, 10:47 pm 10:47 pm
My sister has been addicted to opiates for 2 years. She shoots it up. I walked in on her shooting up in the kitchen when I had to pick up my 5 year old nephew from school because she didn’t show up. She stole our mother’s jewelry & sold it so she could get the pills. It overwhelmingly breaks my heart & makes me feel helpless. How many more people have to die for something to be done? It is ugly, it is vicious. I wonder how did we get here.
Posted by: kristi | June 30, 2009, 2:50 pm 2:50 pm
An excerpt from our recent article on Michael Jackson:
“Lest you be confused about this drug thing, there is little difference between illegal/recreational drugs, and prescription drugs, with the exceptions being the legitimacy of the “entity” which produces them, who gets to prescribe them, and whether politicians benefit. Drugs be drugs.
“Take it from some guys who matured (arguably) during the drugs, sex, and rock and roll years. We know lots of successful doctors, business people, family people, accountants, judges, and pillars of society who once used drugs in many a form and fashion. Fortunately for most of them and for society, they appreciated that drugs might be an interesting pastime, but not a life long journey.”
Posted by: Reggie Greene / The Logistician | July 18, 2009, 9:30 pm 9:30 pm
Kristi, I would have an intervention for your sister if I were you. Your 5 year old nephew deserves a lot better than what he’s getting at home.
It is a dangerous world your nephew has at home.
Please consider fighting for your nephew and getting your sister some real help. First she needs to detox from the drugs; then get some real therapy going. It might take a good two or more years to get your sister thinking straight. Good luck to all of you. Find a good church and support group for all of you. Your family deserves it.
Posted by: ddg | September 19, 2009, 7:12 am 7:12 am
There’s a program called “Teen Challenge”. It’s a Christian group that runs a residential program for people on drugs and alcohol. You have to be detoxed first and ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired’.
It’s a Christian group, but they take anybody, I believe.
The name is Teen Challenge, but it’s actually for all ages.
It took some doing and a lot of different locations, but Teen Challenged actually helped my son, along with other resources (major therapy and prayers and blood, sweat, and tears), but my son made it – three years and counting.
Check out Teen Challenge (again it’s for all ages – and FREE!
Posted by: ddg | September 19, 2009, 7:20 am 7:20 am
Just a message of hope -
It’s been my experience that you have to attack the drug and/or alcohol problems at all angles.
Sometimes all or a combination of the folllowing helps: talk therapy, med therapy, religious therapy, group therapy, individual therapy, peer and family pressure, and time to change the brain chemistry so that the person can begin to think for him or herself.
You have to keep at it even when all seems lost.
Just like in the movie ‘Madea’:
“If you had a valuable gold coin, but it was lost one day in your house, the coin does not lose its value just because it’s lost for now.” Keep looking for that valuable coin; it’s lost – not gone forever. You might have to clean sweep that house, but you will find it.
Posted by: ddg | September 19, 2009, 7:33 am 7:33 am
I’m 17 years old, last year my older sister overdosed on prescription meds. She died a week before my 16th birthday. Our family couldn’t do anything about it because the drugs were legal and had been prescribed by a doctor. She was an amazing person and she should be alive right now. If someone had stepped in and tried to help her she still would be. I am going to continue to fight my own war against prescription meds and hopefully all of you will too. Therapy has been proven to be just as affective as those medications, and most doctors have been corrupted, they no longer care whether the pills help just how much money they can get off selling them.
Posted by: missmysister | November 2, 2009, 1:50 am 1:50 am
I have a sister that is 45 yrs old and she has been fitting addiction in one form or another since she was a teenager. Last year, she thought she was helping herself get of the stuff for good by going to the methadone clinics–man that is not good for her. She is just as addicted to them as she was the the other stuff, can’t get off of them, can’t hold a job, still steals from family to get medicine. I looked up methadone one day, and was shocked to find it was created by a Nazi that was addicted to opium that did not want to lose the high, and wanted to get it to the mass market when he perfected it. It is made of a synthectic opium. Stays in the body for longger than the regular opium–but if your looking for a high on it, you have to take massive doses and it takes long periods for it to hit the blood stream and by then most people have had seizures, strokes, or died. Where’s the good in that?
Posted by: Lucy | March 18, 2010, 8:08 am 8:08 am
sadddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
Posted by: spiyrt | May 9, 2011, 1:41 pm 1:41 pm